The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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Toshiba shareholders vote out board chairman over governance scandal
TOKYO - Disgruntled Toshiba Corp. shareholders voted Friday to remove its board chairman and another director responsible for oversight, in a debilitating blow to the Japanese industrial conglomerate engulfed by a governance scandal.
The rejection at a general shareholders' meeting adds a new twist to the turmoil at Toshiba after an independent probe found it had colluded with the government in pressuring foreign activist investors in the run-up to a general shareholders meeting last year over their proposal to appoint outside directors.
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Official campaigning begins for Tokyo assembly election
TOKYO - Official campaigning for the Tokyo metropolitan assembly election kicked off Friday, an event regarded as the prelude to a lower house election to be held by this fall.
The main focus of the July 4 election is whether the Liberal Democratic Party and the Komeito party -- which form the ruling coalition in parliament -- will prevail over Tomin First no Kai, or the Tokyoites First party, founded by Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike. The regional party currently holds the largest force in the assembly.
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Japan ratifies world's biggest free trade deal involving China, ASEAN
TOKYO - Japan ratified on Friday the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, a mega trade agreement also involving China, Australia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Foreign Ministry said.
Tokyo deposited its ratification instrument with the ASEAN Secretariat, making it the third member to do so toward the possible enforcement of the 15-nation RCEP by the end of the year.
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Japan to donate millions more AstraZeneca vaccine doses across Asia
TOKYO - Japan will donate 1 million coronavirus vaccine doses each to Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand starting next week, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Friday.
Tokyo will also offer 1 million doses each to Taiwan and Vietnam, in addition to the batches of 1.24 million and 1 million shots provided to them, respectively, earlier in the month, Motegi told a regular press conference.
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Public safety chief Okonogi quits Cabinet to run for Yokohama mayor
TOKYO - Hachiro Okonogi, chairman of the National Public Safety Commission and a close ally of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, resigned from the Cabinet on Friday in order to run in the August election for mayor of Yokohama.
The 56-year-old House of Representatives lawmaker was responsible for overseeing security for the Tokyo Olympics, which open in less than a month, as well as disaster response.
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1 dead, 99 unaccounted for after Florida condo collapses: media
MIAMI, Florida - At least one person died and 99 residents remain unaccounted for after part of a 12-story condominium collapsed early Thursday in a seaside suburb of Miami, Florida, U.S. media and local authorities said.
Ten people were injured and there is concern that the death toll could rise but it is unclear how many residents were in the building at the time of the accident, as some are believed to live in the Miami area only part of the year.
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Hong Kong security chief promoted to territory's No. 2 post
HONG KONG - The Hong Kong government said Friday it has promoted Secretary of Security John Lee to chief secretary for administration, the No. 2 post in the territory.
Lee, who replaces the retiring Matthew Cheung, is the first chief secretary with a law-enforcement background. He was a key figure in suppressing demonstrations that morphed into an anti-government movement in 2019, following a now-withdrawn extradition bill with mainland China.
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Tokyo Olympic president says need to "tighten" anti-virus measures
TOKYO - The president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing body said Friday it has to "tighten" its anti-COVID-19 measures after two members of the Ugandan delegation tested positive for the disease following their arrival in Japan.
Seiko Hashimoto's comment came after a Ugandan man in his 50s, who tested positive for the coronavirus after arriving at Narita airport on Saturday, was found to be infected with the highly contagious Delta variant first detected in India.
