The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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Tokyo Aug. virus cases top 125,000, nearly triple last month's record
TOKYO - Tokyo saw over 125,600 new coronavirus cases in August, almost triple the previous monthly record infections logged last month, according to figures released by the metropolitan government Tuesday.
The capital on Tuesday reported 2,909 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total for August to 125,606, and accounted for more than a third of its cumulative tally of 343,574. The August figure compares with 44,034 for July.
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Japan vows continued efforts to evacuate nationals, Afghans in Kabul
TOKYO - Japan vowed Tuesday to continue its efforts to evacuate Japanese nationals and local staff at its agencies in Afghanistan, despite ordering the withdrawal of Self-Defense Forces dispatched to Kabul airport for an evacuation mission.
Tokyo has evacuated only one national and transported 14 Afghans out of the country, but several hundred evacuation seekers, including local staff at the Japanese Embassy and Japan International Cooperation Agency as well as their families, remain in Afghanistan.
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Japan PM Suga mulls reshuffling ruling party execs next week
TOKYO - Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is considering reshuffling executives of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party next week, including Toshihiro Nikai, the party's longest-serving secretary general whom some have criticized for a high-handed approach, people close to Suga said Tuesday.
Suga, who heads the LDP, is expected to hold talks with the 82-year-old, who has already agreed to give up the party's No. 2 post that he has held since 2016, to discuss the personnel changes as well as the party's presidential election, currently scheduled for Sept. 29, and a general election to be held later this year.
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Evacuated Afghan athlete makes debut at Tokyo Paralympics
TOKYO - Afghan athlete Hossain Rasouli competed in a long jump event on Tuesday at the Tokyo Paralympics after recently being evacuated from his home country, now under the control of the Taliban.
He became the first athlete representing Afghanistan to take part in the Tokyo Paralympics, a feat that looked impossible when it appeared the country's team would be unable to travel safely to Japan to be part of the world's largest sporting event for people with disabilities, which started a week ago.
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Former U.S. ambassador to U.N. reassures Taiwan on security
TAIPEI - A former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations emphasized the importance of Taiwan on Tuesday, saying the United States is committed to the security of the self-ruled island.
Kelly Craft, who served in the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump, told a security forum in Taipei that she understands why many Afghan people feel betrayed by the United States and acknowledged they have been let down.
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S. Korea court nixes lawsuit by former wartime guards with Japan army
SEOUL - South Korea's Constitutional Court on Tuesday dismissed a case filed by a group of South Koreans who were punished as war criminals after serving in the Imperial Japanese Army as guards during World War II, saying that their government is not responsible for compensation issues.
Lee Hak Rae, who had lived in Japan and died in March at age 96, and other South Koreans submitted the case to the Constitutional Court in 2014, claiming that the South Korean government contravened the Constitution by not voluntarily seeking to resolve issues relating to the war criminals with the Japanese government and thus violating their basic human rights.
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Couple arrested after missing Tokyo high school girl found dead
TOKYO - A couple in their 20s were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of disposing of the body of an 18-year-old Tokyo high school girl in Yamanashi Prefecture near the capital after she went missing over the weekend, police said.
Shohei Komori, 27, and his wife Izumi, 28, who live in Gunma Prefecture, have admitted to dumping the body of Kana Washino, the Tokyo police said. The couple also said they killed the girl in a storage shed, according to investigative sources.
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Japan's FY 2022 budget requests hit record of over 111 tril. yen
TOKYO - The total amount of general-account budget requests by Japanese ministries and agencies for fiscal 2022 has hit a record of over 111 trillion yen ($1 trillion) as debt-servicing costs are expected to balloon amid the coronavirus pandemic, a Kyodo News tally found Tuesday.
The calculated figure for the year starting April topped 110 trillion yen for the first time and 100 trillion yen for the eighth year in a row, also pushed up by record-high social security spending on the back of the nation's rapidly graying population and rising defense costs to meet security challenges posed by China.
