The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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Japan vaccine czar Taro Kono declares bid to succeed PM Suga
TOKYO - Japan's vaccination minister Taro Kono on Friday formally announced his bid to succeed Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga by joining the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's leadership race.
The 58-year-old is the third LDP lawmaker to declare candidacy in the Sept. 29 election after former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and former communications minister Sanae Takaichi.
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Toyota cuts FY 2021 global output outlook by 300,000 units amid COVID
TOKYO - Toyota Motor Corp. on Friday slashed its global production outlook for the current fiscal year through March by about 300,000 units from its initial plan to around 9 million vehicles due to the spread of COVID-19 and a semiconductor crunch.
Toyota has been forced to curb output as it has faced difficulties in securing parts as the pandemic has affected suppliers in Southeast Asia, a manufacturing hub for the Japanese auto industry, adding to the chip woes already hitting automakers hard.
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Japan, U.S., S. Korea to hold talks on N. Korea in Tokyo on Tues.
TOKYO - Senior diplomats from Japan, the United States and South Korea will meet in Tokyo on Tuesday to discuss ways to resume denuclearization negotiations between the United States and North Korea, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.
They will also compare notes on the latest situation in North Korea, the ministry said Friday, a day after the country staged a military parade in Pyongyang to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the North's founding.
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Biden, Xi agree to engage even on issues where interests diverge
WASHINGTON/BEIJING - U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed Thursday to engage in areas where they both agree and disagree, the White House said, but they were apparently divided over how to ease lingering tensions between the world's two major powers.
The agreement was reached during their second phone talks since Biden took office in January, with the White House saying that their discussion touched on the "responsibility of both nations to ensure competition does not veer into conflict."
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Kin of dead Sri Lankan urge Japan immigration to fully disclose video
TOKYO - The family of a Sri Lankan woman who died in March following mistreatment at a Japanese immigration center visited the immigration agency Friday to seek full disclosure of two weeks' worth of a security camera footage of her final days.
The family members of Ratnayake Liyanage Wishma Sandamali, 33, were only able to see about half of a two-hour edited version of the footage in August due to its shocking content. They also demanded the Immigration Services Agency of Japan accept the attendance of their lawyer while they watch it.
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SBI begins tender offer for Shinsei Bank, buy orders pour in
TOKYO - Japanese online financial firm SBI Holdings Inc. launched Friday a tender offer to make smaller rival Shinsei Bank a subsidiary as part of SBI's attempts to become a "fourth megabank" in Japan, with buy orders pouring in for the bank's shares.
SBI's offer through Oct. 25 announced Thursday was not approved by the Shinsei Bank board in advance and could end up in a hostile takeover. Shinsei Bank shares soared 300 yen, or 20.8 percent, to close at 1,740 yen on Friday.
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South Korea to invest heavily in spy satellite technology with eye on North
SEOUL - The South Korean government plans to spend 1.6 trillion won ($1.37 billion) by 2030 on developing state-of-the-art spy satellite and related rocket technology in a bid to beef up its surveillance network as North Korea continues to work on nuclear and missile development.
The move comes after guidelines agreed by South Korea and its security ally the United States that had restricted Seoul's ballistic missile development for decades were abolished in May.
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Yokohama withdraws bid to host casino resort due to local concerns
YOKOHAMA - The new mayor of Yokohama near Tokyo announced Friday the city's withdrawal of its bid to host a casino resort, due to local concerns about gambling addiction and the deterioration of public safety.
Takeharu Yamanaka, who was elected last month on an anti-casino campaign with backing from opposition parties, said in his first policy speech at a local assembly that the city government will immediately halt the ongoing process of bidding for the so-called integrated resort, which comprises casinos, hotels and shopping facilities.
