The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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Japan PM hopefuls seek summit with North Korea on abduction issue
TOKYO - Three of the four candidates vying to be Japan's next prime minister said Monday that summit talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are necessary to resolve the long-standing issue of Japanese nationals abducted by Pyongyang decades ago.
Former foreign ministers Taro Kono and Fumio Kishida and former internal affairs minister Sanae Takaichi expressed the view in a forum, while former gender equality minister Seiko Noda stressed the need for the government to strengthen its intelligence-gathering capability.
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Pro-Beijing members to fill Hong Kong's Election Committee
HONG KONG - All but one member of Hong Kong's revamped Election Committee will be pro-Beijing members, according to official results announced Monday after an election was held under the new Beijing-imposed electoral system aimed at ensuring that only "patriots" govern the city.
The powerful committee with no pro-democracy camp member will be tasked with electing 40 members of the enlarged 90-seat Legislative Council in December, as well as picking the city's new chief executive in March.
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Putin's party retains majority in Russian parliamentary election
MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin's ruling party maintained its majority in parliament following three days of voting through Sunday but lost some of its support, partial returns and local media reports showed.
A senior official of United Russia, Andrei Turchak, said at a political rally in Moscow that the party had "obtained a clean and honest victory" in the election for the 450-member State Duma, according to local media.
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Japan firms to jointly develop human rights app for foreign workers
TOKYO - More than 200 Japanese companies and organizations, including Toyota Motor Corp. and retail giant Aeon Co., will jointly develop a smartphone app to protect the human rights of foreign workers, an official of the Japan International Cooperation Agency said Monday.
The move, led by JICA, comes amid increased scrutiny by other countries over long working hours and harassment of foreign laborers in Japan. The app will allow technical trainees and other workers to consult with third-party organizations without informing their companies.
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Sport climbing: Japan's Kokoro Fujii wins boulder world title, Narasaki 2nd
TOKYO - Japan's Kokoro Fujii won the men's bouldering world championship on Sunday, finishing ahead of compatriot and defending champion Tomoa Narasaki in the six-man final in Moscow.
Fujii was the only climber to overcome the first problem in the final as he made it over all four boulders. Narasaki, the world champion in 2016 and 2019, made it past three.
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Woman arrested for allegedly leaving body of newborn in toilet bowl
TOKYO - A Thai woman was arrested Monday and charged with abandoning the body of her newborn baby in a toilet bowl after giving birth in a bathroom at a Tokyo condominium, police said.
Penpanassak Supaporn, 28, is suspected to have been around 25 weeks pregnant when she gave birth around Friday to a baby boy, leaving his body in the toilet.
