The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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Nikkei extends losing streak to 8 days, 1st time since 2009
TOKYO - Japan's Nikkei stock benchmark ended lower Wednesday, extending its losing streak to eight days for the first time since July 2009, as sentiment was hurt by deepening uncertainty over the global economic recovery amid higher oil prices and the prospect of rising inflation in the United States.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended down 293.25 points, or 1.05 percent, from Tuesday at 27,528.87, its lowest closing level since Aug. 23. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange finished 5.84 points, or 0.30 percent, lower at 1,941.91.
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Japan's largest labor body Rengo gets 1st female chief
TOKYO, Oct. 6 Kyodo - Tomoko Yoshino became the first-ever female chief of Japan's largest labor organization Rengo on Wednesday after her promotion from vice president was approved at a regular convention.
Yoshino, 55, from a labor union mainly representing small and mid-sized manufacturers in Japan, will serve a two-year term, succeeding Rikio Kozu, who led the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, as Rengo is formally known, for six years.
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List, MacMillan win Nobel chemistry prize for molecule-building tool
STOCKHOLM, Oct. 6 Kyodo - German scientist Benjamin List and U.S.-based Scottish chemist David MacMillan on Wednesday won this year's Nobel Prize in chemistry for developing a tool for molecular construction known as organocatalysis, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.
List, director at the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research, and MacMillan, a professor at Princeton University, showed that organic catalysts can be used to drive multitudes of chemical reactions, a discovery that "has had a great impact on pharmaceutical research, and has made chemistry greener," the academy said in a release.
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Nobel laureate Syukuro Manabe still intrigued by world's climate future
PRINCETON, New Jersey - Japanese-born American academic Syukuro Manabe said Tuesday he is intrigued with what the climate will be like in a post-global warming world after winning this year's Nobel Prize in physics with two other scientists.
Manabe, 90, a senior meteorologist at Princeton University, said winning the prestigious award was a "great surprise."
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ASEAN mulls downgrading Myanmar representation at summit
SINGAPORE - The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is considering whether to downgrade Myanmar's representation at ASEAN's summit meeting later this month due to its lack of cooperation with the group in ending the military-ruled country's political conflict, its special envoy said Wednesday.
ASEAN ministers are discussing whether Myanmar be represented at the Oct. 26-28 summit and, if so, who is going to represent it, Brunei's second foreign minister, Erywan Yusof, who was appointed as special envoy in August but has been unable to visit Myanmar to fulfil his mandate, said in an online press conference from his country's capital.
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China could acquire ability to block Taiwan Strait in 2025: Taiwan
TAIPEI - Taiwan's Defense Ministry said Wednesday that China could acquire the ability to block the Taiwan Strait and its vicinity as early as 2025, posing a "grave challenge" to the self-governed island's air and sea defense operations.
The projection was made in a report submitted to Taiwan's legislature at a time when the island's government has seen dozens of Chinese warplanes entering its air defense identification zone in recent days.
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Japanese businesses to offer benefits using vaccination app
TOKYO - Japanese companies will collaborate to offer special benefits to customers who utilize a new smartphone app showing proof of COVID-19 vaccination when using restaurants and hotels, the app providers said Wednesday.
Some 10 companies have joined the initiative, which aims to attract customers by promoting their measures to prevent coronavirus infections while encouraging people to get vaccinated.
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M5.9 quake hits northeastern Japan, no tsunami warning issued
TOKYO - An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9 struck northeastern Japan early Wednesday, leaving three people injured, but there was no threat of a tsunami and no major property damage reported, the weather agency and local authorities said.
The quake occurred at 2:46 a.m., logging upper 5 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 in Hashikami, Aomori Prefecture, with the focus in the Pacific Ocean off Iwate Prefecture at a depth of about 56 kilometers, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
