The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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China adopts pivotal resolution on history to boost Xi's clout
BEIJING - China's ruling Communist Party adopted a pivotal resolution on the country's history on Thursday, state-run media reported, in an apparent move to pave the way for President Xi Jinping to serve a controversial third term as leader.
The resolution on the major achievements and historical experiences of the party during its 100-year history marked the first such declaration on modern Chinese history in 40 years and only the third of its kind since the party was founded in 1921.
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Kishida Cabinet's approval rate rises to 60%: Kyodo poll
TOKYO - The approval rating for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's Cabinet stood at 60.5 percent in a Kyodo News survey conducted through Thursday, up 2.4 points from the beginning of the month immediately following the ruling coalition's victory in the general election.
The two-day nationwide telephone survey showed the disapproval rating at 23.0 percent, down 3.8 points.
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New Japan foreign minister vows to defend universal values amid China rise
TOKYO - New Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi pledged Thursday to safeguard universal values as well as the peace and stability of Japan and other parts of the world in the face of China's military buildup and assertive territorial claims.
"We are seeing more serious challenges to universal values, which have sustained peace and the stability of the international community, and the international order," Hayashi said at his first press conference since assuming the post on Wednesday following the relaunch of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's Cabinet.
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Ex-PM Abe becomes head of largest faction in Japan's ruling party
TOKYO - Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday became head of the largest faction within Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party upon his return to the intraparty bloc following a nine-year absence.
Abe was officially named successor to Hiroyuki Hosoda, a former chief Cabinet secretary, by faction members during a meeting Thursday, a day after Hosoda was elected speaker of the House of Representatives.
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Japan's Oct. wholesale prices rise at fastest pace in 4 decades
TOKYO - Wholesale prices in Japan surged 8.0 percent in October from a year earlier, the sharpest gain in four decades, on higher crude oil prices and a weaker yen that inflated import costs, the Bank of Japan said Thursday.
The prices of goods traded between companies marked the eighth straight monthly gain. The latest result is the largest increase since January 1981 when an 8.1 percent rise was recorded.
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China's Xi vows to open market further for TPP membership
BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged Thursday to open the nation's market further, state-run media reported, as the Asian power has been eager to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement.
In his video speech to a meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, Xi also called for capitalistic countries not to discriminate against socialist China, while urging them to work together to prevent a Cold War resurgence.
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Japan novelist, Buddhist nun Setouchi dies at 99
OSAKA - Jakucho Setouchi, a Japanese novelist and Buddhist nun known for depicting the lives and loves of modern women in award-winning novels such as "The End of Summer" and "Ask the Blossoms," has died of heart failure, her home temple said Thursday. She was 99.
Setouchi, who was awarded the Order of Culture in 2006, was also active in anti-war and anti-nuclear movements. She died Tuesday morning at a hospital in Kyoto, western Japan, where she resided.
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Japan's "Go To Travel" subsidy program to resume possibly in February
TOKYO - Japan's "Go To Travel" domestic tourism subsidy program may resume in February after being suspended late last year amid a resurgence in coronavirus cases, with the campaign to include compulsory virus countermeasures, government sources said Thursday.
While the number of new and serious COVID-19 cases in the country has sharply declined recently along with the progress of the vaccination program, the government believes it still needs to evaluate whether oral drugs to prevent serious cases will be available by the end of the year, the sources said.
