The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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3 dead, over 160 injured after M7.4 quake hits northeastern Japan
TOKYO - A powerful magnitude 7.4 earthquake off northeastern Japan late Wednesday left three people dead and more than 160 injured across 12 prefectures and caused a high-speed shinkansen to derail.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Thursday that authorities are looking into a total of four deaths apparently caused by the quake, while the Defense Ministry dispatched the Self-Defense Forces for disaster relief in Fukushima Prefecture to provide water service in areas where supply has been disrupted.
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Japan formally decides to end COVID-19 quasi-emergency next week
TOKYO - The government formally decided Thursday to lift all remaining coronavirus quasi-state of emergency curbs in Japan as scheduled next week as the number of new infections has recently been on a downtrend.
Tokyo and the nearby prefectures of Chiba, Kanagawa and Saitama are among the 18 areas that will see the restrictions end on Monday. Other areas include Aichi, Osaka and Kyoto.
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Princess Aiko vows to fulfill duties as adult in 1st news conference
TOKYO - Princess Aiko, the only child of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, reiterated Thursday her aspirations to fulfill her duties "to the best of my ability" at her first press conference since coming of age last December.
Speaking at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, the 20-year-old princess said she would "value each and every one of my duties," as she offered "heartfelt gratitude" to all those who had supported her journey up till now.
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Ex-Hiroshima mayor urges Putin not to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine
TOKYO - Former Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba on Thursday urged Russian President Vladimir Putin not to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine after the Russian leader put his nuclear forces on high alert following his launch of an invasion of the country last month.
Akiba, who started a petition earlier this month demanding Putin and world leaders declare they will not use nuclear weapons in the Ukraine crisis, said at a news conference Putin's move has left atomic bomb survivors and many other people appalled.
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Singapore names Japanese scientist for top water award
SINGAPORE - Singapore on Thursday named a Japanese scientist as the recipient of the Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize for inventing an efficient wastewater treatment technology that has helped the city-state recycle its scarce water resources.
Kazuo Yamamoto, a 67-year-old professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo, was recognized for developing the so-called submerged membrane bioreactor in the late 1980s that was viewed as a major breakthrough in the field of wastewater treatment.
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South Korea's daily COVID-19 cases hit record of more than 600,000
SEOUL - South Korea saw a record-high number of coronavirus cases on Thursday, with more than 600,000 new infections reported in a single day amid the ongoing spread of the Omicron variant.
The country confirmed a total of 621,328 COVID-19 infections over a 24-hour period, exceeding the previous record of 400,741 set a day earlier, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.
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Figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu's home rink temporarily closes due to earthquake
TOKYO - The Sendai ice rink that is home to former Olympic figure skating champions Yuzuru Hanyu and Shizuka Arakawa temporarily halted operations because of a powerful earthquake that struck late Wednesday night off the coast of northeastern Japan.
Miyagi Prefecture's Ice Rink Sendai closed for safety reasons a day after a 7.4 magnitude quake hit off the coast of neighboring Fukushima Prefecture, triggering tsunami alerts, evacuation orders, power outages and concerns about the nuclear reactors in the area.
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2021 cyberattacks led by Russian hackers cost companies $600 mil.
TOKYO - Companies and organizations worldwide paid out the equivalent of about $620 million in cryptocurrencies in 2021 due to cyberattacks, with hackers based in Russia causing the most damage, a study by a U.S. data and software firm showed Thursday.
According to Chainalysis Inc., the amount paid in such currencies to hackers due to ransomware cyberattacks is likely to increase and reach a record high. Extortion fees have greatly increased over the years rising from $39 million in 2018 to $152 million in 2019 and $692 million in 2020.
