The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
----------
Japan to relax COVID border controls, give priority entry to students
TOKYO - Japan will ease its COVID-19 border controls further from March 14, raising the daily cap on entrants from overseas to 7,000 from the current 5,000, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Thursday.
At a press conference, Kishida unveiled a new scheme to give priority to foreign students in their entry into Japan when business travel demand is not high.
----------
Ex-Nissan exec Kelly given 6-month suspended sentence over Ghosn pay
TOKYO - Former Nissan Motor Co. executive Greg Kelly was given a six-month suspended prison sentence on Thursday for helping former CEO Carlos Ghosn underreport his remuneration for fiscal 2017, but a Tokyo court acquitted him of all other counts over its financial reports covering the previous seven years.
The Tokyo District Court found the former Nissan representative director guilty, handing him the sentence, suspended for three years, for falsifying the automaker's financial report for the year ended March 2018.
----------
IPC to exclude Russian, Belarusian athletes from Beijing Paralympics
BEIJING - The International Paralympic Committee said Thursday it will decline athlete entries from Russia and Belarus for the Beijing Paralympics, reversing its governing board's decision from the previous day that would have allowed them to compete as neutrals.
The IPC said ensuring the safety of athletes has become "untenable" because the situation in the athlete villages is escalating, while multiple teams and athletes are threatening to boycott the Paralympics, which will open Friday.
----------
Japan PM raps Russian nuke threats as "outrageous" amid Ukraine crisis
TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Thursday condemned Russia's nuclear threats as "outrageous" after President Vladimir Putin said he was putting his country's nuclear forces on high alert amid its invasion of Ukraine.
Kishida also said Japan will freeze the assets of Russian oligarchs held in Japan as part of efforts to step up financial sanctions against Moscow as a result of their military action in Ukraine.
----------
Japan PM Kishida to attend virtual Quad summit March 3 night
TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Thursday he will discuss the Ukrainian crisis during a virtual meeting with his U.S., Australian and Indian counterparts later in the day.
The four democracies of the so-called Quad group have been deepening their ties and cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, where China is boosting its military and economic clout.
----------
Ex-U.S. diplomat Pompeo justifies lifting ban on meetings with Taiwan
TAIPEI - Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the decision of the former administration of Donald Trump in lifting restrictions on contacts between U.S. officials and their Taiwanese counterparts was right judgment, during his meeting with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Thursday.
Allowing the officials to meet and discuss issues of mutual interest, including those on economy, security and promoting freedom, is "simple and right and proper," said Pompeo, who visited Taiwan amid concerns that China might try and seize the self-ruled democratic island following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
----------
Japan to freeze assets of 4 more Russian banks to align with EU
TOKYO - The Japanese government will freeze assets held by four more Russian banks following the European Union's latest financial sanctions against Moscow imposed in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said Thursday.
The move came a day after the EU said its members agreed to exclude seven Russian banks from a key international payment network known as SWIFT to disrupt Russian trade and money transfers. Tokyo had already decided to freeze assets held by the three other banks.
----------
Japan sees record domestic violence consultations amid pandemic
TOKYO - Japanese police received 83,042 consultation requests regarding domestic violence in 2021, a record-high number for at least the past two decades, official data showed Thursday, as more people stayed at home due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The number, up 399 from the previous year, is the highest since a law against spousal violence took effect in 2001. The data released by the National Police Agency found that 74.8 percent of the alleged domestic violence victims were women.
