The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
----------
Okinawa marks 50 years since reversion from U.S. rule as bases rile
GINOWAN, Japan - The southern island prefecture of Okinawa on Sunday marked 50 years since its reversion to Japan from U.S. rule as residents' frustrations continue over a weak local economy and the ongoing presence of U.S. military bases despite decades of protest.
At a commemoration ceremony held near a major U.S. military base on the island, Gov. Denny Tamaki urged the central government to undertake "sincere efforts" to make Okinawa "an island of peace," saying that mutual goal made at the time of reversion remains unfulfilled.
----------
Japan says Sakhalin energy projects do not contradict Russia sanctions
TOKYO - Japan has no plan to pull out of two major energy projects off the Russian island of Sakhalin and the policy does not contradict the slew of sanctions it placed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, a senior government official said Sunday.
"If we give up our stakes and Russia gets them," Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiji Kihara said on an NHK television, energy imports could be "more costly" for Japan in the long term.
----------
N. Korea reports 296,000 more fever cases as COVID-19 spreads
BEIJING - North Korea said Sunday an additional 296,000 people displayed a fever in the past day as it scrambles to curb the spread of the coronavirus through a nationwide lockdown.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency said 15 people died during the same period between Friday evening and 6 p.m. Saturday. The total number of deaths now stands at 42.
----------
IMF lifts Chinese yuan's weighting in basket of top currencies
BEIJING - The International Monetary Fund has lifted the Chinese yuan's weighting in its elite basket of reserve currencies to 12.28 percent from 10.92 percent, the country's central bank said Sunday.
In its first regular review of the evaluation of the IMF's special drawing rights, or SDR, since the yuan was included in the basket in 2016, the Washington-based organization has decided to raise the status of the Chinese currency, also known as the renminbi.
----------
China military body may be target of Japan counterstrike capability
TOKYO - Speculation is growing in security circles in Japan as to whether targets of a proposed "counterstrike capability" would include China's Central Military Commission, the highest decision-making organ of the country's armed forces led by President Xi Jinping.
The speculation came to light in a parliamentary meeting last week when the Defense Ministry did not answer directly a question from an opposition lawmaker seeking to know whether what has until recently been called "enemy base attack capability" targets would include China's CMC.
----------
Baseball: Angels' Ohtani joins MLB's 100-homer club
OAKLAND, California - Los Angeles Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani hit his 100th homer in Major League Baseball on Saturday, going deep with a fifth-inning, two-run shot in a 9-1 double-header nightcap win against the Oakland Athletics.
Ohtani became the third Japanese to achieve the mark, joining Hideki Matsui (175) and Ichiro Suzuki (117) in MLB's 100 home run club. Ohtani reached the milestone in 459 games, beating Matsui's record of 636 games.
----------
Japanese city passes down tale of rescue of enemy Russian sailors
MATSUE, Japan - Residents of a city in southwest Japan continue to tell of how its people saved over 200 Russian soldiers from a sinking ship at the height of the 1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War, out of a desire to remember their ancestors' efforts to help those they were at war with.
On May 27, 1905, the Russian Baltic Fleet's transport vessel the Irtysh sustained damage from Japanese battleships in waters off Tsushima Island, located between Kyushu and the Korean Peninsula.
