The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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Tokyo Olympic organizing exec allegedly received money from sponsor
TOKYO - A member of the now-defunct Tokyo Olympic organizing committee's executive board allegedly received a large amount of money from a sponsor of last year's global sports event after signing a consulting contract, sources close to the matter said Wednesday.
The payment, suspected to have been made to a company run by Haruyuki Takahashi by major business suit retailer Aoki Holdings Inc., may amount to tens of millions of yen. It could constitute bribery as the 78-year-old was deemed a quasi-civil servant and not permitted to accept money or gifts related to his duties.
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Japan's daily COVID cases top 150,000, new record high
TOKYO - Japan's daily COVID-19 cases on Wednesday topped 150,000, setting a new record high, according to a Kyodo News tally, as the country grapples with a seventh wave of coronavirus infections spurred by the highly transmissible BA.5 Omicron subvariant.
A record number of daily cases were reported in more than 20 of Japan's 47 prefectures, including Aichi, Osaka, Hyogo and Okinawa. Tokyo confirmed 20,401 new cases, the first time the capital has seen cases top 20,000 since early February.
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Sri Lanka's PM elected new president amid economic crisis
COLOMBO - Sri Lanka's parliament on Wednesday picked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as president as the country reels from an ongoing political and economic crisis.
Wickremesinghe, a six-time prime minister, will succeed Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled the country and stepped down by email last week after demonstrators furious about skyrocketing inflation and shortages of essentials such as fuel and medicines stormed his official residence and key government buildings.
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Senior EU lawmaker vows support for Taiwan amid concern over China
TAIPEI - A high-ranking EU lawmaker on Wednesday expressed concern over China's attempts to unilaterally change the status quo in the region during a meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, promising her the European bloc's support for the self-ruled democratic island.
Nicola Beer, one of the vice presidents of the European Parliament, echoed Tsai's contention that Taiwan stands on the front lines to defend democracy and that it and the European Union should work closely together against the expansion of authoritarianism.
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China arrests detained Japanese man, Japan demands early release
TOKYO - Chinese authorities have arrested a Japanese man in his 50s who was detained in December in Shanghai for violating the law, a Japanese government spokeswoman said Wednesday, while calling for his early release.
"We have been strongly calling on the Chinese side for his early release at different levels and through various opportunities and will continue our efforts," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hikariko Ono told a press conference, saying the man was arrested in June.
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Japan plans to hold ex-PM Abe's state funeral on Sept. 27: sources
TOKYO - Japan is planning to hold a state funeral on Sept. 27 for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was fatally shot earlier this month, government sources said Wednesday.
Planning for the rare state funeral is proceeding while the public is still processing the shocking death of the country's longest-serving prime minister, with the opposition camp expressing concern that a state funeral could be used to cement the legacy of the divisive figure.
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JAL to reassign 3,000 employees as int'l air travel struggles
TOKYO - Japan Airlines Co. will transfer around 3,000 employees to low-cost carrier and other non-core operations as international and business travel continue to be hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, company sources said Wednesday.
With the transfer, the airline will focus its human resources on operations related to tourism, as demand for its domestic air services has recovered to over 90 percent of pre-pandemic levels, the sources said.
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COVID-19 outbreaks in sumo stables disrupt Nagoya meet
TOKYO - All wrestlers from the Sadogatake and Tamanoi stables have withdrawn from the ongoing Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament for coronavirus-related reasons, the Japan Sumo Association said Wednesday.
No. 2 maegashira Kotonowaka, one of 49 wrestlers from the two stables who either caught the virus or came into close contact with someone testing positive, had been in contention for the championship with a 7-3 record at the 15-day Dolphins Arena meet.
