The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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U.S. will not abandon Taiwan despite China threats, Pelosi tells Tsai
TAIPEI - U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen Wednesday the United States will honor its commitment to the democratic self-ruled island, amid mounting cross-strait tensions over her visit and China's strong warnings against it.
"Today, our delegation, which I'm very proud, came to Taiwan to make unequivocally clear we will not abandon our commitment to Taiwan. And we're proud of our enduring friendship," Pelosi said at her meeting with Tsai.
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Myanmar crisis to dominate ASEAN foreign ministers meeting
SINGAPORE - Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states are working to come up with additional steps or adjustments to measures dealing with Myanmar, which has been ruled by the military since a coup in February 2021, following the junta's execution of four people including two pro-democracy activists late last month.
The executions, conducted the week before a series of ASEAN-sponsored foreign ministerial meetings in Phnom Penh starting Wednesday, drew swift international condemnation, setting back efforts to restore peace in Myanmar.
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12 nations join Indonesia, U.S. in drill amid S. China Sea tensions
JAKARTA - Over 4,000 troops from 12 countries joined an annual bilateral military exercise between Indonesia and the United States commencing Wednesday amid simmering tensions in the South China Sea.
The 12-day "Super Garuda Shield" exercise is being held on the main Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan, involving such countries as Australia, Japan, South Korea and Britain, making it the largest ever drill since they began in 2009.
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Japan expresses concern about China's military drills near Taiwan
TOKYO - Japan expressed concern Wednesday about Chinese military activity around Taiwan during U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to the self-ruled island, stressing the need for a peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues amid heightened tensions.
Japan's top government spokesman Hiroakazu Matsuno said peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is important not only for the security of Japan but also the world.
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Extra Diet session starts amid state funeral controversy
TOKYO - An extraordinary Diet session began Wednesday, with debate on a state funeral for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe put on hold for the three-day sitting despite ongoing controversy about whether the ceremony is appropriate for the influential yet divisive figure.
The ruling and opposition camps are dealing with procedural issues during the Diet session and have agreed to hold discussions on the state funeral and other key issues, including rising goods and energy prices and politicians' controversial ties to the Unification Church, outside the session.
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Fukushima seeks to avoid harmful rumors over treated water release
TOKYO - Local officials from Fukushima Prefecture on Wednesday called on the central government to take measures to prevent reputational damage to marine products, a day after giving their approval to the construction of facilities to release treated water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean.
The mayors of the two towns hosting the Fukushima Daiichi plant, Okuma and Futaba, and Fukushima Gov. Masao Uchibori made the request during a meeting with Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Koichi Hagiuda in Tokyo.
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Ministry orders KDDI to ensure no repeat of massive network outage
TOKYO - Japan's communications ministry on Wednesday issued an administrative order to KDDI Corp. demanding the company do more to prevent another network outage on the scale of the one that affected at least 30.91 million people last month.
The outage lasted more than 60 hours and disrupted calls and mobile internet, banking systems, the transmission of weather data, parcel deliveries and network-connected cars.
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Nintendo April-June net profit jumps 28% thanks to weak yen
OSAKA - Nintendo Co. on Wednesday reported its group net profit of 118.98 billion yen ($890 million) in the April-June period, up 28.3 percent from a year earlier and marking the highest for a first quarter, boosted by a weaker yen.
Operating profit declined 15.1 percent to 101.65 billion yen for the first quarter of the business year through March 2023 on sales of 307.46 billion yen, down 4.7 percent, the home-use game giant said.
