Japan's Riku Miura (R) and Ryuichi Kihara perform in the pairs free program at the Grand Prix Final figure skating competition in Torino, Italy, Dec. 9, 2022. (Kyodo)

The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.

----------

Japan enacts law to prohibit malicious donation solicitations

TOKYO - Japan on Saturday enacted a law to ban organizations from maliciously soliciting donations following controversy over the fundraising practices of the Unification Church, after the Cabinet made concessions on key issues with the opposition camp.

Aiming to prevent the creation of new victims of controversial religious groups, the House of Councillors, or upper house, passed the bill with the support of the ruling bloc and most of the opposition parties on the final day of the 69-day extraordinary parliamentary session.

----------

Japan PM Kishida says he has no intention to dissolve lower house

TOKYO - Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Saturday he has no intention of dissolving the lower house soon for a snap election, although his government has been trying to change the country's key policies including defense strategies.

Kishida also said at a press conference following the end of the 69-day extraordinary parliamentary session that he has no plan to reshuffle his Cabinet in the near future.

----------

----------

Kishida, Obama call for nuke-free world at Hiroshima int'l meeting

HIROSHIMA - Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and former U.S. President Barack Obama on Saturday called for a world without nuclear arms amid Russian threats to use them in the war in Ukraine and North Korea's rapid development of its weapons programs.

They made the call in separate messages sent to the inaugural meeting of a nuclear disarmament forum in Hiroshima, which was devastated by a U.S. atomic bomb dropped in the closing stages of World War II.

----------

Japan OKs changes to system for recognizing paternity after divorce

TOKYO - Japan's parliament enacted Saturday legal changes that would allow the new husband of a remarried woman to assume paternity of children born within 300 days of divorce from her previous partner.

The first change to the century-old Civil Code provisions regarding paternity and marriage aims to address the issue of divorced women leaving their children off family registers to avoid former husbands being recognized as fathers, leading to difficulties in the children accessing health and other services.

----------

Negotiations kick off for U.S.-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework

SYDNEY - Australia, Japan, the United States and other nations on Saturday kicked off their first in-person round of negotiations aimed at setting economic rules and standards in the Indo-Pacific amid China's growing clout in the region.

The six-day meeting in Australia follows a ministerial gathering involving 14 members of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, which represents 40 percent of global gross domestic product, according to the U.S. government.

----------

Policy chief of Japan's ruling LDP visits Taiwan, meets leader Tsai

TAIPEI - The policy chief of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party met Saturday with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, with the two likely to seek closer cooperation to ensure peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait amid China's military pressure.

Koichi Hagiuda, who is making a three-day trip to Taiwan, was a close aide to former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who placed importance on relations with Taiwan.

----------

Figure skating: Miura, Kihara win GP Final pairs, Sakamoto leads women

TURIN, Italy - Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara won a historic pairs gold, while Kaori Sakamato topped the women's short program in another day of strong results for Japan at figure skating's Grand Prix Final on Friday.

Miura and Kihara scored 136.50 points for their free skate at the Palavela in Turin to total 214.58 and claim Japan's first-ever pairs medal at the event.

----------

Japan gov't to charge prison officers for alleged inmate abuse

TOKYO - The Justice Ministry plans to bring charges against 22 prison officers in central Japan for alleged assaults committed on three inmates, a source familiar with the situation said Saturday.

The ministry is considering working with prosecutors to build criminal cases against those accused of abuse at Nagoya Prison from November last year to this August, the source said.