The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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North Korea fires ICBM-class missile, warning alert withdrawn in Japan
TOKYO - North Korea fired a ballistic missile toward the Sea of Japan on Thursday, the Japanese and South Korean governments said, prompting a Japanese emergency alert system to warn it may land near Hokkaido.
The government later withdrew the warning, however, as it was determined the intercontinental ballistic missile would not land near Japan's northern main island.
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Haruki Murakami's new novel hits bookstores in Japan, 1st in 6 yrs
TOKYO - Renowned Japanese author Haruki Murakami's new full-length novel, his first in around six years, hit the shelves Thursday at bookstores around Japan, breathing new life into a "phantom novel" that has remained out of print for over 40 years.
Shinchosha Publishing Co. said it will print 300,000 first-edition copies of "The City and Its Uncertain Walls," with an e-book version released in parallel.
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Nuke disarmament to be key topic in G-7 top diplomats' talks in Japan
TOKYO - Nuclear disarmament is expected to be a key agenda item during an upcoming meeting of the Group of Seven foreign ministers in central Japan, government sources said Thursday, as Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida hopes to use the G-7 summit to pitch his idea of a world free of nuclear weapons.
During the three-day talks in the resort town of Karuizawa in Nagano Prefecture from Sunday, the G-7 ministers will also discuss Russia's war against Ukraine, as well as China and Iran, which maintain friendly ties with Russia, according to the Japanese sources.
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China bans navigation north of Taiwan Sun. over rocket debris fears
BEIJING - Chinese maritime authorities said Thursday that navigation of vessels will be prohibited in designated waters north of Taiwan on Sunday as rocket debris may fall in the area that is near the Tokyo-controlled, Beijing-claimed Senkaku Islands.
The announcement by China's Maritime Safety Administration is believed to be related to the country's notification to its neighbors Wednesday that it will establish a no-fly zone north of Taiwan on Sunday morning for "aerospace activities."
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U.S. senator assures arms delivery to Taiwan in talks with Tsai
TAIPEI - Visiting U.S. Senator John Hoeven expressed his concern over China's "aggressive action" in a meeting with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Thursday and said Washington will continue to provide arms to the self-ruled democratic island.
"We want peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and we are very concerned about the aggressive action" of China, Hoeven said, following Beijing's latest military drill near the territory in response to a meeting last week in California between Tsai and U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
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ASEAN strongly condemns airstrike by Myanmar military
JAKARTA - The chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations said Thursday that the group "strongly condemns" a recent airstrike by Myanmar's military that reportedly killed more than 100 people, including civilians.
"All forms of violence must end immediately, particularly the use of force against civilians," the ASEAN chair, which Indonesia holds this year, said in a statement.
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EU remains unmentioned in Japan's G-7 promotional video
TOKYO - The European Union, a formal member of the Group of Seven, remains unmentioned in Japan's promotional video for the upcoming G-7 summit in Hiroshima despite its having raised the issue with Tokyo.
The almost two-minute-long official video, posted on the Foreign Ministry's G-7 website, includes the flags and iconic sceneries for all seven member nations but not the European Union, a member since 1981.
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Super Mario tune added to U.S. Recording Registry, 1st for video game
TOKYO - The main theme of Nintendo Co.'s Super Mario Bros. video game has been added to the U.S. National Recording Registry, becoming the first piece of music from a computer game to earn the lofty distinction, according to the country's Library of Congress.
Known as the "Ground Theme" by Japanese composer Koji Kondo, the tune from the 1985 game was inducted to the list of recordings deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant," alongside new additions such as music by American artists Madonna and Mariah Carey.
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A-bomb film event makes call for unity ahead of G-7 Hiroshima summit
SAN DIEGO, California - A prizewinning film depicting the experience of a Japanese atomic bombing survivor and his daughter was screened in San Diego on Wednesday, with the organizer intending unite the world in opposition to the use of nuclear weapons as agents of conflict resolution ahead of next month's Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima.
Directed by J.R. Heffelfinger and produced by Akiko Mikamo, who heads a nonprofit organization that arranged the event, as well as Nini Le Huynh, the film "8:15 Hiroshima: From Father to Daughter" is based on Mikamo's book published in 2013.
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Video: Sandstorm reaches Japan
