The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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Japan's Astellas to buy U.S. drugmaker Iveric Bio for $5.9 bil.
TOKYO - Astellas Pharma Inc. said Monday it will buy U.S. pharmaceutical company Iveric Bio Inc. for about $5.9 billion in its largest takeover, as the Japanese drugmaker pushes ahead with its acquisition drive.
Astellas will acquire all outstanding shares of Iveric Bio, which focuses on ophthalmology treatments, for $40 per share through its U.S. unit, Astellas US Holdings Inc., with the transaction expected to be completed by the end of September.
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Philippines won't be "staging post" for military action: Marcos
MANILA - Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said ahead of a summit with U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday he will not allow his country to be used as a "staging post for any kind of military action" as tensions between Washington and Beijing increase over the Taiwan Strait.
The Southeast Asian country leader is expected to discuss with Biden the "evolving conditions" of his country's decades-old defense treaty with the United States.
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Table tennis: Japanese 3-time Olympic medalist Ishikawa retires
TOKYO - Japanese table tennis player Kasumi Ishikawa, a winner of three Olympic women's team medals and a five-time national singles champion, announced her retirement on Monday.
The 30-year-old left-hander was part of the team that won silver in London in 2012, her nation's first Olympic table tennis medal, before claiming bronze in the same event four years later in Rio de Janeiro and silver again in Tokyo in 2021.
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Japan PM to visit S. Korea for 2 days from Sun. amid improving ties
TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is scheduled to visit South Korea for two days from next Sunday to confirm cooperation with President Yoon Suk Yeol to further improve bilateral ties, sources close to the matter said.
A senior government official on Monday informed the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Kishida's plan to visit South Korea, which would mark his first trip to the neighboring country since taking office in October 2021, the sources said.
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U.S., Japan, S. Korea to hold 3-way summit in Hiroshima
WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden will hold a trilateral meeting with the leaders of Japan and South Korea later this month in Hiroshima when he travels to the city for this year's summit of the Group of Seven advanced economies, a senior U.S. official said Monday.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not mention the date of the three-way meeting. According to diplomatic sources, it will likely be held on May 21, the closing day of the three-day G-7 summit, before Biden leaves for Australia from the Japanese city.
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U.S., Philippine leaders to agree on closer 3-way ties with Japan
WASHINGTON - U.S. President Joe Biden is set to agree Monday with his Philippine counterpart Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to enhance trilateral security cooperation with Japan, senior administration officials said, as China's military presence grows in the Indo-Pacific region.
It is expected one major outcome of Biden hosting the Philippine president for a meeting at the White House will be the announcement of "a new set of bilateral defense guidelines," aimed at improving the interoperability of their forces in the domains of land, sea airspace and cyberspace, according to one of the officials.
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Alibaba's Jack Ma joins University of Tokyo as visiting professor
TOKYO - Jack Ma, the founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., has joined a research institute of the University of Tokyo as a visiting professor, the university said Monday.
The announcement came as the entrepreneur has kept a low profile for a few years since criticizing Chinese financial authorities in October 2020, after which Alibaba and its affiliate Ant Group faced regulatory obstacles.
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Ukraine preparing counteroffensive against Russia: defense minister
KYIV - Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said his country is "preparing" a major counteroffensive against Russia in a recent interview, as the nation continues to receive weaponry from the United States and Europe.
"We are really preparing...the big plan to de-occupy or liberate all temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, including Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk, and other territories," Reznikov said in an interview with Kyodo News on Friday in Kyiv.
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Pro-Taiwan candidate Pena wins Paraguay presidential race
ASUNCION - Paraguay ruling party candidate Santiago Pena, who has said he would maintain ties with Taiwan, won the country's presidential election Sunday, local media reported, at a time some Latin American nations have severed ties with the self-ruled island to gain access to the much larger Chinese market.
Pena, 44, of the right-wing Colorado Party, beat Efrain Alegre, 60, who had indicated he would cut ties with Taiwan and establish diplomatic relations with China, a potential market for Paraguay's beef and soybeans, the media said.
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Video: Russian missile hits residential building in Ukraine
