The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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Japan PM Kishida rules out lower house dissolution during Diet session
TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Thursday ruled out dissolving the lower house during the ongoing Diet session through next week, after an opposition party voiced readiness to submit a no-confidence motion against his Cabinet.
His government's role is to "address challenges that have been postponed to date," and based on that view, "I am not thinking about dissolving the House of Representatives by the end of the current parliamentary session," Kishida told reporters.
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Canada halts ties with China-led AIIB, alleges Communist dominated
NEW YORK - Canada is suspending its activities with the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to probe allegations that the bank is dominated by the Chinese Communist Party, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said Wednesday.
The Canadian government "will immediately halt all government-led activity at the bank," Freeland told reporters, adding that she has "instructed the Department of Finance to lead an immediate review of the allegations raised and of Canada's involvement in the AIIB."
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SDF recruit sent to prosecutors over shooting that left 2 dead
TOKYO - A Ground Self-Defense Force recruit was referred to prosecutors Thursday on suspicion of murder a day after shooting three of his instructors during a live-fire training exercise in central Japan, killing two of them.
The incident occurred during an indoor exercise at a firing range in Gifu on Wednesday morning. Investigative sources said the 18-year-old recruit told police he opened fire after being admonished by a 52-year-old instructor, and that he was only targeting one of the three men who were shot.
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North Korea fires what may be ballistic missile: Japan government
TOKYO - North Korea fired what may be a ballistic missile on Thursday, Japan's Defense Ministry said.
Japan has been on alert over a possible projectile being fired by North Korea following the recent expiration of a window designated by it to launch a satellite-carrying rocket.
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Bomb-threat at U.S. base in Tokyo leads to evacuation order
TOKYO - The U.S. military temporarily ordered personnel to evacuate from some areas at its Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo on Thursday, with Japanese police saying the base had received a bomb-threat on Facebook.
The military closed the gates and roads in the affected areas in response to "a reported on-base security threat" around 10:20 a.m. After completing sweeps of the areas, security forces declared them safe to resume operations, it said.
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BOJ likely to keep monetary easing amid inflation, wage uncertainty
TOKYO - The Bank of Japan is widely expected to maintain ultralow interest rates at a two-day policy meeting from Thursday, as uncertainty looms over prospects for inflation, wage growth and monetary tightening overseas.
Prior to his second policy meeting since becoming governor in April, Kazuo Ueda pointed to upside risks to inflation due to recent changes in corporate price-setting behavior. But he reiterated the need to persist with monetary easing because there is "some distance" to achieving its 2 percent inflation target stably.
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Baseball: Shohei Ohtani blasts AL-leading 21st homer in Angels loss
ARLINGTON, Texas - Shohei Ohtani belted his American League-leading 21st home run and got multiple hits for the fourth straight game Wednesday during the Los Angeles Angels' 6-3 loss against the Texas Rangers.
While his team's three-game winning run came to an end at Globe Life Field, Ohtani's two-run, opposite-field shot off Will Smith in the ninth inning saw the two-way star move two clear of the New York Yankees' Aaron Judge in the AL home run chart.
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Biden brought paper cranes symbolizing peace to Hiroshima museum
HIROSHIMA - U.S. President Joe Biden brought two folded paper cranes to the museum of the 1945 Hiroshima atomic bombing when the Group of Seven advanced nations' leaders visited during the May summit in the city, a government source has said.
Biden, who became the second serving U.S. president to tour the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum when he visited on the first day of the three-day summit, left the paper cranes behind after signing a guest book.
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Video: Paris Games collector coin
