The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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EU lifts post-Fukushima disaster import curbs on Japanese foods
BRUSSELS - The European Union said Thursday it will lift its remaining import restrictions on Japanese food products imposed after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster.
The announcement was made at a Japan-EU summit in Brussels, during which the leaders agreed to expand security cooperation in traditional and new areas, such as maritime security and cyberspace, with an increasingly assertive China in mind.
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Japan, ASEAN to affirm ties ahead of celebration of 50-yr friendship
JAKARTA - Foreign ministers from Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are expected to agree on Thursday to work together toward the success of a special summit commemorating their 50 years of friendship later this year in Tokyo, according to a Japanese government official.
At their meeting in Jakarta, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and his ASEAN counterparts will also discuss the situation in the East and South China seas, where tensions are running high over China's assertiveness.
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North Korea boasts of "new records" set in solid-fuel ICBM launch
BEIJING - North Korea said Thursday it successfully test-fired a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile the previous day that set "new records" in terms of altitude and flight time, with leader Kim Jong Un vowing a stronger military offensive to counter the United States and South Korea.
Kim oversaw the launch of the Hwasong-18 missile, which traveled up to a maximum altitude of 6,648.4 kilometers and flew a distance of 1,001.2 km for about 75 minutes before accurately landing in a target area in the Sea of Japan, the official Korean Central News Agency said.
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Japan, S. Korea reaffirm cooperation on N. Korea after ICBM launch
JAKARTA - Japanese and South Korean foreign ministers on Thursday reaffirmed close cooperation in dealing with the North Korean military threat, condemning its firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile the day before, the government said.
During their meeting in Jakarta, Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi also promised his South Korean counterpart, Park Jin, Tokyo will safely release treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea, Japan's government said.
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Thailand parliament to vote on new prime minister
BANGKOK - Thailand's parliament is set to vote on a new prime minister Thursday, with attention focused on whether Pita Limjaroenrat, the head of a liberal alliance, can garner enough votes to be elected to the country's top post.
Pita, a 42-year-old Harvard graduate, was nominated by his Move Forward party and seven other parties in the alliance. The parties aim to form a coalition government to replace the government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha who announced his retirement from politics Tuesday.
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Global tax reform targeting tech, big firms delayed to 2025
TOKYO - Global taxation reforms aimed at ensuring tech giants and other major international firms pay their fair share will come into effect in 2025, a year later than previously planned, with the nearly 140 participating countries and regions needing more time to prepare.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has been designing a multilateral treaty to enforce the new rules, under which companies with 20 billion euros ($22 billion) or more in global sales and a profit margin above 10 percent will be targeted.
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FOCUS: Japan, NATO interests increasingly align but ties still just symbolic
VILNIUS - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's participation in a NATO summit for the second straight year demonstrates the strategic interests of Asia and Europe are increasingly converging as China's global security and economic footprint broadens, but with the relationship still in its infancy Tokyo's role appears largely symbolic.
Kishida's oft-repeated notion that the security of Europe and the Indo-Pacific is "inseparable" -- as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, coupled with concern over China's aggressive posture toward Taiwan and actions in the South and East China seas -- has been well received among member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
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Heavy rain pounds Sea of Japan coast, local politician dies
TOYAMA, Japan - Torrential rain hit regions facing the Sea of Japan from late Wednesday, causing mudslides and leaving a city assembly member dead in Toyama Prefecture.
Ishikawa Prefecture logged a record 6-hour rainfall total of 199 millimeters during the night in Kahoku, while Toyama Prefecture registered a downpour of 170.5 mm in Kamiichi, another record high.
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Video: Naadam summer festival held in Mongolia's capital
