The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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Ex-Chinese Premier Li dies of heart attack months after retirement
BEIJING - Former Chinese Premier Li Keqiang died of a heart attack aged 68 in Shanghai in the early hours of Friday, state-run media reported, with his sudden death just months after retirement shocking the country.
Li died after medical efforts to save him failed following the heart attack, the official Xinhua News Agency said. He stepped down as premier in March after serving two five-year terms and was replaced by Li Qiang.
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Kioxia, Western Digital halt merger talks amid SK Hynix's objection
TOKYO - Japanese chipmaker Kioxia Holdings Corp. and its U.S. peer Western Digital Corp. have halted merger talks after they found it difficult to gain approval from South Korea's SK Hynix Inc., a major investor in Kioxia, sources familiar with the matter said Friday.
The two companies were expected to agree on the merger by the end of the month, a move that would have created the world's leading producer of memory chips for PCs and smartphones. The sources said they may resume talks later, adding uncertainty to the deal's fate.
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Retrial of 1966 murders begins, sister claims death-row inmate is innocent
SHIZUOKA - A former professional boxer and death-row inmate accused of a 1966 quadruple murder in central Japan is innocent, his elderly sister said Friday, in the first hearing of his retrial that is likely to lead to his exoneration.
Iwao Hakamata, 87, was exempted from attending the retrial at the Shizuoka District Court, as his mental state has deteriorated after spending nearly half a century behind bars before new evidence led to his release in 2014.
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Sultan Ibrahim of Johor state named Malaysia's next king
KUALA LUMPUR - Sultan Ibrahim from Malaysia's southern state of Johor was named the country's next king Friday under the country's rotational monarchy system, with the current Sultan Abdullah and the ruler of the central Pahang state completing his five-year term in January.
Sultan Ibrahim was selected by the Council of Rulers, made up of the nine state rulers, said Syed Danial, keeper of the Rulers' Seal, in a statement, adding that the sultan will begin his reign on Jan. 31.
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92-year-old driver ordered to pay 140 million yen over fatal Tokyo crash
TOKYO - A 92-year-old former top bureaucrat sentenced to five years in prison over a fatal Tokyo car accident in 2019 was ordered Friday to pay around 140 million yen ($932,000) to bereaved family members of the accident that sparked a debate on elderly drivers in rapidly graying Japan.
The Tokyo District Court ruled that Kozo Iizuka, a former chief of the now-defunct Agency of Industrial Science and Technology, had demonstrated "unilateral and significant negligence" in the accident by continuing to press the gas pedal.
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IAEA wraps up safety review of Fukushima treated water discharge
TOKYO - The International Atomic Energy Agency on Friday wrapped up its safety review of Japan's discharge of treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea, and plans to compile a report on its latest four-day mission by year-end.
Seven IAEA officials and experts from nine of the 11 task force member countries including China and Russia, which have criticized the release and imposed import bans on Japanese seafood, took part in the review mission, which involved an on-site inspection of the water treatment and discharge facilities at the nuclear complex devastated in the wake of a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011.
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1 million nuisance calls made to Japan embassy in China over Fukushima
BEIJING - Around 1 million nuisance calls have been made to the Japanese Embassy in Beijing since the release of treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea began in late August, Japanese government sources said Friday.
Tokyo has repeatedly asked the Chinese government to deal with the calls, saying they impede operations at the embassy, but the situation has yet to improve, according to the sources.
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Football: Wataru Endo heads in 1st Liverpool goal in Europa League rout
LIVERPOOL, England - Japan captain Wataru Endo headed in his first goal for Liverpool as they hammered Toulouse 5-1 in the Europa League on Thursday to make it three wins out of three in Group E.
The 30-year-old summer signing from Stuttgart netted the winner on the half-hour mark at Anfield, planting his header inside the right-hand post after meeting an early cross from Trent Alexander-Arnold for a 2-1 lead.
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Video: Autumn foliage in northeastern Japan
