The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
-----------
Anime giant Hayao Miyazaki wins 2nd Oscar, Godzilla visual effects winner
LOS ANGELES - Japanese anime giant Hayao Miyazaki won a U.S. Academy Award for "The Boy and the Heron" on Sunday, claiming one of the industry's top honors for the second time with his long-awaited comeback release, while the latest Godzilla film won the award for best visual effects, a first for Japan in the category.
Miyazaki's 124-minute fantasy, which was selected in the Academy's animated feature category, also won top prizes for the genre at the Golden Globes in January and the British Academy competition last month after its release in Japan last year.
----------
Japan marks 13 years since quake-tsunami, Fukushima nuclear disaster
SENDAI - Japan on Monday marked 13 years since a massive earthquake and tsunami devastated its northeastern region and triggered one of the world's worst nuclear accidents, with the government vowing to keep the memory of it alive to better respond to current and future disasters.
While recovery has progressed in areas hit by the magnitude-9.0 quake and ensuing tsunami, which claimed the lives of 15,900 people, around 29,000 people are still displaced with cleanup efforts at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant expected to span decades.
----------
Japan averts recession in October-December period with 0.4% economic growth
TOKYO - Japan escaped a recession in the October-December quarter and instead grew at a revised annualized rate of 0.4 percent on strong capital spending, but weak private consumption is clouding the economic outlook, government data showed Monday.
Real gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation, was revised upward from an earlier reported 0.4 percent drop, a positive development for the Bank of Japan as financial markets expect it to end its negative interest rate policy this month or in April.
----------
China revises law to articulate Communist control over Cabinet
BEIJING - China's parliament, at the end of its annual session Monday, revised a law to articulate the ruling Communist Party's control over the country's Cabinet, further cementing the power of President Xi Jinping, who heads the party.
The approval of the amended Organic Law of the State Council during the National People's Congress session suggests a diminishing role for Premier Li Qiang, who heads the Cabinet and holds the No. 2 position in the Communist Party.
----------
2 dead after avalanche hits backcountry skiers in Japan's Hokkaido
SAPPORO - An avalanche hit a group of backcountry skiers, believed to be foreigners, on a mountain in Japan's Hokkaido on Monday, leaving two of them dead, police said.
Rescue authorities received an emergency call around 11 a.m. reporting that individuals had been struck by an avalanche on Mt. Yotei, which stands at 1,898 meters and spans towns including Kutchan and Niseko.
----------
"Oppenheimer" wins best picture at U.S. Academy Awards
LOS ANGELES - "Oppenheimer," a biopic based on the life of the "father of the atomic bomb," the man who helped develop the nuclear weapons used by the United States against Japan at the end of World War II, won the Oscar for best picture and other U.S. Academy awards Sunday.
The Christopher Nolan-directed film, which achieved blockbuster status in the United States, depicts the physicist Robert Oppenheimer as he rises from student to key figure in the top-secret Manhattan Project amid the war.
----------
Couple sent to prosecutors after unvaccinated dog injures 7 in Japan
MAEBASHI, Japan - A couple was referred to prosecutors Monday after their dog, which was not vaccinated for rabies, bit and injured seven people including elementary school pupils in a park in a city northwest of Tokyo last month, police said.
The 62-year-old man and his 57-year-old wife are suspected of failing to keep the dog under control, allowing it to run off and injure the people at the park in Isesaki in Gunma Prefecture on Feb. 7, police said.
----------
Tokyo stocks plunge on tech selling, weak exporters on strong yen
TOKYO - Tokyo stocks tumbled Monday with selling led by semiconductor heavyweights tracking falls in their U.S. counterparts and exporters hurt by a stronger yen.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended down 868.45 points, or 2.19 percent, from Friday at 38,820.49, its largest single-day point drop since June 2021. The broader Topix index finished 59.97 points, or 2.20 percent, lower at 2,666.83.
Video: 79th anniversary U.S. air raid on Tokyo
