The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
----------
Japan's Diet passes bill to allow joint custody after divorce
TOKYO - Japan's parliament on Friday passed a bill to introduce joint custody for divorced couples with children, in a landmark change that paves the way for the adoption of a practice widely used in other nations.
In the first law change regarding parental authority in 77 years, Japan's Civil Code will permit divorced parents to choose either sole custody or joint custody, a shift from the current system that has only allowed custody by one parent -- usually the mother.
----------
LDP submits own bill without Komeito to reform political funds rules
TOKYO - Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party submitted its own bill to amend the political funds control law to parliament on Friday, after its junior coalition partner rejected its proposals to strengthen rules related to money in politics.
The Komeito party and the opposition camp have expressed doubt about whether the bill would do enough to enhance the transparency of political funds, and it is uncertain whether the bill will clear the House of Councillors, in which the LDP does not hold a majority.
----------
Leader of fringe group arrested for obstructing rival Diet candidates
TOKYO - Tokyo police took the unusual step of arresting the leader of a fringe political group and two associates on Friday for allegedly obstructing campaigning of competing candidates in the lead-up to a Diet by-election in April, investigative sources said.
Atsuhiko Kurokawa, 45, leader of the Tokyo-based group "Tsubasa no To," Ryosuke Nemoto, 29, its unsuccessful candidate in the April 28 House of Representatives by-election, and a supporter, Hayato Sugita, 39, who was helping on the campaign, were arrested after being accused of disrupting rivals' campaigning activities with loudspeakers, they said.
----------
U.S. ambassador makes rare visit to remote Japanese isles near Taiwan
NAHA, Japan - The U.S. ambassador to Japan made a rare visit to two remote islands in the country's southwest in an apparent warning against China's increasing assertiveness in the surrounding waters.
"When you don't have deterrence, it's permission to economic coercion and aggression," the ambassador Rahm Emanuel told reporters on Yonaguni Island, Japan's westernmost island located about 100 kilometers east of Taiwan.
----------
Japan to provide Philippines 64 billion yen for 5 more patrol ships
MANILA - Japan has agreed to provide the Philippines with a 64.3 billion yen low-interest loan for the acquisition of five additional Japanese patrol vessels, the two sides announced on Friday, in a bid to help it cope with China's aggressive activities in the South China Sea.
At a ceremony in Manila, Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo and Japanese Ambassador Kazuya Endo signed an agreement on the loan, which was promised by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during his Manila visit in November last year.
----------
North Korea fires short-range ballistic missiles toward Sea of Japan
SEOUL - North Korea fired what are believed to be short-range ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan on Friday, the South Korean military said.
Multiple projectiles were launched around 3:10 p.m. from the area surrounding the eastern port city of Wonsan and were estimated to have flown about 300 kilometers before falling into the sea, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
----------
North Korean IT workers infiltrated U.S. firms, earning about $7 million
WASHINGTON - North Korean information technology workers are suspected of infiltrating more than 300 U.S. companies, using aliases to gain at least $6.8 million for their government from remote-work jobs, the Justice Department said Thursday.
The department unsealed charges against several individuals, including an Arizona woman who is accused of helping the North Korean IT workers from around October 2020 to work remotely from abroad by using stolen or borrowed U.S citizens' identities.
----------
Japan protests after China, Russia call released water "contaminated"
TOKYO - Japan has lodged protests with China and Russia after they referred to treated water released from the crippled Fukushima power plant as "nuclear-contaminated" in a statement issued after their summit in Beijing the previous day.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said at a regular press conference that it was "extremely regrettable" that Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin had made an assertion "contrary to the facts."
Video: North Koreans plant rice as nation seeks greater grain production
