TOKYO - The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.

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Russia suspected of diverting NEC submarine cables for military use

TOKYO - The Russian military is suspected of diverting undersea communication cables made by Japan's NEC Corp. for military use, an international probe by Kyodo News and other media revealed Thursday.

The cables, procured through a private company in Cyprus, appear to have been used to construct the "Harmony" undersea surveillance network in the Barents Sea, a part of the Arctic Ocean, for searching for enemy vessels to protect nuclear submarines equipped with nuclear missiles.

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Japan PM Takaichi willing to meet Kim for abductees' return from N. Korea

TOKYO - New Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi showed her eagerness on Thursday to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, renewing Japan's pledge to make every effort to bring back Japanese nationals abducted by the neighboring nation decades ago.

In her first meeting with the group of the abductees' families since she became Japan's first female prime minister on Tuesday, Takaichi, widely seen as a hard-liner on East Asian neighbors including Pyongyang, said she is "prepared" for a summit with Kim.

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Japan ruling party proposes higher departure tax for int'l travelers

TOKYO - Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Thursday called for hiking the departure tax from the current 1,000 yen ($7) per person, hoping to use the increased revenue to address challenges posed by a surge in inbound tourism.

The proposal made by an LDP panel in charge of tourism issues comes as a plan has emerged within the government of new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to raise the international tourist tax, as it is formally called, to 3,000 yen. She floated the idea before becoming premier.

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Japan's largest labor union to seek 5% or higher pay hike next spring

TOKYO - Japan's largest labor union decided Thursday to demand a wage hike of at least 5 percent in next spring's annual labor-management negotiations, maintaining the same target as this year to sustain momentum amid persistent inflation.

In its basic policy for the 2026 "shunto" wage talks, the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, also known as Rengo, said it aims for a real wage increase of 1 percent, in line with the government's goal. Real, or inflation-adjusted, wages are a barometer of consumer purchasing power.

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Japan's Jera to acquire U.S. shale gas asset interests for $1.5 billion

TOKYO - Major Japanese energy company Jera Co. said Thursday that it will acquire interests in a shale gas asset in Louisiana for about $1.5 billion after Japan recently agreed with the United States to increase liquefied natural gas imports from the country following tariff negotiations.

Through the agreement reached by its subsidiary Jera Americas Inc., Jera will acquire 100 percent of the interests and business assets held by Williams Upstream Holdings, LLC and GEP Haynesville II LLC in the shale basin, which produces about 3.5 million tons of LNG per year.

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Fake Chinese security agent targets exchange student in Japan in fraud case

TOKYO - A female Chinese exchange student in Japan was made to fake her own abduction to get money from her parents as part of a fraud scheme by an individual claiming to be a member of Chinese intelligence, investigative sources said Thursday.

The woman in Tokyo was contacted multiple times earlier this year by the person, who pretended to belong to China's Public Security Ministry and claimed there was a warrant out for her arrest in her homeland but that she could pay to have it scrapped.

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Baseball: Hawks win negotiation rights to Stanford's Sasaki

TOKYO - The SoftBank Hawks won the negotiation rights to highly touted Japanese slugger Rintaro Sasaki of Stanford University as their first pick during the Nippon Professional Baseball draft on Thursday.

The Pacific League pennant winner Hawks won a two-way lottery with the DeNA BayStars for the 20-year-old first baseman, who enrolled at Stanford last year after skipping NPB's draft in the fall of 2023.

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Tokio pop group member seeks human rights aid over removal from TV program

TOKYO - A member of Japanese all-male pop group Tokio on Thursday filed a complaint with the bar association for human rights relief, calling a TV network's move to remove him from a popular TV program over past misconduct problematic.

Taichi Kokubun was removed from variety program "The Tetsuwan Dash" in June by Nippon Television Network Corp., with the company pointing to conduct by Kokubun that breached compliance rules on multiple occasions.