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

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Japan's economy expands 1.8% in Jan.-March, revised down

TOKYO - Japan's economy expanded an annualized real 1.8 percent in the January-March quarter, revised down from an initially reported increase of 2.1 percent, government data showed Monday.

Real gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation, grew 0.5 percent from the October-December period, unchanged from a preliminary reading, the Cabinet Office said.

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Japan logs current account surplus of 3.91 tril. yen in April

TOKYO - Japan posted a current account surplus of 3.91 trillion yen ($24.4 billion) in April, the Finance Ministry said Monday.

The current account balance is one of the widest gauges of international trade.

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Japan sounds out S. Korea on talks to lift Fukushima seafood curbs

SEOUL/TOKYO - Japan has sounded out South Korea about launching regular working-level talks in the hope Seoul lifts its import restrictions on Japanese seafood imposed since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident, Japanese and South Korean government sources said Sunday.

Japan hopes the talks will build public reassurance in South Korea, the sources said. But Seoul has not given a clear response amid cautious public opinion, and any rollback is widely seen as hinging on a political decision by President Lee Jae Myung.

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Man admits creating videos critical of Japan PM rivals in LDP election

TOKYO - The head of an IT firm has said that he created videos criticizing rivals of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in last year's ruling Liberal Democratic Party presidential race, after being asked by one of her aides to help her win the election.

Ken Matsui, 33, told Kyodo News in a recent online interview that he was consulted by a secretary of Takaichi on how to "reverse" the lead of Shinjiro Koizumi, then a strong contender to win the LDP presidential election in October.

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Japan sets 3 conditions for defense force dispatch to Hormuz: source

TOKYO - Japan has set three conditions to dispatch its Self-Defense Forces to the effectively closed Strait of Hormuz, a source familiar with the matter said Sunday, amid ongoing uncertainty over an end to the Middle East crisis.

According to the source, Japan would require the United States and Iran to agree to a ceasefire, for communication with the Iranian side to be in place and that the threat in the strait be reduced. Specific operations if such conditions were met include disposal of abandoned mines and protecting commercial vessels, the source said.

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American found dead in Kyoto after disappearing on family holiday

KYOTO - A body found in the western Japan city of Kyoto has been identified as that of a missing American man, police said Sunday, after he disappeared during a family trip to the country.

James Weston Higginbotham, 20, went missing in late May, the police have said. His disappearance attracted media coverage in Japan and overseas, prompting searches by local volunteers in a mountainous part of the ancient capital.

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Kim's sister calls China-U.S. goal on N. Korea denuclearization "false"

BEIJING - Kim Yo Jong, the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said that the May confirmation by U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping of their shared goal to denuclearize North Korea is "false information," state-run media said Sunday.

The sister, who serves as a senior ruling party official, said in a statement Saturday, "This is nothing but an old practice of the U.S. for spreading false information," according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

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Quarter of women in Japan news industry see workplace as gender equal: poll

TOKYO - Just 26 percent of female employees in the Japanese news media industry say that their workplace is gender equal, compared to 40.7 of male respondents saying the same, results from a recent survey showed.

The Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association's poll on gender awareness and diversity revealed a gap in perceptions of fairness. The poll was conducted with the aim of improving the heavily male-dominated media industry.

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VIDEO: Ceremony in Wakayama Prefecture to celebrate day of the plum