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

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Japan to cut consumption tax on food to 1% from April 2027: PM

TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Thursday said her government will implement a cut in the consumption tax rate on food and beverages to 1 percent from the current 8 percent for two years starting next April, as households continue to struggle with high prices.

The tax cut, which will be coupled with cash handouts to low- to middle-income earners to effectively reduce the tax burden to zero, was unveiled during a meeting of ruling Liberal Democratic Party executives earlier that day. It marks the first time that the consumption tax rate has been lowered since the system's introduction in 1989.

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Death toll from M7.1 Kumamoto earthquake rises to 30

KUMAMOTO, Japan - The death toll from a powerful earthquake that hit Kumamoto Prefecture in southwestern Japan earlier this week has reached 30, including those suspected to be disaster-related, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Thursday.

The Kumamoto prefectural government's tally, meanwhile, put the total of confirmed deaths at 18, including eight at Nippon Paper Industries Co.'s plant in Yatsushiro and six at an Aeon shopping mall in Kashima that was rocked by an explosion following the magnitude 7.1 quake two days prior.

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Toyota remains top automaker in 1st-half global sales for 7th yr in row

NAGOYA - Toyota Motor Corp. on Thursday retained top spot in first-half global sales in 2026 for the seventh straight year, with its group companies selling 5.39 million vehicles worldwide to outperform German rival Volkswagen AG.

Global sales in the January-June period, however, fell 2.8 percent from a year earlier, marking the first year-on-year decline in two years, reflecting sluggish demand in China hit by higher gasoline prices amid tensions in the Middle East.

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Local, foreign evacuees support each other in quake-hit Kumamoto town

HIKAWA, Japan - The recent powerful earthquake that struck Kumamoto Prefecture has left residents reeling from the impact, with local people and foreign nationals in shelters helping each other to overcome their anxiety and daily concerns such as lack of food supplies and water outages.

"It was the most intense shaking I've ever experienced in my life. It was terrifying," said Davina Putri, a 22-year-old Indonesian woman who is among around 100 people staying at an evacuation center in Hikawa town, one of the hardest hit areas.

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BOJ set to keep policy rate steady to gauge impact of hike to 31-yr high

TOKYO - The Bank of Japan is likely to leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged at its two-day policy meeting from Thursday to assess the impact of its recent rate hike to a 31-year-high and the recent strong earthquake in southwestern Japan.

Many BOJ watchers expect the Policy Board to maintain the rate at 1.0 percent after raising it from 0.75 percent in mid-June, with the central bank also seen as wanting to assess the impact of higher crude oil prices and the weaker yen on inflation and businesses.

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Gov't cuts Japan's FY 2026 GDP growth outlook to 0.9% on higher oil prices

TOKYO - The Japanese government on Thursday cut its economic growth outlook to 0.9 percent for the current fiscal year from April, down from an earlier estimate of 1.3 percent as higher crude oil prices hit the import-reliant economy.

The Cabinet Office also unveiled its latest projections for the primary balance, a key indicator of a country's fiscal health, expecting a 1.4 trillion yen ($8.6 billion) surplus in fiscal 2027 on a boost in tax revenues, compared with last month's estimate of a deficit of 2.1 trillion yen.

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Hitachi, Toshiba unveil new train for Taiwan high-speed rail

YAMAGUCHI, Japan - Hitachi Ltd. and Toshiba Corp. on Thursday unveiled a new train built for Taiwan's high-speed rail operator at a shipment ceremony in western Japan, with commercial service planned to begin as early as 2027.

The N700ST, based on the N700S model used on the Tokaido Shinkansen line connecting Tokyo and Shin-Osaka stations, was shown to reporters and railway officials at a Hitachi plant in Yamaguchi Prefecture, ahead of the first shipment of Japanese-built Shinkansen trains to Taiwan in 22 years.

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Yokohama mayor abused authority to bully subordinates: city

YOKOHAMA - Yokohama Mayor Takeharu Yamanaka was found to have abused his authority on multiple occasions to bully his subordinates and verbally assault them, a third-party investigation report released Thursday by the city government showed.

The report said Yamanaka told staff members they would be "sidelined" and "purged" regarding personnel matters, behavior that constituted improper exercise of authority designed to psychologically pressure and contr