TOKYO - The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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Trump says he expects to meet North Korean leader by year-end
WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday he expects to hold a face-to-face meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un by the end of the year.
Trump, who has been making diplomatic overtures toward Kim since the beginning of this week, also told reporters that North Korea possesses "57 very powerful nuclear weapons." The remarks came at a time when the U.S. president has been struggling to negotiate with Iran over nuclear and other issues.
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Japan, Turkey leaders voice opposition to toll charge on Hormuz passage
TOKYO - Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday voiced their opposition to the collection of transit fees on vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz, affirming their close collaboration amid stalled U.S.-Iranian negotiations.
Speaking to reporters after their phone talks, Takaichi emphasized the importance of "ensuring free and safe navigation" through the strait "without any additional costs," to which Erdogan said in response that his views on the key energy transportation artery are "entirely consistent" with hers.
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U.S. imposes sanctions on Japanese chief of International Criminal Court
WASHINGTON - The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on Tomoko Akane, the first Japanese national to head the International Criminal Court, with President Donald Trump's administration accusing The Hague-based judicial body of encroaching on state sovereignty.
Marking yet another escalation in the administration's campaign to dismantle the ICC, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement that it is a "corrupt and fatally politicized supranational court that has maliciously abused its authority and exceeded its mandate."
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N. Korea denies plan to boost troop deployment for Russia war
BEIJING - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's sister on Wednesday denied a Ukrainian assessment that Russia and North Korea are considering deploying additional North Korean troops to Russia in Moscow's war against Kyiv.
"I make clear that the theory of the 'dispatch of additional troops' of our army, which (President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's) group invented and propagates, is an ungrounded farce," Kim Yo Jong said, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
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India's Uttar Pradesh, Japan's Yamanashi to deepen hydrogen, HR ties
NEW DELHI - Public- and private-sector delegates from India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh and Japan's Yamanashi Prefecture met in the Indian capital on Wednesday to discuss ways to expand cooperation in clean energy, manufacturing and human resources development.
"What Yamanashi can offer is not equipment, but experience in producing hydrogen from renewable energy, storing it and using it at industrial sites," Yamanashi Gov. Kotaro Nagasaki told a Japan-India business forum in New Delhi. He led a delegation of more than 200 businesspeople and officials from the central Japan prefecture.
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Japan drafts Kumamoto quake aid package, plans travel discounts
TOKYO - The Japanese government will compile an aid package for quake-hit southwestern Japan by the end of August, providing travel discounts for tourists visiting the affected areas along with financial aid for residents and businesses, sources close to the matter said Wednesday.
The draft package also includes subsidies to restore quake-damaged railway infrastructure and aid to repair wells that many households in hard-hit Kumamoto Prefecture rely on for drinking water.
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Foreign visitors to Japan hit 3.44 mil. in July, new record for month
TOKYO - The number of foreign visitors to Japan in July inched up 0.1 percent from a year earlier to 3.44 million, a record for the month, government estimates showed Wednesday, with travel demand remaining strong amid the summer holiday season in the northern hemisphere.
By country and region, South Korea topped the list with 894,700 visitors, up 31.9 percent, followed by Taiwan with 763,800, a 26.4 percent increase and a new monthly record, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization.
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Cross-party Japan lawmakers' group to visit China next week, 1st since row
BEIJING - A cross-party group of Japanese lawmakers will visit China next week for a potential meeting with senior ruling Communist Party officials, sources familiar with bilateral relations said Wednesday, marking the first such exchange since a diplomatic dispute worsened the two countries' ties last November.
The delegation, including Gaku Hashimoto of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and Shinichi Isa of the opposition Centrist Reform Alliance, will make a four-day visit to China from Monday, the sources said.
