The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.----------3 Japan prefectures with U.S. bases request COVID quasi-emergencyTOKYO - The three Japanese prefectures of Okinawa, Yamaguchi and Hiroshima requested Thursday the central government declare a quasi-state of emergency over the COVID-19 pandemic in their areas amid recent sharp gains in new cases attributable to the spread of the Omicron variant at U.S. military bases in Japan.The Okinawa government, which confirmed a record 981 new infections in the southern island prefecture the same day, is seeking to impos…READ FULL ARTICLE