Kyodo News Digest: July 24, 2022

Polar bears are pictured at Tennoji Zoo in Osaka on July 23, 2022. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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

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WHO declares monkeypox outbreak global health emergency

GENEVA – The World Health Organization on Saturday declared the outbreak of monkeypox a global health emergency, the highest level of alert, as cases continue to rise.

The WHO reconvened its emergency committee on monkeypox for the second time in a month Thursday to assess the outbreak and its implication on public health.

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Japan’s daily coronavirus cases surpass 200,000 for 1st time

TOKYO – Japan’s daily COVID-19 cases topped 200,000 for the first time, according to a tally of new cases reported Saturday, marking the fourth straight day of a record count during the seventh wave of coronavirus infections.

Tokyo logged 32,698 new cases, exceeding the 30,000 mark for a third consecutive day and up more than 13,000 from the previous Saturday.

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Athletics: Haruka Kitaguchi wins historic javelin bronze for Japan at worlds

EUGENE, Oregon – Haruka Kitaguchi won bronze in the women’s javelin at the world athletics championships Friday, becoming the first Japanese woman to medal in a throwing event at either the worlds or the Olympics.

The 24-year-old threw 63.27 meters in the final for Japan’s third medal at the ongoing championships in Oregon. Yukifumi Murakami was Japan’s last javelin medalist when he took bronze in the men’s competition at the 2009 worlds.

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Abe shooter to undergo mental competence exam before indictment

NARA, Japan – The Nara District Court has approved the detention of a man accused of fatally shooting former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe until Nov. 29 to examine his mental fitness, a source familiar with the case said Saturday.

The pre-indictment move by the prosecution toward 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami comes amid expectations that questions over the shooter’s criminal liability will form a major part of a forthcoming trial.

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Thai PM Prayut survives no-confidence motion in lower house

BANGKOK – A no-confidence motion against Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and 10 ministers was voted down Saturday in the House of Representatives, keeping his administration alive amid the opposition’s intensified campaign against the government.

As the ruling coalition led by Prayut’s Palang Pracharath Party fended off criticism about its mishandling of economic problems and the COVID-19 pandemic, he received 256 confidence votes versus 206 negative ones amid his apparent bid to secure a controversial third term.

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Tokyo marks 1st Olympic anniversary with ceremony

TOKYO – Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike joined Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic athletes and volunteers Saturday for a ceremony at the National Stadium to mark the first anniversary of the games’ start.

Koike was joined by Seiko Hashimoto, the Tokyo Games organizing committee’s final president, one year after the opening ceremony was held at the same venue.

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U.S. reiterates “strategic ambiguity” over Taiwan has not changed

WASHINGTON – The United States continues to maintain “strategic ambiguity” over its response to a Chinese attack on Taiwan, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Friday, even though President Joe Biden has vowed military intervention.

Noting that every U.S. administration’s Taiwan policy has contained “many different sentences” that have made people wonder how they would all fit together, Sullivan said, “Somehow that ambiguity — that creative tension within the policy — has allowed us to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait for multiple decades across multiple administrations.”

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50% of Japanese women think work hampers married life: survey

TOKYO – Around 50 percent of women think work gets in the way of married life, according to a survey of women registered with a Tokyo-based temporary staffing agency, highlighting the difficulties women face in trying to balance work and family in Japan.

The women who said they “somewhat think” that work becomes a hindrance to marriage accounted for 37.7 percent, with an additional 10.9 percent saying they “strongly feel so,” the survey by b-style holdings Inc.’s research arm said.