The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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Powerful typhoon veers east of Tokyo, disrupts holiday travel
TOKYO - Japan's transport systems, including shinkansen bullet trains, faced widespread disruptions, and many tourist spots were deserted as a powerful typhoon veered east of Tokyo on Friday, near the end of the Bon summer holidays.
The Japan Meteorological Agency warned of violent winds, mudslides, high waves and flooding, forecasting heavy rain in the eastern region around Tokyo and the northeast.
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Nikkei surges 3%, back to 38,000 as U.S. economy fears ease
TOKYO - The Nikkei stock index surged over 3 percent Friday to return to the 38,000 level for the first time in two weeks on easing concerns over the U.S. economy and a weaker yen lifting exporters.
The Nikkei extended its winning streak to five days to end at its highest since Aug. 1, the start of a three-day plunge when the benchmark lost over 7,600 points due to a firm yen and fears over a possible U.S. recession.
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Less than 20% of Japanese firms using generative AI: survey
TOKYO - Less than 20 percent of Japanese companies are using generative artificial intelligence in their operations, due largely to worries about inadequate internal expertise, a recent survey by a research organization showed.
Concerns about the reliability of generative AI, which has started to gain attention as a tool for improving business efficiency, are also a factor in many Japanese firms' reluctance to embrace it, Teikoku Databank Ltd. said.
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Thai lower house elects Paetongtarn, Thaksin's daughter, as PM
BANGKOK - Thai lawmakers on Friday elected ruling party leader Paetongtarn Shinawatra, daughter of former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, as prime minister two days after her predecessor was dismissed by the Constitutional Court.
Paetongtarn, 37, will become the youngest prime minister in Thailand, the second woman to lead the country after her aunt Yingluck Shinawatra, and its third leader from the wealthy Shinawatra family.
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H.K. welcomes birth of panda twins by world's oldest 1st-time mom
HONG KONG - Hong Kong has welcomed the birth of twin cubs to Ying Ying, who, on Thursday, became the oldest giant panda on record to successfully give birth for the first time, according to an amusement park that houses them.
The city's Ocean Park said one female and one male offspring were born just one day before Ying Ying's 19th birthday. This also marked the first-ever twin panda birth in the semiautonomous region of China.
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Taiwan names former senior official Lee Yi-yang new de facto Japan envoy
TAIPEI - Taiwan appointed Friday Lee Yi-yang, a former vice president of the Examination Yuan, which is in charge of personnel affairs of civil servants, as the island's new de facto ambassador to Japan, according to the presidential office.
Lee, 69, will succeed Frank Hsieh, who left the top representative post in Japan last week after eight years of service. The new envoy is expected to take up his position in Tokyo in September, Taiwanese media said.
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Golf: Paris bronze medalist Matsuyama in form after London theft
MEMPHIS, Tennessee - Fresh off his Olympic bronze medal performance, Japan's Hideki Matsuyama had a solid start at the FedEx St. Jude Championship on Thursday, one stroke back in a tie for second despite playing without his coach and regular caddy whose passports were stolen in London.
Matsuyama shot a 5-under 65 at the TPC Southwind course with the help of substitute caddy Taiga Tabuchi, filling in while his regular caddy, Shota Hayato, and coach Mikihito Kuromiya are back in Japan.
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High court overturns school decertification, questions abuse evidence
FUKUOKA - A high court earlier this month approved a Japanese language school's request to overturn a central government decision that decertified the business for tolerating a former staff member chaining up a Vietnamese student in 2021.
With some of the facts in the case remaining uncertain, "evidence needs to be carefully evaluated," Presiding Judge Takeshi Okada said when handing down the ruling at Fukuoka High Court and overturning a lower court's decision.
Video: Awa Odori dance festival wraps up in Tokushima, western Japan
