JIJI English News-時事通信英語ニュース-

Foreign ministers of Japan, the United States and South Korea on Friday signed a memorandum on the Trilateral Arctic Pacific Partnership to strengthen their countries' cooperation in Arctic affairs.

The head of Doshisha, which operates Doshisha International Senior High School, has apologized over a boat accident in Okinawa Prefecture that killed a female student, at his first press conference since the March 16 accident.

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi on Friday demanded the immediate release of a reporter for Japan's Hokkaido Shimbun newspaper detained by Russian authorities, in a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, Japan's Foreign Ministry said.

Final preparations are underway to reopen the main hall of Shuri Castle in Okinawa Prefecture in November, as Saturday marked the seventh anniversary of the fire that destroyed the landmark in the southwestern Japan prefecture.

Toyota Motor Corp. said Friday that it will launch the first driverless taxis in Japan in 2027, in partnership with Waymo LLC, a unit of U.S. technology giant Alphabet Inc.

Top Vietnamese leader To Lam will address the Diet, Japan's parliament, in the House of Representatives plenary chamber on Nov. 9.

Major Japanese semiconductor manufacturer Kioxia Holdings Corp. forecast Friday that its April-December net profit will surge about 24-fold from a year earlier to 3,557.8 billion yen.

About 3,600 sets of personal information may have been compromised following unauthorized access to a network at Japan's Foreign Ministry, the ministry said Friday.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Friday reiterated her cautious stance toward the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

The Japanese government said Friday that it is considering providing around 5,000 yen a year to low-income workers under a proposed income-linked benefit program.