TOKYO - The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
----------
Food tax cut seen cutting farm income by 300 billion yen: estimate
TOKYO - A cut in the consumption tax rate on food and beverages would reduce the annual income of about 800,000 small and medium-sized farms across Japan by more than 300 billion yen ($1.9 billion), according to a think tank estimate released Saturday.
Because many of these farms are partly or fully exempt from remitting the current 8 percent consumption tax included in the prices of the farm products they sell, cutting the tax rate to 1 percent would reduce their income and could accelerate the trend of farmers quitting the industry.
----------
Japan PM Takaichi heads to Europe for talks with G7 leaders
TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi departed Saturday for her first trip to Europe since taking office in October, hoping to work with other leaders to address what has become the world's worst energy crisis since the 1970s.
Takaichi will visit Britain and Italy before attending the three-day Group of Seven summit beginning Monday in the French resort town of Evian-les-Bains. Energy security, critical mineral supply chains and geopolitical tensions are expected to top the agenda.
----------
Japan, Indonesia eye closer ties via intel sharing, export of destroyers
TOKYO - Japan and Indonesia have agreed to explore deeper defense cooperation through the potential sharing of sensitive maritime information and accelerate talks toward the export of Japanese destroyers, the Japanese Defense Ministry said Saturday.
The agreement came after Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi held talks with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin on Friday as he visited the Southeast Asian country.
----------
TEPCO says treated water release halted after low-flow alarm
FUKUSHIMA, Japan - The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant said the release of treated radioactive water into the sea was automatically halted on Saturday after an alarm was triggered by low water flow in the pumping system.
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. said the emergency shutoff valve on a pump that supplies seawater to dilute the treated water closed after water flow dropped following a momentary power outage affecting two power lines inside the plant. Thunderstorms were reported in the area at the time.
----------
Anthropic suspends access to advanced AI models after U.S. gov't directive
WASHINGTON - U.S. artificial intelligence company Anthropic said Friday it has disabled access to its Claude Fable 5 and Claude Mythos 5 models, following a U.S. government directive due to national security concerns.
Anthropic said the abrupt move was necessary to comply with the government's directive urging it to suspend access to the models by "any foreign national, whether inside or outside the United States." All other Anthropic models are unaffected, it added.
----------
Japan's emperor, empress begin trip to Netherlands, Belgium
TOKYO - Japan's Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako departed Saturday for their trip to the Netherlands and Belgium, marking their fourth official overseas visit aimed at promoting international goodwill since the emperor's accession to the throne.
During the trip of about two weeks, the emperor and empress will attend welcoming ceremonies and banquets hosted by the royal couples of the two European countries. It will be their first visit to the Netherlands in 13 years and to Belgium in 27 years.
----------
Horse parade "Chagu Chagu Umakko" held in Japan's Iwate Prefecture
MORIOKA, Japan - A horse parade called "Chagu Chagu Umakko" took place Saturday in northeastern Iwate Prefecture, with about 70 horses wearing ornate harnesses and bells parading through rice paddies and city streets.
The horses, carrying children dressed in traditional attire, paraded about 14 kilometers from Onikoshi Sozen Shrine in Takizawa to Morioka Hachimangu Shrine in Morioka as crowds, including foreign visitors, lined the route.
----------
Sumo: Wakamotoharu, Abi mingle with Paris schoolchildren before tournament
PARIS - Sumo wrestlers Wakamotoharu and Abi visited a local elementary school and mingled with children in Paris on Friday, a day before the opening of a two-day exhibition tournament in the French capital.
Wakamotoharu, who formerly held sumo's third-highest rank of sekiwake, was hugged by one of the children as he was leaving. With a smile, he said, "It was a lot of fun. We don't really have a custom of hugging, so I was happy."
----------
VIDEO: Sumo wrestlers tour Paris, enjoy bread
