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

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Japan, China hold "expert dialogue" over Fukushima water releases

TOKYO - Japan and China held an "expert dialogue" on Saturday over the release of treated radioactive wastewater from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, in their latest effort to address the dispute about the issue.

During the talks in Dalian, northeastern China, the Japanese side explained their belief that the water release is safe and detailed ongoing radiation monitoring activities. China has upheld an import ban on all seafood products from Japan in response to the multiple discharges that began in August last year.

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Another factory in Japan searched over dietary supplement deaths

WAKAYAMA, Japan - The health ministry inspected another factory in western Japan on Sunday as it seeks to find the cause of five deaths and numerous hospitalizations thought to be linked to Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co. red yeast rice dietary supplements.

The factory in Wakayama Prefecture, run by a subsidiary of Kobayashi Pharmaceutical, took over the production of ingredients for the supplements following the closure of an aging plant in Osaka in December. The Osaka factory was searched on Saturday.

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Central Tokyo logs 27.7 C on Sun., record-high temperature for March

TOKYO - Central Tokyo experienced a record-high temperature for March at 27.7 C on Sunday as a high-pressure system brought summer-like heat to parts of the Japanese archipelago, according to the country's weather agency.

The high was marked at 12:26 p.m. in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency, which made it the hottest temperature recorded in March since data began being collected in 1876.

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Record 63% of Japanese in financial stress, poll shows

TOKYO - A record 63.2 percent of respondents said they do not feel financially secure in Japan and have a negative outlook on their future, a recent government survey showed.

The proportion of people who experienced financial stress in 2023 rose 0.7 percentage point from a year earlier against the backdrop of surging prices, according to the Cabinet Office poll.

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Japan to OK home care visits by more foreign workers amid shortages

TOKYO - The Japanese government plans to lift restrictions on foreign nursing workers making home care visits to the elderly as soon as fiscal 2024, the labor ministry has told an expert panel.

The plan comes as Japan attempts to expand the parameters in which foreign laborers can work amid an increasingly older population and shortages of working-age people. Some 40 percent of firms offering such services reported losses in fiscal 2022 as the demographic pressures mount.

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Japan, U.S. to boost security ties with U.K., Australia, Philippines

TOKYO - Japan and the United States are set to strengthen their security partnership with Britain, Australia and the Philippines to counter China's assertive military posture, government sources said Saturday.

Under the closer security ties, the five countries will increase joint drills in the Indo-Pacific region and promote cooperation on defensive technologies, the sources said.

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FEATURE: Same-sex marriage turns 10 in Britain: two couples reflect

LONDON - Two gay couples who reside in Britain where same-sex marriage has been the law of the land for the past decade were among those recently celebrating the historic occasion, which granted them the freedom to marry the person of their choice.

While both couples have found equality liberating following Britain's landmark enactment of the Marriage Act on March 29, 2014, for Japan-born Kan, 32, being able to tie the knot with husband Tom, 29, was more a mixed blessing as it meant having to leave behind his native country, where even today same-sex marriage is not permitted.

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Japan publisher threatened over publication of trans-skeptical book

TOKYO - A Japanese publisher has received threats over its plan to publish a translated version of a controversial U.S. book questioning an increase in young women seeking gender transitions, its parent company said Saturday.

Sankei Shimbun Publications Inc. received an email threatening arson against bookstores that carried the book unless its publication was canceled, noting the work could promote discrimination against transgender people.

==Kyodo

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