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

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Japan scrambling to evacuate nationals from Afghanistan amid tensions

TOKYO - The Japanese government on Friday scrambled to evacuate nationals and local staff at its embassy and other Japanese entities from Afghanistan, officials said, amid heightened tensions in the war-torn country following deadly explosions near the international airport in Kabul.

Seeing Friday as the limit for the Self-Defense Forces to operate safely ahead of an Aug. 31 deadline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops, Japan is ramping up efforts to evacuate several nationals still in Afghanistan as well as several hundred local staff.

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Paralympics: Wheelchair racer Sato wins Japan's 2nd gold

TOKYO - Tomoki Sato won Japan's first athletics gold of the Tokyo Paralympics on Friday, coming from behind down the home straight to take the men's wheelchair T52 400-meter title at the National Stadium.

Sato, the 2019 world champion over both 400 and 1,500, finished strong to cross the line in 55.39 seconds. Raymond Martin of the United States claimed silver 0.20 behind and Japan's Hirokazu Ueyonabaru won bronze.

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No. of Japan's severe COVID patients hits 2,000 for 1st time

TOKYO - The number of coronavirus patients with severe symptoms rose to a record 2,000 in Japan on Thursday, the health ministry said Friday.

The figure reached a record for the 15th consecutive day as Japan has been battling an alarming rise in daily COVID-19 infections caused by the highly contagious Delta variant, with the medical system close to its breaking point.

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Moderna's contaminated vaccine only shipped to Japan: Spanish maker

PARIS/TOKYO - A lot of Moderna Inc.'s COVID-19 vaccine doses where contaminants were detected had only been shipped to Japan, the Spanish manufacturer for the U.S. biotechnology company said Thursday.

"The detection of this particulate matter refers to certain vials of one product lot distributed exclusively in Japan," the Spanish pharma company Rovi SA said in a statement, adding it is conducting an investigation into the matter and cooperating with health authorities.

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Malaysia's new PM retains many in new Cabinet

KUALA LUMPUR - New Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob unveiled the lineup of his Cabinet on Friday that largely sees the return of familiar faces from the previous administration as he opted for stability given the slim parliamentary majority he secured in attaining the top job.

Taking a leaf from his predecessor Muhyiddin Yassin, Ismail Sabri did away with the deputy prime minister's post and instead retained the four senior minister positions with each in charge of economy, security, education and infrastructure.

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130,000 meals for Olympic staffers thrown away in 1 month

TOKYO - About 130,000 meals pre-ordered for Tokyo Olympic volunteers and staff members were discarded in the one month through Aug. 3, the games' organizing committee said Friday.

The total accounts for roughly a quarter of all the food prepared during the period at 20 Olympic venues that the committee had looked into, it said. The Olympics, which ended Aug. 8, took place at 42 venues in and out of the Japanese capital.

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Alliance with Japan remains "credible deterrent": new U.S. commander

TOKYO - The bilateral alliance with Japan remains "a credible deterrent" against adversaries, the new commander of U.S. forces in Japan said Friday, at a time when China is trying to increase its clout in the region.

"Our alliance at all levels ensures we remain a credible deterrent, ready to respond at a moment's notice to any threat, crisis or humanitarian disaster," Lt. Gen. Ricky Rupp said in a ceremony held at Yokota Air Base in the suburbs of Tokyo, where the headquarters of U.S. Forces Japan are located.

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Record-low children on day-care waiting lists amid pandemic

TOKYO - The number of children on day-care waiting lists in Japan as of April 1 hit a record-low 5,634, as many parents refrained from applying for places at nurseries due to infection fears amid the coronavirus pandemic, government data showed Friday.

The tally, down 6,805 from the year before, fell below 10,000 for the first time since the welfare ministry began collecting data in 1994. The number of applications also declined for the first time, falling around 14,000 to about 2.83 million.

==Kyodo

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