Kyodo News Digest: Oct. 24, 2021

People listen to a politician give a blunt speech (Kyodo) == Kyodo on October 23, 2021 ahead of the October 31 parliamentary elections in Nagoya, central Japan

Below is the latest list of selected news summaries from Kyodo News.

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Voting runs in Japan by-elections the week before the general election

TOKYO – Votes began Sunday by-elections to fill two vacant seats in the Japanese parliament, with the result being closely watched to support Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his Liberal Democratic Party ahead of next week’s general election.

The by-elections of the House of Councilors in Shizuoka and Yamaguchi Prefectures are the first national competitions since Kishida’s inauguration earlier this month with the promise of implementing a “new capitalism” that will put the country on a growth path while redistributing wealth to the middle class .

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The school in Fukushima, hit by the tsunami, is opened as a memorial to the tragedy of 2011

FUKUSHIMA, Japan – A primary school in northeastern Japan opened on Sunday as a memorial to those affected by the severe earthquake and tsunami disaster in 2011 and the subsequent Fukushima nuclear crisis.

Ukedo Elementary School, operated by the City of Namie in Fukushima Prefecture, is the first memorial in the prefecture to preserve buildings in their damaged condition.

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Figure Skating: Trusova leads, Sakamoto 4th after Skate America SP

LAS VEGAS, Nevada – Alexandra Trusova of Russia took the lead after the women’s short program of Skate America on Saturday, while Kaori Sakamoto of Japan finished fourth in the first Grand Prix of the Olympic figure skating season.

Two other Russians making their senior Grand Prix debut, Daria Usacheva and Kseniia Sinitsyna, joined Trusova at the top of the standings to complete a provisional Russian podium.

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Chinese and Russian warships pass Osumi Strait for the first time

TOKYO – Chinese and Russian naval ships have passed Osumi Strait off Japan’s southwestern Kagoshima Prefecture together, the Defense Ministry said on Saturday.

It is the first time the Japanese Ministry has confirmed a flotilla of Chinese and Russian ships crossing the strait between the Osumi Peninsula and Tanegashima Island.

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The world’s oldest Diana monkey in captivity dies in Sapporo, Japan

SAPPORO – The world’s oldest captive Diana monkey named “Washington” died at the age of 39 in a zoo in Sapporo on Japan’s northernmost main island, officials said on Saturday.

The male primate, who was born on August 26, 1982 in a zoo in Oklahoma, USA, had a total of 13 offspring and thus contributed to the preservation of the endangered species.

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Japan’s Kaya and Minami conquer silver in gymnastics worlds

KITAKYUSHU, Japan – Kazuma Kaya, the Olympic bronze medalist in the men’s pommel horse in Tokyo, added the world silver medalist on the machine to her resume on Saturday when Japan’s teammate Kazuki Minami took second place in the floor exercise.

On the sixth day at the Kitakyushu General Gymnasium, Kaya scored 14,900 points and took second place with the Chinese Weng Hao behind the 15,266 points of the gold medalist Stephen Nedoroscik from the USA.

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Cambodia celebrates 30 years of peace agreement amid a setback in democracy

HANOI – Cambodia on Saturday marked the 30th anniversary of the Paris Peace Agreement, which ended nearly 13 years of civil war in the Southeast Asian country, and celebrated its reintegration into the international community and economic progress since the groundbreaking deal.

Critics of the authoritarian government of Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has been in office since 1985, urge that the principles of the 1991 agreement be respected and that a free and just democratic nation be created in Cambodia and human rights protected.

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Japan’s party leaders vie for support on the first weekend of the election race

TOKYO – Japanese party leaders took to the streets on Saturday, the first weekend since the official campaign for next week’s general election began.

In his blunt speech in Takeo, southwest Japan, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, reiterated his determination to “normalize social and economic activities” by preventing the spread of COVID-19 through vaccinations and extensive testing.