Here is the latest list of news digests selected by Kyodo News.

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FOCUS: Record-breaking women and LGBTQ election candidates step up to shake up Japanese politics

TOKYO — A record number of women and LGBTQ candidates are campaigning to win over voters in Sunday’s House of Councilors election and potentially bring change to Japan’s male-dominated political landscape.

While some advocates have hailed the unprecedented numbers of openly LGBTQ women and hopefuls, the candidates’ policies will be tested as surveys show issues such as rising prices and Social Security will likely be at the fore. forefront of voters’ concerns.

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G-20 foreign ministers to meet amid ongoing tensions over Ukraine

NUSA DUA, Indonesia — Foreign ministers from the Group of 20 major developed and fast-growing economies will begin a two-day meeting on the Indonesian island of Bali on Thursday, focusing on how to tackle food and energy shortages and improve the economy. other challenges posed by Russia. the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken are due to attend the meeting in the resort town of Nusa Dua, where G-20 ministers will also discuss cooperation on Friday to address rising global inflation. A bilateral Lavrov-Blinken meeting is not planned, according to the US State Department.

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Japan introduces harsher prison terms and penalties for online insults

TOKYO — A prison term of up to a year and other tougher sentences for online insults went into effect Thursday as part of Japan’s efforts to crack down on cyberbullying.

The revised Penal Code also increased the fine for insults to 300,000 yen ($2,200), raising the bar from the current sentence of detention of less than 30 days or a fine of less than 10,000. yen. The statute of limitations for insults has also been extended from one year to three years.

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Cambodia invites Russian Foreign Minister to ASEAN meetings

PHNOM PENH — Cambodia has invited Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to annual ASEAN-related meetings scheduled for early August, a move likely to worry the international community which has been divided in its response to the invasion of China. Ukraine via Moscow.

Speaking at a briefing to the foreign diplomatic corps on Wednesday, Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn said he had asked the Russian minister to attend the Association of Asian Nations Regional Forum Southeast and other related meetings.

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Russian Navy ship spotted near Japanese waters off remote Pacific islet

TOKYO — A Russian Navy information-gathering vessel briefly entered a strip of sea just outside territorial waters off Okinotori Island, Japan’s southernmost island in the Pacific, the Ministry of Defense announced.

It was the first time the ministry released information relating to the movements of a Russian navy ship in so-called contiguous waters off the atoll about 1,700 kilometers south of Tokyo.

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Korean lawyer in Japan awarded damages for disciplinary claims

NAGOYA — An ethnic Korean lawyer was awarded damages by a Japanese court on Wednesday for emotional distress after facing hundreds of disciplinary demands for her support of state grants for pro-Pyongyang Korean schools in Japan.

The Nagoya High Court has ordered a group of people from Aichi Prefecture and elsewhere to pay a total of about 1 million yen ($7,400) in compensation for their repeated demands that the bar association of Kanagawa discipline, upholding an earlier ruling by the Nagoya District Court and dismissing appeals from both sides.

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Rising food and energy prices are pushing millions into poverty: UN

NEW YORK — Tens of millions of people have been pushed into poverty as a result of soaring global food and energy prices, according to a UN report released Thursday.

The United Nations Development Program estimates that an additional 51.6 million people now live in poverty or below $1.90 a day due to global inflation, an increase of 8.3% from 9% of the world’s population.

The additional number of people falling below the $3.20 a day level reached nearly 20 million, leaving the net cumulative figure at 71.5 million people, according to the report.

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A charity ballet organized to help Ukraine’s national dance troupe

TOKYO, July 6 Kyodo – Japanese and Ukrainian ballet dancers performed at a charity event to raise funds for Ukraine’s national dance troupe amid the Russian invasion of the Eastern European country .

The “Ballet Gala in Tokyo” charity, hosted on Tuesday and produced by Japanese actress and former prima ballerina Tamiyo Kusakari, can be viewed online through Monday night as a ticketed event.