Japan's education and culture ministry has requested the Tokyo District Court to issue an order to dissolve a religious group formerly known as the Unification Church.

The US Navy said it has flown a patrol aircraft through the Taiwan Strait, a move criticized by China.

The Japanese government is considering giving the Prime Minister's Award to professional shogi player Fujii Sota.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is concerned that the fighting in the Middle East could distract his allies from the conflict in his country. On Wednesday, he surprised them with a visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels.

The operator of Tokyo's Yamanote loop line has decided to allow limited outside staff to view real-time footage from security cameras installed in the trains in case of emergency.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has welcomed his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to his country for the first time since the Russian invasion. They met in Bucharest on Tuesday to discuss shared security.

The Japan Meteorological Agency is still unable to pinpoint the scale and focus of an earthquake that occurred on Monday which triggered tsunami of up to 60 centimeters in the Izu Islands in the Pacific Ocean, south of Tokyo.

Search and rescue operations continue after two powerful earthquakes struck western Afghanistan on Saturday.

Japanese Foreign Minister Kamikawa Yoko has said in a statement that she is "deeply saddened by the large number of deaths and the extensive damage" that was caused by the quakes in western Afghanistan on Saturday.

The UN Security Council has held an emergency meeting to discuss the attacks on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

A developing low-pressure system to the east of Japan is bringing typhoon-level winds and high waves to northern Japan on Friday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has condemned one of the deadliest attacks on civilians in months. He called the strike on a village in the Kharkiv region a "brutal Russian crime." At least 50 people died.