Japan is sending a fact-finding team to Mauritius to determine what kind of assistance is necessary to help the local environment and fishing industry recover from a huge oil spill.
The bulk carrier Wakashio, which was registered in Panama and chartered by the Japanese shipping firm Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, ran aground off the coast of the Indian Ocean nation in July. It leaked huge amounts of oil.
US President Donald Trump has sent a letter of condolence to the widow of Yokota Shigeru, who died last month without seeing his daughter after her abduction by North Korea decades ago.
Yokota Megumi was abducted in 1977 on her way home from junior high school in Niigata City, on the Sea of Japan coast. Shigeru and his wife Sakie spearheaded efforts by the families of abductees to bring their loved ones back home. He died on June 5 at the age of 87.