An evacuation order that has been enforced in three towns in Fukushima Prefecture, northern Japan, since the 2011 nuclear accident will be partially lifted in March.

The Japanese government reached the decision at a meeting of the nuclear disaster taskforce attended by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday.

Friday marks 25 years since the devastating earthquake that struck Hyogo Prefecture and nearby areas in western Japan, leaving 6,434 people dead.

The tremor known as the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake occurred on January 17, 1995, destroying many buildings and causing fires.

A Japanese high court will soon rule on whether to suspend a nuclear reactor in western Japan after local residents filed for an injunction over safety concerns.

The Hiroshima High Court will announce a decision on Friday afternoon on the No.3 reactor at the Ikata nuclear plant in Ehime Prefecture. The plant is operated by Shikoku Power Electric Company.

International researchers say that a new coronavirus, first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan last month, is similar in many aspects to the SARS virus that caused an outbreak in China and other parts of Asia in 2003.

US and other researchers have examined the virus by analyzing the gene sequence made available by the World Health Organization. They suggested on Twitter that it is a variant of betacoronavirus like the SARS virus.

Some Japanese government officials are concerned that Washington may pressure Tokyo to pay significantly more for stationing US forces in Japan.

Bilateral negotiations on the cost will likely shift into high gear as early as this summer, with the current five-year agreement on the costs of supporting US forces due to expire in March 2021.

The International Court of Justice says it will make an announcement on Thursday of next week that could include a provisional measure to protect Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

The case was brought before the court by the west African nation of Gambia.

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant says the firm plans to assign more of its employees to decommissioning work there. The move follows a series of mistakes and other troubles at the site.

Tokyo Electric Power Company President Tomoaki Kobayakawa disclosed the plan when he was summoned to the Nuclear Regulation Authority on Thursday to discuss the cause of the problems and preventive measures.

A World Health Organization official says the first case of a new strain of coronavirus in Japan is unlikely to immediately lead to a major outbreak in the country.

Takeshi Kasai, head of the WHO's Western Pacific Regional Office, was speaking to NHK on Thursday. His office covers 37 countries and territories in East and Southeast Asia.

Japanese police have discovered a new computer program that helps hackers get unauthorized access to online services more efficiently.

The discovery comes after police arrested last May a Chinese national on suspicion of operating an unregistered server to make illicit money transfers overseas.

Nissan Motor says it intends to keep demanding that former chairman Carlos Ghosn leave a Beirut residence owned by the carmaker.

Nissan officials say the firm asked Ghosn and his family to stop using the property in January last year as part of efforts to protect its corporate assets.

A Japanese non-profit group helping sexual abuse victims is urging the government not to pardon child sex offenders.

Members of the group met Justice Minister Masako Mori on Thursday to make the request in connection with the pardons the government granted to mark Emperor Naruhito's enthronement ceremony last year.

Japanese companies operating in China are tightening measures to prevent their employees from getting pneumonia following an outbreak in the country that may be linked to a new type of coronavirus.

Japan External Trade Organization, or JETRO, says 156 Japanese firms are located in Wuhan and surrounding cities. The inland Chinese city has been hit by the pneumonia outbreak.

Russian authorities say they expect the captain of a Japanese fishing boat to be fined for violation of a fishery agreement between the two countries.

Border authorities in Sakhalin in Russia's Far East said on Thursday that they have found an undeclared catch of 714 kilograms of ray fish on the No. 68 Shoyo-maru.

A number of Japanese lawyers for former Nissan Motor chairman Carlos Ghosn have resigned, following his escape to Lebanon.

Lawyer Junichiro Hironaka told reporters that he resigned as of Thursday.