1. Retail giant Aeon says it will start selling rice from California to Japanese consumers, who face high prices and shortages of the staple grain. Rice prices at supermarkets in the country have doubled from a year ago. Aeon officials say they will begin releasing the variety, called Calrose, from June 6. Sales are scheduled to end around autumn when newly harvested Japan-grown rice reaches store shelves.
2. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was inaugurated for a second term, along with his new government, on Tuesday. With vote counting still going on, Australia’s public news service ABC reported that the Labor Party is expected to win at least 93 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives.
3. Pope Leo VIV has stressed that people must reject war in his address to journalists and other members of the media from around the world. The new head of the Roman Catholic Church said, “Peace begins with each one of us: in the way we look at others, listen to others and speak about others.” He said, “In this sense, the way we communicate is of fundamental importance.” He stressed, “We must say ‘no’ to the war of words and images, we must reject the paradigm of war.”