Fishing vessels leave a port in Taiji in the western Japan prefecture of Wakayama on Sept. 1, 2022, for the season's first drive hunt of dolphins and small whales. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.

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Yen hits 24-yr low in mid-140 vs. dollar on U.S. rate hike prospects

TOKYO - The yen dropped to the mid-140 zone against the U.S. dollar on Friday in Tokyo, as it continues to fall to levels not seen in nearly a quarter of a century amid growing expectations that the Federal Reserve will continue aggressive interest rate hikes.

Tokyo stocks ended lower on the view that higher borrowing costs in the United States will slow down the world's largest economy and weigh on global growth. But they narrowed their losses in the afternoon as investors refrained from bold moves ahead of U.S. employment data to be released later in the day.

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Typhoon Hinnamnor to slam Okinawa islands through weekend

TOKYO - Powerful typhoon Hinnamnor is slowly moving toward Okinawa on Friday from its current location to the south of the Japanese prefecture, with stormy weather set to hit on the weekend.

The typhoon is forecast to approach the Sakishima Islands off the main island of Okinawa on Saturday evening, with the Japan Meteorological Agency warning of strong gusts and high waves for Japan's southernmost prefecture.

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U.S., Japan, S. Korea pledge resolute response to N. Korea nuke test

SEOUL - U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and his Japanese and South Korean counterparts discussed North Korea on Thursday in Hawaii and agreed to take resolute steps in the event of another North Korean nuclear test, according to South Korean media.

Sullivan, Takeo Akiba and Kim Sung Han "agreed that there must not be naive thinking or reaction that North Korea has conducted six nuclear tests and that (a new test) will only be one more nuclear test," Kim told reporters, according to Yonhap News Agency.

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Japan's foreign minister, top U.S. Marine discuss China concerns

TOKYO - Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and U.S. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger on Friday shared serious concern over China's military activities, Japan's Foreign Ministry said, amid growing tensions over Taiwan.

Meeting in Tokyo, the two warned against "China's unilateral attempts to change the status quo, given the latest situations over the Taiwan Strait," the ministry said.

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S. Korea foreign minister meets Japan wartime labor plaintiffs

SEOUL - South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin met with Korean plaintiffs in Japanese wartime labor cases on Friday as the government of President Yoon Seok Yeol works to solve the issue before it inflames tensions with Tokyo.

There is speculation that the South Korean Supreme Court may soon finalize a court order to liquidate assets seized from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., one of two Japanese firms the top court had found liable for forced labor during World War II.

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1st batch of Chinese-made high-speed trains arrives in Jakarta

JAKARTA - A cargo of eight Chinese-made high-speed train cars has arrived at a Jakarta port marking the first batch of rolling stock for Indonesia's first high-speed railway network being built with Chinese technology.

Billed the first export case of a Chinese bullet train system, the project to connect the Indonesian capital and the West Java provincial capital of Bandung was about 80 percent completed in late August and commercial operations are expected to start in June next year.

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Myanmar's Suu Kyi gets 3 more years in prison for election fraud

YANGON - A special court in Myanmar sentenced deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Friday to three more years imprisonment with hard labor for election fraud, local media reports said.

Since the military ousted her democratically elected government in a 2021 February coup and detained her, Suu Kyi has been on trial on multiple charges and now faces 20 years in jail.

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Japanese motor giant Nidec President Seki steps down

KYOTO - Japanese motor giant Nidec Corp.'s President Jun Seki stepped down Friday to take responsibility for poor earnings, the company said, less than three years after it recruited him from Nissan Motor Co.

The former Nissan executive will be succeeded by Hiroshi Kobe, 73, vice chairman of Nidec, who is one of the manufacturer's founding members, it said.