The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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Japan insurers suspected of price-fixing for corporate contracts
TOKYO - Japan's major property insurers are suspected of having colluded over insurance premiums for corporate customers such as oil refiners, steel companies and public transportation operators, sources close to the matter said Wednesday.
The Financial Services Agency is expected to order Japan's four major insurers, including Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co., to submit records of contracts for which they allegedly arranged premium levels to avoid competition, according to the sources.
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Japanese among those evacuated from Niger with help of France: gov't
TOKYO - Two Japanese citizens and a family member of another nationality were among those evacuated from Niger with the support of France following a military coup in the western African state, the top government spokesman said Wednesday.
Around 10 Japanese nationals in total were in the country as of Tuesday and they had all been contacted, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a news conference.
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U.S. invites China's top diplomat Wang Yi to Washington
WASHINGTON - The United States has officially invited China's top diplomat Wang Yi to Washington after he was reinstated as foreign minister last week, a State Department official said Tuesday.
The invitation was extended during a meeting of senior diplomats from the two countries in the U.S. capital on Monday, according to State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
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Subaru to produce EVs in U.S. from 2027 to accelerate shift
TOKYO - Subaru Corp. said Wednesday it will start producing electric vehicles in the United States as early as 2027, as the Japanese carmaker accelerates its shift toward battery-driven vehicles under its new president.
"We have decided on production in the United States," President Atsushi Osaki said at a press conference in Tokyo. "Considering the speed of the shift to EVs in the U.S., we thought it was about time."
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Japan's average gas price rises to 15-yr high on lower gov't subsidy
TOKYO - The average retail gasoline price in Japan has climbed to its highest level in 15 years, industry ministry data showed Wednesday, as the government subsidy to curb price hikes has been gradually scaling down.
The average price for regular gasoline stood at 176.70 yen ($1.24) per liter as of Monday, advancing 1.90 yen from July 24 and hitting its highest level since August 2008, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
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Photo exhibition opens in Tokyo on iconic N. Korea abductee
TOKYO - A photo exhibition on Megumi Yokota, who has become a symbol of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea decades ago, opened Wednesday in Tokyo, with organizers hoping images and items chronicling her 13 years in Japan will draw attention to the unresolved issue.
On display in the Nihombashi Takashimaya department store gallery are around 60 family photographs, including some taken by Megumi's father Shigeru, who died in 2020 at age 87, and her mother Sakie, 87, prior to their daughter's abduction by North Korean agents in Niigata in 1977 when she was 13 years old.
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Locals warn Mt. Fuji-climbing visitors to take challenge seriously
SHIZUOKA, Japan - An increase in the number of unprepared climbers on Mt. Fuji has become a headache for the Shizuoka prefectural government, which has been installing signs and creating multi-language videos to warn tourists to not take the hike lightly.
The move comes as the tallest peak in Japan, straddling Shizuoka and Yamanashi prefectures, reopened to an influx of visitors last month for a hiking season after the country lifted all COVID-19 restrictions and marked the 10th anniversary of Mt. Fuji's registration as a World Heritage site in June.
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Typhoon over Okinawa kills 1, leaves third of homes without power
TOKYO - A large, powerful typhoon hit Japan's southern island prefecture of Okinawa on Wednesday, leaving one dead and more than a third of households without power, as the weather agency warned of expanded damage from the slowly moving typhoon.
At least 35 people were injured, three of them seriously, due to strong winds, according to the prefectural government, while the local utility said around 220,000 households were affected by the outage at one point in the afternoon.
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Video: Jump into Lake Biwa in traditional ritual
