The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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Trump dominates Super Tuesday, rematch with Biden all but certain
WASHINGTON - Donald Trump dominated on the most crucial day of the 2024 U.S. presidential primary calendar Tuesday, raising the likelihood of him clinching the Republican nomination as soon as next week and setting up a November showdown with his successor, Democrat Joe Biden.
On what is known as Super Tuesday, with a third of all delegates at stake, Trump trounced Nikki Haley, his last remaining rival for their party's nomination, making her path to capturing it virtually impossible.
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Japan LDP No. 2 may have tried to hide massive political funds usage
TOKYO - A political organization associated with the secretary general of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party transferred a large amount of funds to another group subject to less stringent rules on the disclosure of usage, their balance sheets showed Wednesday.
The organization of House of Representatives lawmaker Toshimitsu Motegi, the No. 2 figure after Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in the LDP, has moved around 440 million yen ($3 million) to the recipient group for 14 years through 2022, according to the balance sheets.
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Woman, parents indicted over Sapporo hotel beheading murder
SAPPORO - A 30-year-old woman and her parents were indicted on Wednesday over the murder of a man found decapitated in a hotel in Sapporo last year.
Runa Tamura was indicted on suspicion of killing the 62-year-old man, whose headless and naked body was found on July 2 in the hotel in the Susukino entertainment district of the northern Japan city.
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Requests for government help due to financial stress higher again in 2023
TOKYO - The number of households in financial stress that sought public assistance in Japan rose for the fourth straight year in 2023, as recent inflation piled pressure on people already hurting in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, welfare ministry data showed Wednesday.
New applications for welfare benefits increased 7.6 percent from the previous year to 255,079, the most since 2013 when comparable data became available, according to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.
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Osaka Pref. eyes collecting fixed fee for inbound tourists from 2025
OSAKA - Osaka Prefecture is considering collecting a fixed fee from foreign visitors, possibly timing it around the start of the World Exposition in western Japan in April 2025, its governor said Wednesday.
The fee would be used to fund "overtourism" countermeasures. Currently, there is no taxation scheme introduced by local governments in Japan specifically targeting foreigners, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication.
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Football: Marinos win 1st leg away to Shandong in ACL quarterfinal
JINAN, China - Anderson Lopes and Yan Matheus scored in either half as Yokohama F Marinos beat China's Shandong Taishan 2-1 Wednesday in the first leg of their Asian Champions League football quarterfinal.
The Japanese club will take a one-goal advantage into the March 13 second leg at International Stadium Yokohama. They have reached the quarterfinals of the continental tournament for the first time.
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Ex-operator of luxury watch rental service wanted for embezzlement
TOKYO - The former president of a company who operated a luxury wristwatch rental service is wanted by Tokyo police on suspicion of embezzlement, after he allegedly sold without consent a Rolex entrusted to him for the service and fled Japan while failing to return many others.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has obtained an arrest warrant for 42-year-old Takazumi Fukuhara, who operated "Toke Match" watch-sharing service under the Osaka-based company Neo Reverse.
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Trans-skeptical U.S. book finds new Japan publisher
TOKYO - A controversial U.S. book questioning an increase in young women seeking gender transition will come out in Japanese in April, according to its new publisher Sankei Shimbun Publications Inc.
"Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters" by journalist Abigail Shrier, had previously been set to be released by another publisher, industry heavyweight Kadokawa Corp., on Jan. 24, but it was nixed due to criticism.
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Pair faces new murder charge after arrest over daughter's death
TOKYO - A couple arrested on suspicion of fatally poisoning their 4-year-old daughter were served fresh warrants by Tokyo police on Wednesday for allegedly killing the husband's 41-year-old sister six years ago in a similar way, investigative sources said.
Kenichi Hosoya, 43, and his wife Shiho Hosoya, 37, are suspected of murdering his elder sister Minako Hosoya around April 29, 2018, by poisoning her with ethylene glycol, a toxic substance found in antifreeze.
Video: Tornado-like weather event causes damage on Iejima island in Okinawa
