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

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Yen sinks to 34-yr low near 152 against U.S. dollar

TOKYO - The yen briefly fell to a 34-year low to near the 152 line against the U.S. dollar in Tokyo on Wednesday, as the yen was sold on expectations that the Bank of Japan will maintain its accommodative stance despite raising interest rates.

BOJ board member Naoki Tamura said earlier in the day that short-term interest rates would remain near zero for the time being, even though the central bank has taken a step toward normalizing its policy by ending negative interest rates last week.

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Japan aims to launch next-gen. passenger jet by around 2035

TOKYO - Japan will launch a next-generation passenger aircraft by around 2035, in another attempt to establish a domestic industry following the failure of a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.-led project to develop the country's first passenger jet, sources said Wednesday.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and several companies in the private sector will work together on the project, sharing an investment of about 5 trillion yen ($33 billion) over the next 10 years, the sources said.

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Japan finance chief vows to respond if yen weakens excessively

TOKYO - Japan will respond "resolutely" to excessive weakness in the yen, Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said Wednesday, after the currency fell to a 34-year low against the U.S. dollar despite the Bank of Japan's first interest rate hike in 17 years last week.

Suzuki told reporters that appropriate action would be taken "without excluding any options" to cope with excessive moves in the yen, raising speculation that the government may intervene in the currency market for the first time since late 2022.

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Hydrogen vehicle filling station opens at former Tokyo Olympics site

TOKYO - One of Japan's largest hydrogen filling stations for fuel cell vehicles opened Wednesday at the former site of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics main athletes village, the metropolitan government said.

Major oil distributor Eneos Corp. will operate the station and produce hydrogen in line with a Tokyo government plan for the site, with the amount of hydrogen supplied equivalent to that required to operate around 40 fuel cell buses for a day.

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U.S., Japan national security aides prepare for Kishida's visit

WASHINGTON - The highest-ranking U.S. and Japanese national security advisers on Tuesday discussed measures to reinforce the deterrence capabilities of their countries' decades-old alliance in preparation for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's visit to Washington next month.

President Joe Biden's top national security official Jake Sullivan held a meeting with his Japanese counterpart Takeo Akiba, during which the two also discussed ways to deepen cooperation with like-minded countries in the Indo-Pacific region and elsewhere, according to the Japanese government.

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Man dies after his jacket gets caught in escalator at Japan station

MITO, Japan - A man has died following an accident involving his suit jacket getting caught in an escalator at a station in eastern Japan, police said Wednesday.

The staff of JR Mito Station found Mamoru Suzuki, a 72-year-old resident of Hitachi, Ibaraki Prefecture, collapsed but still conscious at around 9 p.m. Tuesday, with the back of his jacket ensnared in the escalator's handrail, according to the local police.

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2 die, 100 hospitalized after consuming Japan drugmaker's supplements

TOKYO - Two people are believed to have died and over 100 hospitalized after consuming red yeast rice dietary supplements from Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co., the Japanese drugmaker and the health ministry said Tuesday, amid swelling safety concerns over the products.

One person was reported by the Osaka-based drugmaker to have died from kidney disease after apparently taking the "beni-koji" supplements for around three years. A second death was reported to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare following a hearing with the company.

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N. Korea rejects talks with Japan, nixes floated summit: KCNA

BEIJING - North Korea on Tuesday rejected any further contact or negotiations with Japan and said a floated summit meeting between leader Kim Jong Un and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is of no concern to it, according to state-run media.

Kim Yo Jong, sister of the North Korean leader, clarified Pyongyang's stance in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, a day after Tokyo rejected her call to drop its insistence on the return of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s.

==Kyodo

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