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

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LDP punishes 39 members over funds scandal, urging 2 to leave party

TOKYO - Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Thursday punished 39 members over a political funds scandal, including urging two heavyweights to leave the party, aiming to put a line under a controversy that has dogged it since late last year.

The decision by the LDP's disciplinary committee comes after some of its factions, including one previously led by the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, were found to have neglected to fully report revenue from fundraising parties for years, with hundreds of millions of yen passed back to members who had sold tickets to the events.

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Taiwan quake injured toll rises to 1,060 with 38 missing, 10 dead

HUALIEN, Taiwan - Rescue operations in Taiwan's Hualien County continued Thursday following the powerful earthquake that struck the island the previous day, with efforts to reach hundreds of people stranded in a mountainous area hampered by damage to road infrastructure.

The number of injured increased to over 1,060 while the death toll rose to 10 with 38 people unaccounted for, local authorities said.

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BOJ cuts view on 7 of 9 regional economies on weak consumption

TOKYO - The Bank of Japan on Thursday downgraded its assessments of seven out of the country's nine regions amid softening private consumption and weak auto production, though the economy as a whole has continued to recover.

In the quarterly Sakura report, the BOJ also noted that wage hikes are spreading from big firms to smaller ones, a positive indication that the central bank's 2 percent inflation target is within reach as financial markets are trying to determine the timing of the next interest rate hike.

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Trump to champion U.S.-Japan alliance if he returns to power: ex-aide

WASHINGTON - Donald Trump is almost certain to attach great importance to the U.S.-Japan alliance if he returns to the White House, one of his former aides said Wednesday.

"I predict a lot of continuity, and the same things that motivated him when he was elected the first time, I think, continue to motivate him," Alexander Gray, who was deputy assistant to the former president, said in an interview with Kyodo News.

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U.S. says Biden, Kishida to agree on defense equipment development

WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will agree next week to pave the way for jointly developing key defense equipment as the decades-old alliance between the United States and Japan should enter a new stage for the stability of the Indo-Pacific region, a top U.S. diplomat said Wednesday.

Speaking at a time of increasing security challenges from countries such as China and North Korea, Kurt Campbell, deputy secretary of state, said the Biden administration is trying to "clear the way for a greater array of cooperation" between Washington and its allies including Tokyo.

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Japan's oldest man dies at 112

CHIBA, Japan - Gisaburo Sonobe, a 112-year-old recognized as Japan's oldest man, died in late March in Chiba Prefecture near Tokyo, local authorities said Thursday.

Sonobe was born on Nov. 6, 1911. He became the country's oldest man after the death of his predecessor at 111 in November 2022. The municipal government of Tateyama, where Sonobe resided, has not revealed the exact date nor the cause of his death at the request of his family.

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Japan football manga "Captain Tsubasa" ends after 43-yr run

TOKYO - The smash-hit Japanese football manga series "Captain Tsubasa" came to an end Thursday after a 43-year run with its creator Yoichi Takahashi saying he would retire as a manga artist but continue "creative activities."

Takahashi, 63, said he will still produce stories on Tsubasa, the football prodigy who is the main character of the series, but switch to a rough storyboard format that he expects to be able to produce more quickly, delivering it to fans on a dedicated website.

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BIS, 7 major central banks to test new digital currency platform

LONDON - The Bank for International Settlements, a group that promotes international financial cooperation, will collaborate with the Bank of Japan and six other major central banks on a trial of a new platform designed to speed up and lower the costs of digital currency transactions, they said Wednesday.

The monetary authorities aim to work with commercial banks on the project as China's move to experiment with its digital yuan has prompted them to examine the benefits and challenges of issuing central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, that could transform how people and businesses settle transactions.

==Kyodo

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