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

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TEPCO to load nuclear fuel into idle Japan reactor

NIIGATA, Japan - Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. plans to start loading nuclear fuel into a reactor Monday at an idle plant northwest of Tokyo, as part of preparations to potentially restart the facility.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority granted approval earlier in the day for the loading of the No.7 reactor at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata Prefecture. However, the timing of the restart remains uncertain.

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G7 eyes sanctions over Iran drone, missile attack on Israel

ROME - The Group of Seven countries considered Sunday imposing sanctions on Iran for its weekend missile and drone attack targeting Israel.

G7 member states "unequivocally condemn in the strongest terms Iran's direct and unprecedented attack against Israel," they said in a statement released after their leaders held emergency online talks.

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N. Korea has likely finished spy satellite launch preparations: report

SEOUL - North Korea seems to have finished preparations for the launch of its second reconnaissance satellite, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency has reported, quoting a government source.

A joint assessment by South Korea and the United States shows "it is possible the launch will take place this week given the ongoing maintenance of facilities" at a new launch site in Tongchang-ri in North Korea's northwest, the source was quoted as saying in the report Sunday.

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Japan to continue diplomatic efforts after Iran's attack on Israel

TOKYO - Japan will continue to make every possible diplomatic effort to calm down tensions following Iran's retaliatory attack on Israel over the weekend, the top government spokesman said Monday.

Japan has been strongly urging Iran and other relevant parties to exercise restraint, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said in a news conference. "We will continue to make all necessary diplomatic efforts, including further efforts at a high level."

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Japan to take all necessary steps amid yen's fall: finance chief

TOKYO - Japan is closely watching foreign exchange moves and will take "all necessary steps," Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said Monday, as the yen fell to a fresh 34-year low versus the U.S. dollar.

The yen, which has been on a downward trend, dropped to around 153.70 in Tokyo, a level unseen since 1990, though caution is persisting over possible market intervention by Japanese authorities to slow the currency's decline.

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Japan's Alpine sightseeing route showcasing giant snow walls opens

TOYAMA, Japan - A sightseeing route that runs through the Tateyama mountain range in central Japan featuring tall snow walls opened Monday for this year's tourist season.

The Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route, typically closed during winter, connects the town of Tateyama in Toyama Prefecture and the city of Omachi in Nagano Prefecture in the Northern Alps via bus and cable car. The route is open until the end of November.

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FEATURE: Capturing the cormorants that do cormorant fishing

MITO, Japan - "Ukai" is a fishing method in which trained Japanese cormorants catch and retrieve river fish in a symbiotic relationship with a fisherman, but trapping the birds themselves is just as important to keeping the tradition alive.

In cormorant fishing that dates back 1,300 years, master fishermen called "usho" in long wooden boats lead out a dozen or so cormorants tethered with ropes. The birds swim alongside and dive underwater to capture fish, which they hold in their prodigious pouch-like gullets.

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Japan PM strongly condemns Iran attack on Israel, conflict escalation

TOKYO - Japan "strongly condemns" Iran's retaliatory attack on Israel and considers it an escalation that will further destabilize the Middle East, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Sunday.

Japan is "deeply concerned," Kishida said after Iran launched an unprecedented attack on Israel that began on Saturday evening and continued through to the following morning in response to a recent deadly strike on an Iranian consulate in Syria's capital city of Damascus.

==Kyodo

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