TOKYO -
The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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G20 members except China agree to curb nonmarket policies
ASHEVILLE, North Carolina - The finance chiefs of the Group of 20 leading economies, except those from China, agreed Tuesday on the importance of removing nonmarket policies.
"We agree that countries should take steps to eliminate nonmarket policies and practices that exacerbate imbalances," the G20 chair's statement said after the conclusion of a two-day meeting in Asheville, North Carolina.
The statement said they also reaffirmed the group's commitment to ensuring that exchange rates reflect underlying economic fundamentals.
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Bessent calls for good monetary policy in meeting with BOJ's Ueda
ASHEVILLE, North Carolina - U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called for good monetary policy to avoid excess exchange rate volatility during his weekend meeting with Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda, the Treasury Department said Tuesday.
During Sunday's meeting in Asheville, North Carolina, Bessent also voiced "strong support for Japan's decisive market and monetary steps to address the substantial undervaluation of the yen and noted the role of yen weakness in contributing to domestic inflationary pressures in Japan," the department said in a statement.
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A-bomb survivors' group decries "absolute evil" of nukes at U.N. confab
NEW YORK - The leading Japanese atomic bomb survivors' group on Tuesday denounced the "absolute evil" of nuclear weapons during a United Nations gathering that marked the world body's first-ever international meeting related to victims of atomic bombings and nuclear testing.
Masako Wada, the deputy secretary general of Nihon Hidankyo, which won the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize, said during the meeting in New York that her mother witnessed unspeakable horrors in the aftermath of the 1945 bombing of Nagasaki that left her feeling she had "lost her humanity."
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Japan youth messengers call on world to reduce risks of AI-powered military
GENEVA - A group of Japanese high school students visiting the U.N. office in Geneva on Tuesday called on the world to reduce the risks associated with military uses of artificial intelligence as the technology becomes integrated into war-making capabilities.
More than 20 "peace messengers" hailing from 19 of Japan's 47 prefectures, including Hiroshima and Nagasaki, came to submit more than 60,000 signatures collected over the past year in an effort toward seeking the abolition of nuclear weapons.
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SoftBank Group data-center builder SB Energy files for IPO on U.S. Nasdaq
WASHINGTON - SB Energy Inc., a SoftBank Group Corp. company for building data centers, said Tuesday it has filed for an initial public offering on the Nasdaq market in the United States, with an earlier report saying it could be valued at over $50 billion.
The company plans to build a large-scale data center in Ohio. OpenAI, the artificial intelligence company behind ChatGPT, will be its customer there through a 20-year lease.
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U.S. lawmaker close to Trump visits China as Xi's Washington trip nears
HONG KONG - U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump, visited China last week, with Hong Kong media reporting his trip was intended to lay the groundwork for Chinese President Xi Jinping's planned visit to Washington later this month.
A delegation including Daines, U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue and U.S. Consul General in Shanghai Christian Marchant visited the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou from Aug. 26 to 29, Zhejiang Province authorities said on social media last Saturday.
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Japan, Poland agree to coordinate support for Ukraine recovery
TOKYO - Japanese and Polish foreign ministers agreed Monday at their meeting in Slovakia to coordinate support for Ukraine's recovery and to work closely together under the recognition that the security of Europe and Asia is inseparable, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.
Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and his Polish counterpart Radoslaw Sikorski affirmed the importance of Poland as the "business hub" for Ukraine's reconstruction in the face of Russian attacks and discussed ways to promote assistance.
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Japan "closely watching" bond market moves: top gov't spokesman
TOKYO - Japan is "closely watching" the government bond market with heightened vigilance after the yield on the benchmark 10-year issue hit 3 percent, its highest level in nearly three decades, the top government spokesman said Tuesday.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara also said at a press conference that continued rises in bond yields and the resulting increase in the government's interest payments could leave less money available for policy measures.
