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Japan megabanks turn further away from coal

May 17, 2021 (NHK) - Japan's top three banks are pushing to get greener. They're tightening lending to coal-fired energy plants, as the world turns to cleaner fuels.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group will stop financing expansions to coal power stations from June. That's on top of its current ban on funding new plants.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group says it's ending lending for coal, although there are some exceptions.

Mizuho Financial Group is expanding its policy to ban financing for plants that are already in the planning stage.

Environmental groups have been pressing Japan's megabanks to give coal the cold shoulder.

Power plants have been under fire for belching large amounts of carbon dioxide.

The three financial groups say they're tightening their rules to highlight support for a decarbonized society.

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Officials from the Liberal Democratic Party and the Japan Innovation Party have agreed to adopt the Katsuragawa plan for the Obama-Kyoto route of the Hokuriku Shinkansen extension from Tsuruga in Fukui Prefecture to Shin-Osaka.

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A 44-year-old man arrested after four people were injured in a knife attack in Saiki, Oita Prefecture, has told investigators in effect that "anyone would do," suggesting the victims were chosen at random, investigative sources said.

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A 37-year-old gang member known in Tokyo's Kabukicho district by the nickname "Crazy" has been arrested on suspicion of robbing and injuring a teenage girl near Shinjuku Station after threatening her with what appeared to be an ice pick.

A wild boar repeatedly charged at a man on the grounds of a food service company in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, on July 13, injuring two people before being captured about an hour and a half later.

Two men died on July 11 in separate water accidents in Aichi and Gifu prefectures, including an Indonesian man who apparently drowned after jumping into a waterfall basin and a fisherman swept away while trying to recover his fishing gear.

An unauthorized Islamic prayer hall has been built on land in Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture, where new construction is generally prohibited, prompting the city to order the landowner to remove the structure.