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

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4 Japanese win U.S. Lasker Awards for medicine

WASHINGTON – Japanese sleep scientist Masashi Yanagisawa and three Japanese researchers who developed a hemophilia treatment drug at Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. won Lasker Awards in medicine on Wednesday.

Yanagisawa, who won the basic medical research award, is a professor at the University of Tsukuba. The other three, who received the clinical medical research award, are Kunihiro Hattori, Tomoyuki Igawa and Takehisa Kitazawa.

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Advance payments for rice farmers sharply cut in 16 prefectures

TOKYO – Japan’s agricultural cooperatives have slashed advance payments to rice producers by about 20 to 40 percent on average from the previous year in 16 of the country’s 47 prefectures as demand shrank, a Kyodo News tally showed Wednesday.

The lower payments reflect a decline in consumption due to price rises caused by supply shortages since two years ago, as well as the government’s emergency stockpile releases, increased rice imports and higher production this year, the cooperatives said.

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1 dead, over 40 hurt as heavy rain hits central Japan, swamps Nagoya

NAGOYA – At least one person was killed in a landslide and more than 40 others sustained minor injuries in central Japan, authorities said Wednesday, after a linear rainband brought record rainfall to the Tokai region beginning the previous day.

In Nagoya, the local government said it would provide emergency relief across the city, where many commuters and students were stranded for the night after transportation was paralyzed due to the downpour. As of Wednesday, around 3,500 people had taken shelter at evacuation centers and some 200 vehicles had been inundated, local authorities said.

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NEC discontinues quantum computer development, to continue related research

TOKYO – Japanese electronics maker NEC Corp. has withdrawn from developing a quantum computer after determining that the project would require over a decade of further investment before it could be put to practical use and that it would be difficult to monetize, sources familiar with the matter said Wednesday.

Competition to develop quantum computers, which can solve complex calculations at ultra-high speeds, has been intensifying in the United States and China as they are regarded as crucial to economic security, but Japan has struggled to keep up due to its smaller funding pool.

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Apple unveils first foldable iPhone model

NEW YORK – Apple Inc. on Wednesday unveiled its first foldable iPhone model, called Duo, breaking with its single-screen smartphone design used for many years.

The new model has a larger inner display, as well as an outer display that can still be used when the phone is folded shut. It has a starting price of $1,999, with pre-orders beginning Oct. 16 and the product set to be available from Oct. 23.

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Hokkaido farm denies sexual harassment claims by Myanmar workers

SAPPORO – A farm in Hokkaido, northern Japan, denied allegations that two men involved in running the farm had sexually harassed Myanmar nationals who formerly worked there, a labor union representing the workers said Wednesday.

The six workers, comprising men and women in their 30s or younger, were employed at the farm in Kyogoku, a town near Sapporo, and had been given shelter by the local labor union after allegedly being subjected to abuse and sexual harassment by the two men.

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Woman hits 3 police cars, drives 10 km against highway traffic to escape

CHIBA, Japan – A woman made an unsuccessful attempt to evade police on Wednesday, bumping into three police cars and driving for about 10 kilometers on the wrong side of a highway in Chiba Prefecture near Tokyo, police said.

On a street in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward, dozens of kilometers away from where the chase began, the Metropolitan Police Department arrested the 55-year-old woman for carrying a knife with a 15-centimeter-long blade. She was later released for hospitalization.

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Worker falls to death from transmission tower in western Japan

TOKUSHIMA, Japan – A 19-year-old worker died after falling about 40 meters from a transmission tower in western Japan on Wednesday, police said.

The accident occurred when Kazuki Matsuoka was descending the tower in Kamikatsu, Tokushima Prefecture, at around 11:30 a.m. and parts of the safety equipment attached to his body came off, police said.