By Takaya Yamaguchi, Yoshifumi Takemoto and Makiko Yamazaki TOKYO, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Japan's government on Wednesday signed off on Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's flagship plan to slash the consumption tax on food,

The two countries “will not hesitate to conduct further joint intervention," vowed Japan's Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama.

A major earthquake in Japan's southwest killed at least 13 people and left several injured or missing after a shopping center and a paper mill were heavily damaged.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made $1 billion betting against the yen as the top investor for George Soros more than a decade ago. Now, he is using the might of the U.S. economy to prop up the Japanese currency.

Almost no other country in the world is rocked by such frequent and damaging earthquakes as Japan, which sits on the boundary of four tectonic plates.

Soldiers and emergency workers combed through a badly damaged shopping mall and collapsed houses looking for trapped survivors Wednesday after a powerful earthquake that killed at least 18 people, including a foreigner,

Both countries have said that they will not hesitate to conduct joint interventions in the future.

BEIJING, Aug 5 (Reuters) - China's foreign ministry on Wednesday said it had complained to Japan about Tokyo's newly released defence white paper, accusing it of playing up a Chinese threat and making "unwarranted comments" about Taiwan.

Time was running out to find survivors, as rescuers continued to work in the Kumamoto area on Japan 's southern main island of Kyushu, where the magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit Tuesday.