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July 28, 2024
 

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Gold medalist Natsumi Tsunoda (second from left) poses with runner-up Baasankhuu Bavuudorj, of Mongolia (left), and bronze medalists Shirine Boukli of France (third from left) and Sweden's Tara Babulfath.
OLYMPICS / Judo
Jul 27, 2024
Dominant Natsumi Tsunoda delivers Japan's first gold medal at Paris Olympics
Tsunoda is the first Japanese woman to win gold in the under 48-kg division since Ryoko Tani at the 2004 Athens Games.
Ryuju Nagayama reacts after his quarterfinal bout against Spain's Francisco Garrigos at the Paris Olympics on Saturday.
OLYMPICS / Judo
Jul 27, 2024
Ryuju Nagayama falls in controversial ruling in Paris
Nagayama's quest for gold ended in the quarterfinals. 
This year's rice harvest is also feared to be impacted by the scorching heat, spurring concerns among producers and consumers.
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2024
Heat waves impact Japan's rice quality, leading to shortage
Despite 2023's harvest volume being on par with previous years, high temperatures have caused rice grains to develop a cloudy look or break into pieces.
A tunnel inside the Sado Island Gold Mines in Sado, Niigata Prefecture
JAPAN / History
Jul 27, 2024
Japan's Sado gold mines added to World Heritage list
The site is associated with Korean wartime labor and was once the world's largest gold mine complex.
A reddish rock nicknamed Cheyava Falls is seen in Mars' Jezero Crater on July 18 in an image captured by NASA's Perseverance rover.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 27, 2024
NASA did not say it found life on Mars. But it’s very excited about this rock.
The rock has been closely analyzed by scientists on Earth who say that nonmicrobial processes could also explain its features.
The Bonham Strand Trade Centre, a location housing shell companies that ship restricted military technology to Russia, according to an analysis by The New York Times, in Hong Kong on June 14
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 27, 2024
The illicit flow of technology to Russia goes through this Hong Kong address
Defying sanctions, Moscow has obtained nearly $4 billion in restricted chips since the war began in Ukraine.
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki speaks during a news conference at a Group of 20 finance chiefs meeting in Rio de Janeiro on Friday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 27, 2024
Japan touts G20 reaffirmation of forex commitments as key achievement
The commitments say G20 nations recognize that disorderly movements in exchange rates can have adverse implications for economic and financial stability.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington in April. In July, Russia's defense minister said he needed to talk to Austin about an alleged Ukrainian operation. What happened next remains murky.
WORLD
Jul 27, 2024
A mysterious plot prompts a rare call from Russia to the Pentagon
Russia’s defense minister said he needed to talk to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin about an alleged Ukrainian operation. What happened next remains murky.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks to the women and men's National Collegiate Athletic Association champion teams in her first public appearance since President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race, on the South Lawn of the White House, in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jul 27, 2024
Silent no more, Harris seeks her own voice without breaking with Biden
The U.S. vice president's expressions of concern for Palestinian suffering marked a shift in emphasis from the president’s statements.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, speaks during her first campaign rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 27, 2024
Harris team champions her ‘strong’ foreign policy record in memo
The VP's team sent memo to national security professionals highlighting the new Democratic nominee’s "strong record” on foreign policy.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and her South Korean counterpart, Cho Tae-yul, shake hands during talks on the sidelines of Association of Southeast Asian Nations meetings in Vientiane, Laos, on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 27, 2024
Japan and South Korea top diplomats pledge even stronger cooperation
The pair reaffirmed the importance of cooperation in order to maintain and strengthen a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi meet on the sidelines of Association of Southeast Asian Nations meetings in Vientiane, Laos, on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 27, 2024
As foreign ministers meet, China says relations with Japan at 'critical stage'
The pair discussed thorny issues, including Japanese nationals detained in China, food import bans and semiconductor curbs.
Brazilian Economy Minister Fernando Haddad arrives for a news conference during a break at the Group of 20 finance chiefs' meeting session in Rio de Janeiro on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 27, 2024
G20 pledges to work together to tax ultrarich
The topic of tackling tax-dodging billionaires dominated the two-day meeting in the Brazilian city, which will host the next G20 summit in November.
Athletes from South Korea take part in the floating parade on the River Seine during the 2024 Paris Olympics' opening ceremony on Friday.
OLYMPICS
Jul 27, 2024
South Korea expresses 'regret' over Olympics opening ceremony gaffe
The South Korean athletes were introduced as representing the Democratic People's Republic of Korea — the official name for North Korea.
Former U.S. President Barack Obama embraces Vice President Kamala Harris while arriving to speak on the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid in the East Room of the White House in Washington in April 2022.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 27, 2024
Harris to lean on tight team and Obama staff in White House run
Here’s a look at the people in her orbit as she moves to reshape the campaign and form the nucleus of a potential new administration.
TikTok has deployed Washington power brokers and $1,500-an-hour attorneys to fend off a new law barring the app unless its Beijing-based parent, ByteDance, divests.
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Jul 27, 2024
TikTok’s survival is at stake in all-out fight against U.S. ban
TikTok has deployed Washington power brokers and $1,500-an-hour attorneys to fend off a new law barring the app unless ByteDance divests.
U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, addresses a crowd of supporters during a campaign event at Radford University in Radford, Virginia, on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 27, 2024
J.D. Vance’s ‘cat ladies’ insult sparks criticism of Trump’s VP pick
Comments JD Vance made in 2021 disparaging "childless cat ladies” are drawing criticism from not only Democrats, but also some members of his own party.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shows his book to Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, the former president's private club and residence in Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 27, 2024
Trump offers Israel's Netanyahu warm words after White House friction
It was as much as Netanyahu could have hoped for in making the trek to Florida after he gave a speech to Congress that was criticized by Democrats.
Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada (left), cofounder of the Sinaloa Cartel and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a son of the cartel's other co-founder, were arrested in Texas this week in a dramatic achievement for U.S. law enforcement that could usher in a seismic shift to Mexico's criminal landscape.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jul 27, 2024
Captured alleged Mexican drug kingpin pleads not guilty to U.S. charges
The arrests were seen as a dramatic achievement for U.S. law enforcement that could usher in a seismic shift to Mexico's criminal landscape.
Former U.S. President and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump wears a bandage on his ear during the last day of the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 18. Trump was indeed hit by an assassin's bullet or a fragment of one, the FBI said Friday, putting to rest questions over the nature of the Republican candidate's wounding at a campaign rally this month.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 27, 2024
FBI confirms Trump hit by bullet in assassination attempt
Former U.S. President Donald Trump was indeed hit by an assassin's bullet or a fragment of one, the FBI said Friday, putting to rest questions over the nature of the Republican candidate's wounding at a campaign rally this month.
Japan's 2024 Olympic team moves down the Seine River in Paris during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics on Friday.
OLYMPICS
Jul 27, 2024
Paris Olympics kick off with rain-soaked — but grandiose — opening ceremony
The sprawling opening ceremony delivered on the promise to send athletes down the River Seine and culminated in the stirring return of superstar singer Celine Dion.
The Sado Gold Mine, so heavily tapped that the mountain bearing it has been cleaved in two, is up for consideration for UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site status.
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2024
Japan should display full history of Sado mine, South Korean archaeologist says
He will not advise the South Korean UNESCO delegation against accepting the designation of the mine if Japan explains its history properly.
Leqembi, which was developed by U.S. multinational Biogen and Japanese-based Eisai, is the brand name of an active substance called lecanemab, which is used to treat adults with mild memory and cognitive problems resulting from the early stages of the common type of dementia.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 27, 2024
European medicines watchdog rejects Eisai's new Alzheimer's drug
The watchdog said the risks of side effects, including potential brain bleeding, outweighed the benefits.
Japan's population continues to fall even as foreign resident count rises
The number of residents in Tokyo as of Jan. 1 rose by 0.03% from a year before, data shows, marking a year-on-year increase for the first time in three years, while the country's other 46 prefectures saw their populations continue to decline.
Ahead of the Olympics, Japan is still talking about the gymnast who won't be there
Japan's Shoko Miyata withdrew from the gymnastics team herself over her drinking and smoking, although it had already appeared as though the association was prepared to send her home from the team’s training camp in Monaco.
Yen melt-up nudges Japanese stocks into correction territory
Japanese stocks are down 10% from their July peak as the yen strengthens.
‘Crazy’ yen rally is at risk of shattering as soon as Wednesday
Some investors are warning that a yen rally is fragile, as was on show this week when the yen rapidly retraced an advance after Thursday’s stronger-than-expected U.S. economic growth figures.
Japan's average life expectancy rises for first time in three years
A decline in COVID-19-caused deaths likely helped boost the average life expectancy for Japanese men and women to rise for the first time in three years in 2023.
The Japanese Olympians looking to shine in Paris
Rim Nakamura, who is attempting to win Japan's first Olympic gold medal in cycling, will be one of the top Japanese athletes to watch at the Paris Games.
Japan’s minimum wage set for record ¥50 hike in major boost
Demonstrators rally to demand a big hike in minimum wages in Tokyo last week.
Japan loses top spot on strongest passport list to Singapore
Japan had the strongest passport for six years running from 2018, before being dethroned by Singapore on the 2024 list.
Why Japan's mysterious stash of classified funds escapes scrutiny
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi (right) during a meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Japan eyes gold — and the future — as Olympic men's soccer campaign begins
Japan midfielder Yu Hirakawa controls the ball during a match against the United States in Kansas City, Kansas, on June 11.

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