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A lithium battery factory following a deadly fire in Hwaseong, South Korea, on June 24
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 23, 2024

Safety failures caused deadly fire at South Korea plant, police say

Twenty-three people were killed at an Aricell lithium battery plant in South Korea in a massive blaze in June.
A Mitsubishi Electric employee prepares a robotic arm for a demonstration of the firm's artificial intelligence technologies.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 23, 2024

Mitsubishi Electric fights to keep up with AI data center demand

The Tokyo-based maker of factory automation is a key supplier of optic fiber communication devices that link servers to one another.
A rocket carrying two astronauts aboard Boeing's Starliner is launched on a mission to the International Space Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on June 5.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 25, 2024

NASA picks SpaceX to rescue astronauts marooned in space

Boeing’s flawed Starliner craft will return without people on board in early September, the U.S. space agency said.
Kirin Holdings President Takeshi Minakata at the company's headquarters in Tokyo on Wednesday
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 29, 2024

Kirin clinched Fancl takeover to propel health pivot, president says

Fancl fits into a health science portfolio that Kirin aims to grow into a new pillar of the group.
A remote-controlled BurnBot RX1 prototype produces a containment line during a prescribed burn operation in Paicines, California, on Aug. 12.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Aug 30, 2024

Robots are starting (good) fires in California

BurnBot's robot keeps combustion within its burning chamber, where propane torches and air blowers bring flame temperatures up to 1,000 degrees Celsius.
A construction worker in Tokyo's Akasaka district on Aug. 21. With 886 cases, 54 of them fatal, during the period from 2019 to 2023, the construction industry leads Japan’s tally for occupational heatstroke.
BUSINESS / Boiling Point
Sep 1, 2024

Clocking off: Japan’s hotter summers put limit on outdoor work

Climate change is forcing businesses to sacrifice productivity in the name of safety in industries ranging from construction to transportation.
A protester against the arrest of Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of the Telegram messaging app, near the French Embassy in Moscow on Aug. 25
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 1, 2024

Telegram’s hands-off approach to content faces a reckoning

The policies of Telegram, a popular social media platform, have allowed abuses to proliferate.
Seven & I is currently categorized on the Finance Ministry's classification list as a company that conducts "designated," but not "core" businesses.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 3, 2024

Japanese companies cannot use national security cover to block takeovers, official says

Japanese companies cannot use a national security designation as a tool to thwart foreign takeovers, a senior Finance Ministry official said.
When it comes to trade disputes between the U.S. and China, not even the game of golf is spared.
BUSINESS
Sep 3, 2024

U.S. golf cart industry reveals how China tariffs are a blunt instrument

In factories and shops around the country, finding complaints about cheaper Chinese competitors is easy — but reaching a consensus on how to combat them is harder.
The shutdown of Elon Musk's X has drawn parallels with authoritarian regimes, damaging Brazil’s international reputation and raising concerns about judicial overreach.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 4, 2024

Shutting off Elon Musk won't help Brazil's democracy

While regulating hate speech is complex, the approach by Brazil's Supreme Court might be excessive and counterproductive.
A factory operated by metal processing company Iwanuma Seiko, which has been entrusted with work involving the space industry for the first time
BUSINESS / Companies / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Sep 17, 2024

Small firms in Tohoku showcase technologies in growing space sector

The government plans to boost the space technology market, leading to hopes of a space industry ecosystem in the region.
Get your dark blue suit out of the closet, job hunting season is once again upon us.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 6, 2024

Those looking for jobs in Japan get another shot at it in September

Hiring for new recruits usually takes place in time for an April start, but Japanese companies are increasingly looking to hire in the autumn.
Sumitomo Chemical President Keiichi Iwata
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 6, 2024

Sumitomo Chemical sells hybrid bond at widest spread this year

Sumitomo Chemical priced ¥100 billion of hybrid debt at 280 basis points over Japanese government bonds.
A barista fills a customer’s order at a Starbucks in Odessa, Texas. Starbucks has more than 16,000 locations in the United States, including this one in Odessa.
BUSINESS
Sep 10, 2024

A funnel cake macchiato anyone? The coffee wars are heating up.

From the giant Starbucks to small coffee shops, the battle is on for who can come up with the craziest, calorie-laden, not-really-coffee drink.
Nippon Steel argues that its acquisition of U.S. Steel would be a win-win.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 12, 2024

Quiet assurances mooted as U.S. Steel deal shakes global order

Analysts and informed observers have been gaming out the possible outcomes and adding up the potential damage.
The Osaka Prefectural Police recently arrested three people who allegedly had some ¥4.9 billion in total paid into their bank accounts from about 10,000 people who took part in overseas online gambling.
JAPAN
Sep 12, 2024

Three arrested over alleged laundering of online casino money

The suspects allegedly had some ¥4.9 billion in total paid into their bank accounts from about 10,000 people who took part in overseas online gambling.
A water tower at the United States Steel Edgar Thomson Works steel mill in Braddock, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 4
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 14, 2024

Biden administration is likely to delay decision over U.S. Steel

The White House has faced backlash for politicizing its review of Nippon Steel’s takeover of the company.
Workers with picket signs outside the Boeing Seattle Delivery Center during a strike in Seattle on Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 14, 2024

Boeing and union negotiators to resume talks next week amid strike

A long strike could further damage Boeing's finances, already groaning due to a $60 billion debt pile.
A Ukrainian serviceman carries a part of a downed Russian suicide drone amid Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, near Kyiv last November.
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 14, 2024

Russia produces new kamikaze drone with Chinese engine

The intelligence indicated that a subsidiary of a Russian state-owned weapons-maker produced more than 2,500 attack drones from July 2023 to July 2024.
Intel in 2022 lost out on a contract to design and fabricate the chip for Sony’s next-generation PlayStation 6.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 17, 2024

How Intel lost the Sony PlayStation business

A dispute over how much profit Intel stood to take from each chip sold to the electronics giant for the PlayStation 6 gave a leg-up to AMD, which clinched the deal.
The logo of Japanese walkie-talkie maker Icom at a shop in Tokyo. The firm said that it had stopped producing the model of radios reportedly used in recent blasts in Lebanon around a decade ago.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 19, 2024

Walkie-talkies in Lebanon blasts were discontinued a decade ago

Thousands of electronic devices, including pagers and walkie-talkies, exploded over the last two days, killing at least 26 people and wounding more than 3,000.
Circle K owner Alimentation Couche-Tard’s initial $14.86-a-share proposal, seen as cheap at only 20% above Seven & I’s share price, may fail without a higher bid.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 19, 2024

How 7-Eleven can get a big price from Circle K

Alimentation Couche-Tard’s initial $14.86-a-share proposal, seen as cheap at only 20% above Seven & I’s share price, is unlikely to succeed without a higher bid.
A smartphone running ChatGPT4o as it tries to solve a geometry problem in San Francisco on May 28.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 20, 2024

OpenAI unveils new ChatGPT that can reason through math and science

The new technology is part of a wider effort to build AI that can reason through complex tasks.
Prices for Umaibo sticks will be raised to ¥15 from current ¥12 starting October.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 25, 2024

Umaibo to puff up prices for the second time in two years

The company said rising costs for raw materials like corn and vegetable oil left it with no choice but to adjust the price.
Russian President Vladimir Putin visits a drone production facility of the the Special Technology Center in St. Petersburg on Sept. 19.
WORLD
Sep 26, 2024

Russia has a secret war drones project in China, intel sources say

Both Russia and Ukraine are racing to ramp up their production of drones, which have emerged as highly effective weapons in the war.
Shareholder support for Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda slid after government probes uncovered fraudulent vehicle certifications at Toyota and its group companies.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 30, 2024

Opposition to Toyota’s chairman spreads among big shareholders

Akio Toyoda, the grandson of the company’s founder, saw shareholder support drop to 85% last year, a record low at the time, and then a further decline to 72% in June.
Oracle plans to spend $6.5 billion building a cloud services center in Malaysia, becoming the latest global tech name to invest in Southeast Asian AI infrastructure.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 2, 2024

Oracle to invest $6.5 billion to set up cloud facilities in Malaysia

Oracle's venture is set to be one of the largest single tech investments in Malaysia so far.
For years, Seven & I has faced calls from investors to focus more on its convenience-store business.
BUSINESS
Oct 3, 2024

7-Eleven owner seeking to sell off part of stake in banking unit

The sale of part of its stake in Seven Bank would intend to show Seven & I Holdings is willing to focus more on its core 7-Eleven business.
HIF Global's Haru Oni clean hydrogen plant in Punta Arenas, Chile, last month
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / FOCUS
Oct 5, 2024

Latin America gears up for clean hydrogen boom but the road is not smooth

Government leaders expect a major boom for the region from clean hydrogen, produced using electricity from renewable sources that do not emit carbon.
The average price of new condos in Tokyo's 23 wards in the first half of this year stayed over ¥100 million and a notable wave of price increases was observed in urban areas surrounding Tokyo.
BUSINESS
Oct 7, 2024

Tokyo area condo prices remain sky-high

The average price of new condos in central Tokyo's densely populated 23 wards stood at ¥108.55 million in the first half of this year.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?