Search - 2018

 
 
Boeing's 737 Max 9 under construction at the company's production facility in Renton, Washington, in 2017.
WORLD
Jan 6, 2024

Alaska Air grounds Boeing 737 Max 9 fleet after fuselage blowout

The airline is taking the "precautionary step” to temporarily ground the fleet of 65 planes until completion of full maintenance and inspection.
People visit the Ice and Snow Festival in Harbin, China, on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 7, 2024

Fairy-tale ice sculptures lure droves of tourists into China's Harbin

This year the ice park spans 810,000 square meters with 250,000 cubic meters of sculptured ice, harvested from the nearby frozen Songhua River.
Kotaro Seki, CEO of Ellange, in front of the truck that he uses to collect nets from fisheries
JAPAN / Society / OUR PLANET
Jan 7, 2024

Trash into treasure: Can fishing net waste be the future of fashion?

A pair of Japanese startups are looking to solve a problem for the nation's fisheries: What to do with old fishing nets.
An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 is grounded at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Saturday.
WORLD
Jan 7, 2024

U.S. regulator orders temporary grounding of some 737 Max jets after mishap

The move affects about 171 planes worldwide, according to a statement by the U.S. regulator.
South Korean residents walk past a shelter sign at a village on Yeonpyeong Island on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 7, 2024

South Korean border island warns residents on third day of North Korean drills

The drills come after the powerful sister of North Korea's leader denied Seoul's claims that Pyongyang had fired dozens of artillery rounds near their border a day earlier.
Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is set for a fifth term in office following polls that her opponents and voters have boycotted.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 8, 2024

Bangladesh prime minister extends rule in poll shunned by rivals

Voters heeded a campaign by the opposition to shun the election and draw attention to the sweeping crackdown Sheikh Hasina's government carried out in its run-up.
Officials of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office's special investigation squad prepare to search the office of House of Representatives lawmaker Yoshitaka Ikeda in his constituency in Nagoya on Dec. 27.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 8, 2024

Storage media from offices of arrested LDP lawmaker were found damaged

Prosecutors believe that Yoshitaka Ikeda or his staff damaged the storage media in an attempt to destroy evidence.
U.S. golfer Tiger Woods reacts on the 9th green on day 2 of the British Open Golf Championship in 2022.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 9, 2024

Tiger Woods and Nike end partnership after 27 years

Despite rumors, Nike maintains that it’s still committed to golf.
A Taiwan Air Force Mirage 2000-5 aircraft prepares to land in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on Jan. 2. In the event of a conflict with China, Taiwan would face a military that rivals that of the U.S.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 9, 2024

Xi, Biden and the $10 trillion cost of war over Taiwan

The price tag — equivalent to about 10% of global GDP — dwarfs the blow from the war in Ukraine, COVID-19 pandemic and 2007-2008 Global Financial Crisis.
Journalists gather in front of lawmaker Yoshitaka Ikeda's office in Nagoya on Sunday after he was arrested in connection to a political funds scandal.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 9, 2024

Arrested lawmaker Ikeda allegedly ordered disposal of fundraising data

Tokyo prosecutors suspect that ex-LDP member Yoshitaka Ikeda led the destruction of evidence related to alleged slush funds.
Animal rights activists hold placards reading "Good bye dog meat!" during a rally welcoming a bill banning the dog meat trade, at the National Assembly in Seoul on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 9, 2024

South Korea parliament passes bill banning dog meat trade

Lawmakers voted 208-0, and the legislation will come into effect after a three-year grace period and final approval from President Yoon Suk-yeol.
Friday's mid-air panel blowout on an Alaska Airlines flight left a gaping hole on the 737 Max 9 plane.
WORLD
Jan 10, 2024

Boeing CEO admits mistakes, says mid-air blowout 'can never happen again'

Dave Calhoun tells employees that the probe on loose parts and broader checks of systems and processes will be done with 'complete transparency every step of the way."
Ayao Komatsu speaks during an event ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture on Sept. 21.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Jan 11, 2024

Tokyo native Komatsu takes over as Haas F1 boss after Steiner's departure

"In appointing Ayao Komatsu as Team Principal we fundamentally have engineering at the heart of our management," the team owner said.
Security guards along the Bund in front of buildings in the Lujiazui Financial District in Shanghai on Tuesday. The pivot away from China may accelerate as positive catalysts are missing at a time when the U.S. Federal Reserve shifts toward monetary easing.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 11, 2024

China is fast losing its place as a must-have in global portfolios

An analysis of filings by 14 U.S. pension funds with investments in Chinese stocks show most of them have reduced their holdings since 2020.
Meiji's canned liquid baby formula is in high demand following the New Year's Day quake that hit central Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 11, 2024

Meiji to boost liquid baby formula production after quake

The company has received more than twice the usual number of orders for such products so far this month.
Grounded Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 airplanes on the tarmac at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Monday
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 11, 2024

Boeing's latest Max problem creates more headaches for airlines

Alaska Airlines and United Airlines together have 70% of the Max 9 planes in service and have canceled hundreds of flights.
Outgoing New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick holds a news conference in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on Thursday to announce his departure from the team.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Jan 12, 2024

Why Bill Belichick fit in so well, for so long, in New England

Belichick departed Thursday as the head coach of the New England Patriots after 24 years of unmatched dominance in America’s most popular sport.
A Boeing 737 Max 9 plane that lost part of its fuselage midair is parked at Portland International Airport in Portland, Oregon, on Monday. The Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday announced it had opened an investigation into whether Boeing failed to ensure that the plane was safe and conformed to the design approved by the agency.
WORLD
Jan 12, 2024

Boeing faces U.S. safety probe over 737 midair blowout

The investigation stems from a midair blowout of a so-called door plug on a 737 Max 9 jet operated by Alaska Airlines on Jan. 5.
A Tokyo Gas Co. storage tank at the company's Setagaya facility in Tokyo
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jan 12, 2024

World trying to quit fossil fuels gets flood of gas instead

Formerly a sluggish sector, global events spurred LNG's expansion
The natural attractions and the friendly locals convinced Norihiro Kanzawa and his wife, Zoe, to set up a business, Niyodo Adventure, in Kochi Prefecture.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jan 13, 2024

Norihiro Kanzawa: 'Smiles are always a great source of inspiration'

An adventure tourism professional and soon-to-be father shares his journey into making canyoning and packrafting his full-time job.
After a fuselage panel ripped off during an Alaska Airlines flight on Jan. 5, all Boeing 737 Max 9 planes were grounded in the United States.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 12, 2024

We're stuck with the 737 Max, like it or not

The most recent incident involving a Boeing 737 Max won't stop airlines from using the craft. There simply aren't that many other options.
Construction work is underway on Wednesday in Oura Bay in Okinawa Prefecture, the site of the coastal airfield that will replace Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.
EDITORIALS
Jan 12, 2024

Futenma moves forward, but local concerns must be addressed

Originally planned to have been finished by now, the base project is now anticipated to take over nine years to complete.
A H2-A rocket carrying an information gathering satellite takes off from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture on Friday.
JAPAN
Jan 13, 2024

Spy satellite race in Asia heats up with Japan rocket launch

The probe will monitor North Korean missile sites, according to Mitsubishi Heavy, and the launch comes amid a busy period for spy satellite launches in Asia.
NBA players take part in a training session in Johannesburg in 2015. The Basketball Africa League, now entering its fourth season, is the NBA’s sole professional league outside the U.S., and its most ambitious international expansion since it attempted to break through in China two decades ago on the coattails of Hall of Fame center Yao Ming.
BASKETBALL
Jan 14, 2024

NBA’s Africa league struggles to find fans as it faces mounting losses

The Basketball Africa League is the NBA’s sole professional league outside the U.S., and its most ambitious international expansion in years.
Tanaka takes part in a signing ceremony for the Japan-Uruguay Investment Agreement with Uruguay's Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Luis Porto in 2015.
BUSINESS / WOMEN AT WORK
Jan 23, 2024

Why positivity is an asset in a career of PR and diplomacy

Keiko Tanaka went from an office at Nissan to the ambassador's residence in Uruguay.
Runa Kurosawa, 20, a soldier with the Ground Self-Defense Force's Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade, takes part in military training inside the Maritime Self-Defense Force's amphibious transport ship JS Osumi in waters near Okinawa Prefecture on Nov. 14.
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2024

The female marines Japan is training for war

The Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade — meant to lead assaults from the sea in a possible future war — has about 40 women in its 2,400 strong unit.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends a meeting of the Supreme People's Assembly at the Mansudae Assembly Hall in Pyongyang on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 16, 2024

North Korea's Kim calls for change in status of South and warns of war

Kim Jong Un has called for a constitutional amendment to change the status of South Korea to a separate state, while also abolishing three inter-Korean agencies.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference on Dec. 13.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 18, 2024

Kishida aims to disband his faction amid political funds scandals

The move would mark a bid to restore public trust toward politics amid a series of political funds scandals.
Police officers protest in Marseille, France, on Thursday, calling for "exceptional measures" in compensation for their compulsory presence at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
OLYMPICS
Jan 19, 2024

Protesting police highlight strike risk to Paris Olympics

French authorities are scrambling to settle pay deals with unions who are demanding bonuses for working during the July 26 to Aug. 11 Olympics.
Polish military vehicles are transported during NATO exercises in Klusy, Poland, in November 2022.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 19, 2024

NATO to hold biggest drills since Cold War with 90,000 troops

More than 50 ships from aircraft carriers to destroyers will take part, as well as more than 80 fighter jets, helicopters and drones and at least 1,100 combat vehicles.

Longform

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