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JERA's coal-fired power plant in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, is under construction in 2021.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Oct 22, 2023

Japan sticks with climate solution that critics say is far from clean

The government hopes to use ammonia on a massive scale to reduce emissions from coal-fired power plants, but environmentalists remain skeptical.
The yen weakened to the ¥150-per-dollar level Monday, but just briefly, as investors betting on a further rise in dollar yields lost out to those expecting Japanese authorities will intervene in markets.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 23, 2023

Yen breaches ¥150 per dollar again, raising intervention risk

It touched ¥150.11 per the greenback in early Asian trading on Monday before quickly recovering.
Members of the Ground Self-Defense Force disembark from a CH-47 Chinook helicopter during a live fire exercise in Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture, in May 2022.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 23, 2023

Kishida's proposed tax cuts put higher defense spending on hold

The plan to raise defense spending partly through tax hikes has been put on ice. In fact, it was never likely to deliver fast results.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida listens as Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan chief Kenta Izumi speaks in parliament in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 24, 2023

Tough questions for Kishida in parliament over spending plans

Japan’s main opposition party began its scrutiny of Kishida's economic stimulus package as the country struggles with inflation and stagnant wages.
Kokusai Electric's technology and manufacturing center in the city of Toyama
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 25, 2023

Kokusai Electric shares jump 28% in Tokyo debut

The stock closed at ¥2,350, valuing the company at ¥541.5 billion as investors grabbed shares following the IPO.
Yayoi Kimura, mayor of Tokyo's Koto Ward, speaks during a news conference in Tokyo in August.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 25, 2023

Prosecutors raid Tokyo ward mayor's office over election campaign

The special squad of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office were acting on a criminal complaint filed by local residents against the mayor.
The yen's slide past ¥150 to the dollar has raised renewed speculation over possible government interventions in the currency market.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 26, 2023

Yen weakens close to three-decade low against U.S. dollar

The yen was trading well within the zone that saw authorities wade into the market last year.
U.S. President Joe Biden toasts with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during an official state dinner at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 26, 2023

U.S. and Australia seek military drone cooperation with Japan

The moves comes as the nations aim to maintain an edge in the face of China's growing military might.
Climate activists demand that the World Bank stop fossil fuel financing on the first day of the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Marrakech, Morocco, on Oct. 9.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 27, 2023

Telling countries not to be poor is bad climate advice

As developing nations bear the brunt of the costs of climate change; the world's richer states need to pay up.
Samuel Bankman-Fried, founder and CEO of FTX, testifies during a Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington in February 2022.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 28, 2023

FTX founder admits 'mistakes' but testifies he didn't defraud anyone

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried insisted he did not steal billions of dollars from customers when the cryptocurrency exchange collapsed last year.
Orix Buffaloes ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto (18) walks off the mound after being pulled in the sixth inning of Game 1 of the Japan Series on Saturday at Kyocera Dome Osaka.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 29, 2023

After Game 1 loss, is this the end for Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Japan?

The big question after Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s loss in Game 1 of the Japan Series: Is this the end of his NPB career?
The Bank of Japan is holding a two-day policy meeting through Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 30, 2023

Ueda faces market fallout risk as BOJ mulls yields, prices and yen

In a sign of just how fraught the discussions on policy may be, BOJ officials are likely to monitor yield movements until the very last minute.
A protestor depicts Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez as the fictional character Pinocchio during a protest in Madrid on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 30, 2023

Tens of thousands rally in Spain against amnesty for separatists

The country's right wing accuses the president of threatening Spanish unity and seeking amnesty only to cling to power.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a press conference at the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 31, 2023

Netanyahu's ‘Mr. Security’ image fades as rivals want him out

Opponents say Netanyahu failed spectacularly by ignoring Hamas’ true intentions.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attends an extraordinary session at the Lower House of parliament in Tokyo on Oct. 23.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 31, 2023

Prime Minister Kishida and a month of misery

The challenges Fumio Kishida faces are eroding confidence in his leadership and are likely to influence policy decision-making.
More and more children are producing content as online influencers and generating lots of money.
COMMENTARY
Oct 31, 2023

Kidfluencers are today’s version of chimney sweeps

Protecting children from labor exploitation is difficult in the age of social media.
Petr Aven in Moscow to attend Russia Business week in in 2018
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Nov 1, 2023

Squeezed by sanctions, some oligarchs head home to Putin's Russia

The penalties have destroyed the standing of many wealthy Russians abroad who remained silent or avoided direct criticism of Putin over the war.
Smoke rises from destroyed buildings in the Gaza Strip following Israeli airstrikes on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 2, 2023

U.S. and Israel weigh peacekeepers for Gaza after Hamas

The conversations have been impelled by a sense of urgency to come up with a plan for the future of Gaza now that a ground invasion has begun.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is saluted by Maritime Self-Defense Force members during the International Fleet Review to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the MSDF, at Sagami Bay, off Yokosuka, on Nov. 6, 2022.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Nov 3, 2023

Weak yen forces Japan to cut back on historic military spending

Officials and industry sources said Japan will begin cutting back on aircraft purchases in 2024, the second year of the buildup plan, due to the weak yen.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak listens to a question as he holds the closing news conference on the second day of the U.K. Artificial Intelligence Safety Summit at Bletchley Park, near Milton Keynes, England, on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 4, 2023

China quietly took part in leaders' AI meeting in the U.K.

China said it attended a top-level ministerial meeting at the U.K. AI Safety Summit on Thursday, despite not being listed by Britain.
A Grab food delivery cyclist makes a delivery in Singapore on Aug. 21.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 5, 2023

Consolidation looms for Southeast Asia’s food delivery giants

With growth in the sector slowing, companies are slimming down or bolstering their ties with other operators.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. As the European Union’s biggest economy wrestles with a persistent slump and a surge in immigration, the specter of German nationalism has returned, leaving citizens more conflicted over their country’s direction than at any point since World War II.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 6, 2023

The far right is on the rise in Germany and Scholz is at a loss

Amidst economic challenges and surging immigration, German nationalism has reemerged.
South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus ahead of a game against Ireland in Dublin in November 2022
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Nov 6, 2023

Erasmus to coach South Africa at start of new World Cup cycle

After lifting the World Cup as coach four years ago, Erasmus took the reins as South Africa’s director of rugby.
Rapid improvements in image generation have spurred artists to push back on generative AI startups, which ingest vast troves of internet data in order to generate content like pictures or text.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 6, 2023

Dall-E 3 is so good it’s stoking a revolt against AI scraping

It hasn’t helped much that OpenAI’s new process for artists who want to exclude their data from the system is time-consuming and complex.
China's dominance in the electric vehicle market has prompted the European Union to take action regarding economic security.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Nov 7, 2023

How electric vehicles became subject to EU economic security

The bloc has felt the pressure from China in the EV market, leading it to take steps to better protect vehicles, batteries and materials.
Steam rises from the cooling towers of the coal power plant of RWE, one of Europe's biggest electricity and gas companies, in Niederaussem, Germany.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 6, 2023

Just 4% of top firms meet U.N. climate target guidelines, study says

The pace of change among governments and corporations is set to form a central part of the COP28 climate talks starting later this month.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa meets with the families of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas militants to the Gaza Strip, during a visit to Tel Aviv on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Nov 6, 2023

Israel-Hamas conflict to dominate Tokyo summit of top G7 diplomats

Japan will be looking to further align the bloc’s responses to the war amid growing calls for a humanitarian pause in the fighting.
Students stand during a flag-lowering ceremony on the first day of the new academic year in Shanghai in 2021.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 8, 2023

China's private schools struggle amid COVID and regulatory woes

The sector stumbled after Beijing imposed new rules in 2021 and cracked down on the private tutoring business.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog's claim all Gazans are responsible for Hamas' actions ignores the iron grip the group has over the strip and how isolated its people are.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 8, 2023

No, Gazans can’t rise up against Hamas

Claiming all Gazans are responsible for Hamas' actions ignores the iron grip the group has over the strip and how isolated its people are.
Abortion rights activists and counterprotesters demonstrate outside the U.S. Supreme Court in June on the first anniversary of the court ruling in the Dobbs vs. Women’s Health Organization case, overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion decision. 
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 8, 2023

U.S. abortions haven’t dropped since Dobbs ruling

The #WeCount project says the number of U.S. abortions increased by about 2,000 between June 2022 and June 2023 compared with the prior 12-month period.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat