Search - business

 
 
A United Auto Workers (UAW) union member holds a sign to mark the beginning of contract negotiations in Sterling Heights, Michigan, in July.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 17, 2023

U.S. auto talks at 'critical phase' as political pressure grows

Workers at all Big Three automakers are coordinating for the first time, with demands such as a 40% pay increase over a four-year contract.
Robots carry items around Amazon Japan's logistics base in Chiba.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 17, 2023

Logistics robots coming into wider use in Japan

Companies are looking to logistics robots in response to the popularity of e-commerce, as well as present and potential labor shortages.
Models of military equipment and a giant screen displaying Chinese leader Xi Jinping are seen at an exhibition at the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution in Beijing last October.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 17, 2023

In risky hunt for secrets, U.S. and China expand global spy operations

The rival nations are taking bold steps in the espionage shadow war to try to collect intelligence on leadership thinking and military capabilities.
Corruption thrives in times of war, as exemplified by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently being forced to replace his defense minister after top officials were accused of skimming funds or taking bribes. 
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 17, 2023

Zelenskyy needs to fight corruption like he’s fighting Putin

There’s no need just to pick on ex-Soviet states like Ukraine. A fire hose of U.S. taxpayer money went missing in Afghanistan and Iraq.
A self-driving Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicle in San Francisco in 2017
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 17, 2023

With self-driving cars, it's the ethics we have to navigate

Do accidents involving self-driving cars today save lives tomorrow? When it comes to self-driving cars, the challenges aren't just technical, but ethical.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 18, 2023

Wall Street comes to grips with how wrong it’s been in 2023

Stock-market strategists who were largely wrong about this year’s rally are finally starting to come to face their mistake.
Workers at a production line of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles at a factory in Huzhou, Zhejiang province, China
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 18, 2023

By 2030, EU may rely on China's batteries as it did Russian energy

The document will be the basis of discussions on Europe's economic security during a meeting of EU leaders in Granada in Spain on Oct. 5.
Striking UAW autoworkers demonstrate at a rally in downtown Detroit on Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Sep 18, 2023

How auto executives misread the UAW and ignited a historic strike

UAW president Shawn Fain’s aggressiveness reflects the mood of the American worker: anxious about job security and angry about a ballooning wealth gap.
The far-right Confederation Liberty and Independence party rally against measures imposed by the Polish government to stem the spread of COVID-19, in Warsaw in October 2020.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 18, 2023

The far right is advancing in a vulnerable Europe again

Disruptors in far-right political parties are taking advantage of resentment born out of COVID-19, a cost-of-living crisis and the war in Ukraine.
Nobody wishes for a medical emergency, but preparing for one while you're in a foreign country can only make things easier.
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Sep 18, 2023

How to avoid medical purgatory when hospitalized in Japan

Much like a legal will, a visit to the hospital is the last thing for which you want to prepare — yet doing so will save you stress and worry.
A tanker used for shipping liquefied natural gas sits near the Yamal LNG plant, operated by Novatek, in Sabetta, Russia.
BUSINESS
Sep 19, 2023

Japan to ensure stable energy supply despite U.S. sanctions

The latest sanctions on the Arctic LNG 2 project are part of several economic measures the U.S., Europe and their allies have taken against Russia.
Elon Musk, CEO of X (formerly Twitter), in Washington on Sept. 13
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 19, 2023

Musk says X will charge all users a 'small monthly payment'

Since buying the platform last October, Musk has fired thousands of employees, cut content moderation and halved its advertising revenue.
Self-propelled electric vehicles move through the factory floor during a demonstration of its new assembly line technology at Toyota's Motomachi plant in the city of Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, on Sept. 13.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 20, 2023

Toyota keeps up the push to prove it can embrace new technology

The carmaker was eager to show that it wasn’t about to sit idle as the global auto industry shifts toward electrification and automation.
More companies are using employee share incentives as a tool to retain talent and comply with a request by the regulator to pay more attention to share price performance.
BUSINESS
Sep 20, 2023

Japanese companies warm up to employee stock incentives

More companies are using employee share incentives as a tool to retain talent.
Many of the wealthy in Japan are becoming more keen to park their cash in private assets like equity, credit and real estate that aren't traded in public markets.
BUSINESS
Sep 20, 2023

Brokers tap demand for private assets among Japan's wealthy

Private assets are booming globally after decades-high inflation and rapid interest-rate hikes weighed on both shares and bonds.
The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. facility in Phoenix, Arizona
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 20, 2023

TSMC weighs advanced chip packaging in U.S. to ease bottleneck

The U.S. is talking to TSMC about research and development for the first time, in an effort to bring more of the contract chipmaker’s technology onshore.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses the 78th Session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 20, 2023

Climate fault lines in clear sight at U.N. General Assembly

Disconnects are likely to remain front and center when many of the same leaders gather in Dubai for COP28 in November.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference last Wednesday following a Cabinet reshuffle.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 20, 2023

Kishida may reveal priority areas for economic package next week

The size of an envisaged fiscal 2023 state supplementary budget to finance the economic measures will be a major focus, informed sources said.
BYD's Dolphin electric car during a test drive in Yokohama
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 20, 2023

BYD takes aim at Japan's EV market with new Dolphin hatchback

The base model Dolphin starts from ¥3.63 million and is equipped with a 70 kilowatt hour battery that offers 400 kilometers of range.
A liquefied natural gas tanker is tugged toward a thermal power station in Futtsu, Chiba Prefecture, in November 2017
BUSINESS
Sep 20, 2023

Japan’s dwindling LNG inventories could prompt new purchases

Storage held by Japan’s power suppliers fell to 1.62 million tons as of Sept. 17, according to data compiled by the trade ministry.
Hou Yu-ih, Taiwan presidential candidate and mayor of New Taipei City, speaks during a news conference in New York on Sept. 16. The Kuomintang, Taiwan's main opposition party, picked Hou Yu-ih, a popular local leader with little foreign policy experience, as its candidate for next year's presidential election.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 21, 2023

Taiwan’s former top cop wants China talks if voted president

"I have participated in countless gun battles and I always stood on the front line.”
Cinema staff prepare servings of popcorn during an "all you can eat popcorn for 199 baht" campaign in front of a cinema inside a department store in Bangkok in November 2022.
BUSINESS
Sep 21, 2023

Southeast Asia cinema chains thrive as other markets struggle

Local box office records are being set, filmmaking grants are being unveiled and large cinema chains are shifting into expansion mode.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks at a news conference in New York on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 21, 2023

Kishida to outline economic support measures next week

Speaking in New York, Kishida warned that Japan’s economic situation remains unstable.
A Chinese flag flutters near a Huawei store in Shanghai on Sept. 8.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 21, 2023

German proposal for Huawei curbs triggers telecom operator backlash

Telecom operators swiftly criticized the proposals, while Huawei Germany rejected what it called the "politicization" of cybersecurity in the country.
Antonio Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, speaks during the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 21, 2023

Poor nations have 'every right to be angry' on climate: Guterres

The U.N. chief said that poorer countries had done the least to cause global warming but were bearing the brunt of its impacts.
Studio Ghibli President Toshio Suzuki (left) and Nippon TV Chairman Yoshikuni Sugiyama shake hands during a news conference in Tokyo on Thursday afternoon.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 21, 2023

Studio Ghibli set to become subsidiary of Nippon TV

Studio Ghibli President Toshio Suzuki will assume the position of chairman while Hayao Miyazaki will be its honorary chairman.
British consumers have seen the price of a classic English breakfast — with ingredients like bacon, sausages, orange juice, baked beans and mushrooms — increase by almost 12%.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 21, 2023

Brits see cost of English breakfast soar amid food inflation

The total cost of a basket of goods needed to make the fry-up rose by 57 pence, almost 12%, to £36.15 in August.
Oil pump jacks in Tatarstan, Russia, on June 4
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 21, 2023

Oil companies cautious about drilling as energy transition looms

Instead of spending big to boost output, oil companies are boosting dividends or buying back shares to reward investors.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda during a news conference at the central bank's headquarters in Tokyo on Friday
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 22, 2023

BOJ maintains its dovish monetary easing amid policy speculation

Comments by Gov. Kazuo Ueda in an interview earlier this month had sparked speculation that the BOJ might move to change policy at an earlier date.
U.S. President Joe Biden listens to a reporter's question about whether he will visit striking auto workers on the UAW picket line as he walks back to the Oval Office after an event in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 23, 2023

Biden to visit Michigan to support auto strike, a day before Trump

Numerous unions have already endorsed Biden's re-election, but the UAW has for now withheld its endorsement.

Longform

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