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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.
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.
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.
Chile's Zhiying Zeng plays a return during her preliminary round match at the Paris Olympics on Saturday.
OLYMPICS / Table tennis
Jul 28, 2024

'Dream come true' for 58-year-old Olympic debutant despite loss

Zeng represented China, the country of her birth, as a young player but retired at 20 and moved to Chile, where she has lived for the past 35 years.
While traditional hybrid vehicles use gas to turn the wheels, a new crop of cars are burning it exclusively to charge a large onboard battery.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 28, 2024

A new wave of electric vehicles are ready to charge at 70 mph

But while fossil fuels may be a curious catalyst for sparking EV sales, the strategy is arguably far greener than it looks.
The United Nations headquarters building is pictured though a window with the U.N. logo in the foreground in New York in 2014.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 29, 2024

U.N. cybercrime treaty faces new scrutiny

After seven negotiating sessions to date, criticism of the text has increased.
Even small and indirect sums from the Government Pension Investment Fund would help startups to get their businesses going.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 29, 2024

Japanese pension funds tiptoe into moonshot tech investments

More sources of funding would help the country’s on-again-off-again quest to monetize pioneering research.
Taro Kono, Japan's digital transformation minister, during a Bloomberg Television interview in Tokyo, during which he mentioned that the Bank of Japan to needs to introduce a rate hike to stop the weak yen trend.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 29, 2024

Doves in ascendancy ahead of big Bank of Japan meeting this week

The central bank will likely hold rates where they are when it meets this week, according to analysts.
Fuel prices are displayed on a board at a gas station in Tokyo in September 2023. Fighting high prices is among the priority policy measures encompassed by a special spending quota for the fiscal year from April 2025.
BUSINESS
Jul 29, 2024

Japan to create priority policy spending quota in fiscal 2025

Priority measures include strengthening the country's defense capabilities, raising its birthrate and expanding investments in carbon reduction.
Shareholder backing for Toyota Motor Chairman Akio Toyoda slid to 72% at the company's annual general meeting last month.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 29, 2024

Toyota chairman warns he may lose board spot amid falling investor support

Akio Toyoda said he may not be reelected as a director if shareholder support for him continues to fall at the pace it did this year.
Japan's unemployment rate edged lower to 2.5% in June from 2.6% a month earlier.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 30, 2024

Japan’s labor market stays tight, supporting wage growth

Japan's unemployment rate edged lower to 2.5% in June from 2.6% a month earlier, the Internal Affairs Ministry reported.
Samsung has won the long-awaited approval from artificial-intelligence giant Nvidia for a version of its high-bandwidth HBM3 memory chips.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 30, 2024

Samsung begins closing gap in making AI memory chips for Nvidia

The advances that include winning approval from artificial-intelligence giant Nvidia come after months of stumbles for Samsung.
The Maersk Launcher, a ship chartered by The Metals Company, carries seabed samples from the remote Clarion-Clipperton Zone of the Pacific Ocean on June 7, 2021.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jul 30, 2024

The future of deep sea mining hinges on a contentious election

The vote will determine whether companies can begin strip-mining the world’s oceans for critical metals despite concerns about the impacts.
The emphasis on lifting earnings is prompting more Japanese companies to boost investments abroad.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 30, 2024

Japan corporate cleanup fuels appetite for record debt sales

Japanese corporate dollar bonds have been outperforming U.S. peers, and borrowers have piled into the market with record issuance in recent months.
Harley-Davidson motorcycles on display in Tokyo. Japan's antitrust watchdog has raided the manufacturer's Japan unit for allegedly imposing excessive sales quotas on its dealers.
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2024

Harley-Davidson's Japan unit raided after quotas force dealers into hardship

The motorcycle manufacturer's unit in Tokyo is also suspected of having dealers buy Harley-Davidson models that they did not want.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris might maintain some of the economic policies of former President Donald Trump.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Jul 30, 2024

A President Harris might be decidedly Trumpy in approach to Asia trade

The efforts to contain China economically is a common theme that is likely to be maintained after the election.
Demonstrators march in Valencia, Venezuela, on Monday, a day after the Venezuelan presidential election. Protests erupted in parts of Caracas and elsewhere against the re-election victory claimed by President Nicolas Maduro.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 30, 2024

Venezuela needs its neighbors’ help more than ever

Maduro was never going to accept defeat and the idea he would quietly exit the presidential palace was always wishful thinking.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks during a news conference at the central bank's headquarters in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 31, 2024

Bank of Japan delivers one-two punch few were expecting

At its two-day policy meeting, the BOJ voted to increase its short-term policy rate target to 0.25% from a range of 0% to 0.1%.
Japan's industrial production in June fell 3.6% from the previous month, reflecting plant suspensions at vehicle-makers including Toyota due to faulty vehicle certifications.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 31, 2024

Japan’s industrial output falls, clouding recovery outlook

The production of cars and auto parts drove the reading lower as an ongoing probe involving carmakers such as Toyota continues to disrupt output.
The Taung Kalat Buddhist complex on Mount Popa in central Myanmar's Mandalay Region on July 7. A shrine perched on an extinct volcano in Myanmar once thronged with the bustle of pilgrims praying to flower-eating spirit Popa Maedaw, but civil war has cut the complex off from the faithful.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 31, 2024

War in Myanmar heartlands silences volcano shrine

The plains around the temple are now a battle zone, with the faithful blocked from access by fighting and checkpoints.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks during a news conference at the central bank's headquarters in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 31, 2024

BOJ probes website crash that blocked traders before decision

It was not immediately clear whether the website became available for everyone at the same time or if some market participants had access before others.
Diners in the Salamanca neighborhood of Madrid in 2023
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 31, 2024

Spain ranked as the best country for remote work: report

Japan, which announced a digital nomad program on April 1, was 16th on the list.
Toyota Motor has been issued a correction order for the first time.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 31, 2024

Toyota Motor receives correction order from transport ministry

The ministry found indications of additional misconduct, such as falsifying test results.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the media in New Delhi on June 7.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 1, 2024

India's state elections to test Modi after budget fails to aid swing voters

Despite talk of relief, the government has raised taxes on gains from retail investments, removed some real estate tax benefits and left income tax rates untouched.
A line of children's clothes featuring slogans about lazy, uninvolved fathers have sparked an online backlash.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 1, 2024

Japan store pulls 'lazy dad' kid clothes after backlash

Some commentators called them an affront to hard-working fathers, while others said they highlighted the country's childcare gender gap that weighs heavily on women.
Jera reported ¥93.4 billion in profit for the April-June quarter, down 48% from the year-before period.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 1, 2024

JERA's April-June profit halves; Taketoyo plant remains shut

The 1,070-megawatt (MW) Taketoyo power station in Aichi Prefecture has been shut since it was hit by a fire on Jan. 31.
Toyota's hybrids are selling well in North America, making up for sluggish demand for its vehicles in Japan and China.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 1, 2024

Toyota quarterly profit rises 17% on year as weak yen drives U.S. demand

Despite ongoing turmoil from a government probe that found issues with vehicle certifications, analysts still project the carmaker will post a record profit this year.
As metal prices rise, so do cases of theft, with more and an increasing number of metal cables being stolen from solar power plants in Japan.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 1, 2024

Japan's solar plants see over 9,000 cases of cable theft since 2023

The survey were the first to be conducted by the National Police Agency on the situation, at a time when metal prices are rising.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda attends a news conference after the central bank's policy meeting, in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 1, 2024

BOJ’s sudden hawkishness attributed to yen defense

Economists believe political pressure may have had something to do with the central bank’s shift in stance.
Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida (left) and Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe hold a joint news conference in Tokyo on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 1, 2024

Honda and Nissan to tighten ties on software, batteries and EV knowhow

Honda and Nissan sales fell about 40% and 27%, respectively, in June alone in China following the shutdown of some of their local plants.

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