Search - u_times

 
 
Arm U.S. headquarters in San Jose, California
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 13, 2023

Arm’s CEO is pitching a made-for-you chip strategy ahead of IPO

The company is shifting its strategy, now focusing on doing complex design work on specific products, tailored for what it sees as key areas of growth.
New Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa is seen in formal attire to attend an attestation ceremony after a Cabinet reshuffle in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 13, 2023

In Kishida's Cabinet reshuffle, two changes stand out

It will be the first time in 20 years that a woman has been foreign minister, while the new defense chief arrives amid dramatic shifts in defense posture.
Sofia Coppola (right), Bill Murray (center) and Scarlett Johansson attend the Venice Film Festival to present their movie “Lost in Translation” in August 2003.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 13, 2023

The complex legacy of ‘Lost in Translation,’ 20 years on

Sofia Coppola's acclaimed film relaunched Tokyo's global fame, but along the way it forgot to show its Japanese characters some love.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa speaks at the Foreign Ministry on Thursday, a day after she was named as the replacement of Yoshimasa Hayashi (right) in a Cabinet reshuffle.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 14, 2023

Japan's new foreign minister: A change in face, not policy

Yoko Kamikawa's appointment as foreign minister — the first time a women assumed the role in 19 years — is unlikely to bring a change in policy.
Tesla has combined a series of innovations to make a technological breakthrough that could transform the way it makes electric vehicles and help Elon Musk achieve his aim of halving production costs.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 15, 2023

Tesla reinvents carmaking with quiet breakthrough

The company pioneered the use of huge presses to mold the front and rear structures of its Model Y in a "gigacasting" process.
An engineer works on a K-9 self propelled howitzer at Hanwha Aerospace factory in Changwon, South Korea, on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Sep 16, 2023

Inside the South Korean factory that could be key for Ukraine

South Korea has ramped up arms exports while traditional behemoths like the United States struggle with production shortages.
A woman walks past a showroom for Chinese electric vehicle maker XPeng in Beijing in February.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 16, 2023

Chinese EV makers pin hopes on Europe’s fading auto dealers

At the heart of their strategy is the traditional dealership model that European carmakers have been exiting in favor of direct sales.
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.
Couples prepare to have their photo taken during a wedding photography shoot on a in Shanghai on Sept. 6.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 19, 2023

Fewer 'I dos' ruin the party for China's $500 billion wedding industry

The trend is worrying officials trying to revive marriage rates and birth rates, which dropped to record lows last year.
Diane Hawley Nagatomo at her home office in Chiba. Born in the U.K., Diane has called Japan “home” for more than 40 years.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Sep 23, 2023

Diane Hawley Nagatomo: ‘The only way to improve writing is to write’

After retiring from her position as a professor in 2022, Diane Hawley Nagatomo has just released her first novel, “The Butterfly Cafe.”
Technicians open NASA's OSIRIS-REx capsule in a clean room at a U.S. military facility in Utah on Sunday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 25, 2023

Touchdown: Highly anticipated asteroid sample arrives on Earth

It is only the third asteroid sample, and by far the biggest, ever returned to Earth for analysis, following two missions by Japan's space agency.
A weak yen, ultraeasy monetary policy and hopes for stable inflation have helped push the Topix to its highest level since 1990.
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 26, 2023

Japan’s stock boom to drive equity sales through 2024, BofA says

A weak yen, ultraeasy monetary policy and hopes for stable inflation have helped push the Topix to its highest level since 1990.
An iceberg floats near Two Hummock Island, Antarctica, in 2020.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Sep 26, 2023

Antarctic winter sea ice at record low, sparking climate worries

Researchers warn the shift can have dire consequences for animals like penguins who breed and rear their young on the sea ice.
In Australia, past El Nino events have led to destructive fire seasons, including the catastrophic Black Summer of 2019-2020.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2023

Australia hoped to dodge wildfires. El Nino has other plans.

The 1983, 2003, 2007, 2010 and 2015 fire seasons, some of the most damaging in the country’s history, all occurred during El Nino.
Novak Djokovic (right) and Carlos Alcaraz meet at the net following the 2023 Wimbledon final in London in July.
TENNIS
Sep 28, 2023

Novak Djokovic sees bright future for tennis Carlos Alcaraz leading charge

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic believes the future of tennis is in good hands with young gun Carlos Alcaraz leading the way.
Singer Taylor Swift (right) watches the game with Donna Kelce, Travis’ mother, on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Sep 28, 2023

Travis Kelce's celebrity hits new level after brush with Taylor Swift

A spokesperson for Fanatics, the NFL’s official retailer, said that sales of Kelce’s jersey had spiked by 400% as of Monday.
Elon Musk, owner of X, formerly known as Twitter. The social media platform said it was cutting half of its global team dedicated to monitoring and limiting disinformation and fraud around major elections.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 29, 2023

Musk culls X's election integrity teams ahead of major votes

The job cuts appear to contradict recent statements by X's CEO Linda Yaccarino.
There were 73 Japan initial public offerings during the first nine months of this year that raised a combined $3.3 billion, nearly four times as much as the same period a year earlier.
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 29, 2023

Tokyo equity offerings surge amid shift toward capital efficiency

Investors were encouraged by a surge in the 225-issue Nikkei stock index and signs that firms have begun to manage their capital more efficiently.
A Ukrainian serviceman walks at a position near the front line in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 29, 2023

Who’s gaining ground in Ukraine? This year, no one.

Despite nine months of bloody fighting, less than 500 square miles of territory have changed hands since the start of the year.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen during a practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix. Saudi Aramco has perhaps the most visible presence among fossil fuel giants at Formula One races as one of the series' top sponsors.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
Sep 30, 2023

F1 says it will reach net zero by 2030. But can it shake its polluting image?

Formula One's pledge faces myriad challenges, including its long-standing ties to some of the world's dirtiest fossil fuel companies.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi address a joint meeting of Congress at the Capitol in Washington in June.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 1, 2023

Modi’s Hindu nationalism stokes tension in Indian diaspora

Canadian and U.S. universities have become battlegrounds for critics and defenders of Hindu nationalism, punctuated by threats of violence and even death.
A Ukrainian drone pilot, call sign Darwin, operating a first-person-view, or FPV, drone on a test flight near Kupiansk, Ukraine, on Aug. 5.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 1, 2023

Ukraine’s war of drones runs into an obstacle: China

Ukraine's latest fight is one over global electronics supply chains that run through China.
Gamers play during the first day of Europe's leading digital games fair, Gamescom, in Cologne, Germany, in August 2019
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 2, 2023

Video game competitions should be in the Olympics

Esports is already among the world’s most popular competitive activities. Last year, the global audience totaled more than 500 million people.
An employee prepares tables and chairs outside a restaurant in Bucharest, Romania.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 3, 2023

EU membership supercharged Romania. Ukraine faces a tougher task.

Romania’s accession offers lessons that can help Kyiv along the way and offer an indication of the potential rewards.
Central to China’s global media campaign is the aggressive use of new technologies to target and spread messages, silence critics and create a digital infrastructure that is more easily controlled.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 3, 2023

Pushing back against China’s media offensive

China is using propaganda, disinformation, censorship and covert tactics to promote its preferred narrative and suppress critical reporting.
Paramilitary personnel at a security checkpoint ahead of the G20 summit in New Delhi on Sept. 8.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 3, 2023

Indian police launch raids on journalists and activists

Those raided are reported to be connected to the English-language news website NewsClick.
Hans Ellegren, permanent secretary of the Royal Academy of Sciences, flanked by Eva Olsson and Mats Larsson, members, announces this year's Nobel Prize winners in physics, at the Royal Academy of Sciences in Stockholm on Tuesday..
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 3, 2023

Trio wins 2023 Nobel in physics for electron experiments

The award was given to Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier for work “exploring the world of electrons inside atoms and molecules."
Japan’s currency reached ¥150.16 per U.S. dollar on Tuesday in New York trading, its weakest value since October 2022. Then, within seconds, it rebounded to ¥147.43 per dollar.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 4, 2023

Yen rebounds from ¥150 to dollar as Japan mum on intervention

The yen quickly strengthened to ¥147.30 against the dollar, with its swift recovery sparking chatter that a quiet intervention had occurred.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Press freedom in India has plummeted since Modi came to power in 2014, rights activists and opposition lawmakers say, with Reporters Without Borders warning that such freedom is "in crisis" in the country.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 4, 2023

Indian police launch sweeping raids on journalists, arresting two

Police said the raids were carried out under a stringent anti-terror law that makes it virtually impossible to get bail.
A Meteorological Agency official holds a news conference on Thursday after the agency issued a tsunami advisory for the Izu island chain. The advisory was lifted early Thursday afternoon.
JAPAN
Oct 5, 2023

Small tsunami waves reach Japan’s Izu islands after 6.6 M quake

The Meteorological Agency lifted its tsunami advisory just after 1 p.m. but it warned the public about the possibility of aftershocks.

Longform

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