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A government minister has said the acquisition of 7-Eleven by foreign capital is majorly related to economic security.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 10, 2025

Japan to consider 'economic security' in 7-Eleven takeover

Economic revitalization minister Ryosei Akazawa highlighted the role Japan's convenience stores can play in times of crisis, such as after major earthquakes.
The sun sets over the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes in Death Valley National Park, near Furnace Creek, during a heat wave impacting Southern California in July.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jan 10, 2025

Record heat pushed 2024 above global warming threshold of 1.5 C

A clear acceleration in rising temperatures has puzzled scientists, even as the evidence of the fast-warming atmosphere became impossible to miss.
Incoming Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya arrives at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Nov. 11 after lawmakers voted in parliament to reappoint Shigeru Ishiba as the country's prime minister.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 11, 2025

Japan foreign minister to attend Trump Jan. 20 inauguration

Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya would be the first Japanese Cabinet member to attend the swearing-in of a U.S. president.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump appears remotely for a sentencing hearing in front of New York State Judge Juan Merchan in the criminal case in which he was convicted in 2024 on charges involving hush money paid to a porn star, at New York Criminal Court in Manhattan on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 11, 2025

A sentence with no penalty assures Trump will take office as a felon

Justice Juan Merchan gave Donald Trump a symbolic punishment. The judge said that leniency was due the office of the president, not the man who will soon hold the title.
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping shake hands ahead of their bilateral meeting during the Group of 20 leaders summit in Osaka in June 2019.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 11, 2025

China's Xi to send top-level envoy to Trump's inauguration, report says

Beijing has told Trump’s transition team that the official would attend instead of Xi, whom Trump had invited to attend.
Mark Zuckerberg, then chief executive of Facebook, appears at a joint U.S. Senate Judiciary and Commerce Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington in April 2018.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 11, 2025

Inside Mark Zuckerberg’s sprint to remake Meta for the Trump era

The highly unusual overhaul of the firm's speech policies came after the Meta CEO visited U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in November.
Palm trees burned by the Palisades Fire along the shore in Malibu, California, at sunrise on Friday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jan 11, 2025

‘We’re in a new era’: How climate change is supercharging disasters

Extreme weather events — deadly heat waves, floods, fires and hurricanes — are the consequences of a warming planet, scientists say.
Fire retardant is dropped as the Palisades Fire grows near Encino Hills, California, on Saturday.
WORLD
Jan 12, 2025

Aerial assault aims to stem Los Angeles fire's eastward spread

Fire officials say that while 11% of the Palisades Fire was now contained, it has so far burned over 22,000 acres (8,900 hectares).
A former cattle ranch is being reforested in Brazil's Amazon region on Dec. 11. Mombak, a young carbon credit company — with valuable contracts with the giants Google and Microsoft, and supported by the U.S. government — aims to repeat this move millions of times over.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jan 13, 2025

In Brazil, an Amazon reforestation project seeks to redeem carbon markets

By planting native species, Brazilian company Mombak hopes to restore credibility to a scandal-ridden carbon market at a crucial time for the warming planet.
An ice core sample from a glacier in the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center in Columbus, Ohio, on Jan. 15, 2021
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jan 13, 2025

The 'climate archive': How scientists study the ancient past

The U.N. says the world is on track for nearly 3 degrees Celsius of warming compared to the 19th century.
Smoke plumes rise from explosions above destroyed buildings in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jan 14, 2025

Final draft of Gaza truce deal shown to sides after 'breakthrough'

Both sides are "closer than we've ever been" to a deal, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
Toyota is one of many large employers in the U.S. ordering workers to their desks in recent months, ending policies implemented during the COVID pandemic.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 14, 2025

Toyota wants salaried staff back in office four days a week

Toyota denied the move is designed to reduce headcount but warned failure to comply could lead to "termination of employment.”
Bank of Japan Deputy Gov. Ryozo Himino has said that the central bank will raise rates if its outlook continues to be realized.
BUSINESS
Jan 14, 2025

BOJ deputy chief signals chance of rate hike next week

Most BOJ watchers see an interest rate hike coming in either January or March.
A mirror reflects a collapsed house in the city of Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Dec. 10, nearly one year after a major earthquake struck nearby on New Year's Day in 2024.
JAPAN / Explainer
Jan 14, 2025

Miyazaki quake falls short of triggering Nankai Trough megaquake advisory

Though Monday's temblor struck a similar area to one in August that sparked the first advisory, no such alert was issued.
Special Counsel Jack Smith holds a press conference announcing the indictment of former U.S. President Donald Trump, in Washington on Aug. 1, 2023.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 14, 2025

Special counsel report says Trump would have been convicted in election case

The report amounts to an extraordinary rebuke of the incoming president.
Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on houses in Gaza City on Jan. 4
WORLD / Politics / EXPLAINER
Jan 16, 2025

How many Palestinians has Israel's Gaza offensive killed?

The official Palestinian Health Ministry count of more than 46,600 Palestinian dead is disputed by Israeli officials but is seen by the U.N. as an undercount.
Ichiro Suzuki had 1,278 hits and a .353 batting average in nine seasons with the BlueWave in NPB.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jan 16, 2025

Ichiro voted into Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame

Former players Hitoki Iwase and Masayuki Kakefu and former Central League umpire Hiroya Tomizawa were also voted into the Hall.
The U.S. Supreme Court has signaled it's likely to uphold a law that would ban TikTok in the U.S. if it isn't sold by its Chinese parent company by Jan. 19. U.S. politicians in both major parties, however, are seeking ways to keep the video-sharing app accessible for Americans.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 16, 2025

TikTok allies close to Trump and Biden race to delay ban

The app, owned by China’s ByteDance Ltd., faces a deadline of Jan. 19 to find a U.S. buyer in order to continue operating in the country.
Firefighters walk next to the remains of beachfront houses that burnt down in the Palisades Fire, in Malibu, California, on Thursday.
WORLD
Jan 17, 2025

Los Angeles evacuees told not to go home for at least another week

Emergency responders are removing toxic waste from incinerated neighborhoods and cutting off electricity and gas lines that pose a hazard amid the ruins.
Firefighters spray the rubble of homes that were demolished by the Eaton Fire on Wednesday.AFP-JIJI
OLYMPICS
Jan 17, 2025

Critics question Los Angeles' ability to host Olympics after wildfires

Governor Gavin Newsom has already moved to assure that Los Angeles will be ready to host the Games.
A boy runs with a Palestinian flag atop a mound of rubble at a camp for people displaced by conflict in Bureij, in the central Gaza Strip, on Friday following the announcement of a ceasefire amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 18, 2025

Israeli Cabinet approves Gaza ceasefire accord due to take effect Sunday

The six-week ceasefire, which will also see a series of hostage-for-prisoner exchanges, could pave the way to ending the 15-month war.
Eugene Kangawa's Atelier iii is a space where visitors are invited to engage directly with the artist’s evolving practice.
CULTURE / Art
Jan 18, 2025

Eugene Kangawa’s art space embraces impermanence

The artist’s Atelier iii studio resists spectacle and asks visitors to slow down and commit to being present.
Reporters listen as President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, on Jan. 7
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jan 18, 2025

Once an interloper, Trump returns to White House more powerful than before

The former real-estate developer now plausibly stands as the defining political figure of the early 21st century.
Woodworkers check phones during a blackout at an industrial complex in Tehran on Dec. 18.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 20, 2025

Blackouts in Iran leave industry in tatters

The regime is bracing for a harder road ahead, with incoming U.S. President Donald Trump pledging pressure and preparing sanctions.
The Maritime Self-Defense Force's Mogami frigate, of the class of the same name, is anchored at the MSDF's naval base in the city of Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, in September 2022.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jan 20, 2025

Japan looks to learn from the past with bid to build Australian warships

A winning bid for a decadelong Australian frigate program would be a major breakthrough for Japan’s defense industry following a failed 2016 attempt to sell submarines to Canberra.

Longform

Atsuyoshi Koike, the president and CEO of Rapidus, says there is a “sense of urgency” when it comes to Japan’s efforts in manufacturing semiconductors. “We have to make sure we are successful,” he says.
Atsuyoshi Koike’s big game: Fourth down and 2 nanometers to go