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A volcano spews lava and smoke as it erupts in Grindavik, Iceland, on Monday.
WORLD
Dec 19, 2023

Volcano erupts near evacuated town in Iceland

The eruption near capital Reykjavík has not affected flights in the country's main international airport.
Koo Yeon-kyung, the eldest daughter of LG's former chairperson Koo Bon-moo, at her home in Seoul on Oct. 3. The death of Koo Bon-moo in 2018 without a will sparked a power struggle within the Koo family and LG over the inheritance of his estimated $1.5 billion fortune — including his 11% stake in the company.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 19, 2023

Family split at LG tests corporate succession in South Korea

Wife and daughters of late chairman accuse adopted son and other executives of deception to steal their inheritance to bolster his claim to the company.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda attends a news conference after a policy meeting at BOJ headquarters in Tokyo on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 19, 2023

BOJ holds off from policy normalization moves amid growing pressure

BOJ Gov. Kazuo Ueda’s comment during a parliamentary session on Dec. 7 increased expectations that the bank might send some signals of a policy change.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg meet during a NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, in July.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 19, 2023

NATO's delicate balancing act in the Indo-Pacific

Japan and NATO are already working together on new technologies and on efforts to safeguard the new domains of cyber, outer space and other vectors.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Reno, Nevada, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 19, 2023

Diplomats gird for 'doomsday' as prospect of Trump presidency looms

If he were to win a second term, Trump is likely to install loyalists — meaning his whims and isolationist policies would be easier to enact than before.
Sacks of coffee beans at a storage unit in the Sidama region of Ethiopia.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 20, 2023

Coffee firms switch sources, evading impact of EU deforestation law

Under the new law, importers of various commodities and products that use them must prove goods did not originate from deforested land.
Terao, later known as Shikoroyama, defeats yokozuna Takanohana at the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka in 1995.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Dec 20, 2023

Stablemaster Shikoroyama's lasting sumo legacy

The stablemaster √ leaves behind a legacy as a popular star who fostered respect for the sport and its participants among the general public.
People gather around a fire on Wednesday to keep warm outside a local mosque after an earthquake in northwest China's Gansu province on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 20, 2023

Chinese earthquake victims emerge into subfreezing weather

The magnitude-6.2 earthquake jolted Jishishan county near the border straddling Gansu and Qinghai provinces a minute before midnight on Monday.
An image of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar at the temple in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, the site of his killing in June
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 21, 2023

Western nations grapple with plots to assassinate Sikhs

From undercover stings to diplomatic tensions, unpacking the Sikh hit man plots in Canada and the U.S.
Music streaming service Spotify started offering audiobooks in October, but not everyone in the book industry is thrilled.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 20, 2023

Spotify's push into audiobooks sparks concern among authors

Spotify began offering complimentary audiobooks to millions of customers in October as part of their monthly subscriptions.
Participants in traditional Korean attire holds signs using the Korean Hangul script — used to document the language of the Cia-Cia ethnic group, which has no written form — on Buton island, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia, on Oct. 14.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Dec 20, 2023

Indigenous Indonesians use Korean letters to save dialect

The language of the Cia-Cia ethnic group in southeast Sulawesi province's Baubau has no written form.
Young Japanese eels successfully hatched from the full-cycle breeding process
BUSINESS
Jan 2, 2024

Full-cycle onshore aquaculture in the spotlight in Japan

The farming method is being developed at a time when factors including overfishing are leading to falls in stocks.
People's Liberation Army forces walk near the Sagaing Region of Myanmar on Nov. 23.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Dec 21, 2023

China is using Myanmar civil war to destroy cyber scam networks

The ruling Communist Party is cracking down on criminal gangs that have scammed, kidnapped and tortured its citizens
A line worker installs an airbag at GM's Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup truck plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 2018.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 21, 2023

Carmakers battle massive air-bag recall that may cost $10 billion

The U.S. safety regulator could recall as 52 million air-bag inflators made by ARC Automotive after some were reported to have exploded.
A Houthi fighter stands on the Galaxy Leader cargo ship in the Red Sea in this photo released Nov. 20.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 21, 2023

Saudi Arabia holds back as U.S. Red Sea task force tests ties

Riyadh's priorities include extricating itself from both a messy war in Yemen and a destructive feud with the Houthis' principal backer, Iran.
Fans praised Nintendo for following up one of the best open-world games ever made with The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, a worthy sequel that introduced enough new mechanics to keep the experience fresh for players new and old alike.
CULTURE / 2023 in Review
Dec 22, 2023

Zelda was a gem among many in a crowning year for gaming

Japanese studios’ hits included: Street Fighter 6, remakes of Metroid Prime and Resident Evil 4, and Super Mario Bros. Wonder, to name a few.
The U.S. Steel Clairton Coke Works in Clairton, Pennsylvania. U.S. President Joe Biden's top economic advisor said the purchase of the firm by Nippon Steel deserves serious scrutiny, in the latest sign of political pressure over the deal.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 22, 2023

Nippon-U.S. Steel deal deserves 'serious scrutiny,' White House says

The White House said it views a strong domestic steel industry as vital to the U.S. economy and national security.
Japan's core consumer prices rose 2.5% in November from a year earlier, marking the slowest pace of increase in over a year in a sign of easing cost-push pressures in the world's third-largest economy.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 22, 2023

Japan’s cooling inflation also offers encouraging signs for BOJ

Consumer prices excluding fresh food items rose 2.5% from a year earlier as falls in energy costs deepened and gains in processed food prices eased.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump attends a campaign event in Waterloo, Iowa, on Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2023

U.S. Supreme Court unlikely to uphold Colorado ruling disqualifying Trump

The U.S. Supreme Court could overturn the Colorado courts decision, including challenging the state court's authority to keep Trump off the ballot.
Taiwan's president, Tsai Ing-wen, leads a political rally in New Taipei City, Taiwan, on Nov. 4.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2023

How Tsai Ing-wen aligned Taiwan with the free world

The question now is to what extent Tsai’s foreign policy legacy will endure after Taiwan’s 2024 presidential election on Jan. 13.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a policy meeting on Friday.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2023

Japan cuts spending for first time in 12 years in fiscal 2024 budget

The budget for the coming fiscal year that starts in April is estimated at ¥112.07 trillion, down 2% from the current year's initial amount.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group CEO Hironori Kamezawa
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 22, 2023

Japan banks scramble to beef up asset management businesses

Asset management has emerged as an area of focus for the banks this year amid signs decades of deflation is ending.
Well-wishers light candles as people mourn the lives lost in Thursday's mass shooting, outside Charles University in Prague on Friday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Dec 23, 2023

After Czech mass shooting, shock, grief and a focus on guns

As police Friday scrutinized online threats of copycat attacks, students at Charles University proposed a simple way to prevent any recurrence: ban guns.
The SKS Doyles crude oil tanker sails through the Suez Canal on Thursday.
WORLD
Dec 24, 2023

Iran dismisses U.S. intelligence tying it to Red Sea attacks

The White House said that Iran was "deeply involved” in the planning of the Houthi attacks and has supplied weapons, financial support and training.
Palestinians wait to collect food at a donation point in a refugee camp in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 25, 2023

U.S. sees new isolation from Israel support

Gaza suffering raises ire against Washington, which is juggling backing for ally with behind-the-scenes pressure to better protect civilians.
A flare falls over Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 25, 2023

Palestinians feel 'no joy' as Israel bombs Gaza on Christmas

Festivities were effectively scrapped in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, with few worshippers or tourists on the usually packed streets.
Subsidies in China turned the country into an electric vehicle giant but produced weed-infested graveyards of abandoned EVs.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 25, 2023

No one wants used EVs, making new ones a tougher sell too

In the $1.2 trillion secondhand market, prices for battery-powered cars are falling faster than for their combustion-engine cousins.
Former Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2023

Japan must further ease arms export rules, ex-defense chief says

Itsunori Onodera said he would press ahead with ruling coalition discussions on broadening the scope of allowable exports.
Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities hopes to record its highest-ever income from Japan in the current fiscal year, and work together with Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities to overtake Nomura Holdings as the top broker in the country.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 25, 2023

Morgan Stanley expects record Japan revenue as BOJ fuels trading

Shift in the nation's monetary policy could spur more client activity, says the CEO of Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities.
Ineos chairman Jim Ratcliffe
SOCCER
Dec 25, 2023

Billionaire Ratcliffe agrees deal to buy 25% of Manchester United

United also said that Ratcliffe's INEOS company would take control of football operations after years of under-achievement under the Glazer family.

Longform

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