Search - 2023

 
 
A worker clears away snow as last-minute grocery shoppers leave a Market Basket supermarket during a fast-moving winter storm in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on Feb. 13.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 5, 2024

In a changing climate, retailers turn to weather data predictions

Weather data, once used strictly for inventory planning, is now helping retailers localize advertising and decide when to discount seasonal items such as sweaters.
A text message sent by a scammer tells a recipient that a refund can be made only through an electronic money transfer.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 5, 2024

Police warn of refund scams involving smartphone payment apps

Scammers are exploiting smartphone payment apps, particularly PayPay, and fake online discount stores to commit fraud.
Operators respond to telephone directory inquiries from Tokyo at a call center in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, in October 1997.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Nov 11, 2024

As NTT ends its Dial 104 service, Okinawa's call centers look elsewhere

Naha and Nago were home to Japan's biggest call center operations, receiving around 125,000 calls a day at their peak in 1999.
In the April-September period, Nintendo logged net profit of ¥108.7 billion ($710 million), down 60% from the same period a year earlier.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 5, 2024

Nintendo lowers sales forecast as first-half profits plunge

The video game giant now expects sales of ¥1.28 trillion, down from the previous estimate of ¥1.35 trillion, and also issued a less optimistic operating profit forecast.
Former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant attends a press conference shortly after he was sacked by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who cited a lack of trust, at the Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 6, 2024

Netanyahu fires defense minister, jolting Israeli politics

After Yoav Gallant was fired, protesters in Israel blocked highways and lit bonfires on roads.
A screen grab taken from a live video stream broadcast by the Shizuoka Municipal Government on Wednesday shows Mount Fuji with a dusting of snow on its peak, seen from the Shizuoka side of the mountain.
JAPAN
Nov 6, 2024

Snow seen on Mount Fuji after record time without snowcap

Photographs taken from different points around the mountain, where the skies were clearer early on Wednesday, showed a covering of snow on its peak.
Saitama Gov. Motohiro Ono (right) and others call on users to stand still on the escalator in the city of Saitama in September.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 6, 2024

Stop walking on escalators, local Japanese authorities say

Prefectures and cities are using legislation or exploring other measures to discourage pedestrians from walking on escalators in the interest of safety.
Aonishiki competes at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo on Jan. 28.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Nov 6, 2024

Head to sumo's second tier and it's a dog-eat-dog world

Jūryō action is something fans of exciting sumo shouldn’t miss.
The National Cancer Center Hospital in Tokyo's Chuo Ward. A study by researchers at the hospital aims to determine whether restoring a healthy intestinal environment can enhance the effectiveness of immunotherapy drugs used in cancer treatment.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Nov 6, 2024

Japan explores intestinal flora transplants for cancer treatment

A study aims to determine whether restoring a healthy intestinal environment can make drugs used in the treatment of esophageal and stomach cancers more effective.
Hyogo Prefectural Police investigators call on people at a station in Kakogawa, Hyogo Prefecture, on Oct. 16 to provide information related to the 2007 murder of a girl in the city.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 6, 2024

Inmate hints at involvement in murder of another girl in western Japan

Hyogo Prefectural Police plan to arrest the man soon on suspicion of attempted murder in another case.
Donald Trump looks on as he speaks at a campaign rally in East Del Valle, Austin, Texas on Oct. 25
WORLD / Politics
Nov 7, 2024

Who has President-elect Donald Trump threatened to prosecute?

Trump has vowed to investigate or prosecute political rivals, election workers and left-wing Americans if he becomes president again.
A child looks out of a tent at a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) school-turned-camp for internally displaced people in Deir el-Balah on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 7, 2024

U.N. to Israel: Replacing UNRWA relief agency would be your responsibility

The United Nations has repeatedly said there is no alternative to UNRWA.
Bundles of Chinese yuan banknotes at the Ninja Money Exchange, operated by Interbank HD, in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo on June 9, 2022.
BUSINESS / Markets
Nov 7, 2024

Trump’s resurgence sinks emerging markets as dollar soars

Currencies in Eastern Europe led losses, sending the emerging-market currency gauge to its worst day since February 2023.
Gabriel Bortoleto signs autographs for fans at Interlagos in Sao Paulo on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Nov 7, 2024

Gabriel Bortoleto joins Sauber as Formula One undergoes generational shift

Bortoleto, 20, will be lining up against fellow rookies Kimi Antonelli (18), Oliver Bearman (19) and Jack Doohan (21).
Kunihiko Katsuta is taken to Hyogo Prefectural Police's Tatsuno police station on Thursday after he was arrested for an attempted murder.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 7, 2024

Murder inmate arrested for stabbing of another girl in Japan

The inmate has also hinted at his involvement in the 2007 murder of a 7-year-old girl in Hyogo Prefecture.
A fish carcass is seen on a sandbank that emerged in the middle of the Solimoes River in the Amazon Basin, which is suffering from the worst drought on record, near Manacapuru, Amazonas state, Brazil, on Sept. 20.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 7, 2024

2024 'virtually certain' to be hottest year on record, EU monitor says

Last month was the second hottest October on record.
Asian chipmakers, led by Taiwan's TSMC and South Korea's Samsung Electronics, have collectively invested at least $117 billion in the U.S.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 7, 2024

What's at stake for Asian companies under a Trump presidency

Trump has floated the idea of a 10% or more tariff on all goods imported into the U.S.
Nippon Ishin no Kai leader Nobuyuki Baba (right) and Secretary-General Fumitake Fujita speak to reporters in the city of Osaka on Oct. 31.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 7, 2024

Nippon Ishin's Nobuyuki Baba to resign as party chief over election shortcomings

The party had failed to make gains beyond its regional base of Kansai and ended the election with fewer Lower House seats than before.
Indian and Bangladeshi girls rescued from sexual exploitation stand near the window of a house provided by a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Kolkata on Sept. 11.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Nov 7, 2024

Trafficked: The girls sold for sex in India

A 2023 U.S. report on trafficking said that India is making "significant efforts" but still falls below minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.
Displaced Palestinians make their way to safety after fleeing the northern part of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
WORLD
Nov 8, 2024

More families stream out of northern Gaza, as tanks push deeper

The Israeli military is a month into a new push on northern Gaza, forcing Palestinians to flee with whatever they could bring.
The headquarters of Bungeishunju, Shukan Bunshun's publisher, in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 8, 2024

Comedian Hitoshi Matsumoto to withdraw Bungeishunju defamation suit

The lawsuit was filed over a Shukan Bunshun article that detailed sexual assault allegations made by two women.
Onosato (left) and his stablemaster Nishonoseki celebrate after his victory at the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament in September.
SUMO
Nov 8, 2024

New ozeki Onosato tops list of contenders aiming for glory in Kyushu

Onosato could become the first wrestler since Hakuho in 2006 to win a championship in his debut at sumo’s second-highest rank.
Chinese Finance Minister Lan Foan attends a news conference about a bill on raising ceilings on local government debt, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 9, 2024

China unveils $1.4 trillion debt swap, saving stimulus for Trump

China gave indebted local governments a 10 trillion yuan ($1.4 trillion) lifeline but stopped short of unleashing new stimulus.
NAND flash memory maker Kioxia plans to use a new method for listing in Japan that would fast-track its oft-delayed initial public offering. Both the price and size of the stake to be floated were undecided, according to a filing Friday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 9, 2024

Kioxia files for long-delayed IPO as Samsung’s lead grows

The NAND flash memory maker plans to debut on the Tokyo Stock Exchange between this December and June next year.
Ryuichi Sakamoto
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Nov 9, 2024

Late Ryuichi Sakamoto's final solo piano work nominated for Grammy

"Opus" has been nominated for the award in the Best New Age, Ambient, or Chant Album category.
Beyonce accepts the Innovator award during the iHeartRadio Music Awards at Dolby Theater in Los Angeles in April.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Nov 9, 2024

Beyonce leads Grammy nods after trailblazing country album

This year's awards ceremony, held in February 2025, is shaping up to be a battle of pop titans including Taylor Swift and Chappell Roan.
The Marines will make ace pitcher Roki Sasaki available to MLB teams via the posting system, the team announced on Saturday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Nov 9, 2024

Marines to allow fireballer Roki Sasaki to move to MLB via posting system

Sasaki is viewed as one of the best young pitchers in the world.
Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the village of Batoulay in the Tyre district of southern Lebanon on Saturday.
WORLD
Nov 10, 2024

At least 40 killed as Israel pounds Lebanon, Lebanese officials say

Rescue operations were ongoing and other body parts retrieved in the aftermath of the attack would undergo DNA testing to identify them, the ministry added.
People carry a casualty near a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on a tent housing displaced people, at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 10, 2024

Qatar stalls its Gaza ceasefire mediation

The Gulf country has been working alongside the U.S. and Egypt for months on fruitless talks between the warring sides in Gaza.
Dutch Police officers patrol on Dam Square in Amsterdam on Saturday.
WORLD / Society
Nov 10, 2024

The attacks on Israeli football fans in Amsterdam were unlike usual hooliganism

Supporters of Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv were targeted for beatings in the early hours of Friday following a match with Amsterdam's Ajax.

Longform

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