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Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and the Cook Islands' Prime Minister Mark Brown shake hands during 10th Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting on Thursday in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jul 18, 2024

With eye on China, Japan deepens ties with Pacific islands at Tokyo summit

Collaborations have been agreed in seven fields, including technology and connectivity, climate change, people-centered development and security.
More Japanese firms have gone bankrupt in the first half of this year due to soaring costs, labor shortages and the end of pandemic-related support.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 18, 2024

Triple whammy takes Japan bankruptcies to decade high

Soaring costs, labor shortages and the end of pandemic-related financial support are taking a heavy toll on smaller businesses.
Japan's tradition of offering investors gifts is nice. But with the stock market at record highs, such perks are no longer needed.
COMMENTARY
Jul 18, 2024

It’s time Japan's shareholders buy their own wine

The practice by Japanese companies of giving gifts once served as a good way to encourage trading novices to dabble in the stock market.
A group of Chinese tourists walks through the Ginza district of Tokyo.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 19, 2024

Japan sees more tourists than before pandemic, breaking half-year record

The weak yen is attracting large crowds to Japan, with many tourists splashing out.
Prince Hisahito (right) visits a biotope at Tamagawa University in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, along with his father Crown Prince Akishino (center) in April.
JAPAN
Jul 19, 2024

Prince Hisahito to stay off palace events until next spring

The prince's coming-of-age ceremony will be held after his graduation from the University of Tsukuba's high school in March next year.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group CEO Hironori Kamezawa (center) and other executives bow during a news conference in Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 19, 2024

MUFG heads to take pay cut after information firewall breach

21 MUFG officials, including some retired executives, will give up part of their pay after the bank was penalized for the unauthorized sharing of client information.
A large screen in the Dubai Metro is out of service on Friday amid a massive global IT outage.
WORLD
Jul 20, 2024

From ATMs to flights, epic IT crash leaves trail of destruction

In what will go down as the most spectacular IT failure the world has ever seen, a botched software update from a cybersecurity firm caused a global systems outage.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said Iran is capable of producing fissile material for use in a nuclear weapon within "one or two weeks."
WORLD / Politics
Jul 20, 2024

Iran capable of producing fissile material in 'one or two weeks,' Blinken says

News of Iran's capabilities follows the recent election of President Masoud Pezeshkian, who has said his goal is to "get Iran out of its isolation."
Gen. Stephen Whiting, head of U.S. Space Command, participates in a panel discussion at the 2023 Air and Space Forces Association Warfare Symposium in Aurora, Colorado, in March 2023.
WORLD
Jul 20, 2024

U.S. prepares jamming devices targeting Russian and Chinese satellites

The Pentagon’s space service branch tested the system for the first time earlier this year at two locations, with control of the system at a third.
A concept model of the Global Combat Air Program fighter jet is displayed at the DSEI Japan defense show at Makuhari Messe in Chiba in March last year.
JAPAN
Jul 20, 2024

U.K. defense chief to discuss joint fighter program with Italy and Japan

There has been speculation that the Labour Party might not recommit to the next-gen fighter program in light of a defense review it recently announced.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during the last day of the 2024 Republican National Convention on Thursday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 20, 2024

Nippon Steel hires Mike Pompeo to help clinch purchase of U.S. Steel

Pompeo, who served as the U.S.’ top diplomat under Donald Trump, will be an adviser to the Japanese company for its $14.1 billion purchase.
Ukrainian military Leopard 2A4 tanks during a training exercise in Spain.
WORLD
Jul 20, 2024

How a Berlin Cold War outpost offers a window on challenges today

With the West again aligned against Moscow as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine grinds on, it now seems strangely current.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer during a news conference near Oxford, England, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 20, 2024

U.K.'s Starmer sees Trump comeback as a warning about his own danger

The U.K. prime minister's overarching aim is to avoid the struggles other world leaders are facing at the hands of the populist right.
Some 20% of Japanese companies have stropped creating medium-term management plans to respond more flexibly to changes in the business environment and achieve long-term goals, a recent survey has found.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 21, 2024

20% of Japan firms have no medium-term plans, poll finds

A survey found that about 10% of companies with medium-term plans are considering changing the duration of their plans or making other reviews.
Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump wears a flesh-colored bandage on his ear as he holds a campaign rally for the first time with his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 21, 2024

Bullet that hit Trump's ear left 2-cm wound, ex-White House doctor says

Former White House physician Ronny Jackson, now a hard-line right-wing lawmaker from Texas, offers one of the first detailed accounts of the Trump's injury.
Secret Service officers surround U.S. former President Donald Trump, the Republican  presidential candidate, as he attends the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 21, 2024

Secret Service says it denied earlier Trump requests for more federal resources

The denied requests for additional resources were not specifically for the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where the former president survived an assassination attempt.
Workers engage in restoration work on the Tokaido Shinkansen Line in Gamagori, Aichi Prefecture, where two maintenance trains had derailed on Monday.
JAPAN
Jul 22, 2024

Accident halts Tokaido Shinkansen services between Hamamatsu and Nagoya

JR Central said the resumption work is expected to continue until the evening and it is not clear when the services will be fully resumed.
Having U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee would alter the race in perhaps unforeseen ways, political strategists have said.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 22, 2024

Trump campaign switches gears to confront a Harris challenge

Sources said Donald Trump's campaign had for weeks been planning for Vice President Kamala Harris to be his opponent should she win her party's nomination.
A street cleaner at the Lujiazui Finance District in Shanghai
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 22, 2024

Xi vows to rewire China’s finances and help indebted regions

Plans centered around shifting more revenue from the central to local coffers in China, such as by allowing regional governments to receive more of the consumption tax.
Fireworks during Irumagawa Tanabata Festival in Sayama, Saitama Prefecture in July 2023
JAPAN / Society
Jul 22, 2024

Many summer fireworks festivals in Japan canceled due to complaints

Property damage caused by debris, and littering and trespassing by those looking for a better view are among the reasons for the cancellations.
A Maruti Suzuki India showroom in New Delhi. Suzuki hopes to grab 50% share of the Indian market by 2030, targeting 15% of its sales in India to be electric vehicles by that time.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 22, 2024

Suzuki sees India’s automobile market growing fivefold by 2047

Promising growth in the electric vehicles segment is putting the South Asian country's car market on track to reach 20 million units by 2047.
Foreign exchange rates are shown in a shop window in Tehran. Iran's newly elected president, Masoud Pezeshkian, faces the tough challenge of reviving Iran's beleaguered, sanctions-hit economy.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 22, 2024

Iran’s economy needs a new deal with the West, badly

Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran's new president, inherits high inflation and deteriorating public services. His only way out is cutting a deal with the West to lift sanctions.
A Philippine flag flutters from BRP Sierra Madre, a dilapidated Philippine Navy ship that has been aground since 1999 and became a Philippine military detachment on the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, part of the Spratly Islands, in the South China Sea, on March 29, 2014.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 23, 2024

Manila will still assert South China Sea rights after China resupply deal

The provisional arrangement with Beijing “will not prejudice our respective national positions,” the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs says.
Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui (left) and Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2024

Hiroshima mayor calls for abolition of nuclear weapons

Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui called for the abolition of nuclear weapons at international talks in Geneva.
U.S. women's soccer head coach Emma Hayes speaks during a news conference earlier this month in New York.
OLYMPICS
Jul 24, 2024

U.S. women ready to 'create a new history' in Paris, says coach Hayes

The four-time Olympic champion suffered its earliest World Cup exit in the round of 16 last year.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the media after his meeting with President Droupadi Murmu, to stake claim to form the new government at the Presidential Palace in New Delhi on June 7.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 24, 2024

India's budget reflects new power realities of Modi's fickle coalition

Modi has been forced to rely on allies to run a government for the first time in his career.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi (right) during a meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 24, 2024

Why Japan's mysterious stash of classified funds escapes scrutiny

The funds can be used by the chief cabinet secretary with no explanation needed, fueling speculation of widespread misappropriation.
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Jul 24, 2024

'Dark and sorrowful day': New Zealand PM promises reform after inquiry finds 200,000 abused in care

Nearly one in three children and vulnerable adults in care from 1950 to 2019 experienced some form of abuse, according to a public enquiry.
Demonstrators rally to demand a big hike in minimum wages in Tokyo last week.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 25, 2024

Japan’s minimum wage set for record ¥50 hike in major boost

While the sharp increase will be a big boost for workers, smaller firms already struggling financially will be put under further stress.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida inspects a new plant of Rapidus under construction in Chitose, Hokkaido, on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 25, 2024

Kishida vows new law for next-gen chip production

Japan has decided to provide up to ¥920 billion to Tokyo-based company Rapidus, which aims to start mass production of chips in 2027.

Longform

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