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Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin (left) and then-Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in the Kremlin on May 7. While President Vladimir Putin has no real challengers, powerful actors within his government are vying against each other.
COMMENTARY / World
May 16, 2024

The battle of ministries in Putin’s Russia

Historical parallels suggest that Putin’s top-down approach, like Khrushchev’s de-Stalinization and Gorbachev’s perestroika, risks sparking opposition by causing intra-elite infighting.
Toyota Land Cruisers bound for shipment at Yokohama port
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 21, 2024

Surge in luxury car thefts in Japan spurs call for preventative measures

Stolen vehicles are often illegally exported, leading authorities to call for increased vigilance.
A lithography system made by ASML at an Intel facility in Hillsboro, Oregon, on April 19.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 21, 2024

ASML and TSMC can disable chip machines if China invades Taiwan

Sources said the chipmakers have ways to shut-off the world’s most sophisticated chipmaking machines in the event of an attack.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says his administration is committed to capital market reforms to attract more foreign investments.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 23, 2024

Kishida makes public push on capital market reforms

Kishida's appearance at a conference held by Wall Street bank Morgan Stanley was another example of Japan's effort to shed the image of being unwelcoming to foreign investors.
Ecuador has sought funding to fight the effects of climate change, including a June 2023 flood that followed heavy rains in Esmeraldas. So far, the developed world has offered the debt-strapped nation more loans than grants.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
May 23, 2024

Rich nations reap climate finance dividend, benefiting from rates and terms

Developed nations have pledged to send $100 billion a year to poorer countries to aid adaptation, but money from the deals is being funneled back into rich economies.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa delivers a video message during a meeting of the International Group of Eminent Persons for a World without Nuclear Weapons in Yokohama on Tuesday.
JAPAN
May 23, 2024

Yokohama meeting on nuclear disarmament ends with call for focus on AI

The 15 participating experts came from states both with and without nuclear weapons, including superpowers such as the United States, Russia and China.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a House of Councilors Budget Committee meeting on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 23, 2024

Japan's parliament begins talks on bills to amend political funds law

The envisioned law revision, proposed in response to a political funds scandal, is a key topic of the parliament session.
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan attends a meeting with Venezuela's National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez (not pictured) at the Federal Legislative Palace, in Caracas, Venezuela April 22, 2024.
WORLD / Politics
May 23, 2024

Why a prosecutor went public with arrest warrant requests for Hamas and Israeli leaders

ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan accused Netanyahu and his defense minister of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s ERA in nine starts since returning from Seoul is 2.38.
BASEBALL / MLB
May 23, 2024

Dodgers' Yoshinobu Yamamoto finds rhythm on mound after early stumble

Yamamoto has impressed even the organization that went out and committed $375 million (including posting fees) to add him to its roster this winter.
A bill on checking sex crime records of people seeking jobs involving contacts with children passes the Lower House on Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 23, 2024

Lower House OKs bill to create Japanese version of DBS

The bill aimed at preventing sexual offenses against children was approved unanimously at a plenary meeting.
Japan's real wages in fiscal 2023 were down for the second straight year, as steady wage growth failed to keep pace with inflation.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 23, 2024

Japan's fiscal 2023 real wages show sharpest drop in nine years

Real wages were down for the second straight year, as steady wage growth failed to keep pace with inflation.
Masanori Katayama, chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, said the association will work with the Japan Auto Parts Industries Association to address the problem of subcontractor bullying.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 24, 2024

Japan’s automakers vow to stop squeezing their suppliers

Member companies of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association have agreed to treat subcontractors more fairly when the latter pass on cost increases.
A protester holds a placard stating "Sunak Supports Genocide" in support of Palestinians as police stand guard during a visit from Britain's Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader Rishi Sunak to Cannock College, in Cannock, Staffordshire, England, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
May 25, 2024

Sometimes U.S. and U.K. politics seem in lock step. Not this year.

In 2016, Britain voted for Brexit and America for Trump, heralding a populist wave. Both countries face pivotal elections this year — but their paths appear to have diverged.
Grayson Murray tees off on the second hole during the second round of the John Deere Classic in Silvis, Illinois, on July 7, 2023.
MORE SPORTS
May 26, 2024

PGA golfer Grayson Murray dies at 30

Murray died one day after withdrawing from the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas.
A SAIC Motor MG EXE181 concept EV during the Beijing Auto Show earlier this year.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 27, 2024

Xi’s China EV dream came true, but 10 years on, walls are going up.

China also overtook Japan as the largest auto exporter, but such achievements are also adding to tensions with the West.
Official data indicates at least 17,000 South Korean residents have been hit by real estate fraud in recent years, and around 70% of victims are in their 20s and 30s.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
May 27, 2024

Debt, suicide, fraud: South Koreans hit by real estate scams

Authorities draw flak for not doing enough to help victims or punish fraudsters who capitalize on the country's unique jeonse system in which tenants pay huge deposits.
Hakone in Kanagawa Prefecture will host one of three ryokan Hyatt is set to launch with Kyoto-based developer Kiraku in 2026.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 2, 2024

Hyatt doubles down on Japan with line of luxury ryokan

The first three locations are scheduled to start opening in 2026 in Kanagawa, Oita and Kagoshima prefectures.
President of China Xi Jinping and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa attend the China-Africa Leaders' Roundtable Dialogue on the last day of the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Aug. 24, 2023.
WORLD
May 28, 2024

Post-COVID, China is back in Africa and doubling down on minerals

While new Chinese investment in Africa increased 114% last year, it was centered on minerals essential to the global energy transition and China's plans to revive its economy.
Members of the New Zealand team huddle before the Rugby World Cup 2023 final against South Africa in Saint-Denis, France, on Oct. 28.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
May 28, 2024

New Zealand Rugby set for pivotal vote after breakaway threat

Powerbrokers will vote for one of two proposals about a new leadership structure for the national governing body for rugby.
A government panel in charge of promoting women's active engagement in professional life has said gender wage gaps may be behind the outflows of young women from rural areas in Japan.
JAPAN / Society
May 28, 2024

Gender wage gaps seen behind outflows of women from rural areas

Experts have said that local governments need to make wage gap rectification part of regional revitalization efforts in order to stem outflows of women.
Those who will be employed as teachers in Japan after completing graduate school will be exempt from repaying scholarship loans.
JAPAN / Society
May 29, 2024

Japan to waive graduate scholarship loan repayments for teachers

The policy will apply to those who pass the recruitment examinations in the current fiscal year ending in March 2025.
Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Keisuke Suzuki responds to questions by the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan on Friday at a meeting of a Lower House committee discussing revisions to the political funds control law.
JAPAN / Politics
May 29, 2024

LDP proposes party subsidy halts for fund law violations

The draft was shown at a meeting of executives from the special political reform committee of the Lower House.
A professional single from Tokyo follows a deaf photographer to rural Hokkaido in Toshihiko Tanaka’s directorial debut, “Rei.”
CULTURE / Film
May 30, 2024

'Rei': An imperfect yet compelling directorial debut

Toshihiko Tanaka’s Rotterdam prizewinner is a flawed but oddly engrossing epic.
The No. 3 and No. 4 reactors at Kansai Electric Power's Takahama nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture
JAPAN
May 30, 2024

Two more Takahama reactors allowed to operate for 20 more years

The Takahama No. 3 and No. 4 reactors are the seventh and eighth to receive such approval in the country.
A soldier from the rebel Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) carries an RPG launcher near a Myanmar military base at Thingyan Nyi Naung village on the outskirts of Myawaddy, the Thailand-Myanmar border town, on April 15.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 30, 2024

Myanmar's ethnic armies consolidate strongholds as junta weakens, reports say

The military's mounting losses and growing dismay among the elite in the capital Naypyidaw has left junta chief Min Aung Hlaing's future in serious doubt.
As the world marks World No Tobacco Day on Friday, debate is growing over passive smoking in one crucial space that remains unregulated: private homes.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 30, 2024

In Japan, neighborly debates light up over secondhand smoke

Passive smoking has become a concern because many people live in multiunit apartment buildings or small houses with little space between them.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government is implementing a tax cut of ¥40,000 per person from June to ensure income growth that outpaces inflation.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2024

Kishida government's much-touted tax cut to start in June

The prime minister has stressed that the tax cut is designed to ensure income growth that outpaces inflation.
A residential development under construction in Shanghai in February. Problems in the property sector have had a negative impact across broad areas of China's economy.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 31, 2024

China's factory activity unexpectedly dips as property pain persists

The disappointing number adds to a series of recent indicators showing the $18.6 trillion economy is struggling to get back on its feet.
Completed in 1889, the original Yebisu brewery finally has a worthy successor in the neighborhood that still bears the beer's name.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 1, 2024

A new brew for Ebisu, the town that beer made

Ebisu and its beer are unique among communities with drinking histories. Here, the beer named the town.
Ashwani Gupta, then-chief operating officer of Nissan, in April 2023
BUSINESS / Companies
May 31, 2024

Nissan paid ex-COO $3.7 million to quit after sexual harassment claims

Ashwani Gupta's compensation figure for leaving the company is now public in a notice of the annual shareholders’ meeting, which showed he will also receive allowances.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat