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Containers at the Yangshan deepwater port in Shanghai earlier this year. A new trade war with the U.S. would still hurt China more as Washington can levy ever-larger import duties on its goods and further rip the Asian giant from its supply chains, analysts say.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 13, 2024

China eyes negotiations as Trump threatens new tariffs

Beijing is seeking to amass bargaining chips to kick off talks with a new U.S. administration on contentious aspects of its ties with Washington.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during an Upper House Budget Committee meeting on Friday.
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2024

Opening ethics panel hearings to media could allay public suspicions, Ishiba says

Of the 27 scandal-hit Upper House lawmakers willing to face ethics panel hearings, 23 have sought for the sessions to be held behind closed doors.
People watch a TV screen, broadcasting South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol delivering an address to the nation, at a railway station in Seoul, on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 14, 2024

Yoon Suk Yeol: from rising star to impeachment

He rose from public prosecutor to South Korea's highest office in just a few years, but as president, Yoon staggered from scandal to scandal.
"Agent" technology goes further than chatbots, not just performing parlor tricks and spitting out plausible responses to queries but actually doing the kinds of repetitive tasks that today are handled by millions of humans.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 14, 2024

Big Tech's new AI obsession: 'Agents' that do your work for you

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman calls agents "the next giant breakthrough," while Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff says the shift "is really the rise of digital labor.”
France's newly appointed Prime Minister Francois Bayrou at the Hotel Matignon in Paris on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 14, 2024

Macron hands new French PM the tough job of managing Le Pen

Bayrou, 73, replaces conservative heavyweight Michel Barnier, who was ousted last week after far-right leader Marine Le Pen joined the left in a censure motion.
Han Duck-soo, South Korea's prime minister (center), arrives at the National Assembly in Seoul on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 14, 2024

Who is Han Duck-soo, South Korea's acting president after Yoon impeachment?

In a country sharply divided by partisan rhetoric, Han has been a rare official whose varied career transcended party lines.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi speaks with students from Okayama University about the issue of North Korea's abductions of Japanese citizens decades ago, in Tokyo on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 14, 2024

Japan ready to team up with Trump over North Korea abduction issue

In a symposium on the issue held by the Japanese government in Tokyo, Hayashi condemned North Korea, saying, "In essence, it is an infringement of national sovereignty."
A damaged poster of Syria's ousted leader, Bashar Assad, in Aleppo on Nov. 30
WORLD / FOCUS
Dec 15, 2024

Assad's final hours in Syria: Deception, despair and flight

Hours before he fled to Moscow, Assad assured army and security chiefs that Russian support was on its way and urged ground forces to hold out.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, speaks during a rally in Seoul on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 15, 2024

South Korean opposition urges swift removal of impeached President Yoon

Yoon Suk Yeol has been suspended while South Korea's Constitutional Court deliberates, with Prime Minister Han Duck-soo serving as interim leader.
Then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in August 2021. From Syria to Ukraine, Merkel and former U.S. President Barack Obama’s missteps still haunt the West.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 15, 2024

Putin’s loss in Syria exposes Western failures

The West's indecision and failed liberal internationalist policies allowed Putin to bolster Assad’s regime and secure strategic advantages in Syria.
A Hight Logistics electric BYD truck is loaded with a container at a seaport in Long Beach, California, in April 2023.
BUSINESS
Dec 15, 2024

Chinese firms take on EV truck challenges

Fleets of electric heavy goods vehicles from China have been growing internationally, even as Western countries target the country's EV cars with heavy sanctions.
Daizen Maeda (third from right) celebrates with his teammates during the shootout against Rangers in the Scottish League Cup final in Glasgow, Scotland, on Sunday.
SOCCER
Dec 16, 2024

Daizen Maeda strikes decisive blow as Celtic wins Scottish League Cup

The start of the match was briefly delayed due to flares in the stadium, and there were reports of clashes between fans in central Glasgow earlier on Sunday.
Workers stage a warning strike at the Volkswagen factory in Zwickau, Germany, on Dec. 2.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 16, 2024

Germany is unraveling just when Europe needs it most

Germany’s economy is now 5% smaller than it would have been if the pre-pandemic growth trend had been maintained.
Policemen set up barricades in front of the South Korean Constitutional Court in Seoul on Monday as the court kicked off its first meeting of its justices to review the parliamentary impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 16, 2024

Top South Korean court begins Yoon impeachment trial

The Constitutional Court has around six months to determine whether to uphold the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim (right) shakes hands with Laotian Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone during an ASEAN summit closing ceremony to hand over the grouping's chairmanship to Kuala Lumpur at the National Convention Center in Vientiane, Laos, in October.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 16, 2024

Lowering tensions key priority for incoming ASEAN chair Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur will reach out to key players including Japan to try and jointly tackle the critical security issues affecting Southeast Asia, Malaysian envoy says.
Houthi supporters hold a rally in Sanaa, Yemen, on Friday. A coordinated international military effort is needed to exploit Iran's weakened influence and neutralize the Houthi threat in Yemen.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 16, 2024

The next Iranian proxy to target is the Houthis

A coordinated international military effort is needed to neutralize the Houthi threat in Yemen, which disrupts global shipping and exploits Iran's weakened influence.
Indian activists angered over the jailing of a leading Hindu monk in Bangladesh try to break a police barricade during a protest in Kolkata on Nov. 28 demanding his release.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 16, 2024

Bangladesh’s descent into Islamist violence

An unstable Bangladesh mired in radical Islamism and political violence has long been India’s geopolitical nightmare
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer
WORLD / Politics
Dec 17, 2024

Starmer’s China reset plans get undercut by royal access scandal

It has emerged in court documents that a Chinese man who acted as a business adviser to the Duke of York was banned from Britain on national security grounds in 2023.
Employees of Takahashi Shouten working on the trial production of sake in New Delhi on Nov. 14.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 17, 2024

Japanese sake brewery to make foray into Indian market

Takahashi Shouten, based in the city of Yame in Fukuoka Prefecture, launched a subsidiary in India in February.
A flyer created by the Metropolitan Police Department to warn people about <i>yami baito</i>, or "dark" part-time jobs
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 17, 2024

Japan to let investigators go undercover to crack down on yami baito

Until now, undercover operations have been allowed only for drug- and gun-related criminal investigations.
Environmental activist Paul Watson waves after getting released from prison in Nuuk, Greenland, on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2024

Japan 'regrets' release of anti-whaling activist Paul Watson

The 74-year-old Canadian-American activist was released after Copenhagen turned down Tokyo's request to bring him to Japan.
A rebel fighter stands in front of an abandoned tank in the town of Adra on the northeast outskirts of Damascus on Monday.
WORLD
Dec 18, 2024

Conflict in Syria 'has not ended,' U.N. warns

The U.N.'s special envoy for Syria has warned of "significant hostilities" already witnessed there between Turkish-backed and Kurdish fighters.
Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako speak with evacuated people at Wajima Junior High School in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2024

Emperor and Empress mourn flood victims in Wajima

Four people were killed in the September floods, including a 14-year-old junior high school student.
Police guard the scene early Sunday morning of a stabbing incident at a McDonald's store in Kitakyushu's Kokuraminami Ward.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 18, 2024

What we know so far about the Kitakyushu stabbings

Authorities are analyzing surveillance and dashcam footage from the area in an effort to identify and locate the attacker.
Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo celebrates with the trophy after he and his teammates won the NBA Cup final over the Thunder on Tuesday in Las Vegas.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Dec 18, 2024

Giannis Antetokounmpo stars as Bucks beat Thunder to win NBA Cup

Antetokounmpo, a two-time NBA MVP, delivered a triple-double of 26 points, 19 rebounds and 10 assists along with two steals and three blocked shots for the Bucks.
A Ukrainian tank is stationed near a sign that reads, "Pokrovsk," in the country's Donetsk region, on Thursday.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 17, 2024

Europe needs to swiftly fulfill its aid pledges to Ukraine

Europe has committed significant aid to Ukraine, but delays in delivery, especially in military support, are hindering Ukraine’s defense against Russia.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Papua New Guinea leader James Marape address a news conference in Sydney on Dec. 12.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 17, 2024

Australia shows how smart diplomacy is done

Recent deals reflect the laser focus the Australian government is devoting to its closest neighbors and a bureaucratic reorganization that translates into action.
Toshiyuki Mimaki (center) and others lay flowers at the atomic bomb memorial in Hiroshima on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2024

Nihon Hidankyo members make Nobel visit to Hiroshima cenotaph

Toshiyuki Mimaki said that Nihon Hidankyo's receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize represented "the moment when the activities of our predecessors bore fruit."

Longform

Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition