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Whether or not Russia deploys a nuclear weapon in space, what’s clear is that the U.S. and its two main adversaries, Russia and China, have developed increasingly advanced programs to wage conflict against assets in orbit.
WORLD
Feb 18, 2024

Russia’s bid for orbiting nuclear weapon highlights new space race

Researchers have spent years tracking and testing for the possible effects of a nuclear blast in space.
Police officers detain a woman during a gathering in memory of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, near the Wall of Grief in Moscow on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 18, 2024

Risking arrest, Russians mourn Navalny in small acts of protest

Bouquets at the Wall of Grief become a form of dissent in a country where such action could result in detention.
Tourists in Tokyo's Asakusa district ditch their jackets amid unseasonably warm temperatures in the capital and across Japan on Thursday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / OUR PLANET
Feb 18, 2024

Preparing for the hottest year Japan has ever seen

In 2023, summer heat persisted across Japan well into the fall. Predictions by scientists indicate 2024 could be even worse.
Demonstrators hold a rally to honor the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in front of the Russian Embassy in Warsaw on Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2024

The lonesome death of a Russian opposition leader

The prison where Navalny died, Nicknamed “Polar Wolf,” is a freezing cold gulag for violent criminals. But Navalny — an anti-corruption lawyer and blogger.
No Russian swimmer entered the World Championships currently being held in Doha.
MORE SPORTS / Swimming
Feb 18, 2024

World Aquatics stands by its strict Russia policy for Olympics

Swimming's global governing body approved the return of Russian and Belarusian participants last September, but strict rules remain in place.
Brig. Gen. Esmail Qaani, the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, speaks during a ceremony marking the anniversary of the death of senior Iranian military commander Mohammad Hejazi, in Tehran, on April 14, 2022.
WORLD
Feb 18, 2024

Iraqi armed groups dial down U.S. attacks on request of Iran commander

A top Iranian security official said: "Commander Qaani's visit was successful, though not entirely, as not all Iraqi groups consented to de-escalate."
Nissan's Ariya electric crossover sport utility vehicle assembled by robots at the company's plant in Kaminokawa, Tochigi Prefecture
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 19, 2024

Japan carmakers forge ahead with EV investments despite slowdown

Outside of Japan, signs of a scaling back are everywhere, with the exception of China.
The Japanese equity market is likely to benefit a lot from the Bank of Japan's exit from its ultraeasy monetary policy.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 19, 2024

BlackRock sees Japan stocks as big winner from BOJ policy shift

Japan seems to be in its final stage of declaring victory over decades of deflation.
Anastasiia Pelykh (left) and Daria Datsenko talk about their lives in Japan after evacuating from Ukraine during an interview in Kyoto earlier this month.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 19, 2024

Two years after invasion, Ukrainians in Japan forge their own paths

A pair of women have taken different paths, but echoed the same refrain: They want the war to end as soon as possible so they can see their families.
An advertisement for the Nippon Individual Savings Account (NISA) at a Mizuho Bank branch, a unit of Mizuho Financial Group, in Tokyo on Jan. 31.
BUSINESS / Markets / FOCUS
Feb 19, 2024

Turning the tide? Japan warms up to becoming an asset management hub.

The beefing-up of the NISA program alongside a new policy plan by the government shows its commitment toward getting households to invest.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa (right) presents a gift to a Ukrainian refugee an event at the Keidanren Kaikan in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 19, 2024

As war fatigue grows, Japan pledges long-term support to Ukraine

Describing the aid as an investment in the future, Tokyo emphasized how Japan’s technology and expertise in reconstruction could serve Ukraine’s needs.
Japan's fall to No. 4 in the global economic rankings reflects an aging population and declining resources.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 20, 2024

Japan slips in the global economic rankings: So what’s next?

The IMF has forecast that India will overtake Japan economically in 2026 and Germany in 2027.
Donald Trump, who made a fortune in construction over the years, has assets he can sell to pay the $355 million financial penalty recently imposed on him in civil fraud case filed in New York, but it will strain his available cash reserves.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 20, 2024

Trump loved New York. Now it's giving him the boot.

The place that made Trump who he is has turned on him. The former president is being fined millions and banned from doing business in New York.
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said that customer harassment was becoming an increasing problem for companies in the capital.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 20, 2024

Tokyo to draft ordinance to curb harassment by customers

The harassment of front-line workers by customers has become a growing trend in the capital, Gov. Yuriko Koike said.
CocoDesk private work booths set up by Fujifilm Business Innovation and Tokyo Metro at a subway station in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 20, 2024

Demand for private work booths grows in Japan

The increase in the use of private work booths reflects how working styles have become more diverse since the pandemic.
Education Minister Masahito Moriyama bows to parliament after a motion of no confidence against him was voted down in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 20, 2024

Japan opposition fails with censure motion against education minister

The CDP's move against a Unification Church-linked minister came as the party also called for questioning over a slush funds scandal.
A person lights a candle by a portrait of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in a Russian Arctic prison last week, at the entrance of Russian Embassy in Pristina, Kosovo, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 21, 2024

U.S. to impose 'major sanctions' on Russia over Navalny death

The latest sanctions on Moscow will target a range of items, including its defense and industrial bases.
The Etihad Towers surrounded by residential and commercial properties in Abu Dhabi
BUSINESS
Feb 21, 2024

UAE poised to exit watchdog’s dirty money list after reforms

The UAE is expected to come off the list on Feb. 23.
Volkswagen ID.3 and Cupra Born electric cars on the production line at the company’s plant in Zwickau, Germany.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 21, 2024

Europe is being forced to reboot its car industry

Unless they can get strategies back on track, Europe’s automakers risk falling further behind China and Tesla
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's supporters demonstrate against U.S. extradition in front of the British Consulate in Barcelona on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 21, 2024

Assange absent at final hearing against extradition to U.S.

The two-day session is likely the WikiLeaks founder's last chance to fight the extradition in Britain's courts after a half-decade battle.
Doosan Bears fans during a game in Seoul in April 2022
SPORTS
Feb 21, 2024

Women outnumber men in South Korea’s sports stadiums

Women in South Korea make up 55% of fans at professional sporting events, including baseball, basketball, soccer and volleyball.
Regulating online gambling in Japan can be tricky, particularly when site operators are based overseas in countries where it is legal.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 21, 2024

Kyoto police arrest seven on suspicion of running illegal gambling site

The suspects are accused of working for the foreign company operating Dora Mahjong, a membership-based gambling site catering to a Japanese audience.
Corey Morrison (back center) and Siggy Sauer (front, center) at Asakayama stable. While pathways into ōzumo have become more streamlined in recent years, stables are still remarkably willing to let amateurs show up and train with the superstars of the sport.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Feb 21, 2024

Texan newcomer helps dispel the myth that sumo is a closed world

While pathways into sumo have become more streamlined in recent years, stables are still remarkably willing to let amateurs show up and train superstars.
Ahead of the Paris Games, authorities are conducting three preliminary investigations into possible favoritism in the awarding of around 20 contracts worth tens of millions of euros, while a fourth is scrutinizing the pay of chief organizer Tony Estanguet.
OLYMPICS
Feb 21, 2024

Paris 2024: A 'new era' of corruption-free Olympics?

Ahead of the Paris Olympics in July and August, French prosecutors are working on four probes into possible wrongdoing.
A man who struggles with a panic disorder (Hokuto Matsumura, left) and his colleague (Mone Kamishiraishi) who suffers from severe premenstrual syndrome learn to support each other in “All the Long Nights.”
CULTURE / Film
Feb 22, 2024

‘All the Long Nights’: Leads’ chemistry delivers in heartwarming drama

Sho Miyake’s observant film, which explores the healing powers of a heartfelt friendship, is enhanced by evocative visual and aural beauty.
Former Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 21, 2024

Senior LDP members likely to appear before ethics committee next week

While the opposition said the willingness of additional LDP figures to answer questions was an improvement, they called for more to step up.
A building in Tokyo's Akihabara district raided by the Metropolitan Police Department's public security bureau in May last year
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 21, 2024

Chinese 'overseas police station' in Tokyo raided over benefit fraud

According to papers submitted to prosecutors, the raids stemmed from an alleged illegal receipt of COVID-19 subsidies.
A liquefied natural gas processing facility at the Sakhalin 2 project in Sakhalin, Russia. Japan has kept stakes in some energy projects in Russia as a matter of energy security.
BUSINESS
Feb 21, 2024

Japanese companies maintain suspended operations in Russia: survey

Japan has kept stakes in some energy projects as a matter of energy security.
As their popularity grow, Shein and Temu together send almost 600,000 packages to the U.S. every day.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 22, 2024

Rise of fast-fashion Shein and Temu roils global air cargo industry

Their pursuit of limited air-cargo space to woo consumers with rapid transit times make off-peak seasons almost disappear and cause capacity shortages.
Brooklyn-based startup HEVO is working with other firms to develop wireless EV charging systems.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 22, 2024

Wireless charging for electric cars is inching closer to reality

Major hurdles include slow charging speeds and the money and interest needed to build stations and get more carmakers on board.

Longform

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