Search - 2021

 
 
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced the dissolution of his LDP faction on Friday, marking a significant shift in the wake of a political funding scandal.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 22, 2024

Mired in scandal, the LDP chips away at its factions

Three LDP factions, including Kishida's, announced their dissolution last week. While it's unlikely that all groupings will meet the same fate, reform is in the air.
Snow collects on solar panels in a residential district of Berlin.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jan 23, 2024

China overtakes the EU on clean-energy research, study shows

China led on the number of peer-reviewed publications in areas including solar and wind power, as well as lithium battery, heat pump and carbon-capture technology, in 2021.
Supporters of former U.S. President Donald Trump react as results are announced during his New Hampshire presidential primary election night watch party in Nashua, New Hampshire, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 24, 2024

Trump defeats Haley in New Hampshire, moving closer to nomination

The former president's only remaining rival, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, remained defiant telling supporters at a primary night party: "This race is far from over."
Turkish lawmakers attend a session before voting on a bill regarding Sweden's accession to NATO on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 24, 2024

Turkey approves Sweden NATO bid, leaving Hungary as holdout

Sweden’s entry would bolster defense alliance, reinforcing its northern reach and improving its ability to defend the eastern flank.
Fighters loyal to the Houthis ride on the back of a pick-up truck during a military parade for new tribal recruits amid escalating tensions with the U.S.-led coalition in the Red Sea, in Bani Hushaish, Yemen on Monday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 24, 2024

Red Sea attacks could disrupt shipping for months, driving up costs

With sailors demanding double pay and insurance rates skyrocketing, shipping lines are steering clear of a waterway that normally carries 12% of seaborne trade.
American President Joe Biden hugs Brittany Alkonis after giving a State of the Union in February. The wife of jailed U.S. sailor Lt. Ridge Alkonis ran a successful pressure campaign to get her husband released from a Japanese prison into American custody. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 24, 2024

Japan owes no apology for U.S. Navy officer’s treatment

The case of Navy Lt. Ridge Alkonis is a divisive one, which both the U.S. and Japanese governments have tried to keep quiet about.
Outlawing the second-most popular party in Germany would be democratically questionable and could have negative consequences.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 24, 2024

Should Germany’s AfD party be banned?

Germany's democratic values should be upheld by engaging with disgruntled voters in the voting booth, rather than seeking a legal ban.
Three plaintiffs are set to file a lawsuit at the Tokyo District Court on Monday, seeking compensation over claims of racial profiling by police.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 24, 2024

Foreign residents to file landmark suit alleging racial profiling by police

Three men are to file a lawsuit over claims that they have been repeatedly questioned by police because of their ethnicity or appearance.
South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol and his wife Kim Keon-hee have been plunged into controversy after hidden camera footage emerged appearing to show Kim accepting a Dior bag as a gift.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 24, 2024

'Dior bag scandal' mars South Korean ruling party before election

The controversy over the apparent acceptance of a gift by his wife may threaten Yoon Suk-yeol's bid to reclaim a parliamentary majority in April's election.
Alexander Zverev celebrates his after victory over Carlos Alcaraz in the Australian Open quarterfinals in Melbourne on Wednesday.
TENNIS
Jan 25, 2024

Alexander Zverev stuns Carlos Alcaraz to reach Australian Open semifinals

The big-serving German recovered from a major wobble to win 6-1, 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 6-4 in just over three hours.
Many buildings in the city of Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, collapsed as a result of the earthquake on Jan. 1.
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2024

Kishida's new aid package aims to help recovery of quake-hit areas

It will offer subsidies to small and medium-sized firms in Ishikawa Prefecture, as well as those in neighboring Niigata, Toyama, and Fukui prefectures.
Iranian sources said Beijing had made it clear it would be very disappointed with Tehran if any vessels linked to China were hit, or the country's interests were affected in any way.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 26, 2024

China presses Iran to rein in Houthi attacks in Red Sea, sources say

But amid regional alliances and priorities, it is uncertain whether Tehran will take action following the discussions with Beijing.
The engine of a Honda Clarity Fuel Cell vehicle is displayed during its unveiling in Tokyo in March 2016.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 26, 2024

Honda and GM fuel cell venture launches commercial production

Fuel cell technology offers the promise of replicating the hauling power and fast refueling of heavy diesel engines in ways batteries cannot match.
Aryna Sabalenka will be seeking her second Grand Slam title when she competes in the Australian Open final on Saturday.
TENNIS
Jan 26, 2024

Aryna Sabalenka looking to lean on experience in Australian Open final

The world No. 2 is the favorite to claim her second major crown at Rod Laver Arena.
New research estimates that nearly 65,000 pregnancies have resulted from rape in the 14 states that imposed total abortion bans after Roe v. Wade was overturned.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 26, 2024

Post-Roe America’s national shame: 65,000 forced pregnancies

New data has been filling in the picture of what access to reproductive health care looks like in the U.S. And the image forming is increasingly grim.
Double articulated track
ESG CONSORTIUM
Jan 29, 2024

Seino delivers greener logistics through open public collaboration

Seino Holdings Co. Ltd. has been in the logistics business for more than 90 years. Last June, the Gifu-based company expanded its continuing efforts to be environmentally friendly when it announced a long-term vision of “Team Green Logistics” based on a concept of an open public platform.
Fans and deltas formed by water and sediment are seen in the Jezero Crater on Mars in this false color image taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and published in May 2019.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 27, 2024

Rover data confirms ancient lake sediments on Mars

The findings substantiate previous orbital imagery and other data leading scientists to theorize that portions of Mars may have harbored microbial life.
Tuvalu Prime Minister Kausea Natano arrives to address the 78th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York City last September.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 27, 2024

Tuvalu's pro-Taiwan leader loses seat in national election

Tuvalu, with a population of about 11,200, is one of three remaining Pacific allies of Taiwan, after Nauru cut ties this month and switched to China.
Flour is distributed by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency at its headquarters in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, in November.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 28, 2024

Major donors pause funding for U.N. agency as scandal widens

One of the area's largest employers, the UNRWA is a lifeline for Palestinians in Gaza, many of whom are facing starvation after 16 weeks of war.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrives for a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Jan. 5.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 29, 2024

Threats from Trump and China stoke a very European leadership fight

As a new term as European Commission president hangs in the balance, Ursula von der Leyen's future is intertwined with wider dilemmas.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s new factory in Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture, in May 2023
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Jan 29, 2024

Can Japan again master semiconductors to relive its glory days?

Competition in the sector is fierce, with many countries pushing to develop their own capabilities and insulate supply chains from geopolitical tensions.
Celebrations mark the Dalai Lama's 80th birthday in Dharamsala, India, in July 2015. The question of who will succeed the Tibetan leader, Tenzin Gyatso, now 88, looms large.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 29, 2024

Atheist China should have no say in Dalai Lama's reincarnation

Beijing views the Dalai Lama as a wolf in sheep's clothing. Why, then, is it obsessed with controlling the succession of someone it despises?
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida delivers a policy speech during a plenary session of the Lower House in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 30, 2024

Kishida comes full circle in policy speech with emphasis on 'power'

Amid low approval ratings and soul-searching for the ruling party, the prime minister made "power" a key theme in his policy speech.
The Japanese figure skating team at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. The team's bronze medal is to be upgraded to silver after a Russian skater was disqualified over a doping scandal.
OLYMPICS / Figure skating
Jan 31, 2024

Japan's figure skating team medal from 2022 Games upgraded to silver

The news comes after Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva tested positive for a banned substance.
China's rural banking system plays a crucial role in lending to underdeveloped areas, but many had long struggled with weak profits, soured assets and lax governance.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 31, 2024

China merges hundreds of rural banks as financial risks mount

But legacy issues — if unresolved — could still cripple the operations of the newly formed institutions and cause bigger problems.
Tokyo's net population inflow rose for the second consecutive year in 2023, reflecting a recovery in the number of people relocating to the capital after pandemic-related restrictions were eased.
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2024

Tokyo's net population inflow rose to 68,000 in 2023

The net population inflow, or the number of people moving into Tokyo minus those moving out, rose for the second consecutive year.
A bottle of Bayer AG Roundup brand weedkiller concentrate
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 31, 2024

Bayer faces billions in Roundup claims as legal strategy falls short

In the firm's biggest courtroom loss so far, a jury awarded $2.25 billion to a former user who blamed his cancer diagnosis on exposure to the herbicide.
Given that developing countries’ domestic markets are much smaller than that of the U.S., liberal trade policies play a larger role in driving their economic growth.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 31, 2024

Developing countries should reject American-style protectionism

America’s current industrial policy poses an existential threat to the multilateral trading system it worked so hard to build
Huang Jie, who was elected on Jan. 13, called her win a "positive outcome," and said that her election reflected "certain progress in Taiwan's society."
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 31, 2024

Taiwan's first openly gay lawmaker hopes to inspire

Huang Jie's journey to the legislature was not easy — she has been the target of discriminatory attacks and has faced distrust from voters due to her age.
Myanmar's junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who ousted the elected government in a coup on Feb. 1, 2021, presides over an army parade on Armed Forces Day in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, on March 27, 2021.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 31, 2024

Three years after coup, Myanmar junta chief's power in doubt

Min Aung Hlaing's leadership has been questioned after a series of military defeats during a sweeping offensive by rebel groups known as Operation 1027.

Longform

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