Search - 2022

 
 
A flag waves in the wind as law enforcement conducts an investigation into the attempted assassination of former U.S. President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Monday.
WORLD / Society
Jul 17, 2024

Four in five Americans fear country is sliding into chaos, poll finds

Eighty percent of voters surveyed — including similar shares of Democrats and Republicans — said they think the country is spiraling out of the control.
Shares in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world's largest contract chipmaker and a major Apple and Nvidia supplier, closed 2.4% lower on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 17, 2024

Trump says Taiwan should pay for defense, sending TSMC stock down

The U.S. is Taiwan's key international supporter and arms supplier, although there is no formal defense agreement between them.
Ko Maung Saungkha, center, a poet who is a rebel commander in Myanmar, on the first day of training for new recruits in Karen State, on May 7.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 17, 2024

In the war against the junta in Myanmar, a poet commands a rebel army

Myanmar is a country entranced by poetry, with poets treated like celebrities and verse that has long been political used to galvanize the masses.
Mizuho Securities is starting a fund to create opportunities for third-party investment into Japan's animation film sector that has created globally popular works such as "Demon Slayer."
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 17, 2024

Mizuho fund to invest in Japan’s popular but cash-needing anime scene

For investors, Mizuho's fund will be an opportunity to park their money in a sector famous for works like "Demon Slayer."
Inspired by the July 2022 fatal shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a research team at Tohoku University in Sendai has developed a system to resume blood circulation of an injured heart within three minutes.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 17, 2024

Tohoku University develops 3-minute system to jump-start injured heart

The system involves a precise division of tasks to restart a patient’s blood circulation in the time needed to prevent brain death.
Japan's Hikaru Kitagawa dribbles past a defender during an Olympic qualifying match against North Korea at National Stadium in Tokyo in February.
OLYMPICS / Football
Jul 17, 2024

After Tokyo Olympic disappointment, Nadeshiko Japan look for redemption

For many, a disappointing effort on home soil in 2021 was a marker of just how far Japan's women's soccer team had fallen. Now the squad has its sights set on redemption.
Former U.S. President and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to his vice presidential pick, Sen. J.D. Vance, during the second day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 17, 2024

Trump's VP pick signals stronger focus on China

J.D. Vance represents a hardening of Trump’s “America First” stance, but could also help push a tougher line on China and support for democratic Taiwan.
PwC is considering slashing up to half its financial services auditing staff in China and about 20% of its staff in other auditing teams and nonauditing business lines.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 17, 2024

PwC weighs halving of China financial services audit staff, say sources

The firm has 781 partners and nearly 19,000 employees in mainland China as of last September.
Unionists hold a rally in Tokyo in April. Households' real cash earnings have been falling year on year for more than two years, with the weakening of the yen making the situation only more difficult as prices of imported goods increase rapidly.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 17, 2024

Japan’s minimum wage might not budge much if corporate fears prevail

While households desperately need a big raise, smaller businesses might not be in a position to handle an increase as they struggle with the weak yen.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump and Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance (right), the Republican's vice-presidential nominee, attend the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 17, 2024

J.D. Vance is red meat for Trump’s MAGA base

It’s a shrewd pick — a nod to Trump’s base. More than any of the other contenders, Vance’s selection shows that Trump wants to lock down the MAGA faithful.
Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi holds a news conference at the Diet on July 2.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 17, 2024

Speculation rising over possible end to Yamaguchi's Komeito reign

Natsuo Yamaguchi, 72, is currently serving his eighth term as Komeito chief.
Naoki Prize winner Michi Ichiho (left), and Akutagawa Prize winners Sanzo K. Matsunaga (center) and Aki Asahina pose with their award-winning books at a news conference in Tokyo on Wednesday.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 17, 2024

Three novelists named for Akutagawa and Naoki awards

Authors Sanzo K. Matsunaga and Aki Asahina won the Akutagawa Prize for literary writers, while the Naoki Prize for genre fiction went to Michi Ichiho.
This undated handout picture from NASA released on Wednesday shows the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover assembled inside a cleanroom at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
WORLD
Jul 18, 2024

NASA cancels lunar rover after spending $450 million building it

NASA's scrapped rover was intended to explore the moon's south pole in search of ice and other resources.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (left) speaks to the press next to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin on June 11.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 18, 2024

Germany says it will halve its military aid for Ukraine

German aid to Ukraine will be cut to €4 billion ($4.35 billion) in 2025 from around €8 billion in 2024.
The S&P 500 drops from all-time highs amid a selloff in chipmakers.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 18, 2024

High-flying chipmakers see worst plunge since 2020

Concern about tighter U.S. restrictions on chip sales to China spurred a selloff in the industry that has led the bull market in stocks.
Ukrainians walk past the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee to protest the organization's plan to have Russian athletes compete in Paris under a neutral flag.
OLYMPICS
Jul 18, 2024

Russian athletes headed to Paris break IOC’s rules, NGO says

A total of 33 out of 59 athletes were in violation of the IOC’s guidelines on participation, a report from The Hague-based Global Rights Compliance concluded.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday
WORLD / Politics
Jul 18, 2024

U.K.'s Starmer to use forum to advocate EU reset and Ukraine support

A one-day meeting of more than 40 nations provides British Prime Minister Keir Starmer with an opportunity to push for closer defense cooperation.
Indian Ambassador Sibi George says one of his main tasks in his post is to boost Japanese public and private investments the South Asian powerhouse.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 18, 2024

India’s envoy in Japan calls for boosted supply chain and defense cooperation

The ambassador’s remarks come after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged to continue prioritizing ties with Japan.
A pumped energy storage facility and a wind turbine at Kibbutz Maale Gilboa, Israel, on July 9
WORLD
Jul 18, 2024

How 'energy islands' could help Israel build resilience for wartime

Israel's microgrid pilot, which will be complete sometime in the next year or two, will run in parallel to large stockpiles of diesel, coal and generators.
U.S. pressure to slow Beijing’s advances in making semiconductors led the Netherlands to ban exports to China of ASML’s second-most advanced category of machinery at the start of the year. But ASML continues to service machines that were bought before the restrictions were in place.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 18, 2024

ASML falls as outlook clouded by risk of U.S. export curbs

ASML shares plunged 11% in Amsterdam on Wednesday to €870.90 ($952), wiping out €42.7 billion of market value — its biggest decline since March 2020.
Namibia is emerging as an oil exploration hub with major finds by different oil giants, which could significantly boost the country's economy.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 18, 2024

African outpost Namibia gets ready to become new oil hotspot

Massive oil finds 180 miles off Namibia’s coast have seen an 80% success rate since 2022 — an almost unprecedented achievement.
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.
The police reported two sexual crime cases to the U.S. military, but the prefectural government was not aware of the incidents.
JAPAN
Jul 18, 2024

U.S. forces-linked sex crimes in Kanagawa went unreported to prefectural government

The police reported both cases to the U.S. military, but the prefectural government was not aware of the incidents.
A Ukrainian serviceman prepares a shell for a self-propelled howitzer at a position on a front line in Kharkiv, Ukraine, in June.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 19, 2024

Ukraine withdraws from strategic position in southern region

The retreat from the village of Krynky on the left bank of the Dnieper upends Kyiv’s aims to press ahead against Russian forces.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump departs after the third night of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 19, 2024

Fearful or cheerful? World leaders mull Trump's potential foreign policy

With Donald Trump polling ahead of Joe Biden to be reelected president in the U.S., some governments are taking concrete steps to prepare for his possible return.
A passerby holding a parasol wipes her face as she walks on the street amid a heatstroke alert in Tokyo and other prefectures, in Tokyo on July 9.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Boiling Point
Jul 19, 2024

How to prevent and respond to heatstroke in Japan this summer

Staying hydrated and controlling the rise in one's body temperature are the fundamental ways for preventing and alleviating heat-related illnesses.
The Aichi Prefectural Police headquarters in Nagoya. Aichi Prefectural Police have arrested a 33-year-old woman and her common-law husband on suspicion of assaulting and causing the death of her 7-year-old daughter.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 19, 2024

Mother and partner arrested over 7-year-old girl’s death

The girl, who died in May from septic shock, had been temporarily taken into protective custody twice between 2022 and 2023.
Two Air Self-Defense Force F-15s (right) escort two German Air Force Eurofighter jets and an A330MRTT aerial tanker on their arrival in Japan Friday. The ASDF is conducting training exercises with the German, French and Spanish air forces this weekend.
JAPAN
Jul 19, 2024

German, French and Spanish fighter aircraft arrive in Japan for joint drills

The stopover in Japan is part of a two-month, trinational Pacific Skies deployment that will also take the three countries’ air forces to Australia, India and Hawaii.
Shoko Miyata had been set to lead the Japanese women's gymnastics team at the Paris Games.
OLYMPICS / Gymnastics
Jul 19, 2024

Japanese gymnast Shoko Miyata leaves Olympic team over drinking and smoking

The decision to have Miyata leave the team appeared to strike some observers as being overly harsh.
The Nishiki market in Kyoto. June’s inflation report shows extraordinary jumps in the prices of some items favored by households, including cabbage (27.6%), potatoes (28.5%) and tomatoes (15.6%).
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 19, 2024

Households struggle as Japan’s inflation rises near U.S. levels

Consumer prices in Japan rose 2.8% on the year in June, close to the 3.0% in the United States.

Longform

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