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BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 25, 2024

Ohtani to speak Monday on allegations surrounding ex-interpreter

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he hoped two-way superstar's plans to speak on the press would bring "clarity."
U.S. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell laughs during the Macroeconomics and Monetary Policy Conference at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco in San Francisco on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 30, 2024

Powell reiterates Fed doesn’t need to be in hurry to cut rates

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell repeated that the U.S. central bank will await more evidence that inflation is contained before cutting rates.
With emerging headwinds in the U.S. and Japan, U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will have their work cut out for them next month as they look to maintain the momentum driving change in the alliance between both countries.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 31, 2024

Kishida heads to U.S. with a mission — maintain alliance momentum amid challenges

Defense and security will likely top the agenda, though it is unclear how the PM will handle the issue of Ukraine assistance amid a split U.S. Congress.
Virginia-class attack submarine USS Hawaii passes by Diamond Head crater on Oahu in Hawaii in July 2009.
WORLD
Apr 3, 2024

U.S. attack submarines to counter China are up to two years late

Delivery dates for Virginia-class subs are an estimated 24 to 36 months past the contracted dates
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 3, 2024

In campaign speech, Trump calls illegal immigrants 'animals'

The Republican presidential candidate warned that violence and chaos would consume America if he did not win the Nov. 5 election.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Woodside, California, on Nov. 15
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 3, 2024

Biden-Xi call highlights stabilizing ties, but also hints at lingering divide

The nearly two-hour telephone call saw the leaders of the world's two largest economies discuss a range of other issues, from TikTok to Taiwan.
Tokyo police arrested four men for allegedly introducing Japanese women to brothels in New York and Washington.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 5, 2024

4 men arrested in Japan over brokering prostitution abroad

The men sent between 200 and 300 Japanese women to brothels in the United States, Canada and Australia, making roughly ¥200 million over three years.
Drivers in California’s Marin County rely on a single hydrogen fueling station.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Apr 6, 2024

Few stations and $200 to fill up: Life on California’s ‘hydrogen highway’

Fuel shortages and soaring prices have stalled the adoption of hydrogen cars — but proponents aren’t throwing in the towel.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen meets China's Vice Premier He Lifeng at the Guangdong Zhudao Guest House, in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, China, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 6, 2024

U.S. and China to start new talks on balanced growth, Yellen says

The top priority of her four day visit to China was to persuade Beijing to rein in excess production capacity for clean energy technology.
Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps speak during a news conference following an AUKUS defense ministerial meeting in Mountain View, California, last December.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 9, 2024

U.S., U.K. and Australia consider working with Japan on AUKUS security pact

The three countries said they were weighing inviting Tokyo to join the pact’s second stage, with talks with Japan and others set to begin this year.
Flights between China and the United States have emerged as a rare area of cooperation between the two countries, but U.S. airlines have expressed concern about the rapid pace of increasing flights.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 12, 2024

Biden administration urged not to approve more China flights

U.S. airlines have expressed concern about the rapid pace of increasing flights.
Yoasobi member Ayase (far left) joins U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in a toast during a state dinner at the White House on Wednesday.
CULTURE / Music
Apr 12, 2024

A brief history of J-pop stars meeting U.S. presidents

Yoasobi's presence at the White House state dinner catapults the duo to a new strata. It also says a lot about what sound currently rules Japanese music.
U.S. President Joe Biden escorts Philippine leader Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to their trilateral summit at the White House in Washington on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 12, 2024

Biden vows 'ironclad' defense of Philippines and Japan as China tensions rise

Biden reiterated Washington’s commitment to defending the Philippines from any attack in the South China Sea.
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki (left), U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen (center) and South Korean Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok meet on the sidelines of International Monetary Fund and Group of 20 meetings, at the U.S. Treasury in Washington on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 18, 2024

U.S. nods to concerns from Japan and South Korea over slumping currencies

Washington's acknowledgement of concerns may lay the groundwork for intervention, some analysts said.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak deliver remarks on the AUKUS partnership, after a trilateral meeting, at Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego, in March last year.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 20, 2024

U.S. 'fully expects' to finalize new AUKUS trade exemptions in next 120 days

The announcement signals a further delay in the move, but offers the prospect of a positive outcome in the project to counter China.
Protesters react as a man holds up a sign demanding that soldiers from the United States Army leave Niger without negotiation during a demonstration in the capital, Niamey, on April 13.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 20, 2024

U.S. to withdraw military personnel from Niger

There were a little over 1,000 U.S. troops in Niger as of last year, where the U.S. military operated out of two bases, including a drone base.
The Pentagon building in Arlington, Virginia. Current and former U.S. officials say the Pentagon may have to revisit assumptions about military needs in the Middle East if the crisis deepens.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 20, 2024

U.S. military strategy tested as Iran-Israel warfare comes out of shadows

The tit-for-tat attacks have raised fears of an unpredictable regional war that the United States has sought to prevent.
A Ukrainian soldier fires a rocket-propelled grenade during training in the Donetsk region on April 1. Shipments of American weapons could begin flowing to Ukraine again soon after U.S. House approval of a long-stalled aid package, U.S. officials say, with goods from the Pentagon's stockpiles in Germany shipped quickly by rail to the Ukrainian border.
WORLD
Apr 21, 2024

U.S. military aid for Ukraine could soon flow again

The measure, approved by the U.S. House on Saturday, would provide the Ukraine war effort with about $60 billion.
Many U.S. lawmakers from both the Republican and Democratic parties and the Biden administration say TikTok poses national security risks because China could compel the company to share the data of its 170 million U.S. users.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 22, 2024

TikTok braces for U.S. divest-or-ban law — and a fresh legal fight

The legislation has been fast-tracked and tied to a crucial aid package for Ukraine and Israel, which the Senate is set to vote on in the coming days.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump and Taro Aso, vice president of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, in New York on Tuesday. The Japanese government’s top spokesman on Wednesday played down the meeting as one conducted "in the capacity of one lawmaker" and “without the government’s involvement.”
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 24, 2024

Japan's former PM Aso meets Trump for talks on security and economy

The visit highlights behind-the-scenes moves by Tokyo to cultivate ties with the Trump camp ahead of November’s U.S. presidential election.
U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel meets with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in February 2022. Emanuel has praised the Kishida administration's efforts to boost national and regional security.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 26, 2024

Japan's unlikeliest cheerleader is an American ambassador

U.S. Ambassador to Tokyo Rahm Emanuel showers his host country, and its government, with praise. And in his view, Washington doesn't understand Japan well.
Local residents look at damage at a site of a Russian missile strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
May 2, 2024

U.S. issues hundreds of sanctions targeting Russia and takes aim at Chinese firms

Of the nearly 300 targets onto which the U.S. imposed sanctions, 20 are companies based in China and Hong Kong.
The National Diet building in Tokyo
JAPAN / Politics
May 4, 2024

Japan says Biden's description of nation as xenophobic is 'unfortunate'

The government said it was "unfortunate that comments not based on an accurate understanding of Japan's policy were made."
U.S. and Philippine Marines fire M198 155mm Howitzer artillery during a live-fire exercise against an imaginary "invasion" force as part of the joint U.S.-Philippines annual Balikatan military drills on a strip of sand dunes in Laoag on Luzon island's northwest coast on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 6, 2024

Philippines and U.S. fire at 'invasion' force in South China Sea war games

Lt. Gen. Michael Cederholm, commander of the U.S. First Marine Expeditionary Force, said the exercise was "to prepare for the worst."
China is likely around two years behind the United States in developing its own AI software.
WORLD / Politics
May 9, 2024

U.S. eyes curbs on China's access to AI software behind apps like ChatGPT

Preliminary plans the Biden administration has include placing guardrails around the most advanced AI Models, the core software of AI systems like ChatGPT.
Employees work at a shoe factory in Hanoi in 2020.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 16, 2024

As U.S. hikes China tariffs, imports soar from China-reliant Vietnam

The surge in China-Vietnam-U.S. trade has vastly widened trade imbalances.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and his wife, Martha-Ann, visit the Capitol Rotunda as the Reverend Billy Graham lay in honor there in February 2018.
WORLD / Politics
May 18, 2024

Display at Alito’s home renews questions of U.S. Supreme Court’s impartiality

News of a popular “Stop the Steal” symbol on the justice’s front lawn led jurists and politicians to express concerns about coming court decisions.
Self-Defense Forces soldiers walk past a Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile unit at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo in October 2017.
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
May 26, 2024

Evolving drone and missile threats prompting Tokyo to rethink air defense

The low cost of mass-producing tools for modern warfare is pushing the Defense Ministry to find ways to upgrade detection, tracking and interception capabilities.
Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun (center) arrives with his delegation for a bilateral meeting with U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on the sidelines of the 21st Shangri-La Dialogue summit at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 31, 2024

U.S. and Chinese defense chiefs agree on importance of military talks

The meeting marked the first face-to-face talks by the U.S. and Chinese defense chiefs in 18 months.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump departs after delivering remarks at Trump Tower in New York on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 2, 2024

Biden's big weakness vs Trump: Voters without college degrees

Such results help set the stage for what national opinion polls show is a tied race between Biden and Trump.

Longform

Wealthier women in the prewar era had been the targets of various media-related health campaigns that mistakenly encouraged them to avoid everything from riding bicycles to reading novels when their monthly cycles came around.
Menstruation in Japan: Breaking the silence, slowly