Search - u_times

 
 
China’s tech firms were caught off guard by breakthroughs in generative artificial intelligence — Beijing’s regulations and a sagging economy aren’t helping.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 22, 2024

China’s rush to dominate AI has a twist: It depends on U.S. technology

Even as the United States has tried to slow China’s advancements, it has not held back the practice of openly releasing software to encourage its adoption.
Intuitive Machines' Odysseus spacecraft passes over the near side of the moon following lunar orbit insertion on Wednesday.
WORLD / Science & Health / FOCUS
Feb 23, 2024

Why it took the U.S. 51 years to get back on the moon

Intuitive Machines has landed a robotic spacecraft on the moon, becoming the first private firm to place a vehicle intact on the lunar surface.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida hold a joint news conference during a trilateral summit at Camp David, Maryland, on Aug. 18. The summit dealt with security and economic security coordination.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Mar 5, 2024

The U.S.-Japan gap: a challenge in economic security cooperation

While such ties appear to be progressing, the two countries’ interests in the field are not necessarily fully aligned.
U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich, arrested on espionage charges, stands inside a defendants' cage before a hearing to consider an appeal on his extended pre-trial detention, at the Moscow City Court in Moscow on Feb. 20.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 1, 2024

'How much time he's lost': Jailed U.S. reporter's family waits for his return

The parents of Evan Gershkovich are counting on a promise from U.S. President Joe Biden to bring their son home.
Japan has been particularly sensitive about the prospect of resuming Osprey flights following the November crash of a U.S. Air Force CV-22 variant.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 2, 2024

U.S. to lift ban on Osprey flights, three months after deadly Japan crash

The U.S. military will next week share its plans with Japan — the sole international partner involved in the Osprey program.
An Israeli soldier patrols near the site of the Hamas attack on a music festival in southern Israel on Oct. 12.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Mar 5, 2024

U.N. finds evidence of sexual violence by Hamas since Oct. 7

A separate report by the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel concluded that the sexual violence committed by Hamas was systematic and deliberate.
Palestinians carry bags of flour they grabbed from an aid truck in mid February near an Israeli checkpoint as Gaza residents face crisis levels of hunger amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 7, 2024

Getting more aid to Gaza shouldn’t be this difficult

Adding avoidable deaths through hunger and disease in Gaza to an already high fatality toll is good for no one but extremists.
A Daiso shop in New York in September 2022. While Daiso originally entered the U.S. in 2005, it has scaled these efforts up over the past few years — the retailer now has about 120 stores across seven states.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 11, 2024

Daiso banks on ‘brand Japan’ for U.S. expansion

The discount store chain plans to open 65 stores in the U.S. in 2024, and over 100 next year.
The Biden administration has regularly sent warnings about Nippon Steel's proposed purchase of U.S. Steel and has steadfastly sided with the United Steelworkers over the sale of a once-iconic firm based in Pennsylvania, a crucial swing state.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 14, 2024

Biden to express concern over Nippon Steel's deal for U.S. Steel, source says

U.S. officials and lawyers have drafted a statement of concern and the White House has privately informed Tokyo of Biden's move, according to reports.
During the last round of negotiations between Washington and Seoul, then-U.S. President Donald Trump requested steep increases in South Korea’s share of defense costs.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 14, 2024

South Korea, U.S. talk cost-sharing as Seoul girds for Trump 2.0

The agreement on an unusually early start of the defense cost-sharing deals reflects unease over a possible return of Donald Trump to the White House.
Former FTX chief Sam Bankman-Fried leaves Manhattan federal court in New York on Jan. 3.
BUSINESS
Mar 16, 2024

Sam Bankman-Fried should get up to 50 years in prison, U.S. says

A sentence of 40 to 50 years is necessary for the "historic” crime involving more than 1 million victims and losses of over $10 billion, prosecutors say.
U.S. President Joe Biden (right) is welcomed to Israel by the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. The relationship between the two leaders has since soured.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2024

Biden and Netanyahu are going from frenemies to enemies

President Biden has warned the Israeli prime minister about crossing a red line, but that may cause more trouble than good, as history teaches us.
Giovanna Gonzalez of Chicago demonstrates outside the U.S. Capitol following a press conference by TikTok creators to voice their opposition to the "Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act," pending crackdown legislation on TikTok in the House of Representatives, on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 12.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 19, 2024

TikTok and its 'secret sauce' caught in U.S.-China tussle

China's ByteDance's algorithm has helped drive TikTok's stratospheric success since the app was launched for the international market in 2017.
Humility, recognition of cultural blind spots and a renewed effort are needed to find common ground between China and the United States.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 19, 2024

Addressing the 'blind spots' in U.S.-China relations

The dwindling opportunities for unofficial dialogue between scholars and experts from the U.S. and China are also driving by mutual suspicion and fear.
U.S. Indo-Pacific Command chief Adm. John Aquilino said that since he took command in 2021, the PLA has added over 400 advanced fighter aircraft and more than 20 major warships, and has more than doubled its inventory of ballistic and cruise missiles.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 21, 2024

China on track to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027, U.S. commander says

All signs point to the People's Liberation Army meeting President Xi Jinping’s preferred timeline, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command chief says.
Britain's Prince William and Princess Catherine attend a ceremony in November.
WORLD
Mar 24, 2024

U.K. royal Catherine 'touched' by support after cancer announcement

Kate said she was undergoing preventive chemotherapy after tests done following her major abdominal surgery in January revealed cancer had been present.
U.S. President Joe Biden attends a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv in October 2023.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 26, 2024

Netanyahu halts envoys' U.S. trip amid rift with Biden over Gaza U.N. vote

Famine looms in the Gaza Strip and there is growing global pressure for a truce in the war health authorities say has killed some 32,000 Palestinians.
Demonstrators on Tuesday in Washington, where the U.S. Supreme Court signaled it's likely to preserve full access to a widely used abortion pill as the justices heard arguments in a case carrying major stakes for reproductive rights and potentially this year's elections.
WORLD / Society
Mar 27, 2024

Judges' mention of 1873 obscenity law opens new front in U.S. war on abortion

Those opposed to the womens' health procedure cite the law as a reason to roll back a 2021 FDA decision allowing an abortion drug to be sent by mail.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy inspects new fortifications for Ukrainian servicemen, near the Russian border in Ukraine's Sumy region, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 31, 2024

Zelenskyy vows drone strikes on Russia despite U.S. dissent

The drone attacks are in retaliation against Kremlin strikes on Ukraine’s energy grid and part of an effort to compel Moscow to stop them.
The Osprey provides vertical takeoff and landing like a helicopter but is also capable of flying at high speeds over long distances when operating as a conventional plane.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 3, 2024

The Japan-U.S. alliance needs the versatile Osprey

In Japan, there has been an outsized and lingering concern about the aircraft’s safety. That concern is, frankly, misplaced,
An Ariens Company employee works on the assembly line at the company's plant in Brillion, Wisconsin.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 5, 2024

U.S. employment boom leaves factory workers behind

There is a stark contrast between U.S. factory employment and the four-year boom in the wider job market
Mourners gather in Tehran on Friday for the funerals of senior Iranian military and intelligence officials killed in Israel's bombing of the Iranian Embassy building in Damascus, Syria.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 6, 2024

Israel and U.S. are on alert for Iran to strike back at Israel

Analysts say Iran is more likely to strike Israel itself than through Hezbollah, its closest militant ally.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks with the media after meeting with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng at the Guangdong Zhudao Guesthouse in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 7, 2024

China providing geospatial intelligence to Russia, U.S. warns

Beijing’s support also includes optics, propellants to be used in missiles and increased space cooperation, according to sources.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen meets Chinese Premier Li Qiang at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Sunday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 7, 2024

Yellen and Li express hope for U.S.-China cooperation

The U.S.-China relationship can only move forward with direct and open communication, Treasury chief Janet Yellen told Premier Li Qiang.
Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour speaks with the media, accompanied by Yemen's Ambassador to the United Nations Abdullah Ali Fadhel Al-Saadi and Algeria's Representative to the United Nations Amar Bendjama, at U.N. headquarters in New York on March 25.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 9, 2024

Security Council to decide within April on Palestine's U.N. membership bid

Palestinians have lobbied for years to gain full membership, which would amount to recognition of Palestinian statehood.
The U.S. military’s Kawakami Ammunition Depot in Higashihiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture. High levels of PFAS have been detected in well water around the facility.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Apr 15, 2024

U.S.-Japan pact hampers PFAS survey at U.S. facility in Hiroshima

The bilateral Status of Forces Agreement gives exclusive authority to the U.S. forces over the management of their facilities in Japan.
U.S. Steel's Edgar Thomson steel mill in Braddock, Pennsylvania
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 11, 2024

How the U.S. Steel takeover became about Biden and swing states

The turmoil threatens to strain U.S. relations with Japan while underscoring how the politics of winning swing-state voters influences business.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attend an an arrival ceremony as part of a state visit by Kishida, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 11, 2024

Global ambitions? U.S. and Japan eye a boosted partnership, but the hurdles are high.

Can Japan truly be America's "global partner"? Experts are divided over the issue.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reviews soldiers of the German armed forces in Berlin on Thursday.
WORLD / FOCUS
Apr 12, 2024

Between the U.S. and a hard place, Germany's Scholz reheats China ties

With Germany's economy slumping, the nation hopes to gain fairer access to China's markets despite promises to "de-risk" from them.
A funeral procession in Tehran for seven Iranian military commanders killed by an Israeli airstrike in Syria, on April 5. American intelligence analysts and officials said Friday that they expected Iran to strike multiple targets inside Israel within the next few days in retaliation for an Israeli bombing in the Syrian capital on April 1 that killed several senior Iranian commanders.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 13, 2024

U.S. targets unlikely to be on list in possible Iranian attack, officials say

In anticipation of the strikes, several countries have issued new guidelines to their citizens about travel in Israel and the surrounding region.

Longform

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