Search - u_times

 
 
Ryoma Shimoseki (90) was playing at Kosei Gakuen High School in Tokyo when he was discovered by NFL Academy coaches.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Apr 17, 2024

Japanese NFL hopeful gets dream chance on football field in U.K.

Ryoma Shimoseki was recently announced as the newest addition to the NFL Academy as he bids to become the first Japanese to make an NFL roster.
The IMF has singled out the U.K. and Italy alongside the U.S. and China as nations that face serious fiscal risks as debt continues to creep upward.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 18, 2024

U.S. and China debts pose risks for global public finances, IMF says

Public debt in China and the U.S. is projected to almost double by 2053, which could "have profound effects on the global economy," the IMF reports.
Josh Rawitch, president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, holds a baseball thrown by former Dodgers pitcher Hideo Nomo during a no-hitter in 1996 while seated next to a Dodgers uniform used by Shohei Ohtani this season during a news conference at the U.S. ambassador's residence in Tokyo
BASEBALL
Apr 19, 2024

Baseball Hall of Fame to highlight history of Japan-U.S. ties in new exhibition

The exhibition, "Yakyu/Baseball: The Transpacific Exchange of the Game between Japan and the United States," is slated to open in July 2025.
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 dollar's resurgence has come on the back of a slew of signs that the U.S. economy avoided the slowdown many anticipated.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 23, 2024

U.S. dollar’s extended reign delivers stark wake-up call to markets

Global investors are talking about "U.S. exceptionalism” after a predicted slowdown to the nation's economy didn't transpire.
Everywhere, U.S. allies are taking steps to defend or advance their interests in the event former U.S. President Donald Trump returns to power in November elections, an even chance based on recent opinion polls in swing states.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 25, 2024

How U.S. allies are preparing for a possible second Trump term

They want to avoid Trump's "America First" policies dealt them before, which included trade wars and a shakeup of security alliances.
While some publicly traded bitcoin mining companies release details of their energy use, there is no reliable data on exactly how much electricity the industry as a whole consumes.
BUSINESS / Tech / ANALYSIS
Apr 25, 2024

Bitcoin miner environmental battles heat up in U.S.

As cryptocurrency groups work to shield mines from local regulations, U.S. President Joe Biden proposed an excise tax on bitcoin energy use.
Palestinian women in Gaza sit amid the rubble of a residential building they once lived in, which was destroyed by an Israeli raid earlier this month.
COMMENTARY
Apr 25, 2024

Biden must prove he doesn't have a double standard for Israel

If the U.S. wants to convince the world that it doesn't have a double standard, it should condition military aid to Israel on its use of American weapons.
U.S. President Joe Biden gives a speech after signing into law a bill providing billions of dollars of new military aid to Ukraine at the White House on Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Apr 26, 2024

Passing of U.S. aid package is a win for global peace

The aid for Ukraine is critical: Its military has been running short of ammunition and Russia has been exploiting its advantage to make battlefield gains.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken dines at the Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant at the Yu Gardens in Shanghai on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 27, 2024

When U.S. diplomats visit China, meal choices are about more than taste buds

Visits to China by U.S. officials like Secretary of State Antony Blinken can bring fame to local restaurants, as well as scrutiny to the dignitaries.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks during a news conference, at the Downing Street Briefing Room in central London on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 27, 2024

‘Operation Save Rishi’ aims to get U.K. leader through key vote

Rishi Sunak has said that he’s putting U.K. defense spending on a "war footing.” He might as well have been talking about his own position.
Optica headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday
BUSINESS / Companies
May 3, 2024

Huawei secretly backs U.S. research, awarding millions in prizes

Huawei Technologies is the sole funder of a research competition that has awarded millions of dollars since its inception in 2022.
CIA Director William Burns testifies during a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing on worldwide threats on Capitol Hill in Washington in March 11.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
May 11, 2024

U.S. spy chief becomes key envoy as Biden-Netanyahu ties fray

CIA Director William Burns is quietly keeping Washington’s lines of communication open across the Middle East.
Soldiers load boxes of relief goods into a U.S. CH53 Sea Stallion aircraft at Lal-lo Airport in Cagayan province, northern Philippines, last August. The Lal-lo Airport is one of the additional sites for the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) between the Philippines and the United States.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 11, 2024

China woos Philippine elites near base U.S. needs to defend Taiwan

The moves come as Washington and Beijing remain locked in a struggle for influence that is still playing out.
Philippine and U.S. Marines watch as a projectile hits a target at sea during a live-fire exercise against an imaginary "invasion" force as part of the annual joint military drills, on a strip of sand dunes in Laoag on Luzon island's northwest coast, on May 6.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 11, 2024

U.S. builds web of arms, ships and bases in the Pacific to deter China

With missiles, submarines and alliances, the Biden administration has built a presence in the region to rein in Beijing’s expansionist goals.
Members of Taiwan's Navy and media onboard a special operation boat navigate near a Kuang Hua VI-class missile boat, during part of a demonstration for the media to show combat readiness ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays, on the waters near a military base in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on Jan. 31.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 14, 2024

U.S. and Taiwan navies quietly held Pacific drills in April

The exercises, which were not publicized and involved "multiple military assets," took place last month in the Western Pacific, according to sources.
North Korea's Ambassador to the United Nations Kim Song speaks during a meeting of the U.N. General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York on June 8, 2022.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
May 15, 2024

U.N. experts: North Korea laundered $147.5 million in stolen crypto

The money was stolen from the HTX cryptocurrency exchange before being laundered in March this year, the experts said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is greeted by Chinese leader Xi Jinping before the opening ceremony at the Expo Center at the fourth Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia summit in Shanghai in May 2014.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
May 15, 2024

Putin to visit Xi amid U.S. threat of China sanctions over Ukraine

The two sides are set to discuss ways to challenge the U.S.-led global order while bolstering Moscow’s economic resilience amid its war in Ukraine.
Chinese and U.S. flags flutter outside the building of an American company in Beijing.
WORLD / Politics
May 16, 2024

'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger,' China trolls U.S. tariffs

Chinese state media accused the U.S. of taking action that threatens climate goals and will push up costs for American consumers.
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.
Samples of cannabis edibles are offered during The 1st Phuket Cannabis Cup in Phuket, Thailand, in March 2023. Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said marijuana should soon be classified as a narcotic again and its use limited to medical and health purposes.
COMMENTARY
May 17, 2024

Thailand’s cannabis U-turn is a cautionary tale

Banning the drug outright will no doubt cause a lot of pain to farmers, small business owners and consumers. A middle-ground approach to return to medical usage would be wise.
People hold pictures of victims of the contaminated blood scandal, at a vigil to remember those that lost their lives, ahead of the release of the final report of the Infected Blood Inquiry, in London on Sunday.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 21, 2024

Probe into infected blood scandal slams U.K. state over ‘chilling’ cover-up

More than 30,000 people were infected with HIV and Hepatitis C in the U.K. in the 1970s and 1980s after receiving treatments with contaminated blood products.
Judge Nawaf Salam (from left), Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf and Judge Georg Nolte attend a hearing at the International Court of Justice as part of South Africa's request on a Gaza cease-fire, at The Hague on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
May 25, 2024

Top U.N. court orders Israel to halt Rafah offensive

The landmark ruling is likely to increase international pressure for a cease-fire more than seven months into the war sparked by Hamas' Oct. 7 attack.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin speaks during a media briefing at the Pentagon in Washington on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 25, 2024

U.S. and Chinese defense chiefs to meet this week, as military drills around Taiwan end

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will meet his Chinese counterpart, Dong Jun, this week for the first time, the Pentagon said Friday.
A member of a Ukrainian artillery crew stores munitions at a firing position near the town of Vovchansk, in the northern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, on May 19. Two classified Ukrainian reports show that some U.S. precision-guided weapons are vulnerable to electronic warfare, an element in Ukraine's recent battlefield setbacks.
WORLD
May 26, 2024

Some U.S. weapons stymied by Russian jamming in Ukraine

Two classified Ukrainian reports show that some U.S. precision-guided weapons are vulnerable to electronic warfare, an element in Ukraine’s recent battlefield setbacks.
Locals gather to help in the search effort after a landslide that hit in Papua New Guinea's Enga province on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 26, 2024

More than 670 estimated dead in Papua New Guinea landslide: U.N.

The unforgiving terrain, damaged roads and an outbreak of tribal violence nearby have seriously hamstrung efforts to get help into the disaster zone.
Wanxiang America’s Neapco manufacturing plant in Belleville, Michigan
BUSINESS / Companies
May 29, 2024

Once embraced, Chinese companies now shunned in U.S. on security fears

It doesn’t matter if it’s mining or health care, even Chinese furniture could one day be seen as a national security issue, a lawyer who represents Chinese clients said.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol addresses the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Seoul on Monday as Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese Premier Li Qiang listen on.
EDITORIALS
May 31, 2024

A long-neglected trilateral resumes — to expected results

Revival of this trilateral has been driven by Chinese uncertainty: worries about its economy and anxiety regarding geopolitical developments.
British opposition leader Keir Starmer speaks at a Welsh Labour general election campaign event in Abergavenny, Wales, Britain, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 3, 2024

Starmer campaigns on U.K. security ahead of key debate with Sunak

The Labour Party head is trying to win the election by campaigning on the political center ground, and by showing how the party has shifted since its historic 2019 defeat.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin leaves a bilateral meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Dong Jun, on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Friday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 4, 2024

China is winning the communications competition

It's a mistake for the U.S. to take for granted that the world sees it as “the good guy” in its competition with China.

Longform

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