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Prolonged factory deflation is threatening the survival of smaller Chinese exporters, who are locked in relentless price wars for shrinking business as higher interest rates abroad and rising trade protectionism squeeze demand.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Feb 5, 2024

China's small exporters threatened amid price wars and low demand

Producer prices have been falling for 15 straight months, crushing profit margins to the point where industrial output and jobs are now at risk.
The People's Liberation Army's Academy of Military Sciences had used an open-source standard known as RISC-V to reduce malfunctions in chips for cloud computing and smart cars.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 5, 2024

China bets on open-source chips as U.S. export controls mount

RISC-V is free to use and has a simpler outline, often leading to more energy-efficient chips, and users can build atop the framework to suit their needs.
Military vehicles carrying intercontinental ballistic missiles during a military parade in Beijing in 2019
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 5, 2024

Fear and ambition propel Xi’s nuclear acceleration

As China’s arsenal grows, its military looks to warheads as both defensive shield and potential sword — to intimidate and subjugate adversaries.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits a frontline in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 5, 2024

Zelenskyy hints at major shake-up of Ukraine’s government

The Ukrainian president said that a broad overhaul of Ukraine’s military and civilian leadership was needed to reboot the country’s war effort.
A Beijing court heard Yang Hengjun's trial in secret in May 2021 and the case against him has never been publicly disclosed. He has denied working as a spy for Australia or the United States.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 5, 2024

Beijing court gives Australian writer suspended death sentence

Yang Hengjun had been accused of spying for a country China has not identified and the details of the case against him have not been made public.
Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift arrives for the 66th Annual Grammy Awards at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Sunday.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Feb 5, 2024

Taylor Swift makes Grammys history as women rule music's top honors

Winning for her album "Midnights," Taylor Swift has won the best album prize a total of four times, eclipsing Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder.
U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel (left), U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Mandy Cohen (center) and health minister Keizo Takemi attend a ceremony to mark the opening of the U.S. agency's East Asia and Pacific regional office in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN
Feb 5, 2024

U.S. CDC opens regional office in Tokyo

The regional office, located inside the U.S. Embassy, will collaborate with 26 countries and territories in East Asia and the Pacific.
Naomi Osaka takes part in a news conference after losing her women's singles match on the second day of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Jan. 15.
TENNIS
Feb 6, 2024

Inspired by daughter, Osaka aims to return to top spots this year

The four-time Grand Slam champion suffered an early Australian Open exit following 15 months out of the sport.
Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, where Super Bowl 58 will be held on Sunday. The city is promising a spectacle around the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers showdown.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Feb 6, 2024

Las Vegas planning Super Bowl supernova to cement sports hub status

The spectacle could be biggest television event in the United States since Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon in 1969.
Elementary school students arrive at Wajima Senior High School in Ishikawa Prefecture as classes resume at vacant classrooms at the school on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Feb 6, 2024

Schools reopen in quake-hit Wajima

The schools — six elementary schools and one junior high school — resumed their classes by using vacant classrooms at Wajima Senior High School.
Wall Street giants are endorsing India as the prime investment destination for the coming decade.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 6, 2024

Wall Street snubs China for India in a historic markets shift

India has vastly expanded infrastructure under Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his bid to lure global capital and supply lines away from Beijing.
Police in riot gear stand guard next to a barricade near a fire outside the European Parliament in Brussels on Feb. 1 during a protest by farmers from Belgium and other EU countries over price pressures, taxes and green regulation.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 6, 2024

Green backlash looms over EU elections

Polls show that while a large majority of Europeans support action to fight climate change, a many are also worried about the cost of doing this.
Taylor Swift (right) cheers on her boyfriend Travis Kelce's team, the Kansas City Chiefs, in the AFC divisional round playoff game against the Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park, New York, on Jan. 21. The Chiefs will play the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 6, 2024

Taylor Swift rocks the world and drives the far right crazy

The “Swift effect” has become a force in both U.S. domestic politics and international relations.
Nintendo has raised its forecast for Switch console sales and its overall operating profit for the year ending in March.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 6, 2024

Nintendo raises sales and profit forecasts after strong holiday earnings

The Kyoto-based firm's shares are at an all-time high this year, with expectations for a next-generation Switch also playing into the lofty valuation.
Flags fly at Union Station in Washington on June 27. With the U.S. presidential election approaching, caution is being urged over the widespread proliferation of propaganda.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Feb 13, 2024

The battle to tackle U.S. election propaganda heats up

The race is set to become more and more intense amid increased political polarization and pluralistic values.
Cars and homes destroyed by a Russian missile that fell between a residential building and a public preschool in Kyiv on Dec. 13, 2023. In January, the White House said it had evidence that North Korea had provided ballistic missiles used by Russia.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 6, 2024

A Russian bank account may offer clues to North Korean arms deal

Russia has allowed the release of $9 million in frozen North Korean assets from a Russian financial institution, according to intelligence officials.
Shipments from China to the U.S. are increasingly making a pit stop in third countries such as Vietnam and Mexico.
BUSINESS
Feb 6, 2024

Biden wins U.S.-China trade war by Trump’s pet metric, but does it count?

Figures due Wednesday are set to show the U.S. deficit in goods trade with China in 2023 at its lowest annual level since 2010.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 7, 2024

KDDI to raise stake in Lawson to jointly run convenience chain

Japan's second-largest mobile carrier currently holds 2.1% of shares but will invest about ¥500 billion to increase its stake through a tender offer.
U.S. President Joe Biden sought to cast responsibility for the failure to secure an agreement on the border — an issue which polls show is a major political liability for his re-election hopes — on congressional Republicans and Donald Trump.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 7, 2024

Biden pins border bill failure on Trump with Ukraine hanging

Biden acknowledged the Senate package was all but dead.
Europe's climate agenda is entering a difficult phase as it begins to touch sensitive sectors, such as farming, and as traditional industries face fierce green tech competition from China.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 7, 2024

EU recommends ambitious 2040 climate target but goes light on farming

Europe's climate agenda is entering a difficult phase as it begins to touch sensitive sectors, such as farming.
Guatemalan Foreign Minister Carlos Ramiro Martinez said the China outreach could materialize as an "office of trade interests" that would help find a Chinese market for Guatemalan products.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 7, 2024

Taiwan ally Guatemala mulls commercial ties with China, foreign minister says

But the Central American country also plans to maintain existing ties with Taipei.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen holds a welcome ceremony in September 2022 for then-Tuvaluan Prime Minister Kausea Natano in Taipei.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 7, 2024

Tuvalu could recognize China, but how much would it affect Taiwan?

Taipei might benefit from shifting its energy and resources away from competing with Beijing over formal recognition.
Opening up to foreign workers may ultimately be Japan’s best hope for stemming a rapid population decline.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 7, 2024

Record 2 million foreign workers are changing the face of Japan

Opening up to job seekers from abroad may ultimately be the country's best hope of stemming a rapid population decline.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Feb 7, 2024

In the world of sumo, a mock draft reflects the sport's generational shift

Here's a look at who might go No. 1 overall if sumo's stables conducted a North American-style draft.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner ahead of a practice session for the Las Vegas Grand Prix in November
MORE SPORTS
Feb 7, 2024

Red Bull's Christian Horner has Friday hearing over complaint against him

The BBC said it understood the complaint is related to "inappropriate behavior of a controlling nature."
Taiwanese soldiers train at a base in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on Tuesday. The island has decided to extend compulsory military service for young males from four months to one year amid increasing threats from China.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 7, 2024

Taiwan extends military conscription, a system Japan might want to consider

As Japan struggles to fill its military ranks, compulsory national service might be its only solution.
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2024

How dogs have helped Tokyo police for over a century

The role of police dogs has changed due to the spread of DNA testing, security cameras and other tools of technology.
A Chinese J-10 jet fighter in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, China, in November 2014. Relations between Saudi Arabia and China have become closer in the energy industry and beyond. The two countries are working to expand cooperation in fields including aircraft, artificial intelligence and infrastructure.
WORLD
Feb 8, 2024

China grabs spotlight with major presence at Saudi weapons show

Exhibiting for the first time under a single brand, state companies displayed a range of weaponry, from drones to anti-aircraft and ballistic missiles.
In the quest for immortality, some researchers believe mind uploading will be our ticket to an eternal existence.
PODCAST / deep dive
Feb 8, 2024

Japan’s take on immortality; problems in Palworld

As scientists and technologists attempt to tackle the problem of aging and death, we discuss Japanese ideas about immortality.
U.S. and U.K. military aircraft have carried out over a hundred bombing missions on Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen, as well as against Tehran's proxies in Iraq and Syria, since last month.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 6, 2024

2024 looks to be a very bloody year

Preventing a conflagration and wider wars depends first on preventing regional crises from escalating, which demands a strong deterrent posture.

Longform

Passengers that were on a morning train attacked by members of the Aum Shinrikyo group wait for medical assistance outside Kasumigaseki Station on March 20,1995.
The day a religious cult brought terror to Tokyo