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A grapnel, used to retrieve cables, on the deck of the Leon Thevenin in Cape Town on April 30. In a wireless world, it is easy to forget the all-too-real cables that snake across the turbulent ocean floor — until they snap.
WORLD
Dec 4, 2024

When undersea cables break, a wireless world’s vulnerability is exposed

Landslides, a ship dragging its anchor, military skirmishes and sabotage can all damage cables.
Bain Capital plans to pay ¥9,600 a share for Fuji Soft, it said in a statement on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Dec 11, 2024

Bain raises offer for Fuji Soft in $4.3 billion contest with KKR

The Boston-based investment firm plans to pay ¥9,600 a share for Fuji Soft, it said in a statement.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Russian President Vladimir Putin arrive for a news conference following their meeting in Moscow in July. Both of their countries have pro-government "fact-checking" websites.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 12, 2024

Rise in pro-government 'fact checking' sparks concern in Europe

Fresh initiatives are presenting themselves as genuine fact-checking outfits while pushing their own agenda.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin meets with his Japanese counterpart, Gen Nakatani,  at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 13, 2024

The global spy alliance should let Japan join

Tokyo’s inclusion in the club is long overdue, especially as the region combats China’s growing assertiveness and the unpredictability of North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
The Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in September 2019. An inspection of the base by Japanese government officials on Friday came amid public pressure to investigate suspected links between the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam by the U.S. base and contamination of soil and groundwater in western Tokyo.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Dec 20, 2024

Japanese officials inspect Yokota Air Base over PFAS concerns

The inspection follows a reported leak in August of water containing "forever chemicals" outside the U.S. base in western Tokyo.
Public prosecutors on Wednesday indicted 32-year-old former judge Soichiro Sato without arrest for alleged insider trading while they also indicted without arrest former Tokyo Stock Exchange employees in another insider trading case.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 26, 2024

Former Japanese judge indicted for insider trading

Prosecutors also indicted a former Tokyo Stock Exchange employee father on a separate insider trading charge.
Members of the Self-Defense Forces stand in formation at Camp Asaka on Nov. 9.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2024

Japan uncovers 100 new cases of mishandled security secrets at SDF

The ministry has been conducting investigations after many rule violations related to the handling of secrets were found earlier this year.
The U.S. Treasury Department said Monday that a Chinese state-sponsored actor was behind a hack resulting in access to some of its workstations earlier this month, according to a letter to Congress.
BUSINESS
Dec 31, 2024

U.S. Treasury says it was breached by Chinese hackers in 'major' incident

The hackers were able to remotely access certain Treasury workstations and "certain unclassified documents maintained by those users.”
New Orleans' French Quarter following an early-morning attack on Jan. 1
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jan 2, 2025

‘No terrorist to me’: Relatives and friends saw few signs before attack

The violence appeared to explode out of nowhere to those who had known Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar as a quiet and caring person. But there were also signs of growing instability.
A portion of data showing changes in terrain due to the Noto Peninsula earthquake. The blue areas indicate landslides, while the red areas show accumulated debris.
JAPAN
Jan 6, 2025

Japan government promotes laser forest terrain surveys

Data obtained by terrain surveys can be used for disaster responses by analyzing terrain changes after earthquakes or heavy rain.
A Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism official explains a new system for detecting vacant houses, on Dec. 23.
JAPAN
Jan 12, 2025

Government developing AI-based system to detect vacant houses

The aim of the system is to spot such properties at an early stage and make them available for sale or rent, or demolish them before they collapse.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg tries on a pair of Orion augmented reality glasses at the Meta Connect annual event at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on Sept. 25.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 8, 2025

Meta shelves fact-checking in policy reversal ahead of Trump inauguration

It plans to implement on Facebook, Instagram and Threads a system of "community notes" similar to that used on rival X.
Japanese cybersecurity authorities raised an alarm Wednesday over a China-linked hacker group called MirrorFace, saying it has struck 210 targets in Japan since 2019.
JAPAN
Jan 8, 2025

Japan authorities raise alarm over China-linked cyberattacks

Analyses of the targets and methods and malware used by the hackers suggested that the attacks were an organized activity with a suspected link to the Chinese government.
A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck southwestern Japan at 9:19 p.m. on Monday evening
JAPAN
Jan 14, 2025

Strong quake strikes southwestern Japan

The quake measured a lower 5 on Japan’s seismic intensity scale.
A drone view shows makeshift tents for quake-affected residents following the earthquake that struck Tingri county, in Shigatse, Tibet Autonomous Region, China, on Jan. 8.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 14, 2025

Earthquake shakes Tibetan monasteries; casualties among clergy unknown

The magnitude 6.8 quake reduced to rubble roofs and walls at a monastery and a nunnery about 15 kilometers east of the epicenter in Tingri county.
If it is banned in the United States, TikTok plans that users attempting to open the app will see a pop-up message directing them to a website with information about the ban.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 16, 2025

TikTok preparing to shut down app in U.S. on Sunday, sources say

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly considering issuing an executive order to suspend enforcement of a shutdown for 60 to 90 days.
Elon Musk, the world's richest man, has expressed ambitions to build an "everything app," and adding TikTok to X, formerly Twitter, could bring him closer to that vision.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 16, 2025

Elon Musk won’t save TikTok

A Musk takeover of TikTok remains far from a done deal. It would require a wildly complex spinoff and it’s not immediately clear how he would fund a purchase.
A firefighter lights a controlled burn in a forest environment in Bages, southwestern France, on Saturday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 19, 2025

Slew of satellite projects aims to head off future wildfires

Tech-focused groups are launching new orbiters as space launches get cheaper, while machine-learning techniques will sift the torrent of information.
The P4 laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China, in April 2020
WORLD
Jan 26, 2025

CIA now favors China lab leak theory to explain COVID’s origins

A new analysis that began under the Biden administration is released by the C.I.A.’s new director, John Ratcliffe, who wants the agency to get “off the sidelines” in the debate.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the White House in Washington on Thursday about the midair crash between an American Airlines plane and a military helicopter.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 31, 2025

Trump blames diversity programs over midair collision

The crash was nation's most deadly commercial airline accident in over a decade.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents walk down a street during a multi-agency targeted enforcement operation in Chicago, Illinois on Jan. 26.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 1, 2025

TikTok influencers leverage power of gossip to thwart ICE raids

They say that as authorities ramp up raids in the early days of the Trump administration, they’re trying to inform migrants of their rights.
Visitors to a UFO festival in the town of Iino in the city of Fukushima turn up dressed as aliens and other characters in November last year.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 4, 2025

UFO fans increasingly active in Japan

The trend may be a sign of social anxiety amid geopolitical tension and conflicts across the globe, an expert says.
A coalition of mostly Democratic-led U.S. states filed a lawsuit to stop billionaire Elon Musk from accessing government systems used to process trillions of dollars in payments.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Feb 8, 2025

U.S. states sue to block Musk's DOGE from accessing payment systems

The suit claims Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency has no legal power to access the U.S. Department of Treasury systems.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping hold a bilateral meeting during the Group of 20 leaders summit in Osaka in June 2019.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 11, 2025

Trump’s initial moves will benefit China

And while Trump has claimed that his policies will strengthen America, in reality, thus far, the biggest winner of many of his actions has actually been China.
Elon Musk speaks next to U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 15, 2025

Elon Musk's tactics frustrate some White House senior officials

Trump officials want more coordination from Musk's team as he slashes the U.S. government.
Tokyo Koon stands at the forefront of tackling the so-called 2025 issue, also known as the “Magnetic Tape Alert.”
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Feb 17, 2025

The race to save 20th-century history

Analog recordings are at risk of disappearing as old tech breaks down and spare parts run out.
Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro assists Defense Minister Gen Nakatani as he signs a guest book prior to their bilateral meeting at a hotel in Manila on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 24, 2025

Japan and Philippines to establish high-level defense gear framework

The two sides also agreed to establish a “strategic dialogue” between the Self-Defense Forces and the Philippine Armed Forces to deepen operational collaboration.
Kusatsu Onsen resort, a popular tourist destination in Gunma Prefecture, on Dec. 26, 2022
JAPAN / Society
Feb 25, 2025

Gunma ranks top among city dwellers eyeing countryside, survey shows

Respondents picked the prefecture for its child-friendly environment, rich natural surroundings and proximity to the Tokyo metropolitan area.
A 7-Eleven convenience store, operated by Seven & I Holdings, in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 26, 2025

Seven & I buyout talks stall over management control

The founding Ito family and Itochu have yet to reach consensus on the composition of the board of the post-buyout entity, sources said.
Minoru Kishiguchi, a prefectural assembly member expelled from the Hyogo prefectural arm of Nippon Ishin no Kai (left), and Makoto Masuyama, a prefectural assembly member who received a recommendation to leave the party, at the Hyogo Prefectural Government Office on Wednesday
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 27, 2025

Nippon Ishin's Hyogo group expels member over probe info leak

Minoru Kishiguchi had been serving as the committee's deputy chief and head of the party's assembly group at the time.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years