Search - 2020

 
 
Former U.S. president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump arrives to court on the first day of opening statements in his trial in New York on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 23, 2024

On first day of Trump hush money trial, prosecutors say he corrupted 2016 election

New York prosecutors said on the first day of Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial that the former president corrupted the 2016 election.
Tesla remains the dominant EV maker in the U.S. market, but its earnings have been under pressure for several quarters.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 24, 2024

Tesla speeding up release of cheaper cars after sales miss

The maker of electric vehicles plans to release more affordable models by the end of this year or in early next year.
World Anti-Doping Agency President Witold Banka speaks during a symposium in Lausanne, Switzerland, in March.
OLYMPICS
Apr 24, 2024

USADA calls for WADA overhaul and probe into China swimmers

WADA has continued to rebut accusations that the organization covered up the revelation that 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for a banned substance.
Of 1,729 local municipalities nationwide, 744 have been identified as being at risk of disappearing.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 24, 2024

Over 40% of Japan's municipalities at risk of vanishing, study finds

The Tohoku region takes the top spot in both the number and percentage of municipalities at risk of disappearing due to a sharp population decline.
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s government has so far shown restraint in responding to a drumbeat of U.S. trade curbs, but driving TikTok out of the U.S. could challenge that calibration.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 25, 2024

TikTok ultimatum puts U.S. firms in firing line for China response

Legislation approved on Wednesday would give parent company ByteDance nearly a year to divest the video-sharing platform before facing an outright ban.
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.
Exporters will be helped both by the stronger dollar, and also by their exposure to the U.S. economic resilience.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 25, 2024

Dollar wrecking ball forces investors to seek cover in exporters

Those with significant dollar earnings are set for a windfall, with major beneficiaries including heavyweight Asian chipmakers.
Former Auburn and Oregon quarterback Bo Nix Nix thinks his experience gives him an edge over the other potential first-round quarterbacks.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Apr 25, 2024

NFL draft pool shrinks as NIL money entices more players to stay in school

Only 58 underclassmen have declared for this week’s draft, the smallest number since 2011.
The Mount Holland lithium mine is a glimpse of the future of what Western Australia hopes will be a new, greener stage of development.
BUSINESS
Apr 26, 2024

On lithium’s frontier, miners are betting on a greener second act

Despite weak prices for the metal deemed critical to energy transition, they are gearing up for a rebound in demand for batteries and electric vehicles.
Police have arrested a Nigerian man on suspicion of smuggling stimulant drugs from Britain and tricking his romance scam victim into picking it up.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 26, 2024

Nigerian nabbed in Japan for drug smuggling through romance scam

Police say similar cases of romance scam victims being tricked into helping smuggle illegal drugs continue to occur.
Twenty-three Chinese swimmers tested positive for a banned substance before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
MORE SPORTS
Apr 26, 2024

WADA asks 'independent prosecutor' to examine its handling of China case

The United States Anti-Doping Agency branded WADA's announcement of an independent investigation "self-serving."
Members of a group of former second-generation Jenovah's Witnesses speak during a news conference in Tokyo in November.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 26, 2024

Japan finds 47 cases of abuse of 'second-generation followers'

Victims were temporarily taken into protective custody in 19 of the total cases.
Gold medalists Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy and Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar on the podium following the men's high jump competition, at National Stadium in Tokyo in 2021.
OLYMPICS
Apr 26, 2024

Iconic shared Olympic gold moment will not be repeated, Qatari jumper says

In 2021, Barshim embraced his old friend Tamberi at the end of the men's high jump as the judges confirmed the double gold for the Qatari and the Italian.
Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako attend an event in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN
Apr 27, 2024

Imperial couple to visit Britain in June in first trip to country since '22

The visit will be the first trip to Britain by Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako since they attended the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022.
Sakiyama elementary school in Tamba, Hyogo Prefecture, in March .Over the past decade, the government has directed efforts toward policies designed to give young people incentives to base themselves in rural areas.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Apr 27, 2024

In Japan, regional revitalization fails to halt population decline

Efforts to revitalize rural areas through various incentives has yielded limited results as people continue to gravitate toward urban centers.
A prisoner stands behind the door of a cell in the isolation section of the Villepinte detention center in Villepinte, near Paris.
WORLD / Society
Apr 27, 2024

Ahead of Olympics, a packed Paris prison braces for crowds of inmates

Many of the events are being held in Seine-Saint-Denis, which has the highest ratio of immigrants among France's departments and is also the poorest.
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.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends a conference in Paris last June.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 28, 2024

Tesla CEO Elon Musk kicks off surprise trip to Beijing

Musk is seeking to meet senior Chinese officials in Beijing to discuss the rollout of Full-Self Driving software in China.
Lawmakers and TikTok creators during a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington on March 12
BUSINESS
Apr 29, 2024

TikTok creators brace for economic blow thanks to possible U.S. ban

TikTok has become an essential platform for small business starting out in the U.S., one eMarketer analyst said, as a ban on the social media app looms.
Visitors check a Tesla Model 3 car next to a Model Y displayed at a showroom of the U.S. electric-vehicle maker in Beijing on Feb. 4.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 29, 2024

Tesla clears key regulatory hurdles for self-driving in China

Tesla is said to have reached an agreement with Baidu to use the Chinese tech giant's mapping license for data collection.
Researcher Mercury Wong holds a rice plant on April 1.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Apr 30, 2024

Hong Kong team plants seeds to safeguard legacy grains

Scientists and farmers in Hong Kong are tending to local varieties of grain they say could be an important food source in the face of climate change.
Defense Minister Minoru Kihara takes part in an arrival ceremony with U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin at the Pentagon in Washington last October.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 30, 2024

‘Collective capacity’ to top agenda at four-way defense talks in Hawaii

One thing will be on Defense Minister Minoru Kihara's mind: how to deepen military and security cooperation with allies to counter China.
Japan's industrial production rose 3.8% in March from February, as demand picked up after two straight months of declines.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 30, 2024

Japan’s factory output records weakest quarter since pandemic

The yen’s plunge to a fresh 34-year low versus the dollar could spur a resurgence of cost-push inflation via higher costs for imports of food and energy.
Children hold cork sheets to cover them from the sun while walking along a street during a countrywide heat wave in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Sunday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
May 1, 2024

Extreme heat is closing schools, widening learning gaps worldwide

Many countries experiencing heat waves are torn between closing schools or leaving them open, both of which negatively affect children's learning.
Kim Kyu-li holds a protest placard at her home in southwest London.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 1, 2024

As border reopens, North Koreans in China vanish

Hundreds of North Koreans have been repatriated by China in recent months, where they face imprisonment, torture and even execution.
Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako speak to evacuees at a shelter in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in March.
JAPAN
May 1, 2024

Emperor Naruhito marks five years since enthronement

The emperor's first five years on the throne were largely overshadowed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Customer harassment” — in which customers harass front-line workers with aggressive behavior or unreasonable requests — has become a growing problem in the service industry.
JAPAN / Society
May 2, 2024

Japan steps up measures against 'customer harassment'

A 2022 survey found that 67.5% of respondents had experienced some kind of harassment from customers in the past three years.
Four girls congregate at an empty swimming pool at their high school and discuss their lives in “Swimming in a Sand Pool.”
CULTURE / Film
May 2, 2024

‘Swimming in a Sand Pool’ takes rare dive into gender issues

Nobuhiro Yamashita draws appealingly natural performances from his cast of newcomers in the film adaptation of an award-winning play.
Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce celebrates with the Lombardi Trophy after Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas on Feb. 11.
MORE SPORTS / Football
May 2, 2024

Travis Kelce 'extremely grateful' for new deal with Chiefs

The Chiefs reworked Kelce's contract, pumping up his salary to $34.25 million over the next two seasons.
Counter-protesters strike a barricade at a pro-Palestinian encampment on the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) campus on Wednesday.
WORLD
May 2, 2024

Violence flares at UCLA as police end protests at New York's Columbia

Police said UCLA had called them to restore order and maintain public safety "due to multiple acts of violence" within the encampment.

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