Search - 2020

 
 
Nuns walk past a banner on Saturday erected to welcome Pope Francis ahead of his visit in Dili, East Timor.
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 8, 2024

Child abuse scandals hang over pope's East Timor visit

There are calls for the 87-year-old pontiff to speak out on child abuse when he lands in the former Portuguese colony Monday as part of his Asia-Pacific tour.
Attorney General Merrick Garland sits between Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco and FBI Director Christopher Wray during a meeting of the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force, in Washington on Sept. 4. Federal prosecutors say Russia secretly paid the American company Tenet Media to push pro-Kremlin messages from social media influencers including Benny Johnson, Tim Pool and Dave Rubin.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 9, 2024

Russia secretly worms its way into America’s conservative media

The latest indictment reflects the growing sophistication of the Kremlin’s long-standing efforts to shape American public opinion and advance its geopolitical goals.
A steel plant in Shanghai operated by Baoshan Iron & Steel. Nippon Steel said in July it will dissolve its joint venture with the Chinese firm.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 9, 2024

Japanese firms sour on China after long years of brushing off risks

Almost half of Japanese firms in China polled in a recent survey said they won’t spend more or will cut investment this year.
Economic security minister Sanae Takaichi speaks during a news conference in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 9, 2024

Sanae Takaichi unveils LDP president bid with call for party's rebirth

In an announcement laden with detailed policy proposals, the economic security minister says the party needs to be “reborn” in the wake of its slush funds scandal.
Masatsugu Asakawa, president of the Asian Development Bank, speaks during a news conference in Incheon, South Korea, on May 2, 2023.
BUSINESS
Sep 9, 2024

Asian Development Bank says president to leave in early 2025

Japan is reportedly set to back former top financial diplomat Masato Kanda as a candidate for the ADB's next president.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to attend the 2023 graduation ceremony at the United States Military Academy, at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York, on May 27, 2023.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 10, 2024

10 former U.S. military officials back Harris, call Trump 'a danger'

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump face a tight race before the Nov. 5 election.
Masato Kanda, Japan's former top currency diplomat, led massive bouts of yen-buying intervention in the currency markets in 2022 and 2024.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 10, 2024

Japan nominates ex-currency diplomat Kanda to head ADB

Since its 1966 founding, the ADB's top post has always gone to a Japanese national, making Kanda a strong candidate.
The European Court of Justice is set to give a ruling on Irish tax breaks to U.S. company Apple on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 10, 2024

D-Day for Apple and Google as EU court to rule on major cases

The Apple case has been one of several investigations in the previous decade into sweetheart tax arrangements between major companies and several EU countries.
Apple CEO Tim Cook unveils the iPhone 16 at the Steve Jobs Theater on the company's campus in Cupertino, California, on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 10, 2024

iPhone 16 to land in Japan without Apple Intelligence 

The new feature, which uses generative artificial intelligence to analyze text and photos, will only be activated in 2025 in several markets, including Japan.
U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris shakes hands with former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a debate at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 11, 2024

Harris rattles Trump in combative U.S. presidential debate

The Democratic vice president put her Republican rival on the defensive with a stream of attacks on abortion limits, his fitness for office and his myriad legal woes.
A person holds an image of Turkish-American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, who was shot dead by Israeli forces, as Palestinians march to honor her in Nablus, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 11, 2024

Death prompts U.S. to demand overhaul of Israeli conduct in West Bank

Israel's military said the American protester's death was unintentional, and it voiced deep regret.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa announces her candidacy in the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 11, 2024

Yoko Kamikawa banks on overseas experience in LDP leadership race

Her candidacy could increase attention on foreign policy questions in a race so far dominated by party reform and domestic economic issues.
The PlayStation 5 Pro gaming console is priced at $699.99 in the United States, and ¥119,980 in Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 11, 2024

Sony prices PlayStation 5 Pro game console at a hefty $699.99

In Japan, the midgeneration console is priced at ¥119,980, compared with the standard PlayStation 5 digital model's ¥72,980 price tag.
New Zealand's Laurel Hubbard competes at the Tokyo Olympics in August 2021. A group of more than 50 New Zealand Olympians, doctors and sport administrators has called on the government to review guidelines on transgender athletes in community sports, saying they ignore female athletes' rights and undermine fairness and safety.
MORE SPORTS
Sep 11, 2024

New Zealand Olympians call for review of transgender guidelines

The group says the guidelines ignore female athletes' rights and undermine fairness and safety.
Job-seekers take a Japanese class at an employment placement company in Hanoi in October 2022.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 11, 2024

Is Japan an attractive option for foreign talent from Asia?

The uptick in young foreign workers is driven by growing interest in Japanese society and culture and difficulty in finding jobs at home.
When it comes to a career in cuisine, chef Andreas Fuchs thinks newcomers will know within three months whether they want to commit to it or not.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Sep 12, 2024

Andreas Fuchs: ‘I love that no two days are the same’

As the Grand Hyatt Tokyo’s executive chef, Andreas Fuchs is responsible for overseeing extensive menus across multiple venues.
The total cost of cooking curry rice has topped ¥300 for the 12th straight month and is expected to exceed ¥350 per serving in August, according to a survey.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 12, 2024

Making a bowl of curry rice at home now costs over ¥300, survey says

The cost of the budget-friendly dish hit a record ¥342 in July, up ¥44 from the same period last year, according to a survey.
Belmarsh prison in London. The financial, political and social stresses around prisons — and the potential danger they pose to the U.K.'s fledgling Labour government — were vividly exposed by widespread rioting within weeks of Labour taking power.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 12, 2024

Overcrowded prisons force U.K.’s Starmer to take first big gamble

Apart from Scotland, England and Wales lock up a bigger proportion of their combined population than anywhere else in Western Europe.
Nine candidates, including Toshimitsu Motegi at the podium, attend a kick off event on Thursday for their campaigning in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 12, 2024

Ishiba and Koizumi speed ahead as LDP presidential race kicks off

Despite a decline in the LDP’s image due to a large-scale political funds scandal, Ishiba and Koizumi have remained surprisingly popular with the public.
An MUFG Bank branch in Tokyo. The bank is stepping up its electronic trading capabilities.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 13, 2024

MUFG pushes to bring its trading into electronic age, except JGBs

MUFG is catching up to rivals, vying to become more competitive across fixed income and equities where electronic trading has taken hold.
World Anti-Doping Agency President Witold Banka attends the World Anti-Doping Agency Symposium in Lausanne, Switzerland, on March 12, 2024.
MORE SPORTS
Sep 13, 2024

Report clears WADA in doping case involving Chinese swimmers

The report's author, Swiss prosecutor Eric Cottier, said he found "WADA has done its work autonomously, independently and professionally."
A Ukrainian serviceman carries a part of a downed Russian suicide drone amid Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, near Kyiv last November.
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 14, 2024

Russia produces new kamikaze drone with Chinese engine

The intelligence indicated that a subsidiary of a Russian state-owned weapons-maker produced more than 2,500 attack drones from July 2023 to July 2024.
Ai Tonomoto (second from left) and other members of a group of space enthusiasts who developed a microsatellite pose outside a JAXA building in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, in April.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 15, 2024

One small step for women: Microsatellite built by Japanese amateurs put into orbit

The team, which had no experience in space development and built their satellite from scratch, launched it into space last month.
Managers, in their effort to avoid appearing sexist, often provide women with insincere or inconsistent feedback during performance reviews.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 15, 2024

Women don’t always get the candid feedback they deserve

Managers, in their effort to avoid appearing sexist, often provide women with insincere or inconsistent feedback during performance reviews.
U.S. Secret Service and Homeland Security agents check a former home of a Ryan Routh, a suspect in an alleged assassination attempt on former U.S. President Donald Trump, in Greensboro, North Carolina, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 16, 2024

Second assassination attempt on Trump is latest jolt in chaotic campaign

U.S. Secret Service agents spotted and fired on a gunman in some bushes who dropped an assault rifle and was arrested after fleeing the scene.
Students sit under a misting system during recess at Hikarigaoka Haru no Kaze Elementary School in Nerima Ward, Tokyo, on Sept. 6.
JAPAN / Society / Boiling Point
Sep 16, 2024

Japan’s schools battle to keep kids cool, with or without AC

With extreme heat affecting both health and study, schools are racing to plug AC gaps while experimenting with creative, cheaper solutions.
The flags of China (right) and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) in the Tsim Sha Tsui district in Hong Kong on June 23
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Sep 16, 2024

First person convicted under Hong Kong's new national security law

Under the new security law, the maximum sentence for the offense of "doing with a seditious intention an act" has been expanded from two years to seven years in prison.
Men use a stole to cover themselves from the sun as they wait in a line outside a polling station to cast their votes during the sixth phase of India's general election in Bhubaneswar, India, on May 25.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 16, 2024

Surviving a climate disaster isn’t likely to change how you vote

If people are in fact casting ballots based on their experiences of disasters, it appears to be a small number of them.
A supporter of former U.S. President Donald Trump waves a flag reading “God, Guns and Trump” during a demonstration in support of the Republican presidential candidate in Huntington Beach, California, on July 14, a day after Trump was shot in an assassination attempt during a rally in Pennsylvania.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Sep 17, 2024

'Bullets are flying': Divisive U.S. political rhetoric sees violence soar

In a neck-and-neck U.S. presidential election, tensions have soared along with the rhetoric.
Intel in 2022 lost out on a contract to design and fabricate the chip for Sony’s next-generation PlayStation 6.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 17, 2024

How Intel lost the Sony PlayStation business

A dispute over how much profit Intel stood to take from each chip sold to the electronics giant for the PlayStation 6 gave a leg-up to AMD, which clinched the deal.

Longform

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