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April 05, 2025
 

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People protest against the decision to virtually shut down the United States Agency for International Development, in Washington on Feb. 5. U.S. President Donald Trump's foreign aid freeze has halted vital projects in the South Pacific, aid workers and analysts say, risking lives and hurting U.S. efforts to woo the region.
BUSINESS
Feb 19, 2025
U.S. aid freeze stops crucial South Pacific projects
For years the U.S. has helped to buy life-saving medicine, combat illegal fishing and better prepare coastal hamlets for earthquakes and typhoons.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security adviser Mike Waltz during the talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Tuesday
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 19, 2025
Major risks loom as Trump upends U.S. policy on Russia
Trump's rush to impose an end to the war has stoked fears of a peace deal with Putin that could undermine Kyiv and Europe's security.
A statue of of a bull in Pudong's Lujiazui financial district in Shanghai
BUSINESS
Feb 19, 2025
Xi's new corporate champions showcase his priorities and control
The tech champions present at a meeting with the Chinese president suggest that he is rallying troops from the business sector to fight a geopolitical battle.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks to the press following a meeting of the United Nations Security Council at the U.N. headquarters in New York on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 19, 2025
China moves to seize on U.S. upheaval with appeal to strengthen U.N.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi underlines Beijing's commitment to multilateralism "no matter how the international landscape changes."
A Ukrainian serviceman in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Nov. 29
WORLD / Politics
Feb 19, 2025
European forces would struggle to guarantee Ukraine peace without U.S.
Deterrence in the form of U.S. medium-range missiles and ultimately nuclear weapons will remain crucial, experts say.
Vehicles bound for shipment at a port in Yokohama. Japan's auto exports to the United States surged 21.8% in January as U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threats continued to mount.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 19, 2025
Japan’s exports rise again ahead of Trump’s tariff measures
Exports measured by value increased 7.2% from a year earlier, led by shipments of cars and ships.
Toyota agreed to transfer an existing order with LG Energy Solution to LG's battery plant in Michigan, sources said, after General Motors backed out of the project amid a slowdown in the growth of electric vehicle sales.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 19, 2025
Toyota is backing LG battery plant with $1.5 billion order
GM said in December it would sell its $1 billion stake in the Lansing, Michigan, plant, leaving LG scrambling to find new customers.
Newly manufactured cars ready for shipping. U.S. President Donald Trump said he is likely to impose new 25% tariffs on imported cars, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals in the coming months.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 19, 2025
Trump floats 25% tariffs on U.S. auto, drug and chip imports
The U.S. president has also threatened other streams of tariffs, all part of an effort to reconfigure the country's trading relationships across the globe.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a leader feted around the world for defying a Russian invasion, has been reduced to asking an intermediary about talks that may affect his nation’s survival.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 19, 2025
Zelenskyy excluded as U.S. discusses Ukraine's fate with Russia
The Ukrainian was reduced to asking an intermediary about talks that may affect his nation’s survival, underlining a seismic shift in U.S. diplomacy.
U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff (from left), Secretary of State Marco Rubio, national security adviser Mike Waltz, Saudi Arabia Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud, national security adviser Mosaad bin Mohammad al-Aiban, the Russian president's foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov attend a meeting at Riyadh's Diriyah Palace on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 18, 2025
Russia and U.S. agree at talks without Ukraine to press ahead with bid to end war
Ukraine and European leaders are worried that Trump could cut a hasty deal with Moscow that rewards Russia for invading its neighbor.
The new French ambassador to Singapore said France and Europe do not want their Asian partners to have to choose between the United States and China.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 18, 2025
Asia should not have to pick U.S. or China, France's envoy to Singapore says
France sees increasing pressure, "maybe more on the U.S. side," that partners in Asia make a choice, its envoy to Singapore said.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said that the situation surrounding Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel has improved under U.S. President Donald Trump.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 18, 2025
Ishiba questions the politics of Nippon Steel-U.S. Steel deal rejection
The "unjust political interference” was difficult to understand, the prime minister said, but he indicated that the situation has improved under Trump.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off carrying 53 Starlink internet satellites, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on May 18, 2022.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 18, 2025
Vietnam paves way for Musk's Starlink amid U.S. tariff threats
A regulatory change can be seen as "an olive branch" to SpaceX amid nervousness in Vietnam about tariff threats from U.S. President Donald Trump.
U.S. President Donald Trump's Gaza proposal is a reckless plan that would forcibly displace Palestinians, destabilize neighboring countries, empower Iran and and hinder any long-term peace efforts.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2025
Trump’s Gaza plan is a crazy answer to a valid question
It is a propsal that will love Israel to death, revive Iran to life and destabilize every American friend.
French President Emmanuel Macron welcomes British Prime Minister Keir Starmer before an informal summit of European leaders to discuss the situation in Ukraine and European security at the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 18, 2025
Europe talks up more defense spending as Ukraine peacekeeper plan divides
The leaders also said they were ready to provide security guarantees to Kyiv "depending on the level of American support."
Members of Taiwan's armed forces, riding on a M60A3 tank, participate in a drill as part of a demonstration for the media to show combat readiness, at a military base in Taitung, Taiwan, on Jan. 31, 2024.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 18, 2025
Taiwan considering multibillion dollar arms purchase from U.S., sources say
Taipei is hoping to win support from the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump as China continues to apply military pressure on the island.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Oleksiy Chernyshov (center left), German Head of the Federal Chancellery and Minister for Special Tasks Wolfgang Schmidt and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attend the Munich Security Conference in Munich on Saturday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 18, 2025
Security demands cast new shadow on Europe's finances
Some fear a political backlash if governments simply slash social spending to buy more soldiers and guns.
Canada faces a tough decision on how to respond to U.S. President Donald Trump's economic threats, particularly regarding energy exports, with options ranging from strategic energy cuts to export taxes.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2025
Weaponizing Canadian oil would rattle Trump
Reducing crude output has the potential to inflict real pain on U.S. refiners and consumers.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance delivers a blunt speech before the 61st Munich Security Conference on Friday, sending shockwaves through Europe's halls of government.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2025
The patterns and philosophy underpinning Trump’s dizzying diplomacy
With the start of his second term, Trump's actions appear to be chaotic, both to friend and foe alike. But is this chaos intentional?
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (left) meets with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 18, 2025
Rubio discusses Gaza deal with Saudi crown prince
Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations have strongly opposed the U.S. plan for Gaza.
U.S. tourist arrested after bringing a handgun into Japan
Hyogo police believe the handgun a U.S. tourist inadvertently brought into Japan slipped through security procedures at Kansai International Airport in Osaka Prefecture.
3D printer used to construct train station building in Japan
A train station building (front) is assembled from parts printed using 3D printer technology, in Arida, Wakayama Prefecture, on Wednesday.
Japan’s leader didn’t read the job description
Prime Minister and ruling Liberal Democratic Party leader Shigeru Ishiba is facing a political funding scandal that has damaged his reputation and sparked speculation that internal efforts to remove him are underway.
Japan promises 'bold and speedy' response to Trump’s surprise 24% tariffs
U.S. President Donald Trump unveils new U.S. tariffs at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
Tokyo’s KK Line to close for decadelong overhaul as public greenway
People enjoy running and yoga on Tokyo Expressway’s KK Line, a 2-kilometer elevated expressway cutting through the capital’s commercial Ginza district, when it was opened as a pedestrian space in May last year.
Haruki Murakami TV adaptation revisits 30 years of watershed moments
Though Haruki Murakami's trademark whiff of offbeat existentialism is threaded throughout NHK's "After the Quake," the final episode — conceived as a sequel to the story "Super-Frog Saves Tokyo" — is the most stylized, featuring an anthropomorphic talking frog (voiced by Non) and his erstwhile associate Katagiri (Koichi Sato).
Nintendo to launch the Switch 2 on June 5
The controllers for the Switch 2 will attach to the console magnetically rather than sliding on rails as with the original device.
A new human trafficking trend emerges from Myanmar scam centers
Victims of scam centers who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar gather at a compound inside KK Park, a fraud center on the country's border with Thailand, after a multinational crackdown in February.
Meiji says sayonara to bottled milk, a staple of Japan's bathhouses
Meiji bottled milk lined up in a fridge at Kosugiyu, a bathhouse in Tokyo. The sticker urges patrons to enjoy the milk one last time before it’s gone.
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan
By Johan Brooks

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BOARDING & INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL DAY 2025 (Sunday, April 20)
BOARDING & INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL DAY 2025 (Sunday, April 20)

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