Tag - analysis

 
 

ANALYSIS

People backing Ukraine gather outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Tuesday. The Senate on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to approve a long-stalled $95 billion package of aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 24, 2024
Congress passes Ukraine aid bill in boost to Kyiv — and Taipei — after long delay
The package, which had been delayed amid objections from Republican hard-liners, could be signed into law as soon as this week.
Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk gets in a Tesla car as he leaves a hotel in Beijing in May last year.
BUSINESS / Tech / ANALYSIS
Apr 22, 2024
Elon Musk’s robotaxi dreams plunge Tesla into chaos
The idea of creating an autonomous taxi service has been kicking around Tesla for at least eight years.
The Pentagon building in Arlington, Virginia. Current and former U.S. officials say the Pentagon may have to revisit assumptions about military needs in the Middle East if the crisis deepens.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 20, 2024
U.S. military strategy tested as Iran-Israel warfare comes out of shadows
The tit-for-tat attacks have raised fears of an unpredictable regional war that the United States has sought to prevent.
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki (from left), U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and South Korean Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok hold a trilateral meeting at the Treasury Department in Washington on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Markets / ANALYSIS
Apr 20, 2024
Political heat prods Japan and South Korea to team up on weak currencies
The matter is all the more urgent with Middle East tensions threatening to push up oil prices and accelerate cost pressures.
The main goal of Australian's new defense strategy is to change a potential adversary’s belief that it could achieve its ambitions with military force at an acceptable cost.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 19, 2024
Australia, like Japan, sees national security interests ‘farther afield’
The goal of Australia's new strategy is to change a potential adversary’s belief that it could achieve its ambitions with force at an acceptable cost.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks as he announces a preliminary agreement with Intel for a major CHIPS and Science Act award, during a visit to the Intel Ocotillo Campus in Chandler, Arizona, on March 20.
BUSINESS / Tech / ANALYSIS
Apr 19, 2024
Latest Biden chip deal highlights U.S. semiconductor successes
Samsung is the latest beneficiary of Washington’s efforts to shore up precarious supply chains and protect its national security interests.
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Markets / ANALYSIS
Apr 17, 2024
Why hasn't Japan moved to prop up the weak yen?
Even though the yen has already far exceeded the level that prompted action in October 2022, an intervention seems far off.
China's yuan is at five-month lows and has lost 1.9% to the dollar this year as foreign investors pull more money out of its struggling markets.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Apr 16, 2024
China's cycle of dollar hoarding and weakening yuan gets vicious
Analysts say one of two things needs to happen to end the downward spiral, but both seem distant.
Protesters step on a caricature of Chinese leader Xi Jinping as they take part in a demonstration to condemn China's recent "aggressive actions" in disputed waters of the South China Sea, in front of the Chinese Consulate in Makati, Metro Manila, on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 13, 2024
China feels boxed in by the U.S. but has few ways to push back
Aside from pointed words and the perfunctory maritime patrol, Beijing's options to push back against U.S. pressure appear limited, analysts say.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, attends an event in Seoul on Thursday. He is one of the most polarizing political figures in South Korea with a fervent base of supporters on the left and a large block of opponents in the conservative camp.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 13, 2024
Indicted opposition leader is South Korea’s top contender for president in 2027
The victory of his party in Wednesday's parliamentary elections was quite a turnaround for Lee Jae-myung.
U.S. President Joe Biden escorts Philippine leader Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to their trilateral summit at the White House in Washington on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 12, 2024
Biden vows 'ironclad' defense of Philippines and Japan as China tensions rise
Biden reiterated Washington’s commitment to defending the Philippines from any attack in the South China Sea.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attend an an arrival ceremony as part of a state visit by Kishida, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 11, 2024
Global ambitions? U.S. and Japan eye a boosted partnership, but the hurdles are high.
Can Japan truly be America's "global partner"? Experts are divided over the issue.
Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps speak during a news conference following an AUKUS defense ministerial meeting in Mountain View, California, last December.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 9, 2024
U.S., U.K. and Australia consider working with Japan on AUKUS security pact
The three countries said they were weighing inviting Tokyo to join the pact’s second stage, with talks with Japan and others set to begin this year.
A Tesla Model 3 vehicle drives using FSD (Full Self-Driving) in Encinitas, California, in October.
BUSINESS / Companies / ANALYSIS
Apr 6, 2024
Tesla's bet on robotaxis is a long way from paying off
A greater emphasis on robotaxis comes with more risk for Tesla due to the complexity of the technology involved, analysts said.
LDP Upper House lawmaker Hiroshige Seko announces his exit from the party in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 5, 2024
Kishida sought scapegoats and allies with LDP reprimands, experts say
Despite Kishida’s hopes, however, the results are unlikely to raise his support rate or strengthen his position within the party.
A Wheeling-Nippon Steel facility in in Follansbee, West Virginia. Four senior Japanese officials speaking on condition of anonymity said it is still premature to declare the deal dead.
BUSINESS / Companies / ANALYSIS
Apr 5, 2024
Why Japan is not giving up on fraught U.S. Steel deal
Four senior Japanese officials speaking on condition of anonymity said it is still premature to declare the deal dead.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks on the phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Oval Office in Washington on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 5, 2024
Biden ultimatum to Netanyahu: protect Gaza civilians, or else
Analysts said the implicit threat was to slow U.S. arms transfers to Israel or to temper U.S. support at the U.N.
The top U.S. military commander in the Indo-Pacific, Adm. John Aquilino, has said that Beijing is maintaining its goal of being able to invade Taiwan by 2027.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 2, 2024
Will China truly be ‘ready’ to invade Taiwan by 2027? It’s complicated.
The most important factor shaping any plan will not be based on just military readiness, but rather on political and strategic objectives, analysts say.
TikTok creators gather before a news conference to voice their opposition to a pending crackdown legislation on TikTok in the House of Representatives, on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Tech / ANALYSIS
Mar 15, 2024
TikTok bill sets up fight over free speech protections of U.S. Constitution
Opponents could argue it infringes free speech by preventing users from expressing themselves and businesses from using the app to promote their products.
During the last round of negotiations between Washington and Seoul, then-U.S. President Donald Trump requested steep increases in South Korea’s share of defense costs.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 14, 2024
South Korea, U.S. talk cost-sharing as Seoul girds for Trump 2.0
The agreement on an unusually early start of the defense cost-sharing deals reflects unease over a possible return of Donald Trump to the White House.

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores