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April 25, 2025
 

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COMMENTARY

World

World
Japan
Last year was the hottest on record in Japan and globally. An enduring stretch of peak warm weather worldwide has prompted scientists to look for the causes as they try to understand whether we have entered a dangerous phase of accelerated heating.
COMMENTARY / World
Creating the best possible climate models is existential
Scientists' work in building and interpreting climate models must be fine-tuned so that this data can inform the policies capable of living up to the challenge of global heating.
COMMENTARY / World
Asia would welcome trade deals that exclude China
The real cost to developing countries of China’s trade practices runs deeper: lost jobs can be counted, but missed opportunities can’t.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
China’s catch-22: Rapid growth with tight social control
The Chinese government is locked in the contradictory goals of pursuing economic growth while maintaining strong social control through its United Front Work Department.
The U.S., U.K. and Europe are aligning with China and Russia in their efforts to undermine the encryption tools that millions of internet users depend on.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 23, 2025
Don't let governments break encryption
By Jessica Dickinson Goodman and Passeron Kitroser
To convince the public that breaking encryption is necessary, governments often rely on technical jargon and emotionally charged anecdotes.
Canada’s April 28 election presents a stark choice between globalist technocrat Mark Carney (right) and populist veteran Pierre Poilievre, with the outcome likely to shape not only domestic renewal but the country’s relevance in the world.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 23, 2025
Will Canada find its path again after the election?
By Stephen R. Nagy
This election has effectively become a binary choice between Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre and the unelected Prime Minister Mark Carney of the Liberal Party.
Tiangong Ultra, a humanoid robot, crosses the finish line after securing the first position during the E-Town Humanoid Robot Half Marathon in Beijing on Saturday.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 22, 2025
All hail the rise of the humanoid robots
By Brad Glosserman
Robotics is another of the critical emerging technologies, mastery of which will be central to 21st-century economic leadership.
Members of the clergy celebrate Mass in memory of Pope Francis, following the death of the pontiff, at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, in La Paz, Bolivia, on Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 22, 2025
A conclave to test Pope Francis’ legacy
By Howard Chua-Eoan
Francis unraveled many knots after his elevation in March 2013, leaving the question of whether he did enough to secure his legacy now that he’s passed.
Amid trade war uncertainty, central bankers, including Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda, are leaning toward cautious policies, with some signaling potential rate cuts while awaiting the fallout from U.S. tariffs.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 22, 2025
Rate cuts anyone? Anyone? Ferris Bueller’s tariff lesson
By Daniel Moss
The collective sense of "we don't know” will give way to either hiking or easing. In Asia, the bias appears to favor the latter.
A U.S. judge’s ruling against Google’s ad tech business marks a rare antitrust case with a clear remedy, threatening a key revenue stream and signaling a potential shift in the digital advertising landscape.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 21, 2025
Google’s money-printing machine can be easily dismantled
By Dave Lee
On Thursday, a district court judge handed down a ruling that threatens to dismantle part of that money-printing machine.
Global trade, energy and financial networks are increasingly being leveraged as strategic tools by nations, with supply chains, shipping routes and financial systems becoming potential points of conflict.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 21, 2025
How much 'weaponization' can the global economy take?
By Carla Norrlof
Global trade, energy and financial networks are increasingly being leveraged as strategic tools by nations.

Japan must correct Trump’s false data for trade talks, says Kono
Former Foreign Minister Taro Kono
Japan wants to 'separate' tariff and security issues. That may be tough.
Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, poses with a "Make America Great Again" cap at the White House in Washington on April 16.
Social media helps fuel growing 'sex tourism' in Japan
People walk down a street in the red-light entertainment area of Kabukicho in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo on March 31.
Japan set to fine cyclists on the spot for rule violations from 2026
Under new rules, those who use smartphones while riding a bicycle would be subject to the maximum fine of ¥12,000.
Naked man’s rampage in Saitama linked to one fatality and 10 injured
Police believe Daisuke Nishimura may have been involved in roughly 20 incidents in the 90 minutes leading up to his arrest, including a fatal hit-and-run and multiple assaults.
Japan weighs using U.S. rice imports as tariff negotiation tool with Trump
A restaurant owner pours California-grown Calrose rice into a rice cooker at his restaurant in Tokyo
Is Japan’s parliament ready to welcome more youth to its ranks?
Lower House lawmaker Kai Odake in his Tokyo office on Wednesday
Crow meat, goat tartare: Mauvaise Herbe raises its game
Crow meat, shaped into a ball and attached to a foot of the bird, is one of the peculiar offerings of game at Mauvaise Herbe.
Cases of epidural use in labor rise in Japan alongside concerns
Of the 721,000 childbirths reported in 2024 in Japan, 13.8% involved the use of an epidural, according to the Japan Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
Nothing sells like Shohei Ohtani, MLB’s marketing megastar
People walk past an advertisement featuring Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani outside Tokyo Dome on March 18.

Podcast

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

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.
By Tomoko Otake

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