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United Auto Workers members strike at a General Motors assembly plant in Arlington, Texas, on Oct. 24.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 29, 2023

General Motors hit with more strikes while Stellantis reaches deal with UAW

More than six weeks after the historic strikes began, GM is now the only one of the companies that doesn’t have a deal with the union.
The words of encouragement that star player Shohei Ohtani gave his teammates before their final game against the United States during the World Baseball Classic in March were among those nominated on Thursday to be the buzzwords of the year.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 2, 2023

Japan's 2023 buzzwords reflect light and dark sides of the year

From the year's scandals to its champions, the annual list of buzzword candidates highlights the nation's hope, fears and diversions.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. As the European Union’s biggest economy wrestles with a persistent slump and a surge in immigration, the specter of German nationalism has returned, leaving citizens more conflicted over their country’s direction than at any point since World War II.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 6, 2023

The far right is on the rise in Germany and Scholz is at a loss

Amidst economic challenges and surging immigration, German nationalism has reemerged.
Malaysia Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim speaks at a press conference during Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's official visit, at Putrajaya, Malaysia, on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 8, 2023

Malaysian PM shores up support at home with fiery anti-Israel views

Anwar Ibrahim has become Asia’s most outspoken leader against the war in Gaza and its backers in the U.S. and Europe.
Buildings in Pudong's Lujiazui Financial District in Shanghai. China's yuan weakened past the closely watched 7.2-per-dollar level as investor sentiment soured on a lack of aggressive stimulus and Beijing signaled a level of comfort about the declines.
BUSINESS / Markets
Nov 9, 2023

China is struggling woo back foreign investors

The lack of investment among global firms in China may have far reaching effects on the world’s second-largest economy.
An assembly line at Honda Motor's  Performance Manufacturing Center in Marysville, Ohio, in November 2016
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 11, 2023

Honda will give autoworkers 11% raise after UAW’s big wins

While nonunion automakers race to boost pay and keep the union out of its gates, the UAW is trying to organize foreign-owned factories in the U.S.
Elon Musk
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 18, 2023

Backlash spreads over Musk’s endorsement of antisemitic post

Large advertisers have pulled ads from Elon Musk's social media site X and the White House has chastised the billionaire.
Overflowing trash next to a vending machine in the Asakusa district of Tokyo, which is popular with tourists, in March
JAPAN / Science & Health
Nov 18, 2023

Trash cans make techie comeback in Japan as tourists flood cities

This week, the tourist-heavy Dotonbori district in Osaka installed around 20 new technologically enabled garbage cans called SmaGO.
Sam Altman, then CEO of OpenAI, at the company’s headquarters in San Francisco in March
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 19, 2023

OpenAI board pressed by some investors to reinstate Sam Altman

Altman is open to returning. In one scenario under consideration, members of the current OpenAI board would step down as soon as this weekend.
A report by MSCI ESG Research showed that just one-tenth of MSCI Japan Index firms have reached the 30% female board member threshold that the government is seeking for top-listed businesses.
BUSINESS
Nov 20, 2023

Japan boards may struggle amid pressure for diversity, MSCI says

Just one-tenth of MSCI Japan Index firms have reached the 30% female board member threshold that the government is seeking for top-listed businesses.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman welcomes Chinese President Xi Jinping in Riyadh on Dec. 8, 2022.
BUSINESS
Nov 25, 2023

Mideast wealth funds draw greater U.S. scrutiny over China ties

A U.S. committee is reviewing several multibillion dollar deals this year on concerns they could pose national security risks.
A pipeline transporting seawater is part of the facility for releasing treated radioactive water into the ocean from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 27, 2023

Japan’s wastewater release could bring the region together

The release of treated radioactive water from Fukushima No. 1 could be a springboard for more transparency around nuclear energy in Japan and all of Asia.
The floor is painted red for the NBA In-Season Tournament game between the Chicago Bulls and Brooklyn Nets on Nov. 3.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Dec 3, 2023

The NBA’s new in-season cup is bringing in viewers

Modeled after cup competitions in European football, the tourney is meant to add some spice to a sometimes bland stretch of the NBA calendar.
Daihatsu Motor President Soichiro Okudaira speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Dec. 20. 
EDITORIALS
Dec 29, 2023

Daihatsu scandal is a warning for Japan Inc.

Investigations indicate that improprieties at Daihatsu stretch as far back as 1989, indicating a profound problem with the company’s culture.
Cargo ships wait in the anchor zone to cross the Panama Canal from the Pacific entrance near Panama City, Panama, on Sept. 1, 2023. Ships have been waiting for days as the congestion to cross from both sides increase due to intense droughts in the country.
WORLD / Society
Jan 3, 2024

Saving the Panama Canal will take years and cost billions, if it’s even possible

Climate change-induced drought is limiting the number of ships on the waterway, which handles about 46% of containers moving from Northeast Asia to the U.S. East Coast.
Yasuhiko Ushikubo
ESG CONSORTIUM
Jan 8, 2024

Mizuho aims to hasten renewable energy technology

With global attention being paid to increasing renewable energy to mitigate global warming, Japan should put its technological advancements in offshore wind farms, hydrogen power and carbon recycling to best use to enhance its global competitiveness, Mizuho Financial Group Inc. said in a recent report....
A victim of an explosion at a nickel smelter furnace owned by Indonesia Tsingshan Stainless Steel lies inside an ambulance at a hospital in Morowali, Indonesia, on Dec. 26.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 7, 2024

Indonesia blast puts battery ambitions in spotlight ahead of vote

Just weeks ahead of a presidential election, the deadly explosion triggered angry protests and demands for action in Jakarta and Beijing.
U.S. Steel’s agreement to sell itself to the Japanese steel-maker has turned into a political football, with key politicians and opponents of the deal seizing on the union’s claims that U.S. Steel didn’t comply with the labor agreement.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 7, 2024

U.S. Steel denies breach of labor agreements in Nippon deal

The Pittsburgh-based manufacturer said it repeatedly reached out to the United Steelworkers during the company’s strategic review before the sale.
Office workers in the Central district in Hong Kong on Nov. 20
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 8, 2024

Hong Kong workers demand 6% raise to return to office fully

In a survey, 27% of people asked for a raise if their employers required them to work in the office five days a week.
Instead of hoping seats are free and scrambling to find luggage space on the shinkansen, what if you could fly charter across Japan on your next trip instead?
LIFE / Travel
Jan 13, 2024

Can charter flights connect rich tourists with rural Japan?

The tours, which fly to cities in western, central and northern Japan, will be priced from around ¥1.5 million per person for a group of four people staying two nights.
After a fuselage panel ripped off during an Alaska Airlines flight on Jan. 5, all Boeing 737 Max 9 planes were grounded in the United States.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 12, 2024

We're stuck with the 737 Max, like it or not

The most recent incident involving a Boeing 737 Max won't stop airlines from using the craft. There simply aren't that many other options.
The health of China's economy will always be a factor in how other Asian economies fare, and some of those are doing OK despite their larger neighbor’s woes.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 19, 2024

The latest indignity for China’s flawed recovery

Neighbors whose economic fortunes were supposed to be tied to the heft of China’s rebound from the pandemic seem to be doing pretty well without it.
Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump holds a rally in advance of the New Hampshire presidential primary election in Rochester, New Hampshire, on Sunday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 22, 2024

Trump’s 2016 win shook markets. Traders won’t get fooled again.

Wall Street is already starting to game out the impact of Trump’s possible return to the White House.
In Palworld, players can explore an open world and collectible Pokemon-esque creatures, some of whom utilize a variety of weaponry to defeat opponents.
LIFE / Digital
Jan 24, 2024

Overnight smash Palworld is much more than ‘Pokemon with guns’

Instead of “Pokemon with guns,” a more apt description for Palworld would be “Pokemon, but it grew up over the last 30 years.”
The drop in funds stolen by North Korean hackers mirrors a larger trend in the cryptocurrency security landscape: an overall decline in hacks of the once-lucrative decentralized finance, or DeFi, protocols.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Jan 25, 2024

North Korean hackers targeting crypto more but stealing less: report

The drop in funds stolen by North Korean hackers mirrors a larger trend in the cryptocurrency security landscape.
Has runaway hit Palworld gotten itself into hot water with The Pokemon Company?
LIFE / Digital
Jan 25, 2024

The Pokemon Company to Palworld: ‘We intend to investigate’

“We have not granted any permission for the use of Pokemon intellectual property or assets in that game,” The Pokemon Company said in a statement.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump gestures to his supporters, as he departs for his second civil trial after E. Jean Carroll accused Trump of raping her decades ago, outside Trump Tower in the Manhattan borough of New York City on Friday.
WORLD / FOCUS
Jan 27, 2024

Big money fails to stop Trump, again, prompting a donor reckoning

Donors have learned a hard lesson: Big money cannot win the GOP presidential nomination, at least not against Trump.
Local residents use a Starlink terminal in Chasiv Yar, Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Jan. 31, 2023.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 12, 2024

Ukraine says Russia uses Musk’s Starlink terminals at front

Intercepted conversations between Russian troops indicate they had Starlink devices installed for internet access.
Fans gather outside Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas before the start of Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Feb 13, 2024

NFL’s Roger Goodell already wants another Super Bowl in Las Vegas

Sunday's Super Bowl marks an important milestone for a city that’s trying to become one of the world’s sports capitals.
The Nautica, a replacement oil tanker for the decaying FSO Safer, arrives in the Red Sea port of Hodeidah, Yemen, in July last year.
BUSINESS
Feb 25, 2024

Shortage of oil tankers at hand as Red Sea attacks divert trade

Only two new supertankers join the fleet in 2024 — the fewest additions in almost four decades.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past