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The new V Point program offers a feature allowing members to earn double reward points when making payments with credit cards.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Aug 26, 2024

New V Point spurs corporate economic bloc race in Japan

Competition among corporate groups in Japan is intensifying further as they strive to expand their economic influence through shared reward points.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks during a Lower House committee meeting on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Aug 26, 2024

BOJ shows how action matters more than hawkish signs

In the debate over how central banks can affect market perceptions, the central bank may have gotten it right when in July it raised rates for a second time.
Launched in 2012 in collaboration with the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the Nadeshiko Brand recognition aims to spotlight companies that not only prioritize gender diversity but also maintain solid financial performance.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 26, 2024

METI to expand Nadeshiko Brand criteria for women-friendly listed firms

Companies that offer support for women’s health in a bid to foster corporate awareness and encourage long-term career development for women will be eligible.
Daiwa Securities' renewed push in Australia comes as Chief Executive Officer Akihiko Ogino seeks to increase income from outside Japan by about 40% in the next few years.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 26, 2024

Daiwa plans foray into Australian farm loans and real estate

The firm wants to continue its focus on lending and advisory in the clean energy space, leveraging its five staff in Sydney and Melbourne.
Space One President Masakazu Toyoda speaks at a news conference on March 13 following the failure of the firm's rocket launch in Wakayama Prefecture.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 26, 2024

Space One planning launch of second unit of satellite-carrying rocket

The firm's No. 1 Kairos rocket was launched on March 13, but exploded five seconds later.
The yen traded in the 143 range against the dollar on Monday, a three-week high.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 26, 2024

Dollar sinks against the yen, hovers near 2½-year low to sterling

The U.S. dollar also hovered near its lowest in 13 months against the euro.
Suntory's canned cocktail Minus 196 Double Lemon on sale at a store in Sydney
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 27, 2024

Japan's Suntory bets on spirits expertise to boost U.S. canned cocktail market share

Suntory believes its annual RTD revenue could double from current levels to about $3 billion (¥434 billion) by 2030.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius inspects Leopard II tanks that were due to be supplied to Ukraine at a military facility in Augustdorf, Germany, in February 2023.
COMMENTARY
Aug 27, 2024

Ukraine has a Germany problem again. Here’s how to fix it.

Kyiv’s Kursk operation was aimed less at the battlefield than at Berlin and other allies.
Subway operator Tokyo Metro may raise as much as ¥350 billion as early as October, which will boost the amount of money raised in Japan’s stock market this year.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 27, 2024

Jumbo listings set to boost Japan’s market as sentiment recovers

Two jumbo initial public offerings may roughly triple the amount of money raised in Japan’s stock market this year as sentiment bounces back from this month’s selloff.
An artificial intelligence process sign in the Samsung Electronics hall at the IFA Consumer Electronics and Home Appliances trade fair in Berlin in 2022
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 27, 2024

Is that voice real or AI? One startup says it can tell the difference

The latest wave of artificial intelligence technology can mimic the voice of almost anyone.
Japan's pharmaceutical shares have gained 10% since the start of July through last week.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 27, 2024

Japan's pharmaceutical stocks surge to record highs after market rout

The firms' market performance suggest investors favor defensive shares amid concern that global economic growth will slow.
The Panama Canal is Panama’s biggest source of revenue, bringing in nearly $5 billion last year.
BUSINESS
Aug 28, 2024

Panama Canal eases limits that caused global shipping bottleneck

Last year’s El Nino caused a significant drop in rainfall and forced the canal to implement daily transit restrictions.
The Chinese government has dismissed U.S. accusations, saying the hacking attacks attributed to Volt Typhoon are the work of cyber criminals.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 28, 2024

Chinese hackers breach U.S. internet firms via startup

The revelation will add to concerns over the susceptibility of U.S. critical infrastructure to cyberattacks.
Thailand's former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, arrives at Ratchada Criminal Court in Bangkok on Aug. 19. The former leader's views at a dinner event last week have been closely dissected by analysts and media for days after.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 28, 2024

Thaksin’s dinner talk signals his clout in new Thai government

His comments have been interpreted as a blueprint that’s likely to be adopted by his daughter and her Cabinet when they take office in the next couple of weeks.
Japan is facing a pilot shortage, but hiring foreign pilots is not easy due to opposition from unions. Japanese carriers also typically pay less than airlines elsewhere.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 28, 2024

Pilot shortage threatens Japan’s goal for 60 million tourists

Falling short may mean missing out on lucrative tourism money as carriers simply can’t find the crew to fly the necessary number of planes.
He Xiaopeng, co-founder and chief executive officer of XPeng, speaks at a launch event for the company's Mona M03 electric vehicle in Beijing on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 28, 2024

China’s Xpeng aims to expand with mass-market cars and Europe production

The company also plans to set up a large-scale data center in Europe as efficient software collection becomes paramount for cars’ intelligent driving features.
OpenAI, whose ChatGPT is credited with accelerating the frenzy over artificial intelligence since its broad release in late 2022, has said AI should be regulated by the federal government but that the California bill creates an uncertain legal environment, and could cause entrepreneurs and engineers to leave the state.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 28, 2024

Big Tech wants AI to be regulated. Why do they oppose a California AI bill?

Many tech giants say the bill threatens to make the state unfavorable to AI development and deployment and puts open-source models at risk.
Founder and CEO of Telegram Pavel Durov delivers a keynote speech during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, in 2016.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 29, 2024

Telegram founder Durov charged and banned from leaving France

Pavel Durov was charged on several counts of failing to curb extremist and illegal content on Telegram, a popular messaging app.
A member of the Self-Defense Forces wipes away sweat as he conducts a search and rescue operation at a landslide site caused by heavy rain in Kumano, Hiroshima Prefecture, on July 11, 2018.
ENVIRONMENT / Boiling Point
Aug 29, 2024

Can Japan handle a heat wave and natural disaster at the same time?

Recent typhoons and the Nankai Trough megaquake alert have put the spotlight on how the country would deal with a dual disaster.
The government made it mandatory for companies to disclose their gender pay gap in 2022, but disclosure alone isn’t enough to improve the situation, data suggests.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 29, 2024

Disclosure rules fail to narrow Japan’s yawning gender pay gap

There has been little progress toward equality, with the highest-paying firms showing some of the biggest disparities.
A train carrying steel slabs leaves the U.S. Steel Edgar Thomson Works steel mill in Braddock, Pennsylvania.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 29, 2024

Nippon Steel woos U.S. union with extra $1.3 billion investment

The United Steelworkers union has so far opposed a corporate tie-up with U.S. Steel.
A U.S. cybersecurity firm has reported that a hacking group in Iran operated fake HR companies to target individuals in the Middle East who were willing to sell secrets to Israel and other Western governments.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 29, 2024

Iran used fake HR firms to root out unfriendly spies, researchers say

Hackers lured security officials across Iran, Syria and Lebanon who were willing to sell state secrets to Israel and the West into a cyber espionage trap.
Traders work in the S&P options pit at the Cboe Global Markets exchange in Chicago, Illinois, on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 29, 2024

Nvidia fails to impress growth-hungry investors as shares fall

Nvidia shares fell 6% in after-hours trading, weighing on shares of other chipmakers.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo
BUSINESS
Aug 29, 2024

Japan raises view of economy for first time in 15 months

The Cabinet Office said in its August report that the economy is recovering at a moderate pace, and only parts of it are pausing.
Toyota Motor's global sales — including subsidiaries Daihatsu Motor and Hino Motors — rose 0.7% to 924,918 units in July.
BUSINESS
Aug 29, 2024

Toyota sales overcome U.S. woes for first growth in six months

Toyota Motor’s sales eked out growth for the first time in six months on strong demand in Europe and Japan.
Shohei Ohtani walks through the dugout with his dog Decoy before the Dodgers' game against the Orioles at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 29, 2024

Shohei Ohtani signs exclusive trading card deal with Topps

Ohtani has had a nonexclusive relationship with Topps since 2018.
The icon for the Telegram messenger app. Toncoin, a digital asset from a blockchain project linked to Telegram Messenger LLP, has lost about $2.7 billion in market value, reflecting the uncertainty sparked by the detention of the messaging app's co-founder.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 29, 2024

Telegram ‘black swan event’ exposes risk in popular crypto deals

The detention of Telegram founder Pavel Durov is reverberating through the crypto venture capital sector.
People sunbathe on a rock in Beirut's Ain al-Mreisseh seaside promenade on Aug. 2.
WORLD
Aug 30, 2024

The threat of war with Israel redefines ‘normal’ life in Beirut

Israel and Hezbollah have been trading fire along the border, exchanges that could spiral into a bigger, broader conflict involving global and regional powers.
Core consumer prices in Japan's capital rose 2.4% in August from a year earlier, accelerating for the fourth straight month and keeping alive market expectations of further interest rate hikes in coming months.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 30, 2024

Inflation accelerates beyond forecasts in Tokyo, boosting case for rate hike

Analysts say the data shows that the real economy and its fundamentals are continuing to recover but at a slow pace.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's public search facility in Alexandria, Virginia
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 30, 2024

U.S. funded over 1,000 patents for China-based researchers, data shows

The U.S. patent data could amplify calls to cancel or renegotiate the landmark U.S.-China Science and Technology Agreement.

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A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami