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There is a broad shift in Japan’s business environment, where long-standing relationships are being challenged by foreign and activist investors looking for merger and acquisition deals.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 15, 2024

Japan's newfound love of M&A makes for strange bedfellows

There is a broad shift in Japan’s business environment, where long-standing relationships are being challenged by foreign and activist investors.
A newly elected Donald Trump will encounter a changed Middle East where he will be forced to challenge Iran's influence and curb its nuclear ambitions — a path that is fraught with complications.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 15, 2024

Iran is much weaker than the last time it faced Trump

Today, Israel has crippled Hamas in Gaza, and in Lebanon, Hezbollah can still fire rockets, but Israel has decimated its leadership.
Marco Rubio debates Donald Trump during the 2016 Republican presidential primary race. The president-elect has named the senator from Florida as his prospective secretary of state.
EDITORIALS
Nov 15, 2024

Trump’s Cabinet picks make clear his priorities. Allies get ready.

Trump claims a mandate — winning the popular vote and both Houses of Congress — but his margin of victory is smaller than he will admit.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping reviews an honor guard upon his arrival for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Callao, Peru, on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 16, 2024

Xi seizes role as global defender of free trade against Trump

China’s leader warned on Friday that the global economy was fracturing as protectionism spreads, leading to "severe challenges.”
A large screen shows news footage of China's Chang'e-6 lunar probe collecting a sample from the far side of the moon, in Beijing in June.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Nov 16, 2024

China tests building moon base with lunar soil bricks

A cargo rocket carrying brick samples blasted off late Friday for the Tiangong space station, part of Beijing's mission to put humans on the moon by 2030.
Kenyan climate scientist Joyce Kimutai during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku on Friday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 16, 2024

World not listening to us, laments Kenyan climate scientist at COP29

"If the world was listening to science, maybe we wouldn't be doing these COPs," the 36-year-old Kenyan climate scientist said.
U.S. gymnastics team coach Bela Karolyi watches over a training session in Sydney in September 2000.
OLYMPICS
Nov 17, 2024

Famed gymnastics coach Bela Karolyi dies at 82

Known as a strict disciplinarian, Karolyi was a controversial figure at times.
Rice fields in the town of Ozu, Kumamoto Prefecture. The water-filled paddies glistening under the sun is a symbol of a long-running effort to preserve the prefecture’s groundwater.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
Nov 17, 2024

Japan's chipmaking rush pressures Kumamoto's special water supply

TSMC and others hope that support for existing projects and proper wastewater management can avoid undermining water development efforts lauded by the U.N.
Kim Jong Un shakes hands with Vladimir Putin in 2019.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 18, 2024

North Korea may end up sending Putin 100,000 troops for war

North Korea sending troops to join Russia’s fight against Ukraine has alarmed Kyiv’s allies, who say it risks exacerbating Europe’s largest conflict since World War II.
Masahide Endo, chief consultant at Daiwa Institute of Research noted that Alimentation Couche-Tard's bid for Seven & I Holdings had spawned a sense of crisis in other industries over sudden takeover proposals.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 18, 2024

Japanese companies increasingly targeted in foreign M&A bids

The total value of inbound acquisitions from overseas is up about 3.7 times year on year.
Ichiro Suzuki became one of the best hitters in baseball history during his 19-year career in MLB.
BASEBALL
Nov 19, 2024

Ichiro makes debut on Hall of Fame ballot

The superstar outfielder is considered by many to be a lock to gain induction during his first year on the ballot.
Donald Trump, the then-Republican presidential candidate and now the president-elect, visits the U.S.-Mexico border at Eagle Pass, Texas, in February. His appointments to key positions in his new administration show he is moving aggressively on mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 19, 2024

Trump's mass deportation plan has its leaders in place

Even before Trump’s victory, Tom Homan, the former acting director for ICE, promised to "run the biggest deportation operation this country's ever seen.”
A member of the U.S. National Guard patrols on top of shipping containers along the Rio Grande, in Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, Texas, on March 19.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 19, 2024

Surveillance technology could supercharge Trump's plans, rights groups say

Trump could use surveillance systems and artificial intelligence as part of his plans to carry out mass deportations and more.
People look at weapons kept on display at the Vietnam International Defense Expo 2022 in Hanoi.
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 19, 2024

Iran and Israel among rivals to showcase their arms at Vietnam defense expo

At the defense expo to be held in the capital Hanoi on Dec. 19-22, nearly 200 companies from 27 countries have already reserved booths.
Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives for a bilateral meeting Peruvian President Dina Boluarte at the Government Palace in Lima on Nov. 14.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 20, 2024

Xi’s push for stable world of low tariffs undone by Trump and Putin

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is threatening to put 60% tariffs on Chinese goods while China walks a tightrope regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
People walk near the entrance of the venue of the United Nations climate change conference COP29, in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Monday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 20, 2024

Development banks seek private money for climate change fight

Development banks committed to increasing their lending to poorer countries to $120 billion a year by 2030.
Members of the Ground Self-Defense Force take part in a joint military drill involving Japan, the United States, Britain and Australia at Narashino exercise field in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, in January 2023.
JAPAN
Nov 21, 2024

Japan hosts Five Eyes group meeting for first time

The move highlights the growing cooperation between Tokyo and its allies amid shared concerns about a rapidly deteriorating security environment.
A post-election analysis by the polling company Blueprint discovered that the top reason why American swing voters eventually supported Donald Trump over Kamal Harris was culture (+28) followed by inflation (+23).
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 20, 2024

It’s too soon to say wokeism is dead

The Republicans ran the most unwoke man in America for the presidency, Donald Trump, and were amply rewarded for it.
Nylon is wrapped around fiber-optic cables at a SubCom factory in Newington, New Hampshire, in December 2018.
WORLD
Nov 21, 2024

Strategic subsea cables: the vulnerable links that enable our digital lives

Sweden and Finland have opened investigations into potential "sabotage" against cables damaged on Sunday and Monday in the Baltic Sea.
Police officers remove a protest banner outside the West Kowloon Court following a sentencing hearing for 45 pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong on Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
Nov 22, 2024

Paranoia and Beijing trump democracy in Hong Kong

Concerned nations must step up as China discards the promises it made when it regained control of Hong Kong. Anything less is a betrayal.
After almost a decade of traveling around the world, a working holiday during the 2019 ski season in Nozawa Onsen was to be Rowie Geraerts’ last hurrah before she settled down in Australia.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Nov 25, 2024

How a solo yoga teacher built a wellness community in the Japanese Alps

A budding entrepreneur from Australia, Rowie Geraerts has created Shizen Collective in Nozawa Onsen — a new home for herself, locals and visitors.
A waterway along a portion of the Mekong River where a groundbreaking ceremony took place to begin construction on the Funan Techo Canal, in Prek Takeo, Cambodia, in October.
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 23, 2024

Cambodia's flagship canal in hot water as China funding dries up

Months after a groundbreaking ceremony for a major canal project in Cambodia, touted investments from China are in doubt.
The time and location for Amapinight parties are never certain, but two things you can be assured of when attending are that there will be dancing and a lot of amapiano.
CULTURE / Music
Nov 24, 2024

There's no room for wallflowers at Amapinight

From amapiano to dancehall, Japanese dancers and DJs are moving the masses with African beats at Tokyo's most energetic party.
The Grand Ring, a symbol of the 2025 World Expo in Osaka
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2024

Preparations for Osaka Expo well underway amid lack of excitement

Enthusiasm for the event has been muted, particularly after criticisms were raised over the venue's construction costs.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks in Washington on July 24. The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, a former Israeli defense minister, for crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Gaza Strip, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 24, 2024

Legal threats close in on Israel's Netanyahu and could impact ongoing wars

Netanyahu is due to testify in a corruption trial that has dogged him for years and could end his political career if he is found guilty.
Afghan women sew clothes at a handicraft workshop in Kabul on Nov. 10. Many women have launched small businesses in the past three years to meet their own needs and support other Afghan women, whose employment sharply declined after the Taliban authorities took power in 2021, imposing rules that squeezed women from many areas of work and public life.
WORLD / Society
Nov 25, 2024

Afghan women turn to entrepreneurship under Taliban

Though some businesses are a lifeline, salaries cannot cover all costs and many women are still stalked by economic hardship.
A pig that is pregnant with piglets suited for cross-species transplants
JAPAN / Science & Health
Nov 25, 2024

Startup transplants pig kidney into monkey for first time in Japan

It is hoped that the operation will provide insights into the future use of animal kidneys in humans.
Hiromi Yamamoto
ESG CONSORTIUM
Nov 25, 2024

Oji seeks optimal approaches to nurturing and utilizing forests

Oji Holdings, Japan’s leading paper maker, owns and manages 635,000 hectares of forests across the globe. Forest resources — for wood, paper and wood-derived materials or for biomass power generation — are attracting increased attention as sustainable resources. However, their sustainability hinges...
Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya shakes hands with Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto at the signing of an Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement between Japan and Italy in Rome on Monday.
JAPAN
Nov 25, 2024

Japan and Italy to share fuel and ammo under new logistics deal

The Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement will also enable the rapid mobilization of aid in case of emergencies and natural disasters.
The Google campus in Mountain View, California, on May 2
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 26, 2024

Google arguments draw skepticism from judge in ad tech case

The case is one of several against Google over antitrust issues.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes