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An employee of Trex stands with bales of used plastic, which the company recycles into decking material.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Nov 25, 2024

Can the world unite to end the plastic pollution crisis?

The rising toll of plastic in the environment is impossible to ignore.
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...
According to Similarweb, average monthly user numbers for Bluesky on Android in Japan quintupled in the 12 months to October.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 25, 2024

Bluesky is booming in Japan — mainly for reasons other than U.S. politics

Average monthly user numbers for Bluesky on Android in Japan quintupled in the 12 months to October, while figures for X were down over that time.
Mercari signage at the company's office in Tokyo in September 2020.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 25, 2024

Mercari to enhance item verification process to check frauds

The company has been criticized on social media for not responding appropriately to sellers' complaints that different items from what they sold were returned by buyers.
Four House Republicans wrote to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on Friday, saying that recent developments related to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) "have called into question the integrity of its decision-making process,” and demanding the preservation of records related to a potential sale of U.S. Steel to Japan's Nippon Steel.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 26, 2024

U.S. Steel review targeted by Republicans for potential probe

GOP lawmakers are calling on U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration to preserve documents related to the proposed sale to Japan's Nippon Steel.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump attends a viewing of the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket, in Brownsville, Texas, on Nov. 19. Trump on Monday threatened to slap China, Mexico and Canada with hefty tariffs upon his return to the White House.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 26, 2024

Trump pledges 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, and more levies on China

The president-elect says he will sign executive orders to enforce the measures when he returns to the White House on Jan. 20.
The services producer price index rose 2.9% in October from a year earlier, the Bank of Japan data shows, accelerating from a 2.8% gain in September.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 26, 2024

Japan's steady corporate service inflation bolsters BOJ rate-hike view

The Bank of Japan is watching service-sector inflation for clues on whether demand-driven price gains are broadening enough to justify further raising interest rates.
Zoom Video Communications has failed to impress investors with its latest sales forecast, who were expecting a bigger boost from the company’s expanded suite of products. An ongoing loss of consumers and small businesses from Zoom has also concerned investors, particularly since these customers are typically higher-margin than corporate clients.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 26, 2024

Zoom fails to impress investors with sales forecast for expanded lineup

While Zoom’s outlook met estimates, the stock had gained about 48% since the company’s last earnings report in August on optimism about the new products.
The U.S. federal prosecutors' indictment of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani over an alleged bribery plot last week has sent ripples across the globe.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 26, 2024

Japan’s SBI follows Nomura in disclosing Adani funds exposure

The moves underscore how U.S. federal prosecutors’ indictment of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani over an alleged bribery plot has sent ripples across the globe.
The tech giants behind Google and Facebook are asking the Australian government to postpone a ban on most forms of social media for children under the age of 16.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 26, 2024

Google and Meta urge Australia to delay bill on social media ban for children

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's center-left government wants to pass the bill into law by the end of the parliamentary year on Thursday.
The labor ministry will urge companies to take action against the practice of forcing employees to buy their own products to meet sales quotas.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 26, 2024

Japan steps up measures against firms forcing workers to buy own products

The labor ministry will define such practices as a form of power harassment and require companies to take action when they occur.
Sanae Takaichi (left) celebrates Shigeru Ishiba’s victory in becoming the head of the Liberal Democratic Party along with then-Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo in September. Takaichi appears to be the only woman in any party who is close to breaking the glass ceiling to become the nation’s first female leader. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 26, 2024

The derailing of potential female prime ministers

Sanae Takaichi stands as the closest woman to breaking the glass ceiling and becoming Japan's first female prime minister.
In developing Asia, where coal dominates and imported liquefied natural gas is expensive, natural gas remains limited in electricity grids.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 24, 2024

Gas got America off coal. Now, it's coming for Asia's oil.

It can work in concert with carbon-free energy to break the hold of the dirtiest sources of power.
Global beef consumption has slowed and the carbon footprint of the global cattle herd may already be declining.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 26, 2024

Peak beef could already be here

Global beef consumption has slowed and the carbon footprint of the global cattle herd may already be declining.
A Facebook "military interest" page that misrepresented old photos and videos of army operations to falsely claim that Washington was helping its ally Manila prepare for war.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 26, 2024

Philippines-China tensions trigger money-making disinformation

Clashes between the two countries in the South China Sea are being manipulated online by disinformation networks for profit, an analysis has found.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump attends a viewing of the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket, in Brownsville, Texas, on Nov. 19.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 27, 2024

Trump names trade envoy and top economic advisor to fill policy team

The U.S. president-elect named Jamieson Greer his trade representative and picked Kevin Hassett as his top economic adviser.
Wall Street is rotating out of the chip sector, put off by stretched valuations and trade war-related risks under Donald Trump.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 27, 2024

Software is in, chips are out as traders position for Trump era

Software has been on an upswing given its lower exposure to tariff risks, and as the tailwind from AI looks set to shift from infrastructure to services.
Vietnamese property tycoon Truong My Lan looks on at a court in Ho Chi Minh City on Nov. 4.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Nov 27, 2024

Vietnam mogul told to refund missing billions to overturn death sentence

Truong My Lan, 68, is appealing her death sentence after being convicted in April of embezzling $12.3 billion from Saigon Commercial Bank.
Alimentation Couche-Tard CEO Alex Miller said on Tuesday the Canadian retailer remains persistent in its efforts to pursue a deal with Seven & I Holdings.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 27, 2024

Couche-Tard not giving up on bid to acquire 7-Eleven owner

The commitment comes despite a new management buyout proposal from the founding family of Seven & I Holdings valued at about $59 billion.
U.S. President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Nov. 13.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 27, 2024

Trump team signs transition agreement with Biden White House after delays

Under the agreement, Trump's team avoided signing a government ethics pledge, saying it has its own ethics plan.
Chinese police have signed cooperation agreements with countries across Asia, Latin America, the Pacific and Sub-Saharan Africa, offering embedded officers, training, joint patrols and exporting security equipment, especially to developing economies.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 13, 2024

China’s cops are coming to a city near you

When asked about covert overseas police outposts, China either denies their existence or claims they are service centers for overseas citizens.
A communications ministry panel did not make a clear judgement on the Liberal Democratic Party's proposal of abolishing the law restricting NTT's business.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 27, 2024

Panel defers decision on scrapping Japan's NTT law

In its final report, the panel concluded it was appropriate for the Japanese government to maintain its obligation to hold at least one-third of NTT shares.
“What Divides Us" producer Cannon Hersey says his grandfather, who wrote about the aftermath of nuclear destruction in Hiroshima, never spoke about what he had seen while working with Japanese minister Kiyoshi Tanimoto to preserve the stories of survivors.
CULTURE / Film
Nov 27, 2024

‘What Divides Us’ producer honors grandfather’s Hiroshima reportage

The feature film centers on the bond between a Japanese minister and an American journalist who worked together to document the aftermath of nuclear destruction.
Keith Kellogg, then-national security adviser to then-U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, speaks during a press briefing on Sept. 22, 2020, in the White House in Washington.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 28, 2024

Trump picks Keith Kellogg as envoy for Ukraine and Russia

The retired general is a longtime adviser who’s supported the president-elect's aims of ending the war swiftly, including by potentially cutting off military aid to Kyiv.
BOJ Gov. Kazuo Ueda says that growing latent losses "would not hinder (the central bank's) ability to manage policy."
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 28, 2024

Bank of Japan's latent losses on JGBs hits record ¥13.66 trillion

JGB prices fell after the central bank ended its negative interest rate policy in March and raised interest rates in July.
Refining sources in Asia and analysts have said they expect to see more Canadian and Mexican oil heading to Asia if U.S. President-elect Donald Trump imposes planned tariffs.
BUSINESS / Markets
Nov 28, 2024

Asia likely to benefit from cheaper Canadian and Mexican oil if Trump imposes tariffs

Two sources familiar with Trump's plan say that oil would not be exempted from potential tariff hikes on imports from Canada and Mexico.
Workers install solar panels at the Khavda Renewable Energy Park of Adani Green Energy in the village of Khavda, in India, on April 12.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 28, 2024

Adani allegations cast light on barriers to India's ambitious solar drive

India's states are unprepared for a rapid rise in renewable generating capacity, lack adequate transmission infrastructure and storage.
A wafer on display at the Semicon China expo in Shanghai on March 20
WORLD / Politics
Nov 28, 2024

U.S. readies China chip curbs that stop short of earlier proposals

American chip equipment makers have warned that tougher measures would bring catastrophic harm to their business.
Motohisa Furukawa, Democratic Party for the People tax chief, says the Bank of Japan is unlikely to move so quickly in raising rates that the move would have a detrimental impact on public borrowing costs.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 28, 2024

BOJ rate hike unlikely to derail budget planning, DPP tax chief says

Democratic Party for the People tax chief Motohisa Furukawa says it is "unthinkable” that the Bank of Japan will hike rates rapidly.
The Yomiuri 333 index will offer a new benchmark for Japanese stock performance.
BUSINESS / Markets
Nov 28, 2024

New stock index — the Yomiuri 333 — coming to the Japanese market

The newspaper publisher said a distinguishing characteristic of the new index is that it will equally weight each stock in calculating the value.

Longform

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