Search - 2023

 
 
A close up of EV batteries at the production unit of Inobat, a Slovakian battery maker in Voderady, Slovakia, on Dec. 11
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 23, 2024

After Northvolt, Europe's battery hopes heavily rely on China

The norm in the future may be joint ventures that rely on China's low-margin electric vehicle battery dominance.
Kawasaki Heavy Industries' Tokyo head office
JAPAN
Dec 23, 2024

Kawasaki Heavy's spending on SDF personnel found taxable

SDF submarine crew members have been wined, dined and given gift certificates by Kawasaki Heavy's Kobe Works, with the expenses reported as tax-deductible.
People look at flowers and candles left as a tribute for the victims of the "Alter Markt" Christmas market on Monday, after a man drove a car into the crowd through an emergency exit route on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Dec 24, 2024

Germany probing possible security lapses after Christmas market attack

Saudi Arabia had given Germany warnings about the suspect as far back as 2023, which German authorities investigated but found vague.
Furaha Elisabeth applies medication on the skin of her child Sagesse Hakizimana, who is under treatment for Mpox, an infectious disease caused by the Mpox virus that causes a painful rash, enlarged lymph nodes and fever, at a health center in the Congo on Aug 19.
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 24, 2024

Global disease resurgence in 2024 shows rising health threat

The findings seek to renew the focus on the rise of preventable and climate-sensitive diseases, as well as a coordinated global response.
Small businesses in Ino, a town in Kochi Prefecture known for its paper industry, show how a labor shortage is a growing threat to smaller companies that provide seven out of every 10 jobs in Japan.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 24, 2024

Small businesses with low wages struggle to tackle labor shortages

A worker shortage is threatening firms that are otherwise robust, including those that have invested in automation and creative hiring.
Then U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz runs up the East Capitol stairs as the deadline to avert a partial government shutdown approaches on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 30, 2023.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 24, 2024

Matt Gaetz found to have paid for sex and drugs, and obstructed U.S. Congress

Matt Gaetz was found to have paid $90,000 to 12 women, a substantial portion of which the panel found was likely for either sexual activity or drug use.
Tohoku University is set to be the first recipient of a new state subsidy program for universities aiming to offer world-class research capabilities.
JAPAN
Dec 24, 2024

Ministry approves 25-year plan by Tohoku University to boost research with aid

The education ministry is set to start providing the university with some ¥15.4 billion for the program's initial year.
From Dec. 9 to Dec. 15, there were 94,259 flu cases reported across some 5,000 hospitals and clinics nationwide, according to the health ministry.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Dec 24, 2024

Health ministry urges caution as flu cases rise nationwide

There were 94,259 cases of the flu reported across some 5,000 hospitals and clinics nationwide in the second week of December.
A volunteer at a Sudanese mobile kitchen prepares food at one of the displacement centers in New Halfa, Sudan, on Nov. 2.
WORLD
Dec 24, 2024

Sudan drops out of hunger-monitor system on eve of famine report

The move is likely to undercut efforts to address one of the world’s largest hunger crises.
U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the White House in October 2017. Canada, like other nations in the president-elect's crosshairs, is scrambling to blunt the impact of his threat to implement steep tariffs once he re-takes office.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2024

The creep of national security threatens the WTO

In Trump's mind, tariffs are the cure-all for virtually everything that ails the United States.
The Self-Defense Forces facilities are believed to have become sources of PFAS contamination because they used firefighting foam containing the toxic chemicals in the past.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Dec 24, 2024

High levels of PFAS found in water from 44 private suppliers across Japan

Among them are five that supply water to Self-Defense Forces facilities.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet speaks during the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Sept. 22, 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 24, 2024

Under Cambodia’s new leader, room for dissent narrows

While Prime Minister Hun Manet has often spoken of the need for independent media and civil society in Cambodia, his government has moved in the opposite direction.
Political reform bills clear the Upper House plenary session in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 24, 2024

Parliament wraps up, showing minority government's lack of control

Several concessions had to be made to the opposition before the ruling coalition could garner the support it needed to get its bills passed.
Masahiro Kihara, the CEO of Mizuho, Japan’s third-largest lender, is expecting U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to make regulations more business friendly.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 24, 2024

Mizuho CEO sees global boom in M&A after Trump takes office

Masahiro Kihara, the CEO of Mizuho, Japan’s third-largest lender, is expecting U.S. President-elect Trump to make regulations more business friendly.
Rescuers work at a site of a residential building heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, in October 2022.
WORLD
Dec 24, 2024

How one man became a Ukrainian traitor and Russian spy

Before the full-scale invasion, Ukrainian nationals were mainly recruited during trips to Russia, but approaches are more often made online now using social networks.
Smoke rises following an Israeli strike near the Indonesian Hospital that ran out of fuel and electricity, in the northern Gaza Strip, on Nov. 12, 2023.
WORLD
Dec 25, 2024

Israeli army forces patients out of north Gaza hospital, medics say

Israel says its operation around the three northern Gaza communities surrounding the hospital is targeting Hamas militants.
Palestinians gather at a charity kitchen in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Dec. 4.
WORLD
Dec 25, 2024

Looting cripples Gaza food supply despite Israeli pledge to tackle gangs

Israel has failed to crack down on armed gangs attacking food convoys in Gaza, despite a pledge to do so in mid-October to help ward off famine in the Palestinian enclave, according to three U.N. and U.S. officials familiar with the matter. The commitment, made behind closed doors, seemed like a breakthrough...
Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada attends the red carpet event for FX's "Shogun" at the Academy theater in Los Angeles in February.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Dec 25, 2024

Demand for Japanese content booms after 'Shogun' success

With interest coming from overseas producers, Japan-based companies are trying to help creators get their stories told.
The Kanzeon Bodhisattva statue, which was taken from Kannonji Temple in Nagasaki Prefecture to South Korea by a South Korean thief ring
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2024

South Korean temple pledges to return Buddha statue next spring

In October 2023, the South Korean Supreme Court affirmed that the statue was owned by a Japanese temple in Nagasaki Prefecture.
Toyota's business is feeling the strain of intense competition over hybrid cars in the U.S. and locally made electric vehicles in China.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 25, 2024

Toyota sales stagnate as factory glitches compound weaker demand

Vehicle sales totaled 984,348 units last month, the Japanese automaker said Wednesday, down 0.2% year-on-year.
A rescuer of the State Emergency Service works to put out a fire in a private house after a drone strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Wednesday.
WORLD
Dec 26, 2024

Russia launches 'inhuman' Christmas Day attacks, Ukraine says

Half a million people in the Kharkiv region were left without heating, in temperatures just a few degrees Celsius above zero.
People walk past a Dior shop in Rome on Dec. 18.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 26, 2024

Luxury labels bulk up on lower-priced goods to broaden appeal

After more than two years of sharp price hikes, luxury labels are finding themselves at risk of alienating the middle class.
The silhouettes of a military vehicle and a soldier are seen near the Gaza border on Dec. 16.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 26, 2024

Hamas and Israel blame each other for Gaza cease-fire delay

Hamas said Israel laid down further conditions, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the group of going back on understandings already reached.
Spanish Red Cross members hold children after a boat with 57 migrants onboard arrived at La Restinga port on the Canary island of El Hierro, on Sept. 14.
WORLD / Society
Dec 27, 2024

Record number of migrants lost at sea were bound for Spain in 2024: NGO

An average of 30 people died per day while trying to reach Spain by sea in 2024, up from around 18 in 2023.
Guatemalan migrants walk after arriving at La Aurora Air Force Base on a deportation flight from the U.S., in Guatemala City, Guatemala, on Nov. 8.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 27, 2024

Guatemala open to accepting Trump's Central American deportees: sources

Guatemala has been particularly proactive in preparing for a second Donald Trump term relative to neighbors El Salvador and Honduras.
Smoke rises after Israeli strikes near Sanaa airport, in Sanaa, Yemen, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 27, 2024

Israel hits Houthis in Yemen in response to slow escalation

Among targets hit Thursday included military infrastructure at the Sanaa International Airport and in the Hezyaz and Ras Kanatib power stations.
The competition rate of employment examinations for public school teachers in Japan hit the lowest levels for all of elementary, junior high and high schools since data began being compiled in fiscal 1979.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2024

Japan sees record low competition rate for becoming school teachers

The decline reflected the mass departure of teachers who reached retirement age, which led to increased demand for new recruits, as well as a decrease in the number of applicants.
Liverpool's Cody Gakpo (right) and Leicester City's Boubakary Soumare vie for the ball during their match in Liverpool, England, on Thursday.
SOCCER
Dec 27, 2024

Liverpool powers to seven-point lead in Premier League

Liverpool's comeback lifted it well clear of second-placed Chelsea, which was defeated 2-1 by Fulham earlier in the day.
Children play mahjong during a class held at Satsukigaoka community center in the city of Hiroshima.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Chugoku
Jan 14, 2025

Mahjong enjoys new wave of players that spans generations

Once associated with gambling, mahjong is becoming a popular pursuit for all ages, boosted by pro leagues, apps and "healthy mahjong" for cognitive and social benefits.
Some of the slush funds pooled by Kawasaki Heavy Industries were used to wine and dine Maritime Self-Defense Force personnel, the Defense Ministry said.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 27, 2024

Kawasaki Heavy found to have pooled ¥1.7 billion in slush funds

Some of the funds were used by the defense contractor to wine and dine Maritime Self-Defense Force personnel, the Defense Ministry said.

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building