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Judge Nawaf Salam (from left), Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf and Judge Georg Nolte attend a hearing at the International Court of Justice as part of South Africa's request on a Gaza cease-fire, at The Hague on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
May 25, 2024

Top U.N. court orders Israel to halt Rafah offensive

The landmark ruling is likely to increase international pressure for a cease-fire more than seven months into the war sparked by Hamas' Oct. 7 attack.
Bank of Italy Gov. Fabio Panetta (left), French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire (center) and Italian Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti pose for a picture at the Group of Seven finance chiefs and central bank governors' meeting in Stresa, Italy, on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 25, 2024

China fear grips G7 with draft raising alarm at ‘harmful’ trade

A draft communique formulated at the Group of Seven meeting in the lakeside resort of Stresa introduces much stronger language than before.
Secretary-General Toshimitsu Mogi speaks during an event in Utsunomiya, Tochigi.
JAPAN / Politics
May 25, 2024

LDP considers requiring records on policy activity funds

The LDP is considering a plan to require political funds reports to record when so-called policy activity funds are used.
Mourners attend the state funeral for President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and others in Tehran on Wedneday.
WORLD / Politics
May 26, 2024

Calls, search parties, drones: 17 hours to find Iran’s president

As a frenzied quest began for the fallen helicopter of President Ebrahim Raisi, Iran moved to control possible threats from abroad and unrest at home.
Richard Grenell speaks at a Donald Trump rally in Florence, Arizona, on Jan. 15, 2022.  Grenell has a good chance of landing a top foreign policy job in a second Trump administration — if not as secretary of state, which requires Senate confirmation, then perhaps as national security adviser, which does not.
WORLD / Politics
May 26, 2024

He threw ‘spaghetti at the wall’ for Trump. Now he’s after a top job.

If Donald Trump wins the U.S. presidency, Richard Grenell hopes to be secretary of state. But his work raises questions, even from his former boss.
Fire rages following an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced Palestinians, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in this still picture taken from a video on Sunday.
WORLD
May 27, 2024

Scores killed as Israel strikes tent city in assault on Rafah

The Israeli military said it carried out the strike based on "precise intelligence” and that it killed two "senior” Hamas officials.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks at the central bank's annual international conference in Tokyo on Monday.
BUSINESS
May 27, 2024

BOJ to 'proceed cautiously' with inflation-targeting frameworks

Gov. Kazuo Ueda said Japan has "made progress in moving away from zero and lifting inflation expectations."
Bruno Le Maire, France's finance minister, speaks at an event in Nesle, France, in April 2023.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 27, 2024

China’s industry threatens entire global economy, France warns

Leading industrialized nations are coalescing for a tougher and more united challenge to overcapacities in China.
Renho, who will run as an independent candidate in the Tokyo gubernatorial election, speaks during a news conference in the capital on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 27, 2024

Renho to run in Tokyo gubernatorial election

The 56-year-old lawmaker from the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan will face incumbent Gov. Yuriko Koike if the latter runs as well.
The University of Tokyo in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward. A potential tuition hike by the University of Tokyo has sparked student protests amid concerns that it could influence other national universities.
JAPAN / Society
May 27, 2024

University of Tokyo considers tuition hike

The university is also reportedly discussing expanding scholarships and tuition reduction and exemption programs.
A peace rally on Constitution Memorial Day in Tokyo on May 3. Japan’s identity as a pacifist nation is shifting as the government strengthens its military, but many don’t agree with the policy.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 27, 2024

Government and society are at odds on national security

Tokyo posits itself as a mutual defense ally of the U.S., but polls show that while the public wants a stronger military, changes should align with the peace Constitution.
In September 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order outlining what technology areas would be considered critical in the government's process for reviewing inbound investments that could pose a threat to national security.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
May 27, 2024

How will Japan respond to new U.S. investment rules?

Washington is reforming inbound and outbound investment rules in the context of economic security concerns. Japan needs to prepare for these changes.
The office of former Lower House lawmaker Mito Kakizawa in Tokyo's Koto Ward
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 28, 2024

Ex-lawmaker's former secretary fined for election law violation

Shu Goto, a former secretary of former Lower House lawmaker Mito Kakizawa, was fined over cash offers made to Koto Ward assembly members during a mayoral election last year.
The health ministry says it will conduct its first survey on how much foreign residents are paying in health insurance and pension premiums.
JAPAN / Society
May 28, 2024

Health ministry to collect data on insurance premium payments by foreign residents

The ministry currently has no data on how much foreign nationals are paying in terms of health insurance payments and pension premiums.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak inspects troops at a military base in North Yorkshire, Britain, on May 3. Sunak is making the question of protecting Britain and navigating dangerous geopolitical conditions central themes of his election campaign.
COMMENTARY / World
May 27, 2024

War is at the heart of the U.K.’s summer election

British Prime Minister Sunak is nevertheless right to inject defense into the heart of the election campaign.
Lexi Thompson watches her shot from the 12th tee on Day 2 of the 2023 Women's British Open in Walton-on-the-Hill, England, in August 2023.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
May 29, 2024

Lexi Thompson to retire from golf at season end

Thompson is an 11-time LPGA tour winner, a major champion, a two-time Olympian and a six-time U.S. Solheim Cup team member.
The Telegram app has become a key weapon for pro-Kremlin accounts to spread disinformation aimed at undermining support for Ukraine.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 29, 2024

Too small to police, too big to ignore: Telegram is the app dividing Europe

The messaging app has become a key weapon for pro-Kremlin accounts to spread disinformation aimed at undermining support for Ukraine.
A euro symbol sculpture at the European Central Bank headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. Some investors are betting on the chance that European currencies will gain further against the yen.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 29, 2024

Yen nears record low versus euro on carry and interest rate outlook

The Japanese currency has weakened 1.5% against the euro this month and is approaching its previous record low of ¥171.56 reached on April 29.
Seiji Adachi, member of the policy board at the Bank of Japan
BUSINESS / Economy
May 29, 2024

BOJ policymaker hints of rate hike if yen fall has big impact on inflation

While short-term currency moves alone would not trigger a policy shift, the central bank could raise interest rates if excessive yen falls persist.
Aphelele Vavi (right), 22, who is studying sound engineering, at lunch with fellow students at SAE Creative Media Institute in Rosebank, South Africa, on March 19
WORLD / Politics
May 29, 2024

South Africa’s young democracy leaves its young voters disillusioned

The nation is heading into a pivotal election, in which voters will determine who will pick the president, but voter turnout has been dropping in recent years.
The European Organization for Nuclear Research's Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest particle accelerator, is depicted as a circle in tactile drawing in the new book, as opposed to the three-dimensional figure in the source material that makes it appear oval, to avoid misunderstanding.
JAPAN / Society
May 29, 2024

Japan translates physics book into braille

The book was produced through cooperation among the authors of the source material, braille experts and researchers with visual impairment.
Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Keisuke Suzuki responds to questions by the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan on Friday at a meeting of a Lower House committee discussing revisions to the political funds control law.
JAPAN / Politics
May 29, 2024

LDP proposes party subsidy halts for fund law violations

The draft was shown at a meeting of executives from the special political reform committee of the Lower House.
Schoolchildren cross a wooden bridge in Zabul province, Afghanistan on Tuesday.
WORLD
May 29, 2024

Mines and unexploded ordnance a daily menace for Afghanistan's children

Nearly 900 people were killed or wounded by leftover munitions from January 2023 to April this year alone, most of them children, according to UN figures.
A mourner holds a picture of the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, as she prays during a vigil to pay tribute to him and other officials who were killed in a helicopter crash, at the Iranian Ambassador's residence in Jakarta, Indonesia, on May 22.
WORLD / Politics
May 30, 2024

U.S. to boycott U.N. tribute to Iran leader killed in helicopter crash

The U.N. General Assembly traditionally meets to pay tribute to any world leader who was a sitting head of state at the time of their death.
Chinese electric vehicles bound for shipment at the Port of Taicang in China
BUSINESS / Tech
May 30, 2024

EU seeks roadblocks for Chinese EVs without sparking trade war

Crucially, the bloc must strike a balance with its aim for more Europeans to drive EVs as it prepares to outlaw the sale of new fossil fuel-powered cars from 2035.
A bid-rigging case represents the first time the Japan Fair Trade Commission has issued a cease-and-desist order order over a project related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
BUSINESS
May 30, 2024

FTC issues cease-and-desist orders to JTB and other travel agencies

It is the first time the antitrust watchdog has issued such an order over a project related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump after the verdict was read at Manhattan criminal court in New York City, on Thursday
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
May 31, 2024

For Trump's false records conviction, prison is not unprecedented

Prison time is rare for people convicted in New York state of felony falsification of business records — the charge Donald Trump faced at his six-week trial.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday. According to four U.S. officials, Biden has quietly authorized Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied weapons against military targets inside Russia.
WORLD / Politics
May 31, 2024

Biden allows Ukraine limited use of U.S. arms to strike inside Russia

Revelation by U.S. officials marks a policy shift by Biden, who had refused to allow Ukraine to use U.S. weaponry for strikes inside Russia.
Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida said that the automaker will continue to communicate with its suppliers to see whether unfair practices persist and set up a new team directly under him to accelerate reforms on its relations with its subcontractors.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 1, 2024

Nissan challenges TV Tokyo report on subcontractors

The automaker denied allegations that it continued to pressure its suppliers into slashing prices even after receiving a warning from the fair trade regulator.
Voters stand in line to cast their ballot at a polling station on the seventh and final phase of voting of India's general election, in Patna on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 1, 2024

India’s long, bitter election fight heads toward finish line

The results won’t be declared until June 4, but Saturday will offer a clue as to whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on track for a third term.

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