Search - 2022

 
 
Stellantis premium brand Alfa Romeo reveals the Milano, its first fully electric car, during an event in Milan on April 10.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 7, 2024

EU election could force sharp turn in electric car policy

Europe's right-wing parties have made cancelling the 2035 deadline to phase out sales of internal combustion engine cars a rallying cry.
The Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Kaga destroyer has undergone the first stage of modifications to turn it into a de facto aircraft carrier for F-35B stealth fighter jets.
JAPAN / Politics / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
May 13, 2024

MSDF’s Kure base expanding mission as it marks 70th anniversary

The unit has increased its activities not only in national defense, but also in disaster relief operations and overseas missions.
Beijing is quietly supporting the Kremlin’s war machine. For China, the longer the West stays distracted with the Ukraine war, the better.
COMMENTARY / World
May 7, 2024

The West is hastening its own decline

Unless it changes course, the West is likely to lose its global supremacy, including its hold on the international financial architecture.
Interpreters of the European Parliament in Brussels on April 11
WORLD / Politics
May 8, 2024

Babel in Brussels: The shadow army of EU interpreters

Humming with different languages like a modern-day Tower of Babel, the European Union's institutions are the world's largest employer of interpreters.
A suburb in Melbourne. Surging rents across many developed economies are proving to be a stubborn hurdle for central banks as they struggle to nail down inflation once and for all.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 8, 2024

Rents set to be last domino to fall in global inflation battle

Surging rents across many developed economies are proving to be a stubborn hurdle for central banks as they struggle to nail down inflation.
Workers on the production line at a cotton textile factory in Korla, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China, on April 1, 2021
BUSINESS
May 8, 2024

Banned Chinese cotton found in 19% of U.S. and global retailers' merchandise, study shows

The U.S. enacted a law in 2021 to safeguard its market from products potentially tainted by human rights abuses in Xinjiang, a major cotton producer.
Cleaning worker Hu Dexi, 67, at a shopping mall in Beijing on April 10
BUSINESS / Economy
May 8, 2024

In rapidly aging China, millions can't afford to retire

With a low retirement age, meager pension benefits and no family to support them, many in China feel they simply can't ever stop working.
Medical workers take care of a COVID-19 patient on a mechanical ventilator, in a negative pressure room in an intensive care unit at St. Marianna University School of Medicine Yokohama City Seibu Hospital in Yokohama in August 2021.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 8, 2024

Many still face COVID aftereffects a year after assessment downgrade

As there is no cure yet for long-lasting symptoms, doctors are calling on people to continue taking infection preventative measures.
Seigo Saito with his father, Kabutoyama Oyakata, at Isenoumi stable in Tokyo in December 2022
SUMO / Inside Sumo
May 8, 2024

Wakaikari out to etch his family's place into sumo's history books

The 19-year-old from Tokyo is ranked near the top of the third tier for the upcoming summer tournament.
Philippine Marines wave to Philippine Navy personnel and the media during a resupply mission at their military outpost, the BRP Sierra Madre, a warship run aground in the disputed Second Thomas Shoal in 1999, in the South China Sea, in March 2014.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
May 8, 2024

Stormy seas ahead as Beijing and Manila trade barbs over secret deal

China has accused the Philippines of reneging on a "gentlemen's agreement" concerning activities in the South China Sea.
The latest figure is significantly less than a previous projection released in 2015 that said more than 8 million people would have dementia by 2040.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 8, 2024

Nearly 6 million elderly people in Japan will have dementia by 2040

While the figure is lower than a previous projection, the latest estimate still showed a steady growth in the number of people with dementia.
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan President Kenta Izumi has vowed to resign if his party fails to win at least 150 seats in the next general election.
JAPAN / Politics
May 8, 2024

Pact with JCP a double-edged sword for the CDP

While some of its members wish to further the cooperation, others might prefer to work with opposition parties considered more moderate or right wing.
Despite Shinzo Abe's numerous achievements as prime minister, including job creation and efforts to promote workforce gender equality, recent controversies surrounding his tenure, including ties to controversial groups and scandals within his political faction, have tarnished his image.
COMMENTARY
May 7, 2024

The economic legacy of Japan's longest-serving prime minister

Under Abenomics and the BOJ's monetary policy, employment rose more than under any other Japanese government in the 21st century.
A police officer from the Metropolitan Police Department visits a homeowner in Tokyo to increase awareness of roof inspection scams. The number of complaints made to the National Consumer Affairs Center in relation to such scams tripled between 2018 and 2022.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 9, 2024

Tokyo police warn against costly roofing scams

Deceitful contractors coax homeowners into undertaking costly and unnecessary repairs by falsely claiming their roofs are damaged.
With a rise in the number of single elderly people in Japan, local governments are offering support for their end-of-life preparations.
JAPAN / Society
May 9, 2024

Japan local governments offering support for end-of-life preparations

According to a health ministry survey, the number of single-person households with members aged 65 or older came to 8.73 million in 2022.
The growing divide between U.S.-led and China-aligned blocs is taking a toll on the global economy as trade and investment flows are redirected along geopolitical lines in ways not seen since the Cold War.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 9, 2024

Cold War-type divide puts trade and investment at risk, top IMF official warns

After years of shocks, countries are reevaluating their trading partners, an IMF official has said.
Archaeologists say a 1,600-year-old wooden coffin at the Tomio Maruyama tumulus in the city of Nara was kept in good condition probably because it was protected by a layer of clay and copper ions that had seeped out of the mirrors that were buried together.
JAPAN / History / FOCUS
May 9, 2024

How the discovery of a giant sword in Nara offers clues into ancient Japan

Experts say a series of surprise finds at the burial mound could help untangle the many mysteries surrounding the rulers of fourth-century Japan.
Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi (second from right) and his Komeito counterpart Keiichi Ishii (second from left) hold a signed agreement on political funding reform, on Thursday in parliament.
JAPAN / Politics
May 10, 2024

Japan's ruling parties find agreement on political reform, but gaps remain

The parties' plan lacks specifics on key contentious issues.
A host promotes lipstick on TikTok Shop
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
May 10, 2024

Livestream shopping foils high-tech tools from stopping counterfeits

The sheer volume of violations means e-commerce infringement enforcement can feel like a game of "whack-a-mole" for those who monitor the internet.
SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son in 2019. Son is said to be selling off assets from the Vision Fund’s portfolio as he prepares for possible forays into AI and related hardware.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 10, 2024

SoftBank's Vision Fund lightens asset load as Son pivots to AI and chips

Son has moved on to new obsessions, inspired in part by the success of Arm — which has soared in value to around $106 billion since its market debut.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman chairs a session of the virtual Saudi-Bahraini Coordination Council in Riyadh in December 2020.
JAPAN
May 10, 2024

Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to visit Japan

The visit to Japan by Saudi Arabia's de-facto leader, known by his initials MBS, will be his first since 2019.
Firefighters work at the site of a Russian missile strike, amid Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, in Kharkiv on Friday.
WORLD
May 11, 2024

Russian forces attack Ukraine's Kharkiv region, striking on new front

Moscow's latest attack in the northeast opens up a new front in a war that has long been waged in the east and south.
Current AI systems, designed to be honest, have developed a troubling skill for deception, from tricking human players in online games of world conquest to hiring humans to solve "prove-you're-not-a-robot" tests, a team of scientists argue in the journal Patterns on Friday.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 11, 2024

AI systems are already deceiving us — and that's a problem, experts warn

Current AI systems have tricked human players in online games and even hired humans to solve "prove-you're-not-a-robot" tests.
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko in Moscow on April 11.
WORLD
May 11, 2024

Satellite images reveal where Russian nukes could be stored in Belarus

A New York Times analysis shows security upgrades unique to Russian nuclear storage facilities at a Cold War-era munitions depot.
A woman speaks of her experience of being sent to Macau by an overseas prostitution broker during an interview in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on April 8.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 12, 2024

Three men rearrested over brokering of overseas prostitution

The men sent between 200 and 300 Japanese women to brothels in the United States, Canada and Australia over three years, bringing in roughly ¥200 million.
Military paramedics treat a wounded Ukrainian service member, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the town of Vovchansk in Kharkiv region of Ukraine on Sunday.
WORLD
May 12, 2024

Ukraine's military chief warns of difficult situation in Kharkiv region

Ukraine is currently on the defensive against Russia, which has a significant advantage in manpower and munitions.
Evacuees from the Ukrainian village of Liptsi, near the Russian border, arrive at an evacuation point in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine on Sunday.
WORLD
May 13, 2024

Russian forces bear down on Ukraine border town in Kharkiv region

Moscow troops smashed into the Kharkiv region on Friday, opening a northeastern front in the 27-month war that has long been waged in the south and east.
Former U.S. Marines Corp pilot Daniel Duggan, who is facing extradition to the United States for allegedly breaking U.S. arms control law after he trained Chinese pilots, poses for a picture in this undated handout picture.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 13, 2024

Former U.S. Marine pilot held in Australia 'worked with Chinese hacker'

But the hacking case had nothing to do with him and there is no evidence that the pilots he trained in China were members of the military, his lawyer says.
Kai-Fu Lee, chairman of Sinovation Ventures
BUSINESS / Tech
May 13, 2024

Tech pioneer Kai-Fu Lee's AI venture aims to deliver China's ChatGPT moment

Beijing bars foreign AI models in part due to strict censorship, but that also ensures domestic players have a big local market without global competition.
The widespread adoption of renewable energy sources and implementation of energy efficiency are key to reducing emissions and, in turn, fueling economic growth.
COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2024

We need economic growth to avert a climate catastrophe

The degrowth movement doesn't offer solutions to tackle global warming. Not only are its proposals unrealistic, but they may not even be effective.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear