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Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Russia's President Vladimir Putin arrive for a press conference following their meeting in Moscow on July 5.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 16, 2024

Top EU officials to boycott Hungary meetings after Putin visit

Prime Minister Viktor Orban enraged his fellow EU leaders by jetting off to Moscow on July 5 on what he described as a "peace mission" over Russia's war in Ukraine.
A worker at Sakai Seisakusyo prepares to transport metal rods at its factory in Kakamigahara, Gifu Prefecture, on July 8.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Jul 16, 2024

Japan finds a 'stealth' cure for zombie businesses: Let them fail

The shift in thinking is a clear departure for a country that has typically sought to avoid bankruptcies and protect existing jobs at the cost of productivity.
An AR-15 on display at the National Rifle Association convention in Houston, Texas, in May 2022
WORLD / Society
Jul 16, 2024

The AR-15: One of America's most popular and deadliest guns

The rifle has been a common denominator in some of the country's worst mass shootings.
J.D. Vance at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Monday. Vance’s proximity to the tech industry has thrilled even former Democrats in tech.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 16, 2024

Silicon Valley’s Trump backers cheer Vance as VP pick

The move puts the technology industry closer to center stage in Washington if the former president takes the White House in November's presidential election.
People lay flowers before the two year anniversary of the shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the city of Nara on July 7.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 16, 2024

Trump shooting reminds Japan of similar attacks on politicians at home

The attack on the former U.S. president evoked memories of similar incidents involving Japan's prime ministers.
An Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. facility in Fujairah, which uses technology developed by 44.01, a startup backed by Sam Altman
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 16, 2024

Sam Altman-backed startup scaling technology to store CO2 in rocks

A type of rock found under every continent holds the potential key to permanently trapping planet-warming carbon dioxide under the Earth’s surface.
Police said four people were injured after a man set fire to a city hall in Aichi Prefecture, with local media reporting he had been arrested.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 16, 2024

Four injured after man sets fire to Japan city hall

At around 3:00 pm, a man with what appeared to be a knife in his hand set fire to the city hall in Takahama, Aichi prefecture, a police spokesman said.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump campaigns for president in Racine, Wisconsin, on June 18.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 17, 2024

Trump security was tightened on Iran plot intel; no link to shooting

There has been a broad pattern of threats against former Trump administration officials after the 2020 killing of the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.
A flag waves in the wind as law enforcement conducts an investigation into the attempted assassination of former U.S. President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Monday.
WORLD / Society
Jul 17, 2024

Four in five Americans fear country is sliding into chaos, poll finds

Eighty percent of voters surveyed — including similar shares of Democrats and Republicans — said they think the country is spiraling out of the control.
Shares in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world's largest contract chipmaker and a major Apple and Nvidia supplier, closed 2.4% lower on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 17, 2024

Trump says Taiwan should pay for defense, sending TSMC stock down

The U.S. is Taiwan's key international supporter and arms supplier, although there is no formal defense agreement between them.
Ko Maung Saungkha, center, a poet who is a rebel commander in Myanmar, on the first day of training for new recruits in Karen State, on May 7.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 17, 2024

In the war against the junta in Myanmar, a poet commands a rebel army

Myanmar is a country entranced by poetry, with poets treated like celebrities and verse that has long been political used to galvanize the masses.
Mizuho Securities is starting a fund to create opportunities for third-party investment into Japan's animation film sector that has created globally popular works such as "Demon Slayer."
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 17, 2024

Mizuho fund to invest in Japan’s popular but cash-needing anime scene

For investors, Mizuho's fund will be an opportunity to park their money in a sector famous for works like "Demon Slayer."
Inspired by the July 2022 fatal shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a research team at Tohoku University in Sendai has developed a system to resume blood circulation of an injured heart within three minutes.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 17, 2024

Tohoku University develops 3-minute system to jump-start injured heart

The system involves a precise division of tasks to restart a patient’s blood circulation in the time needed to prevent brain death.
Japan's Hikaru Kitagawa dribbles past a defender during an Olympic qualifying match against North Korea at National Stadium in Tokyo in February.
OLYMPICS / Football
Jul 17, 2024

After Tokyo Olympic disappointment, Nadeshiko Japan look for redemption

For many, a disappointing effort on home soil in 2021 was a marker of just how far Japan's women's soccer team had fallen. Now the squad has its sights set on redemption.
Former U.S. President and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to his vice presidential pick, Sen. J.D. Vance, during the second day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 17, 2024

Trump's VP pick signals stronger focus on China

J.D. Vance represents a hardening of Trump’s “America First” stance, but could also help push a tougher line on China and support for democratic Taiwan.
PwC is considering slashing up to half its financial services auditing staff in China and about 20% of its staff in other auditing teams and nonauditing business lines.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 17, 2024

PwC weighs halving of China financial services audit staff, say sources

The firm has 781 partners and nearly 19,000 employees in mainland China as of last September.
Unionists hold a rally in Tokyo in April. Households' real cash earnings have been falling year on year for more than two years, with the weakening of the yen making the situation only more difficult as prices of imported goods increase rapidly.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 17, 2024

Japan’s minimum wage might not budge much if corporate fears prevail

While households desperately need a big raise, smaller businesses might not be in a position to handle an increase as they struggle with the weak yen.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump and Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance (right), the Republican's vice-presidential nominee, attend the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 17, 2024

J.D. Vance is red meat for Trump’s MAGA base

It’s a shrewd pick — a nod to Trump’s base. More than any of the other contenders, Vance’s selection shows that Trump wants to lock down the MAGA faithful.
Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi holds a news conference at the Diet on July 2.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 17, 2024

Speculation rising over possible end to Yamaguchi's Komeito reign

Natsuo Yamaguchi, 72, is currently serving his eighth term as Komeito chief.
Naoki Prize winner Michi Ichiho (left), and Akutagawa Prize winners Sanzo K. Matsunaga (center) and Aki Asahina pose with their award-winning books at a news conference in Tokyo on Wednesday.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 17, 2024

Three novelists named for Akutagawa and Naoki awards

Authors Sanzo K. Matsunaga and Aki Asahina won the Akutagawa Prize for literary writers, while the Naoki Prize for genre fiction went to Michi Ichiho.
This undated handout picture from NASA released on Wednesday shows the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover assembled inside a cleanroom at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
WORLD
Jul 18, 2024

NASA cancels lunar rover after spending $450 million building it

NASA's scrapped rover was intended to explore the moon's south pole in search of ice and other resources.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (left) speaks to the press next to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin on June 11.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 18, 2024

Germany says it will halve its military aid for Ukraine

German aid to Ukraine will be cut to €4 billion ($4.35 billion) in 2025 from around €8 billion in 2024.
The S&P 500 drops from all-time highs amid a selloff in chipmakers.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 18, 2024

High-flying chipmakers see worst plunge since 2020

Concern about tighter U.S. restrictions on chip sales to China spurred a selloff in the industry that has led the bull market in stocks.
Ukrainians walk past the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee to protest the organization's plan to have Russian athletes compete in Paris under a neutral flag.
OLYMPICS
Jul 18, 2024

Russian athletes headed to Paris break IOC’s rules, NGO says

A total of 33 out of 59 athletes were in violation of the IOC’s guidelines on participation, a report from The Hague-based Global Rights Compliance concluded.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday
WORLD / Politics
Jul 18, 2024

U.K.'s Starmer to use forum to advocate EU reset and Ukraine support

A one-day meeting of more than 40 nations provides British Prime Minister Keir Starmer with an opportunity to push for closer defense cooperation.
Indian Ambassador Sibi George says one of his main tasks in his post is to boost Japanese public and private investments the South Asian powerhouse.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 18, 2024

India’s envoy in Japan calls for boosted supply chain and defense cooperation

The ambassador’s remarks come after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged to continue prioritizing ties with Japan.
A pumped energy storage facility and a wind turbine at Kibbutz Maale Gilboa, Israel, on July 9
WORLD
Jul 18, 2024

How 'energy islands' could help Israel build resilience for wartime

Israel's microgrid pilot, which will be complete sometime in the next year or two, will run in parallel to large stockpiles of diesel, coal and generators.
U.S. pressure to slow Beijing’s advances in making semiconductors led the Netherlands to ban exports to China of ASML’s second-most advanced category of machinery at the start of the year. But ASML continues to service machines that were bought before the restrictions were in place.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 18, 2024

ASML falls as outlook clouded by risk of U.S. export curbs

ASML shares plunged 11% in Amsterdam on Wednesday to €870.90 ($952), wiping out €42.7 billion of market value — its biggest decline since March 2020.
Namibia is emerging as an oil exploration hub with major finds by different oil giants, which could significantly boost the country's economy.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 18, 2024

African outpost Namibia gets ready to become new oil hotspot

Massive oil finds 180 miles off Namibia’s coast have seen an 80% success rate since 2022 — an almost unprecedented achievement.
Japan's tradition of offering investors gifts is nice. But with the stock market at record highs, such perks are no longer needed.
COMMENTARY
Jul 18, 2024

It’s time Japan's shareholders buy their own wine

The practice by Japanese companies of giving gifts once served as a good way to encourage trading novices to dabble in the stock market.

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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