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Hiroki Nakajima, Toyota's chief technology officer, speaks during a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 29, 2024

Toyota bets on alternate-fuel engines in an electric future

The carmaker said its making progress on developing smaller, more efficient engines that can work with EV manufacturing platforms.
Onosato receives the Emperor's Cup from Japan Sumo Association Chairman Hakkaku at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo on Sunday.
SUMO / Inside Sumo
May 29, 2024

Onosato's path to sumo greatness was plain for all to see

Sumo’s latest top division champion tore through the collegiate and amateur circuits at an almost unprecedented clip.
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.
Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda during a news conference in Nagoya in January
BUSINESS / Companies
May 29, 2024

Toyota investors urged to vote against founding family chair

The recommendations come ahead of Toyota’s annual shareholders meeting scheduled for June 18 at its headquarters in the city of Toyota in Aichi Prefecture.
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.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni ahead of her meeting with Mohammed Mustafa, Palestinian Authority prime minister, at the Chigi Palace in Rome on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
May 29, 2024

Once ostracized, Italy's Meloni is now center stage in Europe

If Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni backs center-right European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for a second term, expect the Italian leader's influence to grow.
U.S. President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak deliver remarks after a trilateral AUKUS meeting, in San Diego in March 2023.
COMMENTARY / World
May 28, 2024

Who will 'plug and play' with AUKUS?

Tokyo, Ottawa, and Seoul must demonstrate their value in AUKUS by contributing sustainably and enhancing its effectiveness in promoting a rules-based Indo-Pacific order.
A man watches a television screen showing a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test, at a train station in Seoul on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 30, 2024

In unusual move, North Korea fires off barrage of at least 10 ballistic missiles

While the North has in the past launched multiple missiles in a single volley, the sheer number fired Thursday pointed to training for so-called saturation strikes.
University of Tokyo PhD student Kei Misumi in an air shower room before entering a clean room at the university
JAPAN
May 30, 2024

Inside a semiconductor 'clean room' at Japan's top university

Japan's push into the chip industry, where it was once dominant, feels like "spring has returned," said a chip expert.
Deputy U.S. Treasury secretary Wally Adeyemo
WORLD / Politics
May 30, 2024

China must stop aiding Russia in war, deputy U.S treasury chief says

The U.S. is "open to sanctioning” anyone helping Russia gain access to components that can be used for weapons, U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said.
Despite the United Arab Emirates taking "significant steps to address" gold smuggling, Bern-based NGO SwissAid says billions of dollars worth of the precious metal arrive in the country from Africa every year.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 30, 2024

Billions in African gold smuggled to UAE every year, SwissAid says

The nongovernmental organization estimates that the illicit trade amounts to between $23.7 billion and $35 billion annually, based on current market prices.
An LDP panel's proposal on fiscal policy underscores how a weak yen and an exit from ultra-low interest rates are piling pressure on Japan to rein in its huge public debt.
BUSINESS
May 30, 2024

Japan must restore fiscal discipline to protect yen's value, LDP panel says

The views of the panel of Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers are shared by the powerful Finance Ministry, who oversees the state budget.
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.
Palestinians search for food among burnt debris in the aftermath of an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced people, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
May 30, 2024

Israel sees seven more months of fighting to defeat Hamas

The comments will do little to raise the spirits of mediators like the U.S. and Qatar, who want Israel and Hamas to hammer out a cease-fire deal.
While the recent trilateral summit between Japan, South Korea and China in Seoul was aimed at restarting dialogue, it yielded minimal concrete outcomes.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 30, 2024

Lessons from the Japan-South Korea-China summit

The underlying force driving the trilateral summit — which yielded little in substance — is the fact that Beijing needed these talks more than Tokyo and Seoul.
A giant screen showing news footage of military drills conducted in areas around the island of Taiwan by the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), in Beijing on May 24
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 30, 2024

Taiwan says China is 'nibbling away' at its space, trying to create a new normal

Chinese pressure keeps Taiwan out of most international bodies, causing it to face a huge amount of obstruction in its attempts to take part in international organizations.
Toyota's global sales, including those of subsidiaries Daihatsu and Hino, fell 4.5% last month from a year earlier to 835,788 vehicles.
BUSINESS
May 30, 2024

Toyota sales and output fall on Prius recall and dip in China

Global sales, including those of subsidiaries Daihatsu Motor and Hino Motors, fell 4.5% last month from a year earlier.
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 and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures as he arrives back at Trump Tower after being convicted in his criminal trial, in New York City on Thursday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 31, 2024

Trump found guilty on all counts in hush money case

Prosecutors said Trump led a broader scheme to influence the election by concealing stories of his alleged sexual encounters with women.
Junichiro “John” Imaeda (middle row center) decided to start Ajate, a band that infuses traditional Japanese festival music with Afrobeat, after spending three months traveling around Ghana and Burkina Faso to absorb the music of West Africa.
CULTURE / Music
May 31, 2024

Ajate's joyous blend of Afrobeat and Japanese festival music

The nine-piece project brings together sounds from disparate lands to celebrate connectivity and community.
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.
A Donald Trump campaign event at Crotona Park in the Bronx borough of New York City on May 23.
WORLD / Politics
May 31, 2024

Unfazed Republican donors focus on Trump's polling, not guilty verdict

Many conservative donors already viewed the New York hush-money cash as political persecution.
Yuka Saso hits her tee shot on the first hole during the opening round of the U.S. Women's Open in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
May 31, 2024

Yuka Saso on top at U.S. Women's Open after first round

Saso's search for a second U.S. Women's Open title got a boost on the first day of the tournament.
Commercial food trucks near a checkpoint in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Tuesday.
WORLD
May 31, 2024

Israel reopens Gaza food sales as Rafah raid chokes aid

Army authorities gave Gazan traders the OK to resume purchases from Israeli and Palestinian suppliers this month.
Kei Nishikori pulled out of the French Open due to a shoulder injury on Thursday.
TENNIS
May 31, 2024

Kei Nishikori pulls out of French Open due to shoulder injury

The former world No. 4 threw in the towel after dropping the first two sets to American No. 15 seed Ben Shelton.
A ground crew worker refuels a plane at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Arizona.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 31, 2024

Waste-to-fuel company that raised $1 billion verges on collapse

Fulcrum BioEnergy has recently laid off nearly all of its staff of about 100 and halted most of its operations, according to more than a half-dozen former employees.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump gestures following the announcement of the verdict in his criminal trial over charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence adult-film actress Stormy Daniels in 2016, outside Trump Tower in New York City on Thursday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal / ANALYSIS
May 31, 2024

Trump guilty verdict adds twist to 2024 race: a convicted felon

While such a development may change the trajectory of the presidential race, few experts are confident it will.
A residential development under construction in Shanghai in February. Problems in the property sector have had a negative impact across broad areas of China's economy.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 31, 2024

China's factory activity unexpectedly dips as property pain persists

The disappointing number adds to a series of recent indicators showing the $18.6 trillion economy is struggling to get back on its feet.
Completed in 1889, the original Yebisu brewery finally has a worthy successor in the neighborhood that still bears the beer's name.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 1, 2024

A new brew for Ebisu, the town that beer made

Ebisu and its beer are unique among communities with drinking histories. Here, the beer named the town.
OpenAI said that a Chinese network known as Spamouflage, which used its models to research social media activities, has been generating articles in various languages that were then posted on social media platforms and forums.
JAPAN / Society
May 31, 2024

Chinese group used OpenAI tech to discredit Fukushima water discharge

OpenAI said that a Chinese network used its models to generate articles in various languages accusing Japan of polluting the waters of the Pacific Ocean.

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan