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Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen visits army bases ahead of the Lunar New Year in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on Feb. 6. Over 400 stories portraying Taiwan's military exercises as rehearsals for its leadership to desert in the event of war have been uncovered by an NGO based on the island.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 1, 2024

Chinese state media stoked allegation Taiwan's president would flee war

They are among the many unsupported tales that have been fed into the island by Chinese state media outlets, according to an analysis by Taiwan-based NGO.
Anti-government protesters launch a prolonged demonstration against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government in front of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 1, 2024

Protests against Netanyahu intensify as cease-fire talks resume

Netanyahu has faced increasing pressure at home and abroad over Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza.
An employee of Jet Blue airlines walks around an engine of an Airbus A320 passenger aircraft in a maintenance hangar of the company at JFK International Airport in New York on March 4.
BUSINESS
Apr 1, 2024

Maintenance staff shortage in U.S. could clip aviation industry's wings

The sector lacks some 24,000 aviation maintenance technicians in North America, a figure due to reach nearly 40,000 by 2028.
Cardboard beds at an evacuation center in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 31. Because evacuation shelters are operated by municipalities, the quality of disaster relief varies depending on the strength of each local government, one expert points out.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 1, 2024

Over 8,000 still in evacuation centers three months after Noto quake

The patchy progress of Japan's decentralized disaster relief shows that lessons from past disasters have not been learned, experts say.
Cans of Asahi Super Dry beer move on the production line inside an Asahi Breweries plant in Moriya, Ibaraki Prefecture, in April 2023.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 1, 2024

With U.S. push, Asahi aims to sate evolving tastes

The drink-maker is placing its “premium” offerings and low-alcohol and nonalcoholic beverages front and center in a bid to differentiate itself.
Ma Ying-jeou, who was president of Taiwan from 2008 to 2016, last year became the first former Taiwanese leader to visit China. No serving Taiwanese leader has ever visited China.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 1, 2024

Taiwan's ex-president leaves for China, likely to meet Xi

Ma Ying-jeou met the Chinese leader in Singapore in late 2015 for a landmark summit, when he was still president.
Beni kо̄ji has been widely used in Japan and elsewhere as a food additive, and features prominently in Okinawan cuisine, particularly in a dish called tо̄fuyо̄.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 1, 2024

Beni kōji purveyors fear growing aversion following supplement scandal

The ingredient has long been used in Japan and elsewhere as a food additive, and features prominently in Okinawan cuisine.
Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich (right) with then-wife Dasha Zhukova in 2014. Zhukova's mother, Elena Zhukova, is engaged to media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 31, 2024

The oligarch, his ex-wife, her mother and Rupert Murdoch

Were it not for other stories coming out of Russia, Rupert Murdoch's engagement to Roman Abramovich's ex-mother-in-law would have made more headlines.
Tsunami-hit houses in Noto, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Sunday
JAPAN / Society
Apr 1, 2024

Noto quake-hit areas show signs of recovery three months on

The number of evacuees has decreased by about 3,000 to around 8,100.
A woman walks past a TV showing a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test, at the main railway station in Seoul on March 18.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 2, 2024

North Korea launches intermediate-range missile as elections loom for South

The Defense Ministry said the weapon had traveled some 650 kilometers before splashing down in waters outside Japan's exclusive economic zone.
New recruits of the Ukrainian military's 1st Da Vinci Wolves Separate Mechanized Battalion take part in a military exercise in an undisclosed location in central Ukraine on March 12.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Apr 7, 2024

Ukraine war has brought new challenges for international security

Democracies are being forced to confront the idea of hybrid warfare and the danger of full-scale conflict.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi. Following a strong quake in the Tohoku region Tuesday, the government set up an information office for crisis management at the Prime Minister's Office.
JAPAN
Apr 2, 2024

Strong quake jolts northeastern Japan, logging lower 5 intensity

The Meteorological Agency has cautioned those in the northeast to remain alert for lower 5 intensity quakes for about a week.
South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife Kim Keon Hee during a ceremony in Amsterdam on Dec. 12, 2023
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 2, 2024

South Korea's first lady avoids limelight ahead of high-stakes election

Kim Keon-hee has not made any public appearances since December 15.
Daiya Seto in action during the men's 400m medley final at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha on Feb. 18.
OLYMPICS / Swimming
Apr 2, 2024

Japanese swimming veteran ready to make waves at Paris Olympics

Daiya Seto wants to be a voice for meaningful change in the domestic sport.
Pearl Harbor survivor Lou Conter gestures to a fellow survivor during the wreath laying presentation for the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor at the World War II in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 2011.
WORLD
Apr 2, 2024

Last survivor of Pearl Harbor battleship sinking dies at 102

Lou Conter was a 20-year-old quartermaster at the time of the 1941 attack.
The moon rises behind the State Historical Museum, the Kremlin's towers and St. Basil's Cathedral in central Moscow on March 21. Russia has dismissed new allegations about its role in Havana syndrome as "groundless."
WORLD / Politics
Apr 2, 2024

'Havana Syndrome' linked to Russian intelligence unit, report says

The U.S. State Department has said it stands by its assessment that no foreign actor is responsible.
Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad (left) walks near a damaged site after what the Iranian media said was an Israeli strike on a building close to the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria, on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 2, 2024

Israel bombs Iran embassy in Syria, killing military commanders

Monday's attack marks a major escalation in Israel's war with its regional adversaries.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told dismayed supporters overnight that they "must not waste" the four years remaining before the next presidential vote.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 2, 2024

Opposition defeat of Erdogan redraws Turkey's political map

Opposition candidates and voters celebrated inflicting a stinging defeat on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's party in municipal elections.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has a long-running feud with Qatar-based channel Al Jazeera.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 2, 2024

Israel's Netanyahu vows to ban Al Jazeera broadcasts

The Qatar-based broadcaster slammed the ban as "part of a series of systematic Israeli attacks to silence Al Jazeera."
Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Indonesian President-elect Prabowo Subianto shake hands at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 2, 2024

New Indonesia leader visits China, promising close ties

Indonesian President-elect Prabowo Subianto was also due to visit Japan for two days from Tuesday.
A customer walks past a display for Nintendo's Super Mario at an electronics store in Tokyo on Jan. 12. Last year, Nintendo increased salaries, in part to be competitive with other studios.
BUSINESS
Apr 2, 2024

Japan’s game industry weathers the storm amid layoffs worldwide

The country's studios are actually scrambling to attract and retain talent — a state of affairs that is symptomatic of the nation’s demographic challenges.
The top U.S. military commander in the Indo-Pacific, Adm. John Aquilino, has said that Beijing is maintaining its goal of being able to invade Taiwan by 2027.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 2, 2024

Will China truly be ‘ready’ to invade Taiwan by 2027? It’s complicated.

The most important factor shaping any plan will not be based on just military readiness, but rather on political and strategic objectives, analysts say.
Chinese President Xi Jinping made the call for the PBOC to gradually increase the buying and selling of government bonds in October but his remarks were publicized recently in a new book and newspaper article, hinting at a policy pivot for a central bank that hasn’t made a significant bond purchase since 2007.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 2, 2024

Xi’s cryptic bond comments hint at PBOC becoming more like Fed

PBOC could pivot toward strategies used by other central banks in heeding the call to "gradually increase the buying and selling of government bonds.”
Former Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Hakubun Shimomura attends a Lower House plenary session on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 3, 2024

LDP eyes membership suspension for Shimomura and Nishimura

It also plans to ask Shionoya and Seko to leave the party over the slush funds scandal involving certain factions.
Demonstrators protest against the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, in Delhi on March 22.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 3, 2024

Modi’s opposition unites at rally demanding fair elections

The opposition has criticized the ruling party as their leaders faced arrests and investigations.
People hold candles as they attend a night vigil and prayer at the Amahoro Stadium as part of the 25th Commemoration of the 1994 Genocide, in Kigali, Rwanda, on April 7, 2019. Rwanda will soon commemorate the 30th anniversary this year.
WORLD
Apr 3, 2024

Rwanda marks 30 years since genocide

During the 1994 genocide, Hutu extremists targeting the Tutsi minority slaughtered around 800,000 people in a massacre lasting 100 days.
Workers at a factory in the town of Sriperumbudur, in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, on Jan. 3. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has kept India on its swift upward path among the world’s largest economies. Many Indians are better off, though wealth gaps have widened.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 3, 2024

What 10 years of Modi rule has meant for India’s economy

The value of India’s stock market has tripled since the prime minister took office and its economy has almost doubled — but gains have been widely unequal.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un looks on as he guides a training of the fire division in this picture released on March 19. Pyongyang has spent decades stockpiling millions of rounds of artillery and thousands of rockets in the terrain north of the demilitarized zone, which sits some 40 kilometers away from Seoul.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 3, 2024

Kim Jong Un faces annihilation in nearly all Korea war scenarios

Although North Korea has a manpower advantage, the bulk of its forces rely on "increasingly obsolete equipment” dating back to Soviet era.
Leftover premium-brand chocolate, originally slated for disposal, is made available for purchase at a discount in Tokyo's Chuo Ward on Feb. 15, the day after Valentine's Day.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 3, 2024

Efforts to reduce food waste find support in Japan but still face challenges

Initiatives are being introduced to avoid the waste of seasonal delicacies, but challenges such as entrenched commercial customs persist.
Startup Genome officials speak to representatives from startups that will participate in the Global Hypergrowth Tokyo program during its kickoff event last week in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 3, 2024

New mentoring program aims to help later-stage Japan startups go overseas

While many acceleration programs target young startups, the new initiative focuses on later-stage firms that already have a certain degree of experience.

Longform

"Shake hands with Lima-chan," a statue that shares the name of the Peruvian capital looks in the direction of Peru, where a sister statue, "Sakura-chan," is located. Erected in Yokohama's Rinko Park in 1999, it commemorates Peruvian-Japanese friendship.
The journey of Peru’s Nikkei: Finding identity in Japan