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Snow-covered streets in Obihiro, Hokkaido, on Tuesday
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2025

Record-breaking snowfall hits Hokkaido as cold front sweeps Japan

The cold air mass is expected to fluctuate in intensity and persist until the weekend, with heavy snow forecast for Hokkaido, Tohoku and Hokuriku later this week.
The Yangshan Deepwater Port in Shanghai on Jan. 20. China's Finance Ministry said it would impose levies of 15% for U.S. coal and LNG and 10% for crude oil, farm equipment and some autos.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 4, 2025

China hits back with tariffs on U.S. goods after Trump imposes new levies

Trump on Monday suspended his threat of 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada at the last minute, but there was no such reprieve for China.
Visitors view snow sculptures at the Sapporo Snow Festival, which kicked off on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2025

Sapporo Snow Festival kicks off with giant sculptures

Snow sculptures created by locals include one of Hokkaido native Haruka Kitaguchi, who won gold in the women's javelin throwing in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Ryuji Kimura, 25, is accused of attempted murder along with other charges for throwing an explosive at then-Prime Minister Fumio Kishida moments before he was to give a speech in Wakayama in April 2023.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 4, 2025

Kishida's attacker denies having intention to kill ex-PM

The prosecution plans to produce evidence showing the lethal potential of the pipe bomb thrown at Kishida moments before he was to give a speech in Wakayama in April 2023.
Despite numerous past meetings between U.S. and Japanese leaders, Shigeru Ishiba's relationship with Donald Trump is expected to be awkward, lacking the rapport the U.S. president had with former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 4, 2025

Ishiba will finally meet Trump, but expectations need to be kept low

His long-time rival Shinzo Abe's relationship with Trump is the ideal but an unfair comparison.
Russian demand for Japanese grand pianos is always very high, a dealer has said.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 4, 2025

Smuggled grand pianos show Trump’s challenge in pressuring Putin

High-end Japanese pianos still make their way to Russia despite export ban, highlighting Tokyo's struggle to enforce sanctions.
Cargo containers await loading onto ships at the port of Tianjin, China, on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 5, 2025

Xi’s careful reply to Trump tariffs shows China has more to lose

The shift reflects both Xi’s success at diversifying imports away from the U.S. since Trump’s first term, as well as China’s more precarious economic situation.
A ship transits through the Gatun locks at the Panama Canal in Colon, Panama, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 5, 2025

Panama considers canceling port deal with Hong Kong firm

Such a move would mark a concession to U.S. President Donald Trump, who says China has too much control over the Panama Canal.
Talks by Honda and Nissan to create the world’s third-largest carmaker have gone haltingly since the plans were first announced in December.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 5, 2025

Nissan shares plunge, Honda's rise as end to merger talks reported

Shares in Nissan slid more than 4% before trade was suspended by the Tokyo Stock Exchange following the Nikkei report.
Slovenian basketball player Luka Doncic (center) holds up a jersey as he stands alongside Lakers head coach JJ Redick (right) and general manager Rob Pelinka during a press conference introducing Doncic as the newest member of the Lakers at the UCLA Health Training Center in El Segundo, California on Tuesday.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Feb 5, 2025

Doncic hungry for titles after shock Lakers trade

Doncic said the prospect of playing alongside LeBron James for arguably the NBA's most iconic franchise represented a "dream come true."
A statue of the founder of the International Olympic Committee, Pierre de Coubertin, at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland
OLYMPICS
Feb 5, 2025

The closed-door battle to lead the Olympics

For such a consequential election, much of it is taking place in the dark, away from any form of public or private debate.
A vigil is held in central Budapest on Tuesday to commemorate a 43-year-old Japanese woman, whose charred body was found in a burned out apartment the previous week. Counter terrorism forces detained her husband, an Irish citizen, on Monday on suspicion of killing the woman.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 5, 2025

Irish man held over suspicious death of Japanese woman in Hungary

The charred body of the victim — the man's former wife and mother of their two children — was found in a burned-out apartment in central Budapest on Jan. 29.
Protestors gather outside of the headquarters for United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on Monday ahead of a news conference by Congressional Democrats.
WORLD
Feb 5, 2025

U.S. aid agency places global staff on leave as part of Trump's purge

The move is part of the Trump administration's radical drive to shrink the U.S. government, which has shocked Washington and caused angry protests.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (center) drops back to pass against the Buffalo Bills during the first quarter in the AFC Championship game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on Jan. 26.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Feb 5, 2025

Chiefs take comfort riding with QB Patrick Mahomes

Mahomes is taking his fifth crack at winning the Lombardi Trophy — which would be his fourth — and it's not a stretch to label him the most consequential player Sunday.
A climate change demonstrator takes part in a protest to denounce the impact of U.S. politics on climate change, outside the U.S. Embassy in London on Jan. 11.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Feb 5, 2025

Top climate scientist declares 2 degrees Celsius climate goal 'dead'

A stark new analysis concludes that Earth's climate is more sensitive to rising greenhouse gas emissions than previously thought.
Founded in Hangzhou only 20 months ago, DeepSeek’s technology made waves in January with a new mobile app featuring its reasoning AI chatbot.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 5, 2025

Australia bans DeepSeek from government tech, citing security

A threat assessment by the country’s intelligence agencies found the technology posed an unacceptable risk.
A site where a road collapsed in Yashio, Saitama Prefecture, swallowing a truck, is seen on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Feb 5, 2025

Japan plans to strengthen water infrastructure after major road collapse

The move comes after it is believed a damaged sewer pipe caused a sinkhole to open up in the city of Yashio, Saitama Prefecture, on Jan. 28.
Members of Myanmar's military patrol on a street next to Shwedagon Pagoda, on the fourth anniversary of the military coup, in Yangon on Feb. 1.
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 5, 2025

Myanmar junta bans possible conscripts from foreign travel

The junta has lost control of swathes of the country to ethnic minority armed groups and other opposition forces in the civil war triggered by its coup d'etat four years ago.
Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Hiroshi Moriyama has been credited with convincing opposition parties to remain at the negotiating table with his diplomatic skills.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 5, 2025

Who is Hiroshi Moriyama, the man behind the prime minister?

The Liberal Democratic Party secretary-general is known for his negotiation skills and diplomacy, making him integral for a party that now rules as a minority government.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrive to hold a news conference at the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 5, 2025

Trump's Gaza stunner builds on his expansionist aims

Since Trump's return to the White House a little more than two weeks ago, his "America First" approach seems to have morphed into "America More."
Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi (left) describes a detail of a mawashi presented as a gift to French President Jacques Chirac at the Elysee Palace in 1999.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Feb 5, 2025

No Paris Syndrome for Japan’s national sport

Despite an up and down history, sumo and France remain amorous.
Toyota is investing in increased capacity for electric vehicles and has unveiled plans to establish a subsidiary in Shanghai.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 5, 2025

Toyota raises annual profit guidance despite quarterly income drop

The automaker now expects a profit of ¥4.7 trillion ($31 billion) for the fiscal year ending March, up from its previous forecast of ¥4.3 trillion.
Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte speaks during a news conference at her office in Manila in December.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 6, 2025

Philippine lower house impeaches Vice President Sara Duterte

The impeachment stemmed from a number of allegations, with Duterte having repeatedly denied wrongdoing.
A woman stands outside the gates of the family house of detained Myanmar civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon, Myanmar, on Wednesday, during an attempt to sell the lakeside mansion.
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 5, 2025

Bid to sell Suu Kyi's Myanmar mansion flops for third time

It is unclear who in the country would be in a position to spend $140 million on a single, increasingly dilapidated property.
A Palestinian sits among the rubble of buildings destroyed during an Israeli offensive in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 6, 2025

Trump aides defend Gaza takeover proposal but walk back some elements

Trump shattered decades of U.S. policy with a vaguely worded announcement saying he envisioned transforming Gaza into the "Riviera of the Middle East."
A 45-year-old widow (Takako Matsu) repeatedly travels back in time to meet her future — and late — husband (Hokuto Matsumura) in “First Kiss.”
CULTURE / Film
Feb 6, 2025

‘First Kiss’: Time-traveling romantic drama isn’t afraid of a few wrinkles

Ayuko Tsukahara’s high-concept love story has wit and wisdom to spare with an endearing screen couple at its center.
The sinkhole in Yashio, Saitama Prefecture, on Wednesday. It has expanded since the initial collapse on Jan 28.
JAPAN
Feb 6, 2025

Truck cabin found in sewer pipe in Saitama sinkhole rescue operation

Despite the development, the truck’s 74-year-old driver remained missing as of Thursday morning.
The bestselling Switch has a confirmed successor, but what little we know about the Switch 2 console so far raises some concerns about its longterm viability in a crowded gaming market.
LIFE / Digital
Feb 6, 2025

Making sense of Nintendo’s tight-lipped Switch 2 reveal

Nintendo will remain mum on details until April, but questions on how its new console fits into the modern gaming landscape abound.
Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally surged in French legislative elections last year. Despite social media being a key megaphone for political campaigning, issues like voter dissatisfaction still play a determinant role in electoral outcomes.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Feb 5, 2025

Social media alone didn’t decide last year’s elections

Last year's record number of elections around the world hold some important lessons. One is that social media wasn't the key determinant of outcomes that many made it out to be.
Only couples experiencing infertility would be eligible to access assisted reproductive technology, while those in de facto marriages and same-sex couples will be excluded.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Feb 6, 2025

Assisted reproductive tech bill submitted to Upper House

The proposed legislation is aimed at guaranteeing the right of people born through the use of such technology to know their origins.

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