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Yantian port in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China. Investors are cautiously optimistic that U.S.-China trade talks underway in Switzerland will ease tensions and market volatility, though few expect a major breakthrough amid deep-rooted disputes and high tariffs.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 11, 2025

Wary investors hope U.S.-China talks cool high-stakes trade war

The highly anticipated meeting in Switzerland could mark one of the biggest developments since U.S. President Donald Trump launched sweeping tariffs on April 2.
The entrance to discount retailer Don Quijote's store in Tokyo's Shibuya district, known as Don Don Donki outside the country
BUSINESS / Companies
May 11, 2025

'Treasure hunt': Tourists boost sales at Japan's Don Quijote stores

Revenues at Don Quijote in Japan are "around 1.7 times higher than before the pandemic," said Motoki Hara, a manager at the retailer.
Varda Ben Baruch, grandmother of hostage Edan Alexander, points at the portrait of her grandson at Kibbutz Nir Oz, in southern Israel on April 20.
WORLD / Politics
May 12, 2025

Hamas says it will release Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander

Israeli officials said that their offensive will continue until the remaining 59 hostages are freed and Gaza is demilitarized.
People wait to vote as election officials (foreground) work at a polling station during midterm elections in Manila on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 12, 2025

Philippines midterm vote begins as Marcos-Duterte feud and China row flare

The spotlight is on the Senate race, where the 12 winners will be jurors in Duterte’s impeachment trial, set for July when the new Congress convenes.
People stand in front of a big screen displaying the Nikkei share average outside a brokerage in Tokyo late last month.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 12, 2025

Japan’s Topix extends rally to 12th day as tariff worries ease

The Topix closed 0.3% higher at 2742.08, giving it its longest winning streak since 2017.
A sign for battery manufacturer CATL is seen at the Auto China 2024 exhibition in Beijing on April 25, 2024.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 12, 2025

CATL starts taking investor orders for world’s biggest listing this year

The Chinese electric vehicle battery giant is seeking to raise as much as HK$41 billion ($5.3 billion).
Capsules of Takeda Pharmaceutical's Prevacid heartburn drug. The company's share price dropped by over 5% on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a plan to order a cut in U.S. prescription drug costs.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 12, 2025

Asian pharma stocks tumble on Trump signal to cut U.S. drug prices

The U.S. president's social media post put pressure on drug-related stocks on worries their profits will take a hit if they have to reduce prices in the U.S.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (left), U.S. President Joe Biden (second from left), German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (second from right) and French President Emmanuel Macron prepare to take a family photo during their "Quad" meeting in Berlin on Oct. 18. Leaders in the West have tried to revive the old order, but Donald Trump’s return to power shows they need a new way of looking at the world.
COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2025

Europe after the end of the liberal international order

We were wrong to think that we had secured a golden age of peace at the end of the Cold War. In reality, there was violence everywhere.
The Kanzeon Bodhisattva statue that was returned to the Kannonji Temple in Tsushima, Nagasaki Prefecture, on Monday
JAPAN
May 12, 2025

Stolen Buddha statue returned to Japanese temple after 12 years

A ritual was held at Kannoji Temple on the island of Tsushima to mark the return of the Kanzeon Bodhisattva statue after more than 12 years.
Since the LDP resumed discussions on the issue in February, members against introducing a selective dual surname system have been gaining momentum, calling for expanding the use of maiden names.
JAPAN
May 12, 2025

LDP to forgo compiling bill on dual surname system

The LDP concluded that it would be unwise to create divisions within the party ahead of this summer's election for the House of Councilors.
A policeman stands guard near a polling station during national mid-term elections in Buadiposo town, Lanao del Sur province, on the southern island of Mindanao on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 13, 2025

Dutertes outperform in Philippine midterms in blow for Marcos

Ex-President Rodrigo Duterte looks set to become mayor of Davao City despite his detention by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity.
The Taiwanese military conducts its first High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) live-fire test launch at the Jiupeng base in Taiwan's Pingtung County on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 13, 2025

Taiwan conducts first live-fire HIMARS test in signal to China

Supplying Taiwan with a system that proved devastatingly effective in Ukraine’s efforts to defend against the Russian invasion was once politically sensitive in Washington.
Currently, Japanese nationals living abroad are required to receive residency certificates in person at overseas diplomatic missions even if applications are submitted online.
JAPAN
May 13, 2025

Japan to issue residency certificates online to nationals abroad

The Foreign Ministry said Monday that it will begin issuing residency certificates online to Japanese nationals living abroad through overseas diplomatic missions.
Damascus seen from Mount Qasioun on Jan. 7
WORLD / Politics
May 13, 2025

Syria makes bid to meet Trump, hoping for sanctions relief and reset with Israel

Syria has struggled to implement conditions set out by Washington for relief from U.S. sanctions, while Israel has escalated air strikes and occupied Syrian territory.
Shoichi Kojima holding a cheesecake made with funazushi on May 6 in the city of Hikone, Shiga Prefecture
JAPAN
May 13, 2025

Shiga chef turns stinky sushi into cheesecake

Girasole, a restaurant in the city of Hikone, has been serving the funazushi-derived Basque-style cheesecake since April 2021.
Princess Aiko delivers an address at the opening ceremony of the 23rd meeting of the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine in Tokyo on May 3.
JAPAN
May 13, 2025

Princess Aiko to visit the earthquake-hit Noto Peninsula from Sunday

It will be the first visit to disaster-hit areas by the only child of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako.
A small boat transits through the Bay of Balaklava near the Crimean Peninsula city of Sevastopol on the Black Sea coast. Plans to dump bundled biomass into the Black Sea have raised concerns about environmental risks.
COMMENTARY / World
May 13, 2025

Dumping biomass in the ocean is not a climate solution

Plans to dump bundled biomass into the Black Sea as part of a carbon-sequestration project have raised concerns about environmental risks.
A Warren Buffett Squishmallow is displayed during a Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, in May 2023. Buffett’s $25 billion bet on five Japanese trading houses reflects his belief that the country’s overlooked market rewards patient investors who embrace its unique business culture.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 13, 2025

Buffett’s little Japan handbook — and other lessons

The legendary investor recently revealed what inspired his interest in Tokyo’s trading houses — and offered a host of tips for would-be followers.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba enters his office in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
May 13, 2025

Consumption tax set to dominate Upper House election debate

Broaching the subject has traditionally been seen as akin to kicking a hornet's nest.
A staff member holds a barocaloric material used by Barocal in their solid state cooling technology, at their headquarters in Cambridge.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 13, 2025

U.K. lab promises air conditioner revolution without polluting gases

Approximately 2 billion air-conditioner units are in use worldwide, and their number is increasing as the planet warms.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?