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U.S. President Donald Trump announces tariffs on several countries during a press conference on April 2.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 21, 2025

World’s economic chiefs to face Trump’s trade war in Washington

Finance chiefs want an off-ramp from the worst global trade crisis in a century. This week they’re heading toward its epicenter.
Gymnast Simone Biles poses with her Sportswoman of the Year Award during the 26th Laureus World Sports Awards gala in Madrid on Monday.
OLYMPICS
Apr 22, 2025

Biles 'not so sure' about competing at Los Angeles Olympics

"I'm really enjoying my time off before I decide if I want to go back to the gym and compete," the gymnast said.
Argentine artist Javier Sativa draws the face of the late Pope Francis on a street in front of the entrance of the Buenos Aires Cathedral on Monday. Francis died Monday at 88, a day after making a much hoped-for appearance at St. Peter's Square on Easter Sunday, the Vatican said in a statement.
WORLD
Apr 22, 2025

Pope Francis' death from a stroke sets off global tributes and mourning

World leaders from U.S. President Donald Trump to Russian leader Vladimir Putin paid tribute to the pope's moral and spiritual leadership.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks to reporters during the 2025 White House Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 22, 2025

'Disruptor' Hegseth's unsettled Pentagon starts turning against him

U.S. defense chief Pete Hegseth accused former advisers of turning against him following news he texted sensitive U.S. military plans to his wife, brother, attorney and others.
A portrait of the late Pope Francis is placed in front of the altar during a mass at the Buenos Aires Cathedral on Monday, following his death in the Vatican.
WORLD / Society
Apr 22, 2025

'One isn't born a saint': School nuns remember Pope Francis as a boy

A boisterous child, then-Jorge Bergoglio played football with his friends in the courtyard, and sprinted up and down the marble stairs.
The first meeting of a subcommittee under the Legislative Council to discuss a review of the retrial system on Monday at the Justice Ministry
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 22, 2025

Panel agrees on need to revise retrial system

Public calls for a review of the retrial system, which has not been revised since the country's criminal procedure law was established in 1948, have been growing.
People walk past the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Apr 22, 2025

Does Trump's Venezuela deportation notice comply with Supreme Court ruling?

A judge has expressed skepticism that the notice informs Venezuelan migrants of their right to legally challenge their removals.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping. A high-level Japanese delegation will deliver a letter from Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to Xi this week.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 22, 2025

Ishiba pens letter to Xi as Japan aims to avoid trade crossfire

The gesture highlights Japan’s desire to balance managing its relationships with China, its largest trading partner, and with the U.S., its sole formal security ally.
Pope Francis waves to the crowd during his trip to Nagasaki Prefecture in November 2019.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 22, 2025

Japan joins world in mourning death of Pope Francis

Leaders commended the pontiff’s lifelong efforts in delivering the message of peace, which included a trip to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Keen to end its reliance on rice imports, Indonesia wants to plant vast tracts of the crop, along with sugar cane for biofuel, in the restive eastern region of Papua. But environmentalists warn it could become the world's largest deforestation project, threatening endangered species and Jakarta's climate commitments.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Apr 22, 2025

Indonesia food plan risks 'world's largest' deforestation

Deforestation linked to the plan is already underway.
A person walks with a dog through the "micro-forest" park created by the Athens City Council near Alepotrypa Park in downtown Athens, Greece, on March 31.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Apr 22, 2025

Tentative tree planting 'decades overdue' in sweltering Athens

Planting vegetation is crucial to help cities beat the heat, scientists say, as climate change stokes hotter and more intense heatwaves.
The yen strengthened dramatically this month — hitting ¥139.9 to the dollar on Tuesday — and could become a topic of conversation in trade talks between the United States and Japan.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Apr 22, 2025

Yen on the march as Plaza Accord 2.0 debate grows

The U.S. has claimed that Japan's currency is undervalued, with some in the administration of President Donald Trump calling for a Plaza Accord 2.0.
U.S. Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent says a de-escalation between the U.S. and China will come in the very near future.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 23, 2025

Bessent expects tariff standoff with China to deescalate

The U.S. Treasury secretary is optimistic that tensions could cool in the coming months but cautioned that a larger deal could take longer.
Japan has started discussing specific measures to expand liquefied natural gas imports from the United States to reduce its trade surplus, as demanded by Washington.
BUSINESS
Apr 23, 2025

Japan mulls expanding imports of LNG from the U.S. for tariff negotiations

In 2024, Japan imported ¥542.6 billion of LNG from the U.S.
A United Nations agency said it will hold an Asia-Pacific ministerial conference on disaster prevention and response in Sendai in 2027.
JAPAN
Apr 23, 2025

Sendai to host U.N. disaster reduction conference in 2027

Such a meeting will be held in Japan for the first time.
Nomura Holdings is seeking to build scale in the U.S. asset management market despite recent volatility caused by escalating trade tensions.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 23, 2025

Nomura bets big on U.S. market rebound with $1.8 billion deal

Nomura's executive officer said the latest disruptions don’t change the fact the U.S. remains the largest asset management market in the world.
Wrestlers at a Yokozuna Deliberation Council practice in 2016. Although banzuke ranking positions aren’t at stake, the fact that the practice is so close to a real tournament ensures that most rikishi give it their all.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Apr 23, 2025

More than just training: Sumo's open practices are intense — and entertaining

The Yokozuna Deliberation Council practice is a rare — and, when open to the public, free — chance to see sumo's top wrestlers battle it out in the final days before a basho.
Pope Francis was known for his strong environmentalism, highlighted by his influential 2015 encyclical calling for global climate action.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 23, 2025

The next pope will help decide the planet’s fate

As much of the world retreats from climate activism, the Vatican has a chance to stand out by choosing another vocal environmentalist to lead 1.4 billion Catholics.
A restaurant owner pours California-grown Calrose rice into a rice cooker at his restaurant in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 23, 2025

Japan weighs using U.S. rice imports as tariff negotiation tool with Trump

The government hopes an import quota will give them more cards to play in tariff negotiations with the U.S.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on April 17
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 23, 2025

Opposition slams Ishiba's gas price cut while calling to scrap provisional tax

Ishiba's decision would lower gas prices by ¥10 per liter starting May 22, but nixing the provisional gas tax would lower prices by ¥25.
The levels of a type of "forever chemical" found in seven current and former employees at Daikin Industries' Yodogawa plant in Osaka Prefecture were about 38 times those for nearby residents, according to a survey conducted by a team including Kyoto University.
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2025

High levels of PFAS found in blood of Osaka factory workers

The levels for seven current and former employees were about 38 times those for residents, with three showing signs of interstitial lung disease.
Jerome Powell, chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, speaks during an event in Chicago earlier this month.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 24, 2025

Federal Reserve at a policy and political crossroads poses global risks

A divergence between the Fed and other central banks could stress dollar funding markets and make financing more expensive for less-developed countries.
Asuka Tsuzuki (left), the principal of Linden Hall School's secondary school, and Kota Sugimoto, the school's head chef, display the Japanese Agricultural Standards certificate the school obtained for its lunches.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Kyushu
May 5, 2025

In a national first, Fukuoka school obtains organic lunch certificate

A Fukuoka school has become Japan’s first to earn JAS certification for organic school lunches, using seasonal and local produce to promote environmental education.
Japan is planning to implement by March 2029 a new online screening system in which foreign visitors who don’t need a visa apply for a certification before entering the country.
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2025

Japan brings forward deadline for electronic travel authorization system

In fiscal 2028, Japan aims to introduce the system for certifying foreign visitors who don't need a visa ahead of their arrival in the country.
A Sudanese soldier prays in front of a burned-out armored vehicle in Khartoum, Sudan, on March 28.
WORLD
Apr 24, 2025

'No one else will': Sudan's journalists risk all to report the war

Since fighting erupted between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in April 2023, at least 28 reporters have been killed, according to Sudan's journalist union.
Police believe Daisuke Nishimura may have been involved in roughly 20 incidents in the 90 minutes leading up to his arrest, including a fatal hit-and-run and multiple assaults.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 24, 2025

Naked man’s rampage in Saitama linked to one fatality and 10 injured

Police believe he may have also been involved in roughly 20 incidents in the 90 minutes leading up to his arrest.
Under new rules, those who use smartphones while riding a bicycle would be subject to the maximum fine of ¥12,000.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 24, 2025

Japan set to fine cyclists on the spot for rule violations from 2026

Until now, police have usually responded to cycling violations by issuing verbal warnings or handing out red tickets that can lead to prosecution.
A group of lawyers representing a former journalist — who was allegedly sexually assaulted by a now-deceased secretary of a lawmaker — speak at a news conference in Tokyo on Thursday following a ruling that ordered the government to pay damages to her.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 25, 2025

Government ordered to pay over sexual assault by lawmaker's former aide

A Tokyo court ordered the ¥4.4 million ($30,850) payment to a former female journalist who was allegedly assaulted by the now-deceased government-paid secretary.
Cam Ward poses for photos after being taken with the No. 1 pick of the NFL draft on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Apr 25, 2025

Titans take Cam Ward with top pick in NFL draft

Ward threw for 4,313 yards and 39 touchdowns for Miami last season.
Consumer prices excluding fresh food in Tokyo gained 3.4% in April from a year earlier, as a mixture of impacts from last year’s school fee cuts and higher food and energy costs accelerated inflation, according to the internal affairs ministry.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 25, 2025

Tokyo prices rise most in two years, backing central bank's hike path

Consumer prices excluding fresh food gained 3.4% in April from a year earlier. Tokyo's figures are a leading indicator for national price gains.

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An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo