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Rapidus Chairman Tetsuro Higashi speaks during an interview at the company's headquarters in Tokyo on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 17, 2024

Rapidus 'last opportunity' to put Japan back on global chip map

Rapidus' chairman says "Japan is more than a decade behind others" in digital technology, adding that "it will require enormous money just to catch up."
Xander Schauffele smiles on the eighth green during the first round of the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
May 17, 2024

Xander Schauffele grabs early lead at PGA Championship with record-tying 62

Xander Schauffele matched the lowest round in major golf history on Thursday, firing a 9-under-par 62 to seize command after the opening day of the PGA Championship.
U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel meets with members of the Self-Defense Forces stationed on Yonaguni, Okinawa Prefecture, on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 17, 2024

U.S. envoy to Japan makes landmark visit to front-line island near Taiwan

Rahm Emanuel is the first U.S. ambassador to travel to the far-flung Japanese island, which is home to a Ground Self-Defense Force base and is just 160 km from Taipei.
Toshihiro Nikai, former secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party, announced in March that he would not run in the next Lower House election to take responsibility for the political funds scandal that rocked his party and his own faction.
JAPAN / Politics
May 17, 2024

Son of LDP heavyweight Toshihiro Nikai to run in Lower House election

Nobuyasu Nikai's decision to throw his hat into the ring also has larger implications for the Liberal Democratic Party.
Samples of cannabis edibles are offered during The 1st Phuket Cannabis Cup in Phuket, Thailand, in March 2023. Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said marijuana should soon be classified as a narcotic again and its use limited to medical and health purposes.
COMMENTARY
May 17, 2024

Thailand’s cannabis U-turn is a cautionary tale

Banning the drug outright will no doubt cause a lot of pain to farmers, small business owners and consumers. A middle-ground approach to return to medical usage would be wise.
A demonstration condemning the killing of three Chinese teachers from the University of Karachi's Confucius Institute in April 2022. Terrorist groups in Pakistan are targeting Chinese nationals and threatening Beijing's Belt and Road initiative projects in the country.
COMMENTARY / World
May 17, 2024

Should we stay or should we go? China's dilemma in Pakistan

Beijing is pouring billions into Pakistan to complete a key Belt and Road initiative artery. But this is threatened by terrorist groups targeting Chinese nationals and interests.
Ships are seen near a temporary floating pier built to receive humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip in Gaza Beach in this image release on Saturday.
WORLD
May 18, 2024

Fierce fighting in northern Gaza as aid starts to roll off U.S.-built pier

As the fighting raged, the U.S. military said trucks started moving aid ashore from a temporary pier, the first to reach the besieged enclave by sea in weeks.
A man rides a bicycle past an electronic screen displaying the yen exchange rate against the U.S. dollar and other foreign currencies in Tokyo earlier this month.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 18, 2024

Short yen wagers linger due to gap between U.S.-Japan rate paths

The gulf between Japan’s ultralow interest rate and U.S. rates stuck at a two-decade high is keeping the pressure on the yen.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and his wife, Martha-Ann, visit the Capitol Rotunda as the Reverend Billy Graham lay in honor there in February 2018.
WORLD / Politics
May 18, 2024

Display at Alito’s home renews questions of U.S. Supreme Court’s impartiality

News of a popular “Stop the Steal” symbol on the justice’s front lawn led jurists and politicians to express concerns about coming court decisions.
A tactical ballistic missile with a new autonomous navigation system is test-fired at an undisclosed location in North Korea in this image released Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 18, 2024

North Korea confirms missile launch and vows bolstered nuclear force

North Korea has test-fired a tactical ballistic missile equipped with a "new autonomous navigation system," state media said Saturday.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman welcomes Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, last July.
JAPAN / FOCUS
May 18, 2024

Saudi crown prince seeks soft power in game hub Japan

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will visit Japan soon, where he will hold talks on energy while hunting more opportunities in gaming.
Ukrainian servicemen of the 148th Separate Artillery Brigade of the Ukrainian Air Assault Forces, fire a M777 howitzer toward Russian troops near a front line, in Ukraine's Donetsk region on May 1.
WORLD / FOCUS
May 19, 2024

Ukraine struggles to hold eastern front as Russians advance on cities

The drive has marked an inflection point in the conflict spawned by Russia's full-scale invasion more than two years ago.
Seize The Grey wins the Preakness Stakes as jockey Jamie Torres celebrates at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland, on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS / Horse Racing
May 19, 2024

Seize the Grey wins Preakness Stakes to deny Triple Crown hopeful Mystik Dan

Mystik Dan failed in its bid to become the 14th horse to complete U.S. flat racing's coveted Triple Crown.
Taiwan's Albatross II unmanned aerial vehicle is displayed as the island's Defense Ministry showcases its domestically developed drones to the media in Taichung, Taiwan, in March last year.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
May 19, 2024

Taiwan's Lai to bolster 'porcupine' defense against China threat

Lessons learned from the war in Ukraine about how rapidly developing drones can outfox traditional weaponry hint at new Taiwan leader Lai Ching-te's defense policy.
From the outside, the light-brown complex that is Fuchu Prison in western Tokyo could easily be mistaken for a city hall.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
May 19, 2024

Fuchu Prison adapting to foreign prisoners

The penitentiary houses the biggest population of foreign prisoners in Japan, and as such is taking measures to accommodate them in terms of language, culture, food and lifestyle.
As the Russo-Ukrainian war grinds into its third year, visas issued to first arrivals are approaching expiry just as the U.K. labor market cools and general interest in helping Ukrainians wanes.
WORLD / Society
May 19, 2024

Ukraine refugees face dwindling job opportunities in the U.K.

As the war enters its third year, the visas of first arrivals approach expiry just as the British labor market cools.
A man is detained after Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot at close range in an assassination attempt, after a government meeting in Handlova, Slovakia, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
May 19, 2024

A would-be assassin stirs Europe’s violent ghosts

Political violence and polarization stalk Europe today, with ominous echoes of the past.
Collin Morikawa waves to the crowd after making a putt on the 18th hole during the third round of the PGA Championship in Louisville, Kentucky, on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
May 19, 2024

Xander Schauffele and Collin Morikawa lead at PGA Championship

Xander Schauffele and Collin Morikawa are at the top of the leaderboard at 15-under-par, but six players are within two shots of the lead.
Rapidus' semiconductor foundry construction site in Chitose, Hokkaido, in December
BUSINESS
May 19, 2024

Government to consider more aid to Rapidus, industry minister says

Rapidus plans to start operating a prototype production line at the Chitose plant in April 2025 and launch mass production in 2027.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk and Indonesia's health minister, Budi Gunadi Sadikin, inaugurate the launch of the Starlink internet service in Bali's capital of Denpasar on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 19, 2024

Tycoon Musk launches Starlink in Indonesia

Millions of people in Indonesia, a vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, are not currently hooked up to reliable internet services.
People take selfies at a pop-up shop for the Japanese volleyball manga series "Haikyu!!" in Tokyo on April 19. Men's volleyball is flying high in Japan with the national team ranked fourth globally ahead of the Paris Olympics.
CULTURE / Books
May 22, 2024

'Haikyu!!': Comic heroes fuel Olympic volleyball manga mania in Japan

"Haikyu!!" has sold 60 million copies since its 2012 inception, and has been turned into an anime series and a film.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attends a meeting with Russia's president in Riyadh last December.
JAPAN / Politics
May 20, 2024

Saudi crown prince postpones Japan trip over king’s health

Saudi sources said Monday that members of the delegation would still travel to Japan for some talks.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp gives a speech after his final match in charge at Anfield in Liverpool, England, on Sunday, the final day of the Premier League season.
SOCCER
May 20, 2024

Jurgen Klopp encourages Liverpool fans to keep believing during emotional farewell

The beloved German encouraged the Anfield faithful to celebrate the moment, but embrace the future.
Crude oil tanker NS Creation, owned by Russia's leading tanker group Sovcomflot, transits the Bosphorus shipping strait in Istanbul in May 2022.
WORLD / Politics
May 20, 2024

Virtually every sanctioned Russian oil tanker is idle and empty

Since October, 40 ships involved in Russia’s oil trade have been added to the Treasury’s list of designated entities.
Ebrahim Raisi visiting the site of a road and rail bridge project in Azerbaijan on May 19
WORLD / Politics
May 20, 2024

Who will be Iran’s next president following Raisi’s death?

One of the big questions raised by Ebrahim Raisi’s death is how his absence is likely to affect the battle over who succeeds Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as Supreme Leader.
Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te delivers his inaugural speech after being sworn into office during the inauguration ceremony at the Presidential Office Building in Taipei on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 20, 2024

Lai Ching-te: From coal miner's son to Taiwan president

The Harvard graduate worked in a hospital in southern Taiwan before turning to politics in 1996 during the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis.
At the factory of 4R Energy Corp. in Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, a lithium-ion electric vehicle battery is disassembled to be reused. Batteries and EVs are among the strategic industries governments around the world aim to support through their industrial policies.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
May 20, 2024

Grasping industrial policy in the age of economic security

A new era of industrial policies is structured around three P's: promoting strategic industries, protecting emerging technologies and partnering with like-minded countries.
BOJ Gov. Kazuo Ueda has talked about the potential need for a monetary policy response given foreign exchange rates’ impact on the economy. Last month, the yen touched its weakest level in 34 years, ¥160 per dollar, before rebounding.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 20, 2024

BOJ Gov. Ueda finally toughens message on the weak yen

Though most of the factors behind the flailing currency lie outside of Japan, the central bank and Finance Ministry have some agency in determining events. They should use it.
Tesla is offering discounts and service improvements to appease European leasing companies upset by price cuts and repair issues.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 20, 2024

Tesla giving discounts to European fleet buyers in damage-control drive

After years of sharp growth, Tesla's global sales and profits are declining, with an 8.5% drop in deliveries during the first quarter, marking its first decrease in four years.
Language support groups in Fukushima Prefecture are calling for the creation of a better environment for foreign children to learn Japanese.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
May 27, 2024

With more foreign children, Fukushima struggles with language support

A number of children attending schools in the prefecture in fiscal 2023 were unable to fully understand Japanese.

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