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Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (right) responds to questions from Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda (left) at a Lower House Budget Committee meeting on April 14.
JAPAN / Politics
May 9, 2025

Hung parliament keeps Lower House Legislative Bureau busy

As each party pushes its own agenda by drafting its own bills, the workload increases for the bureau, which supports lawmakers in such matters.
Princess Kako smiles during the spring garden party at the Akasaka Imperial Gardens in Tokyo on April 22.
JAPAN
May 9, 2025

Japan's Princess Kako to visit Brazil from June 4

This will be Princess Kako's fourth official visit to a foreign country, following her visit to Greece in May 2024.
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s top tariff negotiator, speaks to the press on Friday. Japan and the United States are still discussing what to negotiate.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 9, 2025

Japan stuck at starting line in tariff talks with U.S. as U.K. inks deals

The U.S. has warned that comparing Japan with the U.K. was apples and oranges, and that getting over the line with many countries will be a slow and arduous process.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba meets with Vietnamese President Luong Cuong in Hanoi on April 28. Ishiba’s visit to Vietnam and the Philippines highlighted Japan’s enduring Indo-Pacific strategy amid rising regional uncertainty.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 8, 2025

Japan’s durable 'Free and Open Indo-Pacific' strategy brings stability

So while Ishiba’s visit to Southeast Asia may have just seemed like another round of trips during a holiday week, they were emblematic of something much more than that.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters during the announcement of a trade agreement with Britain in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
May 10, 2025

China and the U.S. to talk trade war ceasefire — not peace

Ahead of the meeting, the two sides seem much further apart and at greater risk of a major fallout than during their first trade war in Trump's previous term.
Stephen Miller, deputy White House chief of staff for policy, speaks to members of the media outside the White House in Washington on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
May 10, 2025

Trump administration 'looking at' suspending right to court challenge for detainees

A top White House official said the administration is looking at suspending habeas corpus as part of U.S. President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with North Korean servicemen on Red Square after the Victory Day military parade in central Moscow on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
May 10, 2025

Putin hails troops in Ukraine as allies attend WWII parade

President Vladimir Putin vowed on Friday that Russia would win in Ukraine as the Soviet Union had in World War II.
A man stands amid debris on the roof of a damaged house, following Pakistan's military operation against India, in Rehari, Jammu, on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 10, 2025

Trump says India and Pakistan have agreed to 'immediate ceasefire'

The U.S. leader said the nuclear-armed rivals had agreed to a "full" ceasefire after both launched strikes and counterstrikes against each other's military installations.
A security guard stands outside a branch of Yes Bank in New Delhi last August.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 10, 2025

Japan's SMBC to buy stake in India's Yes Bank

The Sumitomo Mitsui deal marks the biggest foreign investment in India’s banking sector, and is the latest move by Japanese lenders to expand in the country.
U.S. President Donald Trump makes a trade announcement as U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick (second from left), U.S. Vice President JD Vance (third from left), British Ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson (third from right),  U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer (second from right) and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins (right) look on in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
May 10, 2025

Trump’s first trade pact offers faint glimpse of art of the deal

For global leaders puzzling over how to negotiate with Donald Trump, the U.S. president’s inaugural pact with the U.K. offers a few clues on how much ground he’s prepared to give.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent takes questions at the White House on April 29. Bessent, a former hedge fund manager, is leading trade talks with China in Geneva.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 11, 2025

U.S. and China conclude first day of talks in bid to ease trade war

U.S. President Donald Trump said negotiators had "a very good meeting” on their first day of an effort to deescalate the rivals' trade war.
Italy's Jannik Sinner in action during his round of 64 match against Argentina's Mariano Navone during the Italian Open in Rome on Saturday
TENNIS
May 11, 2025

Sinner enjoys triumphant return at Italian Open following doping ban

For the three-time Grand Slam champion, winning not about just about victory on home soil but also rebuilding momentum.
Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Corbin Burnes (39) throws against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the first inning at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona, on Saturday.
BASEBALL / MLB
May 11, 2025

Diamondbacks' Corbin Burnes silences Dodgers with seven scoreless

Shohei Ohtani and Max Muncy singled and walked for the Dodgers, who were shut out for the third time this season.
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.
Idemitsu Kosan President Noriaki Sakai speaks during an interview in Tokyo on April 23.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 11, 2025

Idemitsu to enhance all-solid-state battery business

All-solid-state batteries have shorter charging times and enable vehicles to travel longer per charge, compared with conventional batteries.
(L to R) German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, France’s Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Keir Starmer of the U.K. and Poland’s Donald Tusk following a news conference at St. Mary’s Palace in Kyiv on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
May 12, 2025

Trump’s Ukraine push coming to a head with challenge to Putin

Following a weekend of hectic diplomacy, Zelenskyy said he will travel to Istanbul on May 15 where Putin has proposed direct negotiations between the two countries.
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.
Pope Leo XIV, in his first public appearance after he was elected, on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, on Thursday
WORLD / Politics
May 12, 2025

World Catholics see the first American pope as hardly American

The new pope, formerly Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, has signaled that his identity will defy easy categorization.
Barcelona's Lamine Yamal takes a shot during his team's match against Real Madrid in Barcelona, Spain, on Sunday.
SOCCER
May 12, 2025

Barcelona stages thrilling rally to top Real Madrid and move to brink of title

Barcelona battled back to claim a fourth "clasico" victory from four meetings this season, showing its dominance over Carlo Ancelotti's side.
South Korean 50,000 won banknotes are prepared at the Bank of Korea headquarters ahead of the Lunar New Year in Seoul on Jan. 14.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 12, 2025

Seeking emerging currency bargains, investors take fresh look at Asia

Asian currencies are finding their cheapness has become an asset as traders seek to capitalize on the dollar’s eroding premium status.
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.
Thunder guard Aaron Wiggins reacts after a basket against the Nuggets during Game 4 of their Western Conference semifinal series in Denver on Sunday.
BASKETBALL / NBA
May 12, 2025

Thunder earn ugly win over Nuggets to even series at 2-2

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 25 points with six rebounds and six assists.
An electric vehicle factory in Ningbo, China, on April 9, 2024. For years, Xi Jinping, the leader of China, has planned to make the world dependent on its exports and know-how, but the strategy has costs for his own country.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 12, 2025

This is the trade conflict Xi Jinping has been waiting for

A willingness to weaponize the supply chain may be one of the starkest examples of how Xi is redefining China’s relationship with the world.
Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Hiroshi Moriyama speaks in the city of Kagoshima on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 12, 2025

LDP and CDP see consumption tax cut as election issue

CDP leader Yoshihiko Noda told reporters in Sapporo that if the ruling camp does not decide on the consumption tax cut, it would have to become an election issue.
U.S. President Donald Trump pumps a fist as he disembarks Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport, West Palm Beach, Florida, on April 11.
WORLD / Politics
May 12, 2025

Trump set to accept luxury jet as gift from Qatar

The super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet is to be used as Air Force One, sources told ABC News.
Yoshitaka Toda, the suspect in Wednesday's knife attack at Todaimae Station on the Tokyo Metro Nanboku Line, leaves a police station in the Japanese capital the same day for a pre-detention medical examination.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 12, 2025

More details emerge about stabbing near Tokyo University metro station

Yoshitaka Toda, 43, claimed he stabbed a student to show how academic pressure could push a child off course.
Police have arrested a 15-year-old boy in connection with a stabbing of an elderly woman in the city of Chiba.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 12, 2025

15-year-old arrested for alleged murder of elderly woman in Chiba

Police are investigating the possibility that he randomly attacked the woman as they did not know each other.
Riders sprint for the finish line during the third stage of the Giro d'Italia in Vlore, Albania, on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Cycling
May 12, 2025

Cyclist hit by charging goat during third stage of Giro d'Italia

Video footage showed the animal breaking out of a herd that had been kept under control as the peloton passed before contacting the back wheel of Smith's bike.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent attend a news conference after trade talks with China, in Geneva on Monday.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 12, 2025

U.S. and China agree to lower tariffs in 90-day cooling-off period

The temporary move will give the world’s two largest economies three more months to resolve their differences.
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.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past