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U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (left) speaks during an executive order signing ceremony with U.S. President Donald Trump and Howard Lutnick, chief executive officer of Cantor Fitzgerald and U.S. commerce secretary nominee, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Monday.
BUSINESS
Feb 4, 2025

Trump orders creation of U.S. sovereign wealth fund and says it could buy TikTok

The text of the executive order was sparse on details, and simply directed the Treasury and Commerce Departments to submit a plan for such a fund within 90 days.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is greeted by Kakao CEO Chung Shi-na during a press conference to announce partnerships on AI services in Seoul on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 4, 2025

OpenAI to deepen services within South Korea’s largest chat app

"We are particularly interested in AI and messaging," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told a press conference he held with Kakao CEO Chung Shi-na in Seoul.
Nintendo announced in January that it will release the console's hotly anticipated successor — the Switch 2 — in 2025, but stopped short of revealing details such as pricing.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 4, 2025

Nintendo cuts net profit forecast as Switch sales slow

Nintendo said it will release the console's hotly anticipated successor — the Switch 2 — in 2025 but stopped short of revealing details such as pricing.
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.
Brazil forward Neymar (left) fights for the ball during a training session at Rei Pele training centre, in Santos, Brazil on Tuesday.
SOCCER
Feb 4, 2025

Neymar homecoming is reminder of promise unfulfilled

Last week, 12 years on, he returned to first club Santos — Neymar the celebrity with unimaginable wealth, but a player whose fragile body has been badly diminished by injuries.
Trading company Mitsui
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 4, 2025

Japan's Mitsui could study Alaska LNG project, but no decision yet

Japan is considering offering support for a $44-billion gas pipeline in Alaska as it seeks to court U.S. President Donald Trump and forestall potential trade friction.
A Ukrainian serviceman fires a howitzer toward Russian troops, in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, on Jan. 11.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 4, 2025

Ukraine's politics warms up as U.S. focuses on war's endgame

In the past week, one Ukrainian political camp has accused President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's team of caring more about elections than the war.
China said on Tuesday it would impose tariffs on imports of U.S. energy, vehicles and equipment, firing a return salvo in an escalating trade war between the world's two biggest economies.
BUSINESS / Economy / EXPLAINER
Feb 4, 2025

Where things stand in China-U.S. trade tensions

China has made good on its threats to retaliate in the escalating trade war with the United States, imposing tariffs on American imports of energy, cars and machinery parts.
Highway One after a portion of the road collapsed into the Pacific Ocean in Monterey County, California, in March 2024
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Feb 4, 2025

These roads aren’t built for wilder weather driven by climate change

Worldwide warming temperatures are hammering roads that were built for a different climate and ballooning repair budgets.
A passenger plane for Japan Airlines sits on the tarmac at Tokyo International Airport at Haneda in Tokyo on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 4, 2025

Two ex-Japan Airlines pilots grounded after lying about drinking

JAL said last month its two most senior executives would take a 30% pay cut for two months over the incident.
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.
A gas flare on an Iranian oil production platform in 2005
WORLD / Politics
Feb 5, 2025

Trump reimposes 'maximum pressure' on Iran that aims for zero oil exports

Trump said he was open to a deal with Iran and expressed a willingness to talk to the Iranian leader.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 5, 2025

Trump says U.S. should control Gaza, sparking rebukes and ridicule

The proposal, at odds with Mideast reality and America’s fraught history in the region, quickly drew sharp opposition from Saudi Arabia.
Greenland Prime Minister Mute B. Egede answers questions after a parliament session in Nuuk on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 5, 2025

Greenland PM calls election with Trump pressure mounting

Most Greenlandic politicians have rejected the U.S. president’s idea to take over the island, but the demand has caused internal disruptions.
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 surge in management buyouts has come amid increasing pressure from activist investors to improve corporate value, and the burden of maintaining a listing.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 5, 2025

Japan weighs tougher management buyout rules to protect minority shareholders

A surge in buyouts has come amid increasing pressure from activist investors to improve corporate value.
Japan aims to attract more digital nomads from abroad, who are expected to stay longer in the country than tourists.
JAPAN
Feb 5, 2025

Japan to support efforts to attract digital nomads

The tourism agency will provide subsidies to cover part of the expenses for preparation of workplaces and accommodation for such workers.
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.
Next Generation Technology Group acquires companies in need of future leadership with competitive technologies and high margins, said Eiichi Arai, the Tokyo-based firm’s CEO.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 5, 2025

Tokyo’s first listing of the year soars in trading debut

The shares climbed as much as 58% to ¥3,165 in early trading in Tokyo on Wednesday.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) headquarters in Washington in 2023. Groups with EPA grants say they have been unable to access funds from the agency.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Feb 5, 2025

Trump’s freeze on climate money sows fear and confusion

A federal judge temporarily blocked the spending pause days later but uncertainty persists, with the full impact of the disruption still coming into view.
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.
A woman queues at Phedisong clinic on April 8, 2013, during the launch of the new single dose anti-AIDs medication in Ga-Rankuwa, 100 kilometers north of Johannesburg.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 5, 2025

'I don't want to die': Trump's aid plans incite fear in Africa

Trump's decision to pause foreign aid, and other orders and declarations relating to LGBTQ+ rights, have forced NGOs to wonder how secure future U.S. funding will be.
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.
DeepSeek's impressive AI breakthroughs have sparked global attention but face mounting U.S. scrutiny, with potential bans unlikely to stop its open-source technology from spreading worldwide.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 5, 2025

DeepSeek’s breakthroughs are too big for the U.S. to ban

The national security concerns behind the U.S. push to ban TikTok are even more pronounced when it comes to generative AI.
If Donald Trump abandons internationalism, partnerships and alliances, the result will be tragic for both humanity and America itself.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 5, 2025

The U.S. must avoid isolationism — a path to nowhere

The scariest aspect of the Trump presidency is that he promotes unpredictability and disruption as his principal techniques of governance and especially foreign policy.
U.S. President Donald Trump's imposed and since paused tariffs on Canada and Mexico, coupled with his broad levies on China — and possibly others soon — pose risks of economic retaliation, supply chain disruptions and long-term damage to U.S. influence.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 5, 2025

The tariff man is making a risky bet

The optimal tariff argument ignores the substantial risks that Trump is taking. A generalized trade war will make everyone worse off.

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