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Sam Altman (left) and Elon Musk were among the 11-person team that founded OpenAI in 2015.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 12, 2025

AI feud: How Musk and Altman's partnership turned toxic

Facing a barrage of hostility, Altman has increasingly suggested that Musk's actions stem from regret over leaving OpenAI in 2018.
Nancy Gordon, Australia's commissioner-general for the Osaka Expo, in Canberra <i>on Monday</i>
JAPAN
Feb 12, 2025

Australia aims to use Osaka Expo to work more with Japan on decarbonization

Canberra also aims to promote collaboration in the field of space technology, with its expo pavilion slated to hold an event with JAXA.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after signing a proclamation renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, while flying over the gulf aboard Air Force One en route to New Orleans to attend the Super Bowl on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 12, 2025

White House media protest after reporter barred over 'Gulf of Mexico' policy

The Associated Press was informed by the White House it would be barred unless it aligned its editorial standards with the U.S. president's order on renaming the body of water.
A Good me tea store, operated by Guming Holdings Ltd., in Chongqing, China, on Saturday. The tea chain's shares began trading in Hong Kong on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 12, 2025

Hong Kong’s latest bubble tea IPO mints another billionaire

Guming Holdings' IPO has made founder Yun’an Wang a billionaire as China’s bubble tea market continues its rapid expansion.
Fredric Gushin, president and CEO of Spectrum Gaming Group
BUSINESS
Feb 12, 2025

Thailand's big casino gamble hangs on fine print of regulations

Experts warn success will come only by playing its cards right on regulation.
Sara Errani (left) and Andrea Vavassori playing Donald Young and Taylor Townsend in the mixed doubles final on Day 11 of the 2024 U.S. Open tennis tournament.
TENNIS
Feb 12, 2025

Fury as U.S. Open chiefs announce mixed doubles revamp

In a dramatic move that was greeted with criticism, U.S. Open organizers said the mixed doubles event would take place over two days of competition with an amended rulebook.
The entrance to Walt Disney studios in Burbank, California
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 12, 2025

Disney softens diversity criteria used to determine manager pay

Disney is the latest company to soften its focus on diversity, equity and inclusion amid a growing backlash against such policies by mostly conservative groups.
A Nissan Motor X-Trail vehicle at the company's showroom in Tokyo's Ginza district
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 12, 2025

Foxconn signals interest in buying Renault's stake in Nissan

The company has approached both Renault and Nissan about potential cooperation.
Netflix series “Asura,” directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, is a remake of a classic TV drama (known as “Like Asura” in English), created by Kuniko Mukoda and broadcast by NHK between 1979 and 1980.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Feb 12, 2025

The different faces of ‘Asura’ through the generations

While Hirokazu Kore-eda’s new series meticulously remakes a classic NHK drama, this reinterpretation tweaks the story to give its female characters more agency.
A monitor in Tokyo shows the yen at the ¥153 level against the dollar on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 12, 2025

Yen underperforms major currencies on Trump tariff uncertainties

Japan’s currency has dropped to ¥153.73 against the dollar, its weakest level in a week and lagging all major peers.
Shishi (left) wrestles Tokihayate at the Fukuoka Kokusai Center on Nov. 10.
SUMO / Inside Sumo
Feb 12, 2025

Could Ukraine be the next nation to produce a yokozuna?

The amateur powerhouse is starting to make its presence felt in professional sumo.
The U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson conducts routine operations in the South China Sea last August. The vessel, along with survey ship USNS Bowditch, carried out a “routine” transit through the Taiwan Strait from Monday to Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 12, 2025

U.S. warship sails through Taiwan Strait for first time since Trump inauguration

China's military said the move had "sent the wrong signals" and "increased security risks” in the strategic waterway.
A Self-Defense Forces member leads residents in Fukamimachi, a village in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, to a rescue helicopter, on a destroyed road in January last year.
JAPAN
Feb 12, 2025

Japan to subsidize efforts to prevent emergency roads from collapsing

Many roads built on piled-up soil collapsed after a powerful earthquake struck the Noto Peninsula in January 2024.
Employees assemble D-Max trucks on an assembly line at Isuzu's Samrong Plant in Samut Prakan Province, Thailand, in March.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 12, 2025

Isuzu to build car plant in South Carolina as Trump tariffs loom

Isuzu plans to have the site up and running by 2027, aiming to employ more than 700 workers there by 2028 and produce 50,000 vehicles annually by 2030.
Construction workers in Pasadena, California, on Tuesday. The U.S. could lose millions of workers in the construction industry if President Donald Trump carries through on his campaign of mass deportations, with workers in agriculture, bars and restaurants also at risk.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Feb 12, 2025

Trump deportations send construction workers 'back to the shadows'

Such a response could worsen a labor shortage that already threatens to delay homebuilding and exacerbate a housing affordability crisis.
Business input in the European Union's AI Act creation has been limited, leading to unresolved issues and uncertainties that could hinder sectors like finance and health care.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2025

Europe’s CEOs must speak up on AI regulation

In the case of the EU’s AI Act, a lack of business participation in the drafting process has already left critical implementation details unresolved.
Japanese companies face mounting pressure as U.S.-China tensions grow, forcing them to navigate security concerns, economic dependencies and shifting trade policies.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 12, 2025

For Japanese firms, the China dilemma is set to intensify

“America First” and “Make America Great Again” are simple slogans that can be fitted to any outcome. All that ultimately matters is the final say of the president.
The Maritime Self-Defense Force's Mogami stealth frigate, of the class of the same name, takes part in an international fleet review to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the foundation of MSDF in Sagami Bay, south of Tokyo, in November 2022.
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2025

With eye on contract, Japan to send Mogami-class frigate to Australia for drills

The dispatch comes as Japan vies with Germany for a lucrative contract to build new frigates for Canberra.
The city of Toyama. Under a new plan, the government of Toyama Prefecture, which lies on the Sea of Japan coast, will send officials to Shizuoka Prefecture in the event of a Nankai Trough megaquake.
JAPAN
Feb 12, 2025

Partner prefecture plan eyed for Nankai Trough quake

The ministry will formally adopt the new plan by the end of fiscal 2024 for implementation in April.
A hapless rakugo comic storyteller, Tamon Saito (Tomizo Nobe, left), strikes up an unlikely relationship with a young comedian (Nagiko Tsuji) who wants to rip off his routine in “Laugh, Everyone!”
CULTURE / Film
Feb 13, 2025

'Laugh, Everyone!’: A wonky but endearing double act

Taichi Suzuki’s comedian buddy movie walks a fine line between funny and bleak.
Israeli soldiers stand on top of a tank at the border with the Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
WORLD
Feb 13, 2025

Israel calls up reservists as fears over Gaza ceasefire breaking grow

Hamas had agreed to free three more hostages on Saturday but said this week that it was suspending the handover over what it said were Israeli violations of the terms.
Oil pump jacks in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, on June 4, 2023
WORLD / Politics
Feb 13, 2025

Russia braces for oil output cuts as sanctions and drones hit

The level of complexity involved in refining and selling Russian oil is said to be becoming too much, with everyone "waiting for this war to be over."
The Imperial Household Agency's renewed website is also optimized for smartphones.
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2025

Imperial Household Agency's website optimized for smartphones

About ¥9.6 million was spent on renovating the website and adding a panoramic photo in fiscal 2024.
South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol attends a hearing of his impeachment trial over his short-lived imposition of martial law, at the Constitutional Court in Seoul on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 13, 2025

South Korea's Yoon back in court for impeachment hearing

Yoon was detained last month on insurrection charges, becoming the first sitting South Korean head of state to be arrested.
Susan Holt, New Brunswick’s premier, speaks during a news conference in Washington on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Feb 13, 2025

Canada’s 13 premiers descend on Washington to play the China card

For the first time, all 13 of the country’s premiers were in Washington together, lobbying Republican lawmakers against President Donald Trump’s proposed import taxes.
A "biohybrid" robot hand developed by a research team from the University of Tokyo and Waseda University
JAPAN / Science & Health
Feb 13, 2025

Japanese research team develops world’s largest 'biohybrid' robot hand

Lack of nutrients, necrosis and muscle fiber alignment issues have limited the scale of previous "biohybrid" systems.
Visitors look at information promoting Saudi Arabia's Neom megaproject at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 22.
WORLD
Feb 13, 2025

Why are TikTok 'momfluencers' lauding Saudi Arabia's desert megacity?

One Thai "momfluencer" shared a video of her "typical afternoon in Neom." The video has been viewed around 800,000 times. The city it shows is almost deserted.
Following weeks of talks after Nissan Motor President Makoto Uchida and Honda President and CEO Toshihiro Mibe's December announcement of a possible merger, the two automakers confirmed on Thursday that the deal is officially off.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 13, 2025

Honda and Nissan cancel megamerger after weeks of negotiations

The automakers failed to find the common ground needed to reach an agreement, though they still intend to work together in other areas.
Rory McIlroy celebrates on the 18th hole after winning the Pebble Beach Pro-Am in Pebble Beach, California, on Feb. 2.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
Feb 13, 2025

Rory McIlroy had conversation with Donald Trump about PGA-LIV deal

McIlroy said he played golf with Trump in early January and felt Trump supported the PGA over Saudi-backed LIV.
While Nariaki Obukuro’s previous releases often included lyrics with specific references pulled from his own experiences, on “Zatto,” he’s stepping back to explore the joy and pain of the wider world.
CULTURE / Music
Feb 13, 2025

Nariaki Obukuro found his groove — just not on the dance floor

A J-pop insider’s shift to soul, reggae and flamenco reflects his personal growth, time spent in London and current events.

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