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U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visits the Guozijian Hutong Alley in Beijing on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 9, 2024

Yellen threatens sanctions for China banks that aid Russia war

America’s ultimate weapon against financial institutions is its ability to cut off access to U.S. dollars, a threat for any bank operating internationally.
NATO’s Jens Stoltenberg (left) and the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a news conference in Washington on Jan. 29
WORLD / Politics
Apr 9, 2024

World rush to rearm could cost G7 countries $10 trillion over next decade

Security challenges include an aggressive Russia, a volatile Middle East, and the Chinese military tugging U.S. attention toward the Pacific.
U.S. President Joe Biden waves with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his wife, Yuko, as first lady Jill Biden looks on at the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 10, 2024

Kishida kicks off state visit to U.S., with allies set for 'historic' defense upgrade

The state visit, which will include all the trimmings — including a swanky gala banquet — will be the culmination of years of deepening cooperation.
U.S. Steel's Edgar Thomson steel mill in Braddock, Pennsylvania
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 11, 2024

How the U.S. Steel takeover became about Biden and swing states

The turmoil threatens to strain U.S. relations with Japan while underscoring how the politics of winning swing-state voters influences business.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attend an an arrival ceremony as part of a state visit by Kishida, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 11, 2024

Global ambitions? U.S. and Japan eye a boosted partnership, but the hurdles are high.

Can Japan truly be America's "global partner"? Experts are divided over the issue.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks in Tehran on Wednesday. He said that Israel "must be punished, and it shall be."
WORLD / Politics
Apr 12, 2024

Iran will not be hasty in response to Israel attack, sources say

Iran is seen as going with a measured response to Israel's April 1 attack on its Syrian embassy.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump leaves the court after a pre-trial hearing in a hush money case in New York on March 25. As Trump faces a slew of trials, his opponents should take the comparison to Hitler's court room dramas seriously.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 3, 2024

The Hitler trial’s lessons in the Trump era

As former U.S. President Donald Trump faces a slew of trials, his opponents should take the comparison to Hitler's court room dramas seriously.
“Butter” author Asako Yuzuki was inspired by the real-life story of Kanae Kijima, who was nicknamed the “Black Widow” and the “Konkatsu Killer” by the media for killing three men she dated to maintain her luxurious lifestyle of gourmet meals and a high-end cooking school.
CULTURE / Books
Apr 12, 2024

Asako Yuzuki's 'Butter' is a heady serving of food culture and feminism

The author's foodie femme fatale character was inspired by a real-life "black widow" case that caught the public's attention in 2009.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida tours a new Toyota battery factory in Liberty, North Carolina, with state Gov. Roy Cooper (second from right) on Friday.
BUSINESS
Apr 13, 2024

Kishida touts Japan’s investments in U.S. with visit to swing-state Toyota plant

The prime minister visited the North Carolina plant where Toyota last year injected an additional $8 billion to make batteries for electric vehicles.
Iowa guard Caitlin Clark is widely expected to be the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft on Monday.
BASKETBALL
Apr 15, 2024

Caitlin Clark leads way as top star in intriguing WNBA Draft

The Indiana Fever will — barring an unfathomable change of direction — select Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark with the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida addresses a joint session of Congress in Washington on Thursday. Kishida’s recent summit with U.S. President Joe Biden is being lauded as a success.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 16, 2024

Give credit where credit’s due after prime minister's outstanding U.S. summit

The Japan-U.S. summit has been rightly called historic and a big deal for Tokyo and the alliance — if its long list of deliverables is realized.
A direct military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities by the U.S. and its allies would likely only delay its program while risking regional war and increasing the likelihood of Tehran acquiring nuclear weapons in the long run.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 16, 2024

Iran hawks want to strike now. They're wrong.

One thing Iran hawks get right, starting with the contention that by attacking Israel directly on Saturday night, Iran changed rules of engagement.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks during a news conference at the Pentagon in Washington in May last year. Austin held talks with his Chinese counterpart on Tuesday for the first time in nearly a year and a half.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 17, 2024

U.S. and China defense chiefs hold first talks in nearly 18 months

While the talks signaled improving military-to-military ties, the two superpowers remain at odds over a number of issues.
Tesla's troubles started in October when it warned that demand for EVs was starting to slow, but the full extent of that weakness only became apparent this month.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 17, 2024

Tesla’s value dips below $500 billion in blow to stock bulls

The electric vehicle maker's troubles started in October when it warned that demand for EVs was starting to slow.
U.S. President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and British leader Rishi Sunak deliver remarks on the AUKUS partnership, after a trilateral meeting, at Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego in March last year.
JAPAN / Politics / EXPLAINER
Apr 17, 2024

Benefits and risks: AUKUS looks to take gamble on Japan

The group sees potential benefits in tapping Japan’s strong industrial and technological capacity.
South Korean officials count ballots following a parliamentary election on April 10. President Yoon Suk-yeol’s conservative bloc is set for a major setback in a vote for a new parliament, exit polls showed, likely meaning he will be in a weak position for the remaining three years of his term and face political gridlock.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 18, 2024

Billionaire families lose hope for tax cut after Korean vote

South Korea’s regular maximum inheritance levy of as much as 50% is the second-highest among members of the OECD, after 55% in Japan.
Ideal or not, the reality of the world is that one currency, the U.S. dollar, is first among equals.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 18, 2024

Asian currencies can't fight the dollar on a rampage

Markets tend to reflect economic performance. And ideal or not, the reality of a world is one currency, the U.S. dollar, is truly first among equals.
Defense Minister Minoru Kihara is considering visiting Hawaii for talks with his U.S. counterpart, Lloyd Austin.
JAPAN
Apr 18, 2024

Japan and U.S. mull holding defense ministers meeting in Hawaii

Kihara and Austin are expected to agree to accelerate efforts to realize more effective command and control systems for the Japan-U.S. alliance.
A Ukrainian lieutenant colonel examines the remains of his aircraft on the outskirts of the town of Izyum, Kharkiv region, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 19, 2024

Ukraine’s allies see bleak times without more air defenses

G7 ministers are expected to agree to step up shipments of military equipment and to reaffirm their "unwavering determination” to support Ukraine.
Members of the North Pacific Fisheries Commission have agreed to cut the 2024 catch quota for saury in the high seas in the northern Pacific in response to declining resources.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2024

Japan and others agree to cut northern Pacific saury catch quota

Nine economies agreed to introduce the rule to calculate catch quotas based on scientific evidence.
The main goal of Australian's new defense strategy is to change a potential adversary’s belief that it could achieve its ambitions with military force at an acceptable cost.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 19, 2024

Australia, like Japan, sees national security interests ‘farther afield’

The goal of Australia's new strategy is to change a potential adversary’s belief that it could achieve its ambitions with force at an acceptable cost.
People attend a protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and to call for the release of hostages kidnapped in the deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Tel Aviv on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 21, 2024

Fears over Iran buoy Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu at home. For now.

The PM's political future seemed bleak following October's deadly attack by Hamas militants, with critics blaming him for the security failure.
Cracked and dry earth in the wide riverbed of the Loire River near the Anjou-Bretagne bridge, amid a heat wave in Ancenis-Saint-Gereon, France, in 2022
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Apr 22, 2024

Europe's record 'extreme heat stress' days in 2023 put lives at risk: report

Prolonged exposure to heat stress is particularly dangerous for vulnerable people such as the elderly or those with preexisting health conditions.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken holds a news conference at the end of a Group of Seven foreign ministers meeting on Capri Island, Italy, on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 23, 2024

Top U.S. diplomat returns to China, but breakthroughs unlikely

From Ukraine and Taiwan to the South China Sea and the Middle East, the list of bilateral and global issues on the agenda will be long.
A Chugoku Electric Power office in Kaminoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2024

Drilling survey starts in Yamaguchi town for nuclear facility

The survey, to continue for six months, is scheduled to be conducted at a depth of 100-300 meters underground.
TikTok accounts for a small share of ByteDance's total revenues and daily active users, so the parent would rather have the app shut down in the U.S. in a worst-case scenario than sell it to a potential American buyer, sources said.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 26, 2024

ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in U.S. if legal options fail, sources say

A shutdown would have limited impact on its business, and it would not have to give up its "secret sauce" — the algorithm that pushes videos to users.
Canadian singer Avril Lavigne attends the opening ceremony of Gap Flagship Ginza in Tokyo in 2011, three years before releasing her music video for the Japan-inspired track “Hello Kitty.”
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Apr 26, 2024

Avril Lavigne walked so today's influencer tourists could Mario Kart

Ten years ago, the pop star’s ‘Hello Kitty’ video drew outrage from the West, but she wouldn’t be the last visitor to use Tokyo as a backdrop for content.
TikTok raised eyebrows last month when it mobilized users to petition against a potential ban, demonstrating its influence on Americans.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 30, 2024

TikTok and Tesla just the start of U.S.-China clash over Big Data

Data security is again taking center stage in the intensifying rivalry between the U.S. and China.
A screen shows Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron, at the GAC Motor booth at the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition in Beijing on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 30, 2024

Xi seems on a mission to drive a wedge between Europe and the U.S.

During his five-day trip to France, Serbia and Hungary on Sunday, Chinese President Xi Jinping plans to show the EU how much China can offer them.
The Naughton coal power plant in Kemmerer, Wyoming. Ministers from the Group of Seven countries have agreed on a schedule for phasing out coal-fired power plants, setting as a goal the mid-2030s.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
May 1, 2024

G7 to phase out coal-fired power plants by mid-2030s

The move was hailed as significant by some environmentalists but slammed as "too late" by others.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji