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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 24, 2021

GM, Google and others join retreat from CES over rising COVID-19 cases

The event will still be held in person, but with 'strong safety measures,' including vaccination requirements, masking and COVID-19 tests.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 24, 2021

Israel considers fourth vaccine doses, but some experts say it’s premature

Experts advising the Israeli government have recommended a fourth vaccine dose, but some scientists have warned that too many shots may cause a sort of immune system fatigue.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 24, 2021

Biden signs bipartisan law punishing China for Uyghur moves

The measure is motivated by concern about the oppression of Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang region, which holds a major place in global supply chains.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 23, 2021

Turning inward: Why China continues to rise

The heyday of globalization soon could be replaced by a post-pandemic era shaped by national-security concerns and border controls.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 23, 2021

Omicron brings new risks to mostly unvaccinated pregnant women

About 75% of expectant mothers in the U.K. and about 65% in the U.S. remain unvaccinated, making them among the groups most at risk of getting infected.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 23, 2021

North Korea's Kim praises outgoing Chinese envoy for fostering 'fresh heyday' in ties

In response, former Ambassador Li Jinjun congratulated the North Korean people on 'making progress in all fields of socialist construction.'
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 23, 2021

China cements rare earths dominance with merger to create new global giant

The country controls most of the world's mined output of rare earths, a broad group of 17 elements that are used in everything from smartphones to fighter jets.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 23, 2021

Pro-China group continues to spread misinformation, researchers say

More than 2,000 accounts have promoted falsehoods such as COVID-19 misinformation and the denial of human rights abuses in China's Xinjiang region.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 23, 2021

Pfizer pill adds to growing U.S. stockpile of COVID-19 treatments

Infections are rising across the country, but the treatments will give doctors a larger arsenal with which to fight severe coronavirus cases.
Japan Times
PODCAST / deep dive
Dec 22, 2021

Chris Broad's 'Blade Runner' fantasy comes to life

Chris Broad invited us up to visit his new Blade Runner-inspired studio in Sendai, where we recorded this episode of Deep Dive.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2021

As Japan braces for omicron, authorities prepare to quarantine close contacts

On Tuesday, the government instructed all omicron close contacts to be quarantined at a facility monitored by central or local government officials for 14 days.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2021

Japan reports first community transmission of omicron variant

Japan reported its first community transmission of the omicron variant of the coronavirus in Osaka Prefecture, with three people confirmed to have contracted the virus through unknown routes, the prefecture's governor said Wednesday.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 22, 2021

How Japan-North Korea relations changed under Kim Jong Un

Last Friday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un marked 10 years in power. Recent observers have focused on nuclear weapons and diplomacy with South Korea and the United States, but there are under-discussed considerations related to Japan-North Korea ties.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBA
Dec 22, 2021

The NBA, like most other leagues, plans to persist amid omicron

The NBA's approach to omicron is much like that of most other North American team sports leagues, which appear determined to keep playing games and welcoming fans.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 22, 2021

SBI's Yoshitaka Kitao 'totally agrees' with suggested delisting of Shinsei Bank

Having secured effective control of the bank, Kitao could delist it in order to pay back funds Shinsei has owed taxpayers since a 1998 bailout.
The street where a 10-year-old boy is said to have been stabbed with a knife, on Thursday in Shenzhen in southern China.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 19, 2024

Japanese school student stabbed in Shenzhen dies

The assault echoes an earlier incident of violence in June, when a man attacked a bus used by a Japanese school in Suzhou, China.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell holds a news conference following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee on interest rate policy in Washington on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 19, 2024

Fed cuts rates by half-point in decisive bid to defend economy

It is the Fed’s first rate cut in more than four years.
Defense Minister Wellington Koo (second left) inspects troops during a live fire exercise at the Fangshan training grounds in Pingtung, Taiwan, on Aug 26.
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 19, 2024

Taiwan 'paying great attention' to Hezbollah pager explosions

Taiwan-based Gold Apollo said it did not manufacture the devices used in the attack in Lebanon.
Elon Musk has tried to portray the judge’s efforts as a dangerous example of state overreach and an attack on free speech, while supporters say the campaign is necessary to clean up the internet.
BUSINESS
Sep 19, 2024

Elon Musk’s X bypasses Brazil ban through a software update

Brazil’s telecoms regulator, Anatel, said there was no change in the Supreme Court decision to ban X, formally known as Twitter.
Lawson President Sadanobu Takemasu (center) says the nation's labor shortage is the biggest challenge its convenience stores face.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 19, 2024

Lawson to open convenience stores of the 'future' next spring in Tokyo

The goal of the project is to help reduce the workload of store staff by 30% by fiscal 2030.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell injected uncertainty as to where future rates will ultimately land during his news conference following the Federal Open Market Committee meeting in Washington on Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 19, 2024

The Fed’s uncertain destination troubles the bond market

The upshot is that longer-term bond yields don’t have much room to fall in the near-term unless the economy weakens materially.
Circle K owner Alimentation Couche-Tard’s initial $14.86-a-share proposal, seen as cheap at only 20% above Seven & I’s share price, may fail without a higher bid.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 19, 2024

How 7-Eleven can get a big price from Circle K

Alimentation Couche-Tard’s initial $14.86-a-share proposal, seen as cheap at only 20% above Seven & I’s share price, is unlikely to succeed without a higher bid.
Shohei Ohtani connects on his 50th home run of the season during the seventh inning against the Marlins in Miami on Thursday. Ohtani became the first player in MLB history to reach 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in the same season.
BASEBALL / MLB
Sep 20, 2024

Shohei Ohtani records baseball's first 50-50 season with huge night in Miami

Shohei Ohtani is the first player in MLB history to reach 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in the same season.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen speaks during a news conference in Singapore on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Sep 20, 2024

Max Verstappen riled up by call for F1 drivers to swear less

Mercedes's seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton took issue with the FIA's comparison to rappers, saying there was a "racial element" at play.
Anthony Joshua (left) and Daniel Dubois during a pre-bout news conference in London on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS / Boxing
Sep 20, 2024

Dubois and Joshua primed for Wembley heavyweight showdown

The British boxers left the hype to their promoters as they met in a low-key news conference ahead of Saturday's IBF world heavyweight title fight at Wembley Stadium.
A smartphone running ChatGPT4o as it tries to solve a geometry problem in San Francisco on May 28.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 20, 2024

OpenAI unveils new ChatGPT that can reason through math and science

The new technology is part of a wider effort to build AI that can reason through complex tasks.
The Fair Trade Commission says rules preventing pro baseball players from freely choosing their agents for contract negotiations could violate the antimonopoly law.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 20, 2024

Japan FTC warns pro baseball body over agent rules

The body's rules have limited agents for players to lawyers and prohibited players from choosing lawyers who had already been picked by other players.
Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani hits his 50th home run of the season on Thursday in Miami.
BASEBALL / MLB
Sep 20, 2024

Ohtani’s former manager elated — but not surprised — after historic mark

Even as Ohtani rewrites the record books, Hideki Kuriyama believes he can do more.
Scientists used a version of ChatGPT to challenge conspiracy theories and beliefs and found people more open to evidence than expected, contradicting the "post-truth" era idea.
COMMENTARY
Sep 20, 2024

AI can debunk conspiracy theories better than humans

Believers often invest huge amounts of time in researching their theories online. Maybe only LLMs can keep up.

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