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Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 4, 2020

Pfizer scaled back COVID-19 vaccine output targets earlier this year

Pfizer Inc. scaled back its COVID-19 production targets earlier this year after the drugmaker ran into difficulties securing all the materials it needs to produce the shots at a large scale.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 4, 2020

Biden pledges to take COVID-19 vaccine and retain top doctor Fauci

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden said on Thursday he would publicly take a coronavirus vaccine to demonstrate its safety to the public and pledged to retain the nation's top adviser on the pandemic, Anthony Fauci, when he takes office next month.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 4, 2020

South Korea considers tighter restrictions as coronavirus cases hit nine-month high

South Korea said it is considering tightening its social distancing rules as it reported 629 new coronavirus cases on Friday, the most since the first wave of infections in the country peaked in late February.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 3, 2020

China punctuates greater market freedoms with tough crackdowns

Last month alone, Beijing canned Ant Group's share sale, issued rules to root out monopolies in the internet sector and began scrutinizing investments in new energy vehicles.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 3, 2020

U.S. bans cotton imports from China producer XPCC citing Xinjiang 'slave labor'

The U.S. expanded economic pressure on China's western region of Xinjiang on Wednesday, banning cotton imports from a powerful Chinese quasi-military organization that it says uses the forced labor of detained Uighur Muslims.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 2, 2020

A road map for stabilizing Sino-American relations

By demonstrating a willingness to cooperate despite their fundamental differences, Biden and Xi can reassure the global community that cooler heads have prevailed in both countries.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Dec 2, 2020

Local businesses left in limbo as Japan's politicians squabble over Go To Travel campaign

By leaning on governors to determine whether travel and dining subsidies should be suspended in their area, Suga is delegating responsibility — or accountability — to local leaders.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 2, 2020

Signs of dissent within Thai military as protests grow

Social media is exposing discontent among some soldiers, police and civil servants after months of protests against Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha and the monarchy.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 2, 2020

Is China laying claim to kimchi, too? Some South Koreans think so.

A spat is raging this week over a Chinese state tabloid's claim that China had 'led” the development of an international standard for paocai, or pickled vegetables.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Dec 2, 2020

Could COVID-19 knock out the flu in Europe this winter?

As Europeans brace for a grim winter with the threat of rising COVID-19 infections, minimal numbers of flu cases recorded so far point to a possible silver lining.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Dec 1, 2020

Putting economy first, Suga hesitant to rein in Go To Travel program

The prime minister seems to hold the view that any cure involving a loss of economic momentum would be worse than the disease.
CULTURE
Dec 1, 2020

Amabie: Folklore apparition generated a big buzz in 2020

The long-haired, beak-faced amabie, which forecasts bountiful harvests and killer epidemics, has found itself in Japan's spotlight in recent months.
Analysts say the failure of Alimentation Couche-Tard’s attempt to acquire the operator of 7-Eleven stores runs counter to the broader trend in Japan's investing landscape.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 18, 2025

Couche-Tard’s failed bid for Seven and I sparks debate over foreign acquisitions

Couche-Tard's acquisition failure is seen as running counter to the broader trend in the investing landscape in Japan.
Rapidus last week printed circuitry on wafers using 2-nanometer gate-all-around process technology, President Atsuyoshi Koike told reporters Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 18, 2025

Rapidus reports 2-nanometer progress, moving Japan closer to semiconductor goals

Uncertainty about U.S. President Donald Trump’s willingness to defend Taiwan in the event of an attack is among motivations for Japan’s efforts to build its own foundry.
People vote during Japan's Upper House election at a polling station in Tokyo on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 20, 2025

Polls open for key Upper House election that could shake Japanese politics

A variety of scenarios await the country should the ruling coalition lose its majority in the Upper House — from an enlarged coalition to an opposition-led government.
South African Deputy Minister of Finance David Masondo (left), Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana (center) and South African Reserve Bank Gov. Lesetja Kganyago address a closing news conference on the last day of a meeting of Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Durban, South Africa on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 19, 2025

G20 communique delivers rare show of unity amid Trump trade war

U.S. tariffs have strained the G20’s multilateral foundations and complicated South Africa’s efforts — as this year’s rotating president — to keep the group’s agenda on course.
Tribal and bedouin fighters cross al-Mazraa village in Syria's Sweida governorate as they mobilize amid clashes with Druze gunmen on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 19, 2025

U.S. announces Syria-Israel truce as new clashes rock Druze heartland

At least 638 people have died since Sunday in violence between the Druze and Bedouins, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Since January, U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly pushed to secure more power for himself, calling for judges to be axed, firing independent watchdogs and sidestepping the legislative process.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jul 19, 2025

'Frightening': Trump's historic power grab worries experts

The Republican leader has spent six months testing the limits of his authority like no other modern U.S. president.
Torrential rains triggered a landslide in Sancheong, South Korea, on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 20, 2025

Death toll rises to 14 in South Korea as heavy rain triggers landslide and flooding

Two people have died and a further two were missing in the South Korean resort town of Gapyeong on Sunday amid heavy rainfall.
A Dole Food Company worker rakes coffee cherries for them to dry at the company's Waialua coffee and cocoa farm on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, in November 2011.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 20, 2025

Trump tariffs spell trouble for Hawaii’s few coffee farmers

Coffee is more popular in the U.S. than even bottled water, with two-thirds of Americans drinking it every day.
Rescue personnel gather around a capsized tourist boat in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam, on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 20, 2025

Death toll from Vietnam tourist boat accident climbs to at least 38

The vessel capsized Saturday afternoon carrying 48 tourists and five crew members in one of the worst boating accidents in recent years in the popular tourist area.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Jair Bolsonaro at Mar-a-Lago on March 7, 2020.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 21, 2025

Brazil’s top court defies Trump and signals no retreat on Bolsonaro

After the U.S. threatened 50% tariffs on Brazil, a group of justices advocated for the court to issue a statement challenging President Donald Trump ’s assertion of a "Witch Hunt.”
Sanseito leader Sohei Kamiya in Tokyo on Sunday night
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 21, 2025

‘Japanese First’ Sanseito emerges as powerful force after Upper House poll

The small rightwing populist party led by firebrand Sohei Kamiya won 14 seats in Sunday’s Upper House election.

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