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Mitsubishi has dismissed Gong Huayong, a Shanghai-based copper trader at one of its China units, after finding that he had made unauthorized trades with local companies, including some that were related to him.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 4, 2024

Mitsubishi loses $90 million in suspected China metal fraud

The company has dismissed a Shanghai-based copper trader after finding that he had made unauthorized trades with local companies.
Keiko Muto, a suspect arrested on burglary resulting in injury charges after allegedly acting as the financial coordinator, is being transferred in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 4, 2024

Saitama police arrest suspected yami baito financial coordinator

A 26-year-old woman was arrested for allegedly acting as the financial coordinator in a violent burglary that occurred in October.
A grapnel, used to retrieve cables, on the deck of the Leon Thevenin in Cape Town on April 30. In a wireless world, it is easy to forget the all-too-real cables that snake across the turbulent ocean floor — until they snap.
WORLD
Dec 4, 2024

When undersea cables break, a wireless world’s vulnerability is exposed

Landslides, a ship dragging its anchor, military skirmishes and sabotage can all damage cables.
Members of the media work near the scene where the CEO of UnitedHealthcare Brian Thompson was reportedly shot and killed in Midtown Manhattan in New York City on Wednesday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Dec 5, 2024

Questions of motive emerge in UnitedHealthcare CEO’s killing

Police in New York said it appears that UnitedHealthcare's CEO was targeted.
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the CHIPS act in Syracuse, New York, in October 2022. America is still struggling with chip self-sufficiency despite limiting China’s access to key technology.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 4, 2024

The chip war turns two

The U.S. struggles with chip self-sufficiency despite limiting China’s access to technology, while China makes strides in NAND and HBM chips despite significant barriers.
PayPay Bank is competing for funds as rates rise.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 5, 2024

PayPay Bank paying big to attract deposits, with offer of 2% on dollars and yen

The offer is many times the rates advertised by competing banks and applies to yen deposits of up to ¥5 million, with no limit for dollar deposits.
A navy serviceman is reflected on a radar screen aboard the BRP Tarlac landing ship off the shore of Calayan Island, the Philippines, on June 30, 2023. Japan is providing another tranche of military aid to the Philippines that will include a grant for additional coastal surveillance radar systems, boats and other equipment.
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2024

Manila to get more radars and boats from Tokyo under new military aid tranche

The grant is intended to help strengthen the capabilities of the Philippines' navy and air force, the Foreign Ministry says.
National Police Agency Commissioner General Yasuhiro Tsuyuki
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 6, 2024

Police protected yami baito applicants in 125 cases

Since mid-October, the National Police Agency has been calling on applicants for such jobs to seek police advice and protection.
Video game music has come a long way from its humble origins.
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Dec 7, 2024

Beyond beeps and boops: Video game music has grown up

Video game music has gone from 8-bit chiptunes to fully realized productions that bring the gamer’s experience to life.
“Shogun,” created by American channel FX and made by a joint American-Japanese team, utilized the strengths of both Japan and Hollywood to create a bona fide smash that critics adored. 
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / 2024 in Review
Dec 7, 2024

2024 was the year Japanese TV found its prestige

The triumph of “Shogun” at the Emmys served as an exclamation point for an industry taking big swings and opening up to trans-Pacific partnerships.
A Ukrainian serviceman wipes a mirror at an outdoor washbasin near the Kharkiv region in November.
WORLD
Dec 7, 2024

In Ukraine, more and more exhausted soldiers abandon their posts

Since 2022, Ukraine opened nearly 96,000 criminal cases against servicemen who abandoned their positions since Russia’s invasion.
South Korea Prime Minister Han Duck-soo (left) and the ruling People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon speak at a news conference after their meeting to discuss plans for President Yoon Suk Yeol's "orderly retreat" at the People Power Party headquarters in Seoul on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 8, 2024

South Korea martial law fallout deepens as prosecutors close in

South Korea’s ruling People Power Party leader says Prime Minister Han Duck-soo will manage the nation’s affairs as the country struggles with the political crisis.
A poster advertising a reward for information is posted near the site where Brian Thompson, chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, was fatally gunned down in New York on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 10, 2024

CEO killing and rage over insurance plunges UnitedHealth into crisis

Instead of eliciting sympathy from the public, the death of UnitedHealth’s CEO has spawned a hate machine against the insurance industry.
Kioxia priced its stock at ¥1,455 ($9.6), at the middle of the price range it proposed before the IPO.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 10, 2024

Kioxia’s jumbo IPO shows weak sign contrary to booming market

The Bain Capital-backed memory-chip manufacturer priced its stock at ¥1,455 ($9.6), at the middle of the price range it proposed before the IPO.
The East Japan Railway Shinjuku Station in Tokyo. Within the next 10 years, JR East will develop automated walk-through gate technology so that passengers can enter the train platform without having to tap their Suica card or phone on the ticket gates.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 11, 2024

JR East announces 10-year plan to drastically overhaul Suica

Dubbed the "Suica Renaissance," the plan involves redesigned ticket gates, new payment features and a subscription service.
In a year of anime hits, Kiyotaka Oshiyama’s “Look Back” stood out from the bunch.
CULTURE / Film / 2024 in Review
Dec 13, 2024

Big franchises and bold voices dominated anime in 2024

In a year of major box-office hits such as “Conan” and “Haikyu!!,” smaller animators used nontraditional tools to stand out from the rest.
Mitsubishi Electric CEO Kei Uruma
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 13, 2024

Mitsubishi Electric explores forming power chip alliances in Japan

A sense of urgency is growing in the power chip industry as Japanese companies fall further behind German market leader Infineon Technologies.
Farhan al-Khouli, a Syrian military conscript who deserted his post on the first day of the rebel offensive, works at a horse stable in Damascus, Syria, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 13, 2024

Demoralized and abandoned by allies: Why Syria’s army failed to fight

Rampant corruption and a heavy reliance on foreign allies hollowed out Bashar Assad's once-feared army.
An electric vehicle charging station in Baker, California. The Inflation Reduction Act has spurred investment in EVs and other green technologies across the U.S. and President-elect Donald Trump should continue Joe Biden's climate-related industrial policy.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 16, 2024

Green tech and U.S.-China rivalry: Two sides of the same coin

The incoming president should improve, not undo, Biden's industrial policies, which have boosted investment in green technologies, a key economic battleground.
Thimphu TechPark building in Thimphu, Bhutan, on Oct. 17
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 16, 2024

Secret to AI profitability is hiring a lot more doctorates

Nagging questions persist about whether AI will actually prove useful enough for businesses around the world to pay up for it.
Kioxia Holdings will debut on the market Wednesday, but its initial public offering may get a cooler reception than anticipated.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 17, 2024

Chipmaker Kioxia faces a tough debut in Tokyo’s busy IPO arena

Investment in Kioxia faltered as parent Toshiba wrestled with years of scandals and crippling losses at nuclear giant Westinghouse, making it a shadow of its former self.
An Apple logo is seen in Brussels, Belgium, in 2016.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 17, 2024

Congo files criminal complaints against Apple over conflict minerals

International lawyers representing Congo argue that Apple uses minerals pillaged from the country and laundered through international supply chains.
A member of security inspecting a collapsed building in Vanuatu's capital Port Vila after a powerful earthquake hit the Pacific island on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 17, 2024

Major quake crushes buildings in Vanuatu capital; bodies seen

The 7.3 magnitude quake struck at a depth of 57 kilometers at 12:47 pm, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Nobuo Hayasaka, president of Kioxia Holdings, reacts after striking a bell during the company's listing ceremony at the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 18, 2024

Chipmaker Kioxia surges 12% in Tokyo debut after jumbo IPO

Shares in the producer of NAND memory chips extended gains in afternoon trading after initially dropping, valuing the firm at ¥877 billion ($5.7 billion).
A fire burns inside a Palestinian house in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, on Wednesday.
WORLD
Dec 19, 2024

Gaza mediators intensify ceasefire efforts as Israeli strikes kill 20

A Palestinian official close to the negotiations said mediators had narrowed gaps on most of the agreement's clauses.
Tsuyako Shimabukuro (front, second from left), head of the Eguchi community association in the town of Chatan, Okinawa Prefecture, and other community leaders discuss their efforts along with members of the prefectural association of families of missing persons with dementia.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Dec 30, 2024

Okinawa communities battle a rise in missing elderly with dementia

In the prefecture, 118 such cases were reported to the police last year.
Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO of semiconductor company Micron, addresses Semicon India 2023, India’s annual semiconductor conference, held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat state. India is trying to boost domestic chip production, a strategic move for its industrial growth and economic security.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 19, 2024

India’s budding chip industry: A cause for cautious optimism

Amid the global "chip war," India has entered the fray as it tries to become a semiconductor leader, a move welcomed by those diversifying supply chains away from China.
Inter Milan "ultras" merchandise is displayed outside San Siro Stadium in Milan before a Champions League match on Nov. 26.
SOCCER
Dec 19, 2024

Italy combats spread of mafia among soccer fan groups across country

Ultra groups at Inter and AC Milan, two of the biggest names in Italian soccer, have allegedly been infiltrated by the mafia.
Australian rescue crews work at the site of a collapsed building on Friday after an earthquake struck Port Vila, the capital city of Vanuatu.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 20, 2024

Rescuers extend search for Vanuatu quake survivors

The 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck off the main island of Vanuatu on Tuesday.
North Korean special forces soldiers march and shout slogans during a military parade marking the 105th birth anniversary of the country's founding father, Kim Il Sung, in Pyongyang in April 2017.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 22, 2024

North Korea aiding Russia where it needs it most, Canadian general says

Pyongyang's provision of troops as well as weapons and munitions that Moscow can't produce fast enough carries a symbolic element.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.