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Russian President Vladimir Putin takes part in a video meeting at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow on Friday.
WORLD
Mar 15, 2025

Putin tells Ukraine troops in Russian region to 'surrender'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused his Russian counterpart of seeking to sabotage a ceasefire initiative.
Alimentation Couche-Tard founder Alain Bouchard (center), CEO Alex Miller (left) and CFO Filipe Da Silva attend a photo session after a news conference on their bid for Seven & I Holdings in Tokyo on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies / EXPLAINER
Mar 17, 2025

Why Couche-Tard's deal with Seven & I isn't going anywhere

The buyout bid has seen a mixed response in Japan, with some expressing concerns over the convenience store chain being taken over by a foreign company.
After U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin's phone call, talks aimed at advancing toward a broader peace plan will begin immediately, the White House, though it was unclear whether Ukraine will be involved.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 19, 2025

Putin spurns a Ukraine ceasefire but Trump calls talk a win

The Russian leader agreed only to limit attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, with experts saying Moscow could be playing for time.
People protest as the USAID building sits closed to employees after a memo was issued advising agency personnel to work remotely, in Washington on Feb. 3.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 19, 2025

Powerful Asian countries will struggle to fill aid gap left by U.S.

China may be reluctant to fully fill the void, while South Korea and Japan could struggle to give enough.
A CPC Corporation logo in Taipei. The energy giant on Thursday signed a letter of intent to buy liquefied natural gas from the U.S. state of Alaska, government officials said.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 21, 2025

Taiwan signals intent to buy Alaskan natural gas

Alaskan natural gas "can meet our needs and ensure our energy security," said Taiwan President Lai Ching-te.
U.S. President Donald Trump with Elon Musk and his son at the White House this month. The Pentagon is scheduled on Friday to brief Musk on the U.S. military’s plan for any war that might break out with China, two U.S. officials said Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 21, 2025

Musk set to get access to top-secret U.S. plan for potential war with China

Providing Musk with access to some of the nation’s most closely guarded military secrets would bring into sharp relief questions about his conflicts of interest.
U.S. President Donald Trump takes questions from reporters in the White House on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 23, 2025

How Elon Musk’s DOGE cuts leave a vacuum that China can fill

When President Donald Trump announced Friday that the United States would move ahead with a long-debated project to build a stealthy next-generation fighter jet, the message to China was clear: The United States plans to spend tens of billions of dollars over the next decade, probably far longer, to...
A firefighter works at a site of an apartment building hit by a Russian drone strike in Kyiv on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 24, 2025

Ukraine and U.S. teams hold talks in Saudi Arabia, with U.S. envoy hopeful on ending war

Moscow agreed to a U.S. proposal to stop attacks on energy infrastructure but both Russia and Ukraine have reportedly continued strikes.
Yields on Japan's 10-year government bonds have risen at a fast pace since the Bank of Japan ended its negative-rate policy last year and started to tighten.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 25, 2025

Japan bond rout signals era of ultralow rates might really be over  

For the first time in 16 years, yields on Japanese 10-year government bonds have jumped 50 basis points since November to above 1.5%.
Potential buyers for a package of 7-Eleven and other convenience stores have until the end of March to express their interest, Alimentation Couche-Tard Chief Financial Officer Filipe Da Silva said.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 26, 2025

Couche-Tard sees strong interest in U.S. stores for Seven & I deal

The Canadian company has agreed with Seven & I to seek a buyer for overlapping retail outlets as a prerequisite for takeover talks to sidestep U.S. antitrust concerns.
Residents of Zamami, Okinawa Prefecture, attend a memorial ceremony on Wednesday, the 80th anniversary of the U.S. military's landing on the Kerama Islands during World War II.
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2025

Victims of Okinawa battle remembered on 80th anniversary of U.S. landing

Over 200,000 people, including civilians, were killed in ground battles on islands in Okinawa.
Both houses of the U.S. Congress have effectively become a subordinate branch of government, ceding power to the executive, especially when the president's party also controls Capitol Hill.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 27, 2025

U.S. Congress began ceding power to presidents long before Trump

Since the turn of the century, Congress has increasingly functioned as a quasi-parliament rather than as an independent branch of government
Russian President Vladimir Putin visits a nuclear-powered submarine in Murmansk, Russia, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 31, 2025

Trump threatens Russia oil penalties, citing anger at Putin

The U.S. president also raised the threat of bombing Iran until it signs a deal that renounces nuclear weapons.
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 31, 2025

A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime

Since 2009, Ken Theriault has been keeping himself busy maintaining Costco's American charm and catering to the needs of the Japanese consumer as the wholesaler's boss in Japan.
The Trump administration moved this week to suspend dozens of federal grants to Princeton University, the fourth Ivy League school that has seen its financial support from Washington reduced or explicitly threatened since March.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 2, 2025

Princeton's U.S. grants frozen, following Trump's moves against other schools

Princeton's president said government agencies including NASA and the defense and energy departments notified the university of the move.
Donald Trump's presidency took third place in a new survey on Southeast Asia's top three geopolitical concerns.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 4, 2025

Trump presidency a key concern for Southeast Asia, survey shows

Trump took third place at 46.9% in top concerns for Southeast Asians, according to a ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute survey published Thursday.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order after delivering remarks on reciprocal tariffs during an event titled "Make America Wealthy Again" at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Apr 4, 2025

‘Liberation Day’ will weigh heavily on the world

While some nations will fight U.S. tariffs, Japan is among those more likely to make a deal.
Containers stacked up at the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port in Phnom Penh on Thursday. Southeast Asian countries with a significant trade surplus with the U.S. came in for harsh treatment from Trump's stinging tariffs.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 4, 2025

Trump tariffs are a ‘disaster’ for world’s poorest countries

Poor nations' labor-intensive export industries face new risk in trade war.
After getting her career started in Japan, Courney Kaplan has become one of Los Angeles' leading sake evangelists from her base at Ototo.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Kanpai Culture
Apr 6, 2025

In Los Angeles, Courtney Kaplan says sake is having a moment

Los Angeles has no shortage of Japanese restaurants, but Ototo makes the country's national drink an easy sip.
The seal of the United States Department of State is seen in Washington. U.S. President Donald Trump is looking to shrink the federal workforce and revamp the diplomatic corps to ensure a dedicated implementation of his "America First" policies.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 6, 2025

Trump administration appoints junior officer to oversee U.S. Foreign Service

The move comes as Trump shrinks the federal workforce and looks to revamp the U.S. diplomatic corps to ensure a dedicated implementation of his "America First" policies.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet (center) walks past honor guards during the inauguration ceremony for the the modernized Ream Naval Base in Cambodia's Preah Sihanouk province on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 6, 2025

Cambodia hails opening of naval base renovated by China

The U.S. has said the base could give Beijing a key strategic position in the Gulf of Thailand near the disputed South China Sea.
Military personnel stand guard at a nuclear facility in the Zardanjan area of Isfahan, Iran, in April 2024 in this screen shot taken from video.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 6, 2025

Iran seeks indirect talks with U.S., warns regional countries over strikes

Although Iran has rejected U.S. President Donald Trump's demand for direct talks, it wants to continue indirect negotiations through Oman.
People walk past the communist-era Palace of Culture and Science in the center of Warsaw on April 2.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 7, 2025

Sex toys and exploding cosmetics: anatomy of a 'hybrid war' on the West

European security chiefs described the parcel fires as part of a "hybrid war" being waged by Russia to destabilize countries that support Ukraine.
Social engineering scams thrive on poorly monitored social media platforms, and while the UK is pushing tougher laws to hold tech companies accountable, the U.S. resists stricter rules, believing individuals should bear responsibility for avoiding fraud.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 9, 2025

The U.K. is trying to fight social scams. The U.S. not so much.

Social engineering is one of the hardest parts of the trillion-dollar online scam industry to block or disrupt.
A man holds a Hezbollah flag in southern Lebanon. The militant group emerged severely weakened from the 2024 conflict with Israel.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 9, 2025

Hezbollah ready to discuss weapons if Israel withdraws, senior official says

U.S.-backed Lebanese President Joseph Aoun intends to open talks with Hezbollah over its arsenal soon, three Lebanese political sources said.
U.S. President Donald Trump looks on after signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House on Wednesday in Washington.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 10, 2025

Tokyo cheers Trump’s tariff U-turn with second-biggest market gain ever

The news of Trump’s 90-day pause on “reciprocal tariffs”was welcomed by Japan and its markets, with the 225-issue Nikkei stock average up more than 9% on Thursday.
First responders near the landing skids of a helicopter after it crashed into the Hudson River, in Newport, New Jersey, on Thursday.
WORLD
Apr 11, 2025

Helicopter crashes into New York's Hudson River, with all six aboard killed

The victims, the pilot and five passengers, were believed to include a family from Spain.
Tokyo stocks tracked Wall Street lower as the United States and China hiked tariffs on imports from each other.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 11, 2025

Nikkei sinks as tariff-fueled selling resumes

An increase in U.S. levies on China to 145% has reignited concerns about the global economy and corporate profits.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks outside the White House in Washington on Wednesday. Bessent appears to have taken a larger role in articulating U.S. President Donald Trump's trade policies to financial markets.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 11, 2025

Amid turmoil over tariffs, Bessent rises in Trump trade world

Multiple sources close to the White House said the former hedge fund manager was giving the U.S. president the best counsel among a team of advisers on trade.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba gives instructions to Economic Revitalization Minister Ryosei Akazawa (third from left) and others at the Prime Minister's Office on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 11, 2025

Japan braces for talks on yen and BOJ in trade negotiations with U.S.

Ryosei Akazawa, who is heading the task force, is reportedly set to meet U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent next week.

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A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami