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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.
The Osaka Prefectural Police headquarters in the city of Osaka
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 11, 2025

Japan Post employee arrested for mailing used condom to post office

According to the police, the envelope was addressed to a female employee working at the targeted branch.
Inter Miami's Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring against the Union during their game in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on March 29.
SOCCER
Apr 11, 2025

MLS to open second phase of study to explore major overhaul of season

MLS currently plays from February to December but has been examining a plan to switch to start the campaign at the end of the summer and conclude in the spring.
Sony and Nintendo might have to raise the prices of their game consoles, which are assembled mainly in China and are shipped to the United States.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 11, 2025

Nintendo Switch 2 and Sony PS5 likely to get price hikes due to tariffs

Pricing could come close to $590 for the soon-to-be-released Nintendo Switch 2 or Sony’s PS5 Astro Bot bundle.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda at a news conference in January. He has been in the top position for two years.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 11, 2025

After two years in top job, BOJ's Ueda faces his biggest challenge yet 

Communication will be more crucial from now on, as the economic outlook will be more uncertain than ever because of the U.S. tariffs.
The Four Seasons Hotel Osaka opened in 2024, just one of many new luxury accommodations the city boasts ahead of the 2025 World Expo.
LIFE / Travel
Apr 12, 2025

Osaka Expo-bound? Take your pick of the city’s new luxury hotels.

Increased capacity makes lodging a buyer’s market, as intense competition keeps prices down and encourages hotels to differentiate themselves from the pack.
A working group of the Japan Securities Dealers Association is discussing a revision to the current set of recommendations in order to prevent fraud in online transactions.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 11, 2025

Japan brokerage body weighs tougher moves to fight phishing scams

The move underlines the spreading concern around the sharp rise in unauthorized trades at some of Japan’s largest brokerages.
A China Shipping cargo container at a port in Long Beach, California, on Thursday
BUSINESS
Apr 11, 2025

China slaps 125% tariffs on U.S. goods but will 'ignore' further hikes

The move further deepens a trade war between the world's two largest economies.
Hyde Park's famed Speakers' Corner in London, which some call the home of free speech, is a place where anyone has the right to turn up every Sunday and talk about whatever is dear to their heart.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 10, 2025

Britain's free-speech retreat can't be denied

Britain's climate for free expression is deteriorating, as seen in aggressive police crackdowns on peaceful activists and dissenters across the political spectrum.
The Bank of Japan's headquarters in Tokyo
BUSINESS
Apr 11, 2025

Price expectations rise in Japan as tariffs cloud BOJ rate path

Households expect average annual inflation of 9.6% over the next five years, the highest since June 2006.
U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he steps off Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport in Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 12, 2025

Trump defends policy as White House says he's 'optimistic' on China deal

President Donald Trump has insisted that his tariff policy is "doing really well," with the White House saying that 15 countries have offers "on the table."
People shop in Bayonne, New Jersey, on Tuesday. U.S. President Donald Trump has upended the world economy with sweeping tariffs that have raised the specter of an international recession.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 12, 2025

U.S. economists say recession risk still high after Trump tariff pivot

Despite U.S. President Donald Trump's decision this week to delay tariffs on major trading partners, experts remain pessimistic about the economy.
The offices of Kirkland & Ellis in Manhattan, New York, last June. Five more prominent law firms facing potential punitive action by U.S. President Donald Trump reached deals on Friday with the White House to provide a total of $600 million in free legal services to causes supported by the president.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 12, 2025

Law firm targeted by Trump sues as five other top firms make deals

The lawsuit comes as five other firms offered costly concessions to avoid the president's crackdowns.
Cargo is uploaded onto a China-Europe freight train at the China-Kazakhstan (Lianyungang) Logistics Cooperation Base in Lianyungang, China, on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Apr 12, 2025

Jolted by Trump, EU woos new partners from Asia to Latin America

The EU has embarked on a charm offensive to diversify its alliances, with summits lined up back-to-back and trade talks launched in all directions.
U.S. President Donald Trump wants Apple to begin building iPhones in the United States. But Apple is unlikely to move production to the country in the foreseeable future for a variety of reasons.
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Apr 12, 2025

Why Trump’s dream of made-in-the-USA iPhones isn’t going to happen

Apple is unlikely to move production to the U.S. in the foreseeable future for a variety of reasons, including a shortage of facilities and labor.
Keith Kellogg
WORLD / Politics
Apr 12, 2025

Trump envoy suggests allied zones of control in Ukraine

The proposal focused on areas of responsibility west of the Dnipro River, with a demilitarized zone separating them from Russian-occupied areas in the east.
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and Argentinian President Javier Milei talk pose for a photo during a Group of Seven summit in Borgo Egnazia, Italy, last June.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 12, 2025

Argentina lands $20 billion IMF agreement and eases FX rules

Negotiations dragged on for months as stakes remain high for a successful program after the past two went off the rails in the crisis-prone nation.
Commuters walk past a fruit store at a shopping arcade in Kyoto earlier this year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 12, 2025

Survey forecasts 12% rise in inflation in Japan over coming year

Of those surveyed, 86.7% said that prices are likely to be higher in a year's time, up from 85.7%.
The Bundeswehr booth at the Hannover Messe 2025 trade fair in Hannover, Germany, on March 31.
WORLD / FOCUS
Apr 12, 2025

Germany wants to be a military powerhouse. Can it pull it off?

Achieving this may be easier said than done. Germany’s defense and national security apparatus is fragmented and encumbered by bureaucracy.
Customers line up patiently for some early-afternoon baked goods outside Truffle, which is located close to Hiroo Station on the Hibiya Line.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Apr 13, 2025

How to spend the perfect day in Hiroo, Tokyo’s expat enclave

A stroll through Hiroo reveals both the comforts of expat luxury and the quiet intrusions of a changing Tokyo.
Shoppers outside an Apple store in New York on April 7
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 13, 2025

U.S. exempts tech imports in tariff backpedal

President Donald Trump's move offers relief to U.S. tech firms and partially dials down a trade war with China.
People walk through an Apple Store in Hong Kong on Friday.
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Apr 13, 2025

Apple was on brink of crisis before tariff concession from Trump

Donald Trump’s 125% tariffs on goods produced in China threatened to upend its supply chain as seriously as the COVID-19 snarls did five years ago.
Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Itsunori Onodera speaks at LDP headquarters in Tokyo last October.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 13, 2025

Japan doesn’t plan to use U.S. Treasurys as tariff talk leverage

Causing market disruption "is certainly not a good idea,” Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Itsunori Onodera said.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin meets with U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, in St. Petersburg on Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 13, 2025

The U.S. and Russia are negotiating in bad faith

For now, Trump says he is “pissed off” at Putin for not being more amenable to his administration’s ceasefire proposals and he is threatening to impose yet more sanctions.
U.S. President Donald Trump holds a chart next to Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick as Trump delivers remarks on tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington on April 2.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 14, 2025

Trump warns tariffs are coming for electronics after reprieve

The American president downplayed a weekend exemption as a procedural step in his overall push to remake U.S. trade.
Workers transport soil containing rare earth elements for export at a port in Lianyungang, in China's Jiangsu province, in October 2010.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 14, 2025

China halts critical rare earth exports as trade war intensifies

The official crackdown is part of Beijing’s retaliation for President Donald Trump’s sharp increase in tariffs that started April 2.
U.S. President Donald Trump attends a bilateral meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping during the Group of 20 leaders summit in Osaka in June 2019.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Apr 14, 2025

How China went from courting Trump to ‘never yield’ tariff defiance

Beijing has put civilian government officials on a "wartime footing” and ordered a diplomatic charm offensive aimed at encouraging other countries to push back.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping waves as he arrives for a two-day state visit at Hanoi's Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 14, 2025

Xi seeks to win with Southeast Asia trip as Trump pauses some tariffs

Xi arrived in Vietnam on Monday and was due to visit Malaysia and Cambodia later this week, just days after Trump raised tariffs on China but gave everyone else a 90-day pause.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer says currency talks are part of the issue of the U.S.'s massive trade deficit with Japan.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 14, 2025

U.S. trade representative hopes to discuss currency with Japan

Currency is "certainly part of" the issue of the U.S.'s massive trade deficit with Japan, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer says.
The yen rose 2.3% against the dollar last week and hit its strongest level since September on Friday.
BUSINESS
Apr 14, 2025

Hedge funds and asset managers boost bullish yen bets amid tariffs

The yen has been one of the best performers against the dollar this month as investors anticipate that the trade war may hurt global economic growth.

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