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August 11, 2025
 

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BIG TECH

U.S. President Donald Trump looks on as he and Apple CEO Tim Cook (not pictured) present the tech company's announcement of a $100 billion investment in U.S. manufacturing, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 7, 2025
Trump eyes 100% chips tariff, but zero percent for U.S. investors like Apple
The U.S. president has said he could unveil separate levies on all products containing semiconductor chips as soon as next week.
In a report released on Wednesday, Australia's eSafety Commissioner said YouTube, along with Apple, failed to track the number of user reports it received of child sex abuse appearing on their platforms.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 6, 2025
Australian watchdog says YouTube and others 'turning a blind eye' to abuse material
The regulator said some providers had not made improvements to address safety gaps on their services despite it putting them on notice in previous years.
Microsoft is among a group of tech giants that are pouring money into artificial intelligence in order to get ahead of the competition.
BUSINESS
Aug 2, 2025
The AI race has Big Tech spending $344 billion this year
Microsoft, Amazon.com, Meta and Alphabet are pouring money into artificial intelligence in order to get a leg up on the competition.
U.S. President Donald Trump celebrates after signing executive orders on artificial intelligence at the “Winning the AI Race” Summit in Washington on July 23.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Aug 1, 2025
Will Trump’s tech policies propel U.S. success against China?
As China mobilizes all its resources for an all-out contest for technological supremacy, the U.S. cannot afford economic inefficiencies and to push its closest partners away.
A new law set to take effect in December to promote competition in the smartphone app market bans Google and Apple from excluding other companies' app stores from phones that use their operating systems.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 30, 2025
Japan releases guidelines for IT giants regarding smartphone apps
The guidelines prohibit companies like Google and Apple from using data obtained through their operating systems to develop products with competitive advantages.
Apple executives John Giannandrea (left) and Craig Federighi. Shares of the company declined as much as 1.5% to $210.82, reaching a session low in New York trading.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 30, 2025
Apple loses fourth AI researcher in a month to Meta’s Superintelligence team
Meta previously lured away the leader of the Apple foundation models group, Ruoming Pang, with a compensation package valued at more than $200 million.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jul 30, 2025
Australia adds YouTube to teen social media ban, tearing up exemption
The country's internet regulator cited a survey that found 37% of minors reported seeing harmful content on the site.
A man talks on a phone in front of an Apple Store in Shanghai. For the first time ever, Apple is closing a retail store in China.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 29, 2025
Apple to shutter a retail store in China for the first time ever
The company said it will shut one of two stores in the city of Dalian on Aug. 9, citing a changing landscape at the shopping complex where it is located.
The EU flag and Meta logo in an illustration from 2023
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 22, 2025
Meta, X and LinkedIn appeal unprecedented VAT claim by Italy
Italian tax authorities argue that free user registrations with X, LinkedIn and Meta platforms should be seen as taxable transactions.
A high school student uses social media applications in November 2024.
WORLD / Society
Jul 15, 2025
EU states to test age-check app to limit children's access to online services
The European Commission has unveiled a prototype of the app that Denmark, France, Greece, Italy and Spain will customize and launch within several months.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been frustrated by the quality of his company's past AI efforts, so has been investing heavily in the energy, computing power and talent needed to compete in the fast-moving AI race.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 15, 2025
Meta to spend billions building gigawatt-size data centers for AI
Frustrated by the quality of Meta’s past AI efforts, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been investing heavily in energy, computing power and talent to compete in the fast-moving AI race.
Meta hired Ruoming Pang, who ran Apple’s AI models team, with a pay package in the hundreds of millions over a several-year period, according to sources.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 10, 2025
Meta poached Apple’s Pang with pay package of over $200 million
Apple didn’t try to match Meta's offer to engineer Ruoming Pang as it far exceeded pay at the company for leaders other than CEO Tim Cook.
Apple is reportedly challenging current Formula One broadcaster ESPN for the sport's U.S. television rights next year.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Jul 9, 2025
Apple eyes U.S. Formula 1 broadcast rights after movie success: report
The report follows the strong box office performance of Apple's high-octane racing film "F1: The Movie."
Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been recruiting top artificial intelligence engineers for the company’s new superintelligence division.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 8, 2025
Apple loses top AI models executive to Meta’s hiring spree
The departure of Ruoming Pang marks another setback in the iPhone maker’s struggling efforts in the emerging space.
The people tasked with removing harmful content from tech giants like Meta Platforms or TikTok report a range of noxious health effects, from loss of appetite to anxiety and suicidal thoughts.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 4, 2025
Content moderators for Big Tech unite to tackle mental trauma
Social media companies are facing increasing pressure to address the emotional toll of moderation, with many moderators reporting a range of toxic health effects.
This digital visualization shows the small modular nuclear reactor being developed by Rolls-Royce SMR, which is set to be the first in the U.K. A widely cited IEA report says global data center electricity demand will more than double by 2030 to 945 TWh — more than Japan’s current total usage.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 1, 2025
Data centers and small reactors could change Asia’s nuclear dynamic
An estimated 402.74 million terabytes of data are created each day and storing and processing all that information creates virtual volcanoes.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks at a news conference during a NATO summit in The Hague last Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 30, 2025
Canada rescinds digital services tax to advance stalled U.S. trade talks
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump will resume trade negotiations in order to agree on a deal by July 21, Ottawa said.
Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg's controlling interest in the tech titan frees him to have the company invest heavily in artificial intelligence efforts.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 30, 2025
Meta spending big on AI talent but will it pay off?
OpenAI boss Sam Altman recently lamented that Meta has offered $100 million bonuses to engineers who jump to Zuckerberg's ship, where hefty salaries await.
Racks of servers being tested at the new Amazon Web Services facility in New Carlisle, Indiana, on June 3
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 30, 2025
AI data-center boom could destroy Big Tech's net-zero plans
The tech sector faces a "climate strategy crisis" as its data centers demand ever more electricity and water to power growing fields, such as artificial intelligence.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney take part in an arrival ceremony during the Group of Seven leaders' summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, on June 16.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Jun 29, 2025
Trump turns on ‘nice’ Mark Carney with Canadian tech tax ultimatum
The tax became law while Justin Trudeau was still in power and had prompted warnings of U.S. retaliation but Carney went ahead anyway.
Tokyo’s WWII museums hold diverse views on war and peace
A carrier-based Type 52 Zero fighter marks the entrance foyer of Yasukuni Shrine's Yushukan, a museum that tells a more nuanced story of Japan's experience in World War II than the controversies around the shrine might suggest.
Japan starts survey on foreign nationals' unpaid resident taxes
In the most recent regular session of parliament, problems were highlighted regarding some foreign workers leaving Japan without paying outstanding taxes.
Summer bonuses at major Japan firms hit record
The fourth consecutive year of increase came after many firms raised their monthly wages this spring and as a result of solid earnings mainly among manufacturers.
Japan's inheritance tax is high, unforgiving and sometimes avoidable
The National Tax Agency at the Ministry of Finance, Kasumigaseki, Tokyo. Japanese tax authorities can bill foreign residents in Japan for assets inherited globally.
Weather agency warns of landslides and flooding in Kyushu as heavy rain continues
An embankment on the Amikake River that collapsed due to heavy rain in Aira, Kagoshima Prefecture, on Friday. Downpours continued in the Kyushu region over the weekend.
At Himawari Shokudo 2, Italian food with a Japanese soul
At Himawari Shokudo 2, chef Hozumi Tanaka serves Italian-inspired fare with a focus on Toyama produce, such as this appetizer of lightly blanched "hotaru ika" (firefly squid) served atop mixed wild plants and a crepe prepared from "yamato-imo" yam.
Cheer with caution: Expert advises sports fans have game plan for extreme heat
A Cardinals fan fans himself during the seventh inning of a game against the Pirates in St. Louis, Missouri, in June 2022.
Australia's warship selection signals Japanese defense industry's arrival
The Maritime Self-Defense Force's Mogami-class frigate. Australia's selection of an upgraded version of the Mogami-class warship for its next frigate class could prove to be a watershed moment for Japan’s defense industry.
Japan's inheritance tax is high, unforgiving and sometimes avoidable
The National Tax Agency at the Ministry of Finance, Kasumigaseki, Tokyo. Japanese tax authorities can bill foreign residents in Japan for assets inherited globally.
Will the movement seeking Ishiba’s resignation succeed?
Liberal Democratic Party youth division head Yasutaka Nakasone (center) and other members speak to reporters in Tokyo on July 25.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person
By Naoko Abe

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy

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