Japan

[ad_1] Political reform and the Liberal Democratic Party’s handling of the slush fund scandal took center stage in Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's first showdown with opposition party leaders in parliament Wednesday.Constitutional Democratic Party leader Yoshihiko Noda lambasted Ishiba’s initial decision to give the party’s formal backing to 12 lawmakers involved in the scandal in the Oct. 27 Lower House election.“Taxpayers' money destined for political parties might be paid to people […]

[ad_1] Many of Japan’s top universities moved up in the latest World University Rankings announced on Wednesday, with five, including the University of Tokyo, ranked in the top 200. In the annual rankings for 2025 released by Times Higher Education (THE), the University of Tokyo was ranked 28th — the highest a Japanese university has placed since 2015 and up from 29th in the previous rankings. Kyoto University stayed in […]

[ad_1] Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba dissolved the Lower House of parliament on Wednesday for a general election, as Ishiba stressed the importance of winning a mandate from the public following his LDP leadership victory late last month. Ishiba’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner, Komeito, are aiming to maintain their dominance in parliament despite facing political setbacks stemming from a political funds scandal. The prime minister announced […]

[ad_1] Dylan Guenther scored two goals to help the Utah Hockey Club win their inaugural game 5-2 against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night in Salt Lake City.Barrett Hayton had a goal and an assist, Clayton Keller and Lawson Crouse also scored and Nick Schmaltz and Logan Cooley had two assists each for Utah, which was relocated from Tempe, Ariz., earlier this year after a Salt Lake City-based ownership group […]

[ad_1] One of Sega's most popular games, Shinobi, will be made into a movie in a joint project with Universal Pictures, the Japanese gamemaker announced Wednesday, aiming to emulate the success of "The Super Mario Bros. Movie." Sega did not give a target date for the release but said it had "started the development of a film production" with the Hollywood behemoth. Shinobi was originally created for Japanese arcades in […]

[ad_1] ANN ARBOR, Michigan – In Michigan’s Macomb County, the Republican head of the board that will certify November’s election results called on former U.S. President Donald Trump to fight to stay in power after his election loss in 2020.In North Carolina’s Henderson County, a Republican election board member emailed legislators in August to claim, without evidence, that Democrats were flooding the state with illegal votes.And in Pennsylvania, considered a […]

[ad_1] Vientiane, Laos – Southeast Asian leaders will hold talks with a Myanmar junta representative at a summit on Wednesday as they try to kick-start faltering diplomatic efforts to broker an end to the country's bloody civil war.Rising tensions in the disputed South China Sea will also be on the agenda at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) gathering, after months of violent clashes between Chinese vessels and Philippine […]

[ad_1] Airlines, energy firms and a Universal Studios theme park were among the companies beginning to halt their Florida operations as they braced for disruptions with Hurricane Milton set to make landfall on Wednesday.The hurricane has rapidly intensified into one of the area's most powerful on record, threatening a stretch of Florida's densely populated west coast that is still reeling from the devastating Hurricane Helene less than two weeks ago.As […]

[ad_1] New Defense Minister Gen Nakatani has held his first talks with his U.S. counterpart, with the two agreeing to continue expanding their bilateral presence in Japan's far-flung Nansei Islands near Taiwan.Nakatani and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke over the phone late Tuesday, the Defense Ministry said in a statement, with efforts to modernize the alliance’s command-and-control framework another focus of the talks.The ministers said they could continue “to work […]