Japan

[ad_1] Rakuten Mobile, in partnership with U.S. satellite designer AST SpaceMobile, has announced plans to launch a commercial satellite-to-mobile service across Japan in 2026.The broadband service, which will enable video and voice calls, will be directly accessible by regular smartphones and won’t require a connection to a terminal.The exact timing of the roll out is uncertain, but the plans for coverage encompass mountainous and remote areas across Japan. [ad_2] Source […]

[ad_1] Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda said on Friday the central bank will examine whether to maintain its various monetary easing measures, including negative interest rates, when sustained achievement of its inflation target comes into sight.His remarks follow data on Thursday that showed Japan's economy unexpectedly slipped into a recession in the final quarter of last year on weak consumption and capital expenditure.Despite the data, with inflation having exceeded […]

[ad_1] An internal survey by the Liberal Democratic Party of members caught up in a slush funds scandal has failed to quell opposition demands that senior party leaders face scrutiny by a parliamentary ethics committee over what they knew about nearly ¥580 million in kickbacks — and when they knew it.“It's a fake survey. There's so much that wasn't asked about how the money was used,” Constitutional Democratic Party of […]

[ad_1] The organizer of the 2025 World Expo in Osaka said Friday it has moved back its target date for the completion of pavilions to be self-built by overseas participants to October from July amid delays in construction work due to high material and labor costs.The Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition came up with a new timeline for the "Type A" pavilions following discussions with overseas participants and […]

[ad_1] Japan’s space agency is set to launch the second model of its next-generation H3 rocket on Saturday in a critical test of the nation’s satellite-launching and space exploration capabilities after the failure of its first model nearly a year ago.Weather permitting, the H3 liquid fuel rocket, developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, will lift off from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture […]

[ad_1] MOSCOW – Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is dead, the prison service of the Yamalo-Nenets region where he had been serving his sentence said Friday. In a statement published on its website, the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District said that Navalny "felt unwell" after a walk on Friday, and "almost immediately lost consciousness." It said that medical staff had been called, but that they were […]

[ad_1] Tokyo stocks continued to rally on Friday, with the 225-issue Nikkei average marking a fresh 34-year high and climbing closer to its all-time record.The benchmark index gained more than 700 points in morning trading, pushing it above 38,800 and moving it near the all-time high of 38,915 recorded in December 1989 during Japan's bubble era. The index eventually closed at 38,487.24, up by 329.30 points from the previous day.The […]

[ad_1] In the city of Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, one of the most affected areas by the Jan. 1 earthquake, manholes protrude from the ground. Houses are tilted or buried halfway underground, while roads have caved in or risen up.This is all because of liquefaction, in which the strength of soil is reduced by an earthquake, and it is hampering relief efforts aimed at restoring infrastructure in the affected areas.Continued aftershocks […]

[ad_1] Seoul – Jurgen Klinsmann was fired as manager of the South Korean men's national soccer team Friday in the wake of a disappointing exit from the Asian Cup in Qatar. The Korea Football Association announced the sacking of the 59-year-old German barely a year into a tenure racked by criticism of his leadership. South Korea arrived as one of the favorites for the Asian Cup but lost 2-0 in […]