Japan

[ad_1] QUEBEC CITY – Japan's Miho Takagi was crowned the speed skating World Cup's overall champion in the women's 1,000 meters for the second straight season Friday. On the opening day of the season's final meet, Takagi crossed the line in 1 minute, 14.19 seconds, beating the Dutch pair of runner-up Femke Kok by 0.88 and Isabel Grevelt by 1.53, for her fourth 1,000 gold of this campaign. "I am […]

[ad_1] Authorities in Malaysia have halved the sentence of Najib Razak, a former prime minister convicted of stealing millions of dollars from a government fund, a move that has triggered outrage in the country.The leniency for Najib comes after weeks of speculation in Malaysia that he might be pardoned by King Sultan Abdullah, whose tenure under Malaysia’s unique rotational monarchy ended Tuesday. But many analysts had said it was unlikely […]

[ad_1] I wasn’t expecting to cry as much as I did at "Godzilla Minus One.” The strong word-of-mouth made it sound like an awesome spectacle with cool action courtesy of the scaly title creature. And while there were awe-inducing showdowns with the monster, the Toho International production, written and directed by Takashi Yamazaki, is largely a meditation on sorrow and survival in the wake of World War II.The specter of […]

[ad_1] Kushiro, Hokkaido – A group of 30 Ezo deer flee through a cold lowland in eastern Hokkaido. A frozen creek separates them from open farmland and the hope of escape. They hop between tall patches of long-dead weeds near the edge of the ice. Long-frozen, it proves no challenge for them to cross.Up on a hill some 250 meters away, Eric Rose looks through the scope of his Browning […]

[ad_1] Japan, America's closest ally in Asia, has been trying to send a message to U.S. presidential hopeful Donald Trump: don't try to strike any deal with China that could upend years of collective efforts to rein in Beijing and risk the region's fragile peace.Tokyo has stepped up attempts to engage with people close to Trump in recent weeks, as the 77-year-old's victories in Republican primaries in Iowa and New […]

[ad_1] The U.K. estimated its population will balloon by 9.9% in the next 15 years, a trend that will both help the economy and exacerbate a rift within Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s ruling Conservative Party.The Office for National Statistics projected the number of people in the U.K. will grow by 6.6 million between the middle of 2021 and 2036, almost all of which will come from immigration. Net migration is […]

[ad_1] Contributing Writer – On Jan. 29, Foreign Minister Yōko Kamikawa presided over the launching of a new task force focused on women’s issues, including on matters of peace and security.The U.N. Security Council-mandated Women, Peace and Security (WPS) program is aimed at increasing the roles, participation and protection of women in managing crisis and conflict across the globe. This marks the first time that Japan’s Foreign Ministry has taken […]

[ad_1] LONDON – As the war in Gaza enters its fourth month, many in the Middle East and across the Global South have been struck both by the ferocity of Israel’s military campaign and by Western governments’ unwavering support for it.To them, this is as much U.S. President Joe Biden’s war as it is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s, and the continuing indifference to the scale of the devastation has […]

[ad_1] Nagoya – Toyota plans to shorten the maximum operating hours for its plants in Japan by 30 minutes per day, starting in the fiscal year 2024 that begins in April, people familiar with the matter said Friday. The move is designed to ensure product quality by allowing employees to work in a more flexible schedule following a series of certification irregularities at its group companies such as Daihatsu and […]