Japan

[ad_1] Feb. 3 is Setsubun, which means the end of winter (yay!), the chance to pelt people with roasted soybeans (yay!) and the silent consumption of a thickly stuffed sushi roll while facing a specific direction (yay?).The holiday marking the beginning of spring and the banishment of evil spirits from the previous year dates back to classical Japanese history and China before that. But over the past 25 years or […]

[ad_1] Bayer AG faces mounting pressure to come up with a new plan for handling its Roundup weedkiller litigation after getting hammered by U.S. jury verdicts totaling almost $4 billion over the last three months.The German conglomerate’s latest courtroom loss was its biggest since Roundup cases started going to trial five and a half years ago, with a Pennsylvania jury awarding $2.25 billion to a former Roundup user who blamed […]

[ad_1] Networks controlled by a pervasive Chinese hacking group dubbed "Volt Typhoon" have been disrupted by a U.S. government operation, it was reported earlier this week.The group has alarmed intelligence officials, who say it is part of a larger effort to compromise Western critical infrastructure, including naval ports, internet service providers and utilities, raising concerns that the hackers were working to hurt U.S. readiness in case of a Chinese invasion […]

[ad_1] The appetite for speedy package delivery is skyrocketing worldwide. Americans do more than 15% of their shopping online, with digital purchases of groceries, shoes, pet food and other goods quadrupling over the past decade to $1 trillion a year. Global e-commerce is expected to grow at more than twice the rate of offline purchases, and, by decade’s end, 25,000 packages will be shipped every second, according to an analysis […]

[ad_1] The Bank of Japan (BOJ) signaled it’s getting closer to raising its interest rate for the first time since 2007 in its summary of opinions from last week’s policy gathering, although authorities didn’t hint at a consensus over the specific timing for the move.BOJ board members continued to discuss prospects for ending the negative rate policy at the Jan. 22-23 meeting, with some members indicating conditions that would allow […]

[ad_1] Elon Musk’s $55 billion pay package at Tesla has been struck down by a Delaware judge after a shareholder challenged it as excessive, in a ruling that would take a giant bite out of Musk’s wealth and put the fate of his companies in question — if the ruling survives a likely appeal.The decision Tuesday, which amounts to Musk's first major loss in court, means that more than five […]

[ad_1] A Thai court is set to rule whether the party that won the most seats in last year’s general election ran afoul of the constitution by promising to loosen Thailand’s royal insult law.The Constitutional Court’s verdict could pave the way for dissolution of the Move Forward party, the country’s largest opposition group, and ban its leaders from politics for a decade.The nine-member court will rule at 2 p.m. in […]

[ad_1] Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa on Tuesday pledged to promote a "mutually beneficial" relationship with China and make it "constructive and stable" through dialogue, at a time when the Asian powers remain at odds over various issues including territorial claims.In a speech on Japan's foreign policy objectives for 2024 given during an ordinary session of parliament, Kamikawa also expressed wariness over intensifying military cooperation between China, Russia and North Korea, […]

[ad_1] Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki on Tuesday called for the swift passage of a fiscal 2024 budget to help Japan deal with recent inflation through more robust pay hikes and extend "full" support to areas hit by the deadly earthquake on New Year's Day.The ¥112.57 trillion ($763 billion) budget for the fiscal year beginning in April, revised after the magnitude 7.6 quake devastated the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture, is […]