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The US Air Force has 140 of its biggest warplanes – its heavy bombers – in active service: 76 Boeing B-52Hs, 44 Boeing B-1Bs and 20 B-2 stealth bombers built by Northrop Grumman. .. Any other air force might content itself with 140 bombers and redistribute the lost bomber’s operating budget. But the US Air Force is counting on the B-1 to play a lead role in a possible air war over the Taiwan Strait. It’s such a high priority that the service is spending millions of dollars recovering, from long-term storage, a surplus B-1 nicknamed “Lancelot” that’s been sitting...

TOKYO -- The global wheat market has been hit by Chinese buyers canceling major shipments, seemingly in an attempt to secure better prices and bolster the country's food security. Benchmark Chicago wheat futures are trading at about $5.50 per bushel, up slightly from a three-and-a-half-year low marked in mid-March but down about 10% from the beginning of the year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture last month said 504,000 tonnes of wheat sales to China had been canceled. The figure is equivalent to about half the total U.S. wheat shipments to China in 2022 and the largest cancellation on record going...

Joe Biden’s cognitive decline is no longer just a talking point for Republicans and Trump supporters. It’s so glaringly obvious now that the whole world can see how bad the president’s mental health really is. Biden’s mental acuity was put on display during a briefing in a White House garden on Wednesday. Not only did Biden arrive late for a presser with the Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, but he was also seen clutching his handler’s list of pre-written answers to questions from pre-approved reporters. Biden’s handlers can’t be too careful! “Who do I call on next? Hang on a...

Australia is preparing for war in order to avoid it. Their historic new increase in defense spending and China’s dependence on them for iron ore make them an important ally. Australia’s defense funding for 2024 will be $35 billion USD, just over 2% of their GDP, and up from $20 billion in 2021. They’ve signed a new trilateral security agreement with the United States and United Kingdom that will give the Australian Navy a new weapon that only 6 other nations in the entire world have. Major upgrades are being made to their northern army, air and naval bases. But...

A group in Hiroshima opposed to nuclear weapons on Wednesday criticized a U.S. lawmaker's remarks on the use of an atomic bomb as a metaphor describing a way to end the prolonged conflict in the Gaza Strip. The Hiroshima Congress against A- and H-Bombs sent a letter to Republican congressman Tim Walberg and demanded he retract his March 25 remarks calling for an end to the conflict in the Palestinian enclave "like Nagasaki and Hiroshima" to "get it over quick." "It is extremely inappropriate to mention Hiroshima and Nagasaki as a metaphor for swiftly ending a war," the antinuclear group...

President Obama recently shifted authority for approving sales to China of missile and space technology from the White House to the Commerce Department -- a move critics say will loosen export controls and potentially benefit Chinese missile development. "It's as though Commerce's mishandling of missile-tech transfers to China in the 1990s never happened," said Mr. Sokolski, a former Pentagon proliferation specialist. "But it did. As a result, we are now facing much more accurate, reliable missiles from China." Mr. Sokolski said he expects the U.S. government under the new policy to again boost Chinese military modernization through "whatever renewed 'benign'...

Japan appears to be transitioning from a homogenous society to embrace ‘diversity and inclusivity’ by ushering in “an era of mass foreign immigration.”It’s set to be a massive change for a country that was still up until recently 97.5% ethnic Japanese, according to the CIA World Factbook.A Bloomberg report details how rapidly declining native birth rates, an aging society and a chronic labor shortage is fueling the importation of millions of foreigners who “are changing the face of Japan.”The number of foreign workers in Japan has now exceeded 2 million, a 12.4% increase on 2022. The East Asian country needs...

Most of the time, you're excited to return home after a vacation. That wasn't the case after Jimmy Kimmel's recent trip to Japan with his family. "After traveling to Japan, I realize that this place, this USA we're always chanting about, is a filthy and disgusting country," the host said on Monday night's "Jimmy Kimmel Live." The ABC host admitted that before spending seven days in Japan, he believed America was a country that had its faults and "areas for improvement," but that it was "pretty buttoned up" compared to the rest of the world. "I go to Europe, and...

he two countries that handle homelessness the best are Finland and Japan. Therefore, we will look at how these two countries have approached homelessness to determine exactly which country handles homelessness best.Why Finland and Japan?Firstly, let's talk about the extent of the situation within each country. In our previous article on which country has the lowest rate of homelessness, Japan was determined as the country with the smallest percentage of people experiencing homelessness in the world, with a rate of 0.003%, which is approximately 1 in every 34,000 people.Finland was determined to have the 10th lowest rate of homelessness in...

The world's largest pension fund managing over $1.5 trillion in assets has announced it will explore diversifying a portion of its portfolio into Bitcoin.Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), the world's largest pension fund managing over $1.5 trillion in assets, has announced it will explore diversifying a portion of its portfolio into Bitcoin. According to the announcement, the GPIF will solicit information on illiquid alternative assets like Bitcoin, gold, forests, and farmland as part of its diversification efforts. While not currently invested in these assets, the move signals that the mega-fund is actively researching options beyond stocks and bonds. The...

The South China Sea has once again become a focal point of international attention following sudden clashes between coast guard vessels of the Philippines and China. As tensions rise, the involvement of global powers like the US and Japan adds further complexity to the situation, potentially pushing more nations to align against Beijing. Amid these escalating tensions, it becomes imperative for China to reconsider its assertive stance and respect the existing global order to avoid further international backlash The South China Sea (SCS) has once again come into focus following sudden skirmishes between the coast guard vessels of the Philippines...

Japan is stepping up efforts to have local authorities approve the restart of the world’s biggest nuclear power plant, the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa facility north of Tokyo... Next week, Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Ken Saito, is expected to ask the local governor of the Niigata prefecture to approve the restart of the power plant.. In the wake of the Fukushima disaster in 2011, Japan closed all its nuclear power plants that underwent rigorous safety checks and inspections. Kashiwazaki-Kariwa has been offline since 2012, while the Nuclear Regulation Authority in 2021 barred the plant’s operator, utility Tepco, from operating the...

The reviews for Disney-owned FX’s new hit miniseries “Shōgun” have been absolutely glowing. That is, apart from one notable exception. The series, based on a 1975 novel by James Clavell, follows the story of an English explorer in the 1500s who finds himself smack-dab in the middle of an intense political conflict unfolding in the Japanese empire. Though many seem to be enjoying the show, one critic — writer William Spivey — felt it was failing for one major reason: There is no black representation. The article, which originated as a blog on Medium, has received some seriously harsh criticism,...

A private U.S. lunar lander is expected to stop working Tuesday, its mission cut short after landing sideways near the south pole of the moon. Intuitive Machines, the Houston company that built and flew the spacecraft, said Monday it will continue to collect data until sunlight no longer shines on the solar panels. Based on the position of Earth and the moon, officials expect that to happen Tuesday morning. That’s two to three days short of the week or so that NASA and other customers had been counting on. The lander, named Odysseus, is the first U.S. spacecraft to land...

Stock in Intuitive Machines sharply dropped in after-hours trading Friday after the company’s Odyessus lunar lander tipped over when it landed on the moon’s surface. The extreme stock move shows just how hard it is to trade events that will move a small capitalization stock. Intuitive and NASA held a news conference on Friday evening. The lander “is stable, near or at the intended landing site,” said Intuitive CEO Steve Altemus. One hiccup though—the lander is on its side. Altemus said the craft was going 25,000 miles an hour in orbit and landed at about 6 miles an hour, with...

A video has been going viral on social media wherein a man in yellow attire can be seen vandalising a worship place. The video is reportedly from the Tarumi Ward in Japan’s Kobe City where the accused identified as Mamadou Balde had vandalised the Mizuoka Hachiman shrine in the area. Balde is a Muslim native of the Republic of Gambia in West Africa, who migrated to Japan and now lives in Tarumi Ward, where the incident took place. The accused, who was later arrested by the Japanese police, reportedly broke an offering box kept in the shrine. He also, reportedly,...

Videos depicting Muslim migrants causing disturbances in Japan are surfacing. They engage in street altercations with locals, riot in cafes, and vandalize traditional Japanese Shinto shrines. In a recent incident, a family dispute escalated into a stabbing, leaving several people injured. On the streets, Kurdish Muslim demonstrators protest against “racism,” shouting slogans like “Japan must die!”Despite comprising only 2,000 individuals, Kurds who fled persecution in Turkey and Iraq to seek refuge in Japan are stirring up significant trouble. Increasingly, evidence of their disruptive behavior is circulating on social media platforms.Encounters between Kurds and local Japanese often turn violent, involving physical...

A Hello Kitty theme park in Tokyo has been forced to close for the day after it received a “terror threat,” its operator said. Sanrio Puroland, also known as Hello Kitty Land, is located in Tama New Town in north Tokyo. In a statement published on the park’s official website, operators said they received “a terrorist threat email” on Saturday. “As we are unable to adequately ensure the safety of our customers, performers, and on-site staff, we have decided to temporarily close,” operators said. An official police report was filed and refunds for tickets on Saturday are being considered, they...

Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Japan's Nikkei stock index hit a record-breaking all-time high of 39,098.68 at the close of trading Thursday. The index closed the day up 836.52 points, or 2.19%, propelling it to the mark that broke a record set in December 1989. Thursday's surge was driven by semiconductor stocks, led by America's Nvidia Corp. Nvidia sales were up well above market expectations, with a 3.7-fold sales increase and $12.3 billion in net profits, an 8.7-fold increase. "Nvidia was able to surpass the high expectations placed on it, with the results clearly demonstrating the growing need for artificial intelligence,"...

Japan has lost its spot as the world’s third-largest economy to Germany, as the Asian giant unexpectedly slipped into recession. Once the second-largest economy in the world, Japan reported two consecutive quarters of contraction on Thursday — falling 0.4% on an annualized basis in the fourth quarter after a revised 3.3% contraction in the third quarter. Fourth-quarter GDP sharply missed forecasts for 1.4% growth in a Reuters poll of economists. A recession is broadly defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, GDP slipped 0.1%, compared with a 0.3% rise expected in the Reuters poll. For the...