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Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya became the first Japanese top diplomat to visit South Korea in nearly seven years on Monday, ahead of talks with his counterpart in Seoul on bilateral and trilateral cooperation just a week before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is due to take office. Iwaya is to meet with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul, with Cho expected to reassure Iwaya of the government’s stability and its commitment to bilateral and trilateral ties in the wake of the political chaos unleashed by President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment over his short-lived bid to martial law declaration. In Monday’s talks, Iwaya and Cho will likely discuss ways to maintain momentum for bilateral ties and trilateral cooperation with their mutual ally, the United States, ahead of Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration. Source link

Social media sensation Ilona Maher celebrated her first start for Bristol by scoring a spectacular try to inspire a 41-31 win against Exeter on Sunday. The American back, who won Olympic bronze at the 2024 Paris Games, has more than 8 million followers across Instagram and TikTok, making her the world’s most followed rugby player The United States sevens ace lived up to the hype as she ran over half the pitch and evaded two tackles in a 55th-minute try that showcased her pace and power. The 28-year-old, who has signed a three-month contract with Bristol, also underlined her ability as a creator. She stepped off her wing to suck in three defenders before releasing Meg Varley to score the bonus-point try that kept Bristol in contention for the Premiership Women’s Rugby playoffs. “It felt like sevens a little bit,” Maher said. “My teammates did the work to put me through, and I had to get through a couple of defenders. I thought ‘oh, this is sevens!’” “I don’t go around people, that’s never been my thing — ever! I don’t go around them, always go through. It’s really not natural for me.” Maher made her debut off the bench for Bristol against defending champion Gloucester-Hartpury last weekend in a game that produced a club-record crowd of 9,240 for a women’s game. Maher is aiming to gain selection for the U.S. squad for the Women’s Rugby World Cup, which takes place in England later this year. Her arrival at Bristol has boosted replica shirt sales, while the club’s Instagram following has soared from 21,000 to 67,000. Source link

Jannik Sinner launched his Australian Open title defense with a 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 win over Nicolas Jarry on Monday in a match that put the players’ contrasting doping cases in the spotlight. World No. 1 Sinner, who avoided suspension after failing two drug tests last March, was given a good battle on a sun-drenched Rod Laver Arena by the big-serving Chilean, who was banned for 11 months in 2020 for doping. In the lead-up to the match, Jarry told Chilean newspaper La Tercera that he wished he had “the same support” as Sinner from tennis authorities following his own failed tests. Source link

The Osaka Expo’s lottery for pavilion reservations officially opened Monday, marking three months until the event’s April 13 start. Winning the lottery guarantees entry to popular pavilions. The Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition is promoting this benefit to help boost ticket sales, which have struggled to gain momentum. However, as of Monday, only about 20% of the independently constructed international pavilions, dubbed the “crown jewels” of the expo, were open for reservations. Source link

Husbands live longer than single men. For wives, the calculation is more complex. Source link

Riesa, Germany – Buoyed by the endorsement of technology billionaire Elon Musk and enjoying new highs in polls ahead of elections in February, Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is hoping for a further boost from the success of the far right in neighboring Austria. Long shunned by the political establishment, Austria’s Freedom Party (FPOe) is currently on the brink of power after being invited to try to form a government with the conservative People’s Party (OeVP). “We saw what was suddenly possible in Austria and let’s see what happens here,” AfD deputy parliamentary group leader Beatrix von Storch said on the sidelines of a party conference in the eastern town of Riesa on Sunday. Source link

Santa Monica, California – Five days after an inferno razed Pacific Palisades in California, Maya Lieberman is desperate to find somewhere to live. But unscrupulous landlords who are jacking up prices are making it hard. “The price gouging is going haywire, it’s obscene,” the 50-year-old stylist said. “I can’t find anywhere for us to go.” Source link

Justin Trudeau says Canada is ready to respond with counter-tariffs against the U.S. if President-elect Donald Trump follows through on his threat to begin a trade war in North America. Speaking on MSNBC’s “Inside With Jen Psaki,” the outgoing Canadian prime minister said his government isn’t looking for a trade fight with the new administration but will have to retaliate if the U.S. puts tariffs on Canadian products. Canada buys more U.S.-made goods than any other country, according to U.S. Commerce Department export data — about $320 billion in the first 11 months of last year. The U.S. trade deficit on goods with Canada was $55 billion during that period. Source link

Amid a push to digitalize, some experts believe citizens should have the right to stay offline. Source link

The wildfires terrorizing Los Angeles have been like something out of a movie: vast, fast-moving, unpredictable, merciless. Their scope and nature have surprised even fire-jaded California. They are also evidence of the sort of consequences that can be expected as the planet continues to heat up, consequences for which traditional risk-management tools — like, say, home insurance — are increasingly obsolete. The fires didn’t even exist on Tuesday morning. The only hint of what was to come were forecasts for some of the strongest and most dangerous Santa Ana winds on record to barrel out of the Great Basin and into Southern California. Those hurricane-force blasts can be destructive enough. But these coincided with drought conditions, dry vegetation, low humidity and relatively high air temperatures, leading the National Weather Service to issue an “extremely critical” fire-weather warning for the area around Los Angeles, the first-ever such warning in the lower 48 U.S. states in January. It didn’t take long to see the results. Within hours, a serious fire was threatening the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in western Los Angeles, moving so quickly that some residents abandoned their cars on the road and fled by foot. By Wednesday morning, three out-of-control fires had spread across 4,500 acres around the city, taking at least two lives and destroying at least 100 buildings and threatening hundreds of thousands of people and tens of thousands of homes and businesses. And the emergency had not yet peaked, with strong winds expected to continue the rest of the week. Source link