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Lately, I made a point of reading the posts I normally skip on X, formerly Twitter — the ones that parrot disinformation as if it were well-known fact. Some of these accounts have followings in the hundreds of thousands, including the likes of Elon Musk or the economist Jeffrey Sachs, so you may assume that much of what they write is true. With U.S. President-elect Donald Trump expected to quickly try bringing an end to the war in Ukraine after taking office, I want to address the hoariest myth of all: It’s all the fault of an aggressive West. According to this narrative, which has gained traction across the global South in particular, Russia is a fellow victim of western colonialism and was moved to invade Ukraine by two outrageous provocations: the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s hostile eastward expansion and, in 2014, a CIA-engineered coup in Kyiv that threatened the nation’s ethnic Russian minority with “extermination.” Source link

Los Angeles – A ferocious wildfire in a Los Angeles suburb devoured buildings and sparked panicked evacuations Tuesday, as hurricane-force winds tore through the region. Frightened residents abandoned their cars on one of the only roads in and out of the upscale Pacific Palisades area, fleeing on foot from the almost 3,000-acre (1,200-hectare) blaze engulfing an area packed with multimillion-dollar homes in the Santa Monica Mountains. Firefighters used bulldozers to push dozens of vehicles — including expensive models like BMWs, Teslas and Mercedes — to one side, leaving many crumpled and with their alarms blaring. Source link

During the Yokozuna Deliberation Council (YDC) soken practice session at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo on Monday it was hard to avoid reminders that, in the words of Rocky Balboa, “Time is undefeated.” In the first bit of serious sumo business of 2025, Terunofuji’s latent power but physical decline was on full display, as was the continuing ascent of a trio of ozeki who are vying to take his spot at the top of the sport. The yokozuna, who has missed the past two tournaments because of injury, participated in only seven bouts in front of the YDC, and assembled media. Source link

Nihon Hidankyo on Wednesday expressed disappointment at being unable to discuss Japan’s possible participation as an observer to a U.N. conference on banning nuclear weapons during their 30-minute meeting with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. In his opening remarks, Ishiba congratulated the atomic bomb survivors’ group on winning the Nobel Peace Prize and thanked them for “long years of hard work” and their “extremely meaningful” activism, while maintaining that Japan must defend itself against threats from China, Russia and North Korea. “It was rather like the Prime Minister’s solo performance,” said 92-year-old Terumi Tanaka, a survivor of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and one of the co-chairs of the grassroots group. Source link

Economy minister Yoji Muto on Wednesday called for business leaders to continue to raise wages this year to put the country’s economy on a sustainable growth path. In this year’s shuntō spring wage talks, employers “should need to maintain the momentum of last year” when wages rose at the fastest pace in three decades, Muto said in a meeting in Tokyo with business leaders, including Masakazu Tokura, chairperson of the Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren. “Now is the time to step on the accelerator on wages and investment in order to transition to a growth-oriented economy,” Muto said. Tokura said the business community will cooperate with the government to ensure sustainable economic growth. On U.S. President Joe Biden’s rejection of the proposed sale of United States Steel to Nippon Steel, Muto said that it is extremely important to create an environment in which Japanese companies can make investment decisions with a sense of security. Source link

SEOUL – South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol faces a new and potentially more robust attempt to arrest him for insurrection after a top investigator vowed to do whatever it takes to break a security blockade and take in the impeached leader. Protesters supporting and opposing the embattled Yoon braved freezing temperatures to stage rallies on the streets around the presidential compound on Wednesday after a court reissued a warrant on Tuesday to arrest him. The Presidential Security Service (PSS) has been fortifying the compound this week with barbed wire and barricades using buses to block access to the residence, a hillside villa in an upscale district known as Korea’s Beverly Hills. Source link

Kyoto – Following its success in automating the process of creating induced pluripotent stem cells, Kyoto University’s CiRA Foundation will start producing iPS cells from patients’ own cells utilizing the automated culture system in April. Under a project aimed at making iPS cells — which theoretically can develop into almost all organs — widely available for regenerative medicine by drastically reducing the production cost, the foundation has successfully created the stem cells in a month using a German-made immune cell production apparatus in which a healthy person’s blood, reagents and specific genes were mixed. From April, the foundation will automatically make autologous iPS cells and turn them into, among others, heart muscle and nerve cells at a new facility in the city of Osaka. The iPS cell-derived cells will be frozen with liquid nitrogen and stored for later safety and efficacy studies. Source link

Almost 100 companies were delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2024, the most in a decade, as standards were tightened and investors became more demanding. The high number of delistings was also related to the desire to avoid activist investors. According to TSE data, 94 companies were delisted from the Tokyo exchange last year, the highest number since it merged with the Osaka Securities Exchange in 2013. A total of 61 companies were delisted in 2023, and 77 in 2022. Source link

The cities of Toyama and Osaka have been featured in The New York Times’ list of “52 Places to Go in 2025.” Toyama, which is located between the Sea of Japan coast and the Japanese Alps, was praised by the Times as a place where tourists could “enjoy cultural wonders and culinary delights while skipping the crowds.” The paper noted how the area has been appealing to tourists as part of its recovery efforts following an earthquake and torrential rain that devastated the Noto Peninsula in neighboring Ishikawa Prefecture last year. Source link

Naha – Police in the prefecture of Okinawa on Wednesday sent papers on a U.S. Marine in his 30s to public prosecutors for alleged nonconsensual sexual intercourse resulting in injury. Police notified the Okinawa Prefectural Government of the referral the same day. It is not clear whether the suspect has admitted to the allegation. The Marine is suspected of sexually assaulting and injuring an adult woman indoors on Okinawa’s main island last November. The suspect and the victim met on the day of the incident, according to informed sources. Police identified the man, including through security camera footage, and questioned him on a voluntary basis. Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki said in a statement that the incident was extremely regrettable, and that he feels strong indignation. “This is a matter of great concern to the people of Okinawa, and we demand a firm response,” Tamaki said. Last year, the Okinawa police department faced public criticism for failing to notify the prefectural government of past sexual assault cases involving U.S. military personnel. In July, it implemented a system to report such cases to the prefectural government when it arrests suspects or refers them to prosecutors. Source link