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Oil refiner Eneos Holdings is considering selling as much as 70% of JX Advanced Metals in an initial share sale that may raise up to around ¥700 billion ($4.5 billion), according to people familiar with the matter. The Eneos board is set to discuss the IPO at a meeting on Friday, with Chief Executive Officer Tomohide Miyata favoring a sale of 50.1% while others involved in the decision-making process prefer 70%, said the two people, who asked not to be named because the deliberations aren’t public. There is a likelihood of Eneos settling on a number somewhere near the middle of the range, and there is no plan to issue new shares in JX, said the people. They added that the deliberations are ongoing, and details may still change. Source link

Beijing is continuing to build up its nuclear arsenal and inventory of missiles capable of striking U.S. bases in Japan, the Pentagon has said, despite corruption probes at the upper echelons of the Chinese military. The U.S. Defense Department said Wednesday in an annual congressionally mandated report on Chinese military power that Beijing possessed more than 600 operational nuclear warheads as of mid-2024, with estimates that it will probably have over 1,000 warheads by 2030, a force that would continue to grow through at least 2035. The report also said that China now has 1,300 medium-range ballistic missiles in its arsenal, 300 more than last year’s estimate. With a range of 1,000 to 1,300 kilometers, the weapons are easily able to hit key U.S. and Japanese military outposts in Okinawa Prefecture. Source link

Paris – Bitcoin’s soaring value has caught the attention of high-end fashion brands and retailers, prompting further interest in offering cryptocurrencies as a means of payment to tap into fresh pockets of wealth and build loyalty with crypto investors. Until recently, only a handful of luxury brands — including LVMH watch labels Hublot and Tag Heuer, as well as Kering-owned fashion brands Gucci and Balenciaga — have experimented with crypto payment offers. In recent weeks, upscale French luxury department store Printemps announced it was teaming up with the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance, and French financial tech company Lyzi to accept cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin and ethereum, in its stores in France — becoming the first European department store to do so. The move, coming as bitcoin rises, has been noticed by other brands and retailers who are showing interest in joining in. Source link

The rivers and canals that meander through Hemudu in southeastern China are a vital source of life and community — they provide income for fishermen, an after-school hangout spot for kids, and define the town’s landscape. But when it rains, those waterways become a liability. “This area floods every year,” says Zheng, a long-time resident who lives less than a mile away from a river. Over the past decade and a half, Zheng has seen floodwater repeatedly threaten the ground-floor grocery store that he runs and his home above. But with his income “barely enough to make ends meet” and a grandson to look after, the 60-year-old says relocation isn’t an option. He’s tried but failed to insure his property. “Insurance companies turned us down because they said they’d have no chance to make money,” says Zheng, who asked not to be identified by his full name for fear of reprisal. “No one would take such a risk.” Source link

Police arrested a man in his 40s on Thursday on suspicion of stabbing two junior high school students at a McDonald’s in the city of Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, on Saturday, with one of the victims dying from her injuries. Authorities said the suspect did not know the victims, and the seemingly random nature of the crime has led police to suspect that it was a “thrill killing,” according to a report by NTV. Saaya Nakashima, 15, and a male classmate, also 15, were on their way home from cram school Saturday when they entered the McDonald’s at around 8 p.m. After securing a table, the pair joined the order line at the counter. Source link

Sexual assault was once rarely prosecuted in Japan. Now, however, more victims are coming forward, most recently three Cambodian women who have filed a suit against their one-time employer, a strawberry farmer in Tochigi Prefecture they allege repeatedly raped one of them and inappropriately touched the other two. The farmer has claimed that sexual relations with the one woman were consensual. Wading into this whirlpool of accusations and denials is “More Than Words,” TV veteran Takashi Watanabe’s first feature about a fledgling scriptwriter (Kou Maehara) whose career is derailed by an alleged rape. Based on Watanabe’s original script, the film steers a middle course through the whirlpool. Instead of a clarion call to trust all women or a cynical dismissal of victims’ claims, it aims to show that both sides can be in the wrong. Source link

Movies about authors inevitably run into the problem that the act of writing is a bore to watch. Even in the best-case scenario, all you’re likely to see is words appearing on a page. More often, you’ll be stuck observing someone spend hours agonizing over a single paragraph or procrastinating while they wait for inspiration to strike. The titular establishment in Yukihiko Tsutsumi’s “The Hotel of My Dream” is the go-to place for such behavior. First opened in 1954, the Hilltop Hotel in Tokyo was a landmark for postwar wordsmiths, frequented by the likes of Yukio Mishima and Yasunari Kawabata. Editors reportedly used to mill around in the lobby while they waited for writers in the rooms upstairs to finish their manuscripts. That’s the vibe Kayoko Nakashima (the single-named Non) is looking for when she checks in for a night in 1984, bringing a fountain pen, a wad of paper and some unfulfilled literary ambitions. Her fledgling career has stalled since she won a prize for new writers several years earlier — something she blames on a scathing review by bestselling novelist Munenori Higashijujo (Kenichi Takito). Source link

Police have detained a 49-year-old woman who is suspected of stabbing a 75-year-old woman at a train station in Kobe on Wednesday. Sannomiya subway station staff alerted authorities at around 12:20 p.m. that a woman had possibly been stabbed near the ticket gates at the station’s east exit. Police arrived to find the victim, a native of Kobe’s Kita Ward, with two stab wounds to her back, according to Yomiuri Television. She was conscious and able to speak when emergency responders arrived and was quickly transported to the hospital. The suspect, Yuko Yamamoto, of unknown address and occupation, was detained on the spot on suspicion of attempted murder, according to the Mainichi Broadcasting System. Police confirmed that the victim and Yamamoto did not know each other. At the time of her arrest, Yamamoto was holding a brand name kitchen knife approximately 17 centimeters in length. Police ordered her to drop the weapon, but she refused. Officers used a baton to knock the knife from her hand before taking her into custody. Bloodstains believed to be from the victim were found near a pillar by the ticket gate. Yamamoto remained silent during questioning but nodded when asked whether she had stabbed the victim. A passerby had reported seeing someone swinging a kitchen knife near the station just before the attack. The area was immediately cordoned off. Witnesses described seeing the victim lying on the ground, covered with a blanket as police set up a security perimeter. Despite the disturbance, subway services continued to operate as usual following the incident, although station staff guided passengers outside the cordoned area. Police are continuing to investigate the details of the attack, including a possible motive behind the stabbing. Source link

Macao – A decade ago, the elegant cobblestone streets of Macao’s Tap Seac Square were jam-packed with people clamouring for change and government accountability — the high-water mark for the former Portuguese colony’s political awakening. Now as Macao prepares to mark the 25th anniversary of its handover to China this week, the city’s democracy movement is all but over and the protests of 2014 no more than a memory. “Macao’s civil society is relatively docile and obedient, that’s the truth,” said Au Kam-san, 67, a primary school teacher who became one of Macao’s longest-serving pro-democracy legislators. Source link