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WASHINGTON – U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday raised hopes for another monthlong pause on steep new tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada, saying they could take effect on April 2, and floated a 25% “reciprocal” tariff on European cars and other goods. A White House official, however, said Trump’s previous March 4 deadline for the 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods remained in effect “as of this moment,” pending his review of Mexican and Canadian actions to secure their borders and halt the flow of migrants and the opioid fentanyl into the U.S. Trump sowed confusion during his first cabinet meeting on Wednesday when he was asked about the timing for the start of the duties for Canada and Mexico and replied that it would be April 2. Source link

Three more Japanese courts ruled on Wednesday that last October’s House of Representatives election was constitutional in terms of vote-value disparities. The three rulings, by the Matsue branch of the Hiroshima High Court, Takamatsu High Court and the Kanazawa branch of the Nagoya High Court, were the 12th to 14th rulings on a total of 16 lawsuits over the recent general election filed by two groups of lawyers at 14 high courts and high court branches across the country. All 11 previous rulings had also said that the election was constitutional. The plaintiffs claimed that the maximum vote-value gap of 2.06 times in the election violated the Constitution, which stipulates equality in the value of votes, and demanded that the election be invalidated. At the Matsue court on the day, presiding judge Yoshiki Matsutani said that the maximum gap “cannot necessarily be considered significant.” Source link

LOS ANGELES – Luka Doncic faced his old team, the Dallas Mavericks, for the first time since his shock move to the Los Angeles Lakers, serving up a triple-double in a 107-99 win on Tuesday. The five-time All-Star moved to the Lakers in exchange for big man Anthony Davis this month in a deal which stunned the NBA and left Mavs fans distraught. Davis, who is injured, was present at Crypto.com arena in Los Angeles and was given a tribute from the Lakers during the first timeout. Source link

Three years is all it took for Jose Ando to go from writing his first pages of fiction to winning the most prestigious literary prize in Japan. “I started writing novels one year before my debut story (was published) two years ago,” Ando tells The Japan Times from the offices of Kawade Shobo Shinsha, publisher of his Akutagawa Prize-winning novel “Dtopia.” “I thought of a story in my head, and wanted to make a novel that was all my own.” The 30-year-old writer says the novels he knew as a child growing up in Tokyo were by the authors whose works appeared in his school curriculum. He only consumed the old classics, many with outdated notions that his teachers nonetheless instructed him to read. Source link

BEIJING – China’s government said on Wednesday that Taiwan was “manipulating” possible Chinese involvement in the latest severing of an undersea communications cable, saying the island was casting aspersions before the facts were clear. Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has repeatedly complained about “gray zone” Chinese activities around the island, designed to pressure it without direct confrontation, such as balloon overflights and sand dredging. Taiwan’s coast guard said it detained a China-linked cargo ship on Tuesday after a nearby undersea cable to the Penghu Islands in the sensitive Taiwan Strait was disconnected. Source link

China’s recent deployment of three warships to waters east of Australia was “designed to be provocative,” a top Australian intelligence official has said, as Beijing looks to normalize this type of military presence in the region — a move that also has implications for Japan. “This is the furthest south a PLAN task group has operated, and at least some of its activities seem designed to be provocative,” Andrew Shearer, Australia’s director-general of national intelligence, said in reference to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy vessels. Last week, the Chinese naval flotilla conducted an unusual series of live-fire exercises in the seas between Australia and New Zealand, forcing civilian flights to divert on short notice and prompting officials in the two countries to say that more advance warning should have been given. Source link

In professional sumo, the release of every new banzuke — or ranking list — signals the imminent arrival of the next official tournament. For the March 2025 meet in Osaka, the two most striking changes on the banzuke are the absence of Terunofuji, and Hoshoryu’s name writ large in stylized sumo calligraphy under the rank of yokozuna. After that, what immediately catches the eye is “Ukraine” written in katakana on the top line on both east and west sides of the printed banzuke sheet. Source link

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) announced Wednesday that it will expand its business activities in Australia in what is believed to be another push by Japan as it vies with Germany for a lucrative contract to build new frigates for Canberra. The Japanese company, which is seeking to provide an upgraded version of its Mogami-class frigate to the Royal Australian Navy should it win the decadelong Project Sea 3000, said the expansion by its Australian subsidiary will allow it to focus on providing support for the multimillion-dollar defense project while strengthening its business network with related agencies and companies. “MHI-AUS will prioritize measures to respond to requests from the Australian government in a timely manner,” the firm said in a statement, referring to its Australian subsidiary. Source link

The spotlight on the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP) grew dimmer after Nippon Ishin no Kai beat it to making a distinctive mark on budget negotiations with the ruling coalition. On Tuesday, Nippon Ishin sealed a deal with the Liberal Democratic Party-Komeito coalition on education reform and social insurance in exchange for its support for the minority government’s fiscal 2025 budget –– effectively ensuring its approval in the Lower House. “I’ve heard about yesterday’s agreement with Nippon Ishin, and I think it’s a great accomplishment, but the CDP has its own demands,” CDP policy chief Kazuhiko Shigetoku said as he and his counterparts from the ruling coalition reconvened Wednesday for the latter to give feedback on the opposition party’s proposal. Source link

TAIPEI/BEIJING – China’s military held “shooting training” on Wednesday off Taiwan’s southwest coast in a move Taipei described as provocative and dangerous, while a senior Chinese leader vowed unswerving efforts to bring the island under Beijing’s control. Democratically governed Taiwan, which China views as its own territory, has repeatedly complained of Chinese military activities, including several rounds of full-scale war games during the past three years. Shortly before 9 a.m., Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said in a statement, it had detected 32 Chinese military aircraft carrying out a “joint combat readiness drill” with Chinese warships in the Taiwan Strait area. Source link