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WASHINGTON – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force Gen. C.Q. Brown, and pushed out five other admirals and generals in an unprecedented shake-up of U.S. military leadership. Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he would nominate retired Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine to succeed Brown. A former F-16 fighter pilot, Caine was the associate director of military affairs at the Central Intelligence Agency until late last year. Trump will also replace the head of the U.S. Navy, a position held by Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead a military service, as well as the air force vice chief of staff and judge advocates general for the Army, Navy and Air Force, the Pentagon said. Source link

The Associated Press sued three White House officials after its reporters were banned from covering events at the White House and traveling aboard Air Force One over U.S. President Donald Trump’s objection to how the news organization references “Gulf of America” in its style guide. In a suit filed Friday in Washington federal court, the AP asked for an emergency hearing and a court order that would declare the prohibition unconstitutional and allow its journalists to regain access. “The White House’s indefinite denial of the AP’s access was based on the content and perceived viewpoint of the AP’s reporting and editorial decisions, and constituted impermissible retaliation against the AP,” the newswire said in the complaint. Source link

OXON HILL, Maryland – A raised-arm salute by Steve Bannon that to many resembled a Nazi one incited an outcry Friday not just from liberal critics of President Donald Trump and his allies but also from a leader of the European right. It came a month after Elon Musk made a similar salute and at a combustible moment when the administration of Trump, who has long been dogged by charges of encouraging far-right extremism, appears to be leaning more aggressively into far-right alliances around the world. The gesture late Thursday by Bannon, a former chief White House strategist and a longtime thought leader in Trump’s populist movement, immediately drew comparisons to the infamous “Sieg Heil” Nazi salute, as had the one from Musk, the billionaire leading Trump’s cost-cutting efforts, on Inauguration Day. Source link

KYIV – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday said his country will work “swiftly and very sensibly” on an agreement granting the United States access to its natural resources, in an apparent overture to tamp down tensions that had flared with President Donald Trump over the deal. Ukraine has focused on strengthening its negotiating position as the United States and Russia open talks on ending the war – with or without Ukraine’s involvement. In a flurry of diplomacy Thursday and Friday, Zelenskyy spoke with a half-dozen leaders in Europe and Canada to shore up other sources of support. As he did so, however, Trump said in a radio interview Friday that Zelenskyy did not need to participate in talks intended to end the conflict on his soil. Source link

Kitami, Hokkaido – Before Hokkaido was Hokkaido, it was known to mainland Japan as Ezo. Further back still, indigenous Ainu communities referred to the northern expanse as Ainu Mosir, a name they had used for untold generations. Yet the story of humanity in these lands began long before the Ainu, and today, Hokkaido’s furthest reaches are hoping the treasures of long-forgotten peoples could be the key to drawing curious travelers in search of a glimpse at Japan’s bygone past to the deep north. The Okhotsk subprefecture in northeastern Hokkaido derives its name from the Okhotsk culture, a collection of communities that migrated throughout the modern-day Sea of Okhotsk from the 4th to the 12th centuries. At its peak from the 5th to 9th centuries, the maritime-based Okhotsk peoples stretched from northern Hokkaido, throughout the Kuril Islands and across the breadth of Sakhalin in modern-day Russia. Source link

The Tokyo Yakult Swallows employee who portrayed the team’s beloved mascot Tsubakuro has died, the Central League club announced on Wednesday. The team asked for privacy for the family of the staffer, whose name and cause of death were not revealed in the announcement. Yakult said upcoming activities involving the character are suspended. “The staff member who supported Tsubakuro has passed away,” the club said on Wednesday. “We would like to express our gratitude and respect for the achievement of raising him to this point as the team mascot.” Source link

A high-level Japanese group, including a former prime minister, has drawn up plans for Elon Musk’s Tesla to invest in Nissan following the collapse of its merger talks with Honda, the Financial Times reported on Friday. The proposal, led by former Tesla board member Hiromichi Mizuno, is being supported by ex-premier Yoshihide Suga and his former aide Hiroto Izumi, the report said, citing unnamed sources. The group is hopeful that Tesla will become a strategic investor, since the members believe it is keen to acquire Nissan’s plants in the United States, according to the report. Nissan in recent weeks has been searching for a strategic partner in the tech industry, with some board members suggesting Tesla and Apple as ideal targets, the report said. “The Tesla factory is the product. The Cybercab production line is like nothing else in the automotive industry,” Musk said, replying to a user sharing the FT report on social media platform X. Musk last year unveiled a two-seater, two-door “Cybercab” without a steering wheel and pedals that would use cameras and artificial intelligence to navigate roads. He has previously said the company will start production of the Cybercab in 2026. Nissan shares closed 9.6% higher after the report. The automaker and Honda ended talks to forge a $60 billion car company last week. Nissan declined to comment on the report, while Tesla, Apple and Suga’s office did not directly respond to requests for comment. Izumi was not immediately able to be contacted. Suga stood down as prime minister in 2021. Although he has no formal position in government, he remains a member of Japan’s lower house, representing a constituency in Nissan’s home prefecture of Kanagawa. Source link

With Monday marking the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a book for junior high school students in Japan is gaining attention for explaining why wars occur in an easy-to-understand way with manga and other illustrations. The book, titled “Bokura wa Senso wo Shiranai” (We Don’t Know Wars), was released for libraries last year by publishing company Gakken. Under the supervision of Yu Koizumi, associate professor at the University of Tokyo’s Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, who specializes in Russia’s military policy, the 136-page book explains what wars are and why they occur, using Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as an example. Source link

Millennial rockers Vampire Weekend, funk outfit Vulfpeck and electronic act Fred Again.. are set to headline this summer’s Fuji Rock Festival, according to an official announcement released Friday. The nation’s premier summer music festival showcasing international acts in Japan, Fuji Rock will be held from July 25 to 27 at Naeba Ski Resort in Niigata Prefecture. Unlike previous years, where only headliners and a trickle of acts were revealed, this year’s announcement featured a whopping 60 artists, ranging from overseas bands to domestic singer-songwriters. Other notable acts on the roster include Four Tet, Haim and Barry Can’t Swim. Source link

When American President Donald Trump was elected in 2016, he was an unfamiliar figure in Afghanistan. People were anxious about this new personality and wondered whether he would understand the intricacies and challenges that they faced, particularly the multitude of issues related to terrorism. At the time, Afghanistan was also witnessing neighboring countries — China, Iran, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan — entertain warmer ties with the Taliban. This made it difficult for the democratic leadership in Kabul, surrounded by authoritarian states, to navigate the huge challenges it faced. Now that Trump is president again, hopefully, he will recognize the failure of the peace talks with the Taliban that resulted in their return to power in 2021 and acknowledge the lack of sincerity on the part of Pakistan and other regional actors. The new administration is already getting tough by cutting financial aid to the Taliban and pushing for the return of American weapons and ammunition. Source link