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The yen is on track for its longest losing streak in more than a month amid heightened concerns Japan may be included in U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff plan. Japan’s currency dropped as much as 0.8% to ¥153.73 against the dollar on Wednesday, its weakest level in a week and lagging all major peers. That’s in contrast from last week, when the currency had its fourth straight gain for the period as traders bet that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) will raise rates again and the yen showed haven appeal. The yen slid as Trump announced that he plans to impose 25% tariffs on all U.S. imports of steel and aluminum. The Japanese government asked Trump on Wednesday to exempt the nation’s companies from his fresh tariffs, trade minister Yoji Muto told reporters. Source link

On a plane back to Turkey following his capture in 1999, Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan declared that he loved his country and “would serve it if required.” More than a quarter of a century later, that could now emerge as a call on his separatist group to lay down arms. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is trying to revive peace talks with the Kurds alongside discussions with Washington over the future of U.S.-backed Kurdish forces in neighboring Syria following the ousting of Syrian President Bashar Assad. He sees an opportunity to take advantage of upheaval and thwart what Turkey sees as the growing threat of Kurdish nationalism in the region. If successful, it would boost Turkey’s aspirations to reshape the Middle East and burnish support for Erdogan as he seeks to rewrite the constitution and extend his rule. Source link

Newly acquired Toronto Raptors forward Brandon Ingram has agreed to a three-year, $120 million extension, his agents confirmed to ESPN on Tuesday. Ingram, 27, has not played for the Raptors since coming over in a trade last Thursday that sent Bruce Brown and Kelly Olynyk to the New Orleans Pelicans along with draft compensation. He was set to become a free agent this summer before signing the extension. Ingram has been sidelined since Dec. 7 with an ankle injury and is reportedly working toward a return sometime after this weekend’s All-Star break. The deal with Toronto also includes a player option in 2027-28, according to Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul and agents Shy Saee and Mike George. An All-Star in 2019-20, Ingram is averaging 22.2 points, 5.6 rebounds and 5.2 assists in 18 games this season. He owns career averages of 19.5 points, 5.2 boards and 4.3 assists in 495 games (456 starts) with the Los Angeles Lakers (2016-19) and the Pelicans. The Lakers drafted him No. 2 overall in 2016. Source link

The proportion of children with tooth cavities in Japan hit a record low in fiscal 2024, apparently reflecting advice on tooth brushing and other related initiatives at schools, a survey by the health ministry showed Wednesday. The cavity rate stood at 20.74% at kindergartens, 32.89% at elementary schools, 26.50% at junior high schools and 34.70% at high schools, all hitting the lowest level since the survey began in fiscal 1948. The survey covered a total of about 3.19 million children between April and June 2024. The survey period had been extended in fiscal 2020 to fiscal 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, children’s vision continued to deteriorate. The proportion of children whose vision was less than 20/20 stood at 36.84% at elementary schools, 60.61% at junior high schools and 71.06% at high schools, all the highest on record except for fiscal 2020 to fiscal 2023, when the survey period was different. Source link

While Hirokazu Kore-eda’s new series meticulously remakes a classic NHK drama, this reinterpretation tweaks the story to give its female characters more agency. Source link

Japan’s internal affairs ministry on Wednesday presented a new plan to send officials from some prefectures to help other areas hit hard by a possible massive earthquake in the Nankai Trough off the country’s Pacific coast. The ministry selected 10 prefectures, mainly from on the Sea of Japan coast and the northern part of the Kanto region, to send such officials. Under the new plan, for example, the prefectural governments of Toyama, Fukushima and Shimane will send officials to Shizuoka, Aichi and Kochi, respectively, in the event of a Nankai Trough megaquake. The ministry will formally adopt the new plan by the end of fiscal 2024 for implementation in April. The current system for such official dispatches was created in March 2018, based on lessons learned from the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes. Following the Noto Peninsula earthquake in January 2024, a total of about 116,000 officials were dispatched to 18 affected municipalities, including those in Ishikawa Prefecture, from 63 municipalities elsewhere in the country. However, the municipalities to which they were assigned were decided after the disaster occurred. Source link

Yokohama – Former England assistant coach Steve Holland won his first game in charge of Yokohama F. Marinos, beating China’s Shanghai Shenhua 1-0 Wednesday to top the Asian Champions League East table. Gareth Southgate’s former right-hand man is in his first managerial position since 2008, following long stints as an assistant coach at Chelsea and England. The 54-year-old enjoyed a successful debut at home with Yokohama, which had already qualified for the AFC Champions League Elite knock-out phase heading into its penultimate league stage game. Source link

The Environment Ministry plans to decide around 2030 or later where to finally dispose of soil removed from the ground during decontamination work after the March 2011 disaster at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings’ Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant, it was learned Wednesday. The plan was included in a draft timetable for the final disposal of such soil outside Fukushima Prefecture by March 2045, presented by the ministry at a meeting of a related expert panel on the day. The ministry will consider a process for selecting final disposal sites from fiscal 2025. As of the end of December, about 14 million cubic meters of such soil had been transported to an interim storage facility straddling the Fukushima towns of Okuma and Futaba. Three-quarters of the soil had radiation concentrations of 8,000 becquerels per kilogram or less and will be reused in public works, while the rest will be subject to final disposal. Final disposal sites are estimated to require up to 50 hectares if the volume of the soil is not reduced, or 2 to 3 hectares if the volume is reduced. Meanwhile, radiation levels would be higher in the reduced soil. The government is slated to draw up a basic plan as early as this spring for reusing some of the soil and finally disposing of the rest. Source link

WASHINGTON – As U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown expands across the United States with more than 1,000 arrests per day, some workers are starting to wonder if they should keep reporting to their job sites. Such a response could exacerbate a housing affordability crisis that experts say needs to be fixed in part by speeding up construction, and worsen a labor shortage that already threatens to delay homebuilding and raise prices. “We definitely are hearing hesitation,” said Palmira Figueroa, a long-time labor activist and communications coordinator with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. Source link

The Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) will send one of its Mogami-class frigates to Australia for joint military exercises in the coming days, Defense Ministry Gen Nakatani said Wednesday, as Tokyo vies with Germany for a lucrative contract to build new frigates for Canberra. Nakatani said the Noshiro Mogami-class frigate will head to Australia for the drills from Monday through April 3, with the vessel also making a port call in the Philippines. The dispatch is believed to be part of a push by Japan, one of two finalists with Germany, to win the contract with Australia for the joint development of new frigates. Canberra is expected to make a final decision on the matter by the end of the year. Source link