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Misako Yoshimura, an 81-year-old resident of the town of Yonabaru, Okinawa Prefecture, has no memory of seeing her father smile. What she remembers instead is him sitting on the porch of their hilltop home in the village of Chinen, which forms part of the present-day city of Nanjo, drinking sake every night while gazing out to sea. His eyes were always looking into the distance, never seeming to focus their attention on the family by his side. It was shortly after Japan’s surrender in the Pacific War. His gaze, which passed through the stone walls and fences of the house, was fixed on the vast Pacific Ocean where U.S. warships lined up after the war. The glaring lights on the vessels appeared all the brighter from their house, which was dimly lit with oil lamps. Source link

Showa Kogyo, a metal processing firm in Kasugai, Aichi Prefecture, has developed a fish-gathering plate to attract thread-sail filefish as its first attempt in its 76-year history to create its own product. The stainless plate, named Kawahagi-san Yottoide (“come closer, thread-sail filefish” in Japanese), has become a great hit with anglers. The plate, which reflects light under the sea to attract filefish, was developed by a Showa Kogyo employee who loves fishing. Source link

Two of President Donald Trump’s top advisers declined to describe Russia as the aggressor in the war in Ukraine, as the administration seeks Vladimir Putin’s support for a peace deal. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and national security adviser Mike Waltz both avoided direct answers in television interviews on Sunday, portraying the question as a distraction from Trump’s diplomacy. “My question is, does all the finger-pointing and pearl-clutching make peace more likely?” Hegseth said on Fox News Sunday. Source link

Former world No. 1 Venus Williams will not compete at next month’s Indian Wells tournament despite the WTA 1000 event giving the 44-year-old American a wild card. Williams, who played only two tournaments last season, said at a speaking event in Denmark that she had not been told of the wild card before the tournament announced it on Wednesday and added that she was unable to compete due to prior commitments. “I found the announcement super amusing because, I don’t know, people seem to be happy, so I was like, ‘Maybe I’ll just go with it, I don’t know’,” Williams said at the event in the city of Naestved. “I’m actually not going. I’m going to be overseas.” Tournament director Tommy Haas later released a statement confirming that Williams would not be playing at the event in Southern California. “Our team has been informed that Venus is not accepting the wild card this year,” it read. “We wish Venus all the best and hope to see her back in Indian Wells in the future.” Williams boycotted the event for 15 years after fans booed and heckled her younger sister Serena during her 2001 final victory over Kim Clijsters, apparently in response to Venus withdrawing injured from their semifinal. “I love Indian Wells, I would love to be there and if I could have accepted it, I would have been like, ‘Yes’, but I already made commitments,” Williams added. Source link

LONDON – Russia’s overheating economy is on the cusp of serious cooling, as huge fiscal stimulus, soaring interest rates, stubbornly high inflation and Western sanctions take their toll, but after three years of war, Washington may just have thrown Moscow a lifeline. U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing for a quick deal to end the war in Ukraine, alarming Washington’s European allies by leaving them and Ukraine out of initial talks with Russia and blaming Ukraine for Russia’s 2022 invasion, political gifts for Moscow that could also bring strong economic benefits. Washington’s push comes as Moscow faces two undesirable options, according to Oleg Vyugin, former deputy chairman of Russia’s central bank. Source link

Japan’s biggest banks and regional lenders are tightening controls on the management of safe-deposit boxes after a string of thefts involving bank employees rocked public confidence. The incidents have intensified scrutiny of a segment already grappling with weak demand and thin margins. The latest blow came last Tuesday when Mizuho Bank publicly disclosed that a former employee had stolen assets worth tens of millions of yen from two customers’ safe-deposit boxes in 2019. While the theft had been reported to the Financial Services Agency (FSA) at the time, Mizuho Bank had kept the incident under wraps. The bank has since tightened internal controls, revising procedures for how secondary keys are managed, according to spokesperson Naohiro Takahashi. Source link

Tokyo police arrested a 17-year-old boy on suspicion of attempted murder after another 17-year-old was stabbed to death on a street in the capital’s Adachi Ward early Monday. Police officers found the victim stabbed in the right side of his chest with a knife after rushing to the scene following an emergency call around 4:30 a.m. saying that he had been stabbed by a friend, police sources said. Police made an emergency arrest of the suspected attacker at the scene, while the victim was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead about an hour later. The arrested boy has admitted to stabbing the victim, the police sources said. Police plan to investigate him on suspicion of murder, believing that he had a dispute with the victim over a woman who was an acquaintance of both and was with them at the time. The scene is located in an area with an elementary school and houses about 1.5 kilometers west of Nishiaraidaishi-nishi station on the Nippori-toneri Liner. Source link

The Trump administration has taken aim at China with a series of moves involving investment, trade and other issues that raises the risk ties may soon worsen between the U.S. and its top economic rival. In recent days, U.S. President Donald Trump has rolled out a memorandum telling a key government committee to curb Chinese spending on tech, energy and other strategic American sectors. The administration also called on Mexican officials to place their own levies on Chinese imports — a move that comes after Chinese firms moved production to the U.S. neighbor to get around duties the Republican enacted in his first term. The U.S. also proposed fees on the use of commercial ships made in China to counter the nation’s dominance in the production of the vessels. Chinese shipping stocks fell on Monday, while the benchmark CSI 300 Index fluctuated. The yuan traded onshore rose 0.2% to 7.2359 versus the dollar as of 12:30 p.m. in Shanghai. Source link

Los Angeles – Vatican thriller “Conclave” won top prize at an unpredictable Screen Actors Guild Awards gala Sunday, throwing a potential late curveball into the Oscars race just a week before the Academy Awards. The movie about the mysterious, behind-closed-doors selection process for choosing a new pope won the prize for best cast — the SAG equivalent to best picture — for a stellar ensemble including Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini. Collecting the award, Fiennes said the win was a celebration of “community,” and “the supreme importance of it in our work and in the world.” Rossellini earlier wished “a quick recovery” to Pope Francis, who has been in hospital for 10 days with respiratory issues and remains in critical condition. Having also won big at Britain’s recent BAFTA awards, “Conclave” now appears a strong, late-breaking contender for the best picture Oscar, alongside critical darlings such as “Anora.” Timothee Chalamet receives the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role award for ” A Complete Unknown,” in which he played a young Bob Dylan. | REUTERS In another upset, Timothee Chalamet won the SAG Award for best actor for his portrayal of a youthful Bob Dylan in “A Complete Unknown.” “I know we’re in a subjective business but the truth is, I’m really in pursuit of greatness,” said Chalamet, never short on confidence. “I know people don’t usually talk like that, but I want to be one of the greats,” he added, citing inspirations including multiple Oscar winners Daniel Day-Lewis and Marlon Brando, and sporting titans Michael Jordan and Michael Phelps. “I want to be up there,” said the 29-year-old. Adrien Brody has long been seen as the runaway favorite for this year’s awards season with his performance as a brilliant architect, haunted by the Holocaust, in “The Brutalist.” But Chalamet’s win suggests that the Oscars race could be closer than expected. The SAG Awards are voted on by Hollywood actors, who represent the biggest branch of the membership of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which votes for the Oscars. The prizes are therefore closely watched as indicators of who is likely to win Academy Awards. Demi Moore poses with the award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role for “The Substance.” | REUTERS More closely following pundit predictions Sunday, Demi Moore won the best actress SAG Award for her role in gory body horror “The Substance.” Moore’s role as an aging celebrity who injects a serum to temporarily reclaim her younger body — with disastrous consequences — has marked a stunning career renaissance for the 1990s megastar. Acting “changed my life because it gave me meaning, it gave me purpose and it gave me direction, because I was a kid on my own, who had no blueprint for life,” she said. Kieran Culkin and Zoe Saldana won the best supporting actor and best supporting actress awards for “A Real Pain” and “Emilia Perez,” respectively, at the gala aired on Netflix. Culkin plays an emotional and charismatic tourist retracing his ancestral roots in Poland with his mismatched, neurotic cousin (Jesse Eisenberg). Saldana portrays a lawyer hired to help a Mexican cartel boss undergo gender reassignment surgery in the scandal-hit Netflix film “Emilia Perez.” Both have won nearly every prize in their categories at multiple shows this year, and appear to be shoo-ins for the Oscars next Sunday. Jane Fonda delivers a speech after accepting the Life Achievement Award. | REUTERS Jane Fonda received the union’s Life Achievement Award, using much of her speech to urge Hollywood to “fight back” against the current state of U.S. politics. “A whole lot of people are going to be really hurt by what is happening, what is coming our way,” warned Fonda. While not directly mentioning President Donald Trump, Fonda notably name-checked Sebastian Stan’s performance as Trump in the movie “The Apprentice.” Comparing the present situation to the intolerance of the McCarthyism of the 1950s, Fonda said “today, it’s helpful to remember… that Hollywood resisted.” Her comments, greeted with a standing ovation from the audience, came at a time when Hollywood studios has been criticized for falling in line with White House policies such as the shuttering of diversity hiring programs. The cast of “Shogun” accepts the Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series award. | REUTERS In the television awards, Japanese period drama “Shogun” won best ensemble and best stunt ensemble, while its stars Anna Sawai and Hiroyuki Sanada won individual awards. In comedy, Martin Short won for best actor for “Only Murders in the Building,” which also won the best ensemble prize, while Jean Smart won for “Hacks.” Source link

Investigators hired by the board of eFishery have determined the Indonesian startup is in far worse shape than they previously thought, and that investors are likely to get back less than 10 cents for every dollar they invested, according to documents seen by Bloomberg News. The company, which deploys feeders to fish and shrimp farmers in Indonesia, incurred several hundred million dollars in losses between 2018 and 2024 and misrepresented its financial figures for years, according to the documents and a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. “EFishery is not commercially viable in its current form,” said a presentation prepared for the firm’s investors by FTI Consulting Singapore, the adviser hired to review the business and take over management of the company. Source link