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Washington – Marco Rubio was incensed. Here he was in the Cabinet Room of the White House, the secretary of state, seated beside the president and listening to a litany of attacks from the richest man in the world. Seated diagonally opposite, across the elliptical mahogany table, Elon Musk was letting Rubio have it, accusing him of failing to slash his staff. You have fired “nobody,” Musk told Rubio, then scornfully added that perhaps the only person he had fired was a staff member from Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. Source link

Warsaw – Warning that a “profound change of American geopolitics” had put Poland, as well as Ukraine, in an “objectively more difficult situation,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland on Friday said his country must drastically increase the size of its military and even “reach for opportunities related to nuclear weapons.” Tusk, in a detailed speech on security to the Polish parliament, did not explicitly propose developing a nuclear arsenal, but said that “it is time for us to look boldly at our possibilities of having the most modern weapons” and explore options for nuclear and “modern unconventional weapons.” He added that his government was “talking seriously” with France, Europe’s only nuclear power aside from Britain and Russia, about the possibility of extending the French nuclear umbrella to other European countries. In addition, he said, Poland needs to ensure that all adult men are “trained in the event of war.” Source link

Japanese stocks are expected to remain on a downward trend next week amid uncertainties over U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs. This week, the benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index lost 268.33 points, or 0.72%, to 36,887.17. Trump gave a one-month reprieve on 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada on Thursday. But the announcement failed to give a boost to U.S. stocks. On Friday, the Nikkei closed below 37,000 for the first time in six months. “Market players will remain wary until a final decision is made on the size of tariffs and their targeted items,” an official at a major Japanese securities house said. Next week, the Nikkei is likely to move between 36,500 and 38,000, analysts and brokers have assessed “The Nikkei is expected to remain under downward pressure next week due to tariffs and economic data that may suggest a slowdown in the U.S. economy,” the official said. “Even if data ease concerns about the U.S. economy’s outlook, it is too early for concerns about tariffs to be wiped out,” the official added. A stronger yen against the dollar triggered by rising Japanese long-term interest rates is also expected to dampen sentiment among Tokyo stock market players. Source link

U.S. President Donald Trump wrote this week to Iran’s leadership urging the country to negotiate a new nuclear deal, days after it emerged that Tehran’s atomic activities have surged. “I’ve written them a letter saying I hope you negotiate, because if we have to go in militarily, it’s going to be a terrible thing for them,” Trump told Fox’s Maria Bartiromo in an interview that aired Friday, when asked if he had written to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Trump said that while he isn’t ruling out a military intervention, he would “rather negotiate a deal.” Source link

For all the millions of tourists flowing into Japan, what are the most popular souvenirs they’re bringing back home? Tea, omamori charms and bottles of rare whisky are perennial favorites, but there’s a new hot item that overseas visitors are increasingly eager to snap up: vinyl records. By some metrics, Tokyo boasts the highest number of record shops of any nation’s capital at 93, and valuations for global vinyl record sales stand at $1.9 billion, according to market research company, Imarc Group. The Record Industry Association of Japan says that 2023 saw the number of analogue records produced jump 26% from the previous year. Imarc Group expects this growth to continue, projecting the Japanese vinyl market will grow from $85.5 million in 2024 to $165.3 million by 2033. Tower Records’ flagship store in Shibuya reflected this optimism for analogue by unveiling its refurbished record floor in February 2024, which had almost doubled in size to cater for the growing numbers of international buyers snapping up vinyl. Source link

Junko Takase holds no bars when it comes to perturbing her readers. “The fresh cream filled his mouth. It penetrated to the back of his teeth… Juice gushed out. Every time he chewed, it made a vulgar sound: nghaa. Fresh cream smeared on his tongue… Some parts were soft and some were moist, but in the end they were all sodden with cream and fruit juices.” That just about sums up the perspective on food presented in “May You Have Delicious Meals,” translated by Morgan Giles, released in English on Feb. 20. Source link

Yokohama – Police arrested a man in his 40s in Kawasaki on Thursday for allegedly murdering another man in 2003. The arrest came after a skeletonized body was found in a bamboo forest in the city in 2010. The suspect, Yoshiyuki Sakai, 46, was arrested on suspicion of murdering Toshiaki Seino, then 26, in or near Kawasaki around Oct. 31, 2003. He has denied the allegation, according to police sources. Sakai and Seino had worked at the same alcoholic beverage store, but Sakai quit the store a few months before the alleged murder, the sources said. Seino worked until the day before the incident, but then went missing, and his father filed a missing person report with the police. In April 2010, a police officer found a skeletonized body while on patrol, and the body was identified as that of Seino. The body had several scars that appeared to have been inflicted with a knife, and a forensic autopsy determined that the cause of death was bleeding or damage to internal organs, leading the police to launch a murder investigation. Sakai emerged as a possible suspect after the police searched Seino’s personal connections. “We would like to quietly wait for the truth to come out,” Seino’s bereaved family said in a statement released through a lawyer. Source link

U.S. President Donald Trump complained Thursday that his country’s bilateral security arrangement with Japan, signed in 1960, was one-sided. In response, Japan pointed out the cooperative nature of the agreement. “I love Japan. We have a great relationship with Japan. But we have an interesting deal with Japan where we have to protect them but they don’t have to protect us,” Trump told reporters. “That’s the way the deal reads. We have to protect Japan. Under no circumstances do they have to protect us,” the president said, adding that Japan was making a fortune off the U.S. economically. Source link

Kanazawa, Ishikawa Pref. – The retrial of a 59-year-old man who served a seven-year prison sentence for the 1986 murder of a junior high school student in the city of Fukui began Thursday, with a ruling set for July 18. During the day’s hearing at the Kanazawa branch of the Nagoya High Court, the former inmate, Shoshi Maekawa, reiterated his innocence, saying: “I’m innocent. It wasn’t me.” As a retrial is usually held when new evidence that would warrant an acquittal is discovered, Maekawa is likely to be found not guilty. Maekawa was arrested in 1987, based on various statements given by acquaintances and others, including one saying that there was blood on his clothes. In the absence of solid physical evidence, such as fingerprints, the credibility of testimony was the focal point of Maekawa’s case. In October last year, the court decided to grant a retrial, finding that the testimony is not credible as it is suspected to have been given under the guidance of investigators. Source link

Shares of Super Mario maker Nintendo plunged the most in seven months as investors abandoned Japan’s outperforming video game stocks on worries that U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs will drive up console prices in the United States. Nintendo sank 9.2% in Tokyo, its biggest intraday drop since the stock market rout on Aug. 5. The shares had traded at an all-time high last month and jumped 23% this year before Friday’s plunge. Under Trump’s new levies, game consoles, including the upcoming Switch 2, “could have higher selling prices in the U.S. — the world’s biggest market for game consoles — due to heftier import costs, as most are either manufactured in China or rely on suppliers in the country for parts,” wrote Nathan Naidu, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, in a note. Trump raised duties on Chinese imports to 20% from 10% on March 4. Source link