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July 02, 2026
 

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TECH

Domestically produced Jindallae mobile phones are displayed at a stall during the opening of the 24th Pyongyang Spring International Trade Fair at the Central Youth Hall in Pyongyang on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 6, 2026
Pyongyang calling: North Korea shows off its own brand of phones
Diplomatically isolated and under sanctions over its weapons programs, North Korea has an aging manufacturing base that analysts doubt can make high-quality consumer technology.
People walk past a large electronic screen showing the Samsung logo at a train station in Seoul on April 30.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 6, 2026
Samsung hits $1 trillion valuation, joining TSMC in elite club
Booming demand for chips used in artificial intelligence saw the world’s largest memory maker’s stock more than quadruple over the past year.
The amount of cash in circulation in Russia jumped by about 600 billion rubles ($8 billion) in April.
BUSINESS
May 6, 2026
Russians turn to cash as internet blackouts disrupt payments
Russia’s central bank has previously said this year’s increased cash usage may be linked repeated mobile internet shutdowns.
Crypto platforms are offering trades tied to the most valuable private artificial intelligence companies on earth — such as Anthropic — that ordinary investors have almost no other way to access.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 5, 2026
AI’s hottest private companies have booming crypto shadow market
Once the domain of digital token speculation, crypto infrastructure is being redeployed to give traders a way to bet on the likes of Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX.
Tokyo, once ahead in tech before being overtaken by Silicon Valley, is now trying to reinvent itself as a global startup hub by leveraging its stability, AI potential and government-backed support for entrepreneurs.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 4, 2026
Silicon Valley made AI powerful. Tokyo wants to make it work
Japan is full of contradictions on AI. People here are the least fearful in the world of the technology, perhaps because a shrinking population and labor shortages.
A Maholo humanoid robot carries out a series of tasks at the Institute of Science Tokyo's Robotics Innovation Center, during the center's opening last month.
JAPAN / Science & Health / FOCUS
May 4, 2026
Japanese scientists push for AI use in medical research and diagnoses
The technology has the potential to free staff from time-consuming, repetitive lab work and reduce human error.
An Amazon Web Services data center in Ashburn, Virginia. Large artificial intelligence systems run on massive amounts of energy and are trained on nearly all the text humanity has created.
COMMENTARY / World
May 3, 2026
Sustainability has left the AI chat
For all the awe over artificial intelligence, one word rarely finds its way into coffee table conversations about the transformative technology: sustainability.
Under Mark Zuckerberg, Meta plans to use employee computer activity data to train AI systems while investing heavily in automation that could replace human workers.
COMMENTARY / World
May 3, 2026
Meta is making workers train their AI replacements
Meta plans to put tracking software on its employees’ computers to track their mouse movements, clicks and keystrokes.
The Nvidia logo and a Neura humanoid robot at the Dassault Systems SE booth at the Hannover Messe 2026 trade fair in Hannover, Germany, on April 20
BUSINESS
May 3, 2026
Nvidia’s push into physical AI sparks rally in Asian partners
Nvidia-induced demand is shaping stock performance across Asia’s technology supply chain.
DeepSeek’s R1 breakthrough helped trigger a frenetic year in AI, but Alibaba’s move toward proprietary models is now raising concerns that China’s open-source shift may be slowing.
COMMENTARY / World
May 1, 2026
Why Beijing can’t quit ‘open’ AI
The shift away from open source may be driven by the need for companies to make money, but it’s unlikely to happen all at once.
People walk past the Taipei 101 skyscraper. Taiwan’s economy grew at its fastest since 1987, with its gross domestic product expanding almost 13.7% in the first quarter from a year earlier.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 1, 2026
Taiwan blows past forecasts with economic growth at 39-year high
Gross domestic product expanded almost 13.7% in the first quarter from a year earlier, compared with about 12.7% in the previous three months.
Charles Lieber was found guilty by a jury and convicted in December 2021 of making false statements to federal investigators about his ties to a Chinese state program to recruit overseas talent.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 1, 2026
Convicted former Harvard scientist rebuilds brain computer lab in China
Scientists at China’s People’s Liberation Army have investigated brain interfaces as a way to engineer super soldiers by boosting mental agility and situational awareness.
AI models surpassed the highest score recorded for a human test taker in this year's University of Tokyo entrance exam, a new study shows.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 30, 2026
ChatGPT trounces humans in entrance exams for top Japan university, study finds
The University of Tokyo’s category 3 science exam, often taken by those seeking admission to its medical school, is considered the most difficult exam to pass in Japan.
The Meta headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on Jan. 29, 2024. ​Beijing’s insistence that Meta unwind its deal with a Chinese A.I. start-up marks an escalation in the geopolitical fight over advanced tech.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 30, 2026
The split between China and Silicon Valley just got wider
A decade ago, Silicon Valley investors raced to back Chinese startups. Today, few do.
Components for Murata's Echorb Wonder Stone device. The company is the world’s leading supplier of multilayer ceramic capacitors, essential components for every device that uses electricity because they regulate power flow.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 30, 2026
Murata beats profit estimates as AI data-center demand strains production
The company says it is struggling to catch up with runaway demand for its multilayer ceramic capacitors, sought by U.S. hyperscalers for artificial intelligence data centers.
A Walker S2 humanoid robot demonstrates its skills at the UBTech Robotics headquarters in Shenzhen, China, on April 16.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 30, 2026
U.S. adopts China’s playbook on tech and security
U.S. thinking is only catching up with that of China, which has long considered technology essential to the country’s sovereignty and survival.
SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son is driving a plan to establish a standalone artificial intelligence robotics and data center company in the United States.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 30, 2026
SoftBank to create and list AI firm Roze in U.S.
The investment firm aims to create and float such a vehicle as soon as this year, though the timing on that could slip to 2027, people familiar with the matter said.
In Japan, where AI companion robots are being introduced in nursing homes to cope with a growing caregiver shortage, their use underscores both the urgency of the global aging crisis and the danger of placing too much reliance in technology.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 30, 2026
AI is coming for our aging parents, ready or not
Japan, long a leader in industrial automation, has been trying to make eldercare robots happen for a long time.
Applied Materials, which has significant business supplying China, is among those believed to ​have received a letter from the U.S. Department of Commerce.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 29, 2026
U.S. orders chip equipment companies to halt some shipments to China’s Hua Hong
The move is the latest U.S. action to slow China’s development of advanced chips, two people familiar with the matter said.
The Samsung dynasty’s wealth doubled to $45 billion in just one year, making them Asia's third-richest family.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 29, 2026
Samsung dynasty’s wealth doubles to $45 billion in just one year
Faced with crisis, speculation grew that the family might lose control of the conglomerate. Instead, they made a massive financial comeback.
More facilities in Japan placing sanitary bins in men’s restrooms
A sanitary bin with an awareness sticker placed in a men's restroom in the Nagasaki Municipal Government building
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
India’s gig workers pay the price for exposure to New Delhi’s hazardous air
Rohit Kushwaha waits for a customer as he delivers his last parcel of the day, in New Delhi in January. His work as a delivery driver has helped pay the family’s bills, but has had a significant impact on his health.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
A French ship with close ties to Japan combines arts and sciences on the high seas
Romain Troublé, the executive director of Tara Ocean Foundation, speaks to visitors aboard the Tara during a rare port call in Tokyo in April.
In Kyushu’s far south, Senti.U sparks a culinary destination
Chef Yasuhiko Uchida was born in Saga Prefecture but has made his home in Kanoya, Kagoshima Prefecture, since 2012.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

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