Japanese police said they arrested a South Korean national holding a banner carrying political messages on Wednesday for allegedly obstructing an annual spring festival at Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine. The shrine honors Japan's 2.5 million war dead, including convicted criminals.
Last weekend, several thousand people took to the streets in Munich to demonstrate against abortion and assisted suicide. One speaker made an extremely dramatic plea against what he called the "culture of death" that has allegedly taken hold in Germany.
Russia plans to stop oil exports from Kazakhstan to Germany via the Druzhba pipeline from May 1, threatening a key refinery which supplies the vast majority of diesel, petrol and heating oil needed for the city of Berlin.
Iran's shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz has drawn comparisons with the supply disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic and US President Donald Trump's new tariff regime. The pandemic exposed the world's heavy dependence on China for manufacturing everything from electronics to medical gear, while Trump’s tariffs, introduced last year, also accelerated efforts to cut that reliance.
Weeks after Apple's 50th anniversary, the US technology titan announced on Monday that its CEO Tim Cook would step down in September, to be succeeded by hardware engineer John Ternus. Ternus will step into some of the biggest shoes in corporate America.
Data centers need vast amounts of energy to fuel servers and process the information that keeps our websites, applications and generative AI models running. The United States has more data centers than anywhere else in the world and the extra energy demand is straining transmission grids and driving up the cost of electricity.
Tension In Two Ceasefires, Navy Secretary Out, Trump's Slumping Approval Good morning. You're reading the Up First newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox, and listen to the Up First podcast for all the news you need to start your day.
Ships are anchored near the shoreline on April 22, 2026 in Bandar Abbas, Iran. Bandar Abbas is a port city and the capital of Hormozgan Province, along the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz.