Japan: South Korean Arrested at Yasukuni Shrine Ceremony

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.  Victims of Japanese aggression and imperialism before and during World War II, especially China and the

German finance minister plans to end spousal tax splitting

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. One sign of this, the speaker argued, was that the government is planning to abolish

Russia to block Kazakh oil flows to Germany via key pipeline

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. The PCK refinery, located in the town of Schwedt about 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of Berlin

Could Iran war trigger bigger trade crisis than COVID?

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. The war in

Apple switches CEO: What it means for the tech giant

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. Cook is credited with turning Apple from a $350 billion (€298 billion) company when he started

Racing to green the world’s data centers

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. Struggling grid operators are turning to polluting fossil

Tensions in Middle East Ceasefires; Navy Secretary Ousted

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. Today's top stories Tensions are rising in the two ceasefires in

U.S.-Iran Talks Stall After Iran Seizes Ships in Hormuz

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. Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Getty Images U.S.-Iran peace talks remained in limbo Thursday, a day after Iran seized two

Two Views on PEPFAR’s Latest Data

Funded by PEPFAR, this clinic in Kitwe, Zambia, provided medicines for patients who are HIV positive. President Trump's foreign aid overhaul interrupted operations in 2025. Ben de la Cruz/NPR hide caption toggle caption Ben de la Cruz/NPR The HIV/AIDS world has been waiting for months to learn how PEPFAR is doing. That's the much lauded

Sycophantic AI flatters and suggests you are not to blame

Deagreez/iStockphoto/Getty Images Myra Cheng, a computer science Ph.D. student at Stanford University, has spent a lot of time listening to undergraduates on campus. "They would tell me about how a lot of their peers are using AI for relationship advice, to draft breakup texts, to navigate these kinds of social relationships with your friend or
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