Health minister Cho Kyoo-hong has vowed to steadfastly accomplish medical reform, which he stressed as being an imperative task.
Cho made the pledge on Thursday when chairing a government response meeting on the collective action taken by trainee doctors in protest of the government's planned medical school admissions quota hike.
The minister stressed that medical reform is a task that is imperative to protect the people’s lives and health, saying such reform would entail boosting regional and essential medical care while making preparations for future demand for medical service.
Cho then again called on the medical community to enter into dialogue to jointly discuss substantial ways to execute such reform, which the minister said is no different from proposals made by doctors’ associations.
With Cho’s remarks, the government has demonstrated its intent to push forward medical reform in the most definite manner since the general elections.
In a memo issued to staff Musk said there was nothing he hated more, "but it must be done".
Now, his remuneration is in the spotlight - although the proposed compensation includes no salary or bonus.
Instead, the 2018 deal set rewards based on Tesla's market value rising to as much as $650bn over 10 years. Stock in the EV company is now valued at $500.36bn, according to data.
At the time of her ruling Delaware-based Judge Kathaleen McCormick said the pay deal was unfair to shareholders.
She found Tesla directors, who negotiated the deal, were "perhaps starry eyed" due to Mr Musk's "superstar appeal" and did not fully inform shareholders.
The decision outraged Mr Musk, who subsequently threatened to move Tesla's headquarters from Delaware to Texas.
On Monday, Tesla filed paperwork asking shareholders to approve that move and sign off on the 2018 pay package again.
Board chair Robyn Denholm wrote in a letter included in the regulatory filing: "Elon has not been paid for any of his work for Tesla for the past six years... That strikes us, and the many stockholders from whom we already have heard, as fundamentally unfair."
Ms Denholm also maintained the board did not agree with the court's ruling. "We do not think that what the Delaware Court said is how corporate law should or does work," she said.
Musk's compensation for 2023 was $0, the filing showed, as the billionaire does not take a salary from the company and is compensated through stock options.
"If it is legally advisable, we suggest simply subjecting the original 2018 package to a new shareholder vote," Tesla said, adding that it still planned to appeal the ruling.
The re-vote comes at a tricky time for the company which has seen the fewest deliveries of EVs since 2022. The weak demand comes ahead of its quarterly earnings which are revealed next week.
Musk is also trying to recover his reputation after a turbulent year. Tesla had to recall cars over safety concerns, Mr Musk was caught up in an antisemitic conspiracy row and had repeated problems with X, his social media platform.
But regardless,Bloomberg and Forbes estimated Musk's net worth to be between $198bn and $220bn in November 2023, making him the richest person in the world.
Nagano, the illustrator behind the popular web comic "Chiikawa," made a comment several years ago in which he referred to Taiwan as a "country", which has been causing ripples both domestically and internationally since around April 2024.
Chiikawa'', which has an advanced media mix, is becoming increasingly popular in China as well, with a collaboration project being held in the same month with the miscellaneous goods chainMiso Yuhin'', known for its ``MINISO'' brand.
"Taiwan…it's a nice country…" What caused a stir was one frame of Nagano's illustrated essay depicting his memories of a trip to Taiwan, in which he expressed, Taiwan...it's a nice country...''. The picture was originally published in Kodansha's youth manga magazine "D Morning" in 2018, and the illustrated essay was later published as a book. This scene is included in the bookMOGUMOGU Eating Walking Bear (1)'' released in 2019.
In April 2024, this panel gained attention again and was widely spread on the Chinese social networking site Weibo. Concerning the expression of the word, there are voices that are speculating whether the word ``country'' refers to a region or not.
At the time the picture was announced, in 2018, Nagano visited Taiwan and while interacting with X users, he said, Taiwan was so much fun! When I was in Taiwan, I saw the message and said,There are people in this country who know bears.'' …! I felt strange," he also posted.
This too has been dug up in the same way as the picture, and over the past few years, users who appear to be from Greater China have asked, ``Do you mean China, or do you think of Taiwan as an independent country?'' "Taiwan is not an independent country. It's a province of China." "I love your chiikawa, but now many people in China are resisting chiikawa because you call Taiwan a country." Do you support Taiwanese independence? That's very important to Chinese fans.'' There have been a lot of comments asking whether Nagano is a supporter of Taiwanese independence.
The series of moves has also caused concern among Japanese fans. In relation to the Japanese entertainment industry, in 2020 there was an uproar in which the words and actions of talents belonging to the major VTuber group Hololive were criticized by fans living in China, who accused them of treating Taiwan as an independent country. . Although the agency issued an apology in support of "one China," and the person himself refrained from activities and returned, he continued to suffer from slander and slander, and although the causal relationship is unclear, some of the students graduated in 2021.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has apparently succeeded in demonstrating the strong Japan-U.S. ties around the world during his latest visit to the United States as a state guest, but he may find it difficult to leverage the diplomatic achievement in shoring up his flagging administration. "I was able to tell the U.S. Congress, the American people and the world what kind of future Japan and the United States, as global partners, are trying to create for the next generation," Kishida told reporters in the southern U.S. state of North Carolina on Friday. At a White House summit Wednesday, Kishida and U.S. President Joe Biden agreed to strengthen their countries' cooperation in various fields, including security and defense, apparently keeping China, which is increasing its hegemonic moves, in mind. In his speech at a joint session of the U.S. Congress on Thursday, Kishida underlined the need for Japan and the United States to work together to maintain the international order, receiving a standing ovation from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers. In North Carolina, Kishida highlighted Japanese companies' investment in the United States, through his visits to an automotive battery plant of Toyota Motor Corp. and a factory of Honda Motor Co.'s aircraft unit, making preparations in case former U.S. President Donald Trump, who attaches importance to bolstering economic benefits for his country, returns to the White House in the November presidential election.
Girl group Le Sserafim has been named 'Friends of the NBA(National Basketball Association)'
The news was announced on Friday through the group's agency Source Music and the NBA.
Le Sserafim is only the second K-Pop artist to form an alliance with the NBA, following SUGA of BTS who was selected as NBA Ambassador in April 2023.
'Friends of the NBA' is a new program that seeks to collaborate with celebrities and social media influencers in the Asia-Pacific region, with the goal of communicating with fans in a new, creative way.
Le Sserafim will attend games, events, and collaborate through exclusive content on social media in collaboration with the NBA.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and U.S. President Joe Biden announced a “new era” for their countries’ alliance during a state visit to Washington by the Japanese leader on Wednesday, with the pair heralding a historic upgrade of defense ties as they look to beef up Tokyo’s role in countering China’s growing assertiveness.
The state visit — which includes all the fanfare, from a military honor guard in full regalia and a swanky black tie banquet — was the culmination of years of deepening cooperation under Biden and Kishida that has taken the U.S.-Japan relationship to new heights.
“Over the last three years, the partnership between Japan and the United States has been transformed into a truly global partnership,” Biden said ahead of talks with Kishida at the White House.
The two leaders pledged to push ties even closer, unveiling plans to revamp the U.S. military’s command and control frameworks in Japanfollowing a similar move by the Self-Defense Forces, “to enable seamless integration of operations and capabilities and allow for greater interoperability and planning between U.S. and Japanese forces.”
The move comes as concerns rise over China’s military moves around democratic Taiwan and nuclear-armed North Korea’s increasingly belligerent saber-rattling.
Talks on those changes would be fleshed out at so-called two-plus-two talks between the allies’ defense chiefs and top diplomats, Kishida said. A meeting is expected to take place in the coming months.
In total, Biden and Kishida unveiled a spate of around 70 agreements — in what one senior White House official said was “the largest set of substantial, significant deliverables that we've seen” to date.
The two sides also said they would create a new consultative body "to leverage our respective industrial bases to meet the demand for critical capabilities and maintain readiness over the long term." The Defense Industrial Cooperation, Acquisition and Sustainment (DICAS) forum, co-led by the Pentagon and Japanese Defense Ministry, would use this "to identify priority areas for partnering U.S. and Japanese industry" on defense and military equipment.
Biden and Kishida also unveiled plans to upgrade defense communications networks and to network air defense capabilities between the U.S., Australia and Japan to counter air and missile threats.
Biden characterized the bolstered ties as “the most significant upgrade in our alliance since it was first established,” with one senior White House official calling the developments “unimaginable just a few years ago and frankly, unimaginable with a leader other than Fumio Kishida.”
The visit highlighted the importance that Biden has put on building up alliances in the face of China, but especially its alliance with Japan — which has undergone a dramatic shift in defense policy overseen by Kishida.
This shift has included a commitment to increase defense spending to 2% of gross domestic product by 2027 and most recently an easing of strict defense export guidelines to enable the transfer of a future sixth-generation fighter aircraft and finished defense products, including lethal ones, manufactured in Japan under foreign license to the patent-holding countries.
At a news conference following about two hours of talks, Biden touted his push to “rebuild the muscle” of the United States’ alliances, which he called “America’s greatest asset.”
Amazon released its "Brand Protection Report" in 2023, revealing that over 7 million counterfeit items were identified and removed, and more than 700,000 suspicious seller account creation attempts were blocked. Since its establishment in 2020, the company's anti-counterfeiting measures have significantly improved. Through its Brand Registry program, Amazon has successfully cooperated with major brands like Prada Group, Cisco, and Canon to crack down on counterfeit goods, notably arresting over 100 suspects in collaboration with China's Public Security Bureau (PSB) in more than 50 cases.
Amazon uses advanced machine learning models to effectively detect infringement cases, aiming to eliminate counterfeit products. For this purpose, the company has invested billions of dollars, allocating over $1.2 billion in 2023 alone to combat counterfeiting. Furthermore, Amazon has employed over 15,000 specialists, ranging from AI and machine learning scientists to criminal investigators.
BEENOS Co., Ltd. has released the ``Cross-Border EC Hit Ranking 2023,'' which introduces product categories and consumption trends that are hits overseas.
We have created a retrospective look at consumption trends for 2023 based on purchasing data from the BEENOS Group, which has supported over 5,000 e-commerce projects.
According to the ranking, the number of teenage users is increasing in all six areas surveyed: North America, Central and South America, East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. Purchasing of a wide range of genres is expanding, and the situation can be described as ``global otaku consumption''.
Popular anime include Chainsaw Man'',Chiikawa'', and Bocchi the Rock''. In particular,Chiikawa'' is proving explosively popular in East Asia, with the number of purchases of goods increasing by 1590% compared to last year.
“Comic and anime goods” is a popular category in cross-border e-commerce. With the spread of distribution services, anime has become a hit all over the world without any time lag compared to when it is broadcast in Japan, which is why it is attracting attention.
BEENOS has created a popularity ranking focusing on anime works whose first season began broadcasting in 2022. 1st place is “Chainsaw Man”, 2nd place is “Chiikawa”, 3rd place is “SPY×FAMILY”, and 4th place is “Bocchi Za Rock!” ”, and 5th place went to “That dress-up doll falls in love”.
In particular, ``Chiikawa'' is rapidly expanding in popularity in East Asia, increasing by 1590% compared to last year. BEENOS points out that these works "may grow into long-tail content that will be loved for 10 or 20 years."
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Bank of Japan policymakers at their meeting in January discussed proactively its monetary policy management after the end of the central bank’s negative interest rate policy, minutes of the meeting showed Monday.
The BOJ’s Policy Board decided last week to end the policy of applying an interest rate of minus 0.1% on part of commercial financial institutions’ current account deposits at the central bank, marking its first interest rate hike in about 17 years.
The board also decided to scrap the yield curve control regime, which called for guiding the yields on 10-year Japanese government bonds to around zero.
As to the BOJ’s new short-term interest rate target after the termination of the negative rate policy, one Policy Board member said at the Jan. 22-23 meeting that the bank would encourage the unsecured overnight call rate, the key short-term interbank lending rate, to move “in a range of zero to 0.1%,” the minutes showed.
Some members said that the BOJ would continue JGB purchases regardless of whether the yield curve control framework is terminated, indicating that a system to prevent a spike in long-term interest rates should be in place after the abolition of the yield curve control, according to the minutes.
At last week’s meeting, the Policy Board decided to nudge the unsecured overnight call rate to around zero to 0.1% and continue buying massive amounts of JGBs for the time being, while scrapping the yield curve control framework, including the application of the negative interest rate on some current account deposits. The yield curve control was the pillar of the BOJ’s ultraeasy monetary policy.
At the Jan. 22-23 meeting, Policy Board members agreed on the importance of the BOJ organizing its “basic thinking” on points it should take into account when changing its policy and on its policy conduct thereafter, in light of the growing likelihood of the central bank’s 2% consumer inflation target being met, the minutes showed.
Many members agreed that accommodative financial conditions would “highly likely” be maintained after the BOJ takes policy actions such as ending the negative rate policy, according to the minutes.
