月: 2025年5月

1. A survey shows that the candidate from South Korea’s largest opposition Democratic Party, Lee Jae-myung, is the frontrunner with support of 51 percent in the country’s presidential election. 2. US President Donald Trump visited the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, the last stop on his deal-making swing through the Gulf states.
3. A Nobel Peace Prize laureate and a former United Nations chief have taken part in a symposium on how to renew multilateralism in a fragmented world. The laureate was former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos.

1. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has arrived in Ankara for talks with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Zelenskyy said he had not been officially informed of the level of the Russian delegation, but suspects it is more of a proxy.
2. Families of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea have met with new US Ambassador to Japan George Glass. They urged his cooperation in realizing the swift return of the abductees. 3. A team from the University of Tokyo has begun a survey of wild bats in Vietnam to look for a virus with the potential to cause another pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic is thought to have been caused by a virus that jumped from a wild animal to humans. Health experts have warned that another previously unknown virus could spread from wild animals to humans.

1. A bag containing flammable devices fell from a US Marine helicopter flying over Okinawa Prefecture in southern Japan on Tuesday. No injuries or damage have been reported so far. 2. Participants in a UN Security Council meeting have called on Israel to stop blocking aid to the Gaza Strip, while Israel and the United States said a new mechanism to deliver assistance to civilians is needed.
3. Uruguay’s former president Jose Mujica, known as “the world’s poorest president,” has died at the age of 89. Mujica was born to a poor family in 1935. He became an anti-government guerilla fighter in his 20s and was jailed for a total of more than 10 years under the military government. After Uruguay became democratic, he served as a leftist lawmaker from the 1990s. He became the country’s president in 2010 and stayed in office for five years. Mujica continued to live on a farm even during his tenure as president. His frugal lifestyle established his popularity in the country. His speech that criticized the global move toward mass consumption was transplanted in many countries and well received.

1. Retail giant Aeon says it will start selling rice from California to Japanese consumers, who face high prices and shortages of the staple grain. Rice prices at supermarkets in the country have doubled from a year ago. Aeon officials say they will begin releasing the variety, called Calrose, from June 6. Sales are scheduled to end around autumn when newly harvested Japan-grown rice reaches store shelves.
2. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was inaugurated for a second term, along with his new government, on Tuesday. With vote counting still going on, Australia’s public news service ABC reported that the Labor Party is expected to win at least 93 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives.
3. Pope Leo VIV has stressed that people must reject war in his address to journalists and other members of the media from around the world. The new head of the Roman Catholic Church said, “Peace begins with each one of us: in the way we look at others, listen to others and speak about others.” He said, “In this sense, the way we communicate is of fundamental importance.” He stressed, “We must say ‘no’ to the war of words and images, we must reject the paradigm of war.”

1. The political wrangling over the conflict in Ukraine is continuing. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he wants to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Turkey on Thursday. That is his response to Putin’s proposal for direct negotiations between the two countries. Zelenskyy suggested in a social media post that he wants a full and lasting ceasefire to begin on Monday. He said there is no point in prolonging the killings. The president added that he hopes the Russians will not look for excuses. Putin said that direct talks need to restart. He stressed that there will be no preconditions. 2. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says negotiations from the United States and China have made “substantial progress” in their trade talks. He says details will be announced on Monday. Bessent made the remarks to reporters after two days of talks in Geneva, Switzerland, wrapped up on Sunday. Their participants included Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng also attended. 3. Researchers say microplastics are spreading throughout oceans from surface levels to several-thousand-meter depths. Microplastics are particles 5 millimeters or smaller that mostly result from the breakdown of larger plastic waste. Fish and other creatures can easily swallow them, raising concerns over their influence on ecosystems.

1. An American has been chosen as pope for the first time in history. Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost will lead the Roman Catholic Church. He is the 267th pope, and has take the papal name Leo XIV. The new pontiff is 69 years old and was born in Chicago. He served as a bishop in Peru, and became cardinal in 2023.
2. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates says he will give away more than 200 billion dollars, or virtually all his wealth, to help vulnerable people over the next 20 years.
3. US President Donald Trump has called on Russia and Ukraine to accept and observe a 30-day unconditional ceasefire. The president also threatened to impose new sanctions if a truce is not respected.

1. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and China’s President Xi Jinping have met in Moscow. The leaders have expressed their intention to further enhance bilateral relations, with the US administration of President Donald Trump in mind. At the beginning of the meeting, Putin said the bilateral ties built during the harsh war is one of the foundations of the two countries’ current cooperation. He said the bilateral relations are equal and mutually beneficial, not the kind swayed by international affairs.
2. Black smoke billowed from a chimney on the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican on Thursday morning, signaling that a successor to the late Pope Francis has still not been found. A total of 133 Roman Catholic cardinals from around the world resumed voting on the second day of a conclave. They will continue to cast ballots until a candidate wins the two-thirds majority. Up to two rounds of voting will take place in the afternoon. If a new pope is elected, white smoke will billow from the chimney of the chapel. If not, black smoke will appear at the end of the afternoon votes.
3. Princess Aiko, the daughter of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, is visiting the 2025 World Expo in Osaka for the first time since the event started in mid-April. The princess visited the Japan Pavilion in the afternoon to start her planned two-day visit. Princess Aiko then went to the Skywalk deck on the roof of the Grand Ring, a huge structure built as the symbol of the expo.

1. In Germany, Friedrich Merz has been elected chancellor in a second round of parliamentary voting. He failed to secure a majority in the first vote earlier on Tuesday. Merz was the candidate for the alliance of the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union, which won the country’s general election in February.
2. India has launched military strikes against what it calls “terrorist infrastructure” in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Islamabad is poised to retaliate. India’s defense ministry said its armed forces struck nine sites shortly after 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday, local time.
3. It’s earnings season on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and scores of companies are releasing results for the year ended in March and projections for the year ahead. The common theme is how new US import tariffs will hit operations.

1. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed the Pentagon to reduce the number of four-star generals by at least 20 percent to streamline military leadership. Hegseth said in a video posted on social media on Monday that “this is not a slash and burn exercise meant to punish high ranking officers.” He said the aim is to maximize “strategic readiness and operational effectiveness by making prudent reductions.”
2. US automaker Ford is bracing for a major financial hit in the wake of tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump. Officials said on Monday earnings before interest and taxes this year will likely fall by about 1.5 billion dollars.
3. Two saplings grown from seeds that survived the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima have been planted at the United Nations headquarters in New York, in the hope of realizing a world without nuclear weapons. The seeds were taken from a persimmon tree that was exposed to the intense blast and radiation about 500 meters from the hypocenter in the Japanese city. A tree-planting ceremony was held on Monday.

1. US President Donald Trump has announced a 100 percent tariff on movies produced outside the United States to protect what he called a “dying” film industry. Trump wrote in a social media post on Sunday: “The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death. Other countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States.”
2. A government survey shows many visitors to Japan are frustrated by congestion at tourist spots and long waits for immigration procedures. The survey by the Japan Tourist Agency asked over 4,000 foreign visitors what problems they had during their visits to Japan. Multiple answers were allowed. A little over 13 percent of the respondents chose congestion at tourist spots and other areas.
3. Former Japanese prime minister Kishida Fumio and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto have agreed to push forward a concept laid out for the Asia region to achieve both carbon neutrality and economic growth at the same time. The concept called Asia Zero Emission Community, or AZEC, was proposed by the former Japanese prime minister while he was in office. It is an 11-member group including Japan, Southeast Asian Countries and Australia.