月: 2025年10月

1. The US federal government shutdown has entered its second day while the Republicans and the opposition Democrats remain at odds over the budget for the new fiscal year.
2. European leaders have reaffirmed their commitment to work with Ukraine in countering Russian drone incursions.
3. Electric vehicle giant Tesla says its global deliveries hit a record high in the quarter ended September, driven by US orders before the expiry of EV tax credits last month.

1. The mother of a Japanese woman abducted to North Korea has urged the government to take action for the immediate return of all abduction victims, ahead of her daughter’s 61st birthday. Yokota Sakie spoke to reporters on Thursday three days before the birthday of Megumi. Megumi was kidnapped by North Korean agents on her way home from a junior high school in Niigata City on the coast of Sea of Japan on November 15, 1977. She was then 13 years old.
2. NHK has found that at least 100 fires in Japan in the roughly three and a half years to August are believed to have been caused by recalled products containing lithium-ion batteries.
3. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is trying to expand the number of hunters, and help them improve their skills, in response to threats posed by bears. Multiple Asian black bear sightings have been reported in the Japanese capital this year, especially in the mountainous areas of western Tokyo.

1. The US government has entered a partial shutdown from early Wednesday as the federal budget expired without new legislation being passed. The partial closure is the first in about seven years since December 2018 during President Donald Trump’s first term. His Republican Party and the Democratic Party clashed over funding for the construction of a wall along the US-Mexico border.
2. Japanese retail giant Aeon is tapping technology to improve efficiency as labor costs rise. Japan’s minimum wage hikes for fiscal 2025 started to kick in on Wednesday, adding to the company’s overheads for its 400,000 part-time workers nationwide. Aeon’s supermarket subsidiary started use of a hand-held device in June to speed up restocking of shelves. The device reads bar codes to tell a staffer where a product is displayed in a store. The company says this assists workers who are unfamiliar with the floor layout. Aeon plans to introduce the device at all of its outlets in Japan next fiscal year. Officials say efficiency gains will give it room to further increase wages.
3. A closely-watched survey of business sentiment in Japan shows a slight improvement among major manufacturers for the second straight quarter. The Bank of Japa’s latest “Tankan” survey was released on Wednesday. The sentiment index for manufacturers came in at plus 14. That is 1 point higher than in the previous poll. A positive number indicates there are more companies feeling optimistic about business conditions than pessimistic. Sentiment improved at nine of the 16 manufacturing sectors monitored.