Jewish students were harassed last year during demonstrations against Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip, including at Harvard. The Trump administration said last month it would review about 9 billion dollars in grants and other funds to the university. It has also issued a funding ultimatum to Columbia University, where officials say they will agree to the demands.
A US space technology company says six women, including pop star Katy Perry, have returned to Earth after a short voyage. Their spacecraft was launched from a site in Texas on Monday.
The company, Blue Origin, was established by Jeff Bezos, founder of IT giant Amazon. two, one, ignition. The New Shepard spacecraft flew beyond an altitude of 100 kilometers into space.
One, two, three, taking up space!
US media say their space journey is the first in over 60 years by an all-female crew. In 1963, cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkovaof the former Soviet Union became the first woman to reach space on a solo voyage.
The New Shepherd touched down after a flight lasting around 10 minutes.
To go to space is incredible, and I wanted to model courage and um worthiness and fearlessness.
The singer says she will write a song about her experience. Blue Origin says the human flight was the company's 11th.
Tokyo police have arrested four people for allegedly selling obscene images generated by artificial intelligence.
They say this is the first time that Japanese police have cracked down on such AI content. The police say the suspects are in their 20s to 50s. They allegedly sold posters featuring the obscene images on Internet auction sites many times in October of last year. The suspects allegedly trained free generative AI software to study large numbers of images. They're believed to have used prompts to produce images showing adult women who appeared to be nude and who did not exist. Investigators say the posters, titled AI Beauty, were sold for several thousand yen each. One of the suspects apparently earned more than 10 million yen, or about $70,000, in about a year. The police action comes amid rising concerns about the proliferation of such pornographic deep fakes circulating on the web. The images show both real and fictional people.
About 3.5 million overseas tourists are expected to visit Osaka this year to check out the World Expo. There's a lot to see over its six-month run. Local officials want disaster prevention top of mind, too. And the hospitality industry is helping with that. NHK World's Miyamoto Rikuya shows us how.
It can feel like a jungle out here some days. Elephants Lions. These familiar animals are not native to Japan, but they are helping visitors understand what can be an unfamiliar issue.
These signs help people envision how high a tsunami could get in the event of a mega-quake. Scientists say there's a roughly 80% chance that it will happen in the Nankai trough along the Pacific coast within the next 30 years. It's magnitude eight to nine.
Osaka estimates the resulting tsunami would hit the city's coastal areas in about two hours. Land at the expo site has been raised to protect it from flooding, but elsewhere, wide areas are expected to be inundated in some places by more than five meters. But how aware are tourists of the risks?
Whatever has to happen, it could happen. We just take it in our stride.
You know, our destiny. We cannot say, oh, it's earthquake, we are going to die. No. We are destined to die somewhere.
The owner of this sushi restaurant says sharing information on disaster prevention is important. But it's not something he wants to bring up on his own.
Foreign guests come to Japan to enjoy sightseeing, so I find it a little difficult to say anything that might stir up anxiety.
This graphic design company produces materials on what to do in an emergency.
Veterinary staff assist with translation and also provide the foreign perspective.
In Japanese, we say zuki zuki sore to mean throbbing pain. But how do you say that in Vietnamese?
We have a similar expression, but I think there are many different symptoms, so a little more detailed explanation is needed.
Local authorities have distributed hundreds of these leaflets around the city.
I hope that the leaflets will be put up not only in municipal government buildings, but also in many other locations, including restaurants, to raise awareness of disaster prevention among foreign tourists and residents.
This hotel is preparing to go beyond just leaflets. It's planning to provide this kit to guests as an amenity. It contains portable toilets. a sheet for easy communication in multiple languages, even halal hood.
If we start with what we can, and do this, before it becomes the norm, and let people know about that, our hotel will become better known.
Customers say it's a good idea.
This is helpful, yeah. This can be useful in the hotels, you know.
This mayor says she hopes to get both foreign visitors and logos on the same page.
It would be great if we could have these conversations naturally, you know, like these disaster risks exist in Japan, so please be prepared, just like Japanese do.
The Expo is about life in the future, but it's sparking a rethink on what hospitality really means now. Miyamoto Rikuya, NHK World.
Now for Biz Stories, let's go to Ramin Mellegard.
Thank you very much.
US President Donald Trump has indicated he may further tweak his recently announced trade tariff policies. He says he's looking at measures to assist automakers that are moving production to the United States.
I'm looking at something to help some of the car companies where they're switching to parts that were made in Canada, Mexico and other places. And they need a little bit of time because they're going to make them here.
Trump also hinted at some form of tariff reliefs for electronics products, such as smartphones made in China by US tech giant Apple.
The president says he's taking a flexible approach. And the Trump administration is investigating whether the country's reliance on imports for semiconductors and pharmaceuticals could hurt national security.
The Commerce Department says the probes launched on April 1, also cover imports of chip making devices and pharmaceutical ingredients. The investigations are based on Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, as was the case with past probes into steel and aluminum. The section allows restrictions on imports for national security reasons. The administration will weigh the results of the investigations and consider also imposing tariffs on computer chips and drugs. Trump has repeatedly stressed the need for domestic production in these fields. His tariff policies aim at getting manufacturers to set up production hubs in the US.
And US semiconductor giant NVIDIA is moving to build chips and servers for artificial intelligence entirely in the United States for the first time.
Nvidia announced on Monday that it will invest as much as half a trillion dollars in AI infrastructure in the country within the next four years. The plans include domestic production of Nvidia's leading edge generative AI chips, called Blackwell, with its manufacturing partners. Nvidia chief executive, Yansen Huang, said adding American manufacturing helps the company better meet the growing demand for AI chips and supercomputers. He added that this will strengthen Nvidia's supply chain.
Now, White House officials say the Trump administration's attempts to bring manufacturing home are starting to bear fruit. They say the president has put priority on domestic production of semiconductors as a part of efforts to boost American production.
Some Japanese firms are holding off from issuing corporate bonds amid the financial market instability triggered by the Trump administration's tariff measures. Major beer maker Asahi Group Holdings deferred issuance of bonds worth about 50 billion yen or nearly $350 million.
Nissin Foods Holdings has postponed issuing nearly $280 million worth of corporate debt. And beverage giant Suntory Holdings has deferred issuance of about $70 million in subordinated bonds. All three companies say they have not decided on new issuance dates. Now, the yield on a 10-year Japanese government bond, which serves as a benchmark for corporate bond yields, has seen wide fluctuations. That is believed to be a factor behind the decision of Japanese firms to hold off raising funds by issuing new bonds.
Now, Otsu Dai, an expert in corporate bonds at Daiwa Securities, says investors don't want to take risks.
Companies have postponed their issuance of bonds from the viewpoint that if you think about business on an annual basis, it would be better to communicate with investors after things have calmed down a bit.
And Japan's NORINCHUKIN Bank plans to overhaul its business strategy to diversify investments and revenue sources.
The new president of the major agriculture bank says the move reflects the previous losses and uncertainties under the trade policies of the Trump administration. The institution serves agricultural, forestry, and fisheries cooperatives across Japan. The bank expects to post a net loss of around 1.9 trillion yen, or $13 billion, for the fiscal year ended in March. This followed large losses in his foreign bond portfolio and forced the previous president to resign. The new president, Kitabashi Taro, who took office this month, explained the new strategy in an interview with NHK.
We want to strengthen the bank's earning power. To achieve that, we will diversify investments as well as regions, timing and revenue sources, so that the bank can maintain profits in the face of adverse events. Kitabayashi added that the bank will better hedge risk by expanding beyond pure financial products to loans or investments. This will include renewable energy, data center and other infrastructure projects.
OK, let's get a check on the markets.
♪
And that's it for Business News. I'm going to hand it back to you.
Tariffs aren't the only way that Trump has been upending Washington. His relationship with the media marks a seismic shift from tradition. NHK World's Yamanaka Miyu tells us more.
I think we'll have a very big show. It's going to be a very big show. We have some surprises on that show, some big surprises, but I think it has a chance to be a very big show.
Every word he says, or posts on social media, attracts widespread attention.
His administration has already put many legacy outlets on the defense.
The New York Times, it's such a dishonest newspaper. It's such garbage. They really are the enemy of the people.
Trump has banned the Associated Press from Oval Office coverage for not complying with his executive order changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. One media commentator says legacy news outlets are in a difficult position.
I think rebutting what he says with facts and evidence in a dispassionate way is the best way to approach it, rather than um getting angry or emotional.
The White House has started to give greater access to non-traditional media outlets, including podcasters and newer online outlets. Their correspondents are being given more opportunities to ask questions. Natalie Winters is a reporter for a prominent online broadcasting show that has a large conservative following. She herself publicly identifies as a Trump supporter. This is live from in front of the White House.
These mainstream media outlets, these legacy media outlets might add, not just failing, but failed legacy media outlets have lied to the American people.
Winters reports daily on the administration's policies on a program hosted by a former Trump aide. She believes viewers want the type of content she produces.
I think that we reflect the grassroots activists who helped get President Trump elected, and we wear our, if you want to call it bias, maybe that's too pejorative a term, but we wear our politics on our sleeve, right?If you look at the numbers in terms of viewership, you can see what the American people prefer in it's shows like ours.
One expert says Trump has fundamentally transformed the way political information is relayed to the public.
When you're using social media and podcasts, you have a lot more liberty to say things that you wouldn't otherwise say in legacy and televised media.
And he's certainly taken advantage of that. When you're talking to just one group,instead of the the nation as a whole, you're doing more dividing than unifying. Well, there's two aspects to that. In one way, Donald Trump has changed the media landscape.
Technological advances are always evolving the way politicians communicate with the public. Trump's methods are highlighting the impact new media have on society and its political ramifications.
Yamanaka Miyu NHK World.
Japan's antitrust watchdog has issued its first ever cease and desist order against an American tech giant. The Fair Trade Commission alleges Google violated anti-monopoly laws by forcing smartphone makers to pre-install its Chrome Internet browser on their devices.
We believe this order will greatly contribute to a more competitive market for smartphones. which are indispensable in people's daily lives.
The FTC says the issue stems from contracts signed by Google and Android phone sellers in Japan as early as July 2020. It says in exchange for the license to include the Google Play Store on their devices, the company also required them to include Chrome and feature it prominently. The FTC adds that if the phone makers pre-installed other rival search engines, they would not make money from Google's search-related advertising. The cease and desist order is the commission's most severe administrative measure. Google could face a fine if it does not comply.
The tech giant has responded, calling the decision regrettable. It says Japanese smartphone makers are free to work with other companies, but choose Google because it's the best choice for their customers.
It's almost a decade since Japan lowered its voting age to 18, but the voting rate for young people is still very low.
Now, some communities have set up a simulated vote for kids held during real local elections. NHK World's Nishibayashi Akihide has more.
These children have come to a polling station in Tokyo. They are deciding the fates of three candidates for mayor.
(Japanese)
The activity is called the children's election. It's open to anyone under 18. and they can help with procedures for voting and ballot counting. The project started three years ago. This is the 14th time it has been held during a local election.
Thank you all. I hope the children will make a step toward becoming adults and learn about their connection with society through the election.
9-year-old twins, Takeru and Sho, got interested in elections after talking with their family about Tokyo's gubernatorial election last year.
We saw the adults voting and we wanted to do it too.
The brothers struggled with how to decide. Just before voting day, they went to a friend's house to talk about what they should do. They carefully checked out each candidate's ideas with their mothers.
And listened to the interviews that kids held with the candidates.
What struck them most was what the candidates said about schools in the city.
(japanese)
Parents say that seeing their children's interests and activity motivated them to think more about elections.
I didn't learn much about each candidate in the past. Now I care more about my vote.
The brothers struggled to choose who they'd vote for.
Umm I'll read their pamphlets carefully and check what we talked about to decide.
I'll make my choice at the last minute.
Then came the big day. After thinking deeply, Takeru and Sho cast their ballots.
I hope who wins makes my city a place where people can have lots of opinions.
I was kind of nervous, but I was excited too.
Earlier, I spoke with NHK World's Nishibashi Akihide, who covered thestory.
Akira, how many children did take part in this voting?
About 500 from nursery school to high school joined in at nine polling stations. And the results of their votes were posted online soon after the real election ended.
Well, it certainly seems like this activity gave these children the feeling that they were part of a real election.
Yes, it does. Children could also write messages to the candidate they voted for. One wrote that they want fruit in their school lunch every day. Another wrote that they want their city to have no discriminations. All the messages are scheduled to be sent to the candidates. The mayor says she wants to make most of the children's suggestions in running the municipal government.
What else do you think these kids took away from this experience?
I think they got to see that by voting, they can change things in their own town and how people live there. You know, this election's voting rate was about 39%. That's a slight drop compared to the previous one.
Hopefully, activities like this will lead children and their parents to get more interested in elections.
♪
It's time for us to check the weather with our meteorologist Jonathan Oh. So Jonathan, it was a sunny but quite windy day here in Tokyo. Are we expecting more strong gusts ahead in Wednesday?
When those two things get close to each other and they start interacting with each other, it essentially creates a bit of a wind tunnel, so the winds really zip around and you'll really notice it. as it takes place now we look into the day on Wednesday we'll see both systems slowly moving toward the north and east and so we'll see it changing just a little bit and hopefully calming down a bit but until it clears out we'll see the breezier pattern as we go forward in time up toward the north we're also talking about some rain that low really bringing in some of the wet weather so Sapporo into Niigata looking at some showers check this out the sunny skies in Tokyo 22 for the high on Wednesday up to 24 Fukuoka and Naha as we go through the middle of the work week.
Look at what's happening across North America. We've had this low that's really spinning over the Great Lakes, bringing some snow into eastern portions of Canada, but possible thunderstorms along the cold front attached to this low along in places like Washington DC into New York back toward the West. High pressure is the story, but we have a little bit of what we call dirty high. It's picking up on some moisture and this is actually bringing a chance for some rain in places like Denver with a highon Tuesday 21 in Oklahoma City and also to Atlanta and back for the Pacific Northwest teens from Vancouver into Seattle with sunny skies as we go through the day.
A bit of a stormy pattern for the western southern portions of Europe with a couple of low pressures that are rolling through the region so get ready for some wet weather from London to Paris down to Rome and Vienna as we go through Tuesday.
Hope you have a good day wherever you are.
♫～
And that wraps it up for this edition of NHK News Line. We'll have more for you soon. Thanks for watching.
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