Manatomo Yoneyama, president of Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, speaks during an interview at the bank's headquarters in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on May 22. | JIJI Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank plans to invest ¥360 billion ($2.2 billion) to ¥380 billion in digital technologies over three years, President Manatomo Yoneyama said in an interview. The bank also plans to spend ¥30 billion to optimize its operations. It will utilize artificial intelligence technology for office tasks and reposition some 900 employees to client-facing roles. The bank made an AI agent, which can handle people's tasks, "100% internally," said Yoneyama, who took the helm of Sumitomo Mitsui Trust in April after working on digital innovation at the bank. He said the bank is "sensing the advantage" of the in-house development, including smooth utilization of data. It aims to sell the AI agent in fiscal 2028.

Former Yomiuri Giants manager Shinnosuke Abe was referred to prosecutors on suspicion of assaulting his eldest daughter, though it is believed the police attached a recommendation for leniency. The Metropolitan Police Department on Tuesday sent papers to prosecutors on Shinnosuke Abe, former manager of the Yomiuri Giants, on suspicion of assaulting his eldest daughter. The MPD is believed to have attached a recommendation for leniency. Abe, 47, has admitted to the allegations, according to investigative sources. In the case referred to prosecutors, Abe is suspected of grabbing his 18-year-old daughter by the collar and pushing her down at his home in Shibuya Ward in the capital at around 7 p.m. on May 25. Police arrested Abe at the scene but released him shortly afterward.

The number of public school students requiring special Japanese-language instruction reached a record high of 84,759 in fiscal 2025. The education ministry plans to launch a model project in fiscal 2027 to provide basic Japanese-language instruction for school life and classes to children of foreign nationals living in Japan. In response to an increase in the number of such children, the ministry aims to establish guidelines for effective language lessons through the project. The number of public school students requiring special Japanese-language instruction, including those who are unable to communicate adequately in daily Japanese conversation, reached a record high of 84,759 in fiscal 2025, which ended in March this year. The number doubled over the past nine years, according to the ministry. Of those students, about 10% were not given sufficient instruction at their schools due to staff shortages and other reasons.

OpenAI, founded in San Francisco in 2015 as a nonprofit research lab, burst into the mainstream with the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022. It has since restructured as a for-profit corporation. SAN FRANCISCO, UNITED STATES - ChatGPT-maker OpenAI on Monday took the first step toward going public, one week after archrival Anthropic announced its own filing, as both companies look to raise the massive sums needed to expand. In a social media post, the Sam Altman-led company said it had confidentially submitted an S-1 registration statement to U.S. securities regulators but had "not decided on timing yet" for any potential debut. OpenAI's move follows a confidential filing by Anthropic, the maker of the Claude chatbot, which announced last Monday that it had taken the same step. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung is placing his hopes on former Naver Chief Executive Han Seong Sook to help better use the nation's tech expertise for future growth and ensure its benefits spread more widely through the economy. Han will become the country's second female premier, assuming her appointment is approved by the national assembly, elevating a former technology executive to one of the nation's highest political posts. The tapping of Han underscores Lee's commitment to shoring up future growth of the domestic economy and the need to leverage a wider range of industries. During her five years at the helm of Naver, a company sometimes called the Google of Korea, Han helped broaden its revenue streams beyond its search engine model to also draw on e-commerce, fintech and content generation. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.

A Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Type-88 surface-to-ship missile is fired during the Balikatan exercises at Culili Point Sand Dunes in Paoay, Ilocos Norte province, Philippines, on May 6. | REUTERS Singapore - Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and his Philippine counterpart, Gilberto Teodoro, affirmed Sunday that talks will be launched on the export of surface-to-ship missiles from Japan to the Southeast Asian nation. Koizumi revealed this in talks with reporters after holding a meeting with the Philippine defense chief in Singapore earlier in the day. Type-88 surface-to-ship guided missiles of Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force are expected to be up for consideration. The Philippine side is believed to have shown an interest in procuring the missiles as the Self-Defense Forces used them in the Balikatan multilateral exercises conducted in Manila between April and May. The SDF, which had taken part in the annual exercises organized by the United States and the Philippines as an observer since 2012, joined the drills on a full scale for the first time this year following the entry into force of the Japan-Philippine reciprocal access agreement in September 2025. The possible procurement of Type-88 missiles is expected to help reinforce the deterrent and response capabilities of the Philippines, which is in a territorial dispute with China in the South China Sea.

Bogota - Colombians vote Sunday in a presidential election that will determine the conflict-ridden nation's response to spiraling violence, either staying left and opting for dialogue or tacking right towards all-out war. The constitution forbids a second term for the country's first-ever leftist President Gustavo Petro, whose "total peace" strategy has failed to negotiate an end to conflict with armed groups. Despite his absence from the ballot, "the campaign revolves around Petro," said Yann Basset, political science professor at Bogota's University of Rosario. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right. With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories.

Junya Ogawa, leader of the Centrist Reform Alliance, attends a news conference on Friday in Tokyo. Moves to launch a new party have emerged among three opposition parties in Japan, sources said Sunday. The idea arose in the course of talks on the possible integration of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and Komeito into the Centrist Reform Alliance. The CRA and Komeito are keen about the new opposition party option. Some senior members of the CDP and officials of a major labor union supporting the initiative are also positive, according to sources familiar with the matter. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.

KYOTO - Nidec President Mitsuya Kishida has said the major Japanese motor maker will suspend business acquisitions for the time being to focus its efforts on reconstructing the firm rocked by accounting and product quality fraud. Business acquisitions have been a growth driver for Nidec, based in Kyoto. "I will work on rebuilding our company's governance system," Kishida said in an interview Friday, showing a plan to spend ¥130 billion over five years on measures to prevent irregularities. A panel of outside experts that investigated the accounting fraud has concluded that excessive pressure from Nidec's founder, Shigenobu Nagamori, on company staff to meet performance targets was among the factors behind the irregularities. Pointing out that Nidec had "a corporate culture to pursue short-term profits," Kishida said, "We will build a system that makes it impossible to commit irregularities regarding accounting and product quality control." On future business management, he said, "We will review our operations, including the possibility of ceding what we have in our group to partner entities," suggesting that consolidating some of its existing operations could be an option.

Yo Kitamura won the fifth prize in the cello division of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels on Sunday. Brussels - Yo Kitamura of Japan won the fifth prize in the cello division of the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels on Sunday. In the final selection process joined by 12 cellists, Kitamura, 22, who is from Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, played Russian composer Sergey Prokofiev's Symphony-Concerto and other works with the Belgian National Orchestra on Tuesday. "I couldn't make it to the top three, but I think it is a meaningful experience because I was able to grow so much," Kitamura told reporters. "I want to face my big dream of making the world peaceful with music." The winner of the cello division is Ettore Pagano, 23, from Italy.