Thursday Briefing

The U.S. and Japan bolstered ties

During a pomp-filled ceremony on the White House, President Biden and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan mentioned their international locations would improve their cooperation as a part of worldwide efforts to counter China’s aggression.

Biden mentioned that the U.S. and Japan would create an expanded protection structure with Australia, take part in three-way navy workout routines with Britain and discover methods for Japan to hitch a U.S.-led coalition with these two international locations.

Economic and local weather initiatives additionally figured prominently on the agenda. Biden additionally introduced {that a} Japanese astronaut would go to the moon as a part of NASA’s Artemis program, which might be the primary time a non-American had stepped on the lunar floor. (A later assertion clarified that two Japanese astronauts may be a part of this system.)

The day ended with an elaborate state dinner, an honor reserved for under the closest U.S. allies. It featured a efficiency by Paul Simon and a visitor listing that included Bill and Hillary Clinton and the Olympian determine skater Kristi Yamaguchi.

Subtext: The go to got here amid hand-wringing in Washington and Tokyo about the opportunity of a return to energy by Donald Trump, whose unpredictable overseas coverage as president saved many world leaders on edge. One aim of the summit, officers mentioned, was to strengthen the connection with Japan earlier than the election.

South Korean chief’s party crushed in parliamentary elections

Voters handed President Yoon Suk Yeol and his party a bruising defeat in parliamentary elections, giving the opposition certainly one of its largest electoral victories in current a long time. Now, Yoon is going through the opportunity of turning into a lame duck for the rest of his single five-year time period.

It appeared that the opposition Democratic Party, together with a party allied to it, would win way over half of the 300 seats within the National Assembly. The Democratic Party’s candidate for president, Lee Jae-myung, narrowly misplaced to Yoon in 2022. Yoon’s People Power Party and its satellite tv for pc party have been anticipated to win greater than 100 seats, in keeping with The Associated Press. Final official outcomes are anticipated later right now.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and all of Yoon’s senior advisers, besides these answerable for safety points, have supplied to resign, The A.P. reported. Yoon’s workplace didn’t instantly say whether or not the resignations had been accepted.

Missteps by Yoon and opposition management of Parliament have stalled his business-friendly home agenda, and his objectives will stay imperiled by the lopsided election outcomes. In distinction, Lee, who hopes to run for president once more in 2027, is more likely to get a giant push from the election.

Israeli floor troops have largely pulled out of Gaza, however Israel nonetheless conducts airstrikes throughout the territory. The Israeli navy confirmed the deaths, noting that the three sons have been Hamas navy operatives.

“The enemy is delusional if it thinks that by killing my kids, we’ll change our positions,” mentioned Haniyeh, who leads Hamas’s political bureau from exile and has been engaged cease-fire negotiations which have stalled, in an announcement.

MORE TOP NEWS

Wanted: Someone who can write a brief piece of fiction a couple of inexperienced dancing octopus, set in Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX places of work on Nov. 8, 2022.

That’s one essay query on a take a look at for folks making use of to work as artificial-intelligence tutors — that’s, contractors paid to coach A.I. fashions. As A.I. know-how has turn into extra refined, so have the roles of those that should painstakingly train the programs, which means that yesterday’s photograph tagger is right now’s essay author.

CONVERSATION STARTERS

• Taiwan: An earthquake rescue canine has gained hearts for serving to to seek out the physique of a sufferer. (The canine was too pleasant for drug-sniffing.)

• Framing himself: A museum in Munich mentioned it had fired a employee for hanging certainly one of his personal items in its assortment.

• Copyright: Italy and the German puzzle maker Ravensburger are preventing over who has the best to breed, and revenue from, Leonardo da Vinci’s “Vitruvian Man.”

SPORTS NEWS

Restoring their dominance: Humble Bayern Munich confirmed starvation and vitality.

A sluggish and insidious demise: The fall of the House of Ajax.

Masters 2024 Big Board: How Tiger Woods, Scottie Scheffler and everybody else stack up.

ARTS AND IDEAS

Is free the best value for a soccer sport?

Last November, Paris F.C. grew to become house to an unlikely revolution by saying that it was principally putting off ticket costs for the remainder of the season. The experiment raised the query of whether or not followers should pay to see a sport, or — in an period when soccer, like all sports activities, is a tv enterprise — whether or not observers in a stadium are a part of the manufacturing.

The transfer amounted to a advertising and marketing technique, because the tickets value solely about $6, and Paris F.C. has lengthy trailed Paris St.-Germain because the City of Light’s favourite crew. Months later, most metrics counsel the gambit has labored.

That’s it for right now’s briefing. Thank you for spending a part of your morning with us, and see you tomorrow. — Dan

You can attain Dan and the crew at [email protected].