TOKYO – To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the popular Pokémon video game series, a press event was held on Thursday at Tokyo Midtown Hall in Minato Ward, Tokyo. Since the first game launched on Feb. 27, 1996, Pokémon has gained widespread popularity, including the anime and card games inspired by the game. “Pokémon has remained beloved without fading thanks to the support of fans worldwide,” Takato Utsunomiya, The Pokémon Company COO, said at Thursday’s event. As part of the 30th anniversary celebrations, the launch of a special collaboration with teams of Nippon Professional Baseball Organization, “Pokémon Baseball Festa 2026,”…
Author: Asia News Network
BEIJING – China has condemned the US-Israel strikes on Iran and urged an immediate ceasefire, underlining its concerns about a spiralling conflict and Washington’s bid to topple unfriendly foreign regimes. The “blatant attack and killing of a leader of a sovereign state and incitement to regime change are unacceptable,” said Foreign Minister Wang Yi on March 1 in a phone call with his Russian counterpart, Mr Sergei Lavrov. China “resolutely opposes and strongly condemns” the attack on and killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said a Foreign Ministry spokesperson in a separate statement. Mr Wang said the strikes by…
SEOUL – Seoul residents’ overall happiness index rose 0.07 points in 2025 from a year earlier to 6.61 out of 10, with satisfaction increasing in green space, though foreign residents reported continued difficulties navigating public services, according to the city’s annual survey released Wednesday. The Seoul Survey, conducted by the Seoul Metropolitan Government since 2003, measures citizens’ quality of life and changes in values amid shifting social conditions. This year’s survey covered 20,000 households, 5,000 citizens and 2,500 foreign residents living in Seoul. Scores increased across all detailed categories, including health, financial conditions, family life and social life. The proportion…
ULAANBAATAR – P.Naranbayar, Minister of Education, posted on his official website that the Ministry of Education will prepare a practicable law to restrict children’s use of social networks, citing growing evidence of harm to young users. The Minister pointed to legal precedents in countries such as Australia, France, the Republic of Korea and Spain, where under-16 access limits or related measures have been introduced. He said Mongolia will seek broad participation from parents, educators, platform operators and child-welfare experts to design a law that can be implemented in practice. ANN/Go Go Mongolia
MANILA – As the confirmation of charges hearing against former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte got underway before Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, a misleading claim resurfaced online: that only 78 people were killed in Duterte’s war on drugs. A Facebook video circulating as of February 23, viewed more than 1,400 times, claims the ICC confirmed that the number of drug war victims was only 78—contradicting estimates that place the toll in the thousands. But a closer reading of the same ICC document cited in the video shows otherwise. This INQFocus explainer breaks down…
SHANGHAI – British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s visit to Shanghai’s Yuyuan Garden during his recent trip to China has thrust a local pastry into the global spotlight. While visiting the nearly five-century-old landmark, Starmer bought a box of hudiesu — a local interpretation of the French confection the palmier — from Lu Bo Lang, a restaurant specializing in Shanghai cuisine. The British prime minister paid 48 yuan ($6.90) for eight palm-sized pieces of the butterfly-shaped treat, which set social media both in China and abroad abuzz overnight. The restaurant normally sells around 100 boxes of its hudiesu daily. However, a…
SEOUL – Police are increasingly examining suspects’ generative artificial intelligence use history as key evidence in establishing intent or motive, according to media reports citing legal experts on Wednesday. In a recent case, investigators said they decided to pursue murder charges — rather than charges of death resulting from bodily injury — against a female suspect accused of serial killings in Gangbuk-gu, Seoul, after reviewing her chat logs with OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The suspect, a woman in her 20s surnamed Kim, was charged with murder, aggravated bodily injury and violations of the Narcotics Control Act. She is accused of giving drug-laced…
TOKYO – Twenty people were trapped in an elevator that goes down from Tokyo Skytree’s observation deck after it stopped 30 meters above ground at 8:15 p.m. Sunday. All passengers, including two children, were rescued about 5½ hours later, around 2 a.m. on Monday. No one was injured or got sick. The operating company, Tobu Tower Skytree Co., temporary closed the deck for inspections on Monday and Tuesday. Regular inspections on Feb. 13 and 16 found no abnormalities, the company said. The sudden stop involved two of the four elevators that connect the fourth floor and the 350-meter-high Tembo Deck,…
JAKARTA – The government is urging the European Union to comply with a World Trade Organization ruling on the bloc’s discriminatory policies against Indonesian palm oil, after the 12-month implementation period concluded on Tuesday. Trade Minister Budi Santoso confirmed the expiry of the reasonable period of time (RPT) that the WTO dispute settlement panel had granted to the EU to amend regulations inconsistent with global trade norms. Jakarta is now poised to scrutinize Brussels’ policy adjustments, specifically regarding the bloc’s controversial Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC) rules in the Renewable Energy Directive II (RED II), as well as related implementing…
MANILA – Activist Teddy Casino was just 17 when nearly two million Filipinos poured onto Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA), the main highway cutting through Metro Manila, in a series of demonstrations that led to the ousting of dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr in 1986. But Mr Casino’s journey of political consciousness, which would shape his life, began three years earlier. This awakening was stirred by the assassination of former opposition senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr, one of Marcos Sr’s fiercest critics, on the tarmac at Manila’s airport. Marcos Sr’s 20-year rule – including nine years under martial law from…