Hundreds of cherry trees will be ripped out of the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C., this summer as construction begins on a crumbling seawall. However, Japan is stepping up to the plate to replace some of the trees lost in the removal process. During a visit to the White House on Wednesday, April 10, Japanese…

A video circulated on X that showed a picturesque Tokyo from above with snowflakes falling and people bustling along the sidewalk. However, the imagery didn’t come from a photographer, drone or anywhere someone has physically been. The video was completely AI-generated by Sora, a new text-to-video model created by OpenAI. Thursday, Feb. 15, OpenAI announced…

Taylor Swift may not be Juliet, and Travis Kelce may not be Romeo, but a love story is unfolding nonetheless. The first hurdle in their romance may be Swift’s unconfirmed journey to Super Bowl LVII between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas, Nevada. The award-winning artist has yet to announce…

It is an all-time sports debate: Should athletes be allowed to take performance-enhancing drugs to get an edge? Overwhelmingly, the answer has been no, with professional leagues and the Olympics putting strict regulations on doping in the name of athlete safety and fairness. But now an effort to introduce a new version of the Olympic…

A Japan Airlines plane with nearly 400 people aboard caught fire as it skidded down the runway after local media reported it crashed into Coast Guard aircraft while landing at Haneda Airport. All passengers and crew members escaped unscathed, according to the airline. I felt a boom like we had hit something and jerked upward…

An attacker stabs the leader of South Korea’s opposition party during a press event. And a plane with nearly 400 people on board catches fire while landing in Japan. These stories and more highlight The Morning Rundown for Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024. Political leader in South Korea stabbed on livestream The leader of South Korea’s…

Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) has officially lifted a two-year operational ban on Tokyo Electric Power Company’s (TEPCO) Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant. The decision comes after the plant, with an impressive capacity of 8,212 megawatts, had been offline since the 2011 Fukushima disaster necessitated the shutdown of all nuclear power plants in Japan. TEPCO now…

Japan is selling the United States Patriot missiles because Ukraine needs more of them. Japan is expected to send several dozen Patriot interceptors to the U.S. The sale helps backfill a depleted supply and gives Washington some breathing room while it tries to help Ukraine strengthen its air defenses. “This holds significant meaning in terms…

In the wake of the deadly crash off the coast of Japan last week and calls from Japan’s military to halt all Osprey flights, the U.S. military has grounded its entire fleet of hybrid aircraft. The announcement on Wednesday, Dec. 6, comes just a week after eight U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command service members…

A U.S. military aircraft crashes near Japan with six people on board killing at least one. And, former President Jimmy Carter makes a rare appearance to honor his late wife. These stories and more highlight The Morning Rundown for Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. U.S. military osprey aircraft with 6 aboard crashes in ocean near Japan…