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July 05, 2026
 

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ALPHABET

Google has lost its fight against a record European Union antitrust fine of €4.1 billion ($4.7 billion), a development seen as likely ​to boost Europe's crackdown on Big Tech.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 3, 2026
Google loses fight against record €4.1 billion EU antitrust fine
The ruling by Europe’s top court is seen as being likely to boost the bloc’s crackdown on Big Tech.
Kaity Fischer, vice-president of commercial and operations at British autonomous driving technology company Wayve, poses next to a car from the company during an interview in London on June 8.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 24, 2026
Race for robotaxi market arrives in London
British startup Wayve, in partnership with Uber, is racing to beat U.S. rival Waymo, owned by Google-parent Alphabet.
A growing number of young consumers are turning to analog and single-purpose devices like cyberdecks and e-readers as a form of resistance to AI-first platforms and automated digital systems.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 15, 2026
What is the hottest Gen-Z tech trend? Anti-AI
Many of the models now being hunted online were released before their new owners were born.
Visitors attend Google's I/O 2026 developer conference in Mountain View, California, on May 19. The event primarily focused on the next generation of artificial intelligence and developer tools.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 9, 2026
Google’s AI shift is causing a collective freak-out
The new dark art of search engine optimization is known as GEO (generative is now the first word) and it paradoxically has a more human flavor than the era of backlinks.
Ambitious plans for space-based solar power face steep costs and engineering hurdles, making them far less practical than rapidly advancing terrestrial renewables.
COMMENTARY / World
May 26, 2026
Solar in space is a solution in search of a problem
The thinking behind space solar makes some sense: The sun doesn’t always shine on Earth, which means solar panels on the ground aren’t always gathering energy.
Alphabet, the parent of Google, sold ¥576.5 billion ($3.6 billion) in bonds in the largest ever yen deal by a non-Japanese company as competition to fund data centers and AI infrastructure intensifies.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 15, 2026
Alphabet sells biggest yen bond on record by foreign issuer
The Google parent sold ¥576.5 billion ($3.6 billion) of bonds as competition to fund centers and AI infrastructure intensifies.
Alphabet’s Gemini artificial intelligence model is considered one of the best in the industry.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 11, 2026
AI wins have Alphabet poised to become world’s biggest company
Over the past year, Alphabet has gone from an artificial intelligence afterthought to the one firm in the market with dominant positions in nearly every aspect of the technology.
The Nvidia logo and a Neura humanoid robot at the Hannover Messe 2026 trade fair in Hannover, Germany, on April 20. Nvidia’s grip on the AI processor market is seen as increasingly under threat from other chipmakers as well as its biggest customers.
BUSINESS
May 6, 2026
Nvidia is facing more competition and it’s spooking investors
Nvidia’s grip on the AI processor market is seen as increasingly under threat from other chipmakers as well as its biggest customers.
The Google logo during the CERAWeek energy conference 2026 in Houston, Texas, on March 24. A reported agreement between Google and the U.S. Department of Defense requires the tech giant to help adjust its AI safety settings and filters at the government's request.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 28, 2026
Google inks deal allowing Pentagon to use AI models for classified work
A reported agreement requires the tech giant to help adjust its AI safety settings and filters at the government’s request.
More than 200 children’s specialists, advocacy groups and schools sent a letter raising concerns about what they view as a lack of substance in AI-generated YouTube videos.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 2, 2026
Google faces calls to prohibit AI videos for kids on YouTube
More than 200 children’s specialists, advocacy groups and schools sent a letter raising concerns about what they view as a lack of substance in AI-generated YouTube videos.
Spools of electrical wires outside a series of assembly tents at the Stargate AI data center in Abilene, Texas
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 2, 2026
America’s AI build-out hinges on Chinese electrical parts
The boom in AI infrastructure is colliding with a shortage of transformers and other electrical components needed to power massive data centers.
Lori Schott is embraced by lawyer Laura Marquez-Garrett outside the court after the jury found Meta and Google liable in a key test case accusing Meta and Google's YouTube of harming children's mental health through addictive social media platforms, in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 26, 2026
Meta and Google found liable in first social media addiction trial
The landmark decision could signal hefty risks for the companies as they fight thousands of similar claims.
Mexico's Secretary of Public Education Mario Delgado speaks during an interview in Mexico City on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 12, 2026
Mexico considering social media restriction for minors
Several nations are toughening up age restrictions on social media platforms as concerns grow over excessive screen time for children and their exposure to harmful content online.
Supporters of plaintiff Kaley G.M. hold signs as they stand outside the courthouse on the day the plaintiff is to take the stand at a trial accusing Meta's Instagram and Alphabet's YouTube of harming children's mental health, in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 26, 2026
Social media addiction trial takes new turn with therapist’s testimony
The case is part of a broader global backlash against social media companies over alleged harms to children and teens, though the tech firms deny the allegations.
Social media networking apps
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 11, 2026
YouTube lawyer sees no addiction from half hour of videos a day in trial
A 20-year-old Californian was presented by her lawyers as the face of a scourge that has allegedly poisoned millions of American youths — overconsumption of social media.
Parents from the United Kingdom — Mariano Janin and George Nicolaou — hold photos of their children, who were victims of bullying on social media, outside the Los Angeles County Superior Court in California, on Monday as landmark trial on the effects of social media on minors began.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 10, 2026
U.S. trial lawyer says Meta and YouTube ‘engineered addiction’ in children
A California court is hearing a landmark trial on the effects of social media on minors.
Parents who lost children to social media–related harms hold a vigil on Feb. 5 ahead of a social media addiction trial set to begin this week in Los Angeles.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 9, 2026
Arguments to begin in key U.S. social media addiction trial
The outcome in the case in the Los Angeles Superior Court could set the tone for a tidal wave of similar litigation across the United States.
India is considering a ban on social media for children, following Australia's passage of the world's first ban last month.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 1, 2026
Modi ally proposes social media ban for India’s teens as global debate grows
India, the world’s second-biggest smartphone market with 750 million devices and a billion internet users, is a key growth market for social media apps.
Technology leaders at U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January included, from right, Sundar Pichai of Google, Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, inside the Capitol Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, on Jan. 20, 2025.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 26, 2026
Addictive by design? Social media giants face jury in child harm lawsuit
The companies are accused of addicting young users to content that has led to depression, eating disorders, psychiatric hospitalization and even suicide.
A Samsung Electronics sign at the IFA Consumer Electronics and Home Appliances trade fair in Berlin on Sept. 5, 2024. Investors are increasingly asking if we’re living through another financial bubble that’s destined to burst.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 5, 2026
Is the AI boom a bubble waiting to pop? Here’s what history says.
Investors are increasingly asking if we’re living through another financial bubble that’s destined to burst.
‘My dream is broken’: Japan visa rules push out foreign residents
A man orders from a kebab shop in the Okubo district in Tokyo.
Japan plans to sharply raise fees for residence permits from October
Foreign tourists walk on the path leading to the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in May.
Japan’s princesses face life-altering legal revisions
Princess Aiko, the daughter of Emperor Naruhito, said in a 2022 news conference upon coming of age that she hopes to “spend a long time together” with her parents.
Japanese police arrest nine over Sierra Leone-based special fraud
Japanese police have arrested nine individuals for their alleged involvement in a special fraud case using Sierra Leone as a base.
Japanese-language education is at a turning point
The country is gradually transforming Japanese-language education from a volunteer-driven system into a professional, government-supported network to better serve its growing foreign population. 
Iran war exposed, but hasn’t changed, Japan’s reliance on imported oil
Wind turbines generate energy from strong easterly winds on the Shonai Plain in Yamagata Prefecture. Despite the oil crisis caused by conflict near the Strait of Hormuz, and concerns instability in the region could continue to impact supply and the price of imports, the administration of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi does not seem to be drawing on the war as a pretext to hasten progress toward Japan's renewable goals.
Six of the best: rikishi of note in each sumo division
Kazuma (right) faces off against future <i>yokozuna</i> Onosato during the All Japan Amateur Sumo Championships at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in December 2020.
Some startups see opportunity in an aging Japan
Yasmin Baba, CTO of Amilis, wins the Grand Prize at the Pitch2Tokyo Grand Final on Feb. 19.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
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