SAPPORO – Five people died Sunday in a head-on collision between a bus and a truck in Hokkaido, which police believe occurred after the 4-ton truck strayed into oncoming traffic.

LAUSANNE, Switzerland – Facing corruption charges linked to the Tokyo Olympics, Japanese marketing giant Dentsu will no longer be a major broadcast rights holder in Asia.

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden is dispatching White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan to Tokyo this week for talks with his counterparts from Japan, Philippines and South Korea.

TOKYO – Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Tuesday unveiled a package of wide-ranging measures to reverse a dwindling birthrate, saying the problem needed to be tackled as an aging population threatens the world’s third-largest economy.

MANILA, Philippines — On the occasion of the country’s quasquicentennial on Monday, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. paid tribute to the patriots who fought for Philippine independence and called on Filipinos to “assert liberty day by day” in contending with challenges now facing the nation.

TOKYO – Japan aims to reform labor law, easing the way for couples to work and share household chores, in a bid to avert an expected sharp fall in the number of its young people by the 2030s, three government sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.

TOKYO – At least 130,000 bank accounts to receive state benefits and linked to My Number national identification cards have been found to belong not to the cardholders but their family members, the Digital Agency said Wednesday, the latest setback for the government’s efforts to promote the use of the ID system.

MANILA, Philippines — As the government scrambles to reform the pension system for military and uniformed personnel (MUP) to avert a fiscal crisis, the state-controlled Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) has suggested that it simply replicate the current premium contribution structure for state workers.

HARTFORD, Ct -The family of Pattie Wu-Murad of Storrs, Connecticut, who has been missing since April 10 after setting out for a hike in Japan, has stopped actively searching for her but her husband Kirk Murad said they are still not giving up.

TOKYO – Japanese former lawmaker and social media personality GaaSyy was arrested Sunday for allegedly threatening to defame some individuals, including a celebrity, after returning to Japan from the United Arab Emirates, where he had been residing, police said.