Author: Press Room

TOKYO: The Unification Church in Japan pledged on Thursday (Sep 22) to prevent followers from making “excessive” donations, after criticism of its practices following the assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe. Abe’s alleged assassin is believed to have resented the sect over massive donations his mother made to the church, leaving his family bankrupt. He reportedly targeted Abe believing he was linked to the church, whose followers are sometimes known colloquially as “Moonies”. The group has denied any wrongdoing and disavowed Abe’s murder, but church executive Hideyuki Teshigawara said it would now “take into consideration the financial situation of…

Cutting sleep short on a regular basis may harm immune stem cells, potentially increasing the risk of inflammatory disorders and heart disease, a small new study suggests.An analysis of blood samples from 14 healthy volunteers who agreed to have their sleep shortened by 1½ hours each night for six weeks revealed long-term changes in the way these stem cells behaved, leading to a proliferation of the white blood cells that can spark inflammation, according to the report published Wednesday in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.“The key message from this study is that sleep lessens inflammation and loss of sleep increases inflammation,” said study co-author…

Photo: Courtesy of SplashNews.comToday, Gigi Hadid stepped out in Milan wearing a burgundy jumpsuit. The piece was loose-fitting and oversized with golden buttons and boasted two large pockets on the chest by her very own, recently-launched label Guest in Residence. Hadid opted to wear the look with a pair of well-worn white Converse sneakers and a tiny caramel shoulder bag. Though, while the piece was baggy, Hadid managed to put a sexy spin on the onesie and wore it with a cropped white ribbed tank top that showed just a sliver of midriff.The jumpsuit is utilitarian at its core. Though,…

One of the top executives at Upbit, South Korea’s market-leading crypto exchange, has spoken out in favor of new crypto regulations both at home and abroad – and has suggested that while they may cause the markets more short-term pain, the industry is set to benefit in the long term.The comments came from Kim Young-bin, the Chief Legal Officer (CLO) at Dunamu, Upbit’s operator. He claimed that – with Seoul edging toward the creation of a new bill to regulate the industry and the European Union developing its own markets in crypto-assets (MiCA) proposal – crypto was about to enter…

Leaders of America’s biggest banks say they would follow any US directive on pulling business from China if Taiwan is ever attacked by Beijing. JPMorgan (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon, Citi (C) CEO Jane Fraser, and Bank of America (BAC) CEO Brian Moynihan were all pressed on the subject Wednesday by US Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer, from Missouri, in a Capitol Hill hearing. “We’ll follow [the] government’s guidance, which has been for decades to work with China, and if they change that position, we’ll immediately change it, as we did in Russia,” said Moynihan, citing the corporate response to Russia’s invasion of…

Chinese president Xi Jinping has tried to halt the rise of niang pao, a slur meaning “sissy boys”, as he attempts to reform the country’s youth culture and encourage masculinity.But as Xi approaches his second decade in power, he might have to get used to Chinese men with a penchant for smoky eyeliner and fake eyelashes — and the companies catering to them.“I think I’m more masculine than most straight guys,” said Xi Er, a 28-year-old using a nickname for anonymity. “I dare go to work wearing a skirt. Dare they? They’re restrained by their biases.” Following several years of double-digit…

The five stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. For investors, the five stages of a bear market appear broadly similar. Bargaining came over the summer, when investors briefly took seriously the notion that central bankers might be gentle with rate rises, or even reverse them. Now we are stuck somewhere between stages four and five.This week has demonstrated, as if it were not already obvious, that declines in asset market valuations are simply not going away. In an extraordinary sweep, central banks from the US to Switzerland embarked on what looked like competitive policy tightening.Fred Ducrozet…

Vladimir Putin’s plans to order a partial mobilisation of reserved army forces to bolster the war in Ukraine and organise “sham referenda” in the country’s occupied territories are grounds for a new round of EU sanctions, Ursula von der Leyen has said.Western leaders fear Putin will use the referenda as an excuse to claim Ukraine’s eastern and southern fronts as integral parts of Russia, mirroring the 2014 illegal annexation of Crimea.At the same time, the Russian leader intends to bring up to 300,000 reserved forces into the Russian army through a decree of partial mobilisation, a move that experts see…

French air traffic controllers are set to strike again next week, after industrial action grounded more than 1,000 flights on Friday.Hundreds of thousands of travellers faced severe disruption as airlines radically slashed their Friday schedules to cope with an air traffic walkout.Airlines are bracing for more disruption, after France’s air traffic controller union announced three more days of strike action next week.The strike will go ahead on 28, 29 and 30 September. It will be called off if the union reaches an agreement with France’s aviation authority, the DGAC.“Discussions and contact were never stopped and are continuing,” says Frédéric Solano,…

TennisRoger Federer and Rafael Nadal lose the doubles match that will be the final one of Federer’s remarkable career, leading to an outpouring of love and emotion from all the players and the crowd. Stream the 2022 Laver Cup exclusively live on discovery+ and eurosport.co.uk00:05:39, 5 hours ago Read the full article here