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US and Japan take action to prop up yen in rare joint move
Japan and the United States have confirmed they jointly intervened in currency markets last week to arrest a slide in the yen, which had fallen to a fresh 40-year low. It is the first joint intervention by the two countries since 2011, when they coordinated action after the earthquake and tsunami in eastern Japan, and…
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South Korea ditches ‘denuclearization-first’ strategy. What will Pyongyang do next?
South Korea has formally abandoned its long-standing “denuclearization-first” approach to North Korea, shifting instead towards a strategy that prioritises freezing Pyongyang’s nuclear programme through reciprocal concessions rather than insisting on the immediate dismantlement of existing weapons. The change, announced by Unification Minister Chung Dong-young on 23 July 2026 and acknowledged by President Lee Jae Myung…
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Korea Box Office: ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Captures 81% Market Share in Colossal Debut
“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” opened to a record-breaking start at the South Korean box office over the weekend of 31 July–2 August, dominating cinemas so completely that it accounted for more than four in five tickets sold nationwide. The scale of the debut illustrates the continued pull of major Hollywood tentpoles in the territory and…
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China Box Office: ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Swings to Massive $121 Million Five-Day Opening
“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” has swung to the top of the mainland China box office, taking $121.3 million in its first five days of release. Sony Pictures’ latest superhero instalment posted the biggest Imax opening weekend in the franchise’s Chinese history, underlining Hollywood’s continued pulling power in the market even as the country’s overall cinema…
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U.S. dollar weakens sharply against the Japanese yen after market interventions
The US dollar dropped sharply against the Japanese yen on Monday, 3 August 2026, after Japan’s Finance Ministry and the US Treasury carried out confirmed, coordinated market interventions to buy yen. The move matters because Japan’s persistently weak currency has been fuelling domestic inflation by pushing up the cost of imports, and open acknowledgement of…
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Why has Trump stepped in to prop up Japan’s currency?
The United States has intervened directly to prop up the value of the Japanese yen, buying billions of dollars’ worth of the currency for the first time in almost 30 years. The move came as Japan struggled to halt an accelerating slide in the yen towards 40-year lows, a decline that has driven up import…
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Imtiaz Ali, Anurag Kashyap Team to Present Coming-of-Age Film ‘Bobby Beauty Parlour’ (EXCLUSIVE)
Indian auteurs Imtiaz Ali and Anurag Kashyap have come together to present “Bobby Beauty Parlour,” a coming-of-age short film premiering during Friendship Week. Directed by Shashwat Dwivedi, “Bobby Beauty Parlour” follows childhood best friends Eelu and Manu, who spend their last hours together drinking, napping and bickering in a neighborhood beauty parlor, unwilling to let…
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‘My only son was shot standing up for justice’ – inside city gripped by deadly protests in Pakistan-administered Kashmir
The BBC gained rare access to Rawalakot in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, where weeks of clashes between security forces and protesters from the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) have left dozens dead. The unrest matters because it is unfolding during ongoing regional elections and has left the makeshift clinics doctors like the pseudonymous “Dr Anwar” running unable…
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Meta straps on a ‘Kick Me’ sign by mistakenly taking down video by India’s prime minister
Meta briefly and mistakenly took down a video posted by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sparking days of public criticism and drawing regulatory scrutiny from the Indian government. The video showed Modi announcing a task force to reform university entrance exams, an issue that has fuelled a wave of youth protests in India after one…
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‘What was my fault?’: How India’s exam paper leak ended young lives
An investigation by the BBC has documented how the leak of India’s National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) medical exam paper this year led to a wave of student suicides after nearly two million candidates were forced to retake the test. Among those who died was 17-year-old Kahaan Patel from Ahmedabad, who took his own…