Students in Japan see ability to read quickly and accurately decline in PISA survey

The Mainichi - Sep 23, 2026

TOKYO -- Japanese students' ability to read quickly and accurately is declining, according to the results of the 2025 Program for International Studen

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Trump threatens to 'annihilate' Iran in UN speech as officials from both countries meet on sidelines
Sep 23, 2026
Trump threatens to 'annihilate' Iran in UN speech as officials from both countries meet on sidelines

In his address, the US president pondered whether a peace deal would be agreed or whether he would have to take extreme action against Iran.

Trump signs US-Denmark-Greenland agreement to bolster Arctic security
Sep 23, 2026
Trump signs US-Denmark-Greenland agreement to bolster Arctic security

UNITED NATIONS — President Donald Trump has signed an agreement with Denmark and Greenland aimed at strengthening Arctic and North Atlantic security, easing tensions over his repeated calls for Greenland to become part of the United States. The signing Tuesday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York comes days after Trump announced the deal to bolster U.S. military presence on the vast, icy island but keep it under Danish control. The governments provided few details of the agreement before the signing. For months, Trump has expressed his desire for Greenland to become part of the United States and issued threats to seize the semiautonomous territory from Denmark, a NATO ally. The US has had a presence in Greenland for many years Officials from the U.S., Greenland and Denmark negotiated for months behind the scenes, searching for solutions to address some of Trump’s security concerns about the mineral-rich island. Trump's designs on Greenland strained relations within NATO, with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warning a U.S. takeover would amount to the end o

Saudi Arabia restarts East-West oil pipeline, sources say
Sep 23, 2026
Saudi Arabia restarts East-West oil pipeline, sources say

SINGAPORE/NEW DELHI — Saudi Arabia has restarted operations at its East-West Pipeline and could resume exports from the Red Sea port of Yanbu later on Tuesday, three sources briefed on the matter said, as signs mounted of an increase in Middle Eastern oil flows. The resumption of supplies on Tuesday helped to drive selling on global oil markets. Global oil benchmark Brent crude fell by more than $2 a barrel towards $97, its lowest since September 8. Drone attacks, which Saudi Arabia has blamed on Iraqi militia, forced the kingdom to shut the pipeline on September 11, halting crude loadings at the kingdom's Yanbu port. Since the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran disrupted oil flows from Saudi Arabia and its Gulf neighbours through the Strait of Hormuz, Riyadh has been using the pipeline to reroute around 4 million barrels per day — around 4 percent of global supply — to Yanbu. State oil firm Saudi Aramco did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Full resumption could take weeks, sources say The pipeline was pumping at a low rate after its restart, two of the sources said. Aramco was

Trump says deciding between deal or driving Iran 'into hell'
Sep 23, 2026
Trump says deciding between deal or driving Iran 'into hell'

UNITED NATIONS — U.S. President Donald Trump told the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday that he had to choose whether to "annihilate" Iran if it fails to make a deal to end the Middle East war. "I have a big decision to make — will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before, maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East or even the world?" Trump said. "Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again? Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations?" But Trump reiterated that he thought an agreement was possible before U.S. midterm elections in November — in which his Republican party faces losing control of Congress at least partly due to high fuel prices caused by the war. "I believe we'll make a deal right after the election because it doesn't make sense for them not to," Trump said. "They're waiting to see how I do in the midterm election. What they don't realize is that I'm not

Wall Street holds near its record after Brent oil briefly falls below $98 per barrel
Sep 23, 2026
Wall Street holds near its record after Brent oil briefly falls below $98 per barrel

NEW YORK — Wall Street is holding near its record high Tuesday in a relatively quiet day for markets worldwide. The S&P 500 rose 0.1 percent is sitting 0.4 percent below its all-time high set last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 168 points, or 0.3 percent, as of 1:55 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was adding 0.4 percent to its own record. Stocks had been higher in the morning, when the price for a barrel of Brent crude briefly fell below $98. But oil prices later trimmed their losses, and Brent was most recently at $99.66 per barrel. That's down from the nearly $110 that it touched last week, but it’s still much more expensive than the $72 it was fetching before the war with Iran began. It’s been swinging with uncertainty about when the war will allow crude to freely flow again from the Middle East to customers worldwide. On Wall Street, AutoZone rose 6.1 percent after the retailer reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected, though its revenue fell short. CEO Phil Daniele said the auto parts seller faced “a difficult sel

Trump renames AI 'super intelligence,' rejects international oversight
Sep 23, 2026
Trump renames AI 'super intelligence,' rejects international oversight

UNITED NATIONS — U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced that the U.S. government would rename artificial intelligence "super intelligence" in official communications, as he firmly rejected calls for international supervision of AI, calling them a "globalist scheme" to control the new technology. Speaking to the United Nations General Assembly, Trump argued the word "artificial" undersold the technology and voiced hope the rest of the world would adopt the new term. "It sounds much better. It is much better, and it's much more accurate," he said. The rebrand is the latest in a series of renamings pursued by the Trump administration, which changed the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America" via executive order last year and, in August, renamed Lake Ontario "Lake America" amid a trade dispute with Canada. Trump has also floated renaming the Atlantic or Pacific oceans. In his speech, Trump dismissed warnings from AI safety advocates, comparing them to warnings about climate change, whose human causes are affirmed by the overwhelming consensus of the scientific community. "The Unite

US to build 2 military bases in southern and eastern Greenland
Sep 23, 2026
US to build 2 military bases in southern and eastern Greenland

COPENHAGEN — The United States will build two military bases in southern and eastern Greenland under a wide-ranging security agreement signed Tuesday between the United States, Greenland and Denmark on Tuesday. Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has repeatedly insisted that the U.S. needed to control Greenland for strategic reasons, alarming NATO ally Denmark and sparking fierce pushback from the alliance. On Tuesday, Washington, Copenhagen and Nuuk signed a 10-page agreement in New York, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, giving the U.S. control over security in Denmark's autonomous Arctic territory. Under the deal — which reaffirmed "the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark" and recognised Greenland's "right to self-determination" — Washington will establish military bases in Narsarsuaq in the south of the island and Mestersvig in the east, in addition to the Pituffik base it already operates in the north. In a section aimed at barring U.S. adversaries China and Russia from gaining a foothold in the Arctic, the agreement

US yields edge higher as investors weigh Fed rate hike expectations
Sep 23, 2026
US yields edge higher as investors weigh Fed rate hike expectations

NEW YORK — U.S. Treasury yields were slightly higher on Tuesday as investors weighed lower oil prices against expectations for further interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve. The two-year U.S. Treasury yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations for the Fed, hit a fresh two-year high at 4.7879 percent. The Fed last week raised rates for the first time since 2023 to try to control inflation. Traders see a roughly 53 percent chance of another increase when the U.S. central bank next meets in October, according to CME FedWatch. Boston Fed President Susan Collins wrote on LinkedIn on Tuesday that she supported the U.S. central bank's decision last week to raise rates in the face of risks that future inflation will be above the 2 percent target. Oil prices dipped but were off the day's lows. Oil prices have spiked since the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran, fueling concerns about inflation and higher interest rates. Investors also digested comments from President Donald Trump, who told the United Nations that he believed the U.S. would make a deal with Iran

Trump makes no mention of N. Korea while touching on Iran, AI, other key issues
Sep 23, 2026
Trump makes no mention of N. Korea while touching on Iran, AI, other key issues

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump made no mention of North Korea or other Korean Peninsula issues during his high-profile address to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, though he has expressed his intention to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un later this year. During the second address to the Assembly under his second term, Trump touched on a series of key issues, ranging from the Iran war to the protracted war between Russia and Ukraine, and artificial intelligence, which he called "superintelligence." But he made no references to North Korea, despite speculation that he would seek to rekindle his personal diplomacy with Kim that led to their three in-person meetings during his first term: the first in Singapore in June 2018, the second in Hanoi in February 2019 and the last at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom in June 2019. Trump did not mention North Korea during last year's address to the Assembly either, though he mentioned it in three of the four addresses he delivered during his first term, including his 2017 speech in which he famously called North Korea

First Iran flights cancelled as US sanctions set to come into force
Sep 23, 2026
First Iran flights cancelled as US sanctions set to come into force

TEHRAN — Flights from Iran to the capitals of Iraq and Oman will be cancelled as of midnight, local media reported Tuesday, hours before expanded U.S. sanctions were due to come into force. The Tasnim news agency cited a civil aviation spokesman as saying that "Baghdad and Muscat airports will no longer accept Iranian flights." "Other international flights, including Istanbul, will operate as scheduled and as usual, and at present there are no problems with these flights," Tasnim reported. According to Tasnim, Iran's aviation authorities are in talks to reroute Baghdad flights to Najaf, a major destination for Iranian pilgrims. The agency ISNA said negotiations with Oman were also ongoing. In Iraq, the government has not yet announced plans to enforce the ban, but several sources, including a senior government official, told AFP that Baghdad would comply. Earlier this month the U.S. blacklisted the Iranian aviation sector and threatened sanctions against any foreign organisation working with Iran's airlines. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday that Iranian airlines would

What is in the US-Greenland-Denmark security deal?
Sep 23, 2026
What is in the US-Greenland-Denmark security deal?

The United States, Denmark and Greenland signed a security agreement on Tuesday aimed at ending months of tension over the Danish self-governing territory after U.S. President Donald Trump's repeated threats to take control of the vast Arctic island. Here are some key components of the deal, which adds to a 1951 U.S.-Danish pact on Greenland's defence, according to a text published by the Danish government. What are the military aspects of the deal? The agreement allows the United States to establish twonew military bases — one at Narsarsuaq in southern Greenland and the other at Mestersvig on the east coast — and to expand Pituffik Space Base, currently its only active base on the island. US craft including planes and vessels get flyover, landing and undersea rights in all of Greenland, including territorial waters. The agreement does not specify troop numbers or timelines. How does the pact work with NATO? The agreement expresses support for a stronger NATO presence in the Arctic, and Denmark commits to further strengthen its own security posture in the region. If Greenland ever become

UN chief says power has polarized the world and urges leaders to cooperate
Sep 23, 2026
UN chief says power has polarized the world and urges leaders to cooperate

UNITED NATIONS — In a no-nonsense farewell speech, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged global leaders Tuesday to respond to the defining challenge today: Will the world continue on its path to fragmentation or cooperate to tackle the existential threats from climate crisis, runaway artificial intelligence and intensifying inequalities? At the heart of these crises is power, Guterres told the annual high-level gathering at the U.N. General Assembly, pointing to the “irreversible” move toward a multipolar world, the “extraordinary transfer of power” from governments to a handful of private corporations and individuals, and the increasing handover of power from humans to machines with artificial intelligence. Guterres urged leaders to avoid what he called “the great fracture – the division of the world into two rival blocs with separate economic, technological and security systems.” He rebuked might-makes-right thinking, telling superpowers to recognize “that their power isn’t so super” — that “military power alone cannot security peace” and that “no

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