US and Japan Announce Joint Partnership to Accelerate Nuclear Fusion

US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida listen to translation during their meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, US, April 10, 2024. (Reuters)
US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida listen to translation during their meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, US, April 10, 2024. (Reuters)
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US and Japan Announce Joint Partnership to Accelerate Nuclear Fusion

US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida listen to translation during their meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, US, April 10, 2024. (Reuters)
US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida listen to translation during their meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, US, April 10, 2024. (Reuters)

The United States and Japan announced a joint partnership to accelerate development and commercialization of nuclear fusion, the US Department of Energy said on Wednesday.

The partnership was announced as Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was in Washington for a summit with President Joe Biden.

US Deputy Secretary of Energy David Turk and the Japan Minister of Education, Sports, Science and Technology Masahito Moriyama, met in Washington on Tuesday to discuss fusion.

The partnership is intended to focus on addressing scientific and technical challenges of delivering commercially viable fusion.

Scientists, governments, and companies have been trying for decades to harness fusion, the nuclear reaction that powers the sun, to provide carbon-free electricity. It can be replicated on Earth with heat and pressure using lasers or magnets to fuse two light atoms into a denser one, releasing large amounts of energy.

Unlike plants that run on fission, or splitting atoms, commercial fusion plants, if ever built, would produce little long-lasting radioactive waste.

The two countries will also agree to support sustainable aviation fuel in a statement from the summit, two sources with knowledge of the talks between the countries said.



TikTok to Let US Android Users Download App via Kits on Its Website

The TikTok app logo is seen in this illustration taken, August 22, 2022. (Reuters)
The TikTok app logo is seen in this illustration taken, August 22, 2022. (Reuters)
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TikTok to Let US Android Users Download App via Kits on Its Website

The TikTok app logo is seen in this illustration taken, August 22, 2022. (Reuters)
The TikTok app logo is seen in this illustration taken, August 22, 2022. (Reuters)

TikTok said on Friday it was allowing US Android users to download and connect to the short video app through package kits on its website, in an effort to circumvent restrictions on the popular platform in the country.

Apple and Google have not reinstated TikTok to their app stores since a US law took effect on January 19 requiring its Chinese owner ByteDance either to sell it on national security grounds or face a ban.

President Donald Trump, who took office the day after the law went into effect, signed an executive order seeking to delay by 75 days the enforcement of the law.

Trump has said that he was in talks with multiple people over TikTok's purchase and would likely have a decision on the app's future this month. It has about 170 million American users.

The president signed an executive order on Monday ordering the creation of a sovereign wealth fund within the next year, saying it could potentially buy TikTok.

US officials have warned that under ByteDance, there was a risk of Americans' data being misused.

Free speech advocates have opposed TikTok's ban under the law, which was overwhelmingly passed by Congress and signed by then-President Joe Biden.

The company says US officials misstated its ties to China, arguing its content recommendation engine and user data are stored in the United States on cloud servers operated by Oracle, while content moderation decisions that affect American users are also made in the United States.