Journalist

AJP
  • Israel’s Katz Says Goal in Lebanon Is to Disarm Hezbollah, Pairing Military and Diplomatic Pressure
    Israel’s Katz Says Goal in Lebanon Is to Disarm Hezbollah, Pairing Military and Diplomatic Pressure Israel has again increased pressure on Lebanon, putting the disarmament of the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah at the center of its approach. Asharq Al-Awsat, a Saudi-owned pan-Arab outlet, reported on the 21st that Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the goal of Israel’s operation in Lebanon is “to disarm Hezbollah and remove the threat to northern Israel.” He said Israel is pursuing military and diplomatic steps in parallel. That stance has also been reflected in recent talks with Lebanon. Reuters reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in negotiations on the 15th that Israel’s two goals are dismantling Hezbollah and achieving long-term peace backed by military strength. He signaled that even if talks proceed, Israel will continue its military offensive in southern Lebanon and the establishment of a buffer zone. Israel has also tightened control on the ground. Reuters reported that Israel on the 20th released a map restricting residents’ access to 21 villages in southern Lebanon and parts of areas near the Litani River, and reinforced its troop presence. Israel described the move as part of creating a buffer zone to prevent Hezbollah from re-infiltrating. The United States is mediating negotiations between Israel and Lebanon to contain the clashes. Reuters reported the sides are set to hold a second ambassador-level meeting in Washington on the 23rd, though progress is expected to be difficult.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-04-21 18:10:52
  • NBC Poll: Trump Approval Hits Second-Term Low as Inflation, Iran War Weigh
    NBC Poll: Trump Approval Hits Second-Term Low as Inflation, Iran War Weigh President Donald Trump’s approval rating has fallen to its lowest level since the start of his second term, according to a new NBC News Decision Desk poll. The survey, released Sunday, put Trump’s job approval at 37%. That was down 2 percentage points from early February and down 8 points from April last year. His disapproval rating was 63%. Views were more negative on inflation and the cost of living. On Trump’s handling of rising prices and living costs, 32% approved and 68% disapproved, including 52% who said they “strongly disapprove.” The results were seen as reflecting growing pressure from higher oil and gasoline prices. The Iran war also appeared to be weighing on public opinion. NBC reports citing the poll said the war and inflation together helped drive down Trump’s approval. Trump said Sunday that gasoline prices would fall immediately after the Iran war ends, but administration officials also suggested the drop could come later. Support among core Republican voters has largely held, though positive views within the party slipped 4 points from the previous survey. Reuters said the combination of higher gasoline prices, inflation and the war is adding to the White House’s political burden ahead of the midterm elections. NBC News Decision Desk conducted the online poll with SurveyMonkey from March 30 to April 13 among 32,433 U.S. adults. The margin of error was plus or minus 1.8 percentage points.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-04-21 17:51:47
  • Morgan Stanley Sees Agentic AI Boosting CPU, Memory Demand; Samsung, SK Hynix Among Beneficiaries
    Morgan Stanley Sees Agentic AI Boosting CPU, Memory Demand; Samsung, SK Hynix Among Beneficiaries Agentic AI — autonomous systems that plan and carry out multistep tasks — could broaden AI chip investment beyond graphics processing units to include central processing units and memory, Morgan Stanley said. According to Reuters, Morgan Stanley said in a report released the previous day that as AI moves beyond content generation toward autonomous execution, CPUs and memory, along with GPUs, are becoming key components that determine overall performance. The bank said the shift could change how data center servers are configured and lift demand for CPUs, while adding that GPU demand remains strong. Morgan Stanley estimated that agentic AI could add $32.5 billion to $60 billion to a data center CPU market expected to exceed $100 billion by 2030. As AI workloads are broken into multiple steps, the bank said, CPUs are likely to serve as a control layer and memory demand could also rise quickly. Companies operating in supply-constrained areas could gain greater pricing power, it said. Morgan Stanley listed Nvidia, AMD, Intel and Arm as potential beneficiaries in CPUs and accelerators; Micron, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix in memory; and TSMC and ASML in manufacturing and equipment. Reuters earlier reported, citing recent earnings outlooks from ASML and TSMC, that U.S. Big Tech companies are still expanding investment in AI infrastructure. 2026-04-21 16:07:19
  • Apple Names John Ternus as Next CEO as Tim Cook Moves to Chairman Role
    Apple Names John Ternus as Next CEO as Tim Cook Moves to Chairman Role Apple has chosen John Ternus to succeed Tim Cook as CEO. Cook, who has led the company since 2011 after succeeding Steve Jobs, will step down as CEO on Sept. 1 and move to board chairman. Ternus is Apple’s senior vice president in charge of hardware engineering. Apple said the move follows a long-term succession plan. According to Apple and Reuters on April 20 local time, Ternus joined Apple’s product design team in 2001, became vice president of hardware engineering in 2013 and was promoted to senior vice president in 2021. He has overseen development across Apple’s core lineup, including the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and AirPods. He studied mechanical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania and previously worked as a mechanical engineer at Virtual Research Systems. The appointment is widely seen as an internal succession that preserves Apple’s operating approach. Bloomberg last month identified Ternus as a leading contender to succeed Cook. Apple highlighted Cook’s record. The company said its market value rose during his tenure to $4 trillion from about $350 billion, and annual revenue increased to more than $416 billion in fiscal 2025 from $108 billion in fiscal 2011. The number of countries operating Apple Stores more than doubled, and active devices topped 2.5 billion. Cook expanded Apple beyond an iPhone-centered business into a platform company spanning services, semiconductors and wearables. Wall Street’s reaction was largely muted. Rick Meckler, a partner at Cherry Lane Investments, told Reuters that “Cook has done an amazing job,” adding that he is expected to keep playing a role in major strategy as chairman. Jacob Bourne of eMarketer said the plan for Cook to remain CEO through September before moving to chairman should provide investors some reassurance. Still, Apple faces a tougher environment as Ternus takes over. While the company remains highly profitable with strong brand loyalty, it is seen as trailing rivals such as OpenAI and Google in artificial intelligence. In Ternus’ first year, Apple is expected to face simultaneous demands to revamp Siri, refresh the iPhone lineup and strengthen AI features. Reuters described the choice as a signal that Apple intends to maintain its consumer-hardware identity even as AI competition intensifies. Bourne said Ternus’ hardware engineering background “shows that Apple’s commitment to consumer hardware isn’t going away.” Even so, AI is likely to be the defining test of Ternus’ leadership. Reuters noted Apple is dealing with delays in its Siri overhaul and controversy over reliance on outside AI. Early judgments are expected to hinge on how smoothly Apple integrates AI into the iPhone, Mac and wearables, and whether it can build a stronger presence in AI platforms beyond its hardware strengths. The stock reaction was limited. Reuters reported Apple shares fell less than 1% in after-hours trading following the announcement. In regular U.S. trading on April 20, the stock closed up 1.04% at $273.05. 2026-04-21 15:19:49
  • Adobe, Nvidia CEOs say AI race is shifting from generative tools to execution
    Adobe, Nvidia CEOs say AI race is shifting from generative tools to execution Adobe is shifting its artificial intelligence push from generating content to executing real business tasks, unveiling an enterprise system designed to bring together brand assets, customer data and marketing channels. Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in an Adobe Summit keynote that the next battleground in AI will be execution and control, not just creation. At the opening-day keynote of Adobe Summit in Las Vegas on April 20 (local time), Adobe introduced “Adobe CX Enterprise.” The system is designed to let companies manage personalization and execution by linking customer data, brand assets and multiple customer touchpoints. Adobe also said more than 20,000 brands worldwide run their businesses on its platform. The company’s pitch is that AI is moving from providing “answers” to taking “actions.” Adobe’s “CX Enterprise Coworker” is built to coordinate AI functions and tools around goals set by a company, create plans, support execution after approval, and monitor results. Adobe said the process operates under human oversight and control. Narayen said corporate competitiveness will depend less on how quickly a company adopts general-purpose large language models than on how precisely it reflects its own data, content and brand standards in AI. Adobe said it is offering features that apply brand guidelines while also helping tailor experiences based on customer responses, signaling a shift beyond creative tools toward broader brand operations and customer experience management. Huang said generative AI is the stage where systems produce sentences and images, while agent-based AI is the stage where systems receive goals and carry out actual work. He said enterprise software interfaces and usage will increasingly shift toward AI agents, aligning with Adobe’s execution-focused strategy. Adobe also outlined its partnership with Nvidia, saying it plans to connect its system to Nvidia’s AI development tools, runtime environment and open models. Nvidia said it is building an agent-based marketing foundation through cooperation with Adobe and advertising company WPP. 2026-04-21 14:22:07
  • Trump Revives ‘Midnight Hammer,’ Says Iran Nuclear Program Won’t Be Easy to Rebuild
    Trump Revives ‘Midnight Hammer,’ Says Iran Nuclear Program Won’t Be Easy to Rebuild President Donald Trump has again pointed to last year’s U.S. airstrike operation against Iran, dubbed “Midnight Hammer,” reiterating his claim that Iran’s nuclear program will not be easily rebuilt. In a post Sunday on his Truth Social account, Trump said the operation “completely and totally destroyed” Iran’s nuclear-related targets and that recovering buried nuclear material “will require a long and difficult process.” He also criticized CNN and other outlets, saying they were diminishing the achievements of U.S. pilots. “Midnight Hammer” was the name of a U.S. operation last June that struck three Iranian nuclear sites. The U.S. military deployed more than 125 aircraft, including seven B-2 stealth bombers, and dropped 14 massive bunker-buster bombs targeting Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan. The U.S. military said it combined deception flights and indirect approaches to hit the targets. Iran’s military was reported to have been largely unable to respond to the U.S. aircraft. Assessments of the damage have differed. Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used language suggesting near-total destruction, while Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine said all three sites suffered “extremely severe damage and destruction” but stopped short of saying Iran’s nuclear capability had been eliminated. Trump’s post came as it remains unclear whether follow-up talks between the United States and Iran will materialize. Trump has argued that any new nuclear deal with Iran would be better than the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, but it is still uncertain how negotiations might be concluded in the near term. 2026-04-21 13:55:07
  • ‘A Man Living With the King’ Becomes South Korea’s No. 2 All-Time Box Office Hit
    ‘A Man Living With the King’ Becomes South Korea’s No. 2 All-Time Box Office Hit The film ‘A Man Living With the King’ has risen to No. 2 on South Korea’s all-time box office list. On its 67th day in theaters, it reached a cumulative 16,283,970 admissions on Friday, surpassing the final total of ‘Extreme Job’ (16,266,641). The only domestic release with more viewers is ‘The Admiral: Roaring Currents,’ which drew about 17.61 million. Showbox and the Korean Film Council’s integrated ticketing network said the movie has sustained a long run since opening Feb. 4. After topping 16 million admissions on April 5, it climbed to second place. Its cumulative revenue is about 156.9 billion won, already the highest ever for a domestic release. Whether it can take the top spot remains unclear. It ranked third at the box office on Thursday with 38,704 daily admissions, after drawing 32,843 on Wednesday. The gap with No. 1 ‘The Admiral: Roaring Currents’ is about 1.33 million admissions. Directed by Jang Hang-jun, ‘A Man Living With the King’ is set during the exile of King Danjong of the Joseon Dynasty. Performances by Yoo Hae-jin and Park Ji-hoon helped drive the film’s success.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-04-11 13:42:14
  • NC AI Unveils Beta of Varco Sound, an AI Audio Generation Service
    NC AI Unveils Beta of Varco Sound, an AI Audio Generation Service NC AI, an artificial intelligence company, said Wednesday it has released a beta version of Varco Sound, a sound-generation AI service designed to create multiple sounds needed for a single scene at once and allow users to split the output by element for editing. Varco Sound accepts images and video as well as text. Users can describe a situation in a sentence — such as “water droplets in a dark cave” — or upload a forest photo or battle footage, and the service analyzes the scene’s context to automatically generate sound files, or sound assets. The generated audio is provided in “multitrack,” separating sound elements into individual tracks. That allows detailed postproduction edits, such as adjusting the volume of a specific sound or swapping out an element. NC AI said the goal is to reduce the “difficulty of re-editing” often cited with single-track audio generation. The service also emphasizes variation. It can quickly produce multiple versions while keeping the texture and nuance of a user-uploaded sample, expanding options and reducing prototyping time. Varco Sound runs on the web without a separate installation. Users can sign up with email verification, and it is offered through the Varco Game Package plan, which combines it with the 3D generation AI service Varco 3D. Pricing includes a 22,000-won-a-month Plus plan (10,000 credits) and a 110,000-won-a-month Premium plan (50,000 credits). New users receive 2,000 credits. NC AI said it aims to refine quality by incorporating feedback during the beta period and target an official launch in the first half of this year. The company is also developing plugins for game engines Unity and Unreal, as well as plugins that run directly in professional audio production software. “Varco Sound is a technology that turns imagined sounds into assets that can be produced immediately,” NC AI CEO Lee Yeon Su said. “Based on our multimodal AI capabilities, we will expand it into a platform that leads the global content production market.” 2026-01-29 08:33:00
  • Com2uS baseball games top 1 trillion won in cumulative revenue
    Com2uS baseball games top 1 trillion won in cumulative revenue SEOUL, January 21 (AJP) - South Korean game developer Com2uS said on Wednesday that cumulative revenue from its baseball game titles has exceeded 1 trillion won ($750 million). The company attributed the milestone to the expansion of its lineup of officially licensed baseball titles tied to major leagues including the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) and Major League Baseball (MLB), beginning with the 2015 launch of Com2uS Pro Baseball 3D. Com2uS cited steady growth in user engagement, saying monthly active users last year peaked at more than 2.6 million, over six times the level recorded in 2015. Average annual revenue growth over the past three years stood at around 30 percent, the company said. The franchise’s longevity has been supported by increasingly detailed content and strengthened live operations, the company said. It has closely reflected real-world player data, records and play styles, while refining controls and presentation for hitting, pitching and defense to improve gameplay realism. Com2uS also said it has reinforced season-linked events and offseason content while continuously adjusting progression balance between new and existing users. The company tied the expansion of its baseball games to overseas growth. It began a global push in 2016 with MLB 9 Innings 16, followed by Com2uS Pro Baseball V in 2022 and MLB Rivals in 2023. In 2025, it expanded into Japan with the Nippon Professional Baseball-licensed Pro Baseball Rising. Com2uS said it plans to enhance update quality in line with league seasons this year and expand content marking the 10th anniversary of MLB 9 Innings, using differentiated strategies for each title to sustain growth. “We have built a structure in which baseball games continue to grow, based on nearly a decade of development and live operations know-how,” said Hong Ji-woong, head of production at Com2uS. 2026-01-21 13:53:45
  • South Koreas Neptune sets sights on India as it scales adtech, game publishing
    South Korea's Neptune sets sights on India as it scales adtech, game publishing SEOUL, January 20 (AJP) - South Korea's Neptune said on Tuesday it will expand businesses that combine advertising technology and gaming this year, centered on three new initiatives, following its acquisition by Krafton. Neptune outlined three strategic pillars: global expansion of its adtech operations, a stronger push into hybrid-casual games and the development of a new demand-side platform, or DSP, for advertisers. India has been identified as the top priority market for its adtech business. The company said its India strategy focuses on optimizing services for local mobile environments. It completed India-specific software development kits, or SDKs, and infrastructure capable of handling large-scale traffic in the third quarter of last year. The technology will be rolled out in phases, starting with popular mobile games in India in the first half of this year. The company has spent about six months establishing internal collaboration models after the takeover by Krafton and is now moving into an execution phase. In its games business, Neptune said it aims to diversify revenue by increasing investment and publishing in hybrid-casual titles that combine in-app purchases, or IAP, with in-app advertising, or IAA. It also plans to expand in-house game development to secure a steady pipeline of hit titles and user traffic. Chief Executive Kang Yul-bin said Neptune plans to leverage traffic from its parent company to gain a foothold in India’s adtech market, which he estimated to be worth about 3 trillion won ($2.2 billion). “By linking the expansion of hybrid-casual games with our India business rollout, we aim to take our adtech business to the next level,” Kang said. * This article, published by Aju Business Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP. 2026-01-20 09:48:48