England are in the middle of a long break between pool games.

No doubt about it, this World Cup has come down through the gears this last five days after what was a breakneck opening to the tournament.

A strategy of cosying up to Trump is not without risk as, despite his avowed Anglophilia, his American First outlook may see him care little for the UK, argues Andrew Hammond.

Last Friday, the Ukrainian show jumping team contested a Tokyo 2020 qualifier in Budapest and amassed a total of 41 faults.

With an Olympic qualifier ticket confirmed, when the Irish men reflect on their week’s work in Le Touquet, their outlook will probably prove far more upbeat than their exit from the Eric Choteau field after a chastening 3-1 loss to France in the FIH Series final.

US officials are targeting a $300 bn (€266 billion) list of additional Chinese imports, including laptop computers, for tariff hikes.

Performances in the ring will ultimately dictate whether Bernard Dunne’s remit as Irish amateur boxing’s high performance director is a success but the former world champion has already recorded a pair of notable successes outside the ropes.

Latest:: North Korea's has claimed to have launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile in what is seen as a potential game-changing development in its push to militarily challenge Washington.

Russian president Vladimir Putin and Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe have discussed joint economic projects on disputed islands which could pave the way for the countries to finally sign a peace treaty.

A North Korean ballistic missile fired from a submarine flew about 310 miles in the longest flight by that type of weapon, Seoul said - a range that can place much of South Korea within its striking distance.

US president Barack Obama yesterday said his visit to Hiroshima, the first city to suffer an atomic bombing, would emphasise friendly ties between former enemies, and reiterated he would not apologise for the devastating attack.

Donald Trump’s rhetoric may be idiosyncratic but he has made the idea of an isolationist America a popular subject for discussion among the Washington mainstream, says Peter Apps

The European Union and Japan could forge a free trade accord within months, but failure to do so by the end of next year could lead to scepticism that a deal will ever be reached, the EU’s chief negotiator has said.

Three former utility executives should face criminal charges and stand trial for their alleged negligence in the Fukushima nuclear disaster, a Japanese judicial committee has ruled.

Japan’s government has upgraded its view on the overall economy for the first time in eight months, noting a moderate recovery trend as factory output is picking up on the back of improving corporate activity.

’Running police’ made sure the Tokyo Marathon went off without a hitch yesterday.

Japan said it was still trying to secure the release of two Japanese hostages held by Islamic State militants after a deadline to pay a ransom passed and there was no immediate word on their fate.

IS militants say Japan has until Friday to pay a 200 million dollar ransom for the exchange of two hostages.

Japan is to lift some of its sanctions on North Korea in response to Pyongyang’s decision to create a committee to investigate the fate of at least a dozen Japanese who were abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s.

US president Barack Obama has confirmed that the US will defend Japan in a potential confrontation with China over a set of disputed islands.

Judges at the highest UN court ordered Japan to halt whaling in the Antarctic, rejecting the country’s long-held argument that the catch was for scientific purposes and not primarily for human consumption.

A Japanese soldier who hid in the Philippine jungle for three decades, refusing to believe the Second World War was over until his former commander returned and ordered him to surrender, has died in Tokyo aged 91.

THE year 2013 saw the Japanese economy turn the corner on two decades of stagnation.

Kim Jong Un’s uncle has been executed, with the state media calling the leader’s former mentor “worse than a dog”.

Eight global banking giants have been fined a combined €1.7 bn by the European Commission for forming illegal cartels to rig benchmark interest rates.

Japan has drastically scaled back its target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, possibly complicating efforts to forge a global climate change pact.

A video has emerged showing a volleyball coach repeatedly slapping a schoolboy — just days after Tokyo was awarded the 2020 Olympics — in the latest example of brutality to tarnish Japanese sport.

Ana Botella, the mayor of Madrid, says the city will not be in the running to host the 2024 Olympics.

The vote to elect the most powerful man in world sport takes place tomorrow after a campaign that has descended into controversy and acrimony.

Tokyo will host the Olympics and Paralympics in 2020 after seeing off rivals Madrid and Istanbul in dramatic circumstances to win the vote.

Tokyo has unveiled a half-billion dollar plan to stem radioactive water leaks at Fukushima, creating a wall of ice underneath the stricken plant, as the government elbowed the operator aside.

China has summoned Japan’s ambassador to register a protest over Japanese Cabinet members’ visits to a controversial shrine to war dead in Tokyo.

The US federal budget cuts are an inappropriate measure that will weigh on potential growth, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said yesterday, urging Washington to present credible fiscal plans.

After weeks of tension, North Korea has options to improve relations with the US and South Korea – but it is unlikely to be tempted by Washington’s offer to restart negotiations on its nuclear programme.

An American forensics expert told a Tokyo court yesterday that she found “no major mistakes” in the autopsy report of Irishwoman Nicola Furlong. She agreed that the exchange student had been strangled in a Tokyo hotel last May but disputed certain statements made by the author of the report.

A key witness in the trial against the man accused of killing Nicola Furlong in Tokyo yesterday said postmortems confirmed the Co Wexford student had been strangled.

Dublin is now the 34th most expensive city in the world.

Asian markets have risen amid optimism that Japan’s new leaders will stimulate its sluggish economy.

Old-guard veteran Shinzo Abe was voted back into office as prime minister of Japan today and immediately named a new cabinet, ending three years of liberal administrations and restoring power to his conservative, pro-big-business party that has run the country for most of the post-Second World War era.

After leading his conservative party to a landslide victory, Shinzo Abe stressed today that the road ahead will not be easy as he tries to revive Japan’s sputtering economy and bolster its national security.