Category World News

Following a police investigation into his purchase of a supplement that might have broken the country’s stringent drug laws, Suntory Holdings CEO Takeshi Niinami, one of Japan’s most well-known businessmen, resigned from the beverage company.

Niinami, who frequently appeared at corporate Japan events at Davos and other international events, told Suntory he believed the supplement was legal, according to the company’s statement on Tuesday. He has advised several Japanese prime ministers.

“I didn’t know it was a prohibited supplement. In a report released on Tuesday evening, he claimed innocence in front of the Asahi newspaper. He added that if he did not step down, he said, the business would not be able to unite. Niinami could not be reached for comment right away.

Nobuhiro Torii, the company’s founder’s great-grandson Shinjiro Torii, announced in a press briefing that he would now be in full charge of the business.

Torii referred to Niinami as a “brave, determined leader who accomplished things,” and I sincerely respect him. It’s a real shame that we couldn’t continue as a team in that regard, which I also told him yesterday.

The powerful Keizai Doyukai business lobby is led by Niinami, who speaks English fluently. According to the Asahi report, he claimed he had no intention of leaving that position. Officials from the Keizai Doyukai were unavailable for comment right away.

On Wednesday afternoon, he is expected to give his regular press conference at the business lobby, in which he will provide more details about his resignation.

In addition to being outspoken, Niinami frequently expressed his opinions on how the Japanese economy should be run and how the central bank should act.

Investigation is continuing

According to the Tokyo Shimbun daily, Fukuoka prefecture police were looking into whether marijuana-containing supplements had been delivered to Niinami’s home, a case that has ties to a July arrest suspect.

Other Japanese media reported that the supplements allegedly contained THC, a psychoactive substance found in Japan. However, cannabis is legal as a distinct chemical compound, and there are products made in Japan made of it.

Niinami informed Suntory on August 22 that he was the subject of a police investigation, making the company the maker of whisky, beer, and other soft drinks like Orangina-branded soda. On September 1, he resigned.

Niinami, 66, took over Suntory as president in 2014 after purchasing US spirits company Beam for $ 16 billion, including debt, to significantly increase its revenue and profits.

No illegal drug use or possession has been confirmed, despite police questioning and searching Niinami’s Tokyo home. On the reports, there was no immediate access to a Fukuoka Police official.

Before becoming Suntory’s boss, the first person to lead the business from a non-familian background, Niinami was a graduate of Harvard Business School and previously held the position of chief executive of law enforcement company Lawson.

There are strict drug regulations in Japan. After an allegation that he had purchased illegal drugs, Japanese endoscope manufacturer Olympus Corp fired then-CEO Stefan Kaufmann, a German national.

Chloe Malle replaces Anna Wintour as Vogue’s new director of editorial content after nearly four decades in the role.

On Tuesday, the 134-year-old magazine made the announcement.

Wintour, age 75, serves as Conde Nast’s chief content officer and is its global editorial director for American Vogue and its 27 editions worldwide. She will continue to lead Conde Nast, the iconic brand’s parent company, which also owns storied brands like Vanity Fair and GQ, as well as oversee major events like the Met Gala.

While taking over day-to-day operations at the US edition, Vogue.com editor Malle may be stepping into Wintour’s low-heeled slingbacks. The storied “editor-in-chief” title, which Wintour held for almost 40 years, is no longer in use.

Malle, 39, has been with Vogue for more than ten years, most recently as the podcast host of The Run-Through and editor of Vogue.com.

She started out as social editor at Vogue in 2011 as the daughter of actress Candice Bergen and director Louis Malle, and she has been there since 2023. She has also worked as a contributing editor at Vogue. She has oversaw numerous well-known projects, including an interview with Lauren Sanchez, the then-fiancee of Amazon tycoon Jeff Bezos, and one of former US President Joe Biden’s granddaughter Naomi Biden’s prewedding shoot.

The announcement that Malle has accepted the position comes as New York Fashion Week’s most recent round of shows, which will begin the following week, and the Venice Film Festival, which will feature a new documentary about her father. Her appointment is immediately effective.

In the statement announcing Malle’s appointment, Wintour said, “Chloe has consistently shown that she can find the balance between American Vogue’s long, singular history and its future on the front lines of the new.”

According to the statement from her new job, Malle’s direct traffic to Vogue.com doubled, and the site experienced double-digit growth across all key metrics. 14.5 million unique visitors are currently being received each month.

Risk-taker

Since 1988, Wintour has transformed the US Vogue brand into a cultural spectacle with an international following at the Met Gala.

Wintour, who is almost a clone of the Vogue label, is also widely regarded as an inspiration for “Miranda Priestly,” the fashion editor who Meryl Streep plays in the film The Devil Wears Prada.

134 years ago, Vogue was established as a society journal. With models on the cover, static close-ups captured in studios, and a focus on high fashion and heavy makeup, it became a traditional industry staple in 1909 after Conde Nast bought it.

The Peruvian government has condoled an Indonesian diplomat’s “assassination” in Lima, and described the incident as “lamentable” and “heinous act” by the country’s government.

Zetro Leonardo Purba, a member of Indonesia’s diplomatic corps, was killed in a statement sent to the nation’s ministry of foreign affairs on Tuesday, which included its “deepest condolences and deepest condemnation.”

When an unidentified assailant approaches him near the building’s entrance and shoots him twice, according to surveillance footage released by Peruvian police shows Purba riding home on Monday night while wearing a helmet.

The gunman shot Purba three times before fleeing on a motorcycle driven by a alleged accomplice after he fell from his bike.

Purba passed away later in a hospital in Peru. Unknown is the motive behind the shooting.

The Peruvian Foreign Ministry confirmed in a statement on Tuesday that an investigation was being conducted to identify those responsible. Additionally, it provided Indonesia’s embassy staff with increased police protection.

The Indonesian government will continue to support and assist the country with this matter, and it promises to thoroughly investigate this crime, according to the statement.

Sugiono, Indonesia’s foreign affairs minister, added that he and his Peruvian counterpart Elmer Schialer were on call to demand a thorough investigation into the shooting.

Sugiono, who uses a single name, wrote on social media that “we trust Peru will provide the highest protection for our embassy staff, families, and, citizens in [the country]”.

Victor Guivar, the head of Peru’s national police, made a speculative report to TV Peru that the attack might be a plotted assassination to settle scores.

They would be foreign nationals, Guivar said, based on the physical characteristics that can be observed on the video surveillance cameras.

However, various Indonesian officials have told the Peruvian media that they doubt the assessment, pointing out that Purba had not been threatened before the shooting.

At the time of his death, Purba and his wife and children had resided in Lima for about five months.

Irwan Butapierre, an Indonesian embassy employee, claimed the country’s capital was the site of rife with crime.

“Peru is a dangerous nation. He was riding his bike in tact without fear, Butapierre claimed in a newspaper article, La Republica. “I’m not sure why they killed him,” he said.

Homicides and extortion are on the rise in Peru under Dina Boluarte, president of the country.

The highest number for that time since 2017 was estimated to be 6, 041 people died between January and mid-August. Between January and July, there were 15, 989 extortion reports, an increase of 28 percent over the same time period in 2024.

Boluarte and President Prabowo Subianto celebrated 50 years of diplomatic relations between Peru and Indonesia at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta just last month.

Kraft Heinz is set to split into two different companies, one focused on groceries and the other on sauces and spreads.

The food manufacturing giant announced the breakup on Tuesday after it never achieved the growth expected when it was formed a decade ago.

The spinoff, which is expected to close in the second half of 2026, is the latest in a series of rearrangements among major global consumer brands that once embraced the conglomerate model, but are now rethinking their business structure amid sluggish sales, depressed valuations, and tariffs.

One of the companies, currently called Global Taste Elevation Co, will include brands such as Heinz, Philadelphia cream cheese and Kraft Mac &amp, Cheese, the Kraft Heinz Company said.

The other, currently called North American Grocery Co, will include legacy brands like Maxwell House, Oscar Mayer, Kraft Singles and Lunchables. The official names of the two companies have not been released yet.

Wall Street had anticipated the breakup after the company said in May that it would look for opportunities to boost shareholder value. As of 11am in New York (15: 00 GMT), the stock is down more than 5 percent.

The 2015 merger that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway helped engineer alongside Brazilian private equity firm 3G Capital created a $45bn company, with a goal of cutting costs and boosting growth in iconic brands such as Heinz Beanz, Jell-O and Philadelphia cream cheese. Instead, shares have lost about 60 percent of their value in that time as consumers reined in spending, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2021, Kraft Heinz sold both its Planters nut business and its natural cheese business, vowing to reinvest the money into higher-growth brands like P3 protein snacks and Lunchables. But the company continued to struggle, and Kraft Heinz’s net sales fell 3 percent in 2024.

“For investors, the move could unlock value in the near-term, but the execution risks are clear: unless both entities invest in innovation and defend against private-label encroachment, the breakup may not achieve more than a temporary financial lift”, eMarketer analyst Suzy Davidkhanian said.

The grocery unit will be headed by Kraft Heinz’s current top boss Carlos Abrams-Rivera, while the company seeks potential CEO candidates for the sauces unit.

The company expects the split to cost up to $300m, but anticipates reducing much of that expense quickly.