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UN

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield poses for a photo with Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi and the families of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s, on Thursday at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 18, 2024
U.S. envoy to U.N. uses Japan visit to bolster U.N. Security Council
“The Security Council of 70 years ago does not reflect the realities of today,” Linda Thomas-Greenfield said.
Palestinians gather to receive aid outside a UNRWA warehouse on March 18 as Gaza residents face crisis levels of hunger.
WORLD
Apr 18, 2024
UNRWA chief warns human-caused famine 'tightening its grip' across Gaza
The head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees accused Israel of blocking their ability to deliver aid to Gaza, where many are starving.
The Palestinian push for full U.N. membership comes six months into a war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 18, 2024
U.N. Security Council to vote Friday on Palestinian U.N. membership
The United States — an Israel ally — is expected to block the membership request as it would effectively recognize a Palestinian state.
Former United States Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during the ninth Our Ocean Conference at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, in Athens, Greece, on Tuesday.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Apr 17, 2024
World leaders call on nations to swiftly ratify U.N. ocean treaty
Four countries have formally ratified the treaty, while 89 countries have signed it, expressing their intent to ratify it.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, arrives to a state dinner in honor of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden at the White House in Washington on April 10.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 16, 2024
U.S. envoy visits Korean border after Russian veto dents sanctions enforcement
Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield's trip is the highest-profile visit by a U.S. official since Vice President Kamala Harris went there in 2022.
An exterior view of Qasr al-Basha in 2021 in Gaza City, where Napoleon Bonaparte slept for several nights during his campaign in Egypt and Palestine.
WORLD
Apr 15, 2024
Gaza's historic treasures saved by 'irony of history'
Invaluable artifacts remain intact thanks to the blockade that made life in the Gaza Strip such a struggle for the past 16 years.
Iranians gather at Palestine Square to celebrate Iran’s attack on Israel, holding up their phones with the flash on, in Tehran on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 15, 2024
Iran’s attack on Israel sparks race to avert a full-blown war
Nations around the world are working to stop what could be a slow dance toward war in the Middle East after Iran directly attacked Israel.
An Apple store in Shanghai. Apple manufactures iPads, AirPods and Apple Watches in Vietnam and suppliers for MacBooks are also investing in the country.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 11, 2024
Activists press Apple over Vietnam's detention of climate experts
Apple manufactures iPads, AirPods and Apple Watches in Vietnam and suppliers for MacBooks are also investing in the country.
Myanmar's junta chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 10, 2024
Myanmar junta slams U.N.'s 'one-sided' human rights claims
The junta has denounced allegations of a horrific human rights record as "unfounded."
South Korean soldiers stand guard in the truce village of Panmunjom inside the demilitarized zone separating South and North Korea.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 9, 2024
Biden’s envoy to the U.N. set to visit border with North Korea
Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield will become the most senior U.S. official to visit the DMZ since Vice President Kamala Harris in 2022.
Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour speaks with the media, accompanied by Yemen's Ambassador to the United Nations Abdullah Ali Fadhel Al-Saadi and Algeria's Representative to the United Nations Amar Bendjama, at U.N. headquarters in New York on March 25.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 9, 2024
Security Council to decide within April on Palestine's U.N. membership bid
Palestinians have lobbied for years to gain full membership, which would amount to recognition of Palestinian statehood.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his sister, Kim Yo Jong
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 9, 2024
Kishida-Kim summit unlikely to happen soon, Japan envoy to U.S. says
Shigeo Yamada said recent statements from North Korea indicate they aren't ready to deal with "outstanding issues of concern" with Japan.
A U.N. conference on Afghanistan in Geneva in September 2021. In December last year, the U.N. decided to appoint a special envoy for Afghanistan, but the role hasn't been filled yet.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 3, 2024
Could a new U.N. envoy move the needle on Afghanistan?
If the Taliban refuse to dialogue with other Afghans, the U.N. should empower those outside of the group. The appointment of a special envoy could help.
During a rally in New York on Nov. 6, protesters call for a cease-fire in Gaza. U.S. President Biden should ensure that Israel abides by a March 25 U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 8, 2024
Biden must show Netanyahu that enough is enough
How can the U.S. president take the moral high ground if he allows Netanyahu to continue disregarding civilian life in Gaza, while arming Israeli soldiers?
Takuya Yokota, the representative of the Association of Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea, gives a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 5, 2024
Relatives of Japanese abducted by North Korea hope Kishida raises issue in U.S.
Takuya Yokota, who represents a group of family members of abductees, said the matter is a human rights and humanitarian issue.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield (right) at U.N. headquarters in New York in March
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 5, 2024
U.S. ambassador to U.N. to visit Japan and South Korea this month
The ambassador plans to discuss responses to North Korea, diplomatic sources said.
The United Nations building in New York
WORLD / Politics
Apr 3, 2024
Could the Palestinians become a full United Nations member?
Palestinian U.N. envoy Riyad Mansour said the aim was for the council to take a decision at an April 18 meeting, but that a vote had yet to be scheduled.
A woman views the National COVID-19 Memorial Wall, a dedication of thousands of hand-painted hearts and messages for those in the U.K. who have died from COVID-19, in London on Jan. 9, 2022.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 3, 2024
Countries worldwide face extra round of talks to save pandemic accord
A planned final round of negotiations missed its target of finishing the accord ready for its adoption by the World Health Organization at the end of May.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un looks on as he guides a training of the fire division in this picture released on March 19. Pyongyang has spent decades stockpiling millions of rounds of artillery and thousands of rockets in the terrain north of the demilitarized zone, which sits some 40 kilometers away from Seoul.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 3, 2024
Kim Jong Un faces annihilation in nearly all Korea war scenarios
Although North Korea has a manpower advantage, the bulk of its forces rely on "increasingly obsolete equipment” dating back to Soviet era.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa (right) meets with UNRWA head  Philippe Lazzarini in Tokyo on March 28.
JAPAN
Apr 2, 2024
Japan resumes funding to embattled Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA
Japan on Tuesday said it will lift its suspension of funding to the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) as the relief body works to regain trust after an allegation that some of its staff were involved in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Longform

Historically, kabuki was considered the entertainment of the merchant and peasant classes, a far cry from how it is regarded today.
For Japan's oldest kabuki theater, the show must go on