The Tokyo Metropolitan Government reported 189 new COVID-19 infections on Friday, resetting the single-day record for a third consecutive day and lifting the capital's total above 1,700. At the same time, Tokyo revised Thursday's tally of 181 cases downward to 178, overtaking the previous high ...

A handful of well-known personalities have been out in front of the pandemic on social media.

The plan, which took effect Saturday and lasts until May 6, requests the temporary closure of a long list of businesses and private facilities.

South Korea is regularly ranked lowest in the developed world for gender equality, but for the first time a feminist party is seeking parliamentary seats at Wednesday's election, accusing the political establishment of having failed women. The party was founded last month on International Women's ...

Kyoto's governor called the situation "severe," noting that infection routes of many new cases confirmed over the past week are unknown.

"Nasty," Donald Trump calls one reporter, "third-rate," he brands another. The U.S. president seems to loathe journalists but at his tempestuous coronavirus news conferences, he just keeps coming back for more. Every day for weeks now, Trump has spent up to two hours of prime-time ...

Crowdfunding projects are spreading nationwide to help restaurants in crisis cope with drastic declines in business caused by social distancing and other precautions being taken to curb the coronavirus pandemic. Around 80 percent of the nation's eateries saw their February sales drop from a year ...

An industry body worried about losing business opportunities has recently submitted a petition to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and lawmakers requesting that Tokyo Big Sight be partially available for exhibition usage, given the postponement of the 2020 Games. Japan's largest convention center, located in Koto ...

Neanderthals used plant fibers to create string more than 40,000 years ago at a site in France where they hunted reindeer, further evidence according to scientists of the ingenuity and cognitive capabilities of our closest extinct human relatives. Researchers on Thursday described a string fragment ...

A group of more than 10 mothers set up a citizen-led laboratory to monitor radiation levels in Fukushima communities only months after a massive earthquake and tsunami caused meltdowns at a nuclear power plant in the prefecture nine years ago. Since the foundation of the ...

Shuttered bars, canceled concerts and no sports matches: European beer brewers large and small are bracing for a catastrophic summer as demand dries up during the lockdowns imposed to curtail the coronavirus outbreak. "When it's nice out, that's when you sell beer," said Maxime Costilhes, ...

European Union finance ministers agreed on a €540 billion ($590 billion) package of measures to combat the economic fallout of the global pandemic. In an emergency teleconference on Thursday, they approved a plan to stave off what’s expected to be a recession of unprecedented size, ...

Faced with power shortfalls, demands for greener energy and drought threats to hydropower, a growing range of African nations are considering a shift to an unexpected power source — nuclear energy. South Africa has the continent's only commercial nuclear power plant. But according to the ...

Public prosecutors searched offices and other places related to members of the assembly of Hiroshima Prefecture on Thursday over an election campaign scandal involving former Justice Minister Katsuyuki Kawai, it has been learned. The assembly members included one whose home was also searched. This member ...

The government is considering to postpone this month's Rikkoshi no Rei ceremonies, meant to proclaim Crown Prince Akishino's rise to first in line to the throne, due to the spread of the new coronavirus, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Friday. The possible delay comes ...

The Bank of Japan cut its assessment of the nation's nine regional economies in light of the damage caused to production, consumption and corporate finances by the coronavirus pandemic, with new emergency restrictions set to add to the pain. The central bank’s all-region downgrade was ...

A nationwide shortage of face masks amid the growing COVID-19 outbreak has sparked a rise in the number of people who make homemade masks using cloth as a substitution for medical gauze as protection against the novel coronavirus. In the Sorachi District of Hokkaido, demand ...

Despite calls to stay home, cities are still far behind the government's target of reducing person-to-person contact by as much as 80 percent.

As the business environment continues to be affected by the spread of COVID-19, an industrial painting firm based in Anjo, Aichi Prefecture, has begun offering Japanese-English simultaneous interpretation services remotely using teleconference systems. With more companies canceling international conferences and seminars due to the pandemic, ...

Thailand’s coup-chief-turned-premier Prayut Chan-ocha has regained sweeping emergency powers to fight the coronavirus outbreak, pinning his political fate to the response he crafts as discontent grows. This week he confirmed a $58 billion stimulus package to mitigate the economic fallout, after earlier efforts were described ...

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. is expected to disclose detailed 10-year plans for the decommissioning of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, including how much construction material they will have to order and the technology needed for the work, in hopes ...

Early voting in South Korea's parliamentary election kicked off on Friday, with coronavirus patients casting ballots at designated stations and candidates adopting new ways of campaigning to limit the risk of contagion. The National Election Commission (NEC) set up eight polling stations to be used ...

Many countries such as Canada and China allow divorced parents to have joint custody of their children, a survey by Japan's Justice Ministry showed Friday. Of 24 countries surveyed, only India and Turkey have a sole custody system as Japan does. Joint custody is also the ...

Komeito, the coalition partner of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party, is considering a bill to allow local elections to be postponed in Tokyo and six prefectures under a state of emergency over the novel coronavirus, it was learned Thursday. At a news conference ...

World powers scrambled on Thursday to build a global response to the human tragedy and once-in-a-century economic collapse caused by the coronavirus epidemic, as the worldwide death toll topped 90,000. In a locked-down New York, the U.N. Security Council was to meet on the pandemic ...

The virus has exposed the structural vulnerabilities of the Communist Party system in China.

The people of the U.S. capital are learning a whole new way to live and conduct business.

Food Supply, a fruit and vegetable wholesale company in Tokyo’s Ota Ward, has launched a “drive-through greengrocer” to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19 and minimize its food waste. The company, which usually provides produce to around 5,000 restaurants, has seen over 70 percent ...

Now, more than ever, I need the sweet escape of TV drama as a reminder of a time when we weren’t in the throes of a pandemic. Although the past few episodes of “Terrace House: Tokyo 2019-2020” were hard to watch, this episode delivered ...

Despite setbacks caused by COVID-19, film studio Shochiku is determined to go ahead with its program of anniversary events and releases where possible.

Facing cancellations and postponements as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra has taken to livestreaming its concerts.

German first-division clubs clubs returned to training earlier this week after almost a month off due to the COVID-19 outbreak and while the players are still being kept at a safe distance from each other, Bayern Munich forward Kingsley Coman is just happy to ...

Olympic volunteer Ami Endo has dreamed for years of seeing the games, but despite her crushing disappointment over Tokyo 2020 being postponed, she is determined to be part of next year's edition. It's a "once-in-a-lifetime event," the 19-year-old university student said not long after the ...

With just one case of infection and wrestlers already living in a state of near-isolation, professional sumo may survive the COVID-19 pandemic without a significant decrease in the level of competition.

Japan's first NBA star has impressed in his debut season with 13.4 points and six rebounds per game, despite sitting out part of the season with a groin injury.

World basketball's governing body has postponed the men's Olympic qualifiers, the European Championship and the Americas Championship by a year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, FIBA said Thursday. FIBA was forced to rearrange their calendar after the Olympics, originally due to take place from July 24 ...

Members of the Japan Retired Foreign Player Association are sending instructions and messages of encouragement to Japanese supporters through social media.

Floyd Mayweather went undefeated during his storied career and will now hope to maintain that dominance in simulated bouts after agreeing to put his digital likeness up against other boxing greats, it was announced Thursday. The joint venture between Mayweather, streaming platform fuboTV and virtual ...

The Scottish soccer season was suspended until at least June 10 on Thursday as clubs prepared to vote on a Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) resolution to end the season immediately in the lower divisions. All matches in Scotland were originally halted on March 13 ...