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October 08, 2025
 

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Valerie Volcovici
Labor union members hold placards on the day of a rally in support of federal workers during a rush hour protest outside the L'Enfant Plaza Metro Station in Washington on March 24.
BUSINESS
Oct 1, 2025
U.S. government faces brain drain as 154,000 federal workers exit this week
The loss of expertise is making it harder for many agencies to carry out their work and serve the American public.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses members of the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday. At a climate summit hosted by Guterres on Wednesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping said his country would cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 7%-10% from its peak by 2035.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Sep 25, 2025
Beijing takes the lead with new climate plans amid Washington’s denial
China's reduction target marked the first time the world's biggest emitter pledged a cut in emissions, rather than just limiting their growth.
A chicken stands in a garbage dump filled with plastic in Rodriguez, Rizal province, the Philippines, on Nov. 28, 2024.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Aug 7, 2025
Trump administration memo urges countries to reject plastic production caps
The U.S. stance broadly aligns with the positions laid out by the global petrochemicals industry.
Activists stage a demonstration in front of the United Nations Offices in Geneva on Monday.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Aug 5, 2025
Pressure from oil producers and U.S. threaten global pact on plastics pollution
Plastic production is set to triple by 2060 without intervention, choking oceans, harming human health and accelerating climate change, according to the OECD.
A man walks on a beach in Nice, France, amid a heavy rain storm. European governments are ramping up their own data collection systems to monitor climate change and weather extremes.
WORLD
Aug 2, 2025
Europe is breaking its reliance on American science
Amid Trump's cuts, European governments are ramping up their own data collection systems to monitor climate change and weather extremes.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Apr 29, 2025
Trump administration targets scientists behind key climate assessment
Dismissal of nearly 400 contributors leaves the future of the U.S. National Climate Assessment in doubt under Trump's administration.
An LNG tanker is guided by tug boats in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, on April 14, 2022. The European Union is looking at ways to make it easier for U.S. gas exports to comply with its methane emissions rules.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 21, 2025
EU explores tweaking methane rules for U.S. gas to help trade talks
The European Commission is looking at using flexibilities in how it applies the bloc's methane rules, which could benefit U.S. liquefied natural gas exporters, sources say.
A commercial fishing boat leaves the port in Point Judith, Rhode Island, on March 13, as cuts by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration imperil key fishing data and research.
BUSINESS
Mar 24, 2025
Trump’s regulatory freeze throws U.S. fishing industry into chaos
The freeze allowed overfishing of Atlantic bluefin tuna in waters off North Carolina.
Elon Musk holds up a chainsaw onstage during the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, on Feb. 20.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 26, 2025
Musk's new ultimatum spurs fresh confusion among U.S. government workers
President Donald Trump said workers who did not respond would be "sort of semi-fired," adding to the uncertainty.
An oil pump jack. Big U.S. oil companies believe withdrawing from the Paris Agreement only limits Washington's ability to influence an ongoing global energy transition and exposes them to an uneven regulatory environment.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 23, 2025
Trump's climate withdrawal creates rare discord with Big Oil
A shift in the U.S. power industry away from coal has contributed to a roughly 17% decline in U.S. carbon dioxide emissions since 2007.
The Stratos direct air capture facility, a joint venture between Occidental Petroleum and asset manager BlackRock, in Ector County, Texas
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / ANALYSIS
Dec 14, 2024
Earthquakes and blowouts undermine case for carbon storage in Texas
Texas has seen surging interest from companies hoping to bury carbon dioxide in its oilfields.
INC-5 Chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso (on screen) speaks during an open plenary session during the fifth session of the U.N. Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC-5) in Busan, South Korea, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 2, 2024
Countries fail to reach agreement in U.N. plastic talks
Countries remained far apart on the basic scope of a treaty and could agree only to postpone key decisions and resume talks at a later date.
Emissions rise from the Royal Dutch Shell Plc Norco Refinery in Norco, Louisiana, on June 12, 2020.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Nov 27, 2024
How AI and cloud computing may delay the transition to clean energy
The pace of clean-energy deployments is moving too slowly to keep up with the new technology's demands.
Titan Cement's factory in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, Egypt
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 23, 2024
How big fossil-fuel-producing countries export emissions abroad
A loophole in the 2015 Paris accord has allowed countries to say they are making climate progress while also exporting fossil fuels at breakneck pace.
People leave the venue during the United Nations climate change conference, known as COP29, in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Monday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 12, 2024
COP29: U.S. climate envoy says work will continue despite Trump's return
"For those of us dedicated to climate action, last week's outcome in the United States is obviously bitterly disappointing," Podesta said at the summit.
A destroyed car in the Biala Ladecka river following flooding in Zelazno, Poland, on Friday
ENVIRONMENT
Sep 22, 2024
U.S. election uncertainty clouds U.N. climate finance progress
Governments are analyzing a possible win by Kamala Harris, who promotes climate spending, or by Donald Trump, a climate denier who wants to boost fossil fuels.
Bales of hard-to-recycle plastic waste piled up at Renewlogy Technologies in Salt Lake City, Utah, on May 17, 2021.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Aug 15, 2024
In shift, U.S. backs global target to reduce plastic production, source says
The change away from earlier calls to leave such decisions up to each country puts the U.S. in direct opposition to countries like Saudi Arabia and China.
A prop depicting a water tap with cascading plastic bottles is displayed by activists near the Shaw Center venue of penultimate negotiations for the first-ever global plastics treaty, in Ottawa, Canada, on April 23.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
May 1, 2024
Plastic pollution talks make modest progress but sidestep production curbs
Some warned that too many political compromises would dilute the effectiveness of an eventual treaty while others welcomed a close focus on certain issues.
John Kerry, the U.S. special envoy on climate issues, gestures as he attends a news conference in Beijing in July 2023.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Mar 4, 2024
John Kerry bolstered U.S. climate reputation, but trust still elusive
Kerry is credited with restoring U.S. climate ties with China and courting private capital for climate action.
A man walks past a pollution pod designed to mimic the air quality in New Delhi, during the COP28 summit in Dubai, on Dec 4.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 15, 2023
How the world agreed to move away from fossil fuels at COP28
This year's climate conference marked the first time in history countries expressed a unified desire to end the oil age.
‘We have drawn lessons,’ Indian Army chief says of brief clash with Pakistan
Indian Army chief Upendra Dwivedi waves as he arrives to attend the ceremonial reception of Defense Minister Gen Nakatani in New Delhi in May.
Japanese immunologist among three Nobel medicine prize winners
Shimon Sakaguchi, an immunologist and distinguished professor at Osaka University, attends a news conference after winning the 2025 Nobel Prize in medicine, in Osaka Prefecture on Monday.
Spanish tourist injured in latest bear attack
Shirakawago, a U.N. World Heritage site in Gifu Prefecture
Americans and Canadians unite in battling 'eating machine' carp
A Fisheries and Oceans Canada team patrols the Grand River in Dunnville, Ontario, in search of invasive grass carp specimens on Sept. 25.
Trump hails 'wisdom and strength' of Japan's incoming prime minister
Sanae Takaichi, the newly elected leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, gives a news conference after the LDP presidential election in Tokyo on Saturday.
OpenAI’s Sora 2 is drowning in Japanese 'AI slop'
OpenAI has rolled out a social app powered by Sora 2, its artificial intelligence video generator, which was quickly flooded with videos featuring iconic Japanese intellectual property.
Trump has his eyes on the prize — but a Nobel win looks unlikely
A protester holds a sign with an image depicting U.S. President Donald Trump and the words "Nobel" written on it, as supporters and family members of hostages who were kidnapped during the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas, demonstrate to demand the immediate end of the war and the release of all hostages, outside the U.S. Consulate in Tel Aviv, on Sept. 2.
‘Takaichi trade’ stalls as political reality calls for wait-and-see approach
Tokyo stocks staged a powerful rally on Monday. On Tuesday, they rallied again, then retreated.
‘We have drawn lessons,’ Indian Army chief says of brief clash with Pakistan
Indian Army chief Upendra Dwivedi waves as he arrives to attend the ceremonial reception of Defense Minister Gen Nakatani in New Delhi in May.
How a family-run landscaper turned the Osaka Expo green
The team at Ryokukou Garden consists primarily of a single family, including Toshiki Tanisaki (second from right), who led the company's efforts at the Osaka Expo, Chikako Tanisaki (fifth from right), who performs daily maintanence at the expo, and Takeshi Tanisaki (fourth from right), who added a nursery to the family farm more than 50 years ago.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons
Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons

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