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Latest News

Palestinians crowd a street as smoke billows after Israeli strikes in Rafah on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
May 8, 2024
U.S. paused shipment of bombs to Israel, concerned over Rafah invasion
The U.S. has not made a final decision about how to proceed with the shipment, according to the official.
Philippine Marines wave to Philippine Navy personnel and the media during a resupply mission at their military outpost, the BRP Sierra Madre, a warship run aground in the disputed Second Thomas Shoal in 1999, in the South China Sea, in March 2014.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
May 8, 2024
Stormy seas ahead as Beijing and Manila trade barbs over secret deal
China has accused the Philippines of reneging on a "gentlemen's agreement" concerning activities in the South China Sea.
Head of North Korean propaganda Kim Ki Nam has died at 94.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 8, 2024
North Korea propaganda boss who shaped image of leaders dies at 94
He played an essential role in shaping the country’s messaging as leadership transferred to Kim Jong Il, and helped in the succession of Kim Jong Un.
Industry minister Ken Saito (right) meets with Genkai Mayor Shintaro Wakiyama in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN
May 8, 2024
Government asks Genkai mayor to accept site survey to host nuclear waste
Last month, the Genkai town assembly approved a petition submitted by local business groups asking for the survey request to be accepted.
Seigo Saito with his father, Kabutoyama Oyakata, at Isenoumi stable in Tokyo in December 2022
SUMO / Inside Sumo
May 8, 2024
Wakaikari out to etch his family's place into sumo's history books
The 19-year-old from Tokyo is ranked near the top of the third tier for the upcoming summer tournament.
Medical workers take care of a COVID-19 patient on a mechanical ventilator, in a negative pressure room in an intensive care unit at St. Marianna University School of Medicine Yokohama City Seibu Hospital in Yokohama in August 2021.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 8, 2024
Many still face COVID aftereffects a year after assessment downgrade
As there is no cure yet for long-lasting symptoms, doctors are calling on people to continue taking infection preventative measures.
A man who fired a shot after an early morning traffic dispute in western Tokyo on Wednesday is described as being in his 40s, about 170 centimeters tall with a thin build. He was wearing a black baseball cap, matching jersey top and bottom, and spectacles at the time of the incident.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 8, 2024
Police search for man who discharged firearm in Tokyo traffic dispute
He fired a single shot during an altercation with another driver after their cars nearly collided at an intersection in the city of Chofu, western Tokyo.
Toyota said its group net profit in the fiscal year that ended in March nearly doubled from the previous year to hit a record high, due to robust sales of hybrid vehicles.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 8, 2024
Toyota posts record net profit on weak yen and strong hybrid sales
The carmaker saw a 31% jump in sales of hybrid vehicles, bringing the total to 3.7 million, while sales of purely electric cars were 116,500.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump and his attorney, Todd Blanche, at Manhattan criminal court in New York on Tuesday. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records as part of an alleged scheme to silence claims of extramarital sexual encounters during his 2016 presidential campaign.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 8, 2024
Trump’s private life exposed in intimate Stormy Daniels testimony
The remarkable testimony is the latest example of how Trump’s dealings with women are coming back to haunt him in court.
Brazil's Ronaldo (left) celebrates his goal against Turkey with teammate Ronaldinho during a World Cup match in Ulsan, South Korea, in June 2002.
SOCCER
May 8, 2024
Is Brazil still the land of soccer?
"We're at a low point. We used to have more top-quality athletes," the late Pele's eldest son, Edinho, said recently.
Interpreters of the European Parliament in Brussels on April 11
WORLD / Politics
May 8, 2024
Babel in Brussels: The shadow army of EU interpreters
Humming with different languages like a modern-day Tower of Babel, the European Union's institutions are the world's largest employer of interpreters.
A 51-year-old man was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of stabbing a young woman to death in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 8, 2024
Man arrested over fatal stabbing of young woman in Shinjuku
A 51-year-old man from Kawasaki was arrested at the scene.
Sony employees simulate the physical sensations of pregnancy at the company’s headquarters in Tokyo in February. The simple power of numbers can begin to remake workplace cultures, but many Japanese women still struggle to balance their careers with domestic obligations.
JAPAN / Society
May 8, 2024
It took decades, but Japan’s working women are making progress
Employers have taken steps to change a male-dominated workplace culture. But women still struggle to balance their careers with domestic obligations.
A soldier from the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) holds an RPG launcher at a Myanmar military base at Thingyan Nyi Naung village on the outskirts of the Thailand-Myanmar border town of Myawaddy on April 15.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
May 8, 2024
In Myanmar war, crucial window looms for junta and rebels
What happens in the next few weeks in the scramble for strategic locations in Myanmar could determine the next phase of the bloody conflict.
Cleaning worker Hu Dexi, 67, at a shopping mall in Beijing on April 10
BUSINESS / Economy
May 8, 2024
In rapidly aging China, millions can't afford to retire
With a low retirement age, meager pension benefits and no family to support them, many in China feel they simply can't ever stop working.
A Towa Bank employee's suicide in 2017 has been recognized as a work-related accident.
JAPAN / Society
May 8, 2024
Towa Bank employee suicide linked to overwork and harassment
Findings from the Labor Standards Inspection Office showed the man was under extreme stress due to unmanageable work pressures.
A group of fishing boats sit next to the Mekong river in Phnom Penh in 2021.
BUSINESS
May 8, 2024
Cambodia to cut shipping through Vietnam with China-funded canal
Cambodia's deputy prime minister downplayed environmental concerns about the new canal and dismissed speculation Chinese warships could use it.
Workers on the production line at a cotton textile factory in Korla, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China, on April 1, 2021
BUSINESS
May 8, 2024
Banned Chinese cotton found in 19% of U.S. and global retailers' merchandise, study shows
The U.S. enacted a law in 2021 to safeguard its market from products potentially tainted by human rights abuses in Xinjiang, a major cotton producer.
Only about 2% of Japan's annual output of 700,000 manga volumes are released in English, according to a startup working to translate manga using artificial intelligence.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 8, 2024
Japanese startup to use AI to translate manga
With its technology, Orange aims to produce 500 English-language manga per month.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic (center right) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (center left) during a welcoming ceremony at Belgrade Airport on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
May 8, 2024
China's Xi Jinping visits Serbia on anniversary of 1999 NATO bombing
Three Chinese nationals were killed and 20 wounded in the attack, which prompted outrage in China and an apology from then U.S. President Bill Clinton.
Attendees stand on an escalator in the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, on Nov. 25, 2016.
WORLD / Politics
May 8, 2024
Saudi Arabia AI fund would divest from China if U.S. asked, CEO says
U.S. officials have apparently told their Saudi Arabian counterparts that they need to choose between Chinese and American technology.
Taro Aso (center), vice president of the Liberal Democratic Party, hands the party's proposals for securing a sufficient number of imperial family members to Lower House Speaker Fukushiro Nukaga (left) at the parliamentary building on April 26.
JAPAN
May 8, 2024
Interparty talks on shrinking imperial family may start next week
The talks are likely to focus on retaining female imperial family members after marriage and adopting male relatives.
Dortmund midfielder Marcel Sabitzer (left), defender Ian Maatsen (center) and forward Donyell Malen celebrate their team's victory over Paris Saint-Germain in Paris on Tuesday.
SOCCER
May 8, 2024
Borussia Dortmund overcome the odds to return to Wembley
In the June 1 Champions League final, Dortmund will face either Bayern Munich or 14-time champions Real Madrid.

Longform

Rows of irises resemble a rice field at the Peter Walker-designed Toyota Municipal Museum of Art.
The 'outsiders' creating some of Japan's greenest spaces