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Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Apr 25, 2022

France's Macron defeats far-right rival in presidential election

The incumbent president comfortably defeated his far-right rival Marine Le Pen, heading off a political earthquake but acknowledging dissatisfaction with his first term.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 24, 2022

Is Wimbledon’s ban on Russians a double fault?

Banning players from Russia and Belarus does more to preserve the tennis tournament as a politics-free zone than support Ukraine's war effort.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 22, 2022

Rape: The war crime that goes mostly unpunished

What's happening in Ukraine is one of the worst large-scale campaigns of sexual violence in war since Islamic State's attacks on the Yezidi minority in Iraq in 2014.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 21, 2022

Macron cements French presidential frontrunner status with combative debate performance

Although Le Pen came across as more polished and composed than in a TV duel for the presidency in 2017, Macron went on the offensive over her ties to Russian leadership.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 21, 2022

Macron says Le Pen risks ‘civil war’ in France over Muslim veils

Le Pen said Macron's economic policies had been a disappointment and referred to herself as the 'spokeswoman of the French people.'
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 21, 2022

Yoshiki: Our focus should be on the environment and eradicating poverty, not destroying Ukrainian cities

The X Japan rock star, who recently donated u00a510 million toward humanitarian aid in Ukraine, touts the importance of speaking out publicly about supporting people in need of help.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 20, 2022

Four things to look out for in France's Macron-Le Pen debate

Macron's ability to connect with working-class voters and Le Pen's ties to Russia are likely to be focal points of the debate.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 19, 2022

In praise of sporting perfection in baseball — and then some

Roki Sasaki's April 10 showing earned him a place in the history books. But even more astounding is this: In his very next start, he threw another eight perfect innings
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 19, 2022

Australia begins long road to retraining coal workers for clean energy roles

Clean energy could create more than 38 million jobs worldwide and meeting that demand requires accelerating efforts to retrain the workforce.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 19, 2022

China's Xi sticks with COVID stance despite anger and economic headwinds

Xi's high-profile reiteration of the policy reflects a political imperative not to reverse course and look weak in a year in which he needs to appear strong, analysts said.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 18, 2022

Russian teacher rejected Kremlin propaganda, then paid the price

Days after Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, Andrei Shestakov opened a set of files that contained instructions on how to teach the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 18, 2022

South Korea's bewildering stance on the Ukraine conflict

Elevating economics and trade over politics like Seoul has done with the Ukraine invasion will haunt it — especially with China, which has long used economic leverage as a policy weapon.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Apr 18, 2022

China’s bid to wage cognitive warfare over democracy and human rights

The Xi administration is attaching particular importance to redefining democracy and human rights, and other countries are getting behind it.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 17, 2022

The elusive politics of Elon Musk

Musk, 50, who was born in South Africa and only became an American citizen in 2002, expresses views that don't fit neatly into America's binary, left-right political framework.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Apr 16, 2022

Jerusalem clashes raise fears of wider conflict

At least 152 Palestinians were wounded when Israeli riot police entered the Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Friday to disperse Palestinians who threw firecrackers and stones at them.
China isn’t worried that Hyundai and other South Korean firms will outcompete locals. However, their presence ensures a continued supply of production factors: equipment, chemicals and labor.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 7, 2024

Why China wants South Korea to stay open

Countries push for free trade when they have an edge. Beijing knows it.
French President Emmanuel Macron awards two U.S. World War II veterans with the Legion of Honour during the International commemorative ceremony at Omaha Beach on Thursday, marking the 80th anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy, France.
COMMENTARY / World
May 27, 2024

Why we commemorate D-Day, 80 years later

This year's D-Day anniversary was marked by a grand commemoration and was especially poignant as only a few survivors are left to share their stories of that fateful day.
Smoke rises above south Lebanon following an Israeli strike amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, last month.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 8, 2024

Risk of all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah limited, experts say

Despite an escalation in cross-border violence, experts see little risk of all-out war.
Takahiro Mori, the key negotiator for the U.S. Steel deal, is attempting to close the deal amid growing regulatory scrutiny and political opposition.
BUSINESS
Jun 8, 2024

Nippon Steel executive sees positive reaction from U.S. Steel workers

Takahiro Mori, the key negotiator for the U.S. Steel deal, is attempting to close the deal amid growing regulatory scrutiny and political opposition.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks to journalists following an election campaign event at Melksham Town F.C. on Friday. Sunak apologized after skipping events to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day in France to return early to the U.K.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 8, 2024

The moment the Tories have long dreaded is finally upon them

With Labour so far ahead in the polls, few Tories expect to stay in power after the election.
A U.K. biannual customer satisfaction index based on a survey of 15,000 consumers fell to its lowest since 2015 in January and has declined for three straight periods.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 9, 2024

Bad service is in the U.K.’s cultural DNA

While the U.K. could treat its customers better, not doing so is a choice. Why? There's a strain of British society that doesn’t accept the idea of service.
Judges from common law jurisdictions are invited to sit as nonpermanent members at Hong Kong's top court, the Court of Final Appeal, which is separate from mainland China's opaque, party-controlled legal system.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 11, 2024

U.K. judge says Hong Kong rule of law in 'danger' as third justice quits

Jonathan Sumption wrote in the Financial Times that it was "no longer realistic" for overseas judges to remain in the city's top court, from which he resigned last week.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang waves as he boards his plane at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, South Korea, on May 27.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 11, 2024

China to send premier to Australia for first time since 2017

But some say the diplomatic milestone could be overshadowed by renewed frictions over investment and military deployments.
Researchers are still years away from understanding the actual impact of AI on addressing human diseases. But given the speed with which the technology is evolving, its increasingly looking like the impact could be vast.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 12, 2024

Inventing medicines is one of the most exciting uses of AI

AlphaFold has advanced significantly since its earlier version, offering static images of protein interactions.
This proliferation of American alliances is not tangential, but central to the foreign policy of U.S. President Joe Biden.
COMMENTARY
Jun 12, 2024

America has many allies. Maybe too many.

This proliferation of American alliances is not tangential, but central to the foreign policy of President Joe Biden.
The rates of unmarried Japanese have been rising across every age group. More than 90% of women age 30-34 were married in 1980, versus 65% now.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 11, 2024

Tokyo government's 'Tinder' is actually a good idea

The rates of unmarried Japanese have been rising across every age group. More than 90% of women aged 30-34 were married in 1980, versus 65% now.
Parasitic paper mills producing fake studies are flourishing by helping scientists cheat to bolster their resumes, snag competitive academic jobs and impress funding agencies.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 13, 2024

Fake scientific studies are a problem that’s getting harder to solve

Publishing house Wiley announced it was dropping 19 journals that they said were infested with fake papers.
Fumio Kishida
JAPAN
Jun 13, 2024

Kishida Cabinet approval hits new low of 16.4%: Jiji poll

The result suggests that the Cabinet's efforts to revise the political funds control law in the wake of a slush fund scandal have not been well received by the public.
Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett attends the opening ceremony of Tungaloy's new plant in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, in  November 2011. Buffett says Tokyo executives are good value for money amid a widening pay gap between local and foreign business leaders.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 14, 2024

The pay gap in Japan’s boardrooms is unacceptable

The job market in Japan is, at all levels, much less liquid and executives are less likely to need incentives to avoid jumping ship to rivals.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years