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Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 15, 2023

China’s 60,000 COVID-19 death toll spurs calls for more data

China COVID-19 surge since December has spurred concern about variants; WHO chief stresses importance of transparency.
Security personnel keep watch outside the Wuhan Institute of Virology during the visit by the World Health Organization team tasked with investigating the origins of COVID-19, in Wuhan, China, in February 2021.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 28, 2025

WHO says all COVID-19 origin theories still open, after inconclusive study

The global catastrophe killed an estimated 20 million people, according to the WHO, while shredding economies and crippling health systems.
Racks of servers being tested at the new Amazon Web Services facility in New Carlisle, Indiana, on June 3
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 30, 2025

AI data-center boom could destroy Big Tech's net-zero plans

The tech sector faces a "climate strategy crisis" as its data centers demand ever more electricity and water to power growing fields, such as artificial intelligence.
Despite trade pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has held firm, constrained by upcoming elections, mistrust of U.S. intentions and growing public opposition to concessions.
EDITORIALS
Jul 4, 2025

As trade deadline approaches, Japan must draw lines

Most worrisome now is a growing sense among the Japanese public that the U.S. is no longer a reliable partner.
Security forces stand guard in front of a giant screen featuring Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi during a ceremony on Sunday commemorating Ashura, a 10-day period to remember and mourn the seventh-century killing of Islam's Prophet Mohammed's grandson Imam Hussein, in Sanaa, Yemen.
WORLD
Jul 7, 2025

Israel says it struck Houthi sites across Yemen

The strikes on Hodeidah, Ras Isa and Salif ports, and Ras Qantib power plant, were due to repeated Houthi attacks on Israel, the Israel military said.
A recent case involving teachers sharing voyeuristic images of schoolgirls has sparked national outrage.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Jul 16, 2025

Teachers sharing illicit student images raises question of systemic failure

Japan’s sluggish policy response and deep-rooted cultural resistance to the concept of consent sets it apart from other countries.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron hold a news conference in London on July 10 after wrapping up a joint military visit.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 16, 2025

France and U.K. tighten nuclear ties amid questions over U.S. commitment

While France and the U.K. are taking a positive step for European security, the announcement is both more and less than it seems.
Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito takes part in a debate with the heads of other political parties at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo on July 2.
COMMENTARY / Japan / From Party Leaders
Jul 17, 2025

Komeito hears those hit hardest by rising prices

“To stand forever with common citizens.” Our party has faithfully abided by that founding principle for over six decades
Once seen as an unlikely prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba has struggled to deliver on promises, mishandled ties with U.S. President Donald Trump and now faces an election where the odds don’t look good for his party to come out victorious.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 18, 2025

A trade deal fumble could be Ishiba’s last mistake

Ishiba already leads a coalition that lacks a majority in the Lower House, and another bad showing Sunday will likely mean Japan is looking for its third leader in as many years.
Canada’s Couche-Tard has abandoned its bid for Japan’s Seven & I, easing fears it would ruin the beloved convenient store experience, while giving the company a chance to refocus and strengthen its business.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 18, 2025

The bid for Japan’s 7-Eleven was doomed from the start

Seven & I ’s more measured response shows the company is ready to move on.
A supporter (center right) of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba holds up a placard reading "Don't quit Ishiba" as he takes part in a rally across the street from the Prime Minister's Office in central Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 27, 2025

Stay or go? Key events give Ishiba time to ponder his future.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has pledged to stay in office — in defiance of growing calls for him to step down after the LDP's poor showing in the Upper House election.
Workers operate at the site of an aircraft that crashed after it went off the runway at Muan International Airport in South Korea on Dec. 30, 2024.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 28, 2025

Jeju Air jet still had working engine when it crashed, investigation says

Investigators have not yet produced a final report into the deadliest air disaster on South Korean soil, but information about the plane's two engines has begun to emerge.
Palestinians gather to receive food from a charity distribution point in Gaza City on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 28, 2025

Israel eases Gaza aid curbs, hoping to defuse hunger outcry

As the aid curbs were rolled back, Israel said it had not abandoned its goals of destroying Hamas.
U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and his colleagues are deliberating on interest rates this week.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 28, 2025

Pressure mounts on Fed chief Powell in tee-up to GDP and jobs data

Fed officials are meeting this week as the government issues reports on gross domestic product, employment and the central bank’s preferred price metrics.
A month-old lion cub (center) is seen in front of two 8-day-olds at a breeding facility in Chachoengsao province, Thailand, on July 7.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jul 29, 2025

'Absolute madness': Thailand's pet lion problem

Thailand's captive lion population has exploded in recent years, with nearly 500 registered in zoos, breeding farms, petting cafes and homes.
A container ship approaches the Busan Port Terminal in Busan, South Korea, on July 23. Seoul's trade agreement with the U.S. brings one of the world’s biggest exporters into Washington’s emerging trade framework just a day before the deadline.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 31, 2025

U.S. sets South Korea tariff rate at 15% with energy and shipbuilding investment

The agreement brings one of the world’s biggest exporters into Washington’s emerging trade framework just a day before the deadline.
Emissions rise from a smokestack at the Conesville Power Plant in Conesville, Ohio.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Aug 1, 2025

How Trump-vetted scientists are trying to shred the climate consensus

A new report is part of an effort by the Trump administration to try to end the U.S. government’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases.
U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff (left) arrives to meet families of Israelis held hostage by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip since October 2023 as they demonstrate in Tel Aviv's "Hostage square" on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 3, 2025

U.S. envoy meets Israeli hostage families in Tel Aviv

U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff met anguished relatives of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza on Saturday, as fears for the captives' survival mounted.
Demonstrators protest U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs on Brazilian products at a rally outside the U.S. Consulate in Sao Paulo on Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 5, 2025

Trump’s tariffs defy the doomsayers — so far

Despite nearly uniform predictions of doom and disaster, the global economy has largely ignored the Trump trade revolution.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Elon Musk in Washington on Feb. 13.
WORLD
Aug 7, 2025

Musk vs. Modi: Inside the battle over India's internet censorship

X argues India's internet-policing actions are illegal.
Palestinians wait to collect food from a charity kitchen in Gaza City on Aug. 4.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 13, 2025

Palestinian mother 'destroyed' after image used to deny Gaza starvation

For Faiza Najjar, the fact that her family's reunion got caught up in a misinformation campaign was devastating.
Newcastle United's Alexander Isak reacts after missing a chance against Everton at St James' Park in Newcastle on May 25.
SOCCER
Aug 20, 2025

Isak says 'change' best for everyone after Newcastle trust broken

Liverpool has reportedly had a £110 million bid ($149 million) rejected for the 25-year-old, with Newcastle holding out for a British transfer record fee of up to £150 million.
Filipino soldiers take part in a flag-raising ceremony on Mavulis Island during a visit by the Philippines' Armed Forces chief of staff, in Batanes, the Philippines, in June 2023. Batanes, a group of idyllic islands at the country’s northernmost tip, sits about 160 kilometers from Taiwan.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 25, 2025

Philippines quietly deepening ‘unofficial’ defense ties with Taiwan

The moves come as Manila settles into a view that alliances, geography and economic interests would inevitably pull it into any U.S. conflict with China over the island.
Pakistani soldiers ferry flood-affected villagers evacuated by boat from the Muzaffargarh district in the country's Punjab province on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Sep 4, 2025

Pakistan's latest floods compound grim reality of climate finance shortfall

Less-developed countries that contribute minimally to climate change bear the brunt of its impacts as funding pledges by advanced, higher-emitting countries fail to be fulfilled.
A vessel, part of the the Global Sumud Flotilla, arrives in Sidi Bou Said, near Tunis, on Sunday.
WORLD
Sep 9, 2025

Flotilla for Gaza says boat struck by drone in Tunisian waters

The boat sustained fire damage, the flotilla group said, but Tunisia’s National Guard spokesman said reports of a drone attack "have no basis in truth."
Residents stand on an embankment as they wait to be rescued from a flooded area, following monsoon rains and rising water levels of the Chenab River, in Jalalpur Pirwala, Punjab province, Pakistan, on Monday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 9, 2025

Flood-hit India and Pakistan face rising prices for rice amid crop losses

India and Pakistan exclusively grow aromatic basmati rice, which sells for nearly twice the price of regular varieties and is imported by Britain, the Middle East, and the U.S.
Ukrainan Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga (right) and his Polish counterpart Radoslaw Sikorski (center) look at drones as they visit an exhibition showcasing Ukrainian unmanned vehicles in Kyiv on Sept. 12.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 17, 2025

Trump's public shrug over drone incursion in Poland fuels unease in Europe

Many NATO members already question U.S. President Donald Trump's commitment to their defense in the event of an actual Russian attack.
People carry a banner depicting U.S. President Donald Trump, as they protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after he delivered an address at the 80th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 27, 2025

Trump says Gaza talks with Middle East countries are intense and will continue

Trump met leaders and officials from multiple Muslim-majority countries this week to discuss the situation in Gaza.
Huawei Technologies is regarded as China’s best hope of weaning itself off the foreign chips that power the world’s second-largest economy.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 30, 2025

Huawei to double output of top AI chip as Nvidia wavers in China

The Chinese company plans to make about 600,000 of its marquee 910C Ascend chips next year, a feat that would represent a technical breakthrough for it.
Public executives in Japan are held to exceptionally high standards of judgment and propriety, as shown by the swift resignation of Suntory CEO Takeshi Niinami after a police inquiry into his alleged involvement in the import of CBD supplements. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 30, 2025

'For relaxing times...' don’t be a CEO like Suntory’s Niinami

Niinami says he’s done nothing wrong and he hasn’t been charged.

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?