Search - 2018

 
 
People's National Congress candidate Mohamed Muizzu speaks during a news conference in Male, Maldives, on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 2, 2023

Pro-China winner vows to unite Maldives and releases ex-leader

The result upends the outgoing leader's efforts to revert to alliances with India since taking office five years ago.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 2, 2023

Nagoya mayor promotes new ordinance to stop walking on escalators

The ordinance, which carries no penalties, is aimed at preventing accidents.
A Palm Sunday procession makes its way toward a government-sanctioned Catholic church in Youtong village in China's Hebei province
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 2, 2023

The Holy See shows how to deal with China

In China, the relationship between politics and religion is unique, and the Holy See has adopted a sophisticated approach to diplomacy with Beijing.
The U.S. Supreme Court justices
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Oct 3, 2023

Curtain rises on new term for conservative U.S. Supreme Court

The nine-month legal journey that will test how far its 6-3 conservative majority is willing to steer American law in a rightward direction.
An employee prepares tables and chairs outside a restaurant in Bucharest, Romania.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 3, 2023

EU membership supercharged Romania. Ukraine faces a tougher task.

Romania’s accession offers lessons that can help Kyiv along the way and offer an indication of the potential rewards.
The World Trade Organization logo in Geneva
WORLD / Politics
Oct 3, 2023

At WTO, disregard for trade rules shows world is fragmenting

The WTO has warned a "polycrisis" of pandemic, war in Ukraine and inflation is sapping faith in globalization.
The men's Cricket World Cup opens in India on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS / Cricket
Oct 3, 2023

Death or glory? World Cup anchors changing game of one-day cricket

The sport's greatest off-field change since 2011 is the number of people questioning whether the ODI format has much of a future outside of a World Cup.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy speaks at the Capitol after he was ousted as speaker of the House, in Washington on Tuesday. The ouster is without precedent in modern U.S. history and leaves the chamber without a leader, plunging it into chaos.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 4, 2023

U.S. House speaker ouster means more chaos as shutdown fight looms

Kevin McCarthy lost his post after hardliners in his party revolted over his compromise with Democrats to avert government shutdown.
The Justice Ministry is considering revising the law that requires wills to be handwritten so that people can write them on computers and smartphones.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 4, 2023

Japan considers law revision to allow computer-written wills

The Justice Ministry hopes that not requiring wills to be handwritten will both ease the burden of creating the documents and promote their use.
Lin Te-wang, chairman of Taiwan People's Communist Party, in 2022
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 5, 2023

Taiwan communist party head indicted on China infiltration charge

Lin Te-wang, chairman of the Taiwan People's Communist Party, has been charged with violating the Anti-infiltration Act.
The PayPay app now seeks to keep its pace of double-digit growth with help from other SoftBank portfolio companies.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 5, 2023

SoftBank’s PayPay app showcases Masayoshi Son’s clout in Japan

Seen to be next in SoftBank’s initial public offering pipeline, the startup now holds two-thirds’ share in QR-code payments in Japan.
Volunteers work at a Salvation Army mobile health clinic in Montreal on Sept. 22. Canada, despite being a wealthy nation, is gripped by a surge in homelessness that has seen thousands of people living in the streets after being priced out of real estate and rental markets.
WORLD / Society
Oct 5, 2023

Homelessness explodes in Canada as rents and housing prices soar

Researchers warn government data is vastly underestimating the number of homeless across the country.
Generative AI will change work for young professionals, but their reasoning skills will still be needed.
COMMENTARY
Oct 5, 2023

Is ChatGPT coming for entry-level jobs?

If entry-level workers get that much faster and better, won’t companies be able to get by with fewer of them? Maybe.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 6, 2023

Sapporo to push back Winter Olympics bid to 2034 or later

Sapporo mayor Katsuhiro Akimoto will meet with the Japanese Olympic Committee next week to request the change.
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump, accompanied by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, announces a slew of retaliatory measures against China, including sanctions, at a news conference at the White House in May 2020.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 6, 2023

Protectionism started the geopolitical fire

The protectionism in the post-pandemic economic shutdowns will also impact international relations.
A lithium mine near Itinga, Minas Gerais state, Brazil
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 6, 2023

We’re not even close to running out of green minerals

Rising reserves challenge fears of mineral shortages in green transition.
Taylor Swift attends the MTV Video Music Awards at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on Sept. 12.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 8, 2023

Taylor Swift and the political needle

With hundreds of millions of social media followers and a staunchly loyal fan base, she can move any dial with the tiniest of efforts.
A woman takes her meal alone in Tokyo's Yanaka neighborhood. As the country ages, Japan's average caloric intake has been shrinking.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Oct 9, 2023

Downsizing dinner: Aging Japan is eating less

As older citizens' shrinking appetites lead to less on the plate, businesses are having to adjust to a new market.
Japan's women's volleyball team celebrates its silver medal during the podium ceremony at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, on Saturday.
OLYMPICS
Oct 8, 2023

Japan looks to youth at Paris Olympics after mixed Asian Games

Japan is looking to its young talent to impress at next year's Paris Olympics after finishing a distant second in the Asian Games medals table to host China.
Israeli flags flutter at Ofer Park in Petah Tikva, Israel.
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Oct 11, 2023

War threatens funding recovery in Israel's vital tech industry

A global slowdown and the Israeli government's divisive judicial reforms had prompted a sharp drop in funding earlier this year.
Ground Self-Defense Force members take part in a military review in Asaka, Saitama Prefecture, in October 2018.
JAPAN
Oct 15, 2023

'Not proud at all': Japan struggles to recruit for Self-Defense Forces

Experts have said that the country's armed forces could be weakened because of a lack of personnel.
A view of the outside of the OSIRIS-REx sample collector, with sample material from the asteroid Bennu seen on the middle right at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, in a recent undated photograph.
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 12, 2023

NASA unveils newly returned carbon-rich asteroid sample

A small quantity of the material collected by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu was unveiled at NASA's Johnson Space Center.
Signage for Japan's top banks, MUFG Bank, Mizuho Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 12, 2023

Japan’s top banks pay women about half of what men earn

The country has a relatively high labor participation rate for women, but many of the positions they occupy have little prospect of better pay.
An official speaks during a government-sponsored tour of the 2025 Osaka Expo site on Yumeshima island, Osaka, on Sept. 14.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 12, 2023

As 2025 Osaka Expo nears, foreign pavilion woes continue to mount

Over 50 countries had been expected to design and build their own pavilions. So far, only two have been greenlighted by Osaka city to begin construction.
Japan faces tough choices amid the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas. The issue now is how Tokyo will navigate the conflict.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 12, 2023

Hamas tests the limits of Japan's Israel-Palestine policy

Japan is the lone outlier in the Group of Seven, condemning the Hamas attacks but also expressing concern over potential casualties in the Gaza Strip.
A breaker performs during the Red Bull BC One 2023 Camp Day and National Finals at the Fillmore in Philadelphia on Aug. 26
MORE SPORTS
Oct 12, 2023

Breakers grapple with hip-hop’s Olympic moment

B-boys and B-girls wonder if their art will translate into sport when breaking makes its debut at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Pedestrians walk past a McDonald's restaurant in Hong Kong.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 13, 2023

Hong Kong takes economic hit as Chinese tourists fail to splurge

Changes in travel habits come as the Chinese economy weakens and youth unemployment remains high.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Oct 13, 2023

One of the world’s most common cockroaches may have origins in Japan

The discovery marks what could be the first evidence of the presence of the species during Japan’s Kofun Period.
Fukushiro Nukaga
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 13, 2023

LDP to recommend former finance minister as Lower House speaker

Fukushiro Nukaga, 79, is expected to take over for Hiroyuki Hosoda when parliament resumes next week.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping walks past then-Foreign Minister Qin Gang (front left) and defense chief Li Shangfu (front right) as he arrives for the closing session of the National People's Congress at Beijing's Great Hall of the People in March.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 13, 2023

With purges of top officials, is China’s Xi in trouble? Hardly.

The well-known opacity in Beijing may have clouded assessments of how the turbulence is affecting Xi’s grip on power

Longform

Juzo Itami’s “Tampopo” was released Nov. 23, 1985, and though it wasn’t a hit at the time, it has gained a cult following in the years since.
Eat, slurp, love: 'Tampopo' turns 40