Search - 2014

 
 
An ambulance (left) carrying the body of South Korean actor Lee Sun-kyun leaves a park in central Seoul on Wednesday. Lee, best known for his role in the Oscar-winning film "Parasite," was found dead in an apparent suicide, Yonhap news agency reported.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Dec 27, 2023

'Parasite' actor Lee Sun-kyun found dead amid drug allegations

Lee had been under investigation amid an ongoing government crackdown on illegal drug use.
A Ukrainian soldier looks out from a tank as he holds his position near to the town of Bakhmut, in Ukraine's Donetsk region, on Dec. 13.
COMMENTARY / The Year Ahead
Dec 28, 2023

The battles Ukraine has already won

Many of the nation's key victories began long before Russia’s latest assault.
Fighters of the Wagner private mercenary group, many of whom were recruited from prisons, are deployed in June near the city of Rostov-on-Don, Russia.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 28, 2023

Vladimir Putin’s killer patriotism

Pardoning violent convicts to get more soldiers onto the battlefield is not desirable, but for Putin, the alternative would be even worse.
Daihatsu Motor President Soichiro Okudaira speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Dec. 20. 
EDITORIALS
Dec 29, 2023

Daihatsu scandal is a warning for Japan Inc.

Investigations indicate that improprieties at Daihatsu stretch as far back as 1989, indicating a profound problem with the company’s culture.
Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a meeting in Hanoi earlier this month.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 30, 2023

China plans strategy to challenge America’s global leadership

President Xi Jinping and other senior leaders pledged during a conference this week to raise China’s influence on world events "to a new level."
New recruits for the People's Liberation Army attend a ceremony at a railway station in Ganzhou, in China's Jiangxi province, in March.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 30, 2023

China’s legislature ousts nine military cadres as turmoil widens

The removals are a sign Chinese President Xi Jinping’s nearly decadelong drive to clean up the People’s Liberation Army is still incomplete.
Raptors guard Dennis Schroder is defended by Pistons guard Jaden Ivey during the second half in Detroit on Saturday as the Pistons snapped their 28-game losing streak.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Dec 31, 2023

Pistons edge Raptors to end record-tying 28-game skid

Detroit's skid equaled the all-time NBA mark. The Philadelphia 76ers lost 28 straight spanning the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons.
A colorful coral reef made out of wool to raise awareness about climate change, at a museum in Baden-Baden, Germany, in January 2022
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
Dec 31, 2023

The art world's big planetary problem

Over the last five years, it’s become increasingly clear to major art institutions in Japan and around the world that the sector has a sustainability issue.
Queen Margrethe II of Denmark waves to onlookers on Sept. 1, 2023. Europe's longest-serving monarch said on Sunday that she would abdicate on Jan. 14 and pass the baton to her son Crown Prince Frederik.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 2, 2024

From Edward VIII to Emperor Akihito: Famous abdications

From love to failing health, people have relinquished the throne for a variety of reasons.
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stands inside an enclosure for defendants during a court hearing on espionage charges in Moscow on Oct. 10.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 3, 2024

Remember the world’s political prisoners. One could be you.

Hostage diplomacy and arbitrary arrests by autocratic governments are a growing threat.
A victim of an explosion at a nickel smelter furnace owned by Indonesia Tsingshan Stainless Steel lies inside an ambulance at a hospital in Morowali, Indonesia, on Dec. 26.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 7, 2024

Indonesia blast puts battery ambitions in spotlight ahead of vote

Just weeks ahead of a presidential election, the deadly explosion triggered angry protests and demands for action in Jakarta and Beijing.
Passengers walk past a sign directing them to specific lines for EU and non EU passports as they arrive at Dublin Airport in Ireland in September 2019.
WORLD / Society
Jan 11, 2024

These are the world’s most powerful passports in 2024

A decade ago, the two countries shared the top spot, but comparing this year’s list to the 2014 ranking reveals some other major shifts.
People take photographs during the launch of Boeing-Lockheed joint venture United Launch Alliance's next-generation Vulcan rocket on its debut flight from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Monday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 11, 2024

Vulcan rocket's debut brings long-awaited challenge to SpaceX dominance

Dependence on SpaceX has been a concern for the Pentagon, which wants multiple vendors of rides to orbit.
A Royal Air Force Typhoon aircraft takes off to join the U.S.-led coalition to conduct airstrikes against military targets in Yemen on Friday.
WORLD
Jan 12, 2024

U.S. and U.K. airstrikes pound Yemen as Mideast conflict spreads

Houthi rebels have carried out a growing number of attacks on what they deem to be Israel-linked shipping in the Red Sea.
Hiromi Uetake has future plans to turn some of the currently unused rooms of the former elementary school into taprooms for visiting customers.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 14, 2024

Craft beer’s hoppy road to the deep north

Beer drinkers in these occasionally frozen lands now enjoy flavors infused with deep stories and their home prefectures’ splendid natural beauty.
Alex Clavel, co-CEO at SoftBank Investment Advisers, won SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son's trust as a steady hand managing and fixing SoftBank's complex or troubled transactions.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 12, 2024

Behind SoftBank’s investing cleanup, a U.S. dealmaker who survived the turmoil

Unassuming problem solver Alex Clavel is Masayoshi Son's top lieutenant leading the investment group's attempt at a turnaround.
People cool off on a beach in Rio de Janeiro in November amid a heat wave.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jan 13, 2024

El Nino could make 2024 hotter than record-setting 2023

The U.S. NOAA predicted there is a 1 in 3 chance that 2024 will be warmer than 2023 — and a 99% certainty that 2024 will rank among the five warmest years ever.
A Post Office sign at a branch in a local convenience store near Ascot, England, on Friday. The Post Office scandal, where some 980 U.K. Post Office workers were wrongfully convicted of theft and false accounting, was triggered by faults in a Fujitsu computer system called Horizon that was used by U.K. Post Offices and inaccurately reported shortfalls in their accounts, resulting in private prosecutions of innocent branch managers for theft.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Jan 13, 2024

It took a TV show to bring justice in U.K.’s Post Office scandal

After a two-decade struggle, it was a TV drama that finally prompted the government to promise a swift end to the saga in favor of the victims.
John Kerry at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, in 2021. Kerry, U.S. President Joe Biden's special envoy for climate, plans to step down from the Biden administration.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 14, 2024

John Kerry to step down as Biden’s climate envoy

Kerry, 80, plans to transition out of the U.S. government and help the re-election campaign of U.S. President Joe Biden, a report said.
U.S. President Joe Biden and his South Korean counterpart, Yoon Suk-yeol, visit a Samsung semiconductor factory in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, in May 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 14, 2024

South Korea's economic strategy amid the U.S.-China rivalry

If the world is to avoid incurring increasingly high costs from fragmentation, the U.S. and China must learn how to coexist and engage in fair competition.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump greets attendees at a campaign rally in Indianola, Iowa, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 15, 2024

The Trump voters in swing states who are returning to the fold

To try to understand his enduring appeal, reporters spoke to five Trump supporters in five general election battleground states.
Tanaka takes part in a signing ceremony for the Japan-Uruguay Investment Agreement with Uruguay's Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Luis Porto in 2015.
BUSINESS / WOMEN AT WORK
Jan 23, 2024

Why positivity is an asset in a career of PR and diplomacy

Keiko Tanaka went from an office at Nissan to the ambassador's residence in Uruguay.
Israeli soldiers during an escorted tour by the Israeli military for journalists in the central Gaza Strip on Jan. 8. Israel’s vow to eradicate Hamas without a clearly stated political endgame has concerned some observers who highlighted how an ill-defined application of military power could instead inadvertently harm its own strategic, political and moral standing.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Jan 15, 2024

What the Israel-Hamas war means for U.S. grand strategy

Washington had been engaged in a decadelong effort to shift its strategic attention from the broader Middle East.
Farmers dry coffee beans at the Thiririka farming cooperative in Kiambu County, Kenya, in November 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 15, 2024

Is it time for a coffee cartel?

If farmers in the developing world are prevented from getting their fair share from coffee production they should take matters into their own hands.
A woman who filed a suit claiming damages against her father but had her claim dismissed by the Hiroshima High Court in November has said she felt like she was being accused of making a complaint only when time had run out.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Jan 22, 2024

Passage of time gets in the way for victims of child sexual abuse

The woman, in her 40s, deemed it unfair that the perpetrator gets away scot-free because of the statute of limitation.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 18, 2024

Supreme Court may review judgement against benefits for same-sex partner

The review would mark the first time the Supreme Court makes a decision regarding the issue of public benefits for a same-sex partner.
The concerns over artificial intelligence have parallels with historical apocalyptic movements, which have often been exploited for political purposes.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 19, 2024

AI apocalypse now? Only in our fevered dreams

The real question is why are cataclysmic prophets sometimes attract big followings. Understanding this can help us avoid the paths they may lead us down.
A cut out of Lord Ram on a street ahead of the grand opening of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, India, on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 20, 2024

A Hindu temple embodies the rise of Modi and India's deep divisions

With national elections a few months away, the inauguration of a controversial temple is symbolic of a changing India and marks the capstone of Modi’s 10 years in power.
A woman prays while reading condolence messages attached to the wall of a narrow alley of Itaewon, where the deadly Halloween crush that killed more than 150 in October happened, in Seoul, in December 2022.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Jan 20, 2024

Seoul police chief charged over deadly Halloween crush

Kim Kwang-ho, head of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, was charged with professional negligence resulting in injury or death.
Rougned Odor, a 10-year MLB veteran, has reportedly signed a deal with the Yomiuri Giants of the Central League.
BASEBALL
Jan 21, 2024

Rougned Odor signs deal with Yomiuri Giants, report says

Odor, 29, played in 59 games for the San Diego Padres in 2023 before he was released in July, batting .203 with four home runs and 18 RBIs.

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