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Former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba waves after he was elected as the new head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party during a leadership vote on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 27, 2024

Fifth time's a charm: Shigeru Ishiba set to be Japan PM after LDP poll win

Ishiba, who has also served as party secretary-general, won the LDP presidential election on Friday, defeating economic security minister Sanae Takaichi in a runoff vote.
The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Waesche and crew transit the San Francisco Bay en route to Base Alameda, California, on Aug. 11 following a 120-day Indo-Pacific patrol.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 27, 2024

U.S. Coast Guard advising Manila as it seeks bigger Indo-Pacific footprint

It has also been assisting Manila in its missions to resupply the Philippine garrison at Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea, the agency's Pacific area chief says.
A Russian Yars intercontinental ballistic missile system drives past an honor guard during a military parade on Victory Day in Red Square in central Moscow on May 9.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 27, 2024

Putin draws a nuclear red line for the West

Experts are debating how seriously to take Putin's new nuclear doctrine.
Former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba takes a seat in the Liberal Democratic Party president's office in Tokyo after being elected to the post on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Sep 27, 2024

Ishiba wins: An unusual result for an unusual election

The very lawmakers who long shunned former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba made him president in an unexpected twist to the Liberal Democratic Party leadership race.
Members of the K-pop group NewJeans are embroiled in a dispute with their corporate backers over their creative relationship with an executive producer.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 28, 2024

NewJeans’ ultimatum casts K-pop’s displays of labor in a new light

A YouTube live broadcast from the girl group raises age-old questions about labor practices in the Korean pop industry.
Adriana Torres performs her monologue during the closing of a stand-up comedy workshop at the El Buen Pastor women's prison in Asuncion.
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 29, 2024

Comedy offers new routine for women prisoners in Paraguay

Inmates took part in a two-month workshop run by the Corazon Libre NGO, which uses comedy to help convicts prepare for life on the outside.
Musician Koshi Inaba is the latest artist to be featured on national broadcaster NHK’s Tiny Desk Concerts Japan. Based on a series from America’s National Public Radio, Japan’s version has spotlighted acts that you likely wouldn’t see stateside, like veteran rockers Kirinji and upstart pop artist yama.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 28, 2024

NHK furthers global reach with Tiny Desk Concerts Japan

Musician Koshi Inaba delivered a rollicking set for the stripped-down music series that brings cherry-picked Japanese acts you likely wouldn’t see stateside to new ears.
Dame Maggie Smith, a star of the stage, film and television, died Sept. 27 in London. She was 89. The actor is pictured here in 2015.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Sep 27, 2024

'National treasure' U.K. actor Maggie Smith dies aged 89

Over the course of her long career, Dame Maggie Smith won a Tony, two Oscars, three Golden Globes and five Bafta Awards.
People and rescuers gather near the smouldering rubble of a building destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in the Haret Hreik neighborhood of Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday.
WORLD
Sep 28, 2024

Israeli airstrikes rock Beirut as Hezbollah command center is hit

A massive strike on the Iran-backed movement's command center apparently targeted leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Debris from damaged houses and docks are pictured after Tropical Depression Helene hit Keaton Beach, Florida, on Friday.
WORLD
Sep 28, 2024

Dozens dead as Helene cuts destructive path through southeastern U.S.

The storm swamped neighborhoods, triggered mudslides, threatened dams and left more than 3.5 million homes and businesses without power.
Shigeru Ishiba, the newly elected leader of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party holds a news conference after the LDP leadership election in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 28, 2024

Ishiba gets down to the business of forming new administration

The incoming prime minister has reportedly decided to keep Yoshimasa Hayashi in the key post of chief cabinet secretary.
Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, speaks during a rare public appearance in July 2014.
WORLD
Sep 28, 2024

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah killed in Israeli strike on Beirut

The death deals a seismic blow to the Iran-backed group, which has been engaged in a year of cross-border hostilities with Israel.
Visitors take photos of Shin Shin at Ueno zoo in Tokyo on Saturday. Saturday was the last chance for Japan's panda-lovers to see Shin Shin and Ri Ri before their return to China.
JAPAN
Sep 29, 2024

Japan's legions of panda-lovers bid farewell to beloved pair in Tokyo

Avid fans of the pandas congregated outside Ueno zoo overnight to secure a spot in line to see the pair for one minute each.
Hezbollah fighters take part in a funeral procession for one of the movement's commanders who was killed in an Israeli strike, in Beirut's southern suburbs on Wednesday.
WORLD / FOCUS
Sep 29, 2024

Nasrallah's killing reveals depth of Israel's penetration of Hezbollah

The Hezbollah leader had been even more cautious than usual since the Sept. 17 pager blasts, out of concern Israel would try to kill him.
Shigeru Ishiba holds a news conference in Tokyo on Friday after winning the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 29, 2024

Ishiba hints at general election in late October as he starts to form Cabinet

Media reports said that preparations were underway for a snap general election to be held on Oct. 27.
A man holds pictures of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (right) and Hassan Nasrallah (left), the late leader of the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah who was killed in an Israeli air strike in Beirut days earlier, in Baghdad's eastern suburb of Sadr City on Sunday.
WORLD
Sep 30, 2024

Israel strikes Yemen port and keeps up Lebanon assault

The airstrikes on Yemen's port of Hodeidah come amid fears that Middle East fighting could spin out of control and draw in Iran and the United States.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran on May 10
WORLD
Sep 30, 2024

Iran's supreme leader taken to secure location, sources say

The move to safeguard Iran's top decision-maker is the Iranian authorities' latest show of nervousness as Israel continues its attacks on Hezbollah.
Search and Rescue personnel patrol a canal in Keaton Beach, Florida, on Saturday.
WORLD
Sep 30, 2024

Hurricane Helene kills at least 90 in U.S. as homes are washed away

The storm has also damaged water systems, communications and critical transportation routes across the region.
The four remaining U.K. Conservative leadership contenders (from left): Robert Jenrick, James Cleverly, Kemi Badenoch and Tom Tugendhat
WORLD / Politics
Sep 30, 2024

Tories turn on each other in race to succeed low-key Sunak

The U.K. Conservatives' annual conference has kicked off with jibes between leadership contenders.
Supporters of Donald Trump display a Trump flag at The National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa, where Polish President Andrzej Duda attended mass and spoke at the monument dedication in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 22.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 30, 2024

Harris courts Polish-American voters in crucial U.S. states

In an election likely to be decided by a razor-thin margin in a handful of key states, Kamala Harris is seeking to appeal to the Polish-American community.
Taiwanese soldiers exit an amphibious assault vehicle to another position during a landing drill as part of the Han Kuang military exercise in Pingtung, Taiwan, in July 2022. Under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, the U.S. is bound by law to sell arms to Taiwan for its self-defense.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 30, 2024

U.S. announces $567 million military aid package for Taiwan

The order means the U.S. will directly ship its own weapon stocks to Taiwan, a move it has employed often to support Ukraine’s war effort.
Then-Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte addresses a joint news conference with his Finnish counterpart in Helsinki on June 13.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 30, 2024

Trump to Putin: The key challenges facing NATO's new secretary-general

With Russia's war in Ukraine raging through a third year and its leading power the United States set for a crunch election, NATO is grappling with major challenges.
GU's first overseas flagship store opens in SoHo, New York.
LIFE / Style & Design
Sep 30, 2024

How to own something by the punk poet designer Jun Takahashi

GU, Uniqlo’s trendier sibling, is opening its first store outside Asia in SoHo, collaborating with the subversively witty Jun Takahashi of Undercover.
LDP policy chief Itsunori Onodera, Secretary-General Hiroshi Moriyama, Vice President Yoshihide Suga, Shunichi Suzuki, chairman of the general affairs council, and Shinjiro Koizumi, chairman of the election committee, at the party's headquarters on Monday
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 30, 2024

Ishiba announces new leadership lineup ahead of general election

The appointments seem to reflect Ishiba’s desire to maintain internal party harmony ahead of a general election and reward those who have supported him.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in Newark, New Jersey, on Monday. Some 45,000 union workers could walk off the job at seaports on the U.S. East and Gulf coasts on Oct. 1.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 1, 2024

U.S. port labor dispute threatens range of products

A possible strike by 45,000 union workers could affect the availability of anything from bananas to clothing to cars and cost the U.S. economy $5 billion daily.
A man walks across a makeshift walkway across a damaged bridge on U.S. Route 64 after the passage of Hurricane Helene, in Bat Cave, North Carolina, on Monday.
WORLD
Oct 1, 2024

Recovery efforts hampered by 'post-apocalyptic' destruction after storm Helene

As many as 600 people remained unaccounted for, with flooded roads and toppled cellphone towers isolating devastated communities.
JR Tokai officials send off the Nozomi No. 1 bullet train bound for Hakata, Fukuoka Prefecture, at Tokyo Station on Tuesday as the Tokaido Shinkansen marked the 60th anniversary of its services the same day.
JAPAN
Oct 1, 2024

Tokaido Shinkansen marks 60th anniversary

A commemorative ceremony was held by Central Japan Railway at Tokyo Station to send off the first train of the day.
Incoming child care policy minister Junko Mihara (center) arrives at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Tuesday. Mihara is one of only two female ministers in Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's Cabinet.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Oct 1, 2024

A very LDP Cabinet — more of the same, despite hints of a power shift

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba retained veterans in key posts and rewarded those who supported him in the LDP presidential race.
Israel's Iron Dome antimissile system intercepts rockets after Iran fired a salvo of ballistic missiles, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel, on Tuesday.
WORLD
Oct 2, 2024

Israel beefs up forces on Lebanon border as Hezbollah reports clashes

The Israeli military said regular infantry and armored units were joining its ground operations in Lebanon.
Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz speaks during a debate with Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance in New York on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 2, 2024

Walz and Vance clash at policy-heavy vice presidential debate

The two rivals, who have savaged each other on the campaign trail, struck a cordial tone, instead saving their fire for the candidates at the top of their tickets.

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic