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A year-old film on Netflix titled "12.12: The Day" saw a spike in viewers after the political turmoil that hit South Korea this week.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Dec 6, 2024

Korean coup movie hits No. 1 on Netflix after martial law chaos

The film depicts the events surrounding a Dec. 12, 1979, coup in South Korea, a theme also tackled in Han Kang's novel "Human Acts."
People stand near a damaged vehicle, after rebels have sought to capitalize on their swift takeover of Aleppo in the north and Hama in west-central Syria by pressing onward to Homs, in Hama, Syria, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 7, 2024

Syrian rebel assault widens as Assad races to defend Homs and Damascus

With the fall of Daraa, Assad's forces have surrendered four important centers to the insurgents in a week.
A Ukrainian serviceman wipes a mirror at an outdoor washbasin near the Kharkiv region in November.
WORLD
Dec 7, 2024

In Ukraine, more and more exhausted soldiers abandon their posts

Since 2022, Ukraine opened nearly 96,000 criminal cases against servicemen who abandoned their positions since Russia’s invasion.
A man wearing a mask depicting South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol dances on a street as people gather for a protest calling for the ouster of Yoon outside the National Assembly in Seoul on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Dec 7, 2024

K-pop, carols and guillotines at South Korea impeachment protests

Protesters massed outside the National Assembly, many wearing the elaborate outfits, carrying home-made flags or blasting the K-pop tunes.
People gather at Umayyad Square in Damascus on Sunday. The Islamist-led rebels declared that they have taken the city.
WORLD
Dec 8, 2024

Syrian rebels topple President Assad; prime minister calls for free elections

Syrian rebels seized Damascus, ending President Bashar Assad's 13-year rule and raising uncertainty over a transition led by Islamist group HTS in a war-torn nation.
A protester holding a cardboard cutout of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol takes part in a demonstration calling for his ouster outside the National Assembly in Seoul on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 9, 2024

After failed martial law, South Koreans ask: Who’s in charge?

President Yoon Suk Yeol's move has created a power vacuum in his governing camp, pushing the country deeper into what analysts call a constitutional crisis.
A variety of rice cookers at a home appliance store
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Dec 16, 2024

Companies rush to high-end rice cookers as consumer tastes change

Appliance-makers are working with rice growers to boost demand, as well as debuting products that focus on flavor and features.
An employee holds a chocolate bar at Chocovi, in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, on May 10.
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 9, 2024

Could dark chocolate reduce your risk of diabetes?

While a new study links the food to a possible reduced risk, one researcher cautions that it is not a "magic bullet."
Protesters tear signs, depicting the names of ruling People Power Party lawmakers who didn't vote during the impeachment motion against South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol last Saturday, as they attend a rally calling for the impeachment of Yoon, who declared and quickly reversed a martial law order last week, in front of the PPP's headquarters in Seoul on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 9, 2024

South Korea's Yoon banned from foreign travel as leadership crisis deepens

On Monday, the Defense Ministry said Yoon was still legally commander in chief, but his grip on power has come into question.
Former England assistant manager Steve Holland watched Marinos' final match of the season from the stands on Sunday.
SOCCER / J. League
Dec 9, 2024

Former England assistant Steve Holland set to coach Yokohama F. Marinos

Media reports said Holland would take charge of Yokohama ahead of the new J. League season, which starts in February.
Insurance tycoon Douw Steyn’s 250 million rand home overlooks the luxury residential estate bearing his name near Johannesburg, South Africa.
BUSINESS
Dec 9, 2024

Luxury estates for the rich are a booming business in South Africa

Despite a 20% decline in South Africa’s millionaire population over the past decade, it remains a hub for the continent’s high-net-worth individuals.
Students at Hiroshima University’s School of Dentistry offer silent prayers for the donors of bodies before they practice anatomy on the cadavers in late October.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Regional Voices: Chugoku
Dec 16, 2024

In death, body donors become silent teachers for medical students

Practical training on cadavers significantly increases the understanding of the human body, says one professor.
The suffering of people with disabilities has been compounded by steep shortages in devices to aid them, including wheelchairs and hearing aids, and in damage to roads, sidewalks and homes with accessible features.
WORLD / Society
Dec 9, 2024

Gaza's disabled people face ‘impossible times’ of chaos and war

The war has forced most of Gaza’s roughly 2 million residents from their homes and has been particularly punishing for people with disabilities and their families.
A defaced mural of Sheikh Hasina, the ousted prime minister of Bangladesh, in Dhaka on Nov. 5. The new governor of Bangladesh’s central bank, Ahsan Mansur, calculates that about $17 billion was siphoned from the country’s financial system in the 15 years before Hasina's government collapsed in August.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Dec 9, 2024

How the Bangladesh economy was siphoned dry

Some economists guess that the true value looted during Sheikh Hasina’s rule before she fled the country could exceed $30 billion, but no one can say for sure.
Director Ema Ryan Yamazaki wanted to show situations that everyone, non-Japanese included, could relate to in “The Making of a Japanese,” her documentary about Japan’s schoolchildren. 
CULTURE / Film
Dec 9, 2024

Documentarian praises the positives of stricter schooling

"The Making of a Japanese" director Ema Ryan Yamazaki reflects on the role of the Japanese educational system in creating empathetic children.
Yurie Collins is a bilingual comedian based in Tokyo. In addition to being a prize-winning roast comic, her dating-themed "Tokyo Hoe Tales" shows have proven to be a hit with women of all nationalities.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Dec 10, 2024

Yurie Collins: ‘Everyone seems sedated, fed-up … that’s why they turn to comedy’

Yurie Collins is a bicultural stand-up comedian who has opened for comedian Atsuko Okatsuka and the upcoming Iliza Shlesinger show in Tokyo.
A staff member wearing a "Squid Game" costume stands at an activation zone for the Netflix series at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Dec 9, 2024

'Squid Game' premieres in Seoul after martial law declaration

"Squid Game" showrunner Hwang Dong-hyuk called the political chaos "extremely unfortunate and infuriating" at a press event for the Netflix series.
The government is preparing to set Japan’s new Nationally Determined Contribution, an emissions reduction commitment made by members of the United Nations climate framework's Paris Agreement.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / OUR PLANET
Dec 10, 2024

As Japan nears new climate goal, criticism of policy process ramps up

Critics say the process is not intended to facilitate genuine debate, and that those who support the energy status quo are overrepresented on policy panels.
A Taiwanese Air Force Mirage 2000 fighter jet prepares to take off at an air force base in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 10, 2024

Taiwan says China naval deployment is largest in decades

China has deployed the largest number of naval ships to regional waters around Taiwan since the mid-1990s, the Defense Ministry in Taipei said Tuesday.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shake hands inside the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris ahead of a ceremony to mark its reopening following a 2019 fire, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 10, 2024

Trump plays 'shadow president' on world stage

He does not take office until Jan. 20, but he is already acting as if he is U.S. president.
A person holds a sign while standing on the roadside near the McDonald's restaurant where a suspect in the killing of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, identified as Luigi Mangione, 26, was arrested, in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Monday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Dec 10, 2024

Killing of UnitedHealthcare exec ignites patient anger over insurance

The attack called fresh attention to deepening frustrations faced by Americans in their struggle to receive and pay for medical care.
Police escort Luigi Mangione to his arraignment at the Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, on Monday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Dec 10, 2024

Murder charges filed against suspect in UnitedHealthcare shooting

The suspect, identified as Luigi Mangione, 26, was captured in Altoona, Pennsylvania, in a McDonald's after a customer and an employee believed he resembled the gunman.
One of the representatives of 2024 Nobel Peace Prize winner Nihon Hidankyo, Terumi Tanaka, speaks during the Nobel Peace Prize awarding ceremony in Oslo City Hall on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2024

Nobel Peace Prize winner Nihon Hidankyo calls for a world without nukes

The atomic bomb survivors urged countries to abolish the weapons resurging as a threat 80 years after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.
People hold a banner featuring Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as members of the Syrian community and supporters gather to celebrate the fall of Syrian president Bashar Assad in the face of an offensive by Islamist-led rebels, in Istanbul on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 10, 2024

With Assad’s fall, Erdogan oversees Turkey’s growing regional clout

Erdogan’s clout over his southern neighbor has increased dramatically with the fall of his onetime friend Bashar Assad.
A sign warns of a nearby bear sighting in Takikawa, Hokkaido, on Oct. 17.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Dec 30, 2024

Hokkaido 2024: Looking back on Rapidus, bears and shinkansen

The key topics are expected to continue making headlines in 2025.
The 12-year wait between Designtide Tokyo events was long, but the range and quality of exhibitions on offer made it worth the wait.
LIFE / Style & Design
Dec 11, 2024

After 12 years, Designtide Tokyo returns with a lineup of sensory dialogue

Swedish music hardware company Teenage Engineering both scored and encapsulated the philosophy of the innovative design fair's 12-year comeback.
Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with Syrian President Bashar Assad in eastern Hangzhou city in September 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Dec 10, 2024

Assad's fall in Syria exposes limits of China's Middle East diplomacy

Chinese experts and diplomats say Beijing will now bide its time before recognizing a new government in Damascus.
The Northvolt Drei EV battery plant in Heide, Germany, one of several European-led battery facilities to have been delayed or canceled.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 10, 2024

Europe’s big battery ambitions are failing, and China is benefiting

Fallout is spreading across the region as EV demand wanes and local manufacturers struggle to master the technology.
The aftermath of an overnight strike attributed to Israel is seen on the Barzeh scientific research center affiliated with the Syrian defense ministry in northern Damascus on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 11, 2024

Israel steps up airstrikes and sends troops deeper into Syria

The Israel Defense Forces said it struck most of the strategic weapons stockpiles in Syria to prevent them from falling into the hands of terrorists.
“Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron" provides an in-depth look into the octogenarian auteur’s creative process and personal reflections.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 11, 2024

‘Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron’ documentary meditates on auteur's creativity and legacy

Filmed with unparalleled access to Studio Ghibli, director Kaku Arakawa captures the vulnerability and genius behind master animator Hayao Miyazaki’s latest feature.

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