Search - media

 
 
The new Nippon TV series “The Hot Spot” follows an alien superhero navigating rural Japanese life but focuses more on dialogue than splashy, action-packed plot points.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / Wide Angle
Feb 10, 2025

‘The Hot Spot’: Close encounters of the mundane kind

Japanese dramas have been taking bolder risks recently, and Bakarhythm’s new sci-fi series surprises by centering its high-concept ideas on trivial occurrences.
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (left) and head coach Nick Sirianni celebrate after winning Super Bowl LIX at the New Orleans Superdome on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Feb 10, 2025

Eagles dominate Chiefs to capture Super Bowl title and prevent three-peat

The game was played before a crowd that included U.S. President Donald Trump and pop superstar Taylor Swift.
Israeli military vehicles drive past destruction in southern Lebanon, as seen from northern Israel on Jan. 26.
BUSINESS
Feb 10, 2025

Investors return to new-look Middle East, but Trump causes some concern

President Donald Trump's proposal that the U.S. take over Gaza may have thrown a curveball into the mix, but recent events in the Middle East have fed hopes of a reset.
Toshikazu Shiba (right), 71, works full-time along with younger staff at sofa manufacturer Eucas in Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Feb 17, 2025

More older people choosing to work for social connection and survival

Older residents are exploring ways to navigate the later stages of their lives, whether continuing their careers or with new ventures.
Svitlana Vakar and her grandson Maksym wait for a chance to visit the boy’s father, who was picked up for military conscription on his way to work, outside a recruitment center in Kyiv on Jan. 27.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 10, 2025

At a draft site in Ukraine, an anguished wait for a chance to say goodbye

The well of volunteers to fight against Russia has run dry after three years of grinding war, leading the Ukrainian military to chase draft dodgers to help replenish the ranks.
Drug rehab patients walk in formation to have lunch at the Mega Drug Abuse Treatment and Rehabilitation Center, north of Manila, in 2019.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 10, 2025

Abuse and coercion rife in Philippines drugs rehab, rights groups say

Rights groups say some facilities fail standards and have called for more health and social support.
U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to the White House in Washington on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 10, 2025

Ishiba builds inroads with Trump, but challenges still loom

Ishiba won praise for his deft handling of Trump, squelching critics’ predictions that the president would walk all over the bookish Japanese leader.
A set of miniature "hina" dolls from the late Edo Period (1603-1868), collected by hina furnishings researcher Yumiko Kawauchi
CULTURE
Feb 10, 2025

Miniatures bring hidden worlds to life at Tokyo cultural site

A set of dolls from the late Edo Period is among the items on display on the premises of Hotel Gajoen Tokyo.
Billionaire Elon Musk's bid is likely to ratchet up longstanding tensions with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman over the future of the ChatGPT maker at the heart of a boom in generative AI technology.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 11, 2025

Musk-led group makes $97.4 billion bid for control of OpenAI

The move was another salvo in billionaire Elon Musk's fight to block the AI startup from transitioning to a for-profit firm.
Emperor Hirohito speaks during a welcome ceremony hosted by U.S. President Richard Nixon in Anchorage, Alaska, on Sept. 26, 1971.
JAPAN / History
Feb 11, 2025

Emperor Showa was cautious about Nixon's 1972 visit to China, document shows

That the emperor voiced his own position on the visit to China may raise questions about diplomacy involving the imperial family.
Shadrack Maseko, whose family has been residing on Meyerskop farm for three generations, looks over a piece of land, in Free State province, South Africa, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 11, 2025

The stark inequalities South Africa's new land act seeks to bridge

Nearly three quarters of privately-owned land is in the hands of white people who make up 8% of the population, while only 4% is owned by Black people who constitute nearly 80%.
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during the AI Action Summit in Paris on Monday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 11, 2025

France and EU promise to cut red tape on artificial intelligence technology

European lawmakers last year approved the bloc's artificial intelligence law, the world's first comprehensive set of rules governing the technology.
Palestinians leave their homes for safety during a raid by the Israeli army in the Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank on Monday.
WORLD
Feb 11, 2025

In West Bank, Israeli army operation batters war-depleted economy

Economic contraction is estimated to have more than doubled the short-term poverty rate from 12% in 2023 to 28% by mid-2024.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping hold a bilateral meeting during the Group of 20 leaders summit in Osaka in June 2019.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 11, 2025

Trump’s initial moves will benefit China

And while Trump has claimed that his policies will strengthen America, in reality, thus far, the biggest winner of many of his actions has actually been China.
A suspected victim of modern slavery who was initially denied state support after Britain introduced a tougher immigration policy, in London on Sept. 19
WORLD / Politics
Feb 11, 2025

U.K.'s tougher immigration policy risks trapping victims in modern slavery

The protections created under Britain's Modern Slavery Act have been eroded by rules introduced in 2023 to curb illegal migration.
The Tesla gigafactory in Austin, Texas. Nothing in Texas law would stop Tesla from launching a robotaxi service.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 11, 2025

Tesla robotaxis by June? Musk turns to Texas for hands-off regulation

Nothing in Texas law would stop Tesla from launching a robotaxi service.
U.S. President Donald Trump and King Abdullah II of Jordan shake hands during a meeting in the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 12, 2025

Trump eases off aid threat after Jordan agrees to take ill Gaza children

The king's visit to Washington shows Arab leaders have little choice but to deal with the emboldened U.S. president.
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (center) with the ball during the second quarter of Sunday's Super Bowl against the Chiefs at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans
MORE SPORTS / Football
Feb 12, 2025

Fox attracts a record 128 million viewers for the Super Bowl

The Philadelphia Eagles’ easy win over the Kansas City Chiefs became the most-watched event in U.S. TV history.
An Israeli tank on the Israeli side of the border with Gaza, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 12, 2025

Netanyahu says Israel will end Gaza ceasefire if hostages not returned on Saturday

Following Netanyahu's ultimatum, Hamas issued a statement renewing its commitment to the ceasefire and accusing Israel of jeopardizing the truce.
Sam Altman (left) and Elon Musk were among the 11-person team that founded OpenAI in 2015.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 12, 2025

AI feud: How Musk and Altman's partnership turned toxic

Facing a barrage of hostility, Altman has increasingly suggested that Musk's actions stem from regret over leaving OpenAI in 2018.
A Good me tea store, operated by Guming Holdings Ltd., in Chongqing, China, on Saturday. The tea chain's shares began trading in Hong Kong on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 12, 2025

Hong Kong’s latest bubble tea IPO mints another billionaire

Guming Holdings' IPO has made founder Yun’an Wang a billionaire as China’s bubble tea market continues its rapid expansion.
Elon Musk, with his son, speaks to reporters alongside U.S. President Donald Trump during an executive order signing in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Tuesday. Musk stated that he was providing maximum transparency, while offering no evidence for his sweeping claims that the federal bureaucracy is corrupted by cheats and officials who have approved money for “fraudsters.”
WORLD / Politics
Feb 12, 2025

Flanked by Musk, Trump orders U.S. agencies to assist with government layoffs

With his 4-year-old son by his side, Musk stood alongside Trump in the Oval Office at the White House before the order was signed.
U.S. President Donald Trump holds a signed executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 12, 2025

As Trump hits delete, the race is on to save LGBTQ+ and climate data

Thousands of U.S. government web pages are being altered or deleted following a slew of executive orders from President Donald Trump.
Netflix series “Asura,” directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, is a remake of a classic TV drama (known as “Like Asura” in English), created by Kuniko Mukoda and broadcast by NHK between 1979 and 1980.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Feb 12, 2025

The different faces of ‘Asura’ through the generations

While Hirokazu Kore-eda’s new series meticulously remakes a classic NHK drama, this reinterpretation tweaks the story to give its female characters more agency.
A YPG fighter holds a notebook with an image of Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan, in Al Hasakah, Syria, on Dec. 21.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 12, 2025

Turkey seeks historic peace with Kurds in a shifting Middle East

For the Turkish president, a peace deal would potentially win him enough support to change the constitution and extend his more than two decades in power.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba shows a picture of him with U.S. President Donald Trump during a joint news conference at the White House on Friday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 12, 2025

Ishiba navigates the low expectations for Japan’s foreign policy

The summit proceeded well enough, but some will argue that this is only because Ishiba had a low bar for his engagement.
Oil pump jacks in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, on June 4, 2023
WORLD / Politics
Feb 13, 2025

Russia braces for oil output cuts as sanctions and drones hit

The level of complexity involved in refining and selling Russian oil is said to be becoming too much, with everyone "waiting for this war to be over."
New Zealand Ambassador to Japan Hamish Cooper says his country and Tokyo are close to inking a key intelligence-sharing agreement that will further reinforce growing security and defense ties.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 13, 2025

New Zealand paving way for deeper security ties with Tokyo, envoy says

The moves are part of a reset in New Zealand’s foreign and defense policy as Wellington looks to step up engagements with its Asian partners.
Susan Holt, New Brunswick’s premier, speaks during a news conference in Washington on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Feb 13, 2025

Canada’s 13 premiers descend on Washington to play the China card

For the first time, all 13 of the country’s premiers were in Washington together, lobbying Republican lawmakers against President Donald Trump’s proposed import taxes.
Misako Yoshimura looks for a photograph of her father from among several kept in a closet at her home in the town of Yonabaru, Okinawa Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Feb 24, 2025

Remembering a father who stopped smiling after the war

Misako Yoshimura hated her stern-faced father, but when she learned of what he lost during the Pacific War, the resentment disappeared.

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