Search - 2019

 
 
Boeing 737 MAX fuselages atop rail cars at a train yard in Seattle last December
BUSINESS / Companies
May 24, 2025

Boeing agrees to resolve U.S. criminal case over 737 crashes

The settlement was disclosed in a federal court filing Friday, just weeks before a trial was set to start June 23 in Fort Worth, Texas.
A worker sorts plastic waste for recycling at Minato Resource Recycle Center in Tokyo in 2019. Japan has been criticized by environmental groups for its strategy on plastics, which is heavily reliant on recycling instead of reduction.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
May 25, 2025

Are microplastics hurting our fertility?

While a lot remains unknown about how microplastics affect our health, scientists in Japan and around the world broadly agree there's an urgent need to reduce plastic production.
A vehicle exits Shek Pik Prison after former leader of the Civil Human Rights Front, Jimmy Sham, served a four-year, three-month sentence for conspiracy to commit subversion in a landmark national security case, in Hong Kong, on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
May 30, 2025

Second group of Hong Kong democrats freed after 4 years in jail

Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ+ activist Jimmy Sham, who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups.
Japan has enforced tougher rules on companies to protect workers from heat after 30 workplace deaths and roughly 1,200 injuries were reported last year that were associated with high temperatures.
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2025

Protect workers from heat waves or face fines, Japan tells firms

The revised legislation is a rare global example of a national-level policy on heat safety for employees.
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks to the media as he inspects a warehouse storing stockpiled rice in Kanagawa Prefecture on May 30.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 6, 2025

From ridicule to redemption: Rice crisis returns Koizumi to the spotlight

The lawmaker, sometimes said to be long on image and short on substance, has won praise for bringing down the price of rice.
University of Tokyo President Teruo Fujii (left) and Y.J. Mii, a TSMC executive vice president, at a news conference Thursday. The school and the company have been working together since 2019.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 12, 2025

TSMC and Tokyo University team up to establish a chip lab

The chip giant and university will work together on chip-related technologies and supporting educational and research and development opportunities.
Arsenal players and fans celebrate outside Emirates Stadium in London after winning the Women's Champions League  on May 26.
SOCCER
Jun 17, 2025

Nielsen projects women's soccer to become top-five most popular sport

Women's soccer is already one of the top 10 most followed sports globally, and momentum appears to be building.
A firefighter works during the Eaton Fire in Pasadena, California, on Jan. 8.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jun 19, 2025

Warning signs on climate flashing bright red: top scientists

Greenhouse gas emissions hit a new high in 2024 and averaged a record 53.6 billion metric tons per year of CO2, they reported in a peer-reviewed update.
Protesters, predominantly Houthi supporters, burn Israeli and U.S. flags as they demonstrate in solidarity with Palestinians and Iran, amid the Iran-Israel conflict, in Sanaa, Yemen, on Friday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 23, 2025

How a cornered Iran could wreak havoc on global oil trade

Iran has over the years threatened multiple times to shut the Strait of Hormuz — a narrow stretch of water through which a fifth of the world’s oil supply flows each day.
Members of the Coastal Surveillance Unit participate in a ceremony commemorating the first anniversary of the Self-Defense Forces' Yonaguni Garrison in Okinawa Prefecture in April 2017.
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2025

Okinawa locals wary as SDF presence grows amid China threat

The SDF buildup has spurred concerns across the political spectrum in Okinawa, and many residents remain deeply worried over its growing presence.
Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis shoots a free throw during a playoff game against the Knicks on May 7.
BASKETBALL
Jun 25, 2025

Hawks reportedly acquire Celtics' Kristaps Porzingis in three-team trade

Porzingis averaged 19.5 points and 6.8 rebounds in only 42 regular-season games last season.
Five crew members re-create a log boat voyage from Taiwan to Yonaguni island, Okinawa Prefecture, in July 2019.
JAPAN
Jun 26, 2025

Rowing from Taiwan to Japan was possible 30,000 years ago, says team

The voyage in a log boat, with no sails, was possible if all the rowers were highly skilled and adjusted their course with the fast Kuroshio current in mind.
Power supply shortages may occur even if nuclear power reactors and aging thermal power plants are rebuilt, an industry organization warns.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 26, 2025

Japan's power demand may grow by up to 40% by 2050

A report warned that supply shortages may occur even if nuclear power reactors and aging thermal power plants are rebuilt.
Security personnel keep watch outside the Wuhan Institute of Virology during the visit by the World Health Organization team tasked with investigating the origins of COVID-19, in Wuhan, China, in February 2021.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 28, 2025

WHO says all COVID-19 origin theories still open, after inconclusive study

The global catastrophe killed an estimated 20 million people, according to the WHO, while shredding economies and crippling health systems.
Tetsuro Kamata (second from left), deputy superintendent-general of Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department, and Hirohide Mori (left), head of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office's public security division, apologize to former Ohkawara Kakohki executive Junji Shimada (second from right) and company President Masaaki Okawara on June 20 in Yokohama.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Jul 10, 2025

Improper law-enforcement interrogations persist in Japan

The Japan Federation of Bar Associations has emphasized the urgent need for further reforms in interrogation procedures.
According to the National Police Agency, there were 75,905 people who converted their foreign driver’s license to a Japanese one in 2024, up from 48,885 in 2019.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 10, 2025

Foreign drivers in Japan to face tougher license conversion rules from October

The stricter measures come in response to a series of high-profile car accidents caused by foreign drivers.
Kunashiri, one of the four islands seized by Russia in the last days of World War II, is visible from the Shiretoko Peninsula in northeastern Hokkaido.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Jul 22, 2025

Ex-residents of Russian-controlled islands off Hokkaido want grave-site visits resumed

Now in their advanced years, the former residents want the visits to be restored for them to honor their ancestors whose grave sites are located on the four islands.
Rory McIlroy signs autographs for fans during a practice round at the Royal Portrush Golf Club in Portrush, Northern Ireland, on Monday.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
Jul 15, 2025

McIlroy embracing return to Northern Ireland for the Open

McIlroy is coming off a good experience, shooting four rounds in the 60s and finishing tied for second at the Genesis Scottish Open on Sunday.
Attorney General Pam Bondi participates in a Cabinet meeting sy the White House in Washington or July 8.
WORLD / Politics / EXPLAINER
Jul 16, 2025

'Epstein files' explained: Why Trump is under pressure

U.S. President Donald Trump has struggled to quell his supporters' obsessions with the case of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which continues to generate outrage.
Muneo Suzuki speaks in Sapporo on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 16, 2025

Prodigal Hokkaido son returns to campaign trail for last run in Upper House election

Muneo Suzuki's personality and past actions make him a divisive political figure, but he's teaming up with the Liberal Democratic Party for one final run.
Ineos-Grenadiers rider Thymen Arensman crosses the finish line to win Stage 14 of the Tour de France on Saturday in the Pyrenees mountains of southwestern France.
MORE SPORTS / Cycling
Jul 20, 2025

Thymen Arensman gives Ineos something to cheer about at Tour as doping cloud hangs

Slovenian Tadej Pogacar retained the overall leader's yellow jersey as he took second place by beating chief rival Jonas Vingegaard.
Delta Air Lines last week reported a 5% year-on-year jump in its second-quarter premium ticket revenue, compared to a 5% decline in main cabin revenue.
BUSINESS
Jul 21, 2025

U.S. airlines reap rewards from premium travel strategy amid demand slump

Strong demand from affluent travelers is helping airlines offset a pullback in spending by price-sensitive customers.
Ozzy Osbourne performs with Black Sabbath as part of "The End" tour at Madison Square Garden in New York in 2016.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Jul 23, 2025

Heavy metal icon Ozzy Osbourne dead at 76

Ozzy Osbourne, the legendary frontman of heavy metal group Black Sabbath, died just weeks after he had played a farewell concert.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who is unable to satisfy his supporters’ demands for answers he can’t deliver, is now trapped by the very Jeffrey Epstein conspiracy he once promoted.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 22, 2025

Trump can’t put the Epstein genie back in the bottle

Trump now finds himself in the unusual position of trying to stuff the Epstein genie back into a bottle that he helped uncork.
A video screen shows images related to the Jeffrey Epstein files at Times Square in New York on Wednesday. Some Donald Trump supporters for years have fanned conspiracy theories about Epstein's clients and the circumstances of his 2019 death in prison.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 24, 2025

Trump was told he is in Epstein files, Wall Street Journal reports

The disclosure about U.S. President Donald Trump's appearance in the Justice Department's records on the case could deepen the political crisis surrounding his administration.
The University of Tokyo. International students are increasingly flocking to Asia, with affordability being a particularly important metric.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 25, 2025

Tokyo is the No. 2 choice for international students

Amid rising costs of living, affordability is a key factor for students when deciding where to study abroad.
Members of the Sudanese army walk past a destroyed military vehicle and bombed buildings in the state of Khartoum on March 26.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 25, 2025

Sudan's Islamists plot postwar comeback by supporting army

The Islamist movement was toppled in Sudan's uprising in 2019.
Audrey Strauss, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, speaks during an news conference announcing charges against Ghislaine Maxwell for her role in the sexual exploitation and abuse of minor girls by Jeffrey Epstein.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jul 25, 2025

Amid Epstein furor, Ghislaine Maxwell seeks relief from U.S. Supreme Court

The justices, now on their summer recess, are expected in late September to consider whether to take up an appeal by the jailed British socialite.
U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he plays golf at the Trump Turnberry Golf Courses, in Turnberry, on the southwestern coast of Scotland, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 27, 2025

Trump golfs in Scotland as Epstein questions persist

After visits to his golf properties, the U.S. president will meet with British PM Keir Starmer, Scottish leader John Swinney and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas, in Panmunjom, South Korea, on June 30, 2019.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 29, 2025

North Korea says Trump must drop denuclearization policy if he wants to meet Kim

Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korea’s leader, called personal ties between Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump "not bad.”

Longform

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?