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Increasingly denuded areas can be seen on the slopes of Mount Ibuki in Ibigawa, Gifu Prefecture, on April 10.
JAPAN / Society / Regional voices: Chubu
May 13, 2024

Deer cause damage to Mount Ibuki, known for its rare alpine flowers

As the amount of snowfall has decreased, affected by global warming, the number of deer has increased.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump and his attorney, Todd Blanche, at Manhattan criminal court in New York on Tuesday. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records as part of an alleged scheme to silence claims of extramarital sexual encounters during his 2016 presidential campaign.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 8, 2024

Trump’s private life exposed in intimate Stormy Daniels testimony

The remarkable testimony is the latest example of how Trump’s dealings with women are coming back to haunt him in court.
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan President Kenta Izumi has vowed to resign if his party fails to win at least 150 seats in the next general election.
JAPAN / Politics
May 8, 2024

Pact with JCP a double-edged sword for the CDP

While some of its members wish to further the cooperation, others might prefer to work with opposition parties considered more moderate or right wing.
A member of staff at Momuri responds to a request for assistance in submitting a resignation in Tokyo on April 18.
JAPAN / Society
May 8, 2024

Japan's workers turning to agencies that help them quit jobs

One firm that provides such a service saw the highest-ever number of requests following the long Golden Week holiday.
AI-powered disinformation campaigns particularly during elections can create varied and nuanced content, making detection more challenging.
COMMENTARY / World
May 7, 2024

If AI wrecks democracy, we may never know

AI-powered disinformation campaigns can create varied and nuanced content, making detection more challenging.
Despite Shinzo Abe's numerous achievements as prime minister, including job creation and efforts to promote workforce gender equality, recent controversies surrounding his tenure, including ties to controversial groups and scandals within his political faction, have tarnished his image.
COMMENTARY
May 7, 2024

The economic legacy of Japan's longest-serving prime minister

Under Abenomics and the BOJ's monetary policy, employment rose more than under any other Japanese government in the 21st century.
Andy Summers’  exhibition “A Series of Glances,” currently on view in Tokyo and Kyoto simultaneously, features photographs taken in a wide range of locations around the world, including “Centaur,” which was snapped in Montserrat in July 1981.
CULTURE / Art
May 9, 2024

Andy Summers captures life on and off stage in moody monochrome

The guitarist for The Police, who cites Akira Kurosawa as an important influence, puts his passion for photography on display in Japan.
The Olympic flame sits on board the Belem as the boat sails near the coast of Marseille, France, on Wednesday.
OLYMPICS
May 9, 2024

Olympic flame arrives on French soil for 2024 Paris Games

"It marks the end of preparations, the Games arrive in the life of the French people," French President Emmanuel Macron said.
Orangutans at Malaysia's National Zoo in Kuala Lumpur in 2021. The orangutan is critically endangered, with a population of less than 105,000 on the island of Borneo, according to conservation group WWF.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 9, 2024

Malaysia eyes 'orangutan diplomacy' with nations that import palm oil

But concerned wildlife advocates are calling for alternative measures to protect the ape's habitat and improve the sustainable production of the commodity.
Cambodia's then-Prime Minister Hun Sen and Aung San Suu Kyi walk past the honor guard during her visit to Phnom Penh on April 30, 2019. Myanmar's junta said on Wednesday that it would not permit Hun Sen to meet with Suu Kyi, who has been detained since a 2021 coup.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 9, 2024

Myanmar junta rebuffs Hun Sen's request to meet Suu Kyi

Cambodia's former leader said he had requested a meeting with the Nobel laureate, detained since 2021, during talks with junta chief Min Aung Hlaing.
China is likely around two years behind the United States in developing its own AI software.
WORLD / Politics
May 9, 2024

U.S. eyes curbs on China's access to AI software behind apps like ChatGPT

Preliminary plans the Biden administration has include placing guardrails around the most advanced AI Models, the core software of AI systems like ChatGPT.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol held a news conference on Thursday, his first in about two years as he tried to set a new course for his conservative government after suffering a stinging defeat in parliamentary elections last month.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 9, 2024

South Korea’s Yoon tries to reset agenda with rare news conference

The leader used the event to lay out his priorities for his remaining three years in office.
The Russian Embassy in London. Britain's deportation of Russia's defense attache is a response to a suspected arson attack against Ukrainian-linked properties in East London and other espionage activities, the U.K. Home Secretary said.
WORLD / Politics
May 9, 2024

U.K. expels Russian envoy in pushback against spying surge

The action is a response to a suspected arson attack against Ukrainian-linked properties in East London and espionage activities across the U.K and Europe.
Workers make pods for e-cigarettes on the production line at Kanger Tech, one of China's leading manufacturers of vaping products, on Sept. 24, 2019 in Shenzhen, China.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 9, 2024

China’s factory glut alarms the world, but there’s no quick fix

European Union leaders, who are threatening tariffs on electric cars, were the latest to scold China about overcapacity, but there are no plans to change.
Futures of robusta coffee beans have hit their highest price in over 40 years, while cocoa prices have more than doubled this year.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 9, 2024

Cocoa’s dizzying volatility is spilling into the coffee market

Many major traders deal in both commodities, so soaring cocoa prices are squeezing market players for cash and forcing them out of coffee trading.
Former Shizuoka Vice Gov. Shinichi Omura announces he is running for the gubernatorial election, on April 12.
JAPAN / Politics
May 9, 2024

Campaigning for Shizuoka's next governor kicks off with all eyes on maglev line

A record six candidates are running for the post after the previous governor resigned over controversial remarks.
Ryo Wakabayashi, a distal myopathy patient, lives alone in the city of Fukushima.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Regional Voices: Tohoku
May 20, 2024

Persistence pays off with approval of distal myopathy drug

The disease is estimated to affect only 300 to 400 people in Japan.
Caitlin Clark was the top pick in the WNBA draft on April 15.
BASKETBALL
May 10, 2024

Caitlin Clark feeling no pressure as WNBA debut approaches

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark is embracing the moment as she brings her super-sized star power from the collegiate game to the pro ranks.
The apartment complex where Toshino Hirasawa was stabbed in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, on Thursday
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 10, 2024

Man arrested over fatal stabbing of woman had lent victim ¥18 million

It has emerged that the suspect, Manabu Wakui, was arrested for stalking the victim, Toshino Hirasawa, two years ago.
Coffee trees in the Izumi district of Motobu, Okinawa Prefecture
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
May 20, 2024

New study finds Japan’s coffee cultivation has roots in Okinawa

Farmers in Okinawa hope the discovery will serve as a catalyst for boosting coffee production in the prefecture.
Malaysia's Faisal Halim runs with the ball during an Asian Cup match against Bahrain in Doha on Jan. 20.
SOCCER
May 10, 2024

Malaysian soccer star 'responding well' to surgery following acid attack

A top Malaysian soccer player who was attacked with acid is "responding well" after undergoing a three-hour skin graft procedure.
Kendrick Lamar has long been cast as the authentic and artistic representative of modern rap.
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
May 10, 2024

Japanese MCs jump in on the Kendrick Lamar-Drake rap beef — and pick a favorite

The way artists here have joined the feud between two of rap's biggest names says more about hip-hop beefs in Japan than you realize.
Flowers are laid on the bank of a river in Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture, where the charred bodies of a Tokyo couple were found last month.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / EXPLAINER
May 10, 2024

What we know so far about the case of the burned couple in Tochigi

Details of what happened are starting to become clearer following the arrest of their daughter’s common-law husband, the suspected mastermind.
LY said in November that there had been unauthorized access of its systems by a third party via Naver's cloud system, causing the leak of the personal data records of more than 300,000 Line users and others.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 10, 2024

Naver exploring options including stake sale in Line operator

Naver apologized for a recent security breach that led the Japanese government to issue administrative guidance.
Palestinians sit on an animal-pulled cart as they move to safer areas in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Friday amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the militant group Hamas.
WORLD / Politics
May 11, 2024

U.S. working to keep Israel and Hamas engaged in Gaza truce efforts

The United Nations warned that aid for Gaza could grind to a halt within days after Israel seized control of the Rafah border crossing.
Soldiers load boxes of relief goods into a U.S. CH53 Sea Stallion aircraft at Lal-lo Airport in Cagayan province, northern Philippines, last August. The Lal-lo Airport is one of the additional sites for the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) between the Philippines and the United States.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 11, 2024

China woos Philippine elites near base U.S. needs to defend Taiwan

The moves come as Washington and Beijing remain locked in a struggle for influence that is still playing out.
A meteor is seen in an aurora borealis above Lausanne and the Jura from the Tour de Gourze in Riex, Switzerland, on Saturday.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 11, 2024

First 'extreme' solar storm in 20 years brings spectacular auroras

The "extreme" geomagnetic storm is the first since the so-called Halloween Storms of October 2003.
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko in Moscow on April 11.
WORLD
May 11, 2024

Satellite images reveal where Russian nukes could be stored in Belarus

A New York Times analysis shows security upgrades unique to Russian nuclear storage facilities at a Cold War-era munitions depot.
TSMC’s factory in Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture
BUSINESS
May 12, 2024

Kumamoto Prefecture wants to host TSMC’s third Japan plant

Kumamoto hopes enough chip-related companies will settle in the prefecture to create something akin to Taiwan’s Hsinchu Science Park.
Smoke billows from an Israeli strike in the Gaza Strip on Sunday.
WORLD
May 12, 2024

Fighting rages across Gaza as U.N. chief urges 'immediate cease-fire'

Correspondents and witnesses and said Israeli air strikes pounded parts of northern, central and southern Gaza during the night and into Sunday morning.

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb