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Family members and supporters demand the immediate release of hostages kidnapped during the deadly Oct. 7 attack in Israel, as they protest outside a meeting attended by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Tel Aviv on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 12, 2024

Israel calls Hamas' response to U.S. cease-fire plan a rejection

The outlook for the U.S. cease-fire plan in Gaza remains uncertain as neither Hamas nor Israel publicly committed to a deal.
French President Emmanuel Macron decided to trigger a parliamentary vote in an effort to regain the political initiative after his party was comprehensively beaten by Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally in Sunday’s European election.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 12, 2024

Macron’s election gamble triggers chaos and anger inside his party

In calling for an election just 20 days from the dissolution of parliament, he is dialing up the pressure not just on his opponents, but also his own people.
Hunter Biden — the son of U.S. President Joe Biden — was found guilty on Tuesday of violating federal laws for illegally buying a gun during a period he was taking crack cocaine.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 12, 2024

Biden plan to brand Trump a felon is hit by son’s conviction

How Hunter Biden’s conviction impacts the U.S. president’s campaign against his predecessor, whom he has cast as a threat to the rule of law, remains unclear.
South Korea's Son Heung-min (right) fights for the ball with China's Yang Zexiang during a World Cup qualifying match on Tuesday in Seoul.
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 12, 2024

China keeps World Cup qualifying hopes alive despite South Korea defeat

Japan, meanwhile, cruised past Syria as it completed its dominance of Group B.
The Hokkaido police headquarters in Sapporo
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 12, 2024

Hokkaido police arrest two women over killing of 17-year-old

The two women are suspected of pushing Runa Murayama, a high school student, off a bridge into a river in Asahikawa in April.
Australia Treasurer Jim Chalmers in Sydney on Wednesday
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 12, 2024

Australia ‘not naive’ on China as Li visit looms, Chalmers says

Premier Li Qiang will visit Australia for four days starting Saturday, touring Adelaide, Canberra, and Perth in the highest-profile Chinese visit since 2017.
A notice put up in front of a near-finished condominium in the city of Kunitachi in Tokyo on Saturday, saying the complex will be demolished
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2024

Near-finished Japan condo blocking Mount Fuji to be razed

The company Sekisui House said in a statement late Tuesday it had "voluntarily decided to discontinue the project."
Joey Chestnut during the weigh-in ceremony ahead of the 2023 Nathan's Famous hot dog eating competition in New York on July 3 last year.
MORE SPORTS
Jun 12, 2024

Champion hot dog eater excluded from New York contest over veggie franks

Chestnut, a construction engineer by trade and native of Indiana, said in a statement on X that he was "gutted" to learn that he was being "banned."
Otowayama stable wrestlers in front of their stable. It may come as a surprise to some, but the use of ring names between wrestlers in the same stable isn’t all that common.­
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Jun 12, 2024

Burning questions (and their answers) new fans may have about sumo

The slow month of June is as good a time as any for our columnist to answer some of the fan questions that crop up with regularity.
Dads in Japan tend to fall in one of two categories: "amatō," a person fond of sweets, or "karatō," a person fond of alcohol.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 14, 2024

Dads like sweets, but some like sweet words even more

Looking for a gift for Father's Day? It's said that Japanese dads fall into one of two categories: They like sweets or they like sake.
Pilgrims circle Kaaba as they perform Tawaf at the Grand Mosque, ahead of the annual Hajj pilgrimage, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on June 11.
WORLD / Society
Jun 12, 2024

Gaza war hangs over Hajj as pilgrims flock to Mecca

Saudi Arabia's minister in charge of religious pilgrimages warned last week that "no political activity" will be tolerated.
A street in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward near Okubo Park. Masahide Nanba, arrested on suspicion of robbery and sexual assault, is said to have approached the victim near the park before leading her to a nearby hotel.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 12, 2024

Man arrested over robbery and sexual assault in Tokyo's Kabukicho

The man is said to have approached a woman in her 20s near Okubo Park before leading her to a nearby hotel where he robbed and assaulted her.
Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary soldiers in Sudan. The International Criminal Court has begun investigating the events of an eight-month period in 2023 when soldiers from the RSF targeted unarmed civilians.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 12, 2024

Top war crimes court appeals for evidence of atrocities in Sudan

The move comes days after a U.N. official warned of a strong chance genocide had been committed in Darfur — a worrying echo of events two decades ago.
A woman and child walk among debris in Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 12, 2024

'Immense' scale of Gaza killings amount to crime against humanity, U.N. inquiry says

The evidence gathered by such U.N.-mandated body inquiries has sometimes formed the basis for war crimes prosecutions by the International Criminal Court.
Soyo Hinata (right) and Lillian Ono, members of Climate Case Japan, with a petition for human rights relief before submitting it to the Japan Federation of Bar Associations in Tokyo on Wednesday
JAPAN / Society
Jun 12, 2024

Activist group asks Japan's bar association for help on climate action

It will likely take more than a year for the association to scrutinize Climate Case Japan's petition before deciding what steps to take next.
A Palestinian walks among the rubble of buildings destroyed during Israel's military offensive in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 13, 2024

U.S. says Hamas seeks changes to the cease-fire plan

Hamas reiterated its stance that it is Israel rejecting proposals and that the Palestinian Islamist group was not suggesting new ideas.
Basketball legend Jerry West at the Los Angeles Clippers training facility on April 9, 2018.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Jun 13, 2024

Basketball legend Jerry West dies at 86

West played for the Lakers from 1960 through 1974, winning his only NBA title in 1972, and later had a wildly successful career as an executive.
The Russian Olympic Committee's headquarters in Moscow
OLYMPICS
Jun 13, 2024

Vetting of Russian athletes for Paris Games ongoing, IOC says

Not having actively supported the war in Ukraine and not having been contracted to any military or security agency are among the criteria for qualified Russian athletes.
During a visit to an Olympic exhibition in Paris on Tuesday, former U.S. athlete and Olympic champion Tommie Smith raises his fist in front of a photograph taken by Neil Leifer in which Smith (center) and his countryman John Carlos are raising their fists to protest racial discrimination during the 1968 Games in Mexico City.
OLYMPICS
Jun 13, 2024

Olympic anti-racism icon Tommie Smith sees no successors

Smith believes modern athletes are less political than before despite the need to continue fighting racism, including in the U.S. where it "could not get any worse."
U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell delivers remarks during a press conference following the announcement that the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged, in Washington on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 13, 2024

Fed leaves rates unchanged and says cuts delayed to possibly December

U.S. policymakers are content to leave rates where they are until the economy sends a clear signal that something else is needed.
Tomiji Suzuki (back) attends a workshop in Tokyo. The 89-year-old is now making apps for the fast-growing elderly demographic, using ChatGPT to fine-tune his skills.
JAPAN
Jun 13, 2024

ChatGPT a mentor for 89-year-old app developer

So far, Tomiji Suzuki has developed 11 free iPhone apps to help Japan's aging population.
Russian and North Korean flags fly at the Vostochny Сosmodrome in Russia's far eastern Amur region in September.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 13, 2024

China and Russia fail to stop U.N. meeting on North Korean rights abuses

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia called on Wednesday for a review of sanctions against Pyongyang.
Germany's Toni Kroos during a friendly against the Netherlands on March 26
SOCCER
Jun 13, 2024

Germany braced for Euro 2024 kickoff with France and England favored

The hosts will be looking to make a surprise run on home soil despite the apparent strength of the French and English sides.
Joey Chestnut (left) and Takeru Kobayashi compete in the Nathan's Famous hot dog eating contest in New York on July 4, 2009.
MORE SPORTS
Jun 13, 2024

Netflix to air 'ultimate' hot dog eating contest

The announcement comes a day after the esoteric world of speed eating contests was rocked by news that Joey Chestnut had been banned from a popular New York event.
Daichi Nomiyama, 30, had posed as a reporter from the Asahi Shimbun since April, conducting interviews with members of various university cheerleading teams.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 13, 2024

Kamakura firefighter arrested for impersonating Asahi Shimbun reporter

The 30-year-old man passed himself off as a reporter for the newspaper to secure interviews with university baseball cheerleaders.
Filippo Grandi, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), at the United Nations European headquarters in Geneva on Feb. 7
WORLD / Society
Jun 13, 2024

U.N. agency says record 117 million people forcibly displaced in 2023

The United Nations refugee agency on Thursday said the number of people forcibly displaced stood at a record 117.3 million as of the end of last year, warning that this figure could rise further without major global political changes.
Tim Cook (left), chief executive officer of Apple; John Giannandrea (center), senior vice president of machine learning and AI strategy at Apple; and Craig Federighi, senior vice president of software engineering at Apple, during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in Cupertino, California, on Monday
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 13, 2024

Apple to ‘pay’ OpenAI for ChatGPT through distribution, not cash

The partnership is apparently not expected to generate meaningful revenue for either party — at least, not at the outset.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida listens to voters in the city of Kumamoto in April. Liberal Democratic Party politicians are afraid that Kishida's unpopularity could seal their own fates when they stand for local elections.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 13, 2024

Calls for Kishida to step down growing among local LDP chapters

They blame their party’s unpopularity on him over the way he handled the kickbacks scandal and the political funds bill aimed at toughening up rules in its wake.
Container ships and bulk carriers off Singapore's shores on Feb. 19
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 13, 2024

Singapore port container logjam worsens as ships avoid Red Sea

The congestion is only emerging now because it took time for the port to reach its maximum utilization level.
Mrs. Green Apple has posted an apology on its official website after backlash over a music video that portrayed explorer Christopher Columbus in a charming way.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Jun 13, 2024

J-pop act Mrs. Green Apple spikes ‘Columbus’ video after viewer backlash

A video in which band members portray Italian explorer Christopher Columbus "teaching" ape-like beings about culture? Japanese viewers are not on board with this one.

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