Search - 2014

 
 
A dog lies on the street as a man walks pushing a baby stroller in Matera, Italy, in 2021.
WORLD / Society
Apr 1, 2025

Italy's demographic crisis worsens as births hit record low

Italy's ever-falling birth rate is considered a national emergency, but no one has so far been able to halt the drop.
Rozan Al-Khazendar (second from left), an entrepreneur from the Gaza Strip, speaks to Kiyomi Kitamura (left), her Japanese partner in a T-shirt venture to raise funds for the Palestinian enclave, during a meeting at her office in the outskirts of Cairo, last December.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 2, 2025

Gaza woman launches clothing brand with Japanese partner

Entrepreneur Rozan Al-Khazendar is collaborating with a mail-order business operator out of Shiga Prefecture to launch a website selling T-shirts to fund aid to the region.
Seiji Adachi, a former member of the Bank of Japan's Policy Board, says there is a chance of a May rate hike.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 3, 2025

Ex-board member who just left BOJ sees chance of May rate hike

Seiji Adachi, whose five-year term ended last week, said he would probably vote for a rate hike in the central bank's May meeting if one was proposed.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's contradictory statements on U.S. military strategy and alliances with Europe and Asia raise questions about his true stance, reflecting the chameleon-like nature of U.S. foreign policy under the Trump administration.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 3, 2025

Will the real Pete Hegseth please stand up?

The same fears remain in terms of security. Even if the Trump administration seeks to deter China, it is unlikely to shift its policy of so-called pacifism.
Hideko Hakamata (second from left), the sister of ex-boxer Iwao Hakamata, in the city of Shizuoka on Sept. 26 following a Shizuoka District Court's verdict finding him not guilty of a 1966 murder case. Lawyers for Iwao Hakamata plan to sue the central and prefectural governments for damages in August.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 3, 2025

Hakamata to sue central, prefectural governments in August

Lawyers for the ex-boxer — who was acquitted of a 1966 murder case last year — plan to file the lawsuits on Aug. 18, the date he was arrested 59 years ago.
Honda Racing President Koji Watanabe says the carmaker's development on the next generation of Formula One engines is proceeding as planned ahead of sweeping regulation changes in 2026.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Apr 5, 2025

Honda looks toward its F1 future as Red Bull partnership nears end

Honda Racing President Koji Watanabe discusses the carmaker's past and future in Formula One as its Red Bull partnership draws to a close.
Protesters, mainly Houthi supporters, rally to mark the annual al-Quds Day on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in Sanaa, Yemen, on March 28.
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Apr 6, 2025

U.S. progress against resilient Houthi militants remains murky

Trump's administration has offered limited evidence of weapons deployed and targets hit to back up his assertion.
Ozgur Ozel, leader of Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), has been thrust into the limelight in the few weeks since the jailing of Istanbul Mayor Ozgur Ozel, a member of his party seen as the only politician capable of challenging President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the ballot box.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 7, 2025

Ozgur Ozel: From low-key opposition to face of Turkey protests

Until now the relatively low-profile head of the country's main opposition party, Ozel has been thrust into the limelight, both at home and abroad.
Workers harvest grapes of Merlot in Contessa Entellina, southwest of Sicily, in 2024.  Global temperatures hovered at historic highs in March, Europe's climate monitor said on Tuesday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Apr 8, 2025

Global temperatures at near-historic highs in March, says EU monitor

In Europe, it was the hottest March ever recorded by a significant margin, driving rainfall extremes across a continent warming faster than any other.
A flag outside United Nations headquarters in New York.
WORLD
Apr 10, 2025

U.N. may get first female chief as Latin bloc unites

Latin American and Caribbean nations are working to back a single candidate — likely a woman — for U.N. chief as Antonio Guterres prepares to step down.
The Laguna Grande restoration project at Valle de Mexicali, Baja California state, Mexico
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Apr 10, 2025

Once-dying Mexican river delta slowly nursed back to life by conservationists

In drought-hit Mexico, conservationists are reviving the Colorado River Delta, restoring wetlands and drawing back wildlife once lost.
In the dystopian society of Sayaka Murata's latest book to come out in English, sex between married couples is considered incest and therefore taboo.
CULTURE / Books
Apr 14, 2025

'Vanishing World': Sayaka Murata’s vision of a sex-hating society

In Sayaka Murata’s latest book to come out in English, sex between married couples is considered taboo, and humans reproduce predominantly via IVF.  
Masters champion Rory McIlroy receives his green jacket from 2024 winner Scottie Scheffler after the final round at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
Apr 14, 2025

Rory McIlroy wins Masters in dramatic fashion to complete career Grand Slam

It marked the fifth major championship for McIlroy, and his first since capturing the PGA Championship for the second time in 2014.
Italian Paralympic athlete Martina Cairono holds the torch for the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Games during a ceremony at the Italy Pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka on Monday.
OLYMPICS
Apr 15, 2025

Winter Games torches unveiled in joint ceremony in Milan and Osaka

The torches were presented in a theater at Milan's Triennale art and design museum and the Italian pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka.
The head of a child dummy hits the ground after falling from a balance bike on a slope during a simulation conducted by the National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan.
JAPAN
Apr 15, 2025

Consumer watchdog warns about the dangers of balance bikes for children

Between April 2019 and December 2024, there were 101 reported accidents involving such bikes.
Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg departs after attending a Federal Trade Commission trial at a U.S. District Court in Washington on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 16, 2025

Zuckerberg defends strategy behind Instagram, WhatsApp deals

The Federal Trade Commission alleges the acquisitions of the two apps give Meta Platforms a social media monopoly, and is fighting to break up the company.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has sent a delegation to Washington for high-stakes tariff talks, as other nations watch to see if Tokyo can secure favorable terms from the Trump administration.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 16, 2025

If Japan can’t get a good trade deal, can anyone?

The Asian nation is the canary in the tariff coal mine. If it can’t secure a good deal, there’s little hope for others.
Former CDP executive Kenji Eda discusses a possible reduction of the consumption tax rate, in Tokyo on April 10.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 17, 2025

CDP divisions over proposed tax cut pose headache for Yoshihiko Noda

The nation’s largest opposition party is preparing for the Upper House poll in July, in which it hopes to win enough seats to make a CDP-led coalition government possible.
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki speaks during a news conference at the Diet on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 18, 2025

Japan to start discussions on reviewing retrial system Monday

A government advisory panel will start discussions Monday to review the country's retrial system for criminal cases in which guilty verdicts have become final, Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki said Friday.
Lawyers for plaintiffs seeking compensation from the government over their deteriorated health due to working in an asbestos factory speak at a news conference in the city of Osaka on Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 18, 2025

High court overturns asbestos ruling, ordering government to pay ¥6 million

A Japanese court ruled in favor of an asbestos victim’s family, saying the government wrongly narrowed compensation criteria in 2019.
The proposal reportedly calls for a legal framework that would obligate telecom operators to store communication records for a fixed period.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 18, 2025

LDP proposal would require telecom companies to store usage records

The proposal calls for a legal framework that would obligate telecom operators to store metadata and usage records for a fixed period.
A soldier from the U.S.-led coalition holds the hand of a boy during a joint U.S.- Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces patrol in the countryside of Qamishli in northeastern Syria in February 2024.
WORLD
Apr 19, 2025

U.S. to withdraw some 1,000 troops from Syria

President Donald Trump has long been skeptical of Washington's presence in Syria.
Russian service members carry traditional cakes to distribute to local residents ahead of Orthodox Easter celebrations, in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in Avdiivka in the Donetsk region, a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 20, 2025

Putin is accused of violating the Easter Sunday truce he ordered

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy cited 59 cases of shelling and five assault actions by Russian units in various front-line areas on Sunday morning.
The first meeting of a subcommittee under the Legislative Council to discuss a review of the retrial system on Monday at the Justice Ministry
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 22, 2025

Panel agrees on need to revise retrial system

Public calls for a review of the retrial system, which has not been revised since the country's criminal procedure law was established in 1948, have been growing.
Ukrainian service members fire a multiple rocket launch system toward Russian troops near the frontline town of Pokrovsk, in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on April 19.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 24, 2025

Trump ramps up pressure on Zelenskyy to accept peace deal

U.S. President Donald Trump ratcheted up pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to accept a peace deal that critics fear will favor Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with heads of municipal entities in Moscow on Monday. Moscow has insisted that Ukraine largely demilitarize as a condition to end the war.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 25, 2025

U.S. to demand Putin accept Ukraine’s right to military force

U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Russia to raise the issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin, sources say.
Russian President Vladimir Putin greets U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff prior to their talks in Moscow on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 26, 2025

Trump says Russia-Ukraine deal 'very close' after new Kremlin talks

But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy again rejected suggestions that his country give up on Russian-held Crimea.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks with U.S. President Donald Trump at St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on Saturday.
WORLD
Apr 26, 2025

Trump and Zelenskyy meet one-on-one in Vatican basilica to seek Ukraine peace

The meeting, their first since an angry encounter in Washington in February, comes at a critical time in negotiations aimed at bringing an end to the war in Ukraine.
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump meet, while they attend the funeral of Pope Francis, at the Vatican on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 27, 2025

Trump raises Putin doubts after Zelenskyy talks at pope's funeral

The Ukrainian leader said they had discussed a possible unconditional ceasefire with Russia and that their talks had "the potential to become historic."
Pope Francis prays in front of a candle lit to remember victims of abuse by the church, inside St Mary's Pro Cathedral during his visit to Dublin, Ireland on August 25, 2018.
WORLD / Society
Apr 28, 2025

Abuse victims say they saw progress under Pope Francis, just not enough

For abuse survivors, Francis' legacy on the issue is a mixed one of powerful words and at times underwhelming deeds.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear