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The Grok-3 artificial intelligence chatbot has "more than 10 times” the computing power of its predecessor, billionaire Elon Musk said in a presentation alongside three engineers from xAI, his AI startup, on Monday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 18, 2025

Musk debuts Grok-3 AI chatbot to rival OpenAI and DeepSeek

Grok-3 beats its rivals across math, science and coding benchmarks, the chatbot's developer says.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance delivers a blunt speech before the 61st Munich Security Conference on Friday, sending shockwaves through Europe's halls of government.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2025

The patterns and philosophy underpinning Trump’s dizzying diplomacy

With the start of his second term, Trump's actions appear to be chaotic, both to friend and foe alike. But is this chaos intentional?
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's party is heading for an election loss bigger than under any German leader since the Federal Republic was set up in 1949.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 18, 2025

Scholz leaves Germans with worst economic blues in a generation

Not since Gerhard Schroeder’s narrow defeat in 2005 has the economy featured so prominently in an election.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a leader feted around the world for defying a Russian invasion, has been reduced to asking an intermediary about talks that may affect his nation’s survival.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 19, 2025

Zelenskyy excluded as U.S. discusses Ukraine's fate with Russia

The Ukrainian was reduced to asking an intermediary about talks that may affect his nation’s survival, underlining a seismic shift in U.S. diplomacy.
Tents belonging to Palestinians are seen amid the rubble of destroyed buildings in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 19, 2025

Talks on next phase of Gaza ceasefire to begin this week: Israeli minister

Negotiations over the second stage are expected to be tough because they include issues such as the administration of post-war Gaza.
Ryuji Kimura in the city of Wakayama in April 2023
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 19, 2025

Kishida attacker sentenced to 10 years in prison for attempted murder

Kimura maintained through the trial that he did not intend to harm anyone, adding that he threw the explosive to draw attention to his 2022 lawsuit.
The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan wants to use the Bank of Japan’s exchange-traded funds to help cover the cost of making high school education free.
BUSINESS
Feb 19, 2025

CDP eyes BOJ’s exchange-traded funds to pay for free schooling

The Bank of Japan's exchange-traded funds have remained untouched even as Gov. Kazuo Ueda oversaw further rate hikes.
People protest against the decision to virtually shut down the United States Agency for International Development, in Washington on Feb. 5. U.S. President Donald Trump's foreign aid freeze has halted vital projects in the South Pacific, aid workers and analysts say, risking lives and hurting U.S. efforts to woo the region.
BUSINESS
Feb 19, 2025

U.S. aid freeze stops crucial South Pacific projects

For years the U.S. has helped to buy life-saving medicine, combat illegal fishing and better prepare coastal hamlets for earthquakes and typhoons.
Newly promoted grand champion Hoshoryu (center) performs a dedication ceremony at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo on Jan. 31.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Feb 19, 2025

What is the ceiling for sumo’s newest yokozuna?

The ceremonies are complete, the celebrations are done, and now it’s time for Hoshoryu to get down to the daily task of leading Japan’s national sport.
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (center) arrives at the Federal Senate in Brasilia on Tuesday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Feb 19, 2025

Brazil's ex-President Bolsonaro charged over alleged coup plot

The charge further complicates the far-right firebrand's already narrow hopes of pulling off a political comeback.
Arsenal's Takehiro Tomiyasu celebrates scoring against Everton on May 19, 2024.
SOCCER
Feb 19, 2025

Arsenal defender Tomiyasu undergoes knee surgery

Tomiyasu did not mention an expected return date, though British media reported he would likely be sidelined for the remainder of the season.
Serbian demonstrators block the main boulevard in the central Serbian city of Kragujevac on Saturday, continuing months long calls for government accountability and reforms.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 19, 2025

The new face of global protests

Young Serbs understand that neither justice nor democracy is possible until the tables have been cleared.
DPP tax chair Motohisa Furukawa speaks during a meeting of the party's tax committee in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 19, 2025

Debate over income tax threshold reform hits roadblock with new LDP proposal

Neither Komeito, the ruling coalition's junior partner, nor the opposition Democratic Party for the People supported the LDP's new income tax plan.
Laborers at a shipyard on the outskirts of Dhaka. Worker deaths, injuries and exposure to hazardous substances are common in the ship-breaking industry, as is environmental harm with toxic chemicals seeping into the beach and water, harming marine life.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Feb 19, 2025

Shipyards of Bangladesh brace as heavy emitting ships near end of life

Worker deaths and environmental harm are common in yards where vessels that have supplied richer nations are dismantled for scraps that can be used in manufacturing.
Microsoft's Majorana 1 quantum computing chip
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 20, 2025

New Microsoft chip signals quantum computers in 'years, not decades'

Quantum computing holds the promise of carrying out calculations that would take today's systems millions of years.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin hold a bilateral meeting at the Group of 20 leaders summit in Osaka in June 2019. A Putin-Trump summit is on the horizon.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 20, 2025

Russian forces advance on Ukraine's critical minerals as Trump talks of a deal

The seizure of Kyiv's mineral wealth, while not the main war aim, is among Moscow's strategic goals, experts say.
Victims of scam centers, who were trafficked into working in Myanmar, wait for their embassies to pick them up in Tak province, Thailand, on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 20, 2025

Myanmar scam center survivors recall torture and coercion

"I got a lot of punishments," said one man, who had cuts along his leg. "I received electric shocks every day."
Supporters watch archive footage of speeches by South Korean leader Yoon Suk Yeol on a screen near the Central District Court in Seoul on Thursday, as the ousted South Korean leader became the country's first sitting head of state to stand trial in a criminal case.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 20, 2025

Ousted South Korean president sought to stop 'dictatorship,' lawyer says

Yoon Suk Yeol has has been behind bars since he was arrested last month on charges of insurrection.
Mushroom loves walks and gets along with people of all ages.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Feb 20, 2025

Make room for Mushroom the dog

This laidback Shiba gets along easily with all kinds of people and dogs.
Flower bouquets outside the Shenzhen Japanese School following the death of a 10-year-old child who was stabbed by an assailant on the way to the school, in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China, on Sept.19, 2024
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 20, 2025

Death sentence over murder of Japanese boy in China to be finalized

The sentence is expected to be finalized after it is examined by a high court in Guangdong and approved by China's Supreme Court.
“Yasuko, Songs of Days Past” centers on a real-life love triangle between poet Chuya Nakahara (Taisei Kido, left), actor Yasuko Hasegawa (Suzu Hirose, center) and literary critic Hideo Kobayashi (Masaki Okada).
CULTURE / Film
Feb 20, 2025

‘Yasuko, Songs of Days Past’ puts overlooked star in the spotlight

Kichitaro Negishi’s drama, based on a real-life love triangle among notable figures of the Japanese literati, captures the flavor of a bygone era.
Shiori Ito, who won a civil suit over a rape case against a TV reporter, in 2018. Her former lawyers claim her documentary includes footage used without the consent of sources.
CULTURE / Film
Feb 20, 2025

Japan release of Shiori Ito's documentary in limbo

Lawyers including an attorney who fought alongside the journalist in a civil suit against her attacker have raised legal and ethical concerns over the film.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 16, 2018
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 20, 2025

China risks becoming U.S. military’s top priority if Trump cuts a deal with Putin

U.S. and Russian officials have started talks in Saudi Arabia to negotiate an end to the three-year war, prompting deep concern in Europe and Ukraine itself.
These larger than life meatballs are inspired by the stuffed meatballs found in Iran's Tabriz Bazaar.
LIFE / Food & Drink / The Recipe Box
Feb 23, 2025

Cold with a chance of kimchi meatballs

Warm up with a comforting hot pot of ground meat stuffed with the Korean fermented vegetable.
Alleged scam center workers and victims from China, who were handed over from Myanmar, board a plane at Mae Sot Airport in Mae Sot in Thailand's Tak province on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 21, 2025

China flies home first nationals from Myanmar ‘scam centers’

The repatriation is part of a multinational effort to stamp out the centers, a transnational criminal industry that has found havens in Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia.
Cat-related sweets sold by 7-Eleven in Tokyo. Employees of 7-Eleven have helped develop 23 types of cat-related products this year, compared with just five last year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 21, 2025

Japan's Cat Day sees companies capitalize on 'a-meow-zing' economic boon

This year, products and services related to cats are estimated to generate ¥414.50 billion more than last year.
Forensic personnel inspect a bus following its explosion in Bat Yam, south of Tel Aviv, Israel, on Friday.
WORLD
Feb 21, 2025

Multiple bus explosions in Israel put country on terrorism alert

The series of explosions in central Israel came on what was already a difficult day for Israelis and for the country’s tenuous truce with Hamas.
Students from Hiroshima Global Academy chat over gyōza dumplings with "island guardian" Koshi Omori at his home in Osakikamijima, Hiroshima Prefecture.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Mar 3, 2025

Model school for global education rooted on small Hiroshima island

The school hopes its well-equipped students will help inspire and bring new energy to the aging island community.
Connor McDavid, seen during an NHL game with the Oilers, scored the winning goal for Canada in the 4 Nations Face-Off final against the United States on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 21, 2025

Canada beats U.S. to win 4 Nations tournament filled with political tension

The taut action on the ice mirrored the geopolitical tensions bubbling in North America since U.S. President Donald Trump took office last month.
Without the well-developed road infrastructure of many parts of Honshu, it has never been easy to be a truck driver in Hokkaido, Japan’s second-largest island but largest prefecture in terms of landmass-
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Mar 3, 2025

Hokkaido trucking industry faces challenges from overtime cap

Without the well-developed road infrastructure of many parts of Honshu, it has never been easy to be a truck driver in Hokkaido.

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