Search - 2023

 
 
A worker paints a robotic elephant model at a workshop in Thrissur, in India's Kerala state on Feb. 25.
WORLD / Society
Mar 4, 2025

Animal rights activists in India offer robot elephants to replace real ones

Accidents involving spooked elephants trampling crowds are common in India, leading some temples to switch to the robot versions.
The Auckland skyline at sunset in 2023. New Zealand's economy was the worst performing in the developed world last year, according to HSBC.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Mar 4, 2025

New Zealand's economic missteps hasten exodus to sunnier shores

A total of 128,700 people permanently left the Pacific nation of 5.3 million in 2024, provisionally the largest exodus on record.
Kanagawa Prefectural Police have arrested a former deputy manager at Hana Credit Union’s Yokohama branch on suspicion of stealing ¥619 million in cash from the branch's safe deposit boxes.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 5, 2025

Hana Credit Union employee arrested on suspicion of safe deposit box theft

The suspect admitted to the allegations, telling police he used the stolen money to pay off debts and gamble.
Nippon Steel is trying to build its business globally with U.S. Steel as a key component.
BUSINESS / Companies / ANALYSIS
Mar 5, 2025

U.S. Steel seen as key to Nippon Steel's global strategy

To meet its target of raising its annual crude steel production capacity to over 100 million metric tons, the firm needs to forge ahead into promising foreign markets.
People gather in front of an Israeli military vehicle in the Nur Shams camp for Palestinian refugees, where troops allowed residents to retrieve belongings after issuing reported demolition notifications for several houses, in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday.
WORLD
Mar 6, 2025

Israel's settler pressure on West Bank villages stirs annexation fears

Most countries consider Israel's settlements in the occupied West Bank to be illegal.
The Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani is expected to return to a two-way role this season.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 9, 2025

As Shohei Ohtani embarks on Year 2 in Dodger Blue, a unique encore begins

Ohtani has won two Most Valuable Player Awards as a two-way player, for the Angels in 2021 and 2023.
Students walk through the University of Pennsylvania campus. It has been reported that the U.S. State Department will use artificial intelligence to revoke the visas of foreign students who it perceives as supporters of Palestinian Hamas militants.
WORLD
Mar 7, 2025

Reported U.S. plan to use AI to revoke student visas sparks alarm

Axios reported that a "Catch and Revoke" effort will include AI-assisted reviews of tens of thousands of student visa holders' social media accounts.
Qianmen street, Beijing, in March 2023. Though the immediate shock has passed, COVID-19's legacy continues to reshape global economies and markets.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 8, 2025

Five years on, the economic impact of COVID-19 lingers

Though the immediate shock has passed, COVID-19's legacy continues to reshape global economies and markets.
A solar panel provides electricity in northern Gaza on Feb. 13. Israel’s energy minister said on Sunday that he was immediately cutting off electricity to the Gaza Strip as Israel tries to pressure Hamas amid talks over their fragile truce.
WORLD
Mar 10, 2025

Israel halts Gaza's electricity supply ahead of new truce talks

Israel's decision comes a week after it blocked all aid supplies to Gaza.
A youth pushes a bicycle loaded with filled water containers outside the Southern Gaza Desalination plant, which stopped working after Israeli after cut off electricity supply to the Gaza Strip, in Deir el-Balah in the center of the Palestinian territory on Monday.
WORLD
Mar 11, 2025

Israeli move to cut power to Gaza affects some water supplies but little else

At night the territory is plunged into almost total darkness, after more than 15 months of intense Israeli bombardment and fighting that had already destroyed the grid.
Pelicans forward Zion Williamson (right) drives with the ball as Houston Rockets forward Tari Eason defends during the first quarter at Toyota Center in Houston on March 8.
BASKETBALL
Mar 11, 2025

New Orleans Pelicans to play in Australia's first NBA games

The Pelicans will play the NBL's Melbourne United on Oct. 3 and South East Melbourne Phoenix two days later at Melbourne Park
Displaced residents work in an illegal poppy field for their livelihood during the fighting between Myanmar's military and KNDF (Karenni Nationalities Defense Force) in Pekon Township, on the border of Karen State and southern Shan State, Myanmar.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Mar 11, 2025

Reluctant opium farmers toil for survival in war-ravaged Myanmar

The country's opiate economy — including the value of domestic consumption as well as exports abroad — is estimated to be between $589 million and $1.57 billion.
Nomura Holdings is moving to a new office in Dubai, with double the space at its previous location, and hiring in Singapore, to expand its wealth business.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 12, 2025

Nomura expands in Singapore and Dubai as global business turns profit

The Tokyo-based firm is seeking to more than double assets under management at the global unit to $60 billion, and expects its relationship manager headcount to grow by about 50.
Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin walks back to the bench after an interception during the fourth quarter against the Denver Broncos in an AFC wild card game at Highmark Stadium on Jan 12.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Mar 13, 2025

Damar Hamlin returns to Bills with one-year extension

Hamlin started 14 games for the Bills last season, part of his remarkable comeback since going into cardiac arrest after a hit to the chest during a game in 2023.
K-Ballet Tokyo celebrates its 25th anniversary with an extended lineup including a revival of the vibrant pirate-story ballet "Le Corsaire."
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 15, 2025

K-Ballet Tokyo marks 25 years of passion and perseverance

The dance company celebrates a milestone anniversary with an extended lineup including a revival of the vibrant pirate-story ballet "Le Corsaire."
People in Japan appeared to have the smallest difference between the amount of sleep they get on weekdays and weekends, suggesting the lowest incidence of social jet lag.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 14, 2025

People in Japan get the least sleep, Pokemon study finds

Does that make Japan the land of the never-setting sun?
Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani arrives for practice on Friday at Tokyo Dome.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 14, 2025

Hype reaches fever pitch as Ohtani and the Dodgers get set for games in Tokyo

Shohei Ohtani talked about getting over jet lag and his excitement for the Tokyo Series as the Dodgers prepare to put on a show for Japanese fans.
Professor Hu Shiyun of Kobe Gakuin University
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2025

Chinese professor returns to Japan after going missing in China

It is not known whether Hu Shiyun, who went missing after entering China in summer 2023, had been detained by Chinese authorities.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer greets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as he arrives to attend a summit held at Lancaster House in central London on March 2.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 15, 2025

As Trump thaws ties, Russia has a new public enemy No. 1: Britain

For most of the war, Russia lambasted Washington for its role in supplying aid to Kyiv. With Donald Trump in office, that has changed.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei looks on during a meeting with students in Tehran on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 15, 2025

Despite tough talk, economic woes may force Iran to bargain with Trump

Behind the defiant rhetoric of Iran's leaders in public, there is a pragmatic willingness within Tehran to strike a deal with Washington.
Then-Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa presents a gift to a Ukrainian refugee during the Women, Peace and Security session as part of the Japan-Ukraine Conference for Promotion of Economic Growth and Reconstruction at the Japan Business Federation in February last year.
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2025

Japan recognized 1,661 'quasi-refugees' in 2024

Protection was given to 1,618 Ukrainians, 17 people from Syria, 13 from Myanmar, 11 from Sudan, and one each from Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.
McLaren's Lando Norris celebrates after qualifying in pole position for the Australian Grand Prix on Saturday in Melbourne.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Mar 15, 2025

Norris edges Piastri for Australia pole as Tsunoda qualifies fifth

In scorching hot conditions at Melbourne's Albert Park, world champion Max Verstappen came third in a tense qualifying session.
Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte appears on a screen in a courtroom at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 15, 2025

Duterte’s swift descent from ‘Punisher’ president to inmate

Duterte's team seemed unconcerned about rumors that the International Criminal Court might issue an arrest warrant against him. It was a fatal mistake.
Thames Water's Beddington Sewage Treatment Works near Croydon, south London, on Friday. Thames Water, and other British water companies privatized since 1989, are under fire for allowing the discharge of large quantities of sewage into rivers and the sea.
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 15, 2025

A stain on Britain: Sewage contaminates its waterways and seas

Failings with the most basic services in British society, such as water and sewage, have been harming the broader U.K. economy.
A U.S. Navy ship fires missiles at an undisclosed location, after President Donald Trump launched military strikes against Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis on Saturday over the group's attacks against Red Sea shipping, in this screen shot.
WORLD
Mar 16, 2025

Trump launches large-scale strikes against Yemen's Houthis

The strikes — which could last days and maybe weeks — are the biggest U.S. military operation in the Middle East since Trump took office in January.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (second from left) cheers along with other members of the Liberal Democratic Party during the party's annual convention in Tokyo on March 9.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 16, 2025

As it turns 70, LDP struggles to find its fountain of youth

Having lost 60,000 members in 2024 amid a slush funds scandal, the party is under pressure to seek out new blood, but its old ways may be a turnoff for many.
Switzerland's Marco Odermatt in action during the men's super-G World Cup event in Kvitfjell, Norway, on March 9.
MORE SPORTS / Alpine skiing
Mar 16, 2025

Alpine star Marco Odermatt clinches fourth straight overall World Cup title

Odermatt, 27, had already secured the super-G globe for the third year in a row and is the runaway favorite to also clinch the downhill title.
The BayStars used data analytics to inform the decision to have Hayato Horioka pitch against the Giants last fall. The bet paid off, with Horioka helping to seal the game and Yokohama advancing to the championship.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Mar 17, 2025

'Moneyball' disciples aim to upend Japanese baseball for second year

Yokohama is honing its indicators that predict how well a pitcher will perform at any given moment.
By promoting healthier aging through measures to extend workforce participation, increase social engagement and improve health care systems, Asia’s policymakers could create a “silver demographic dividend” that helps to sustain the region’s economic dynamism.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 17, 2025

Reaping Asia’s silver demographic dividend

Concerns that older workers are not as productive as their younger counterparts are overblown.
One pub in Tokyo's Shimbashi district received more than 60 warnings from law enforcement for setting up tables on the street, blocking the way for traffic.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 17, 2025

Tokyo pub hit with first-ever closure order for illegal street tables

The pub repeatedly placed tables on the street between April 2023 and October 2024, despite receiving more than 60 warnings from law enforcement.

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building