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Moody's first gave the United States its pristine "Aaa" rating in 1919 and is the last of the three major credit agencies to downgrade it.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 17, 2025

Moody's cuts America's pristine credit rating, citing rising debt

The move that could complicate U.S. President Donald Trump's efforts to cut taxes and send ripples through global markets.
U.S. President Donald Trump lashed out Friday at the Supreme Court after it blocked his bid to resume deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members, saying the justices are "not allowing me to do what I was elected to do."
WORLD / Politics
May 17, 2025

U.S. Supreme Court maintains block on Trump deportations under wartime law

The top court faulted his administration for seeking to remove the Venezuelan migrants without adequate legal process.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un stands beside a MiG-29 aircraft and air-launched weaponry on display during anti-air combat and air raid drills at an undisclosed location in the country on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 17, 2025

North Korea's Kim oversees air drills and calls for stepped-up war preparations

Kim, who inspected anti-aircraft combat and airstrike drills, called for "all units in the entire military" to bring about "a breakthrough in war preparation."
Satoko Sodeno moves into temporary housing and arranges her belongings in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, on Saturday.
JAPAN
May 17, 2025

Iwate wildfire victims begin moving into temporary housing

Seven housing units were built on the grounds of a former elementary school in Ofunato's Akasaki district.
U.S. President Donald Trump arrives to deliver a speech marking his 100th day in office at Macomb County Community College Sports Expo Center in Warren, Michigan, on April 29.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
May 18, 2025

Trump’s deals cast China both as foe and prize, blurring signals

Pick through the details of recent U.S. trade negotiations and an outline of Donald Trump’s vision for the global economy starts to come into focus. As do its contradictions.
A woman looks at a piece of calligraphy created by Korean independence activist Ahn Jung-geun in his jail cell weeks before his execution in 1910, at the Seoul Auction on April 22.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 18, 2025

Independence hero assassin's calligraphy breaking auction records in Seoul

Revered in South Korea for his efforts to defend the country against Japanese encroachment, Ahn Jung-geun is best known for assassinating Japan's first prime minister.
A Mexican Navy training ship is seen near the Manhattan Bridge after it slammed into the nearby Brooklyn Bridge in New York on Saturday.
WORLD
May 18, 2025

Mexican Navy training ship crashes into Brooklyn Bridge, killing two

Nineteen others were injured after the ship lost power and hit the Brooklyn Bridge, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Sunday.
Some of the photos related to Aum Shinrikyo, taken by Seiichi Takeuchi, are displayed at an educational facility in Fujikawaguchiko in Yamanashi Prefecture.
JAPAN
May 18, 2025

1,400 photos donated to remember horrors of Aum Shinrikyo cult

Kamikuishiki resident Seiichi Takeuchi, 97, waged a battle against the group from the time the cult set up the base in the village's Fujigane district in 1989.
Nissan's Oliver Rowland races to victory at the Tokyo E-Prix on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
May 18, 2025

Oliver Rowland’s ‘dream’ Formula E season continues as Nissan driver wins in Tokyo

The win gives Rowland an iron grip on the championship trophy.
Presidential candidate Nicusor Dan speaks as he reacts to exit polls of Romania's second round of the presidential election, in Bucharest on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
May 19, 2025

Centrist Nicusor Dan wins Romanian presidency over hard-right, pro-Trump rival

The election drew the highest percentage of voter turnout in a Romanian election in 25 years.
Soldiers inspect the debris of a missile at a field on the outskirts of Amritsar, India, on May 8 after New Delhi said Pakistan launched an overnight air attack using "drones and missiles," before Indian forces retaliated to destroy an air defense system in Lahore.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 19, 2025

China gave Pakistan satellite support, Indian defense group says

The research by a group under India’s Ministry of Defense suggests that Beijing was more directly involved in the conflict than was previously disclosed.
A Rheinmetall  Leopard 2 tank production line in Unterluess, Germany. The country's new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has pledged to make the Bundeswehr Europe’s strongest army, marking a sharp departure from post–Cold War pacifism and sparking economic optimism rather than fear.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 19, 2025

German rearmament is a welcome 'war dividend'

Merz’s planned arms buildup means the definitive end to the "peace dividend” that the Western world had enjoyed since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Cantourage employees inspect and process cannabis flowers at the company's production site at an undisclosed location in Bavaria, southern Germany, on April 29.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 19, 2025

High times for German cannabis firm amid medical boom

Cantourage's revenue totaled €51.4 million ($57.5 million) last year, a 118% increase on 2023.
Sky forward Angel Reese (center) reacts after receiving a flagrant foul from Fever guard Caitlin Clark (left) during their game in Indianapolis on Saturday.
BASKETBALL
May 19, 2025

WNBA vows to investigate racial comments directed at Angel Reese during opener

The Women's National Basketball Players Association also addressed the reports of "hateful comments" in a statement Sunday, saying, "Such behavior is unacceptable in our sport."
Police officers stand guard on May 7 outside Todaimae Station in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward after a random stabbing that injured a University of Tokyo student.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
May 19, 2025

Random stabbing cases in Japan raise fears: Could the next victim be me?

Experts say these incidents often reflect a deeper issue at the societal level.
French scientist Marie-Anne Blanchet examines bear cubs before taking tissue biopsies and blood samples from their sedated mother, in eastern Spitzbergen, in Norway's Svalbard archipelago, on April 6.
ENVIRONMENT
May 19, 2025

Polar bear biopsies shed light on Arctic pollutants

The team's findings may help explain how the bears' world is changing, and at an alarming rate.
Teru Hasegawa, Esperanto name Verda Majo, wrote leftist political essays during WWII.
CULTURE / Books
May 20, 2025

A window into the mind of Esperantist and political activist Teru Hasegawa

During WWII, a young Japanese woman resisted her country's descent into fascism by writing leftist essays, now collected and translated in "Whispers of a Storm."
Ursula von der Leyen (left), president of the European Commission, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (center) and Antonio Costa, president of the European Council, visit the HMS Sutherland frigate as part of the U.K.-EU summit in London on Monday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
May 20, 2025

Britain’s big EU reset turns out to be just the start of talks

Most of the "renewed agenda” unveiled at a summit in London amounted to an agreement to keep negotiating.
Brazilian real and a U.S. dollar notes are seen in this illustration taken on Dec. 18, 2024
BUSINESS / Markets
May 20, 2025

Dollar set for more weakness as 'Brand USA' falls further out of favor

Investors see the currency losing more of its luster as the greenback comes back to earth from lofty valuations.
Sky forward Angel Reese (center) reacts to a flagrant foul from Fever guard Caitlin Clark (left) during a game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Saturday.
BASKETBALL
May 20, 2025

Caitlin Clark and Fever players support investigation into fan behavior

A video allegedly showed a male fan sitting courtside and making high-pitched noises at a member of the opposing team.
Microsoft Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella (left) returns to the stage after a pre-recorded interview with Elon Musk was played following the announcement that Grok AI, by Musk's artificial intelligence start up xAI, will be available on Microsoft's Foundry Models, during the Microsoft Build conference opening keynote in Seattle, Washington, on Monday.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 20, 2025

Microsoft is bringing Elon Musk’s AI models to its cloud

Grok 3, which Musk’s AI outfit introduced earlier this year, will be available on Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, the company said Monday.
Police have arrested a senior official of Nippon Kakekomidera, a nonprofit organization that helps vulnerable people in Tokyo’s Kabukicho district, for cocaine possession.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 20, 2025

Youth support group official arrested for cocaine possession

A senior official of a group that helps youth in Tokyo's red-light district was arrested along with a woman in her 20s who is believed to have sought help from the nonprofit.
''A Minecraft Movie'' star Jack Black attends the films world premiere in London on March 30. Video-game adaptations like the movie are overtaking superhero films at the box office.
COMMENTARY / World
May 20, 2025

Success of ‘Minecraft’ shows the future of movies is games

The big-screen feature from Warner Bros. Discovery, "A Minecraft Movie," has outearned every other U.S. movie so far in 2025.
A U.N. report found that 9.6% of traditionally female jobs were set to be transformed compared with 3.5% of those carried out by men as AI increasingly takes on administrative tasks.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 20, 2025

AI poses a bigger threat to women's work than men's, says U.N. report

Human involvement will still be required for many tasks — and roles are more likely to be radically changed rather than eliminated, the report said.
Federal workers shout chants during a rally across the street from the Internal Revenue Service headquarters in March.
WORLD / Politics
May 20, 2025

Trump's mass layoff threat drives U.S. government workers to resign

Mass layoffs at the largest agencies have yet to materialize and courts have slowed the process.
Military vehicles drive their way from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border into the Gaza Strip, as seen from Israel on Tuesday.
WORLD
May 21, 2025

Airstrikes kill dozens in Gaza as international criticism of Israel grows

The war, now in its 20th month, has left Gaza in ruins and its population facing a worsening hunger crisis.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks in Jerusalem on April 29. New intelligence obtained by the United States suggests that Israel is making preparations to strike Iranian nuclear facilities, according to a CNN report.
WORLD
May 21, 2025

U.S. intel suggests Israel preparing strike on Iran's nuclear facilities

It was not clear whether Israeli leaders have made a final decision, CNN reported.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting in Tehran on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
May 21, 2025

Iran faces U.S. without Plan B as nuclear red lines collide

Iran may turn to China and Russia as a "Plan B," but with Beijing's trade war with Washington, and Moscow distracted with its war in Ukraine, the backup plan seems shaky.
Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate for South Korea's Democratic Party, gestures during an election campaign rally in Seoul on Monday. Officials in Tokyo are closely watching Lee’s remarks for hints of how bilateral relations could shift if he is elected.
JAPAN / Politics
May 21, 2025

South Korean presidential front-runner says he's not hostile toward Japan

Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung has in recent months sought to highlight a more centrist agenda ahead of the presidential election.
Canadian Finance Minister Franiis-Philippe Champagne (left), and Ukrainian Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko hold a news conference during the G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors' Meeting in Banff, Alberta, Canada on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
May 21, 2025

Canada seeks to send 'strong message' with Ukraine at G7 finance talks

In meetings through Thursday, leaders will discuss global economic conditions and seek a common position on Ukraine.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji