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A farmer works in an irrigated field near the village of Botor, Somaliland in April 2016. This year’s El Nino is set to be particularly severe as it coincides with record global temperatures.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 24, 2023

El Nino threat looks underpriced as emerging-market bonds rally

The weather pattern typically results in hotter, drier conditions and therefore higher food prices in affected nations, giving policymakers more reason to keep pushing up borrowing costs.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jul 24, 2023

Takahiro Arai helps Carp surge back into pennant race in first season in dugout

The return of former star player Takahiro Arai as manager as energized the Carp.
Supporters of Spain's opposition People's Party outside the party's headquarters on the day of the general election, in Madrid, on Sunday
WORLD / Politics
Jul 24, 2023

Spain's election yields no clear winner, coalition negotiations loom

The two leading parties will seek to negotiate coalition deals in pursuit of a governing majority but analysts warned the process could end in a hung parliament and another election.
Jamaica earned a historic draw against France in their 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup opener in Sydney on Sunday.
SOCCER / Women's World cup
Jul 25, 2023

No more small teams? Women's World Cup minnows closing the gap

The tournament's growth reflects the growing interest in women's soccer around the world which has seen bumper crowds at club level and big attendances so far in Australia and New Zealand.
Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring in his debut for Inter Miami during a Leagues Cup match against Cruz Azul in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 25, 2023

Will Messi’s MLS gambit be good for Latin American soccer?

The superstar’s arrival in Miami will spur investment in the sport throughout the Americas and may finally help slow the exodus of young players to Europe.
Japan attacker Mina Tanaka participates in a pre-match news conference ahead of the team's 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup group-stage game against Costa Rica in Dunedin, New Zealand, on Tuesday.
SOCCER / Women's World cup
Jul 25, 2023

Confident Nadeshiko Japan looks to raise its level against Costa Rica

Coach Futoshi Ikeda said Costa Rica had enough quality to punish Japan on the break if there were any lapses in concentration.
 Gerrymandered districts and attacks on voting rights are further threatening American democracy at the state and local levels.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 26, 2023

The local threat to American democracy

Through "preemption" measures, ballot and voting restrictions, gerrymandering and other schemes, America continues to be threatened by entrenched minority rule.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 26, 2023

Can Japan prevent crimes from happening on trains?

Trains are often targeted for attacks because they offer the most familiar, everyday setting. Railway companies are now exploring ways to bolster security.
Then-Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang holds a copy of China's constitution during a news conference at the National People's Congress in Beijing in March.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 26, 2023

China ousts foreign minister as world grasps for clues as to why

There are still several questions over Qin Gang's fate and whether he will continue to serve in the government as a state councilor.
Veteran Japanese investors are split over whether to put their money into Chinese bonds.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 27, 2023

Friends who help manage $640 billion clash on China bonds

While they’ve been friends for at least a decade, their take on trading China bonds couldn’t be more diametrically opposed.
Yoshiko Hara (left) plays basketball with members of her Fukushima Club basketball team.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Jul 31, 2023

Pioneer in basketball for disabled people looks to inclusiveness

Through basketball, Yoshiko Hara aims to have players in her club acquire physical strength and stamina, as well as learn about group rules and manners.
Contrary to some news reports, the movie "Oppenheimer," starring (left to right) Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy and Florence Pugh, has not been banned in Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 27, 2023

'Oppenheimer' spurs debate on the atomic bombings

Christopher Nolan’s biopic has triggered a debate on the rights and wrongs of dropping the bomb. It could lead to a more useful discussion in Japan — assuming it’s ever released here.
BASEBALL / MLB / Sac Bunts
Jul 27, 2023

Angels would be taking major gamble by keeping Shohei Ohtani

The Angels have reportedly decided to not trade Shohei Ohtani, setting up the possibility of losing him for nothing in the offseason.
Jingu Gaien is a famous landmark, park and sports center in Minato Ward, Tokyo. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 26, 2023

Tokyo's tree-razing drama shouldn't stymie transformation

Residents are raging over a redevelopment plan. But while other cities become stuck in time, Tokyo's best projects can combine the spirit of the past with the hope for the future.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 28, 2023

Japan’s average minimum wage set to top ¥1,000

With the government eager to create a healthy cycle of pay and price increases, the minimum wage panel suggested a record 4.3% hike from the current average of ¥961.
Pan Gongsheng
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Jul 29, 2023

China’s central bank chief is taskmaster Xi couldn’t let retire

Pan Gongsheng is expected to turn around growth slowdown for the world's second largest economy and safeguard the $60 trillion domestic financial system.
A woman in Vatican City on July 19 during a heat wave. Projecting temperatures is inherently imprecise because modern humans have never experienced such extremes.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jul 29, 2023

An overheating planet requires extreme climate solutions

Projections say warming will only get worse, but humans exert control over planet-warming pollution and can change these models’ trajectories.
Want a six-pack for the summer? Bryce Morel suggests starting now to look good for next year.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jul 29, 2023

Bryce Morel: 'Get the healthiest version of yourself possible'

Trouble at the gym? Personal trainer Bryce Morel says ask for help; bodybuilders are nicer than you think.
An apartment building construction site in Sumida Ward, Tokyo, on July 19. Officials at Daito Trust Construction, which oversees the building project, say heatstroke dangers are a top concern given their aging workforce.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / OUR PLANET
Jul 30, 2023

In Japan, extreme heat and an aging population are a deadly mix

Heat waves combined with high humidity are weighing particularly heavily on the nation’s 36 million people age 65 and over, who are at much greater risk of severe illness and death.
The Cushing storage hub in Oklahoma. Crude oil stock declines have been geographically uneven so far, with inventory falls in the United States and Europe offset by increases in China and Japan.
BUSINESS
Jul 31, 2023

Oil inventory drops set stage for higher prices

Oil inventories now play a bigger role in determining prices than the U.S. dollar because sanctions on Russia have sped up trading in other currencies.
Myanmar's former leader Aung San Suu Kyi
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 1, 2023

Myanmar junta pardons Suu Kyi on some charges

The pardons would mean a reduction in her prison term of six years, junta spokesperson Zaw Min Tun said.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Aug 2, 2023

Purge in Chinese nuclear missile force points to graft in ranks

Chinese President Xi Jinping has reshuffled the leadership of the country’s missile forces in an apparent attempt to install more trustworthy officials.
Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown takes a shot against the Miami Heat in the third quarter during Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals in Miami on May 23.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 30, 2023

Could Saudi money be coming to the NBA, too?

Jaylen Brown just signed the richest contract in the league’s history, but there’ll probably be an ever bigger deal before long.
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2023

Seiichi Morimura, 90, who exposed Japan's wartime atrocities, dies

In a book, he detailed gruesome biological experiments on people at a secret Imperial Army site in occupied China before and during World War II.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo. Some economists see the central bank’s loosening of restraints on 10-year bond yields as a message to the government that it now will have to do financial management responsibly, because the BOJ won’t control yields as firmly as it used to.
BUSINESS
Aug 4, 2023

Japan’s fiscal plight draws scrutiny after BOJ policy tweak

Tokyo seeking to expand spending on defense and child care, even as the national debt has grown to almost 260% of gross domestic product.
A Shein office in Singapore. The meteoric rise of shopping platforms selling Chinese-made goods has been fueled by a decades-old loophole that allows cheap products to land in U.S. mailboxes tariff-free.
BUSINESS
Aug 4, 2023

Key trade loophole keeps cheap Chinese products flowing to U.S.

The fact that Chinese goods and China-founded companies are benefiting from the loophole has frustrated some U.S. lawmakers.
Demonstrators hold a rally in Washington on Thursday, the day former U.S. President Donald Trump, who is facing federal charges related to attempts to overturn his 2020 election, appeared in a U.S. district court in the nation's capital.
EDITORIALS
Aug 4, 2023

The United States of America vs. Donald J. Trump

The outcome of the trial against former U.S. President Donald Trump will test the rule of law and U.S. democracy.
Nadeshiko Japan players celebrate Risa Shimizu's goal in their 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup round-of-16 game against Norway in Wellington on Saturday.
SOCCER / Women's World cup / From the Spot
Aug 6, 2023

Nadeshiko Japan is back, but is Japan paying attention?

The team’s lack of media exposure and name recognition is a symptom of the Japan Football Association’s failure to capitalize on its 2011 world title.
An installation for The North Face Moon Parka, which uses a Spiber-produced protein material
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
Aug 6, 2023

A Japanese startup is using biotech to ‘brew’ greener fashion

Fashion has a huge environmental impact, and Spiber thinks its products can help curb the industry's footprint.
U.S. star Megan Rapinoe reacts after the team's loss against Sweden in the round of 16 at the Women's World Cup in Melbourne on Sunday. Rapinoe is among the U.S. veterans who might have played in the World Cup for the final time.
SOCCER / Women's World cup
Aug 7, 2023

United States' Women's World Cup exit signals end of dominant era

This edition of the Women's World Cup confirmed that the rest of the world has caught up to the Americans.

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A mushroom cloud from the atomic bombing on Hiroshima taken from a U.S. military aircraft on Aug. 6, 1945. Copying the photo without permission is prohibited.
80 years on, a Japanese American hibakusha recalls the day the bomb dropped