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Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, leaves a U.S. district courthouse in Wilmington, Delaware, in July.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Aug 12, 2023

Hunter Biden gets special counsel, setting up election issue

The developments reinforce that legal issues, including those of Donald Trump, will figure prominently in the U.S. presidential election.
Nadeshiko Japan head coach Futoshi Ikeda is all but certain to continue his role through the 2024 Paris Olympics and beyond.
SOCCER / Women's World cup
Aug 13, 2023

Futoshi Ikeda wants youngsters to grow as Nadeshiko heads home

The emergence of a crop of talented youngsters has reinvigorated a Nadeshiko side set to benefit from greater stability over the next four years.
A burned palm tree droops in Lahaina on Maui, Hawaii, on Friday, two days after the historic town was devastated by wildfire.
WORLD / Society
Aug 14, 2023

How climate change turned lush Hawaii into a tinderbox

The devastation on Maui happened in a state defined by its lush vegetation, a far cry from the dry landscape normally associated with fire threats.
Junior high school students participate in a community-based club activity without any instructors in Kakegawa, Shizuoka Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society / Regional voices: Chubu
Aug 15, 2023

Facing long hours, teacher pushes for data-driven reforms

Given the long working hours for Japan's schoolteachers, one educator from Gifu Prefecture is leading initiatives for teachers’ work-style reforms.
Thousands of Afghan women run microenterprises from their homes.
WORLD / Society
Aug 15, 2023

Afghan women set up secret businesses to escape Taliban bans

The administration has banned women from most jobs, barred girls from secondary and higher education, and restricted their movement.
Al Hilal's new signing Neymar (left) holds the club's shirt as he poses with President Fahd bin Saad Al-Nafel during a signing event in Paris on Tuesday.
SOCCER
Aug 16, 2023

Neymar joins Saudi club Al Hilal from PSG in two-year deal

French newspaper L'Equipe said the deal could net the Brazil star almost $175 million.
People walk along Shanghai's main shopping area on March 14. China's economic activity data has been missing forecasts, raising worries that the country is approaching a crunch point.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 16, 2023

As China's economy slows, economists ask how much worse it can get

The demise of the country's growth has been mistakenly forecast before. Is this time different?
Pedestrians pass stores in Guangzhou. Economists say China needs measures to boost consumption and business confidence, but add that unlike previous slowdowns, there is no quick fix.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Aug 18, 2023

Why is China not rushing to fix its ailing economy?

Even in a country known for opaque decision-making, analysts are pointing to signs that Beijing seems hesitant to deliver the bold policies needed.
Surging populations of plant-eating insects are disrupting farms and the food supply chain, causing problems far more serious than sticky windshields from bug excrement.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 20, 2023

The insect apocalypse is coming to your neighborhood

Polar bears and sea turtles get most of the attention as victims of climate change, but when the bugs invade we're all going to feel it personally.
Spain players celebrate with the trophy after winning the World Cup in Sydney on Sunday.
SOCCER / Women's World cup
Aug 22, 2023

Success of Women's World Cup can't hide financial gap with men

The 2023 World Cup buoyed hopes that the women's game can start to bridge the yawning financial gap.
New Zealand's Dane Coles celebrates after winning a Bledisloe Cup test match against Australia at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin, New Zealand, on Aug. 5.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Aug 22, 2023

All Blacks star 'gobsmacked' by former coach assisting Australia

Former New Zealand coach Steve Hansen is helping rivals Australia prepare for the Rugby World Cup, it was revealed this week.
U.S. and Japanese authorities are concerned that purchases of farmland near military bases and other critical facilities will allow China and other governments to spy on or interfere with their operations.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 22, 2023

For the best espionage, it’s location, location, location

Efforts by Chinese companies to purchase land — often, but not exclusively, agricultural — has authorities in Japan and the United States up in arms.
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2023

Japan begins controversial release of treated Fukushima water

The discharge is a major step in the decommissioning process for the reactors hit by meltdowns following the March 2011 tsunami.
Challenges to the U.S. dollar’s vital role in the world economic and financial system are often said to be imminent, but somehow never materialize.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 23, 2023

A BRICS common currency is still a pipe dream

The greenback comprises just under 60% of global currency reserves, down from around 70% in 2000. Still that is well above any competitor.
Takeshi Kimura, special adviser to the board for Nippon Life Insurance Co.
ESG CONSORTIUM
Aug 28, 2023

PRI’s global ESG investing talks in Tokyo to tackle ‘sense of crisis’

The leading global conference on responsible investment will be held in Tokyo for the first time this fall, focusing on what investors can do to make society sustainable at a time when many industries are struggling to meet their targets for combating climate change.
People visit Semicon China, a trade fair for semiconductor technology, in Shanghai in 2021
BUSINESS
Aug 24, 2023

China quietly hires overseas chip talent as U.S. tightens curbs

The revamped recruitment drive is said to offer perks including home-purchase subsidies and typical signing bonuses of $420,000 to $700,000.
By 2060, it is estimated that the combined gross domestic products of China, India and Indonesia will equal $116.7 trillion, making the bloc's economy three times larger than the United States.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 15, 2023

The irresistible rise of the rest of the world

With 90% of the world's population, non-Western countries will no longer accept being excluded from global decision-making.
New Zealand coach Ian Foster is not concerned about former All Blacks coach Steve Hansen helping Australia prepare for the Rugby World Cup.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Aug 24, 2023

All Blacks coach Ian Foster has no issues with Steve Hansen helping Australia

New Zealand head coach Ian Foster insisted Wednesday he had known for a month that predecessor Steve Hansen had agreed to help rival Australia prepare for the Rugby World Cup.
Angels two-way player Shohei Ohtani has a torn UCL, the team announced on Wednesday night.
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 25, 2023

Will Ohtani’s injury pick his pocket in free agency?

Baseball’s history-making two-way player has a torn ulnar collateral ligament.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump stands on the green during the Official Pro-Am Tournament ahead of the LIV Golf Invitational Series event at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in Bedminster, New Jersey, on Aug. 10.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 26, 2023

Tilting the scales of justice: Trump height and weight raise eyebrows

Does Donald Trump truly weigh 215 pounds, as stated by authorities after his arrest? Many Americans are not buying it.
A Saudi Aramco oil tank at the Ras Tanura refinery and terminal in Saudi Arabia
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 27, 2023

U.N. experts challenge Saudi Aramco over climate change

The largely state-owned enterprise plans to ramp up national oil production capacity to 13 million barrels per day by 2027.
Noah Lyles celebrates after the U.S. won the men's 4x100 meter relay final at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS / Athletics
Aug 27, 2023

Gold rush for Noah Lyles and Faith Kipyegon at world championships

On an enthralling night's action Armand "Mondo" Duplantis and Sha'Carri Richardson also rubberstamped their authority in their events.
Residents embrace after a deadly shooting in Jacksonville, Florida, killed three.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Aug 27, 2023

Florida gunman driven by racial 'hate' kills three

The deadly incident in Jacksonville is the latest in a series of racially motivated shooting sprees in the United States.
A concept model of the Global Combat Air Programme's fighter jet is displayed at the DSEI Japan defense show at Makuhari Messe in Chiba in March.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Aug 31, 2023

What the trilateral fighter jet program means for Japan

The program, also involving the U.K. and Italy, is the first such project with countries other than the U.S.
Noah Lyles of the U.S. celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the Men's 4x100m final at the World Athletics Championship in Budapest on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 28, 2023

Noah Lyles takes tentative steps into Usain Bolt's big shoes

The question now is whether Lyles will be able to continue his fine form into next year's Paris Olympics.
A residential compound near the Orlen refinery on the outskirts of Plock, Poland
WORLD / Society
Aug 28, 2023

After weaponizing immigrants, Europe’s east finds it needs them

Economic reality has caught up with some of the most vitriolic anti-immigrant rhetoric on the continent.
Kanji Matoba offers a prayer in front of a touch screen displaying a portrait of his late wife, at a columbarium in Sendai.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 4, 2023

New types of graves and services reflect changes in tradition

The COVID-19 pandemic made such services as grave visiting in place of families or ones using virtual reality technology take root.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean leader Yoon Suk-yeol hold a news conference during the trilateral summit at Camp David, Maryland, on Aug. 18.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 30, 2023

Camp David success depends on convincing the public

The Camp David statement is an important declaration of shared purpose and principles, and sets a path forward for substantive cooperation.
An Airbus A350 XWB passenger aircraft on the final assembly line at the Airbus factory in Toulouse, France
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 1, 2023

Fake spare parts were supplied to fix top-selling jet engine

The spread of undocumented or potentially faked parts into the engine supply chain is rare and treated with utmost urgency in the industry.
This undated handout photo provided by the Michigan Technological University shows a M93, "Old Gray Guy," the larger and lighter colored wolf in the front and center.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Sep 1, 2023

How a lone 'immigrant' wolf revived a forest ecosystem

By the 1980s, the wolves were in trouble due to the arrival of canine parvovirus which drove their numbers down from a high of 50 to around 12.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes