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JAPAN
Jul 15, 2021

IOC president's Hiroshima visit fuels speculation about his true intent

A trip that's officially being made to send a message of peace has instead stirred controversy amid the pandemic and raised questions about Thomas Bach's real purpose.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Jul 15, 2021

Former Olympic marathoner has 'mixed feelings' about Tokyo Games with no spectators

Still, Mara Yamauchi believes that athletes will not be affected by the restrictions brought about by COVID-19 and the lack of spectators at the majority of Olympic venues.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Jul 9, 2021

China's Didi crackdown is all about controlling big data

The crackdown shows how big data is quickly turning into the next major battleground in a clash of superpowers.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 6, 2021

No closer to knowing anything about UFOs

U.S. intelligence report concludes we need more data to confirm if UFOs are really out there
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 6, 2021

Already dirt-cheap, solar panels are about to get even more powerful

A push for more powerful units underscores how further cost reductions could advance the shift away from fossil fuels.
JAPAN
Jul 2, 2021

Delta variant brings about fresh challenges for Japan

As cases continue to rise in Tokyo, the spread of the more contagious variant has renewed concerns over an infection rebound nationwide.
A U.S. district judge did little to hide that he was highly skeptical of Donald Trump's executive order limiting birthright citizenship.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 27, 2025

Judge scoffs at legality of Trump’s bid to limit birthright citizenship

"This is a blatantly unconstitutional order,” the judge said of Donald Trump's executive order.
A worker assembles temporary shelters in preparation for mass deportations at the U.S.-Mexico border in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Mexico, on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 27, 2025

Wall Street banks on Trump not following through on immigration pledges

Mass deportations would likely upend industries as varied as service-heavy hospitality and leisure, labor-intensive agriculture, food production, manufacturing and construction.
Hanna Shelest outside her apartment building in Odesa, Ukraine, on Jan. 20
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2025

I spent Trump’s inauguration in Ukraine. This is what I saw.

In nearly three years since Russia’s invasion, Odesa has moved from shock and fear to denial and, finally, adaptation.
China's DeepSeek carries far-reaching implications for the global tech industry and supply chain.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 27, 2025

Why is the AI world freaking out over China's DeepSeek?

DeepSeek has far-reaching implications for the global tech industry, upending the widespread belief that the future of AI will require ever-increasing amounts of power.
Protestors rally to oppose U.S. President Donald Trump's order to pause all federal grants and loans, in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 29, 2025

Trump’s spending halt spawns day of chaos before getting blocked

Trump's order seemed to touch on a wide swath of programs running the gamut from anti-poverty initiatives to medical research.
A school voucher supporter in Nashville, Tennessee, on Tuesday. U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed executive orders promoting parental choice in school selection and ending federal funding for curricula that he called the "indoctrination" of students in "anti-American" ideologies on race and gender.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 30, 2025

Trump issues orders to promote school choice, end 'anti-American' teaching

Trump and his allies say public schools teach white children to be ashamed of themselves and their ancestors over slavery and discrimination against people of color.
Chief among the worries surrounding DeepSeek is the fact that it collects and stores data in servers in China.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 31, 2025

DeepSeek’s AI restricted by ‘hundreds’ of companies in days

Companies have worked to block access due to concerns about potential data leaks to the Chinese government and what they view as weak privacy safeguards.
Even before U.S. President Donald Trump returned to office this month, uncertainty motivated businesses to rush shipments.
BUSINESS / Companies / ANALYSIS
Jan 31, 2025

Companies race to ship goods to the U.S. ahead of potential tariffs

Even before Trump returned to office, uncertainty motivated many businesses to rush shipments to the U.S.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during an Upper House plenary session in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 31, 2025

Ishiba aims to get assurances from Trump over Senkaku Islands

Ishiba also said he intends to seek assistance from Trump in resolving the issue of Japanese nationals kidnapped by North Korea decades ago.
Silicon Valley’s shock at DeepSeek exposes U.S. tech elites’ insularity and the unintended consequences of U.S. policies aimed at restricting China’s technological progress.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 31, 2025

Why Chinese tech keeps surprising the West

DeepSeek is the latest product from China to shock the U.S. tech broligarchy. It won’t be the last.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 1, 2025

Trump says Ishiba will visit him next week

"They’re coming in to speak to me and I’m looking forward to it," the U.S. president told reporters in the Oval Office.
Donald Trump, then the Republican nominee for U.S. president, meets with Ukrainian Persident Volodymyr Zelenskyy in New York on Sept. 27 last year.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 2, 2025

U.S. wants Ukraine to hold elections following a ceasefire, says Trump envoy

Volodymyr Zelenskyy's five-year term was supposed to end in 2024 but polls cannot be held under martial law, which Ukraine imposed in February 2022.
The USAID building in Washington on Saturday. Senior security staff have been put on leave by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump after they refused to allow representatives from billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to access restricted parts of the building, people familiar with the matter have said.
WORLD
Feb 3, 2025

More USAID staff ousted after clash with Musk's team as Trump dismantles agency

The fast-moving developments follow an executive order by Trump last month to halt and reevaluate U.S. foreign aid.
Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa's president, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 21
WORLD / Politics
Feb 4, 2025

Trump attack on South Africa exposes divisions over race and land

White landowners possess three-quarters of South Africa's freehold farmland, compared with 4% for Black landowners.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 5, 2025

Trump says U.S. should control Gaza, sparking rebukes and ridicule

The proposal, at odds with Mideast reality and America’s fraught history in the region, quickly drew sharp opposition from Saudi Arabia.
A ship transits through the Gatun locks at the Panama Canal in Colon, Panama, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 5, 2025

Panama considers canceling port deal with Hong Kong firm

Such a move would mark a concession to U.S. President Donald Trump, who says China has too much control over the Panama Canal.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrive to hold a news conference at the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 5, 2025

Trump's Gaza stunner builds on his expansionist aims

Since Trump's return to the White House a little more than two weeks ago, his "America First" approach seems to have morphed into "America More."
A Palestinian sits among the rubble of buildings destroyed during an Israeli offensive in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 6, 2025

Trump aides defend Gaza takeover proposal but walk back some elements

Trump shattered decades of U.S. policy with a vaguely worded announcement saying he envisioned transforming Gaza into the "Riviera of the Middle East."
Gaza’s reconstruction is needed, but U.S. President Donald Trump’s approach — framing it as a business deal without addressing Palestinian political aspirations — makes little sense as foreign policy.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 6, 2025

Trump’s ‘Gaza Riviera’ scheme may be more than a fantasy

It’s tempting to dismiss Donald Trump’s bid to take over Gaza as just another wild proposal, designed more to change the conversation and wrong-foot negotiating partners than as policy.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba shows a gift from U.S. President Donald Trump, as they hold a joint news conference in the East Room at the White House in Washington on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 8, 2025

Foreign leaders embrace the art of flattery in wooing Trump

Ishiba became the latest figure to offer ample compliments to a president known for his transactional approach to foreign policy.
Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance will acquire Banner Life Insurance in the United States as it seeks to expand its business overseas amid sluggish domestic market.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 9, 2025

Meiji Yasuda to acquire U.S. peer Banner Life

Japanese life insurance companies are expanding overseas for growth as the domestic market shrinks.
The U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold sails in the front of a formation with the Philippine Navy Jose Rizal-class frigate BRP Jose Rizal (center), the Royal Australian Navy Hobart-class air warfare destroyer HMAS Hobart (left) and the Maritime Defense Force Akizuki-class destroyer Akizuki, during a multilateral Maritime Cooperative Activity exercise in the South China Sea last Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 10, 2025

Calls grow louder for joint maritime patrols near Philippine hot spots

Some want Manila to consider joint coast guard and naval patrols near Chinese government vessels operating in disputed waters of the South China Sea.

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