Search - 2018

 
 
The Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani warms up during spring training in Glendale, Arizona, Tuesday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Feb 13, 2025

Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani expected to throw first bullpen session this weekend

Ohtani underwent Tommy John surgery in September 2023 while still with the Los Angeles Angels. He was unable to pitch in 2024.
Visitors look at information promoting Saudi Arabia's Neom megaproject at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 22.
WORLD
Feb 13, 2025

Why are TikTok 'momfluencers' lauding Saudi Arabia's desert megacity?

One Thai "momfluencer" shared a video of her "typical afternoon in Neom." The video has been viewed around 800,000 times. The city it shows is almost deserted.
Chinese President Xi Jinping
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 14, 2025

Xi to chair symposium attended by Jack Ma and other Chinese business leaders, sources say

Xi rarely chairs symposiums about the private sector, and the event underscores the numerous challenges currently facing China.
Volunteer Nhoun Niyok shows villagers how to use a mosquito net to prevent malaria in Cambodia's northeastern Mondulkiri province on Jan. 16.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Feb 14, 2025

Cambodia nears Khmer Rouge survivor's dream of eradicating malaria

The hope is for zero cases this year — a remarkable turnaround for a country that was formerly an epicenter of multi-drug resistant strains.
While Valentine’s Day in the West is traditionally associated with men giving flowers to women, in Japan the day has typically involved women giving gifts of chocolate to men.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 14, 2025

A sweet Japanese Valentine's Day tradition is nearly dead

The custom of giri-choco, loosely meaning "obligatory chocolate,” was once commonplace in offices around the country.
People pay tribute to late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny at his grave at the Borisovo cemetery, marking the first anniversary of his death while incarcerated in a remote Arctic penal colony, in Moscow on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 17, 2025

Russians risk reprisals to visit Navalny grave on death anniversary

Russia has still not fully explained the circumstances of his death.
Marine Nationale, ridden by Michael O’Sullivan, runs on the way to winning the 13:30 The Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle Race in Cheltenham, England, on March 14, 2023.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 17, 2025

Irish jockey Michael O'Sullivan dies 10 days after fall during race

He was treated on the track before being transferred by air ambulance to Cork University Hospital, where he was place in an induced coma.
Geraint Thomas puts on the overall leader's yellow jersey on the podium after the 19th stage of the 105th edition of the Tour de France cycling race, between Lourdes and Laruns, France, in July 2018.
MORE SPORTS / Cycling
Feb 18, 2025

British Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas to retire at end of season

Thomas won the Tour de France in 2018, after securing gold for Britain in the team pursuit in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.
Japan goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita (front left) and defender Saki Kumagai (center) in action against the United States during the Paris 2024 Olympics on Aug. 3
SOCCER
Feb 18, 2025

Nielsen eyes mentality shift in first outing as Nadeshiko boss

Japan will make its fifth appearance in the SheBelieves Cup, and is pitted against Australia, Colombia and the host, the United States.
Kodai Furutani, the assistant chief priest at Ryugasan Unmon Temple in Annaka, Gunma Prefecture, is working to become an interfaith chaplain.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2025

Monk in chaplain training urges people to face death and live life

There is a deep-seated idea in Japan that a monk being seen at a hospital is a bad omen, as their presence reminds patients and medical staff of death.
The Grok-3 artificial intelligence chatbot has "more than 10 times” the computing power of its predecessor, billionaire Elon Musk said in a presentation alongside three engineers from xAI, his AI startup, on Monday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 18, 2025

Musk debuts Grok-3 AI chatbot to rival OpenAI and DeepSeek

Grok-3 beats its rivals across math, science and coding benchmarks, the chatbot's developer says.
Canada faces a tough decision on how to respond to U.S. President Donald Trump's economic threats, particularly regarding energy exports, with options ranging from strategic energy cuts to export taxes.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2025

Weaponizing Canadian oil would rattle Trump

Reducing crude output has the potential to inflict real pain on U.S. refiners and consumers.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off carrying 53 Starlink internet satellites, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on May 18, 2022.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 18, 2025

Vietnam paves way for Musk's Starlink amid U.S. tariff threats

A regulatory change can be seen as "an olive branch" to SpaceX amid nervousness in Vietnam about tariff threats from U.S. President Donald Trump.
Director Park Chan-wook (center) and his cast hit commercial gold with “Joint Security Area,” a film about North and South Korean friendship.
CULTURE / Film
Feb 18, 2025

South Korean blockbuster 'Joint Security Area' strikes a chord 25 years on

Park Chan-wook's tale of inter-Korean friendship was a risky undertaking at the time of filming, but it has since become a celebrated cinematic masterpiece.
Norinchukin Bank Chief Executive Officer Kazuto Oku
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 19, 2025

Norinchukin CEO plans to resign after massive bond losses

Norinchukin reported wider losses this month as it boosted investments in riskier leveraged loans and sought additional capital.
Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe (left) celebrates with Jude Bellingham after completing a hat trick against Manchester City during their Champions League match in Madrid on Wednesday.
SOCCER
Feb 20, 2025

Kylian Mbappe wants to make history with Madrid after Champions League hat trick

Kylian Mbappe's hat trick against Manchester City propelled Real Madrid into the Champions League last 16 on Wednesday and saw the French superstar reach a new personal high with Los Blancos.
Tokoro Ruins Museum Director Yuuki Nakamura says that 'most Japanese people don’t know' the history of the Okhotsk culture, but he and others are betting that travelers might be intrigued enough to visit and find out more.
LIFE / Travel
Feb 22, 2025

Bear skulls and pit dwellings: Hokkaido aims to sell ancient history

The Okhostk culture thrived in northern Hokkaido from the fifth to ninth centuries and may have provided the Ainu with some of their best-known rituals.
Ahead of the 30th anniversary of the 1995 sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system by Aum Shinrikyo, the Public Security Intelligence Agency launched a special website Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2025

Special website created 30 years after Tokyo subway sarin attack

The Aum Shinrikyo digital archive covers not only the Tokyo subway system attack, but also other crimes by the cult, including a 1994 sarin gas attack in Matsumoto.
Luka Doncic was traded from the Mavericks to the Lakers on Feb. 2.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Feb 23, 2025

Dirk Nowitzki felt 'disappointed and sad' for Luka Doncic after trade

Nowitzki said he was shocked when he learned about the trade.
Shohei Ohtani hits during live batting practice in Glendale, Arizona, on Feb. 23.
BASEBALL / MLB
Feb 24, 2025

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani faces live pitching for first time since surgery

According to multiple reports, Ohtani saw 32 pitches Sunday from Dodgers pitchers and put three in play. He did not hit any home runs.
People ride in cable cars over the Chandragiri hilltop on the outskirts of Kathmandu on Feb. 3.
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 24, 2025

Nepal community fights to save sacred forests from cable cars

Five cable car projects have opened in the past two years — and 10 more are under development, according to government figures.
U.S. government scientists participating in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change were issued a stop-work order from the Trump administration, according to media reports.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Feb 24, 2025

Trump creates uncertainty for world’s most cited climate report

The U.S. absence comes amid broader cuts to research funding and a retreat from climate diplomacy under the Trump administration.
Lt. Gen. Dan Caine (right) with an Iraqi general in Mosul, Iraq, in 2018
WORLD / Politics
Feb 24, 2025

Trump’s frustration with generals resulted in an unconventional pick

Lt. Gen. Dan Caine, a retired three-star Air Force officer, quickly moved up the list of candidates to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
In all, global investors plowed around $315 million into eFishery’s preferred shares over five funding rounds.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 24, 2025

SoftBank among eFishery investors facing near wipeout

Investors in the startup, which deploys feeders to fish and shrimp farmers in Indonesia, are likely to get back less than 10 cents for every dollar they invested.
Hong Kong's policymakers are nearing a crossroads amid dwindling avenues for generating revenue and an economy that’s expected to remain under pressure this year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 25, 2025

Hong Kong to tackle deficit and slower economic growth in budget

There may be limited options for generating the kind of revenue needed to plug an expected shortfall of 100 billion Hong Kong dollars.
U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron look at each other during a press conference at the White House in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 25, 2025

Macron and Trump rekindle Le Bromance with a touch of tension

Strains over Trump's sudden pivot to Russia over the Ukraine war bubbled up to the surface, even if Macron softened the blow with yet another physical gesture.
The weak yen is often cited as one reason why many Japanese don't go abroad.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 25, 2025

Only 17% of Japanese people own passports, Foreign Ministry says

Around 3.7 million passports were issued domestically in 2024, a 8.8% increase from the year before but down 15.2% from prepandemic numbers in 2019.
Hidehiro Asada, the director of Woodcore, shows the firm's laminated wood at its plant in the town of Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, in December.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 26, 2025

Osaka Expo centerpiece a ‘symbol of Fukushima's reconstruction’

Materials for the expo's Grand Ring are being supplied by a wood-processing company in the prefecture, which bore the brunt of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.
Passengers at a train station in Tokyo. Railway operators plan to expand the scope of chemicals and materials passengers will be banned from bringing onto trains starting in April.
JAPAN
Feb 26, 2025

Railway companies to tighten restrictions on hazardous materials

The move comes as part of a push to bolster security ahead of the 2025 Osaka Expo.
Kwek Leng Beng, chairman of City Developments Ltd., attends a news conference in Singapore in 2019.
BUSINESS
Feb 27, 2025

Father-son feud plunges Singapore’s richest clan into crisis

At stake in the feud is control of a major slice of an $18 billion family empire spanning property development to hospitality and finance.

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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