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Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 18, 2021

In a handful of U.S. states, early data hint at a rise in breakthrough infections

With the arrival of the contagious delta variant, COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths among vaccinated Americans also may have increased, according to preliminary figures.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 16, 2021

A week into Taliban rule, one city’s glimpse of what the future may hold

In Kunduz, the new insurgent leaders said they had no quarrel with the people, but residents say they soon began instilling fear.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 14, 2021

As American schools shut down due to COVID-19, 911 drug calls for youth skyrocketed

Last year, the rate of drug-related emergency calls for young people age 20 and under increased by 43%, an analysis of emergency response data found.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 12, 2021

Tokyo's hospitals under strain as latest COVID-19 wave hits older people harder

Infectious disease experts advising the capital said Thursday that numbers of severely ill patients are rising fast, and that maintaining the health system will soon become difficult.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 28, 2021

North Korea highlights Kim’s weight loss as food shortage builds

By allowing comment on Kim's weight, the country's propaganda apparatus supported a familiar theme in the myth-making of regime leaders.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 16, 2021

Suga's policy wins overshadowed by COVID-19 as Diet session wraps up

Without the pandemic, the prime minister would have enough achievements under his belt to be untroubled by a forthcoming LDP leadership contest and general election.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 8, 2021

Wuhan lab dispute obscures a more pressing problem

Senior Chinese officials acknowledge their country's “clear shortcomings” in its high-level biosafety labs in comparison with the U.S. and warned of insufficient operating funds.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 1, 2021

More than a third of heat deaths are tied to climate change, study says

The sweeping new research was conducted by 70 researchers using data from major projects in the fields of epidemiology and climate modeling in 43 countries.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 25, 2021

Japan to let emergency medics and lab staff administer COVID-19 vaccines

“We have been hearing from municipalities that there are not enough people who can administer the vaccine shots,” the government's top spokesman said Tuesday.
Japan Times
WORLD
May 20, 2021

'We are waiting to die': Hope fades after India halts vaccine exports

The move has hampered plans for the protection for millions of poorer people around the world caught in the pandemic.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 19, 2021

29% of quarantining arrivals in Japan not confirming their location

According to data revealed to a Liberal Democratic Party policy committee, another 20% have failed to report their health condition as required.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
May 19, 2021

How Mumbai officials made city better prepared for COVID-19 than Delhi

The city's success has partly been attributed to a decentralized system set up during the first wave, which included neighborhood war rooms to manage cases by locality.
Japan Times
WORLD
May 19, 2021

Gaza war deepens a long-running humanitarian crisis

The level of destruction and loss of life in Gaza has underlined the humanitarian challenge in the enclave, already suffering under the weight of an indefinite blockade.
Japan Times
WORLD
May 13, 2021

Wealthy nations’ vaccine spree obscures global pandemic misery

As India grapples with a deadly surge among its population of 1.4 billion, worries are growing for many other spots all over the planet.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
May 12, 2021

China’s Sinovac shot found highly effective in real world study

Indonesian data adds to signs out of Brazil that the shot is more effective than it proved in the testing phase, which was beset by divergent efficacy rates and questions over transparency.
A member of the medical staff treats a woman with COVID-19 next to her four-day-old baby at a hospital in Istanbul, Turkey, in November 2021.
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 27, 2024

COVID pregnancies may have boosted autism risk, study shows

"There’s something really going on,” pediatric infectious diseases physician Karin Nielsen says. "We don’t want to alarm the world, but that’s what our data are showing.”
A man pushes a cart along Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles
WORLD / Society
Jan 4, 2025

Ahead of Trump term, U.S. cities grapple with homelessness

The crisis worsened with the end of pandemic-related aid, and are driven by a lack of affordable housing, as well as inflation and low wages.
Epidurals during childbirth have long been uncommon in Japan, though they have been growing more popular in recent years.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jan 14, 2025

Tokyo plans to subsidize epidurals, but are hospitals ready?

If all goes to plan, Tokyo will be the first to offer prefecture-level financial support for epidurals.
A damaged school bus is seen after residents fled from the Eaton fire, one of six simultaneous blazes that have swept across Los Angeles County, in Altadena, California, on Saturday.
WORLD / Society
Jan 15, 2025

LA schools rush to reopen as memories of COVID-19 disruption linger

Educators, administrators and parents are taking steps to mitigate learning loss and provide relief to families adversely affected by wildfires.
Red strawberry-flavored candy. The Red No. 3 artificial coloring will no longer be allowed in U.S. food or ingested drugs starting Jan. 15, 2027, according to a Food and Drug Administration document posted online.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 16, 2025

U.S. bans cancer-linked Red No. 3 coloring in cereal and other foods

The artificial coloring will no longer be allowed in U.S. food or ingested drugs starting Jan. 15, 2027.
An aide places the Presidential seal before President Donald Trump addresses guests and supporters in an overflow room in the Emancipation Hall of the U.S. Capitol for his Inauguration ceremony in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 23, 2025

What Trump has done since returning to the White House

The orders aim to meet campaign promises such as on illegal immigration, energy and the environment, as well as gender and diversity policies.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio waves to employees upon arrival at the State Department in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 25, 2025

U.S. issues broad freeze on foreign aid after Trump orders review

The move risks cutting off billions of dollars of life-saving assistance. The United States is the largest single donor of aid globally.
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.
Eme-Ima Kitchen is one of over 10,000 kodomo shokudō in Japan. A term first used in 2012 to describe makeshift eateries offering free or cheap meals to disadvantaged kids, it now refers to a diverse range of individuals, groups and organizations working to provide not only food but a sense of belonging to both children and adults.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Feb 3, 2025

Japan’s ‘children’s cafeterias’ are booming — but is that a good thing?

They're no substitute for policy, but by providing food and belonging, these safe spaces are filling in the cracks of the nation's fraying communities.
An Iranian couple sits in a park facing the Milad Tower in Tehran on Dec. 27.
ENVIRONMENT
Feb 3, 2025

Vanishing mountains: Winter air pollution smothers Iran

Iran's capital Tehran frequently ranks among the world's most polluted cities, says Swiss-based air quality monitoring company IQAir.
Once a boon to tea farmers' bottom lines, the global matcha craze is now pushing producers and distributors to their limits with few options to adequately meet demand.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 23, 2025

Japan struggles to fend off a world without enough matcha

Production methods and economic risks keep the domestic tea industry from ramping up supply.
A list with the file name "Prohibited words" has been circulating since at least last week in official work chats, according to two U.S. Food and Drug Administration scientists.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 21, 2025

White House says FDA memo banning 'woman' and 'disabled' made in error

The erroneous FDA list likely resulted from a misinterpretation of U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order against 'gender ideology,' a White House spokesman said.
Elsie, a 45 year-old aid worker, who uses a pseudonym to protect her anonymity, used to spend her days wandering the narrow streets of Msogwaba township, near the South African city of Mbombela, to visit hundreds of children living with HIV.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 20, 2025

U.S. aid cuts threaten South Africa's young HIV patients

Around 13% of South Africa's population live with HIV, and about 640,000 children were orphaned by the virus in 2023.
Palestinians try to put out a fire at the emergency department of the Nasser Hospital after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday.
WORLD
Mar 24, 2025

Airstrike on Gaza hospital kills 5; Israel says target was Hamas militant

The Israeli military said its attack followed extensive intelligence and used precise munitions to minimize harm at the site.
Rohingya refugees hold up signs at a camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, on March 14.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 28, 2025

Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh fear U.S. aid cuts will deepen crisis

The U.S. had been the largest provider of aid to the Rohingya refugees, contributing nearly $2.4 billion since 2017, according to a State Department website.

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers