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A special police member monitors a protest, while inside the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) building, a day after members of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk moved into the CFPB, in Washington last Saturday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 14, 2025

Rapid unraveling of U.S. consumer watchdog leaves financial firms in limbo

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may be reviled by the industry, but its abrupt undoing is causing upheaval among those it regulates.
An uprooted tree as Cyclone Zelia made landfall in a suburb of Port Headland, Western Australia
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 14, 2025

Powerful tropical cyclone hits Australia's iron ore hub

The weather bureau warned the system could bring record-breaking rainfall to the region.
Toyohara Kunichika experimented with established norms of composition and began spreading a single figure over three full sheets, as seen in this “Kabuki Play 'Kagamiyama Gonichi no Iwafuji'” triptych.
CULTURE / Art
Feb 15, 2025

Kunichika's vibrant ukiyo-e gets a chance to shine at anniversary exhibit

An underappreciated ukiyo-e master is the focus of the largest-ever retrospective of his work in Japan, marking the 190th anniversary of his birth.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump meet while attending the Group of 20 summit during Trump's first term, in Osaka in June 2019.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 16, 2025

U.S. and Russian officials to meet in Saudi Arabia for Ukraine war talks

The meeting could pave the way for a potential leaders’ summit as soon as the end of the month to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (left) speaks to German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the 61st Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 17, 2025

Ukraine, Europe will be part of 'real' peace talks with Russia, says Rubio

America's top diplomat plays down European concerns of being cut out of this week's talks between Washington and Moscow to end Russia-Ukraine war.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (C) arrives in Saudi Arabia on Monday prior to a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco. Top U.S. and Russian diplomats will meet in Riyadh on Tuesday for talks on resetting the countries' fractured relations and making a tentative start on trying to end the conflict in Ukraine.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 18, 2025

Top Russia and U.S. officials to meet in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday

Meanwhile, European leaders were gathering for emergency talks on how to respond to the radical pivot by the new U.S. administration.
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.
Japanese business leaders, including Keidanren Chairman Masakazu Tokura (front, left), meet with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (front, center) in Beijing on Monday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 18, 2025

Japanese business leaders meet with Chinese vice premier

Vice Premier He said that there is a global rise in conservatism and unilateralism, apparently keeping in mind the additional U.S. tariffs on imports from China.
Prince Hisahito (center) visits Maizuru Repatriation Memorial Museum in Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture, last week.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2025

Prince Hisahito obtains driver's license

Prince Hisahito is set to enter the University of Tsukuba in April.
A Delta airlines plane sits on its roof after crashing upon landing at Toronto Pearson Airport in Toronto, Ontario, on Monday.
WORLD
Feb 18, 2025

String of air crashes in 2025 has rattled travelers

The series of plane crashes this year has prompted sharp criticism of American aviation regulators.
The Thai Royal Police held a meeting on Monday in Bangkok with representatives from 18 countries, including Japan, as well as international organizations like the United Nations regarding the transnational scam operation.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 18, 2025

Japanese nationals thought to be held captive at Myanmar-Thailand border

Foreign nationals from several countries have been held at the border and forced to participate in a variety of scams.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a leader feted around the world for defying a Russian invasion, has been reduced to asking an intermediary about talks that may affect his nation’s survival.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 19, 2025

Zelenskyy excluded as U.S. discusses Ukraine's fate with Russia

The Ukrainian was reduced to asking an intermediary about talks that may affect his nation’s survival, underlining a seismic shift in U.S. diplomacy.
Ilias Roussos, 54, looks on at a summer camp where he lives with his family in Agios Andreas, about 30 kilometers northeast of Athens, on Tuesday, after having fled recurring earthquakes on the island of Santorini.
WORLD
Feb 19, 2025

Islanders keen to return to Santorini even as quakes continue

One of Greece's top travel destinations, Santorini and its neighboring islands of Amorgos, Anafi and Ios have since January been rocked by thousands of tremors.
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.
Mike Sunda at a concert in Haikou, China
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Feb 20, 2025

Mike Sunda: ‘Creative production comes with a bigger responsibility than ever before’

Creative strategist Mike Sunda talks about his influences and the filming of Megan Thee Stallion’s “Mamushi” music video.
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.
David Moreton, a former professor at Tokushima University, originally came to Japan as a missionary in 1988. He is now one of the world’s foremost experts on the Shikoku 88-Temple Pilgrimage.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Feb 24, 2025

How a Canadian missionary found spiritual transformation in Shikoku

David Moreton has devoted decades to researching southern Japan’s famed 88-temple pilgrimage, established by influential monk Kobo Daishi.
These public ashtrays ask either-or questions, which people vote on with their cigarette butts.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 28, 2025

How Shibuya reduced cigarette litter by 90%

A project to reduce litter by making "ballot" smoking areas called Ask the Tobacco is under way.
U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Charles Q. Brown speaks during annual Memorial Day in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, in May 2024.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 22, 2025

Trump fires top U.S. general in unprecedented Pentagon shakeup

The decision sets off a period of upheaval at the Pentagon, which was already bracing for mass firings of civilian staff and other dramatic shifts.
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.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (far right), Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (second from right), Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics (left) and Finland President Alexander Stubb (second from left) gather on the day of a news conference after the Support Ukraine summit, marking the third anniversary of the Russian invasion, in Kyiv on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 25, 2025

European leaders in Kyiv to mark three years of war, but top U.S. officials stay away

Trump's rush to end the war has stoked fears of an undermined Kyiv and an altered geopolitical landscape.
From her early love for "Cardcaptor Sakura" and "YuYu Hakusho" to her rise on "RuPaul’s Drag Race," Rock M. Sakura’s anime inspirations are central to her drag persona.
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 25, 2025

When anime meets drag: The manga-inspired world of Rock M. Sakura

A drag queen who merges manga, anime and queer culture, Rock M. Sakura's persona resonates deeply with fans worldwide.
Staff members wearing costumes from the Japanese superhero series "Choudenshi Bioman" perform during a fan meeting at a concert hall in Seoul to mark the 35th anniversary of its release in South Korea, on Feb. 15.
CULTURE
Mar 2, 2025

South Korean fans soak up nostalgia with vintage Japanese superheroes

It has been decades since "Choudenshi Bioman" was last on TV, but its stories of good versus evil still resonate deeply with some.
An ANA Boeing 787 Dreamliner undergoes maintenance in ANA's hanger at Haneda Airport.
BUSINESS
Feb 25, 2025

ANA to buy at least 77 jets from Boeing, Airbus and Embraer

The purchase underscores ANA’s ambitions to exceed its pre-pandemic fleet size by 2030 and capitalize on the boom in global air travel demand.
Busan port, southeast of Seoul. Business leaders in South Korea are taking action to offset the threat posed by U.S. President Donald Trump's aggressive trade policies.
BUSINESS / Companies / ANALYSIS
Feb 25, 2025

South Korea political turmoil pushes companies to take tariff matters into their own hands

Trump's sweeping and sometimes indiscriminate trade measures have sparked existential debate in many international capitals.
U.S. President Donald Trump throws a pen after signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 26, 2025

U.S. and Ukraine agree to terms of critical minerals deal

The latest version of the deal still doesn’t spell out specific security guarantees, though Ukraine sees it as a starting point toward that possibility.
A drone to shoot videos from the sky of customers at tourist spots, in Tokyo's Chuo Ward on Wednesday
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 27, 2025

Japanese firms to offer drone video-shooting services for tourists

The three companies plan to launch the services at a national park on Shodo Island in Kagawa Prefecture on Aug. 1.
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.
The then-Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump greets a Michigan Muslim community leader at a rally in Novi, Michigan, on Oct. 26.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 23, 2025

Why are pro-Palestinian activists suddenly so quiet?

Pro-Palestinian and Arab-American groups that urged voters to withhold support from Biden over Gaza now face regret as Trump embraces Israel’s hard-line stance.

Longform

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