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Entrepreneur Lee Hee-tae at his office in Seoul. Lee had planned South Korea's largest sex festival in April, but the two-day event was banned by authorities following a backlash by local rights groups.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
May 30, 2024

Pervert or pioneer? The entrepreneur trying to get South Korea into porn

The South Korean adult content industry produces around 2,000 adult movies a year, compared with Tokyo's 2,000 a day $36.5-billion-dollar behemoth.
Yumi Oshida and Truffle enjoy walks together through their neighborhood whenever they can.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Jun 3, 2024

Truffle is settling in at his own pace

Despite losing a pet, it wasn’t long before Yumi Oshida started wondering whether she should open up her home to another furry companion — thankfully for Truffle, she did.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivers a keynote address at the Shangri-La Dialogue security conference in Singapore on Friday night.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 31, 2024

Marcos lays out red line in South China Sea at security conference

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivered his clearest remarks yet on his red lines in the ongoing row with China over the disputed waterway.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks at Trump Tower in New York on Friday. Some Republican strategists say they believe the news of Trump's conviction will have little influence on voters' thinking by Nov. 5.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 1, 2024

Some Republicans less likely to vote for Trump after guilty verdict, poll finds

The election is still more than five months away, however, meaning much could change between now and Nov. 5.
People protest in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip at the headquarters of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, on Oct 18, 2023.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 3, 2024

ICJ is collateral damage in dysfunctional global system, experts say

That countries comply with its rulings — or not — based on their own double standards is hamstringing the international court adjudicating disputes between nations.
People walk with their luggage after a rainstorm hit Dubai, UAE, causing delays at Dubai International Airport on April 17.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 3, 2024

Airlines eye 'new frontier' of AI ahead of global summit

Aviation companies, long accustomed to thin profit margins, see AI as the newest way to boost productivity and gain a competitive edge.
France's President Emmanuel Macron looks on as he delivers a speech at New Caledonia's High Commissioner residency in Noumea on May 22, during his trip to the Pacific archipelago.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 3, 2024

A Pacific island in flames cuts Macron’s global ambition down to size

The French president's decision of pushing through a contentious law before New Caledonia’s provincial elections has developed into a lasting problem for the Elysee.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks to reporters at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Friday. Kishida said Tuesday that he was not planning to call a snap election during the current parliamentary session that ends June 23.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 4, 2024

Kishida says he won't call snap election before parliament closes

Kishida's Cabinet has been saddled with record-low approval ratings, as the LDP grapples with a recent political funds scandal within his party.
Israeli soldiers ready a tank near the border with Gaza on Thursday. The Jewish state's victory in the Gaza conflict will depend on addressing Palestinian despair.
COMMENTARY
Jun 4, 2024

Israel will always be held to a different standard

Arrest warrants, campus protests and genocide accusations were not inevitable. These were the direct results of Netanyahu’s choices.
"Paris" is projected onto the Arc de Triomphe to celebrate the entry into the Olympic year, during the New Year's celebrations on the Champs Elysees avenue in Paris on Jan. 1, 2024.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 4, 2024

Russian bots use fake Tom Cruise for Olympic disinformation

The video also included falsified endorsements from media outlets including The New York Times and the BBC.
Donald Trump holds a rally in the South Bronx on May 23.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 4, 2024

'Enemy within': Trump rhetoric rings alarm bells

During his first term Trump regularly railed at the media as the "enemy of the people," but his sweep now seems wider and more indiscriminate.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives to greet supporters at the Bharatiya Janata Party headquarters after the results of the general elections in New Delhi on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 5, 2024

Narendra Modi vows to retain power in India even as BJP loses majority

Prime Minister Modi needs to secure the support of two members of his broader National Democratic Alliance who have some 30 seats — enough to flip the balance of power.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi flashes victory signs as he arrives at the Bharatiya Janata Party headquarters in New Delhi late Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jun 5, 2024

India’s Modi gets Pyrrhic poll victory as challenges loom for BJP

A better-than-expected performance by the opposition denied the ruling party a majority, forcing it to rely on its coalition partners to stay in power.
A white-tailed eagle is released backed to the wild in Hokkaido in February after having been treated for bird flu with human-use influenza drug.
JAPAN / Science & Health / FOCUS
Jun 6, 2024

White-tailed eagle treated with human drug returns to wild

After having been released in the wild in February, subsequent tracking verified that the bird was successfully living independently in its natural habitat.
Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 6, 2024

Alphabet taps Eli Lilly executive as new CFO replacing Porat

Anat Ashkenazi will replace Ruth Porat who announced last year she planned to step down.
The NewsBreak company logo adorns a sign at a corporate office building in Mountain View, California, on April 26
WORLD
Jun 6, 2024

Top news app in U.S. has Chinese origins and ‘writes fiction’ with AI

NewsBreak launched in the U.S. in 2015 as a subsidiary of Yidian, a Chinese news aggregation app.
Yayoi Kusama’s “Pumpkin,” once the victim of high waves that dragged it into the sea, sits at the end of a pier on the south side of Naoshima.
PODCAST / deep dive
Jun 6, 2024

The sweaty pleasure of Japan’s inconvenient art

This week, writer Thu-Huong Ha is our tour guide into the world of Japan’s inconvenient art movement.
Amateur actor Chihiro Kawano (front) performs in Hikaru Fujii's video art installation "War Is Over" in Saiki, Oita Prefecture.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 7, 2024

War is (not) over: Hikaru Fujii probes historical memory in Kyushu

Viewable at its current location until June 16, “War Is Over” simply would not be the same work in a different location.
Iga Swiatek will be vying for her fourth French Open title when she meets Jasmine Paolini in the final on Saturday in Paris.
TENNIS
Jun 7, 2024

Iga Swiatek beats Coco Gauff to reach third straight French Open final

World No. 1 Swiatek defeated U.S. Open champion Gauff 6-2, 6-4 to extend her winning streak in Paris to 20 matches.
Takayuki Midorikawa stands in front of Ueda Junior High School in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Jun 17, 2024

Fukushima schools open up to revising old rules

The prefecture has recently made some moves to accommodate a little more diversity in the classroom.
Liberal Democratic Party Vice President Taro Aso (left), Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (center) and LDP Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi sing the LDP song at the party's annual convention in Tokyo on March 17.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jun 8, 2024

Kishida could break with Motegi and Aso over fund regulation

To secure backing for the bill, Kishida chose to concede to external parties rather than side with his right-hand men in the LDP.
A woman leaves a pooling booth after voting during the European elections in a polling station, in Baarle-Nassau, Netherlands, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 7, 2024

Irish and Czechs hold EU vote after Dutch far-right gains

The EU vote comes at a time of major geopolitical instability, almost two and a half years into Russia's war on Ukraine.
A U.K. biannual customer satisfaction index based on a survey of 15,000 consumers fell to its lowest since 2015 in January and has declined for three straight periods.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 9, 2024

Bad service is in the U.K.’s cultural DNA

While the U.K. could treat its customers better, not doing so is a choice. Why? There's a strain of British society that doesn’t accept the idea of service.
Members of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division visit a memorial on Omaha Beach in Vierville-sur-Mer on June 5.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 10, 2024

Biden warns of isolationism at war cemetery that Trump skipped

The U.S. president didn’t name Donald Trump during a brief discussion with reporters at the cemetery, but his target was unmistakable.
Traffic at the Dubai International Financial Centre. Last year, it opened the DIFC Family Wealth Center, a registry for family offices that also offers advisory services, workshops, mentoring, dispute resolution and certification based on how "structured” their governance is.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 10, 2024

Dubai takes on Abu Dhabi in race for supremacy in family offices

Last year, the number of registered foundations in Dubai rose by 53%. In rival Abu Dhabi, the number jumped by 35%.
Alternative for Germany party co-leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla react to results after the polls closed in the European Parliament elections, in Berlin on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 10, 2024

In EU elections, the center holds, but far right still wreaks havoc

Balloting indicates that the prevailing winds have grown chill for some of Europe’s political establishment.
Soldiers stand at attention on the day German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier attends a Bundeswehr training exercise in Munster, Germany, on April 18.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 11, 2024

Infighting over budget imperils Germany’s defense upgrade

Uncertainty is growing about how to achieve a key spending goal when topped-off funds are exhausted in 2028.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and digital minister Taro Kono attend a digitalization panel in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 11, 2024

Japan's parliament faces a long road to digitalization

Concerns over decorum and the possibility of the use of electronic devices being obtrusive to proceedings are among reasons cited for maintaining restrictions.
Some experts believe if Beijing wants to assert its dominance on the world stage, then it is hard to see where common ground for compromise with the West can be found.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 11, 2024

The U.S. debate over China policy intensifies

Some experts believe if Beijing wants to assert its dominance on the world, then it is hard to see where common ground for compromise with the West can be found.
From behind his desk in a Tokyo office, Hideki (Arata Iura) yearns for something more in life, but he is not prepared for the culture shock of life on a Montana ranch in “Tokyo Cowboy.”
CULTURE / Film / CULTURE SMASH
Jun 13, 2024

‘Tokyo Cowboy’ strikes balance between cross-cultural comedy and fish-out-of-water tale

From behind his desk in a Tokyo office, Hideki yearns for something more in life, but he is not prepared for the culture shock of life on a Montana ranch.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight