Search - i

 
 
New Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (left) and and his predecessor, Wen Jiabao (center), attend the 12th National People's Congress where Chinese President Xi Jinping was first elected in Beijing in March 2013.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 7, 2023

China's opaque politics and the Li Keqiang mystery

Li reportedly had bypass surgery and was taking drugs after a liver transplant, both of which would have increased the risk of a heart attack.
Tomihiro Tanaka, president of the Japan branch of the Unification Church also known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, bows his head in apology during a news conference on Tuesday in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 7, 2023

Unification Church ready to set aside ¥10 billion fund for victims

The announcement was made as lawmakers contemplate measures to secure the church’s assets if the court decides to strip the group of its special status.
People wait for the arrival of a train going west, in Kherson, Ukraine, on Oct. 31.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 7, 2023

Ukraine’s secret plan to save a city trapped in purgatory

Since Russian troops were pushed out of the city of Kherson, they have bombed it relentlessly. Closely held river operations could change that.
After years of pining, gamers are finally getting the live-action Zelda movie they've always wanted.
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Nov 8, 2023

A live-action Legend of Zelda movie is in development

A live-action Zelda movie has been a holy grail of video game adaptations for decades, and now that day has come.
The family grave of Toshihide Matsumoto is dismantled in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture. An increasing number of Japanese people are opting to permanently close their family graves as traditional family structures continue to change.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 9, 2023

Graying Japan faces a grave problem

Services designed to help people move or scatter their ancestors' ashes and close up family graves are experiencing increased demand.
Tiger Woods competes at the British Open in July 2022.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
Nov 8, 2023

Tiger Woods to own and play for Florida team in virtual golf league

The team will begin play in January when TGL launches its inaugural season at a custom-built arena in Florida.
Displaced residents of the city of Gaza walk to the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 9, 2023

Tens of thousands flee as Israel tightens 'stranglehold' on Gaza

U.N. rights chief Volker Turk described Israel's collective punishment of Palestinian civilians and their forcible evacuation as war crimes.
Buildings in Pudong's Lujiazui Financial District in Shanghai. China's yuan weakened past the closely watched 7.2-per-dollar level as investor sentiment soured on a lack of aggressive stimulus and Beijing signaled a level of comfort about the declines.
BUSINESS / Markets
Nov 9, 2023

China is struggling woo back foreign investors

The lack of investment among global firms in China may have far reaching effects on the world’s second-largest economy.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 9, 2023

Troubled 2025 Osaka Expo could see further cost increases

Amid numerous challenges, Osaka officials hope no further discussions on increasing the budget of the troubled event will be needed.
Former Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, former Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina, Gov. Ron Desantis of Florida, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and Sen. Tim Scott, take the stage for the third Republican presidential debate in Miami on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 9, 2023

Trump-bashing Republican rivals still don't break with him

The third GOP debate's focus seemed trained on former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who is rising in early polls.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 9, 2023

Kishida rules out snap election amid record low popularity

The prime minister has once again ruled out a snap election as he faces record low popularity ratings and growing criticism from within his own party.
Palestinian families fleeing Gaza City and other parts of northern Gaza toward southern areas, walk along a highway on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 10, 2023

Israel commits to more limited pauses in Gaza Strip fighting

Israel will enact "tactical local pauses for humanitarian aid, which are limited in time and area,” an Israeli army spokesperson said.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 10, 2023

Former Lower House speaker and LDP heavyweight Hiroyuki Hosoda dies

The seasoned lawmaker served in key posts in the government and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, including as chief Cabinet secretary.
Director Wim Wenders served as president of the competition jury at this year's Tokyo International Film Festival. Wenders' "Perfect Days," which opened the festival and features Koji Yakusho as a toilet cleaner in Tokyo, is Japan’s nominee for the Academy Awards’ best international feature film category.
CULTURE / Film
Nov 11, 2023

'Perfect Days' and '(Ab)normal Desire' turn heads at Tokyo International Film Festival

Wim Wenders' film opened the event, while Yoshiyuki Kishi’s multilayered drama made a splash, taking both the Audience Award and the best director prize.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 11, 2023

Komeito chief Natsuo Yamaguchi to visit China from Nov. 22

Yamaguchi had initially planned to visit China in August, but the trip was postponed amid a row over the Fukushima water release decision.
Charles Q. Brown Jr.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 11, 2023

Top U.S. general doubts China's Xi planning to take Taiwan by force

Charles Q. Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the Chinese leader would "try to use other ways to do this.”
Japanese saxophonists Wataru Hirai (left) and Kenta Igarashi won prizes in the eighth International Adolphe Sax Competition held in Dinant, Belgium.
JAPAN
Nov 12, 2023

Two Japanese win prizes in international sax competition in Belgium

Hirai, 23, from Hyogo Prefecture, took fourth place while Igarashi, 21, from Gunma Prefecture, came in fifth in the prestigious competition.
People carry posters and chant slogans on Saturday during a demonstration in Tel Aviv calling for the release of Israeli hostages taken by Palestinian militants that are currently being held in the Gaza Strip.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 13, 2023

Friends and relatives fight to keep spotlight on Israeli hostages

Many of the hostages' loved ones have traveled to Western capitals to make their cause heard among diplomats and the international media.
Alexandra Skochilenko, a 33-year-old artist charged with spreading false information about Russia's armed forces, is escorted during a court hearing in St. Petersburg on Nov. 8.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 13, 2023

Lawyers seek release of Russian artist who staged anti-war protest

Alexandra Skochilenko has spent over 1½ years in prison in St. Petersburg as the Russian legal system deals with her case.
The Humane Ai Pin’s interface is projected onto the hand of company co-founder Bethany Bongiorno in San Francisco on Oct. 27. Humane, a company started by two former Apple employees, says its new artificial intelligence pin can stop all the scrolling.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 13, 2023

Silicon Valley’s bet on the device that comes after the smartphone

Humane's Ai Pin is being billed as the first artificially intelligent device.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 13, 2023

State minister of finance resigns in further blow to Kishida

Kenji Kanda submitted his resignation after admitting that his firm had failed to pay fixed asset taxes.
The curtain is closing on the Lee dynasty's leadership of Singapore. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced his resignation, which could come next year, and the handing of power to deputy Lawrence Wong.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 10, 2023

Singapore contemplates the end of the Lee political era

Prime minister Lee Hsien Loong has announced his resignation, marking the end of his dynasty's leadership and a new chapter in Singapore's politics.
A giant panda at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington during one of its last days on American soil. Pandas Tian Tian, Mei Xiang and Xiao Qi Ji were returned to China on Nov. 8 upon Beijing's request.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 14, 2023

Pandas don’t play diplomatic hard ball like China does

Panda diplomacy is endangered, with the forced return of three bears from Washington to China an exercise in "dumb power."
A poster of Terry Gou, who has collected three times the amount of signatures needed to qualify to run Taiwan's presidential elections is displayed in Taipei on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 14, 2023

Foxconn founder Terry Gou qualifies to run for Taiwan president

In a statement, Gou thanked his backers for their "enthusiastic support" and vowed to work hard to achieve "peace across the Taiwan Strait."
Rory McIlroy lines up his putt during the Ryder Cup in Rome on Oct. 1. The popular golfer has made no secret that the PGA Tour's secret talks with Saudi Arabia had blindsided and stung him.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
Nov 15, 2023

Rory McIlroy resigns from PGA Tour board

The decision by one of golf's most popular athletes is a particularly public blow to the tour and its board.
Ichiro Ozawa (third from right) with other members of parliament at a ceremony to launch a new party in Tokyo in July 2012.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 15, 2023

Ichiro Ozawa is once again looking for a way to defeat the LDP

The octogenarian political veteran is looking to cap his long career with another successful drive to defeat the ruling LDP at the polls.
Rassemblement National member of Parliament Marine Le Pen (left), and the president of the far-right party Jordan Bardella (right) march during a demonstration against antisemitism in Paris on Sunday
WORLD / Politics
Nov 16, 2023

EU's far right joins rally against antisemitism, unsettling some Jews

The strategy is to normalize the party's image, helping politicians bolster their anti-migration agenda while rebutting suggestions they are racist.
Armando Aroca, environmentalist, former guerrilla and current nursery manager of the Common Community Multi Active Cooperative (COMUCCOM) farm, points to a mural with the image of murdered environmentalist Jorge Santofimio in Puerto Guzman, Colombia, on June 27.
ENVIRONMENT
Nov 16, 2023

How the murders of activists hurt Colombian ecological preservation

Conservationists are targeted as their work poses a threat to illegal activities
Kyrgyz male labor migrants wait to depart for work in Russia at the office of a company organizing passenger transportation on Oct. 17.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Nov 16, 2023

Pressured amid war effort, Central Asia migrants leave Russia

Moscow is offering incentives for migrants to work in places like Mariupol, while enlistment offices seek to entice them into the Russian army.
U.S. President Joe Biden greets Chinese President Xi Jinping before a meeting during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders week in Woodside, California, on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 16, 2023

Biden and Xi agree to pick up the phone to avert crisis. But now what?

Agreed measures are unlikely to be enough to improve bilateral ties, as neither side appeared willing to tackle fundamental differences head on.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear