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Delhi recorded its first death from heatstroke recently, with scorching temperatures wreaking havoc in the capital and other Indian cities.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 30, 2024

India’s scorching heat is making it unlivable

Climate change is a serious problem in India. Working conditions are becoming unbearable during heat waves and everything from agriculture to construction is affected.
People watch a news broadcast of a North Korean missile test, at the main rail station in Seoul on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 1, 2024

North Korea fires two missiles, with one possibly failing near Pyongyang

The launches came just days after large-scale military exercises between South Korea, Japan and the United States concluded.
Rodrigo Duterte is being investigated by the International Criminal Court over his signature "war on drugs" campaign, where thousands were gunned down in what authorities called vigilante killings during his 2016-22 presidency.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 1, 2024

Duterte's senate election bid poses threat to former ally Marcos

The political challenges by the Duterte family could upset the Philippine president's hopes of consolidating power so he can groom a potential successor for 2028.
Inside the TikTok office in Singapore in 2023
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 1, 2024

China’s AI startups head to Singapore in a bid for global growth

Singapore offers many Chinese artificial intelligence startup companies better access to global investors and customers than China does.
Supporters of the far-right National Rally wave French flags at the party's headquarters following voting during the first round of legislative elections in Henin-Beaumont, France, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 2, 2024

French left and Macron race to prevent far-right takeover

Analysts say the most likely outcome of the snap election is a hung parliament that could lead to months of political paralysis and chaos.
No matter the outcome of the snap parliamentary elections in France, President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist project has failed to convince voters.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 2, 2024

Why Macronism failed

With a second round of voting in the French parliamentary election this week, no matter the outcome, Macron hasn't convinced voters that centrism is the way forward.
Anti-landing barricades protrude from the beach in Kinmen, Taiwan, in February, with China's Xiamen city visible in the distance. Taipei has demanded that Beijing release a Taiwanese-registered fishing boat boarded and seized by the China Coast Guard near Kinmen late Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 3, 2024

China’s detention of Taiwan fishing boat risks raising tensions

The incident follows the expansion of China Coast Guard regulations allowing it to detain foreigners suspected of trespassing in waters Beijing claims for up to 60 days.
The right-wing slogan “Make Europe Great Again” — a play on Donald Trump’s campaign slogan — is gaining prominence in European politics.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 3, 2024

‘Make Europe Great Again’ is becoming 'MEGA.' Should Japan worry?

The right-wing "Make Europe Great Again" movement is gaining traction, but Japan shouldn't put it in the same box as its more problematic cousin, MAGA, in the U.S.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine's president, during an interview in Kyiv on Wednesday
WORLD / Politics
Jul 4, 2024

Zelenskyy challenges Trump to reveal plans for ending war

Former U.S. President Donald Trump has boasted that if he wins the election, he’ll end the Ukraine-Russia war by the time he’s inaugurated in January.
Labour leader Keir Starmer reacts as he speaks at a reception to celebrate his win in the election, at Tate Modern in London on Friday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jul 5, 2024

Keir Starmer set to be U.K. PM as Labour trounces Tories in election

Analysts largely expect continuity in Downing Street's foreign policy with the Indo-Pacific despite there being no mention of the region in Labour's election manifesto.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is struggling to stay in office amid low public approval ratings and discontent from within his party. However, it is extremely rare for a sitting LDP president running for reelection to be dethroned.
EDITORIALS
Jul 5, 2024

Kishida fights for his political life

Despite low public approval ratings and discontent in the LDP, all is not lost for Prime Minister Kishida if the summer is kind to him and he plays his cards right.
Starting from September, foreign employees on a work visa must abide by a new points-based system to keep working in Singapore.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 5, 2024

Singapore is making life tougher for global talent

The city-state could lose its position as a global business hub if it keeps tightening the rules for overseas employees in a political bid to appease local residents.
Baseballs fans wear jerseys of the South Korean-born San Diego Padres player Kim Ha-Seong and the Los Angeles Dodgers player Shohei Ohtani in Seoul. Many South Koreans have embraced Ohtani, who is Japanese, despite the countries' historic rivalry.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 5, 2024

How long do the memories of a generation last?

The dominant culture of an era can be passed on to the next generation, but struggles to reach the one after that. This has implications for Japan-South Korea relations.
Marine Le Pen gives a speech on the day of the first round of parliamentary elections in Henin-Beaumont, France, on June 30.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 6, 2024

Will Meloni and Le Pen be right-wing besties? It’s complicated.

People familiar with Meloni’s thinking say she is acutely conscious that, should Le Pen’s party prevail on July 7, they would be uneasy allies at best.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event in Madison, Wisconsin, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 7, 2024

As Biden digs in, more supporters look to push him out

Interviews with dozens of Democrats illustrated an imminent clash between a defiant president and those who question his ability to win.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer
WORLD / Politics
Jul 7, 2024

Untested Starmer is suddenly the West’s last man standing tall

Keir Starmer — who’s spent the last six weeks campaigning under the one-word banner of ‘change’ — is about to discover how in politics, it can come at you fast.
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 8, 2024

Koike eases to victory but Ishimaru's performance signals shift in Tokyo

Koike saw off a tougher challenge than in previous votes, with Ishimaru pointing to a path forward for lesser-known candidates.
President Emmanuel Macron has gone from king to kingmaker of French politics after his bloc came second in the parliamentary election.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 8, 2024

Gambler Macron wins chance to be kingmaker

Even as Macron breathes a sigh of relief after voters halted a far-right triumph, the left-leaning coalition the president will try to build faces a treacherous path.
Japanese troops during an amphibious landing exercise on Tokunoshima island, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan is letting go of old assumptions about the reliability of the rules-based international order and is making efforts to boost its military capabilities.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 8, 2024

As militaries are rebuilt, are we turning American?

Some countries stopped investing in their militaries and defense under the illusion that the rules-based order would prevail. Now, they're facing tough, new realities.
U.S. President Joe Biden looks at his watch as he stands on the balcony during an Independence Day celebration on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 9, 2024

Biden tells wavering Democrats he will not abandon campaign

President Joe Biden faces a critical week as he tries to shore up a campaign that has been on defense since a shaky June 27 debate.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa (center-left) meets with Samoan Prime Minister Afioga Fiame Naomi Mata’afa (center-right) in Samoa in February. Like other Pacific island and Global South states, Samoa is caught in the crossfire of the U.S.-China rivalry.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Jul 11, 2024

Japan can help Global South navigate U.S.-China clash

As Washington and Beijing adopt more inward-looking foreign policies, Japan can be a bridge to Global South countries, whose main concerns are security and growth.
U.S. President Joe Biden attends a NATO event to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the alliance in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 12, 2024

Why Joe won't go: Behind Biden's rejection of calls to leave the race

The reasons U.S. President Joe Biden won't step down range from the deeply personal to party politics.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, view international order as hinging on the concept of indivisible security.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 12, 2024

Russia and China want security for themselves and no one else

Putin and Xi seek indivisible security, that is, exercising draconian control over their respective spheres of influence — which shows the extent of their hypocrisy.
Elon Musk, chief executive officer of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of X, attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups in Paris in June last year.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 13, 2024

Musk donates to Trump, tapping vast fortune to swing 2024 U.S. race

It’s unclear how much Musk has given, but people familiar with the matter characterized the figure as a sizable amount.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump takes the stage during a campaign rally at Trump National Doral, his golf resort in Doral, Florida, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 13, 2024

Trump’s subtle shift in his vice president calculations

The former president appears to be giving more weight to political calculations in selecting a running mate, by picking someone who “helps you get elected.”
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is rushed into a waiting vehicle after a shooting at his campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 14, 2024

An attempt to kill an ex-president, caught in real time, stuns America

In the era of social media, it was not introspection that followed the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, but rather rage, blame, even comedy.
Storage tanks at the Northern Lights carbon capture and storage project controlled by oil companies Equinor, Shell and TotalEnergies in Norway. The Norwegian government is funding 80% of the initial investment for the state-of-the-art facility.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 14, 2024

A giant carbon dump gives glimpse into net-zero future

As the cost of renewables declines at pace with fossil fuel use, the need for carbon, capture and storage tech will diminish, making cost reductions a challenge.
An aerial view shows the stage where Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump had been standing during an assassination attempt the day before, and the roof of a nearby building where a gunman was shot dead by law enforcement, in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Sunday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jul 15, 2024

Shooter came within inches of killing Trump, but left few clues as to why

Thomas Matthew Crooks is not known to be political, and the FBI has yet to identify a motive behind the 20-year-old nursing home aide’s actions.
Peru's former President Alberto Fujimori waves to supporters as he is wheeled out of the Centenario Clinic in Lima on Jan. 04, 2018. He was sent to prison in 2009 over massacres committed by army death squads in the 1990s but was released last year for humanitarian reasons.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 15, 2024

Alberto Fujimori to stand in 2026 Peru elections, his daughter says

It is unclear if the ex-president is eligible to stand for election due to his conviction over massacres committed by the army in his campaign against Maoists guerillas.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a joint news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 15, 2024

Can Kishida's diplomacy boost support at home?

Facing calls to step down even from within the LDP, the Prime Minister apparently hopes to shore up support through his latest meetings overseas.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years