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Technicians assemble a component of the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment at the CERN nuclear research facility in Cessy, France, in March 2007. International cooperation in science is essential for solving global challenges and maintaining innovation.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 30, 2024

Geopolitics threatens science and societal progress

In this world, the prospect of greater controls or reduced international cooperation can only be damaging.
Demonstrators march in Valencia, Venezuela, on Monday, a day after the Venezuelan presidential election. Protests erupted in parts of Caracas and elsewhere against the re-election victory claimed by President Nicolas Maduro.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 30, 2024

Venezuela needs its neighbors’ help more than ever

Maduro was never going to accept defeat and the idea he would quietly exit the presidential palace was always wishful thinking.
Senior Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh delivers a speech in Gaza City, in the Gaza Strip, in 2017.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 31, 2024

Tough-talking Ismail Haniyeh was seen as Hamas' more moderate face

Hamas' political leader, who was killed in Iran, was the tough-talking face of the Palestinian group's international diplomacy.
Members of Myanmar's military security force patrol a street in Yangon, Myanmar.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 1, 2024

Myanmar junta extends emergency rule as civil war rages on

This is the sixth time Myanmar's highest body has decided to extend the emergency, further pushing back long-promised elections.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the media in New Delhi on June 7.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 1, 2024

India's state elections to test Modi after budget fails to aid swing voters

Despite talk of relief, the government has raised taxes on gains from retail investments, removed some real estate tax benefits and left income tax rates untouched.
Israel is engaged not only in fighting real wars but also in ideological conflicts that shape its security, existence and global legitimacy.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 1, 2024

Challenged on all fronts: Israel’s five wars

What do those who support Israel's right to self-defense suggest it do to combat an enemy that entrenches itself in hundreds of miles of tunnels beneath civilians?
Pita Limjaroenrat, leader of the Thailand's Move Forward Party, in Bangkok on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 2, 2024

Thailand opposition leader warns of instability ahead of court rulings

Top judges will rule next week on whether to disband Move Forward, and whether Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin should be removed from office.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, speaks during an interview at a conference for Black journalists in Chicago on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 2, 2024

Trump faces backlash over comments on Harris' racial identity

Donald Trump's comments came as he attacked Kamala Harris during a combative interaction with African American journalists in Chicago.
Toshimitsu Motegi, secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 2, 2024

Motegi shows readiness to run in LDP presidential race, but hurdles remain

He faces three leadership hurdles: the disbandment of factions, low public popularity and even his current position as the secretary-general.
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan during an interview in Lahore, Pakistan, on March 17, 2023
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 5, 2024

Pakistan former Prime Minister Khan calls for good relations with army

No Pakistani prime minister has completed a full five-year term in office, and most have served time in jail.
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina reviews an honor guard during her visit to Thailand, in Bangkok on April 26.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 5, 2024

Sheikh Hasina's record under fresh scrutiny as Bangladesh unrest deepens

Mass protests that began as student-led rallies against civil service job quotas have morphed into some of the worst unrest under the prime minister's 15-year tenure.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz at the White House in Washington on July 3.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 6, 2024

Harris picks Minnesota's Tim Walz for vice president, sources say

Walz is a progressive policy champion and a plain speaker from America's heartland who may help Harris win over rural, white voters.
U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her newly chosen vice presidential running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz wave to supporters during a campaign rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 7, 2024

Kamala Harris bypasses bigger names for Tim Walz's broad appeal

Walz’s task is clear: Bring back Democratic blocs who drifted from Biden, while sharpening the party’s message on the economy.
As investors look for opportunities in the new environment created by the Bank of Japan and the resulting market turmoil, there is broad consensus that they will have to reevaluate what they thought they knew about the country.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 7, 2024

Japan morphs into the center of worry for global investors

In less than a week, Japan has completely upended the world’s expectations for its markets and economy.
Shigeru Ishiba speaks during an interview in Tokyo on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 7, 2024

LDP bigwig Ishiba endorses BOJ's rate hikes

"The Bank of Japan is on the right policy track" in raising interest rates, Shigeru Ishiba said.
Australia today is running aggressive recruitment campaigns to attract Kiwis to work in sectors like health care, early childhood education, police and prisons, tempting them with higher wages and relocation packages.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 8, 2024

Fed-up New Zealanders are flocking to Australia for better pay

Some 44,534 New Zealanders, almost 1% of the nation’s population of 5 million, left to live in Australia in 2023.
Japan, once a secondary player in Southeast Asian regional integration, now needs to balance strengthening ties with ASEAN while navigating its position between the U.S. and China.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 8, 2024

Japan takes a soft diplomatic approach to ASEAN ties

Shifting dynamics in Southeast Asia are compelling Japan to carefully navigate its role amid intense U.S.-China competition.
Elon Musk held a conversation with Donald Trump on the tech mogul’s X platform on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 13, 2024

Musk pitches White House role in glitchy Trump conversation on X

The conversation gave Elon Musk an opening to increase his influence with Donald Trump if the former president returns to power.
The destruction left behind by the Borel Fire near Lake Isabella, California, on July 29
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 13, 2024

Wildfires are getting weirder. Case in point: 'firenados.'

Sometimes fire thunderstorms even create their own lightning, which spawns new blazes miles away.
Students at the University of British Columbia during the first week of classes in Vancouver, Canada
WORLD / Politics
Aug 14, 2024

Global immigration crackdown ensnares students studying abroad

Aggregate visa data for the first quarter of 2024 showed volumes to the U.K., Canada and Australia down between 20% and 30% from a year earlier.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida leaves at the end of a news conference, in which he announced he is stepping down, at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 14, 2024

Kishida's shock announcement shakes already unsettled Japanese markets

The prime minister's decision to step down follows the Bank of Japan's surprise rate hike just two weeks earlier.
Henry VIII had to deal with xenophobic mobs in England too — and he did so harshly and imperfectly. But there’s an abiding lesson to be learned.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 14, 2024

The U.K. riots and an evil day 500 years ago in London

The enmity focused on the foreign-born may have been sparked by misinformation, but that doesn’t disguise the fact that the tinder was waiting to be lit in Britain.
The chance of open civil unrest in the United States within the next year is low — just 2.9% — but is third highest among the Group of 20 major economies, according to the analysis.
WORLD / Society
Aug 15, 2024

Threat of U.S. civil unrest is low but rising, analysis finds

The U.S. trails only Turkey and Russia among the world’s biggest economies likeliest to see violent political turmoil in the next year.
LDP Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and LDP Vice President Taro Aso attend an executive meeting in Tokyo on July 23.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Aug 15, 2024

With resignation, Kishida looks to LDP's political future

Once it became clear that his chances of winning the September vote were minimal, Kishida chose to prioritize the party’s interests.
The race to succeed Fumo Kishida as the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party promises to be the most competitive in memory. There is no heir apparent and the party's internal structure has been decimated by scandal.
EDITORIALS
Aug 16, 2024

Kishida’s tenure has simple lessons for his successor

The race to succeed Kishida promises to be the most competitive in memory. There is no heir apparent and the LDP's internal structure has been decimated by scandal.
A college student paints graffiti on a wall at Dhaka university in the capital on Monday following weeks of student-led protests that toppled autocratic Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 17, 2024

Bangladesh student protesters eye new party to cement their revolution

Their hope is to avoid a repeat of the last 15 years, in which Sheikh Hasina ruled the country of some 170 million people with an iron fist.
Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Harrah's Cherokee Center in Asheville, North Carolina, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 17, 2024

How Trump’s intimidation tactics have reshaped the Republican Party

Those seen as disloyal to Trump and his Make America Great Again agenda have been the target of threats by his most ardent supporters.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Praty hopes to capitalize on a sense of renewal stemming from the election of a new president to succeed Fumio Kishida, who has said he will not seek reelection.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 18, 2024

LDP pinning hope on boost from leader change

The LDP will hold a leadership election in September to choose the successor to President Fumio Kishida, who said last week that he will step down.
Wind turbines in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture
BUSINESS
Aug 19, 2024

Japan offers lifeline to ESG investing amid backlash overseas

In light of the anti-ESG sentiment in the U.S. and Europe, analysts said that Japan can play a key role in driving sustainable finance globally.
Masako Egawa forged a successful career in business and academia in the United States and Japan.
BUSINESS / WOMEN AT WORK
Sep 1, 2024

A quiet triumph of excellence in the worlds of banking and academia

Masako Egawa navigated a changing business world with her arms open to any opportunities that came along.

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