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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang speaks during the China International Supply Chain Expo in Beijing. Nvidia, along with Advanced Micro Devices, has agreed to pay 15% of revenues from Chinese artificial intelligence chip sales to the U.S. government.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 14, 2025

Trump’s deal with Nvidia offers path forward in global trade war

The deal provides U.S. firms a path to enter the Chinese market despite various trade barriers.
The Parque da Cidade, the main venue for the COP30 summit, under construction in Belem, Brazil, on May 5.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 14, 2025

Lula’s plan for COP30 in Amazon risks becoming a logistical mess

With fewer than 100 days to go, Brazil is under fire from countries concerned about a shortage of hotel rooms and soaring accommodation costs.
A miner holds a sack of ore as it comes out a the mine shaft at the Rubaya coltan mine, near the town of Rubaya, which is controlled by M23 rebels, in eastern Congo on March 24.
WORLD
Aug 14, 2025

Inside the mine that feeds the tech world — and funds Congo’s rebels

The Congolese town of Rubaya produces around 15% of the world’s coltan, which is shipped thousands of kilometers away to Asia where it’s processed into tantalum.
A Pertamina fuel storage facility at Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta in 2022
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 18, 2025

Indonesia’s ‘gasoline godfather’ targeted in $18 billion graft probe

Mohammad Riza Chalid is the most audacious target to date for the current administration, as it reshuffles its energy procurement and attempts to supercharge growth.
China’s massive scale, strong education system and competitive local governance have enabled it to reach the technological frontier and dominate high-tech manufacturing despite its low per capita gross domestic product.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 19, 2025

Demystifying the manufacturing success of China

The obvious question is how a country with such low per capita GDP has managed to reach the technological frontier in so many sectors.
Musical act Petalhead, comprised of Jaime Alise (left) and Riku Ogura, performs at More Than Music’s beachside event in Zushi, Kanagawa Prefecture.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Aug 25, 2025

More Than Music makes space for creative communion

Since 2018, Tokyo-based duo Justin Sachs and Atsuko Sunaga have been organizing live shows and curating a community with shared passions.
U.S. President Donald Trump and South Korean leader Lee Jae Myung attend a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 26, 2025

'Peacemaker’ Trump says he wants to meet North Korea’s Kim this year

The U.S. president said “big progress” was possible, during a summit with South Korean leader Lee Jae Myung in Washington that also focused on defense and trade issues.
U.S. military personnel stand guard in front of the New Grand Hotel where Gen. Douglas MacArthur stayed circa September 1945 in Yokohama.
JAPAN / History / Perspectives
Sep 1, 2025

How the Allied Occupation changed Japan: A love story

A wartime GI and a Japanese civilian fell in love during the Occupation, embodying the peace built after Japan’s surrender.
Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a reception at the Kremlin in Moscow on May 9.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 29, 2025

Russia eyes China trade revival as Putin prepares for Xi summit, sources say

"Ahead of the visit, officials on both sides are looking into ways to increase trade because the current numbers do not look good," one source said.
Headlining the second day of YouTube Music Weekend is Vocaloid artist Kikuo, who, with 1.46 million YouTube subscribers, is one of the most popular artists in the genre.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 29, 2025

YouTube Music Weekend is where Japan’s internet-born performers go global

YouTube's three-day weekend of online performances features a medley of Vocaloid, hyperpop, rock and pop artists in a supportive, cultural festival atmosphere.
A group of Ground Self-Defense Force service members discuss drone operations and capabilities at a joint static display during the Orient Shield 24 opening ceremony at the Yausubetsu Training Area in Hokkaido in July last year.
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2025

Japan looks to build drone ‘shield’ in record defense budget request

The Defense Ministry is seeking a budget exceeding ¥8.8 trillion that includes a ¥128.7 billion plan to build a multilayered coastal defense system.
Network School’s co-working space in Johor Bahru, Malaysia
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 1, 2025

Techno-utopia rises in Malaysia's $100 billion Forest City flop

Entrepreneurs experiment with "startup societies” defined less by historical territory than shared beliefs in technology, cryptocurrency and light regulation.
Chloe Malle has been named the next editor-in-chief of Vogue, succeeding Anna Wintour, according to media reports.
LIFE / Style & Design
Sep 3, 2025

Vogue appoints Chloe Malle to replace fashion doyenne Anna Wintour

After months of speculation, Vogue named Malle as its new editor, taking over from Wintour, who led the magazine for more than 40 years.
Palestinians displaced by the Israeli military offensive shelter in a UNRWA school, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Aug. 19.
WORLD
Sep 5, 2025

Coffee and cash: How Hamas pays its civil servants in secret

The Hamas-run government in Gaza is still paying some salaries to employees, at least in part and with delays.
U.s. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore in June 2018. Trump approved a 2019 Navy SEAL operation to plant a listening device in North Korea, a mission that unraveled amid a series of mistakes and resulted in the SEALs killing North Korean civilians.
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 6, 2025

How a top secret SEAL Team 6 mission into North Korea fell apart

The 2019 operation, greenlit by President Donald Trump, sought a strategic edge. It left unarmed North Koreans dead.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping arrives at Tiananmen Square for a military parade in Beijing on Sept. 3, accompanied by his Russian and North Korean counterparts, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un, in a scene that fueled perfunctory claims of U.S. dominance coming to an end.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 10, 2025

International relations analysis needs to grow up

We need commentators who understand budgets as well as body language, who track institutional evolution alongside summit declarations.
Charlie Kirk, the right-wing influencer and founder of Turning Point USA, speaks in Phoenix, Arizona, in December 2024.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 11, 2025

Right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, dead at 31, played key role in Trump's 2024 victory

He galvanized conservative youth and rose to prominence with often inflammatory rhetoric focused on issues such as race, gender and immigration.
A Philippine Navy soldier observes Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer Takanami from a Philippine ship in the South China Sea, on June 14.
JAPAN
Sep 11, 2025

Japan-Philippines visiting-forces pact comes into force as defense ties blossom

The pact will serve as the legal basis for Japanese and Philippine forces operating in each other’s countries, paving the way for greater cooperation amid tensions with Beijing.
Defending champion javelin thrower Haruka Kitaguchi is likely to be the center of attention for Japanese fans during the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
SPORTS / Athletics
Sep 12, 2025

10 stars to look out for at the 2025 World Athletics Championships

The world championships are back in Tokyo for the first time since 1991.
Japan’s high-tech toilets, from bidets to innovative public lavatories, offer a unique lens through which to explore the country’s culture, technology and even soft power.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 16, 2025

‘Perfect Days’ spent pondering the Japanese potty

The Japanese toilet is an engineering and technological marvel that transforms daily ablutions.
China's cyberspace regulator told companies this week to stop testing a Nvidia chip that can be repurposed for artificial intelligence applications.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 18, 2025

China tells companies to stop buying Nvidia’s repurposed AI chip

The move marks Beijing’s latest step to wean the country off Nvidia hardware and boost domestic alternatives.
Polls suggest a head-to-head contest in the Liberal Democratic Party’s presidential race, but powerbrokers may sideline veteran contenders to engineer a youth-versus-youth showdown that could reshape both the party and Japan’s political landscape.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 18, 2025

Whiteboarding the LDP election

As I whiteboard the election scenarios, Koizumi vs. Takaichi is the most obvious race.
Hard-line conservative lawmaker Sanae Takaichi has consistently been a public favorite in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s leadership election scheduled for Oct. 4.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 20, 2025

Japan may see its first female PM despite limited progress on gender gap

For a country that has seen limited progress on gender equality, a win by Takaichi could represent a watershed moment.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, on Aug. 15.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2025

Vladimir Putin’s ‘negotiations’ are a trap

Putin wants to destroy Ukraine as a state and Ukrainian as a national identity.
Jared Baeten, Gilead Sciences' senior vice president and virology therapeutic area head, hopes regulatory approval elsewhere for lenacapavir as a preexposure prophylaxis — for reducing the risk of contracting HIV — could lead to real discussions toward ending HIV in Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 22, 2025

Twice-a-year injection could make HIV prevention easier, developer argues

Without the need to take a daily pill, adherence could improve, says an executive from Gilead Sciences, which developed such an injection.
Asset Management One Best Selection Japan is looking to build stakes in some small and midsized caps as valuations become more appealing.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 25, 2025

Top Japanese fund looks to small and midsized caps on improving valuations

The fund is also holding on to some of its artificial intelligence-related shares even after multifold gains.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses members of the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday. At a climate summit hosted by Guterres on Wednesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping said his country would cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 7%-10% from its peak by 2035.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Sep 25, 2025

Beijing takes the lead with new climate plans amid Washington’s denial

China's reduction target marked the first time the world's biggest emitter pledged a cut in emissions, rather than just limiting their growth.
Thousands of demonstrators attend a rally in New York calling for an end to Israel’s war in Gaza, Aug. 17.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 30, 2025

Americans' support for Israel dramatically declines, Times/Siena poll finds

Slightly more voters sided with Palestinians over Israelis for the first time since the New York Times began asking voters about their sympathies in 1998.
Armenia’s Defense Minister Suren Papikyan (left), Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun (right) and Cambodia’s Defense Minister Tea Seiha meet at the Beijing Xiangshan Forum in Beijing on Sept. 18.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 30, 2025

Peace broker and arms supplier: China’s dual roles in a deadly conflict

The five-day war between Cambodia and Thailand in late June killed 40 people, including civilians, and displaced hundreds of thousands.
Although Ryan Bader is stepping into somewhat unfamiliar territory at Rizin, where he will be fighting in a boxing-style ring as opposed to the cage typically used in Western promotions, his New Year’s Eve bout won’t be his first time competing in Japan.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 1, 2025

From Hollywood to Japan, MMA star Ryan Bader has his sights on Rizin glory

After starring alongside Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Emily Blunt in "The Smashing Machine," Ryan Bader has a new mission: become a champion with Rizin.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes