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Alice Guo, a fugitive former mayor of Bamban, Philippines, arrives at a regional trial court in Valenzuela City, Metro Manila, in September.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 7, 2025

China takes aim at Philippine democracy

China has been stepping up its information operations globally, using the Philippines as a testing ground for tactics designed to propagate anti-American narratives.
Dai-ichi Life Insurance sold about ¥500 billion of Japanese government notes, mainly 20- to 40-year bonds, in the fiscal first half that ended in September.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 6, 2025

Dai-ichi Life takes ¥140 billion loss selling off long bonds

The insurer sold about ¥500 billion of Japanese government notes, mainly 20- to 40-year bonds, in the fiscal first half ended September.
Security personnel walk on the road with buses blocking an entrance gate to protect impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol from a possible second arrest attempt by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials in Seoul on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 7, 2025

South Korea investigators get new warrant to arrest President Yoon

The former star prosecutor has refused questioning three times after his bungled Dec. 3 martial law decree plunged South Korea into political chaos.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg tries on a pair of Orion augmented reality glasses at the Meta Connect annual event at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on Sept. 25.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 8, 2025

Meta shelves fact-checking in policy reversal ahead of Trump inauguration

It plans to implement on Facebook, Instagram and Threads a system of "community notes" similar to that used on rival X.
Social media giant Meta slashed its content moderation policies on Tuesday, including ending its U.S. fact-checking program, in a major shift that conforms with the priorities of incoming president Donald Trump.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 8, 2025

Big Tech rolls out the red carpet for Trump ahead of his inauguration

Since the November election, a stream of senior moguls have traveled to meet with Trump at his Florida estate.
Billionaire Elon Musk speaks during an election rally for then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 5.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 9, 2025

Musk takes slash-and-burn style to Europe after bolstering Trump

The billionaire has honed in on Germany and the U.K., criticizing their governments, questioning their laws and casting doubt on their economic competence.
Park Chong-jun, head of the Presidential Security Service, arrives outside the National Office of Investigation in Seoul on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 10, 2025

South Korea's presidential security chief urges 'no bloodshed' in Yoon arrest

Investigators seeking to question Yoon on insurrection charges linked to his ill-fated declaration of martial law secured a new arrest warrant this week.
A Syrian fighter with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham patrols the gate as men wait outside a reconciliation center in Damascus on Dec. 30.
WORLD
Jan 11, 2025

Western powers warn Syria over foreign jihadis in army

HTS and allied groups have hundreds of foreign fighters in their ranks, many of them followers of hard-line interpretations of Islam.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives for a meeting in Rome on Friday.
WORLD
Jan 12, 2025

Ukraine questioning two captured North Korean soldiers

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would provide media access to the prisoners of war because "the world needs to know what is happening."
Smoke from the Pacific Palisades fire blankets the area in Los Angeles on Tuesday. Researchers see a growing health danger from the vast plumes of pollution spawned by wildfires like the ones devastating Los Angeles.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jan 12, 2025

Far from the Los Angeles fires, the deadly risks of smoke are intensifying

By some estimates, wildfire smoke causes as many as 675,000 premature deaths a year worldwide, as well as a range of serious health problems.
In season two of "Squid Game," protagonist Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) returns to put an end to the deadly competition.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / Wide Angle
Jan 12, 2025

The unnervingly timed return of ‘Squid Game’

The show’s themes of wealth disparity and exploitation of power resonate far beyond South Korea, tapping into a universal vein of unease about the unstable systems we live under.
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump meets with then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the Group of 20 leaders summit in Osaka in June 2019.  Though Trump's first term in office was not as earth-shattering for Japanese companies as many feared, it would be a mistake to assume his second will be the same.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 13, 2025

Trump 2.0 presents new challenges for Japanese companies

Another challenge for Japanese firms will be that Trump, his Cabinet by and large and many key advisers are China hawks.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange will soon require some companies to publish their financials in English in addition to Japanese.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 13, 2025

Japanese companies rush to up English-language disclosures in 2025

The Tokyo Stock Exchange requires Prime market companies to release financial statements and other key information simultaneously in English and Japanese from April.
Police arrested former chancellor of Tokyo Women's Medical University on Monday on suspicion of breach of trust involving fictitious payments of construction consulting fees by the university, according to people familiar with the investigation.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 13, 2025

Ex-Tokyo medical university chancellor arrested for breach of trust

The former chancellor was dismissed in August last year over allegations about illegal expenditures linked to the university's alumnae association, Shiseikai.
Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya (right center) meets his Philippine counterpart, Enrique Manalo, during bilateral talks in Taguig City, Metro Manila, Philippines, on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 15, 2025

Trump concerns top agenda as Japanese and Philippine foreign ministers meet

Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, who is set to attend Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, also stressed the necessity of being on the same wavelength as the incoming president’s team.
A masterless samurai in 15th-century Japan (Yo Oizumi) leads a popular uprising against the authorities in “Muromachi Outsiders.”
CULTURE / Film
Jan 16, 2025

‘Muromachi Outsiders’: Yo Oizumi commands attention in rebellion tale

The actor convincingly breaks the mold of his comedy persona to inhabit the role of a sword-wielding folk hero in Yu Irie’s period epic.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a rally at Capital One Arena ahead of the 60th presidential inauguration in Washington on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 20, 2025

On inauguration eve, Trump promises harsh immigration limits

Donald Trump repeated his campaign pledge to launch the largest deportation effort in U.S. history.
The Maritime Self-Defense Force's Mogami frigate, of the class of the same name, is anchored at the MSDF's naval base in the city of Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, in September 2022.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jan 20, 2025

Japan looks to learn from the past with bid to build Australian warships

A winning bid for a decadelong Australian frigate program would be a major breakthrough for Japan’s defense industry following a failed 2016 attempt to sell submarines to Canberra.
Sepp Straka celebrates with the trophy after winning the The American Express in La Quinta, California, on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
Jan 20, 2025

Sepp Straka shakes off nerves to win The American Express

Former world No. 1 Justin Thomas finished second.
A cartoon image of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump holding a Bitcoin token to mark the cryptocurrency reaching over $100,000 is displayed at a Coinhero store in Hong Kong on Dec. 5.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 20, 2025

Trump’s win sparked euphoria in markets — now comes the real test

A reversal was first apparent in the stock market, where the S&P 500 Index gave back a solid chunk of its "Trump bump.”
U.S. President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 21, 2025

Trump pledges to save U.S. from 'decline,' vowing new 'golden age'

Trump quickly signed a series of executive actions to curb immigration and roll back environmental regulations, but did not take immediate action to raise tariffs.
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio arrives ahead of Donald Trump's inauguration as the 47th president of the United States in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 21, 2025

Rubio wins unanimous nod to be top U.S. diplomat

Unusually in a highly partisan era, Rubio was confirmed 99-0, with several senators from the rival Democratic Party describing Rubio as a friend.
Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone gives a news conference on the eve of the UEFA Champions League football match between Club Atletico de Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen at the Metropolitano stadium in Madrid on Jan. 20.
SOCCER
Jan 21, 2025

Atletico targeting Champions League final, says Simeone

Atletico Madrid is the only team to reach three Champions League finals without winning the trophy.
Ichiro Suzuki finished his career with 3,089 MLB hits and is one of 33 players in the 3,000-hit club.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jan 22, 2025

Iconic Japanese outfielder Ichiro Suzuki elected to Baseball Hall of Fame

Ichiro, who rose to global superstardom with the Mariners, was elected in his first year on the ballot, but fell one vote short of becoming the second player voted in unanimously.
A Donald Trump 2024 campaign hat on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York on Tuesday
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 22, 2025

Markets braced for uncertainty as Trump holds back from pledged tariffs

Chinese markets were relieved after Beijing avoided an instant blizzard of executive orders, but Mexico's peso and Canada's dollar weren't so lucky.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer addresses medical staff and media during a visit to a hospital in Epsom, England, on on Jan. 6.
COMMENTARY
Jan 22, 2025

There's a target on the back of Britain's NHS

The scale of the improvement Starmer is targeting has been achieved before, under a previous Labour government in 2007.
Instead of the Bank of Japan's actions strengthening the yen as once hoped, recent steps have only caused further weakening.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 22, 2025

Ueda’s doctrine for the BOJ is finally emerging

Instead of the Bank of Japan's actions strengthening the yen as once hoped, recent steps have only caused further weakening.
Workers unload equipment to set up a temporary shelter to receive migrants deported by the United States, in the El Punto area of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Mexico, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Society
Jan 23, 2025

Mexico builds temporary shelters to prepare for deportations from U.S.

The shelters in Ciudad Juarez will have the capacity to house thousands of people, a municipal official has said.
Graffiti created by French artist Big Ben Street Art depicting Donald Trump as Darth Vader from "Star Wars" in Lyon, France, on Nov. 6, 2024
WORLD / Politics
Jan 24, 2025

Trump is back. But what happened to the 'Resistance'?

The U.S. has seen almost none of the mass mobilization that made opposition to Trump in 2017 the largest social movement in a half-century.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba delivers his policy speech at the Lower House of parliament in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 24, 2025

Ishiba stresses regional revitalization in policy speech

The relocation of industrial, state and academic institutions to regions outside of Tokyo will begin with government agencies.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan