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Japan Times
SOCCER
Jul 5, 2023

Didier Drogba works to educate African players about fake agents

The campaign includes a pamphlet for players with practical advice such as how to identify a fake agent, what to look for in a contract, and a player's rights as a foreign employee.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 28, 2023

Russian general knew about mercenary chief’s rebellion plans, U.S. officials say

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Wagner, may have believed he had support in Russia’s military.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 25, 2023

The West must offer the 'Global South' a new deal

Countries in Africa, Asia and South America should support Ukraine against Putin. But the West could help by being less hypocritical.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2023

Japanese public institutes have relaxed attitude about data protection, expert says

The warning comes a week after the arrest by Tokyo police of a Chinese researcher for an alleged data leak.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 23, 2023

Politically speaking, how should Japan talk about gender?

When trying to pass legislation on topics dealing with the LGBTQ+ community, lawmakers found themselves using a katakana term as a compromise.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 20, 2023

What’s not to like about Rudd’s appointment as Canberra’s man in Washington?

Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has the resume and qualifications to serve Canberra well in Washington.
The nuclear-powered USS Annapolis submarine makes a port call at South Korea's Jeju Island on Monday. It was the second such visit by a U.S. submarine to the country in the span of about a week.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 25, 2023

Nuclear Consultative Group strengthens Northeast Asian deterrence

The logic for trilateral coordination between the U.S., Japan and South Korea is compelling. The NCG is an important first step toward that goal.
Then-Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang holds a copy of China's constitution during a news conference at the National People's Congress in Beijing in March.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 26, 2023

China ousts foreign minister as world grasps for clues as to why

There are still several questions over Qin Gang's fate and whether he will continue to serve in the government as a state councilor.
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks to reporters following the Senate Republicans weekly policy lunch at the U.S. Capitol in Washington in April.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 29, 2023

After McConnell freezes midsentence, U.S. Senate GOP stands by him

Senate Republicans are standing by their longtime leader, brushing off questions about his health after he froze midsentence at the start of his weekly news conference Wednesday.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump makes his way inside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse in New York on April 4. Trump was indicted on Monday over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election — the most serious legal threat yet to the former president as he campaigns to return to the White House.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 2, 2023

Trump charged with conspiracy for efforts to overturn 2020 election

The indictment alleges Trump knowingly spread lies about the election in order to undermine public faith in the vote and remain in power.
Australian Ambassador to Japan Justin Hayhurst (center) walks beside Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (right) during the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima in May.
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2023

Tokyo-Canberra ties key to Indo-Pacific’s future: Australian envoy

"We’ve never been more important to each other," says Justin Hayhurst, Australia’s new Ambassador to Japan.
A downgrade by Fitch Ratings is being viewed as a condemnation of partisan U.S. politics, including the recent debt ceiling standoff and the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
BUSINESS
Aug 3, 2023

Fitch’s U.S. downgrade stokes the very fight it warned against

Washington’s hostile political factions have quickly taken up the agency's downgrade of U.S. government debt as a new weapon of political combat.
The U.S. Capitol in Washington. After its downgrade of the U.S., Fitch’s AAA club now consists of Germany and Australia, along with seven others, including smaller, rich countries such as Switzerland and Luxembourg.
BUSINESS
Aug 4, 2023

Pristine AAA bond universe just got a whole lot smaller

Fitch's U.S. downgrade is the latest example of a decadelong trend in rich economies as worries about high and rising debt burdens come to the fore.
A view of Lahaina after wildfires driven by high winds burned across most of the town several days ago, in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, on Thursday
WORLD
Aug 11, 2023

Hawaii recovery to take years as Maui wildfire death toll rises

The fast-moving inferno spread from the brush outside of town and ravaged the historic city of Lahaina that was once the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
Elizabeth Kutschke at the park with her son Ben, who was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 15, 2023

When a $2 million gene therapy is not enough

Ben is one of a growing number of patients with spinal muscular atrophy whose doctors are turning to additional drugs in addition to gene therapy.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with the Chinese Communist Party's foreign policy chief, Wang Yi, on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Jakarta on July 13.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 16, 2023

Southeast Asia uses great power competition to dodge failures

The U.S. needs to rethink its approach toward Southeast Asia, counter China's narrative, and engage in effective public diplomacy.
A neighborhood destroyed by last week’s wildfire in Lahaina, on the island of Maui, Hawaii
WORLD
Aug 17, 2023

After Maui’s wildfire horror, residents search for a way forward

Maui's residents are trying to balance rebuilding the community and dealing with grief with the tourism work needed to support themselves.
The port in Ensenada as Tropical Storm Hilary hits Baja California state, Mexico, on Sunday.
WORLD / Society
Aug 21, 2023

Storm Hilary puts California at risk of catastrophic flooding

A state of emergency was declared for much of Southern California, with flash flood warnings throughout a region more accustomed to drought.
People visit Semicon China, a trade fair for semiconductor technology, in Shanghai in 2021
BUSINESS
Aug 24, 2023

China quietly hires overseas chip talent as U.S. tightens curbs

The revamped recruitment drive is said to offer perks including home-purchase subsidies and typical signing bonuses of $420,000 to $700,000.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Chinese President Xi Jinping, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, during the 2023 BRICS summit in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Aug 25, 2023

BRICS expansion to boost bloc’s clout, but political rifts remain

While expanding may be a step toward challenging the G7, experts have mixed views over whether the BRICS summit was a success.
Demonstrators in Warsaw protest against Vladimir Putin and the war on Aug. 24, Ukraine’s official Independence Day.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 31, 2023

It would be wise to not personally humiliate Putin

Defeating autocrats like Vladimir Putin in an aggressive war requires progress on the battlefield, and rhetoric alone is unlikely to achieve the goal.
Semiconductors are expected to be a focal point when U.S. President Joe Biden visits Hanoi later this month with the goal of formally elevating ties between the two countries.
BUSINESS / Tech / ANALYSIS
Sep 1, 2023

Vietnam's engineer shortage stalls U.S. chip hub plans

An engineer gap in Vietnam is becoming a major obstacle to the growth of its semiconductor industry and U.S. supply chain strategies.
Ukrainian soldiers with the 110th Separate Mechanized Brigade after firing a DANA, a wheeled 152 mm self-propelled artillery gun, at a Russian target in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, on Aug. 26.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 2, 2023

As Ukraine fight grinds on, talk of negotiations becomes taboo

Discussion of a Plan B, should Ukraine fail to win a total victory, has become more fraught than ever, say those who have tried.
Sen. Mitch McConnell appears to freeze up for more than 30 seconds during a public appearance before he was escorted away, the second such incident in a little more than a month, after an event with the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce in Covington, Kentucky, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 2, 2023

Mitch McConnell may be experiencing small seizures, doctors say

Two episodes, where the Republican senator froze and did not respond to some questions, may be symptoms of a serious illness.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo is greeted by Shanghai Party Secretary Chen Jining, in Shanghai on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 2, 2023

U.S. officials are streaming to China. Will Beijing return the favor?

Such visits could help convey Beijing’s interest in stabilizing ties with Washington. But China has been noncommittal.
Naomi Osaka participates in a forum on mental health during the U.S. Open in New York on Wednesday.
TENNIS
Sep 7, 2023

Naomi Osaka makes U.S. Open return. But not for tennis.

Naomi Osaka returned to the U.S. Open to participate in a forum on mental health and sports alongside former Olympian Michael Phelps.
The Man effigy looms over the Burning Man encampment after a severe rainstorm left tens of thousands of revelers stranded in mud in the festival's Black Rock City in the Nevada desert.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 8, 2023

Burning Man 2023 is a climate-crisis parable

At first, Burning Man festivalgoers shunned environmental protesters. Then the climate crisis, and extraordinary rains, caught up with them.
A Kirin 9000S chip fabricated in China by Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. taken from a Huawei Technologies Mate 60 Pro smartphone
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 12, 2023

Huawei sends a message with its new smartphone

Fear of turbocharging China’s indigenous technology development efforts has been one of the most powerful arguments against tightening export controls.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen
WORLD / Politics
Sep 20, 2023

Janet Yellen defends climate progress as critics push harder

The U.S. Treasury chief has made climate change a top priority. For some that’s a great relief. For others, it’s a distinction that’s too easy to claim.
A woman walks past surveillance cameras in Shanghai. China’s Ministry of State Security has called for a "whole of society mobilization,” urging the public to watch for what it considers foreign-backed subversion.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 20, 2023

Burner laptops and smaller profits: Firms face China challenges

Beijing has doubled down on policies emphasizing security and self-reliance that make it harder to do business.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?