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Displaced Palestinians who left the southern Gaza Strip run for cover from Israeli fire Friday northwest of Nuseirat in the central part of the strip at the nearest point possible to the Israeli-controlled Netzarim corridor, where they set up tents hoping to return to the north.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 26, 2025

Trump floats plan to 'clean out' Gaza and move Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan

U.S. President Donald Trump has floated a plan where Egypt and Jordan would take Palestinians from the territory in a bid to create Middle East peace.
A worker at a Kongo factory in Kashima, Kumamoto Prefecture, carefully processes an aluminum plate using a forming press.
BUSINESS / Companies / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Jan 28, 2025

Companies in Kyushu struggle to enter TSMC’s supply chain

One report shows that firms in the region make up less than 10% of Japanese companies doing business with TSMC or its unit in Japan.
Al Hilal's Neymar during an Asian Champions League fixture against Al Ain, in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates, on Oct. 21
SOCCER
Jan 28, 2025

Neymar and Al Hilal agree to terminate contract, club says

The 32-year-old forward played just seven times since joining the club in August 2023.
The findings on the alarming acceleration of warming have enormous ramifications for ocean health, as rising temperatures impact everything from coral reefs to fisheries.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jan 28, 2025

Oceans are warming faster and faster as the Earth traps more energy

The alarming acceleration helps explain why 2023 and 2024 saw unprecedented ocean temperatures — and more extreme storms.
SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son has said the firm plans to invest $100 billion in the U.S. over the next four years.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 29, 2025

SoftBank in talks to lead $500 million AI robotics funding

The startup Skild is developing software that will allow robots to perform increasingly complicated tasks.
Smoke from the Hughes fire billows outside of Castaic, California, on Jan. 22
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 29, 2025

Climate change made Los Angeles 35% more primed to burn, scientists say

Greenhouse gas pollution raised temperatures, made drought more likely and extended the duration of fire season.
Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy in action as he tees off on the eighth during the final round of the Dubai Desert Classic on Jan. 19.
MORE SPORTS
Jan 29, 2025

Rory McIlroy continues 'pivotal' year at Pebble Beach

Not only does McIlroy have his first TGL experience under his belt, he also began his season with a T4 finish at the Dubai Desert Classic on the DP World Tour.
Masayoshi Son's SoftBank Group is in talks to invest as much as $25 billion in OpenAI.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 30, 2025

SoftBank in talks to invest up to $25 billion in OpenAI

SoftBank has already committed $15 billion to Project Stargate, a joint venture with OpenAI to build data centers and other AI infrastructure.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the White House in Washington on Thursday about the midair crash between an American Airlines plane and a military helicopter.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 31, 2025

Trump blames diversity programs over midair collision

The crash was nation's most deadly commercial airline accident in over a decade.
Rory McIlroy lifts the trophy after winning the Pebble Beach Pro-Am in Pebble Beach, California, on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
Feb 3, 2025

Sizzling Rory McIlroy captures Pebble Beach title

The 35-year-old four-time major winner made three birdies and an eagle after the turn to fire a 6-under par 66 and finish 21-under 267.
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son (right) and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at an event on Monday to pitch AI for businesses in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 3, 2025

SoftBank forms joint venture with OpenAI in enterprise play

SoftBank and OpenAI said that the joint venture will help large Japanese enterprises in the adoption and training of Cristal intelligence in order to improve their businesses.
Marcus Rashford joined Manchester United at the age of 7 and emerged from the youth academy as a teenage prodigy in 2016, but recent years have been marked by controversy.
SOCCER
Feb 4, 2025

Once Manchester United's golden boy, Marcus Rashford's run ends in divorce

Rashford appeared to have the world at his feet when he signed a new five-year contract with United in July 2023, but the relationship recently soured.
Williams' Alexander Albon in action during the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Nov. 23, 2024
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Feb 4, 2025

Las Vegas’ F1 race moving to primetime in 2025

The race will move up two hours to 8 p.m. local time this season.
Talks by Honda and Nissan to create the world’s third-largest carmaker have gone haltingly since the plans were first announced in December.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 5, 2025

Nissan shares plunge, Honda's rise as end to merger talks reported

Shares in Nissan slid more than 4% before trade was suspended by the Tokyo Stock Exchange following the Nikkei report.
Japan remains mum on a position taken by U.S. President Donald Trump to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America."
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 5, 2025

Japan noncommittal on Trump's renaming of Gulf of Mexico

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi says the government will continue to monitor related developments, but avoided confirming which name it will actually follow.
A woman stands outside the gates of the family house of detained Myanmar civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon, Myanmar, on Wednesday, during an attempt to sell the lakeside mansion.
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 5, 2025

Bid to sell Suu Kyi's Myanmar mansion flops for third time

It is unclear who in the country would be in a position to spend $140 million on a single, increasingly dilapidated property.
The bestselling Switch has a confirmed successor, but what little we know about the Switch 2 console so far raises some concerns about its longterm viability in a crowded gaming market.
LIFE / Digital
Feb 6, 2025

Making sense of Nintendo’s tight-lipped Switch 2 reveal

Nintendo will remain mum on details until April, but questions on how its new console fits into the modern gaming landscape abound.
Philippine National Security Council Assistant Director-General Jonathan Malaya says information and psychological warfare have "become part and parcel" of China's malign influence in his country.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 7, 2025

Chinese hybrid warfare ops surge in Philippines: top security official

There has been a rise in Chinese disinformation tactics as well as suspected surveillance and espionage activities in the Philippines, the official said.
Ishiba eats a mikan tangerine at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Jan. 22.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 7, 2025

A 'joyful' Japan? Ishiba's choice of slogan sparks the opposite feelings

Even members of Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party were not happy with the slogan.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and U.S. President Donald Trump. Microsoft and Nvidia are quietly engaging with the Trump administration on policies affecting AI, chip exports and data centers
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 9, 2025

Tech giants Microsoft and Nvidia taking a quieter approach to Trump

Under Biden, the United States curbed the sale of Nvidia chips to China and capped the sales of its AI chips to more than 100 other countries
A structure burns during the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, on Jan. 7.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Feb 11, 2025

It’s ‘virtually certain’ the world has already breached 1.5 C

"Every increment of warming above 1.5 degrees Celsius means worse extremes,” said a research scientist.
"I hope skaters who train here will go on to shine on the world stage," Olympic silver medalist Mao Asada told the Japan Times at Mao Rink Tachikawa Tachihi, a skating rink in Tachikawa, Tokyo, whose establishment she was involved in, on Jan. 28.
MORE SPORTS / Figure skating
Feb 11, 2025

Mao Asada sets out to safeguard the future of Japanese skating

Mao Rink Tachikawa Tachihi, a project that involved the three-time world champion, has become a dream destination for skaters.
President Donald Trump shows a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forecast track of Hurricane Dorian that was altered with a black marker in Washington on Sept. 4, 2019.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Feb 11, 2025

NOAA told to make list of climate-related grants, setting off fears

Staff members were given a list and told to identify which could be "potentially impacted” by one of U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive orders.
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (center) with the ball during the second quarter of Sunday's Super Bowl against the Chiefs at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans
MORE SPORTS / Football
Feb 12, 2025

Fox attracts a record 128 million viewers for the Super Bowl

The Philadelphia Eagles’ easy win over the Kansas City Chiefs became the most-watched event in U.S. TV history.
Meta headquarters in Menlo Park, California
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 12, 2025

Meta rally makes history as it goes on offensive with AI

Even in a market where artificial intelligence winners are rewarded, Meta shares stand out.
New Zealand Ambassador to Japan Hamish Cooper says his country and Tokyo are close to inking a key intelligence-sharing agreement that will further reinforce growing security and defense ties.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 13, 2025

New Zealand paving way for deeper security ties with Tokyo, envoy says

The moves are part of a reset in New Zealand’s foreign and defense policy as Wellington looks to step up engagements with its Asian partners.
Visitors look at information promoting Saudi Arabia's Neom megaproject at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 22.
WORLD
Feb 13, 2025

Why are TikTok 'momfluencers' lauding Saudi Arabia's desert megacity?

One Thai "momfluencer" shared a video of her "typical afternoon in Neom." The video has been viewed around 800,000 times. The city it shows is almost deserted.
Tokyo’s Kabukicho entertainment district. Masayuki Makino, a representative of a volunteer group that operated in Kabukicho, is suspected of committing indecent acts against a 17-year-old girl at a hotel in Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture, on Oct. 15, 2023.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 14, 2025

Tokyo volunteer group's former rep held over indecent acts against teen

Masayuki Makino, who was part of a volunteer group that operated in the Kabukicho entertainment district, allegedly committed the acts against a 17-year-old girl.
The Grok-3 artificial intelligence chatbot has "more than 10 times” the computing power of its predecessor, billionaire Elon Musk said in a presentation alongside three engineers from xAI, his AI startup, on Monday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 18, 2025

Musk debuts Grok-3 AI chatbot to rival OpenAI and DeepSeek

Grok-3 beats its rivals across math, science and coding benchmarks, the chatbot's developer says.
Sapporo beer
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 18, 2025

Activist fund criticizes Sapporo after ‘acquisition failures’

The Singapore-based investment fund censured the management over "impairment losses on all of its overseas alcoholic beverage acquisitions.”

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.