Search - 2023

 
 
China’s greenhouse footprint can be boiled down to three factors: its economic growth, the energy intensity of that growth and the carbon intensity of that energy.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 7, 2024

China’s growth ambitions will erase the world’s climate gains

Global greenhouse pollution hit a record and increased 1.1% last year, the International Energy Agency reported. That was almost entirely a China story.
U.S. President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and British leader Rishi Sunak deliver remarks on the AUKUS partnership, after a trilateral meeting, at Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego in March last year.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 7, 2024

AUKUS weighs expanding security pact to deter China, report says

Rahm Emanuel, the outspoken U.S. ambassador in Tokyo, wrote in a recent commentary that Japan was "about to become the first additional Pillar II partner."
South Korea is seeking to step up its own reconnaissance capabilities with a series of launches aimed at putting five spy satellites in orbit by 2025.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 8, 2024

South Korea launches second homegrown spy satellite

The synthetic aperture radar satellite uses radar waves to produce ultrahigh resolution images of objects on the ground, regardless of cloud cover.
A lone Tesla charges in the basement of a commercial property in Tokyo. One of Japan’s biggest obstacles to electric vehicles is subpar charging infrastructure.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 8, 2024

How three high-tech countries became laggards in electric vehicles

Japan's slow adoption traces back to a decade-old bet on hydrogen fuel-cell technology, while U.S. and South Korea have hit bottlenecks.
The financial center of Panama City, Panama, in 2019. Starting Monday, 27 people will be tried over charges connected to the "Panama Papers" case.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Apr 8, 2024

'Panama Papers' trial to begin eight years after tax scandal

Twenty-seven people have been charged with money laundering in connection with the tax evasion scandal.
Tourists visit Wat Arun Ratchawararam Ratchawaramahawihan in Bangkok in January.
BUSINESS
Apr 8, 2024

Thailand leads push for six-nation visa to attract more tourists

The plan is meant to ensure seamless mobility for travelers among neighboring countries.
This year's survey, conducted from May 2023 to February 2024 and released last week, amassed responses from 4,000 children (2,000 boys and 2,000 girls) starting elementary school in April, along with 4,000 parents.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 8, 2024

Cake shop worker remains dream job for many children starting school

"Police officer" and "athlete" were the second and third most popular choices, according to annual survey by a school bag material manufacturer.
James Manyika, who heads Google’s technology and society team, delivers the keynote address at Google I/O in Mountain View, California, in 2023. OpenAI, Google and Meta ignored corporate policies, altered their own rules and discussed skirting copyright law as they sought online information to train their newest artificial intelligence systems.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 8, 2024

How tech giants cut corners to harvest data for AI

The companies’ actions illustrate how online information has increasingly become the lifeblood of the booming AI industry.
With the resignation of Shizuoka Gov. Heita Kawakatsu, a major hurdle may have been removed in the construction of the maglev high-speed train, which is expected to connect Tokyo to Osaka in just over 60 minutes.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 5, 2024

Maglev train is back on track after Shizuoka governor's derailing

Shizuoka's governor was blocking the construction of Japan's maglev bullet train. Now that he has resigned, the project can finally move at full speed.
Daihatsu Motor President Masahiro Inoue speaks during a news conference in Tokyo on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 8, 2024

Toyota tightens oversight over scandal-hit Daihatsu

Daihatsu will streamline the way it reports on development and certification to its parent Toyota Motor.
A street in Ota Ward, Tokyo, on March 15. In the year through March, bankruptcies mainly rose among small and midsize companies.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 8, 2024

Japan's business failures top 9,000 for first time in nine years

In the year through March, bankruptcies mainly rose among small and midsize companies as they struggled to raise prices to reflect higher costs.
Iowa Hawkeyes guard Caitlin Clark (22) shoots against the South Carolina Gamecocks in Cleveland, Ohio, on Sunday.
BASKETBALL
Apr 9, 2024

'Caitlin Clark Effect' set to transform WNBA

"No one has been able to capture the kind of magic or lightning in a bottle like Caitlin Clark has done," said one academic.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda has indicated the central bank's debt buying will be dialed back at some point.
BUSINESS
Apr 9, 2024

Japan’s bond market liquidity improves as BOJ loosens its grip

Among the signs of progress, the average bid-ask spread to trade the country’s debt has tightened to the narrowest in at least six months.
Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) concluded that China interfered in the last two elections, an official probe heard on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 9, 2024

Canada spies found China interfered in last two elections, probe hears

Intelligence analysts and the Conservatives say Trudeau's government has not done enough to combat Chinese interference.
Sapporo had hoped the Winter Olympics, which the city had hosted in 1972, would return in 2030, but it was not meant to be.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Apr 15, 2024

Why Sapporo’s bid for the 2030 Winter Olympics and Paralympics failed

Part of the city's downfall in trying to secure the Games was, ironically, snow.
In fiscal 2022, the National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan fielded 4,024 inquiries concerning online game microtransactions made by students of elementary, junior high and high schools without the knowledge of their parents.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 9, 2024

Watch out for microtransactions in kids' online games, parents urged

Watchdog reports surge in complaints of children racking up unauthorized charges on smartphones using their parents' payment credentials.
Haruko Obokata speaks to reporters in the city of Osaka in 2014. Ten years after the STAP scandal, structural problems that led to the scandal persist, leaving ample room for researchers to tamper with research data, experts say.
JAPAN / Science & Health / FOCUS
Apr 9, 2024

Little change in Japan’s research sector 10 years after stem cell fraud

A decade after the STAP scandal, there is still a lot of leeway for researchers to tamper with data.
Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra gestures while flanked by his son Panthongtae Shinawatra and daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra at Don Mueang airport in Bangkok in August 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 10, 2024

Thailand yet to decide on indicting former PM Thaksin, lawyer says

The royal insult complaint against the former leader and tycoon stemmed from an interview he gave to foreign media in 2015.
Houthi supporters hold up their rifles as they take part in a pro-Palestinian protest in Sanaa, Yemen, in February.
WORLD
Apr 10, 2024

U.S. sends seized Iranian weapons to Ukraine

The hardware sent last week is the latest military assistance that the U.S. has provided to Kyiv for its fight to retake territory occupied by Russia.
Protesters take part in a small rally led by Women's March Tucson after Arizona's Supreme Court revived a law dating to 1864 that bans abortion in virtually all instances, in Tucson, Arizona, on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 10, 2024

Arizona's top court revives 19th century abortion ban

States were given the go-ahead to adopt such bans after the conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court overturned its landmark Roe v. Wade ruling.
Hiroshima Kanon Senior High School in the city of Hiroshima opened a cafeteria serving authentic Italian cuisine in December last year after Hoyu, which had been entrusted with cafeteria operations, went bankrupt in September.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 10, 2024

Business stability screenings urged for school lunch operators

The directive followed the abrupt suspension of meal services at schools across the country by Hoyu, a cooking service company.
Myanmar's junta chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 10, 2024

Myanmar junta slams U.N.'s 'one-sided' human rights claims

The junta has denounced allegations of a horrific human rights record as "unfounded."
The plaintiff argued that age and other specific restrictions for men for survivors' pensions violates the constitution.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 10, 2024

Lawsuit filed over gender gap in survivor's pension conditions

The plaintiff was rejected for the survivor pension due to being 49 years old at the time of his wife's death.
The U.S. Coast Guard Legend-class maritime security cutter USCGC Bertholf pulls into Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii in June 2012.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 10, 2024

U.S. Coast Guard rebuts China's criticism of South Pacific vessel boardings

Last month six Chinese fishing boats were found to be violating Vanuatu's fisheries law by local police on board a U.S. Coast Guard boat.
Discomfort and life lessons ensue after a 60-something-year-old man (Shofukutei Tsurube, center) marries a much younger woman (Ayami Nakajo, left) while living with his 39-year-old daughter (Noriko Eguchi) in “Amalock.”
CULTURE / Film
Apr 11, 2024

‘Amalock’: Family comedy plays questionable age gap for laughs

Noriko Eguchi delivers a relatable performance as a woman who is disconcerted by her father’s marriage in Kazuhiro Nakamura’s film.
Jimmy Lai leaves a police station in Hong Kong in 2020.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 11, 2024

Hong Kong refuses entry to Reporters Without Borders staffer

Hong Kong is currently ranked 140 out of 180 on the 2023 World Press Freedom Index.
Rafael Nadal, seen during an event in April 2021, is hoping to make his return to tennis at next week's Barcelona Open.
TENNIS
Apr 11, 2024

Rafael Nadal hoping to make return to court at Barcelona Open

The record 14-time French Open winner missed virtually all of the 2023 season through injury and has only played at the Brisbane International this season.
Coverage of Xi Jinping's meeting with former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou in Beijing on Monday
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 11, 2024

China-Taiwan trade data shows realignment as Xi meets ex-Taiwan leader Ma

The island’s shipments to the U.S. rose 65.7% year-on-year in March, while exports to mainland China grew just 6%.
Smoke rising above buildings after an aerial bombardment in Khartoum North, Sudan, in May 2023
WORLD / Politics
Apr 11, 2024

Iranian-made drones may be turning tide to army's favor in Sudan civil war

Residents say newer drones appear to monitor RSF movements, target their positions and pinpoint artillery strikes in a city that forms part of the capital.
Iowa guard Caitlin Clark is expected to be the No. 1 pick in the upcoming WNBA Draft.
BASKETBALL
Apr 11, 2024

Caitlin Clark's impact seen in WNBA's TV plans for upcoming season

The Fever own the No. 1 overall pick in Monday's 2024 WNBA Draft and are widely expected to select Iowa superstar and media sensation Caitlin Clark.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami