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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends a NATO leaders summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 12. The leader's efforts to conduct diplomacy in the face of conflict have drawn comparisons with British wartime leader Winston Churchill.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Jul 20, 2023

Why Zelenskyy's diplomacy is a key factor in Ukraine's efforts to win war

The leader's counteroffensive came at a critical time, sandwiched between two summits — the Group of Seven summit in May and a NATO summit earlier this month.
Jonas Vingegaard celebrates with his bike after winning the Tour de France in Paris on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Cycling
Jul 24, 2023

Jonas Vingegaard secures second straight Tour de France title

Runner-up Tadej Pogacar, the 2020 and 2021 Tour champion, won the white jersey as the best under-25 rider for the fourth year in a row.
Spain's players celebrate defender Olga Carmona's game-winning goal against Sweden during their 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup semifinal in Auckland on Tuesday.
SOCCER / Women's World cup
Aug 16, 2023

'Work of art' sends Spain into first Women's World Cup final

Spain's place in Sunday's final in Sydney is a remarkable journey for a nation that had never previously gone beyond the last 16 at a Women's World Cup.
Members of rescue teams from the Egyptian army carry a body as they walk through mud between buildings destroyed by flooding in Derna, Libya, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Society
Sep 14, 2023

Libyan flood survivor recounts horror in Derna after dams burst

'We walked out barefoot and saw our friends and neighbors dying around us,' said Ruba Hatem Yassine. 'And we couldn’t do anything.'
Hou Yu-ih, Taiwan presidential candidate and mayor of New Taipei City, speaks during a news conference in New York on Sept. 16. The Kuomintang, Taiwan's main opposition party, picked Hou Yu-ih, a popular local leader with little foreign policy experience, as its candidate for next year's presidential election.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 21, 2023

Taiwan’s former top cop wants China talks if voted president

"I have participated in countless gun battles and I always stood on the front line.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov attends a news conference after addressing the 78th Session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York City on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 24, 2023

Russia accuses West of 'de facto' fighting in Ukraine

This came after Kyiv said that Russian navy commanders had been killed or wounded in a missile attack on Moscow's Black Sea Fleet headquarters.
Namibia's players acknowledge the crowd after their 96-0 defeat to France at the 2023 Rugby World Cup in Marseille, France, on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Sep 26, 2023

Uruguay and Namibia braced for their Rugby World Cup 'final'

The two sides have met five times before with Uruguay winning four of those, including a World Cup warmup in August.
Japan's Kotaro Matsushima attempts to avoid being tackled by Samoa's Ed Fidow during their match at the Rugby World Cup in Toulouse, France, on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Sep 29, 2023

Japan keeps quarterfinal hopes alive with win over Samoa at World Cup

Japan will now face Argentina in Nantes on Oct. 8 with the winner likely moving on to the last eight.
A rocket is fired from Gaza toward Israel on Saturday
WORLD / Politics
Oct 9, 2023

How Israel was duped as Hamas planned devastating assault

While Israel was led to believe it was containing war-weary forces, Hamas fighters were being trained and drilled, often in plain sight.
Former firefighter Yoshifumi Usui now guides tourists in search of active pursuits in and around the Aso caldera.
LIFE / Travel
Oct 21, 2023

In volcanic Aso, the land gives much more than it takes

Locals in Aso have a saying: “The land takes away, but it gives us something, too.”
South Africa players huddle ahead of the second half of the team's semifinal game against England in the Rugby World Cup, in Saint-Denis, France, on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Oct 27, 2023

Springboks expect 'grind' against All Blacks in World Cup final

South Africa has never lost a World Cup final, winning the 1995, 2007 and 2019 editions.
Tokyo now boasts five different Quidditch teams, while universities in Osaka and Kyoto also play host to their own clubs.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Nov 4, 2023

'Accio broomstick!' Quidditch is back and open to everyone

From relatively humble beginnings, Quidditch has continued to grow in popularity across Japan.
South Africa's Siya Kolisi in action during the Rugby World Cup final against New Zealand on Saturday in Saint-Denis, France
MORE SPORTS
Oct 29, 2023

Siya Kolisi happy to escape 'dark place' for World Cup glory

Despite losing hooker Bongi Mbonambi in only the third minute, the Boks reorganized and battled through for a record fourth title.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei meets with Hamas' top leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in June. Both men met again in early November during which the former told the latter that Iran would not intervene directly following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 16, 2023

Iran's 'Axis of Resistance' against Israel faces trial by fire

Iran has built a military alliance over four decades to oppose Israeli and American power in the Middle East.
Mika and Jesse say their landlady prefers a hands-off style of property management, leaving all matters, including maintenence and repairs, to the renting couple.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 18, 2023

Renting akiya: A backdoor into Japan's abandoned homes

“If the choice is between leaving (an akiya) empty or renting it out, please rent it out.”
Sam Altman, then-CEO of OpenAI, attends the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO summit in San Francisco on Thursday.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 20, 2023

The AI safety debate after OpenAI CEO's ouster

It's important to align technology with human interests as AI systems are more likely to lower than raise existential risks.
A soldier stands near a car destroyed in a strike by Lebanon's Hezbollah movement in Kibbutz Manara in northern Israel near the Lebanon border on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 28, 2023

In Israel's north, troops brace for long standoff with Hezbollah

Until a truce with Hamas went into effect in the Gaza Strip to the south on Friday, the Israel-Lebanon border saw near-daily exchanges of fire.
Snow falls on collapsed buildings in the city of Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 7, as the area began to look toward recovery from the massive earthquake that struck on Jan. 1.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Jan 17, 2024

'Noto is kind, right down to its soil': A community's long road to recovery

Volunteers are coming together to help each other in the wake of disaster. However, eventually isolated rural villages will need rethinking.
Lions quarterback Jared Goff celebrates after his team's playoff win over the Rams in Detroit on Sunday.
SPORTS
Jan 15, 2024

Lions edge Rams for first playoff win in three decades

The Lions won a playoff game for the first time since beating the Cowboys on Jan. 5, 1992.
Just over 100 days after Oct. 7, enduring pain is a key reason why polls in Israel show consistently high support for its military offensive in Gaza.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 19, 2024

Enduring pain keeps public support for Gaza war strong in Israel

The support comes despite optimism fading over whether Israel can achieve its stated goals.
A man mourns at Shifa hospital in Gaza City on Thursday, looking over the bodies of Palestinians killed in an early morning incident when residents rushed toward aid trucks.
WORLD
Mar 1, 2024

Deadly scenes in Gaza as overall death toll passes 30,000

The Hamas-run health ministry said more than 100 people were reported dead in a grisly incident on Thursday.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, whose company launched a pair of smart glasses, on stage at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, in September.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2023

Do you want Meta snooping in your closet with AI wearables?

AI wearable devices represent yet another intrusion into our privacy, allowing tech companies to learn even more about who we are — and what we might buy.
Wakana Nukui has been described as having a knack for storytelling and vividly sharing her vision with those around her.
BUSINESS / WOMEN AT WORK
Mar 24, 2024

A social entrepreneur who is determined to lift Cambodian women's status

Wakana Nukui has fostered new talent in design while opening shops dedicated to local products.
Kaori Yamada grew up surrounded by bonsai her whole life and was expected to carry on her family's 170-year-old legacy when she became an adult.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 23, 2024

The bonsai master working to branch out an age-old craft

Kaori Yamada grew up surrounded by bonsai her whole life and was expected to carry on her family's 170-year-old legacy or otherwise end it.
Palestinians inspect destroyed residential buildings and a mosque in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday.
WORLD
Apr 8, 2024

Netanyahu pulls some troops from Gaza and says victory near

A significant Israel Defense Forces contingent will continue to operate in the enclave even after the troop drawdown in Khan Younis.
Dortmund's Niclas Fuellkrug jumps to head the ball in front of Paris St. Germain's Lucas Beraldo (right) and Ousmane Dembele during the first leg of their Champions League semifinal in Dortmund, Germany, on Wednesday.
SOCCER
May 2, 2024

Dortmund expects tougher challenge after upsetting PSG in first leg

Edin Terzic said the return encounter next week will be far tougher.
Namgyal Phunchok, a Changpa community leader at Chushul village in Ladakh, says the area's pastoralist way of life had been undermined.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 27, 2024

The herders caught up in India and China's icy conflict

Swaths of grazing lands have become demilitarized "buffer zones" to keep rival forces apart.
If the billions of people who will watch this summer's Paris Olympic Games were to take inspiration from history and call for cease-fires in today's wars, many lives could be saved.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 17, 2024

Restore the Olympic peace

International collaboration and moral leadership are essential for achieving peace, paralleling the ancient Olympic Games as symbols of halting hostilities.
Indian Ambassador Sibi George says one of his main tasks in his post is to boost Japanese public and private investments the South Asian powerhouse.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 18, 2024

India’s envoy in Japan calls for boosted supply chain and defense cooperation

The ambassador’s remarks come after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged to continue prioritizing ties with Japan.
Japan's Tatsuru Saito (above) is dismayed after losing to France's Teddy Riner in the gold-medal bout of the judo mixed team event on Saturday at the Paris Olympics.
OLYMPICS / Judo
Aug 4, 2024

Judo legend Riner leads France to team title over Japan for fifth gold medal

Three years after leading France to victory over Japan at the Budokan in Tokyo, Riner again led the way as France fought back from 3-1 down to retain the title.

Longform

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