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Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's reversal over medical co-payments late last week and the revelation he gave gift vouchers to lawmakers have weakened his political standing.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 14, 2025

Ishiba on shaky ground over budget and gift vouchers

Recent fumbles have given Ishiba's opponents within the LDP a golden opportunity to attack him.
Former FIFA Council member Moya Dodd believes developing the facilities needed to host the Olympics would have long-term benefits for India.
OLYMPICS
Mar 15, 2025

India's 2036 Games bid a chance to boost infrastructure, says sports governance expert

The world's most populous nation has never hosted the Olympics, though New Delhi staged the Asian Games in 1951 and 1982 as well as the Commonwealth Games in 2010.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba answers questions during an Upper House Budget Committee meeting Friday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 16, 2025

Opposition set to step up offensive against Ishiba

Ishiba, already hurt by low public support, has found himself in a bind ahead of this summer's Upper House election as the scandal shakes his image as a "clean politician."
While climate demonstrations around the world often draw thousands of participants, in Japan such demonstrations rarely break the 100-person barrier.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Mar 16, 2025

Japan’s youth climate activists still searching for a breakthrough

With Japan endorsing climate targets criticized as unambitious, activists are looking to education and more tailored strategies to make an impact.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin hold a bilateral meeting at the Group of 20 leaders summit in Osaka in June 2019.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 18, 2025

Trump discussion with Putin to focus on what Ukraine will lose

In an echo of the Yalta Conference in 1945, the American and Russian leaders will talk on Tuesday about who gets what in the process of ending the war in Ukraine.
A supporter of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte holds a placard during a prayer rally in Manila on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 18, 2025

'Bring him home': Philippines migrant workers grapple with Duterte fallout

Despite ICC charges of a systemic attack on civilians in his war on drugs, the ex-Philippine president "understood the everyday life of overseas Filipinos," experts say.
People wait to receive bags of rice distributed by the World Food Program on the outskirts of Yangon in 2021.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 18, 2025

Myanmar faces 'untold' suffering due to U.S. aid 'betrayal': U.N. expert

A former U.S. congressman has torn into the cuts, saying they were politically motivated, based on distortions and being carried out in the worst possible manner.
U.S. President Donald Trump reviews troops aboard the USS Wasp in Yokosuka, Japan, in May 2019. The shifting global security landscape has sparked discussions in many countries, including Japan, about developing nuclear weapons in response to changing U.S. commitments.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 18, 2025

Changing U.S. commitments spark nuclear armament debates, including in Japan

Given Japan's unique history in 1945, it will take more than fear or harsh rhetoric to push the country into considering the development of nuclear weapons.
The Crew Dragon capsule containing Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams and two other astronauts descends by parachute before their splashdown off the coast of Florida, on March 18 in a still image from video.
WORLD
Mar 19, 2025

NASA astronauts 'Butch and Suni' return to Earth after drawn-out mission in space

Their return ends a mission fraught with uncertainty and technical troubles that turned into a global spectacle.
Prime Minister and ruling Liberal Democratic Party leader Shigeru Ishiba is facing a political funding scandal that has damaged his reputation and sparked speculation that internal efforts to remove him are underway.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 19, 2025

Japan’s leader didn’t read the job description

The lastest scandal comes amid broader concerns over the LDP's misuse of political funds, further damaging Prime Minister Ishiba’s reputation.
Melanie Joly, Canada's foreign minister, speaks during a news conference in Charlevoix, Quebec, Canada, last week.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Mar 20, 2025

Canada condemns China’s execution of four Canadians on drug charges

The Chinese Embassy in Ottawa defended Beijing’s strict penalties on drug-related crimes.
Some critics of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba call him weak and indecisive, saying his leadership has led to policy blunders that may make his grip on power increasingly untenable.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 20, 2025

Prime Minister Ishiba’s struggles put his leadership in jeopardy

With the world as turbulent as it is, the country cannot continue with such a weak and indecisive leader.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (left) and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are scheduled to meet in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 21, 2025

Japan and Brazil eye mutual visits by leaders every two years

The plan is expected to be adopted during a summit between Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who visits Japan next week.
Former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi presents his report on the future of European competitiveness to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, in September.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 21, 2025

Europe’s risk aversion comes with consequences

While Europe's culture is more risk-averse, deregulation could spur growth if it adapts to new technologies like AI, balancing risk and reward for a changing economy.
The Pentagon's disbandment of the Office of Net Assessment ends a key institution that provided long-term strategic analysis, leaving the U.S. vulnerable to future geopolitical challenges.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 20, 2025

A sad day for U.S. strategic analysis as the Office of Net Assessment is disbanded

While most focused on the military, ONA was the only group to conclude that winning the Cold War relied on economic means, not troop numbers.
Despite the high cost of defending Ukraine, voters on both sides of the Atlantic — including Republicans in the United States — remain surprisingly united in their support for the country.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2025

The American and European publics still stand with Ukraine

Public attitudes in the U.S. are even more striking. When it comes to Ukraine, Americans broadly agree with Europeans.
Protesters outside a Tesla showroom in West Bloomfield, Michigan, on March 20.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 22, 2025

Tesla vandalism sparked by fury against Musk draws GOP ire

Caught in the middle are millions of customers whose electric vehicles increasingly are viewed as political symbols.
Protesters take cover as Turkish riot police use tear gas amid clashes in Istanbul on Saturday over the arrest of Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.
WORLD
Mar 23, 2025

Vast crowds rally in Istanbul in support of arrested mayor

The demonstrations, which began in Istanbul on Wednesday, have since spread to more than 55 of Turkey's 81 provinces.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the White House on Thursday directing the secretary of the Department of Education to take steps to close the agency.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 23, 2025

Cutting the department of education is theater, not a plan

Despite all the pomp, Trump is focused on fixing the wrong problem and that presents Democrats with a perfect opportunity.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks during a news conference in Ottawa on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 23, 2025

Under threat from Trump, Canada set to hold snap elections

The former central banker was chosen to replace Justin Trudeau as prime minister, but he has never faced the broader Canadian electorate.
South Korean Prime Minister Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached in late December while serving as acting president, has been reinstated by the Constitutional Court.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 24, 2025

South Korean court reinstates PM Han Duck-soo as acting president

Han, whose impeachment was struck down by the Constitutional Court, pledges to focus on steering Asia's fourth-biggest economy through a U.S. "trade war."
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney gestures as he boards an aircraft, after calling for an election, in Ottawa on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 24, 2025

Carney calls snap election, saying Trump wants to break Canada

In calling the election now, Carney is hoping to capitalize on a remarkable recovery by his Liberal Party in the polls since January.
Police officers use pepper spray on a demonstrator wearing dervish clothes, during a protest on the day Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was jailed as part of a corruption investigation, in Istanbul on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 24, 2025

Turkey jails Erdogan’s top rival, risking more unrest

The arrest suggests Turkish authorities won’t be deterred by mass protests that have broken out in cities including Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba waits for a session of the House of Councillors Budget Committee to begin at the Diet in Tokyo on March 14.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 25, 2025

Parties still at odds over corporate donations as deadline for agreement looms

The prospect of reaching a decision on whether to ban, restrict or continue to accept donations by the end of the month appears slim.
Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre, seen behind orange construction fencing, speaks at an election campaign event Ontario, Canada, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 26, 2025

India said to have meddled in Canadian party election

A yearlong inquiry identified New Delhi as one of the main actors saying that it supported candidates believed to be pro-India.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth addresses American service members assigned to Kane'ohe Bay, Hawaii, on Tuesday. Hegseth’s itinerary during his first visit to Asia in his new role will include visits to the Philippines and Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 27, 2025

Hegseth’s Asia tour won’t fix U.S. credibility crisis

The timing of Hegseth’s first Asian tour couldn’t be more awkward. U.S. President Donald Trump’s "America First” mantra is raising eyebrows.
Myanmar's junta chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 28, 2025

Myanmar junta chief to make rare trip abroad to Bangkok

Since seizing power in a February 2021 coup, Min Aung Hlaing has mostly only traveled to close allies Russia and China.
A guard tower at Manzanar Internment Camp in Independence, California, in July 2013. Nearly 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were removed from their homes on the West Coast by the U.S. Army and sent to Manzanar and nine other internment camps between March 1942 and November 1945.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 26, 2025

Use of wartime powers revives internment camp memories

It took more than 40 years for the U.S. government to officially set the record straight that abusing the Alien Enemies Act during World War II was both illegal and immoral.
Graduation ceremonies in Japan will usually include a performance of the Japanese national anthem, “Kimigayo.”
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 28, 2025

Attempting the classics: The world of waka poetry

The origins of this poetry style stretch back to at least the seventh century, when one of the emperor's wives composed it at court ceremonies.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney greets colleagues after at a news conference at the Port of Montreal in Montreal on Friday.
WORLD
Mar 29, 2025

Trump and Carney talk about new deal and plan meeting after Canada election

The Canadian election campaign has turned into a contest in which U.S. threats against Canada’s economy and sovereignty have become the dominant issue.

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An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo