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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks during a campaign rally in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 10, 2025

Canada’s Mark Carney treads a fine line on climate in a tight election

In a nation whose energy sector is still dominated by oil and gas, the question is how much the new prime minister may need to play down his green resume in order to win.
The Virginia-class fast attack submarine USS Minnesota off the coast of Western Australia in March
WORLD / Politics
Apr 10, 2025

AUKUS nuclear submarine sale under scrutiny as U.S. tariffs shake Australia

Disappointment that defense ties didn't win Australia exemptions from the U.S. tariffs has put the program under unprecedented public scrutiny.
Japan needs a strong leader as it faces huge challenges. With Upper House and Tokyo gubernatorial elections coming up, the LDP needs to lay the groundwork for replacing Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, whose polls have entered the danger zone.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 9, 2025

The window to replace Japan's accidental prime minister is nigh

Shigeru Ishiba isn't the right leader to weather Japan through the incoming storm. With Upper House elections this summer, it's time the LDP starts fielding his replacement.
One thing is clear: The era of global interdependence, built on efficiency and mutually beneficial arrangements before U.S. President Donald Trump returned to power, has come to an end.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 10, 2025

Navigating the Trump storm

Trump's second term aims to reshape the global trade system, challenging the current world order with rising tariffs and economic uncertainty.
Trading indexes at the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. Bets worth millions of dollars placed on a rebound by unidentified options traders shortly before U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff pause are drawing scrutiny.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 11, 2025

Well-timed option trades ahead of Trump's tariff pause draw questions

Some unidentified options traders placed bets worth millions of dollars on a rebound minutes before the U.S. president's social media post sent the stock market rallying.
Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson arrives at Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain, on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS
Apr 11, 2025

Liam Lawson reflects on 'crazy' start to season after being dropped by Red Bull

Lawson feels the hectic schedule has helped him avoid dwelling too much on what has been a tough start to 2025.
Having had two meetings with U.S. President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is slowly building a personal relationship with him, which matters greatly to the U.S. president and in resolving bilateral issues.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 11, 2025

Can anyone deal with Trump better than Ishiba?

Trump’s shift on Japan tariffs offers relief, but Ishiba’s grip remains shaky amid internal discontent and challenging U.S. demands.
In the dystopian society of Sayaka Murata's latest book to come out in English, sex between married couples is considered incest and therefore taboo.
CULTURE / Books
Apr 14, 2025

'Vanishing World': Sayaka Murata’s vision of a sex-hating society

In Sayaka Murata’s latest book to come out in English, sex between married couples is considered taboo, and humans reproduce predominantly via IVF.  
On the eve of nuclear talks with the United States, Iranians wave the flags of Palestine and Hezbollah as they march in Tehran to denounce the U.S. and Israel on Friday. Iran and the U.S. were set to hold the first round of talks in Oman on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 12, 2025

Years of distrust hang over U.S. and Iran as negotiators head to Oman

The high-level talks on Tehran's advancing nuclear program are seen as a sign of its eagerness for sanctions relief and to avoid a crippling military attack.
Muslim protestors pray outside the main campus of Columbia University during a demonstration to denounce the immigration arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian activist who helped lead protests against Israel at the university, in New York on March 14.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Apr 12, 2025

U.S. judge rules Palestinian Columbia student can be deported

The judge's decision came after a combative 90-minute hearing held in a court located inside a jail complex for immigrants.
A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during afternoon trading on Wednesday in New York.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Apr 12, 2025

Asset flight challenges U.S. safe haven status

The U.S. has long been considered a financial safe haven —but Trump's trade war is starting to raise questions about if that's still true.
The opening ceremony for the Osaka Expo on Saturday.
JAPAN
Apr 12, 2025

Ishiba warns of divided world at futuristic Osaka Expo opening ceremony

"Having overcome the COVID-19 pandemic, the world now faces the crisis over many different divisions," Ishiba told the opening ceremony.
Customers line up patiently for some early-afternoon baked goods outside Truffle, which is located close to Hiroo Station on the Hibiya Line.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Apr 13, 2025

How to spend the perfect day in Hiroo, Tokyo’s expat enclave

A stroll through Hiroo reveals both the comforts of expat luxury and the quiet intrusions of a changing Tokyo.
Jared Isaacman (left), U.S. President Trump’s nominee to head NASA, testifies during his Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday.

Bloomberg
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 13, 2025

NASA nominee should resist Musk’s pull toward Mars

During a Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Jared Isaacman, the nominee for NASA administrator, was — in a twist on the Will Smith ’90s tune — gettin’ squishy wit it.
McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri (left) and Lando Norris (right) celebrate with team principal Andrea Stella after the Bahrain Grand Prix in Sakhir, Bahrain, on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Apr 14, 2025

Oscar Piastri's victory in Bahrain GP puts McLaren in F1 driver's seat

McLaren faces a welcome but nonetheless potentially complex question of how to deal with two talented teammates battling for the same prize.
Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura speaks during the opening ceremony of the 2025 Osaka Expo on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 14, 2025

As Osaka Expo kicks off, Nippon Ishin continues to hold its breath

The Kansai-centered opposition party has a lot to lose if the six-month event being held in its stronghold turns out to be a flop.
U.S. President Donald Trump, right, and Nayib Bukele, El Salvador's president, during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Monday
WORLD / Politics
Apr 15, 2025

El Salvador's Bukele won't return man the U.S. mistakenly deported

The Trump administration has deported hundreds of people to El Salvador, which is receiving $6 million to house the migrants in a high-security mega-prison.
The Bank of Japan will likely postpone raising interest rates due to uncertainties stemming from U.S. tariff measures that could deal a blow to Japan’s economy, a former executive director said.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 15, 2025

BOJ will likely put rate hike aside for now, ex-official says

"They will be in a wait-and-see mode for a while,” said Kenzo Yamamoto, a former executive at the Bank of Japan.
Sachiko Ishizuka, who was born via artificial insemination by donor (AID), tells her story to lawmakers from the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan on April 9.
JAPAN / Science & Health / FOCUS
Apr 15, 2025

Privacy and transparency clash in debate over bill on artificial insemination

At stake is the thorny question of when children conceived through artificial insemination by donor can access information on their biological parents, and to what extent.
A Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) logo is displayed on a wall in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on Tuesday. A recent rout saw TSMC’s forward price-to-earnings ratio hit a two-year low at one point.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 16, 2025

TSMC and ASML outlooks to reveal depth of tariff pain and AI angst

Both have borne the brunt of a broader market selloff, weighed down by both U.S. tariff threats and doubts over future AI demand.
The start of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah on March 9 last year.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Apr 16, 2025

Team ownership could be next F1 step for Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia first hosted Formula One in 2021, while energy giant Aramco is a global partner of the sport and also the title sponsor of the Aston Martin team.
Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg departs after attending a Federal Trade Commission trial at a U.S. District Court in Washington on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 16, 2025

Zuckerberg defends strategy behind Instagram, WhatsApp deals

The Federal Trade Commission alleges the acquisitions of the two apps give Meta Platforms a social media monopoly, and is fighting to break up the company.
It's not just the far right, even some liberal voices worry that Marine Le Pen's conviction and disqualification undermine France's democracy, but their arguments don’t hold up.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 15, 2025

No, Le Pen was not railroaded

Le Pen is appealing the verdict and her supporters are not the only ones finding fault with it.
A drone view shows a cargo ship at Kwai Tsing Container Terminals in Hong Kong on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 17, 2025

U.S. looks to box in China by recruiting other trading partners

Washington is set to ask nations to limit Beijing’s might when they negotiate tariffs.
A handout artist's impression released on Thursday by N. Madhusudhan/University of Cambridge shows the K2-18b super-Earth, a hycean world, in which astronomers say they have found the strongest yet “hints” of life outside our solar system.
WORLD
Apr 17, 2025

Scientists find strongest evidence yet of life on an alien planet

The scientists stressed they are not announcing the discovery of actual living organisms and that the findings should be viewed cautiously.
Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to Hanoi on Tuesday. Xi is also visiting Malaysia and Cambodia as part of a charm offensive related to recent U.S. tariffs.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 17, 2025

Cambodia seeking China's financial support as Xi visits amid U.S. tariffs

Phnom Penh is a close partner of China, which has invested billions of dollars in projects including roads and airports and is the country's largest creditor.
Comedian Takaaki Ishibashi
JAPAN
Apr 17, 2025

Comedian Ishibashi apologizes over sexual harassment dinner incident

The scandal has been compared to the Fuji TV sexual harassment case involving former television star Masahiro Nakai.
Economists fail to understand that Donald Trump's tariff policy is part of a broader strategy to prepare the U.S. for long-term competition with China, driven by national security concerns rather than traditional economic or trade policy.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 17, 2025

What economists 'don’t get' about Trump tariffs

My view is that the U.S. has started to prepare seriously for a long-term competition with China for global dominance.
Donald Trump’s punitive tariffs have dealt a blow to U.S. credibility and the greenback. It’s a bigger leap to project the currency's demise.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 16, 2025

King dollar’s reign looks secure — for now

The greenback survived Trump's first term at the pinnacle and will likely endure his second.
Marriage proposals in Japan look a lot like those in other countries, but there are traditions that are specific to the country that some people still adhere to.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 18, 2025

Voicing intentions and a peek into a traditional Japanese engagement ceremony

While the basics of a marriage proposal are similar to what happens in most countries, an extra ceremony requires specific gifts.

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