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Air pollution is one of the most pressing health issues in India, where the country's 1.4 billion people breathe air exceeding the World Health Organization's guidelines for particulate matter.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health / ANALYSIS
May 8, 2025

Indian industries swap polluted air with each other in health fix

India's 1.4 billion people breathe air exceeding the World Health Organization's guidelines for particulate matter, which can cause severe health issues.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (right) greets interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa (left) as U.S. President Donald Trump looks on in Riyadh on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
May 15, 2025

Syrian leader's path from global jihad to meeting Trump

The meeting is a huge boost for Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa as he tries to bring the fractured country under his control and revive its economy.
Buildings destroyed during the war in Harasta, on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria.
WORLD / Politics
May 16, 2025

Trump’s pledge to lift Syrian sanctions faces a complex road

The move was seen as a highlight of Trump’s trip to the Arabian Peninsula this week, but actual implementation will be a protracted and thorny challenge.
Agriculture minister Taku Eto has come under fire for saying at the weekend that he receives so much rice from his supporters that he has enough to sell it.
JAPAN / Politics
May 19, 2025

Amid rice shortage, farm minister comes under fire for saying he gets plenty

Agriculture minister Taku Eto reportedly said at a fundraiser that he gets so much rice from supporters, he has enough to sell it.
A Musee Platinum hair removal salon in the city of Saitama on Monday
BUSINESS / Companies
May 19, 2025

Hair removal chain Musee Platinum owes ¥1.5 billion, say former staff

More than 2,000 former employees of the company went unpaid between January and April.
The U.S. military’s longstanding dominance is eroding as China exploits its vulnerabilities with cheaper, faster and smarter warfare, demanding urgent American reinvention in energy, logistics and artificial intelligence.
COMMENTARY / World
May 21, 2025

America’s hard power must get harder — quickly

Aircraft carriers and fighter jets look a lot less stealthy in a world of limitless drones and autonomous submarines.
Kenji Yanobe’s spacesuited cats are the main characters of “Ship’s Cat Island,” the inaugural exhibition at Hyper Museum Hanno in Saitama Prefecture.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 7, 2025

What can Kenji Yanobe’s cosmic cats teach us about humanity?

The spacesuited felines will be familiar to those who have visited the Nakanoshima Museum of Art in Osaka or Tokyo’s Ginza Six shopping complex last year.
U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a visit to Al Udeid Air Base in Doha, Qatar, in May.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 7, 2025

Trump signs orders to bolster U.S. drone defenses and boost supersonic flight

The executive orders aim to bolster defenses against threatening drones and to boost electric air taxis and supersonic commercial aircraft.
June is Pride Month, which means it’s the perfect time to get acquainted with how sexual minorities have been represented in Japanese fiction if you’re not familiar with these narratives already.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 11, 2025

Pride and prose: Novels that illuminate queer lives in Japan

From Yukio Mishima and Haruki Murakami to Li Kotomi and Akira Otani, dive into Japanese fiction’s LGBTQ+ narratives in honor of Pride Month.
Novak Djokovic plays a forehand return to Italy's Jannik Sinner during their men's singles semifinal match on day 13 of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland-Garros Complex in Paris on June 6, 2025.
TENNIS
Jun 11, 2025

No rest, no gain: Novak Djokovic’s go-to tools for a mind and body reset

Japan residents with deep pockets now have a chance to replicate Djokovic’s wellness and longevity routines at Aman Tokyo.
Rio Takeda banked roughly ¥265.7 million during the 2024 season in prize money on the back of a tour-high eight wins.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
Jun 15, 2025

What gender pay gap? In Japanese golf, women are on par with men

Fan and sponsorship growth has players in the JLPGA making just as much as their male counterparts, a rarity in the male-dominated world of sports.
People lay flowers and candles at a makeshift memorial site in front of a school in Graz, southeastern Austria, on Thursday, a day after 11 people died in a school shooting.
WORLD / Crime & Legal / ANALYSIS
Jun 16, 2025

Killings at European schools fan concern U.S. problem is spreading

The spate of school shootings is increasing momentum for tougher gun and security laws as well as more policing of social media.
An Iranian daily newspaper displays an image of a damaged building in Israel on Sunday. Israel’s attack on Iran’s nuclear program has raised tensions, exposed divisions and put pressure on the U.S. to decide on its next move.
EDITORIALS
Jun 20, 2025

Chasing peace with Iran as the Middle East smolders

Iran’s nuclear program is a danger, but so too is a wider war in the Middle East.
An Iraqi woman walks past a portrait of Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani (left), and Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during protest march in the Kadhimiya district of Baghdad on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 23, 2025

Iran stands alone against Trump and Israel, stripped of allies

Following the U.S. bombing of Iran's nuclear facilities, its partners in Russia and China are sitting on the sidelines, while its proxies are unable or unwilling to join the fray.
Cooper Flagg speaks to reporters during the NBA draft combine in Chicago on May 14.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Jun 25, 2025

Cooper Flagg poised to be second-youngest No. 1 pick at NBA draft

The Mavericks are expected to take Flagg, an 18-year-old American who played last season for Duke University before opting into the draft.
Elementary school teacher Seiichi Yabushita (Go Ayano) is taken to court for allegedly driving one of his students to attempt suicide in Takashi Miike’s “Sham.”
CULTURE / Film
Jun 25, 2025

‘Sham’ flirts with ambiguity, then picks a side

Takashi Miike’s legal drama draws from a real-life incident and makes a clear but frustratingly simplified case.
The U.S. dollar was back at multiyear lows against a basket of other major currencies on Thursday, erasing a brief respite provided by safe-haven flows related to Middle East tensions earlier in the week.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 27, 2025

No love for the dollar as markets fret about Fed independence

Respect for independent institutions such as central banks has long been viewed as a key attraction of major economies, helping anchor economic stability.
Roger Federer salutes the crowd prior to an exhibition match in Shanghai last October.
TENNIS
Jun 29, 2025

Roger Federer's long-term deals make him a tennis billionaire

Federer, who won 20 Grand Slams between 2003 and 2018, amassed $130.6 million in prize money during a 24-year playing career, but made far more off the court.
U.S. President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte attend the opening of the NATO leaders summit in The Hague on June 25.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 29, 2025

NATO’s Donald Trump dilemma

NATO's fate — and the future of global stability — will hinge on whether European leaders push back.
A satellite view shows an overview of Fordo underground complex, after the U.S. struck the underground nuclear facility, near Qom, Iran, on June 22.
WORLD
Jun 30, 2025

U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear sites set up 'cat-and-mouse' hunt for missing uranium

Iran's more than 400 kg of uranium is enough, if further enriched for up to nine nuclear weapons.
U.S. President Donald Trump takes part in the NATO summit on June 24. Trump's unilateral strike on Iran without consulting NATO allies has deepened divisions within the alliance, raising doubts about its relevance and collective security framework.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 30, 2025

NATO leaders’ price for supporting Ukraine is their self-respect

Last week’s summit in The Hague focused more on appeasing Trump than serious strategy.
"I can't overstate the talent available, women's college basketball and internationally," WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said of the key factors in forging ahead with a WNBA expansion and why the timing was right.
BASKETBALL
Jul 1, 2025

WNBA expands to 18 teams with Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia added

Cleveland will be the first franchise to play in the WNBA among the latest additions, in 2028.
The remains of an Iranian missile launched during the 12-day Israel-Iran war lie on a road near Tekoa in the occupied West Bank on Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 2, 2025

Nuclear proliferation cannot just be bombed away

The most powerful deterrent for any state is possession of nuclear weapons or membership in an alliance that offers a nuclear umbrella (like NATO).
A breakthrough HIV prevention drug, lenacapavir, offers hope to end the epidemic, but U.S. President Donald Trump’s cuts to global health funding threaten access and rollout, especially in Africa where prevention efforts are already strained.  
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 8, 2025

When an HIV scientific breakthrough isn’t enough

Trump administration funding cuts and dismantling of USAID force a shift from HIV elimination back to treatment.
One of the early exemplars of Chinese innovation is a cell therapy that has shown promise to potentially cure a deadly blood cancer.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 14, 2025

China biotech’s stunning advance is changing the world’s drug pipeline

The number of novel drugs in China entering into development ballooned to over 1,250 last year, far surpassing the European Union.
Firefighters work to tackle a wildfire spread at Les Pennes-Mirabeau, near Marseille, southern France, on July 8
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / EXPLAINER
Jul 15, 2025

How climate change is fueling wildfires in Europe

Wildfires have burnt 227,000 hectares of land since the beginning of the year — more than double the average for this time of year over the past two decades.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, on June 26. The Donald Trump-ordered strikes on Iran, said to be an example of the “Trump Doctrine,” ignore decades of failed U.S. attempts to force adversaries to back down through short bursts of military power. 
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 18, 2025

The 'Trump Doctrine' is wishful thinking

The Donald Trump-ordered strikes on Iran, claimed to prove a unique “Trump Doctrine,” ignore decades of failed U.S. attempts to force adversaries to back down.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks during a news conference with President Donald Trump in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington on June 27.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 19, 2025

Trump sues Wall Street Journal over Epstein report, seeking $10 billion

The newspaper said that Trump in 2003 sent Jeffrey Epstein a birthday greeting that included a sexually suggestive drawing and a reference to secrets they shared.
A protester holds a sign outside the White House demanding the release to all files related to Jeffrey Epstein in Washington on July 18.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 23, 2025

Trump claims Obama 'coup' as Epstein questions mount

The coup accusation centers on claims that fly in the face of multiple high-level official probes by the U.S. government but resonate with President Donald Trump's far-right base.
Ozzy Osbourne performs with Black Sabbath as part of "The End" tour at Madison Square Garden in New York in 2016.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Jul 23, 2025

Heavy metal icon Ozzy Osbourne dead at 76

Ozzy Osbourne, the legendary frontman of heavy metal group Black Sabbath, died just weeks after he had played a farewell concert.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight