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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivers a speech as he visits a helicopter unit of the North Korean military that rescued people in flood-hit areas in the northwestern part of North Pyongan Province in this image released Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 4, 2024

North Korea says Russia's Putin offered humanitarian aid over flood damage

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un thanked Putin for the offer but said his government has already taken measures to conduct recovery work.
Blistering heat is becoming a fixture of summer in Japan, but a few tweaks to your routine can make your outdoor runs bearable — if not enjoyable — until cooler temperatures return.
LIFE / Lifestyle / Boiling Point
Aug 10, 2024

Ice bandanas, convenience store breaks: Running under Japan’s summer sun

There are easily affordable ways to work some more cooling elements into your runs.
Japan's Tatsuru Saito (left) and France's Teddy Riner compete in the judo mixed team final at the Paris Olympics on Aug. 3.
OLYMPICS / Judo
Aug 9, 2024

French judo great Teddy Riner praises Tatsuru Saito in social media post

Tatsuru Saito earned the respect of French superstar Teddy Riner with his performance in the mixed team final.
Japan's Rei Higuchi (red) wrestles U.S.' Spencer Richard Lee (blue) in their men's freestyle 57-kg wrestling final match at the Champ-de-Mars Arena during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on Friday.
OLYMPICS / Wrestling
Aug 10, 2024

Wrestling golds from Higuchi and Sakurai fuel Japan's dominance on mat

Powerhouse Japan claimed two of Friday's three freestyle wrestling gold medals at the Paris Olympics through Rei Higuchi and Tsugumi Sakurai.
Gold medalist Imane Khelif celebrates on the podium after her victory in the women's boxing 66-kg class at the Paris Olympics on Friday.
OLYMPICS / Boxing
Aug 11, 2024

Gender row Olympic boxing champion Khelif files complaint for online harassment

Imane Khelif won the women's 66-kg final against China's Yang Liu in a unanimous points decision.
Ami competes in the women's breaking competition at the Paris Olympics on Friday.
OLYMPICS / Breaking
Aug 11, 2024

Is breaking a sport? Even among competitors, the answer depends on who you ask.

There was not even consensus from the B-girls — though all agreed that it belongs in the Olympics.
Following the Paris Olympics, two swimming pools, the climbing wall and the skateboard parks are set to be dug out and moved — most of them to the poverty-stricken Seine-Saint-Denis suburb northeast of Paris.
OLYMPICS
Aug 14, 2024

Olympics infrastructure and equipment heads for 'second life' post-Games

Over decades, the world's biggest sporting event has forged a reputation for monumental waste, but Paris organizers are hoping to change that.
Former Kobayashi Pharmaceutical President Akihiro Kobayashi, currently director in charge of compensation, speaks during a news conference in Osaka earlier this month.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 14, 2024

Chinese shoppers’ infatuation with Japanese brands wears thin

The backlash is reminiscent of last year’s outcry over the Fukushima wastewater release
Henry VIII had to deal with xenophobic mobs in England too — and he did so harshly and imperfectly. But there’s an abiding lesson to be learned.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 14, 2024

The U.K. riots and an evil day 500 years ago in London

The enmity focused on the foreign-born may have been sparked by misinformation, but that doesn’t disguise the fact that the tinder was waiting to be lit in Britain.
Medical professionals and activists hold posters and candles as they take part in a midnight protest on Wednesday to condemn the rape and murder of a young medic in Kolkata. Indian doctors in government hospitals across several states halted elective services "indefinitely" on Monday in protest.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Aug 15, 2024

Doctors' protests spread across India after rape and murder of medic

The gruesome attack on a trainee doctor last week has prompted thousands of women to march across Indian cities overnight as well as protests by fellow medics.
For centuries, Japanese people have been scaring themselves with horror stories as a way of cooling down during the stifling summer months.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 16, 2024

New tales in translation to give you chills and thrills this summer

Recent fright-filled releases with supernatural creatures, shrewd sleuths and creepy killers provide welcome relief from the sweltering heat.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida poses for a group photo with other regional leaders prior to the Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC) leaders meeting in Tokyo in December.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 16, 2024

Japan's energy diplomacy reflects global divide over how to reach net zero

Japan’s focus should be on advancing truly innovative and effective renewable technologies, rather than prolonging fossil fuel use.
A college student paints graffiti on a wall at Dhaka university in the capital on Monday following weeks of student-led protests that toppled autocratic Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 17, 2024

Bangladesh student protesters eye new party to cement their revolution

Their hope is to avoid a repeat of the last 15 years, in which Sheikh Hasina ruled the country of some 170 million people with an iron fist.
A Palestinian man rides a bicycle past a damaged vehicle in which employees from the World Central Kitchen were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, on April 2. The Israeli military said it is conducting a thorough review to understand the circumstances of the "tragic" incident, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 20, 2024

U.N. warns of 'unacceptable' level of violence against aid workers

The world body warns that the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip is potentially fueling even higher numbers of such deaths this year.
Xander Schauffele hits from the sand on the 18th fairway during the final round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship golf tournament at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee, on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
Aug 21, 2024

Xander Schauffele: No. 1 ranking is motivator, not inflated purses

Schauffele said that there's a different motivating factor on his mind at this stage of his career — turning that No. 2 into a No. 1.
Ahmad Bin Quasem, an opposition activist and lawyer who was recently released after the expulsion of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, speaks during an interview in Dhaka earlier this month.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 21, 2024

Disappeared Bangladeshi lawyer recounts Hasina's secret jail

Throughout his long incarceration, Quasem was shackled around the clock in windowless solitary confinement.
The integration of large language models into war-game simulations and planning promises faster scenario analysis, but recent research highlights significant issues, including a risk of escalation.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 21, 2024

Resist the seductive power of AI in military decision-making

The maturation of AI and the creation of large learning models have driven the war-gaming industry — and it is an industry — to new heights of fever and frenzy.
Kylian Mbappe will make his home debut for Real Madrid against Real Valladolid on Sunday.
SOCCER
Aug 23, 2024

Kylian Mbappe set for home debut as Carlo Ancelotti seeks to get Madrid on track

Mbappe was shut out by Mallorca and goalkeeper Dominik Greif in his first Spanish league match on Sunday.
Police officers at the scene of a stabbing in Solingen, Germany, on Saturday.
WORLD
Aug 25, 2024

German police arrest suspect in stabbing rampage

The Islamic State group earlier claimed responsibility for Friday's knife attack that also wounded eight people.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is seen on a huge screen as he gives a speech to mark the country's 33rd Independence Day, at Saint Sophia Square in Kyiv on Saturday amid Russia's invasion of the country.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 25, 2024

Zelenskyy touts new 'drone missile' as he labels Putin 'sick old man'

The Ukrainian president said the new weapon, Palianytsia, was faster and more powerful than its domestically made drones.
Boxes of Joban-mono marine produce such as flounder are lined up at the Hisanohama fishing port in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Sep 2, 2024

Fukushima fishermen not in the clear yet

Challenges remain for the prefecture's fisheries industry a year after the release of treated water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant began.
England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson at a news conference in London in September 2002. Eriksson died on Monday at the age of 76.
SOCCER
Aug 27, 2024

Soccer world pays tribute as 'true gentleman' Eriksson dies age 76

The former England manager died surrounded by his family after revealing in January he had "at best" a year to live.
People hold the Paralympic torch at the entrance of the Channel Tunnel in Coquelles, France, on Sunday.
PARALYMPICS
Aug 28, 2024

IPC president hails Paris Games as turning point for Paralympics

More than 1.75 million tickets had been sold by Friday ahead of Wednesday's opening ceremony.
A U.S. cybersecurity firm has reported that a hacking group in Iran operated fake HR companies to target individuals in the Middle East who were willing to sell secrets to Israel and other Western governments.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 29, 2024

Iran used fake HR firms to root out unfriendly spies, researchers say

Hackers lured security officials across Iran, Syria and Lebanon who were willing to sell state secrets to Israel and the West into a cyber espionage trap.
A map of western Japan shows the Nankai Trough and, to its north, the hypocentral region where the energy for an earthquake is thought to be building.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Aug 30, 2024

Did you feel that? It may be time to refresh your disaster kits — and vocabulary.

Part of Japan got a scare when the first-ever megaquake alert was issued earlier this month, a reminder that knowing the right terms in a disaster is crucial.
If you're still trying to be active during Japan's record-setting heat, you should also know how best to care for yourself when you inevitably get a sunburn.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Aug 31, 2024

Japan’s nasty summer has left you with a nastier sunburn. Now what?

Aloe facial masks, non-alcohol-based lotions and souped-up sunscreen can take the edge off the pain of getting a sunburn.
The protagonist of “The Colors Within” is Totsuko (voiced by Sayu Suzukawa), a cheerful young woman who views the world in a unique way: Everyone she sees gives off their own distinct color that represents their personality.
CULTURE / Film
Aug 30, 2024

'The Colors Within' tunes into everyday moments of love

Director Naoko Yamada's new anime film, which explores themes of acceptance and communication without words, was born from a creative relationship of complete trust.
Britain's Lucy Shuker says there is more work to be done to make things easier for people with disabilities.
PARALYMPICS / Tennis
Sep 1, 2024

Paralympic great Lucy Shuker says more can be done to aid people with disabilities

The 44-year-old is trying to earn her fourth Paralympic medal.
Imanaga (12-3) struck out seven and walked two while throwing 95 pitches for the Cubs before he was pulled. Relievers Nate Pearson and Porter Hodge completed the no-hitter.
BASEBALL / MLB
Sep 5, 2024

Shota Imanaga and the Cubs combine to no-hit Pirates

Nate Pearson and Porter Hodge each tossed a perfect inning to complete the 18th no-hitter in franchise history.
Held annually in Cologne, Germany, Gamescom is the world's largest gaming convention, meaning it attracts attendees and exhibitors from near and far.
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Sep 7, 2024

Traveling to Germany is ‘worth the cost’ for Japan’s indie studios

"Nothing beats seeing players' faces as they play our game in person, and getting to ask them directly about their experience, both positive and negative.”

Longform

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