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An assembly engineer works on a TWINSCAN DUV lithography system at ASML in Veldhoven, Netherlands, in June.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 21, 2023

The multimillion-dollar machines at the center of the U.S.-China rivalry

Complex lithography machines that print intricate circuitry on computer chips are at the heart of Washington's tough new measures on Beijing.
There are a lot of reasons for why the Pacific saury is becoming scarcer, including overfishing in international waters and changing ocean conditions.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Longform
Oct 23, 2023

A saury state: How the price of 'autumn's fish' skyrocketed

A fish so cheap and abundant that even the cats would ignore it, the Pacific saury is becoming a sought-after dish as stocks dwindle.
Servers inside Huawei's factory campus in Dongguan, Guangdong province, China, in March 2019
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 26, 2023

China swaps Western tech for domestic options as U.S. cracks down

The telecom and financial sectors are considered the next focus for the drive, with digital payments seen as particularly vulnerable to Western hacking.
Reporters take cover upon hearing sirens warning of an incoming rocket attack from Gaza, in the southern Israeli city of Sderot, on Oct. 23
WORLD / Politics
Oct 31, 2023

Media reporting on Israel-Hamas war face singular challenges

Lack of access to Gaza, with both the Israeli and Egyptian access points closed, is creating difficulties journalists say they have rarely seen before.
Petr Aven in Moscow to attend Russia Business week in in 2018
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Nov 1, 2023

Squeezed by sanctions, some oligarchs head home to Putin's Russia

The penalties have destroyed the standing of many wealthy Russians abroad who remained silent or avoided direct criticism of Putin over the war.
The front page of The Japan Times from Nov. 13, 1948, heralds the verdicts given to Japan's war criminals.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Nov 3, 2023

Japan Times 1948: Tojo and 6 others are sentenced to hang

As sentences are handed down in 1948, two other eras deal with fallout from an earthquake and an oil shock.
U.S. President Joe Biden greets Chinese President Xi Jinping before a meeting during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders week in Woodside, California, on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 16, 2023

Biden and Xi agree to pick up the phone to avert crisis. But now what?

Agreed measures are unlikely to be enough to improve bilateral ties, as neither side appeared willing to tackle fundamental differences head on.
Stacks of trays holding treated limestone, used to absorb CO2 from the air in Tracy, California.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 23, 2023

Why carbon capture is no easy solution to climate change

The technology — vital to the climate strategies of many world governments — is expensive, unproven at scale, and can be hard to sell to a nervous public.
Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber speaks during day three of the COP28 climate conference in Dubai on Saturday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 4, 2023

COP28 president’s fossil-fuel phaseout talk draws condemnation

The comments have raised questions over whether the conference will be able to unite behind a strong pledge targeting the elimination of fossil fuels.
A Chinese national flag flutters at the headquarters of a commercial bank on a financial street near the People's Bank of China in Beijing.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 6, 2023

Officials hit back after Moody’s downgrades China's credit outlook

The ratings agency downgraded its outlook from stable to negative, saying a need for bailouts could weigh on the country’s economic strength.
Local men survey the damage after an Israeli airstrike on Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, on Dec. 1.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 11, 2023

While Palestinians suffer, Hamas reaps the benefits

Gaining prestige among Palestinians while poisoning Israel’s relations with the Arab world, the group has put the Palestinian issue back on the agenda.
A man holding a child crosses a damaged bridge after Typhoon Doksuri, in Zhuozhou, China, on Aug. 7.
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 12, 2023

Storm assault on Chinese ports a wake-up call for climate risks

Typhoon Doksuri delivered Beijing's worst flooding in more than 50 years, shuttering factories, collapsing homes and displacing tens of thousands.
Firefighters tackle a fire in a field in San Buenaventura in the Bolivian Amazon in November.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 15, 2023

Despite COP28 deal on fossil fuels, 1.5 C goal likely out of reach

The "UAE Consensus" does not commit the world to phasing out oil and gas, nor to near-term timelines for transitioning away from fossil fuels.
Men warm up around a fire outside one of the tents housing Palestinians displaced by the conflict in Gaza on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 19, 2023

U.S. vows to keep arming Israel amid calls for Gaza cease-fire

Gaza's health ministry says Israel's military response to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas has now killed more than 19,400 people.
China is the world’s second-largest investor in research and development, having spent $410 billion in this area in 2022, 10% more than the previous year.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 7, 2024

China is lowering transaction costs for greater innovation

With projects such as a cooperation zone between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, China is championing small- and medium-sized firms as the engine of innovation.
After a fuselage panel ripped off during an Alaska Airlines flight on Jan. 5, all Boeing 737 Max 9 planes were grounded in the United States.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 12, 2024

We're stuck with the 737 Max, like it or not

The most recent incident involving a Boeing 737 Max won't stop airlines from using the craft. There simply aren't that many other options.
A replica of the Statue of Liberty in Taipei. There are markers all over Taiwan of its courtship of the United States.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 21, 2024

Taiwan’s doubts about America are growing. That could be dangerous.

Will deepening skepticism about the United States as a trustworthy nation diminish Taiwan’s belief that it could fend off China?
Fighters loyal to the Houthis ride on the back of a pick-up truck during a military parade for new tribal recruits amid escalating tensions with the U.S.-led coalition in the Red Sea, in Bani Hushaish, Yemen on Monday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 24, 2024

Red Sea attacks could disrupt shipping for months, driving up costs

With sailors demanding double pay and insurance rates skyrocketing, shipping lines are steering clear of a waterway that normally carries 12% of seaborne trade.
The People's Liberation Army's Academy of Military Sciences had used an open-source standard known as RISC-V to reduce malfunctions in chips for cloud computing and smart cars.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 5, 2024

China bets on open-source chips as U.S. export controls mount

RISC-V is free to use and has a simpler outline, often leading to more energy-efficient chips, and users can build atop the framework to suit their needs.
Shipments from China to the U.S. are increasingly making a pit stop in third countries such as Vietnam and Mexico.
BUSINESS
Feb 6, 2024

Biden wins U.S.-China trade war by Trump’s pet metric, but does it count?

Figures due Wednesday are set to show the U.S. deficit in goods trade with China in 2023 at its lowest annual level since 2010.
Women workers demand equal pay during a protest in Melbourne.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2024

Asia is fighting off the diversity backlash

Gender equality is at a crossroads amid a corporate backlash that is threatening progress in in workplace diversity.
A Japan Airlines passenger aircraft at Haneda Airport in Tokyo
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2024

JAL plane crossed runway stop line at U.S. airport

The aircraft crossed the stop line in front of the runway at San Diego International Airport just after noon on Feb. 6.
Sun simulation at the Rail Tec Arsenal facility in Vienna, Austria, on Dec. 15, 2023
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Feb 16, 2024

Climate change threatens EU trains, but resilience is expensive

Europe’s railways, a safe, low-carbon technology that still carries a little glamor, are on the brink of a new era.
Mining magnate Dan Gertler in Congo in 2012
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 20, 2024

China's dominance of EV metals prompts U.S. to revisit stockpile 'panic button'

Budget cuts have shrunk U.S. strategic reserves to record lows, leaving it facing shortages of the raw materials needed to execute an energy transition.
Kites are flown over Rafah as smoke billows following Israeli bombardment on Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 21, 2024

Israel-Hamas war splits G20, risking paralysis at meeting

The group is so split on the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine that they may be forced to reduce the forum’s scope and avoid geopolitical issues.
The Huawei Mate 60 Pro, launched in August 2023 and powered by a sophisticated chip, was seen as a symbol of the China's technological resurgence despite Washington's ongoing efforts to cripple its capacity to produce advanced semiconductors.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 22, 2024

U.S. targets China chipmaking plant after Huawei Mate 60 Pro

The Biden administration seeks to cut off China's most advanced factory from more American imports after it produced a sophisticated chip for the phone.
Customers shop at the GU store in the SoHo neighborhood of New York. The brand's operator Fast Retailing hopes to expand its share in markets in the United States and Europe.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 26, 2024

Uniqlo’s sister brand GU takes aim at market in U.S. and Europe

International sales made up more than half of Uniqlo’s revenue in the latest fiscal year, GU has mostly only flourished domestically.
A Palestinian man transports humanitarian aid at the distribution center of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees UNRWA in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on March 3.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 10, 2024

Sweden and Canada to restart payments to U.N. agency for Palestinians

Over a dozen countries suspended payments to UNRWA after Israel claimed some of the organization's employees were involved in Hamas-led attacks.
Giovanna Gonzalez of Chicago demonstrates outside the U.S. Capitol following a press conference by TikTok creators to voice their opposition to the "Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act," pending crackdown legislation on TikTok in the House of Representatives, on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 12.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 19, 2024

TikTok and its 'secret sauce' caught in U.S.-China tussle

China's ByteDance's algorithm has helped drive TikTok's stratospheric success since the app was launched for the international market in 2017.
Lawmakers vote on the new national security law at Hong Kong’s Legislative Council on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 19, 2024

Hong Kong adopts sweeping security laws, bowing to Beijing

The body fast-tracked a major piece of legislation that critics say further threatens the China-ruled city's freedoms.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’