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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrives at King Khalid International airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Dec. 9.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 6, 2025

Starmer’s travels outstrip past U.K. leaders, posing ratings risk

The premier has spent 31 days on working trips since he took office following his Labour Party’s landslide win in the July 4 general election.
A patch of the Islamic State group is seen on a fighter's uniform in Damascus on Dec. 27, 2024.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jan 6, 2025

The quiet financier: Islamic State group's elusive strongman

Abdul Qadir Mumin may already be running the group's general directorate of provinces from Somalia, even if he lacks an official title.
Signage at the TikTok offices in Singapore, on Aug. 4, 2023
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 7, 2025

TikTok ban thrusts Apple and Google into U.S.-China geopolitical fray

TikTok creators are posting videos promoting ways to get around a looming shutdown of the app in the U.S., which could spell trouble for companies required to enforce the ban.
A Mitsubishi Electric Lighting LED product, which shortens installation time, in the city of Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, November
JAPAN
Jan 7, 2025

Shift from fluorescent lamps to LEDs to accelerate in Japan

Manufacturers and industry groups are calling for the early replacement of fluorescent lamps with LEDs in offices and stores ahead of a 2027 ban.
A portable charger containing a lithium-ion battery that overheated in an accident during a reenactment experiment in December at the Consumer Affairs Agency
JAPAN / Society
Jan 7, 2025

Consumer Affairs Agency warns of risks from battery-powered heated devices

Injury reports linked to lithium-ion battery-powered heating gear have surged over the last 10 years.
A retired power station in the Keratsini suburb, near Athens
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 7, 2025

Europe's power price divide hits southeastern economies

Since 2021, Greece has spent €11 billion on energy subsidies to try to protect customers.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg tries on a pair of Orion augmented reality glasses at the Meta Connect annual event at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on Sept. 25.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 8, 2025

Meta shelves fact-checking in policy reversal ahead of Trump inauguration

It plans to implement on Facebook, Instagram and Threads a system of "community notes" similar to that used on rival X.
Tencent, China’s most valuable company, is seen as a pioneer in China’s internet and private sector, creating a so-called everything app that Elon Musk has held up as a model for X.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 8, 2025

U.S. blacklist of China’s tech giants risks even faster decoupling

The move, which experts say could backfire on Washington, comes amid an intensifying tech rivalry between the two countries.
Terunofuji performs during a ceremony at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo on Tuesday.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Jan 8, 2025

Questions linger over Terunofuji's health ahead of year's first tournament

During the Yokozuna Deliberation Council's practice session on Monday, Terunofuji’s latent power, but also his physical decline, were on full display.
The message is clear: Many governments and authorities see encryption not as a human-rights safeguard, but as an obstacle.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 26, 2024

Will your encrypted messages remain private in Europe?

Governments and law-enforcement agencies have been increasingly eager to access encrypted communications, even if that means undermining public confidence in privacy protection.
Republican Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming (left), U.S. President-elect Donald Trump (center) and Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, speak to members of the media following a meeting with Republican senators in Washington on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 9, 2025

U.S. veterans and officials urge Trump to continue resettling at-risk Afghans

There is concern that the incoming U.S. president will curtail visa and resettlement programs as part of his promised crackdown on immigration.
Otono Kuboki, a Japanese Canadian hair stylist for salon chain Sozo, is a key figure in the company's mission to elevate the viability of Japan's hairdressing industry to foreign residents.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 11, 2025

Can an international makeover help Tokyo salons meet foreign demand?

Sozo Education aims to train Tokyo’s next crop of stylists not just in English vocabulary related to hairdressing but in the diverse needs of foreign hair types.
On Dec. 31, rock duo B’z appeared on NHK's year-end "Kohaku Uta Gassen" music extravaganza for the first time in a career spanning more than three decades.
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Jan 10, 2025

An explosive B’z set on ‘Kohaku’ hints at a strategy to win over viewers

Japan’s best selling act delivered one of the biggest moments of the year-end music blowout and reinforced the importance of catering to a more middle-aged market.
Competitors are interviewed after a women's esports event in Beijing last month.
MORE SPORTS / esports
Jan 12, 2025

China's women esports players defy sexism for love of the game

For female esports players in China, mastering the game is just the first hurdle to carving out a space for themselves in the male-dominated field.
It's back to the classroom for some residents as municipal governments across the country conduct lessons to learn how to use new technologies.
LIFE / Lifestyle / Longform
Jan 13, 2025

Can aging Japan go digital without leaving anyone behind?

Amid a push to digitalize, some experts believe citizens should have the right to stay offline.
Solar panels and a coal-fired power station in Fukushima Prefecture. Japan has not set a clear path for phasing out coal and its new draft energy plan foresees an important role for fossil fuels, especially gas, and nuclear power in its future energy mix.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 13, 2025

Japan’s energy plans endanger real climate solutions

The government's draft energy plans were not subject to open debate and their outcome shows an insufficient commitment to making the changes needed to tackle climate change.
A worker inspects the outdoor gas pipes at the underground gas storage facility operated by Gas Storage in Haje, Czech Republic, on Jan. 3.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Jan 13, 2025

Europe threatens to trigger a global scramble for natural gas

For the first time since the energy crisis was turbocharged by Russia’s war in Ukraine, Europe risks failing to meet its storage targets for next winter.
Young Tibetan monks sit on a scooter as they arrive to take part in a protest march held to mark the 65th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule, in the northern hill town of Dharamsala, India, on March 10, 2024.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 14, 2025

How China is erasing Tibetan culture, one child at a time

Education, especially in minority areas, is a politically sensitive topic. Tibetans who oppose the boarding schools risk imprisonment if they protest.
Tiger Woods lines up a putt during an event in Orlando, Florida, in December.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
Jan 15, 2025

Tiger Woods pledges support amid 'unimaginable loss' in Los Angeles

Flames that razed the Pacific Palisades came uncomfortably close to The Riviera Country Club, which is slated to host the 2028 Olympic golf tournament.
A damaged school bus is seen after residents fled from the Eaton fire, one of six simultaneous blazes that have swept across Los Angeles County, in Altadena, California, on Saturday.
WORLD / Society
Jan 15, 2025

LA schools rush to reopen as memories of COVID-19 disruption linger

Educators, administrators and parents are taking steps to mitigate learning loss and provide relief to families adversely affected by wildfires.
A survey found that there were gaps in many cases between people's self-assessments of sleep length and quality, and the results of analyses such as those by brain wave examinations.
JAPAN
Jan 15, 2025

Over 40% of those content with sleep hours lack sleep, study shows

Meanwhile, some 66% of people surveyed who complained about insomnia, including difficulty falling asleep, had no problem.
Suzuki Motor President Toshihiro Suzuki (right) listens to explanations on the use of cow feces as fuel for cooking in Gujarat, western India, on Dec. 25.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 15, 2025

Suzuki Motor eyes cow feces for biogas fuel in India

The automaker is exploring means other than electric vehicles for realizing carbon neutrality.
Akutagawa Prize winners (from left) Jose Ando, author of "Dtopia" and Yui Suzuki, author of "Goethe wa Subete o Itta," and Naoki Prize winner Shin Iyohara, author of "Ai o Tsugu Umi."
CULTURE / Books
Jan 15, 2025

Japan's most prestigious literary awards go to a trio of contemporary voices

Jose Ando and Yui Suzuki take home Akutagawa honors, while Shin Iyohara nabs the Naoki Prize.
Fans wait in line to meet Webtoon Entertainment creators during the company’s initial public offering at the Nasdaq Market site in New York in June 2024.
BUSINESS
Jan 16, 2025

Webtoon invests in Japanese webcomic studio No. 9 as manga booms

Webtoon’s first investment since its U.S. initial public offering in June is meant to strengthen its content pipeline in Japan.
Red strawberry-flavored candy. The Red No. 3 artificial coloring will no longer be allowed in U.S. food or ingested drugs starting Jan. 15, 2027, according to a Food and Drug Administration document posted online.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 16, 2025

U.S. bans cancer-linked Red No. 3 coloring in cereal and other foods

The artificial coloring will no longer be allowed in U.S. food or ingested drugs starting Jan. 15, 2027.
Bristol's Ilona Maher poses for selfies with fans after a match in Bristol, Britain, on Jan. 5.
MORE SPORTS
Jan 16, 2025

Ilona Maher urges rugby to do more to grow game ahead of Women's Rugby World Cup

Maher urged rugby to break free from its self-imposed shackles.
Those who lived in Japan’s Nara Period, which lasted from the year 710 to 794, by and large knew themselves to be blessed. It wasn’t just those in power who felt it, either. From nobles to commoners, the poets seemed to have democratized joy itself.
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
Jan 17, 2025

From Genji to 'hikikomori,' how we make peace with disappearing

Japan’s reverence for impermanence reveals a profound connection between beauty and loss, from poetic musings to spiritual retreats, echoing in modern expressions of solitude.
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping shake hands ahead of their bilateral meeting during the Group of 20 leaders summit in Osaka in June 2019.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 18, 2025

Trump and China's Xi hold call on TikTok, trade and Taiwan

Both leaders were upbeat about the call, with Trump calling it "a very good one" and Xi saying he and Trump both hoped for a positive start to U.S.-China relations.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s potential role in any plan to save TikTok remains both intriguing and complicated. The ban is set to take effect just one day before his inauguration, and while it has been reported that President Joe Biden won’t enforce the ban on day one, the decision on what to do long-term will become Trump’s problem almost immediately.
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Jan 18, 2025

TikTok’s fate rests on Trump after U.S. Supreme Court upholds law

U.S. President -elect Donald Trump’s potential role in any plan to save TikTok remains both intriguing and complicated.
People attend a New Year's celebration in Wuhan, China, on Jan. 1.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 19, 2025

Wuhan keen to shake off pandemic label five years on

There is nothing to mark the location of the world's first COVID-19 lockdown — in fact, there are no major memorials to the lives lost to the virus anywhere in the city.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear