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By Monday, OpenAI's board were overseeing a company in name only, with virtually the whole staff committed to a pledge of seeing them go or quitting the firm for fired former CEO Sam Altman's project at Microsoft.
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Nov 21, 2023

AI doomsayers blamed in OpenAI's undoing

Harsh critics see a deeply troubled startup that fell victim to the pearl-clutching of an incompetent board that was divorced from reality.
Farm workers carry rice saplings on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, India, in July.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Nov 21, 2023

In India, 'natural farming' draws young people back to the land

The farming method shuns synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, involves the use of organic manure and no tilling of the land.
A North Korean rocket carrying a military spy satellite is launched in this undated photo released Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Nov 22, 2023

North Korea calls spy satellite launch a success, but questions linger

A rocket carrying the payload passed over the Japanese archipelago late Tuesday, but Tokyo said it had not confirmed the veracity of Pyongyang's claims.
The All England Tennis Club's large-scale expansion plans, which included a new 8,000-seat show court, have been rejected by the London Borough of Wandsworth.
TENNIS
Nov 22, 2023

Wimbledon suffers expansion plan blow after council refuses permission

The plans include 39 new grass courts, including an 8,000-seater show court on the adjacent Wimbledon Park.
A Houthi military helicopter flies over the Galaxy Leader cargo ship in the Red Sea in this photo released Monday.
WORLD / Politics / EXPLAINER
Nov 22, 2023

Houthi ship hijacking stokes fears of escalating Israel-Hamas war

The group warned they would continue to target vessels linked to Israelis until the end of the military campaign against Hamas militants in Gaza.
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.
Kashmiri journalists protest against internet blockade put by India's government in Srinagar in October 2019.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 24, 2023

Internet out: India deploys shutdowns in name of security

Some blackouts last hours, others days. Some stretch for months.
Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius leaves a courthouse in Pretoria, South Africa, in 2016.
PARALYMPICS
Nov 24, 2023

Former Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius granted parole a decade after killing girlfriend

Pistorius was found guilty of murder and given a 13-year jail sentence in 2017 after a lengthy trial and several appeals.
Filmmaker and teacher Karl Neubert says he enjoys working with vintage lenses because they can capture a more cinematic look.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Nov 25, 2023

Karl Neubert: 'The joy a student finds in their debut film is a constant source of pride'

Filmmaker and teacher Karl Neubert discusses his role as an educator to the next generation of artists and how 30 years in Japan has shaped his work.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa speaks during a news conference after a Group of Seven foreign ministers meeting in Tokyo on Nov. 8.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 25, 2023

Japan, South Korea and U.S. envoys seek united front on North Korea

The three countries' top diplomats strongly condemned North Korea’s launch of a military spy satellite and vowed to boost trilateral security cooperation.
Police patrol the Champs Elysees in Paris last month amid security concerns following a deadly knife attack in northern France.
WORLD
Nov 25, 2023

Gaza war raises risk of Islamist extremism in Europe

Intelligence in five European countries including Britain, Germany and France said they are increasing surveillance of Islamist militants.
Jatz and Biscotti are best buds and hoping to find a new home together.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Nov 27, 2023

Cats Jatz and Biscotti are the best of friends

Having arrived at the shelter as kittens, Jatz and Biscotti have become fast friends and are hoping to find a new home together.
Yoshiko Koide sits in a classroom at Nagoya College where she teaches a Japanese-language observation seminar.
LIFE / Language / Longform
Nov 27, 2023

How a dictionary came to spark outrage among the web’s otaku

A project to create a reference book categorizing subcultures didn't seem to cause offense until it was packaged and sold as a dictionary.
A man sings for customers touring the Erhai lake on a sightseeing bus in Dali, in China's Yunnan province.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Nov 27, 2023

Chasing a different dream, China's tech nomads head for the hills

In the mountain town of Dali, former city-dwellers in search of a space for open discussion and exchange of ideas in authoritarian China find refuge.
A soldier stands near a car destroyed in a strike by Lebanon's Hezbollah movement in Kibbutz Manara in northern Israel near the Lebanon border on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 28, 2023

In Israel's north, troops brace for long standoff with Hezbollah

Until a truce with Hamas went into effect in the Gaza Strip to the south on Friday, the Israel-Lebanon border saw near-daily exchanges of fire.
A person walks past a COP28 sign in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 1.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 28, 2023

Biggest climate talks ever confront global chaos and record heat

Greenhouse gas emissions are still rising, and promises to cut pollution remain insufficient to take the risk of unmanageable warming off the table.
Elon Musk and Benjamin Netanyahu visit Kibbutz Kfar Aza in Israel on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 28, 2023

Amid antisemitism uproar, Elon Musk pitches Starlink in Israel

Musk's satellite internet provider is at the heart of the billionnaire's political clout.
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi (center) waves to supporters during a road show as a part of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) election campaign ahead of the Telangana state assembly elections, in the city of Hyderabad on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 28, 2023

Hindu-Muslim tensions stoked online as India prepares to vote

During the BJP's rule over the past decade, party members and allies have been accused of inflammatory speech against Muslims.
Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrive for a document exchange ceremony and joint news conference after their meeting in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Nov 28, 2023

With eye on China, Japan and Vietnam take ties to ‘new heights’

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong agreed to elevate the relationship to a “comprehensive strategic partnership.”
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un chats with senior officials during a banquet to celebrate the launch of a reconnaissance satellite, at the Mulan Pavilion in Pyongyang, in this image released Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 28, 2023

North Korea says satellite took photos of White House and Pentagon

The assertions by the nuclear-armed country were the latest about its new spy satellite's capabilities — though it has yet to release any images.
Yoko Huijs-Watanuki poses in the city of Fukuoka during a visit to Japan in October.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Dec 4, 2023

Oita woman helps Japanese Dutch, born in WWII, trace their roots

During the Pacific War the Japanese military occupied the Dutch East Indies, after taking the land from Dutch forces in 1942.
Dang Dinh Bach ran a law and sustainable development policy research center that provided legal aid before he was arrested for tax evasion in Vietnam in 2021. Bach refused to plead guilty and his wife says he has been assaulted in prison by police officers.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 29, 2023

Why Vietnam jailed the environmentalists it used to secure billions

The government has arrested several prominent environmentalists from organizations that shaped policies that helped secure funding.
Mourners at a funeral on Nov. 19 carry the body of a Palestinian shot dead earlier during a raid by Israeli forces on a refugee camp near the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 29, 2023

While Gaza burns, the West Bank is at a boiling point

Mideast violence spreads beyond Gaza into the West Bank causing the U.S. to take a stand against extremist Israeli settlers.
Sultan Al Jaber strongly denied reports that he used his position as COP president to pitch new oil and gas investments to governments.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 30, 2023

COP28 president denies using climate talks to push oil deals

The allegations against Sultan Al Jaber have fanned long-running suspicions over the wisdom of a petrostate hosting the climate talks.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 30, 2023

Panel submits final report on Japan's foreign trainee program

After roughly a year of meetings, the cumulative report contains recommendations on a newly designed policy.
Snow guns make snow ahead of a test event for the Beijing Winter Olympics in Zhangjiakou, China, in December 2021.
OLYMPICS
Nov 30, 2023

Global warming casts cloud over Winter Olympics future

The warming of the planet is highly likely to further reduce the places capable of guaranteeing suitable conditions for a Winter Games.
Yuki Fukui (center) squares up against a student during a training session at a judo dojo in Thimphu, Bhutan.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 2, 2023

'The people of Bhutan think differently, and that has changed me'

Originally from Sendai, 26-year-old Yuki Fukui is the fifth Japanese judo coach for the Bhutanese national team.
Vintage bicycle enthusiast and property manager Eric Knight shipped his high-wheeler from his home in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, to Japan for the cross-country trip.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Dec 4, 2023

32 days, one big wheel: Duo re-creates historic trans-Japan trip

The pair were inspired by pioneering cyclist Thomas Stevens (1854-1935), who traveled the same route through Japan in 1886 on a high-wheeler.
Elon Musk, owner of the social media platform X, is interviewed at the 2023 New York Times DealBook Summit in New York on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 1, 2023

More advertisers likely to flee X after Musk tirade at conference

Elon Musk unleashed a profanity-laced rant against advertisers for fleeing the platform and accused the brands of "blackmail."
A man walks past national flags of participating countries at the venue of the COP28 climate summit in Dubai on Thursday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 1, 2023

Early pledges on 'loss and damage' fund build shaky trust at COP28

More pledges are expected to be made to the new fund during the two-week COP28.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years