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Jordan Bardella, President of the French far-right National Rally party, gestures he attends a political rally during the party's campaign for the European elections in Perpignan, France, on May 1.
WORLD / Politics
May 6, 2024

Just how dangerous is Europe’s rising far right?

Anti-immigration parties with fascist roots — and an uncertain commitment to democracy — are now mainstream.
McLaren's British driver Lando Norris celebrates on the podium after winning the 2024 Miami Formula One Grand Prix at Miami International Autodrome in Miami Gardens, Florida, on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS
May 6, 2024

McLaren's Norris wins Miami Grand Prix for maiden F1 win

Mercedes pair Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished sixth and eighth with RB's Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda ending seventh.
The Kioke Summit on Shodoshima has seen a steady rise in participants from dozens in its early days 12 years ago and about 100 in 2019 to more than 600 this past February.
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 8, 2024

On Japan’s island of olives, age-old shoyu secrets survive

Each Kioke Summit features many activities including a "kioke" auction — shoyu fermentation barrels that fetch anywhere from ¥60,000 to ¥450,000.
A skeptical reporter (Yukichi Tanaka, right) about the existence of extraterrestrials travels to a self-proclaimed UFO city for a story in “Alien’s Daydream.”
CULTURE / Film
May 9, 2024

'Alien’s Daydream': Micro budget film delivers fresh takes

Yoshiki Matsumoto’s debut feature is an ambitious, multilayered essay on the UFO phenomenon with tongue firmly in cheek.
Things may look perfect to the outside world, but today's mom is fine with some imperfection at home.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
May 11, 2024

How 'Reiwa moms' are reshaping motherhood in Japan

Five years into the Reiwa Era and the challenges Japan's moms face are unique, though the qualities that help them persevere haven't changed a bit.
Kendrick Lamar has long been cast as the authentic and artistic representative of modern rap.
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
May 10, 2024

Japanese MCs jump in on the Kendrick Lamar-Drake rap beef — and pick a favorite

The way artists here have joined the feud between two of rap's biggest names says more about hip-hop beefs in Japan than you realize.
Ippei Mizuhara interprets for Shohei Ohtani during the baseball star's introductory news conference with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Dec. 14.
BASEBALL
May 10, 2024

Gambling scandal involving Shohei Ohtani's interpreter being turned into TV series

The shocking gambling scandal surrounding Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, which made headlines across the world earlier this year, is already heading to television.
Boxer Mike Tyson calls out his opponent Jake Paul ahead of a bout, set to take place in Texas in July, at a news conference in New York City on Monday.
MORE SPORTS
May 14, 2024

Mike Tyson gives warning to Jake Paul ahead of July fight

The 57-year-old Tyson says he wants to show the world he is still a great fighter.
Boys watch smoke billowing during Israeli strikes east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
May 14, 2024

Celebrities face digital backlash over Gaza silence

For months, activists have flooded the comments sections of social media sites, urging stars to join calls for a cease-fire in the war.
A white flag residents displayed to express their intention to peacefully keep watch over the neighborhood, is seen on a temporary roadblock residents set up in the Magenta district of Noumea, New Caledonia, on Thursday.
WORLD
May 16, 2024

Four dead in New Caledonia riots; France declares state of emergency

Rioting broke out over a new bill lawmakers adopted in Paris that will let French residents who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years vote there.
Projections consistently show that low-lying Bangkok risks being inundated by the ocean before the end of the century.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
May 16, 2024

Climate change could force Thailand to relocate its capital, official warns

Projections consistently show that low-lying Bangkok risks being inundated by the ocean before the end of the century.
Vendors protect themselves from the scorching heat and sun by using big shades and umbrellas in the Kalighat Temple area of Kolkata, India. The city is facing multiple extreme heat days this summer and citizens are trying to find ways to cope with the weather.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
May 16, 2024

Heat waves are testing India's ability to protect 1.4 billion people

Attempts to improve resilience to extreme heat have often been ill-conceived.
A scene following an Israeli strike on Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on April 22. Israel has carpet-bombed Gaza, obliterating neighborhoods and targeting hospitals, mosques, schools and camps for displaced people, according to a U.N. report.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 20, 2024

Impunity in Gaza is a threat to the international order

Israel's disregard for human rights and international law in Gaza, and the lack of consequences for such actions, are eroding the liberal international order that Japan relies on.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin (left) and then-Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in the Kremlin on May 7. While President Vladimir Putin has no real challengers, powerful actors within his government are vying against each other.
COMMENTARY / World
May 16, 2024

The battle of ministries in Putin’s Russia

Historical parallels suggest that Putin’s top-down approach, like Khrushchev’s de-Stalinization and Gorbachev’s perestroika, risks sparking opposition by causing intra-elite infighting.
Fire rages following an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced Palestinians, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in this still picture taken from a video on Sunday.
WORLD
May 27, 2024

Scores killed as Israel strikes tent city in assault on Rafah

The Israeli military said it carried out the strike based on "precise intelligence” and that it killed two "senior” Hamas officials.
A SAIC Motor MG EXE181 concept EV during the Beijing Auto Show earlier this year.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 27, 2024

Xi’s China EV dream came true, but 10 years on, walls are going up.

China also overtook Japan as the largest auto exporter, but such achievements are also adding to tensions with the West.
A boy walks past a mural painted outside the house where former South African President Nelson Mandela once lived in, in Johannesburg's Alexandra township, on June 9, 2013.
WORLD / Society
May 27, 2024

Mandela's vision for South Africa fades as nation closes door to migrants

Immigration has become a hot issue in the run-up to the country's May 29 national vote, the first in which most people have no memory of decades of apartheid.
French President Emmanuel Macron gives a speech during the European Youth Festival "Fete de l'Europe" (Festival of Europe) in front of the Church of Our Lady (Frauenkirche) in Dresden, eastern Germany, on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
May 28, 2024

Macron calls far-right rise an 'ill wind' for Europe

French President Emmanuel Macron's trip comes two weeks ahead of European Union elections, in which polls are indicating his centrist coalition is trailing the far right.
The African National Congress’ manifesto launch at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Feb. 24
WORLD / Politics
May 28, 2024

Where South Africa’s crunch election will be won and lost

As the country heads into its tightest election since apartheid ended in 1994, the ANC is facing competition like never before.
A giant screen showing news footage of military drills conducted in areas around the island of Taiwan by the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), in Beijing on May 24
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 30, 2024

Taiwan says China is 'nibbling away' at its space, trying to create a new normal

Chinese pressure keeps Taiwan out of most international bodies, causing it to face a huge amount of obstruction in its attempts to take part in international organizations.
Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa's president, during the election result announcement at the Independent Electoral Commission national results center in Midrand, South Africa, on Sunday
WORLD / Politics
Jun 3, 2024

South Africa’s ANC courts rivals after election humiliation

The African National Congress' slump comes after years of economic mismanagement and corruption saddled the country with high unemployment and weak growth.
Jacob Zuma, former South African president, left, visits the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK Party) stand at the Independent Electoral Commission national results center in Midrand, South Africa, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 3, 2024

Jacob Zuma the disruptor has South Africa’s fate in his hands after vote

Six years after being pushed from office, Zuma successfully upstaged his successor Cyril Ramaphosa in national elections this week.
The European Union has repeatedly warned while heading into the June 6 to June 9 vote that Russia would ramp up disinformation campaigns in the 27-country bloc.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 5, 2024

France, Germany, Poland facing 'permanent' Russian disinformation attacks: EU

The European Union has repeatedly warned while heading into the June 6 to June 9 vote that Russia would ramp up disinformation campaigns in the 27-country bloc.
President Joe Biden boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Tuesday, en route to Paris for the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion in France.
WORLD
Jun 5, 2024

Traveling to Europe, Biden will find both solidarity and isolation

Critics of Biden said he has no one to blame for his diplomatic challenges in Europe but himself for an inconsistent approach to international crises.
Women at a water well as a sand storm passes by in Ethiopia
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 6, 2024

Climate disasters in Africa push women to sell sex, risking HIV progress

Hunger is pushing women and girls into sexual exploitation and increasing the risk of HIV, health experts and aid workers have warned.
Eschewing the comfort of Tokyo’s air-conditioned museums, the inconvenient art movement draws viewers into the countryside to see artworks such as Christian Boltanski’s “Les Regards.”
CULTURE / Art
Jun 7, 2024

A list of Japan’s remote art sites

Get off the beaten path this summer and discover art tucked away in the farthest reaches of Japan.
Takayuki Midorikawa stands in front of Ueda Junior High School in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Jun 17, 2024

Fukushima schools open up to revising old rules

The prefecture has recently made some moves to accommodate a little more diversity in the classroom.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen attends a news conference in Berlin on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 11, 2024

EU centrists work to build coalition after far-right parties gain in vote

The rightward shift may make it tougher to pass new legislation to respond to security challenges, climate change or industrial competition from China and the U.S.
French President Emmanuel Macron decided to trigger a parliamentary vote in an effort to regain the political initiative after his party was comprehensively beaten by Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally in Sunday’s European election.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 12, 2024

Macron’s election gamble triggers chaos and anger inside his party

In calling for an election just 20 days from the dissolution of parliament, he is dialing up the pressure not just on his opponents, but also his own people.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Nippon Ishin no Kai leader Nobuyuki Baba sign an agreement to create a law reforming lawmaker allowances on May 31.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 16, 2024

Kishida pledges to 'sincerely address' reforming lawmaker allowances

The prime minister said he would approach the reforms based on an accord reached between his ruling Liberal Democratic Party and opposition Nippon Ishin no Kai.

Longform

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