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Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba raised North Korea's past abduction of Japanese nationals during his first face-to-face meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington on Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 9, 2025

Head of abductees' families relieved over Japan-U.S. talks

Takuya Yokota, 56, is a brother of Megumi Yokota, who was abducted by North Korea in 1977 when she was just 13 years old.
A worker welds at a steel manufacturing facility in Mexico City on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 10, 2025

Trump to announce 25% steel and aluminum tariffs in latest escalation

Trump, speaking to reporters on Air Force One on his way to the Super Bowl in New Orleans, said he will announce the new metals tariffs on Monday.
Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman shakes hands with U.S. President Donald Trump, at the G20 leaders summit in Osaka in 2019.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 10, 2025

Trump's plan for U.S. to own Gaza provokes rebuke from Middle East

Trump's idea to take over and redevelop Gaza faces mounting opposition, with Jordan's King Abdullah calling it a dangerous plan that could destabilize the region.
Construction for a new Microsoft data center in East Wenatchee, Washington, in November 2024.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 10, 2025

What DeepSeek? Big Tech keeps its AI building boom alive.

After DeepSeek’s breakthrough rattled markets, U.S. tech giants doubled down on massive data center investments to stay ahead in AI.
Fukushima University student Itsuki Yamada (right) takes part in a workshop in December in the village of Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture, together with local residents. Yamada leads a group of student volunteers that runs an internet community radio program featuring Iitate.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Feb 17, 2025

University students launch community radio show for Fukushima village

The program aims to spread word about the realities faced by Iitate's aging population, and support the village's revitalization.
The first trial of Ryuji Kimura, who is accused of attempted murder and other charges for throwing an explosive at then-Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in 2023, at the Wakayama District Court on Jan. 4. The court will issue its ruling on Feb. 19.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 10, 2025

Prosecutors seek 15 years' jail for man who attacked Kishida

Ryuji Kimura, 25, is accused of attempted murder and other charges for throwing an explosive at then-Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during an election campaign trail in 2023.
Drug rehab patients walk in formation to have lunch at the Mega Drug Abuse Treatment and Rehabilitation Center, north of Manila, in 2019.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 10, 2025

Abuse and coercion rife in Philippines drugs rehab, rights groups say

Rights groups say some facilities fail standards and have called for more health and social support.
U.S. President Donald Trump (right) and Russian President Vladimir Putin talk during a bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Osaka in 2019.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 11, 2025

Russia seen playing hardball with Trump on Ukraine peace discussions

Donald Trump, who has repeatedly stated he wants to end the war in Ukraine, said he thought he was making progress, though he has not shared how he hopes to end the conflict.
Palestinians, who were displaced to the south at Israel's order during the war, make their way back to their homes in northern Gaza on Jan. 27.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 11, 2025

Trump says Palestinians would not have a right to return to Gaza

U.S. president's statement on Fox News contradicts his own officials who had suggested Gazans would only be relocated temporarily while the strip is redeveloped.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance arrives to attend a European heads of state meeting on the sideline of the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit, at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 11, 2025

Trump says ‘no’ when asked if ready to name JD Vance as successor

Vance, a former U.S. senator from Ohio, has embraced Trump’s brand of economic populism, leading to his selection on the Republican ticket.
YouTube has evolved from a dinner party lark 20 years ago into a modern lifestyle staple poised to overtake U.S. cable television in paid viewership.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 11, 2025

YouTube, the online video powerhouse, turns 20

The video hosting site has gone from hosting a 19-second clip titled "Me at the Zoo" to becoming the world's largest in terms of time spent and ad revenue.
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during the AI Action Summit in Paris on Monday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 11, 2025

France and EU promise to cut red tape on artificial intelligence technology

European lawmakers last year approved the bloc's artificial intelligence law, the world's first comprehensive set of rules governing the technology.
Palestinians leave their homes for safety during a raid by the Israeli army in the Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank on Monday.
WORLD
Feb 11, 2025

In West Bank, Israeli army operation batters war-depleted economy

Economic contraction is estimated to have more than doubled the short-term poverty rate from 12% in 2023 to 28% by mid-2024.
Southeast Asian economies, once seen as beneficiaries of the U.S.-China trade war, now face challenges as escalating tariffs and trade tensions threaten their growth and regional stability.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 5, 2025

Winners of the first trade war may not be so victorious

Stuck between the U.S. and China, Southeast Asia’s challenges this time around are much greater.
Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Kazuya Endo (third from left) joins a tour of the BRP Melchora Aquino, the BRP Melchora Aquino, last May. The Philippine Coast Guard ship was provided to Manila under Japan's official development aid program.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 11, 2025

Japan exploring more defense transfers to Philippines, envoy says

As Tokyo revises its export guidelines to ease defense equipment transfers, the partners expect more security cooperation on the horizon.
The city of Settsu in Osaka Prefecture, which has distributed "randoseru" to elementary schoolchildren for free for 50 years, marked the milestone with a redesign of the school backpack.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 16, 2025

City marks 50 years of free school bag project

The city redesigned the traditional backpack for the first time, increasing its capacity, in the fiscal year that started in April 2024.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance waves during a bilateral meeting with the president of the European Commission held at the Chief of Mission's residence at the U.S. embassy in Paris on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 12, 2025

Vance warns Europe against overregulating emerging AI

JD Vance’s appearance in Paris is his first major engagement on his first foreign trip as Donald Trump’s vice president.
Jude Bellingham celebrates scoring Real Madrid's winning goal against Manchester City in the Champions League playoff first leg on Tuesday.
SOCCER
Feb 12, 2025

Guardiola can't explain another late City collapse to Real Madrid

Brahim Diaz and Jude Bellingham struck late to erase Manchester City's 2-1 lead, the latter netting the winner in the 92nd minute.
Vegas Golden Knights forward Mark Stone (left) tries to get a shot away in front of Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid during the second period at Rogers Place, Edmonton, Canada on Dec. 14, 2024.
MORE SPORTS / Ice Hockey
Feb 12, 2025

Canada and Sweden ready to drop puck on anticipated 4 Nations Face-Off

Not since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey have the NHL's brightest stars lined up against each other to compete for their countries.
Cargo ships full of shipping containers are seen at the port of Oakland, California, on Feb. 3 as trade tensions escalate over U.S. tariffs
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 13, 2025

Trump says he will sign reciprocal tariffs order soon, as trade war fears mount

Trump's latest round of market-rattling tariffs comes as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is due to visit the White House on Thursday.
Misako Yoshimura looks for a photograph of her father from among several kept in a closet at her home in the town of Yonabaru, Okinawa Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Feb 24, 2025

Remembering a father who stopped smiling after the war

Misako Yoshimura hated her stern-faced father, but when she learned of what he lost during the Pacific War, the resentment disappeared.
A man throws a snowball during the 35th Koide International Snowball Fight in Uonuma, Niigata Prefecture, on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Winter Sports
Feb 13, 2025

Frosty face-off: Over 120 teams throw down in epic Japanese snowball tournament

Teams of five players competed in two-minute matches between two teams on a field the size of a tennis court, with points awarded for direct hits with a snowball.
Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen celebrates after breaking the indoor mile world record in Lievin, France, on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS / Athletics
Feb 14, 2025

Jakob Ingebrigtsen breaks indoor mile world record

He also broke the indoor 1,500 mark he set on the same track three years ago.
Emergency responders work at the scene where a car drove into a crowd in Munich on Thursday, leaving several people injured.
WORLD
Feb 14, 2025

Dozens injured as driver crashes car into Munich protest

A suspected attack in Munich renews debates over immigration and public safety ahead of an upcoming election.
Tyler Wright competes in the WSL Pipe Pro event at Pipeline in Hawaii on Feb. 8.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 14, 2025

LGBT surfer Tyler Wright to compete in UAE after assurances of safety

The WSL confirmed last year it would add Abu Dhabi to the pro surfing calendar for the first time, prompting criticism from Wright's wife and brother.
The government's stockpiled rice in Tokyo in 1999. Since 1995, the government has been stockpiling around 200,000 tons of rice from the annual harvest to ensure that there is enough to go around during emergencies.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2025

Government taps rice stockpile to reverse price increases

This will be the first time the stockpile has been used to reduce prices instead of due to emergencies.
Talks on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. taking a controlling stake in Intel's factories at the request of Trump administration officials are in very early stages, and the exact structure of a potential partnership hasn’t been established. But the intended result would have the world’s largest made-to-order chipmaker fully operating Intel’s U.S. semiconductor factories.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 15, 2025

TSMC considers running Intel’s U.S. factories after Trump team request

Trump officials raised the idea of a deal between the two companies in recent meetings with the Taiwanese chipmaker, and TSMC was receptive.
Israeli-Argentinian hostage Yair Horn (center) stands next to Palestinian militants as others take pictures of him on stage during a handover to a Red Cross team in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Saturday as part of the sixth hostage-prisoner exchange.
WORLD
Feb 16, 2025

Hamas and Israel complete sixth hostage-prisoner swap of Gaza truce

Palestinian militants released three Israeli hostages on Saturday in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian inmates freed by Israel.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reacts during the Munich Security Conference in the German city on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 16, 2025

Zelenskyy says draft U.S. minerals deal 'does not protect' Ukraine

The negotiations illustrate the pitfalls Zelenskyy faces as he seeks to win Donald Trump's backing and secure post-war security guarantees.
Former volleyball player Kana Oyama speaks to female athletes during a lecture in January.
MORE SPORTS / Volleyball
Feb 16, 2025

Former volleyball star Kana Oyama gives lecture on athletes' menstruation

She urged students to consult a gynecologist if they notice any unusual symptoms.

Longform

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