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Wang Shun of China races to gold in the final of the men's 200-meter individual medley at the Tokyo Olympics in July 2021.
OLYMPICS / Swimming
Jun 15, 2024

Doping regulator knew of previous positive tests by Chinese swimmers

Three Chinese swimmers who failed drug tests before the 2021 Olympics had tested positive for a powerful steroid several years earlier.
A facial recognition system at ticket gates has been introduced at the Yamaman Yukarigaoka Line in Sakura, Chiba Prefecture.
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2024

Facial recognition for train passengers in use in Chiba Prefecture

A boarding system using a facial recognition technology was introduced at the Yamaman Yukarigaoka Line.
Police officer Suzunosuke Kose (right) helps an elderly resident buy a phone equipped with fraud prevention features at an electronic store in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, in May.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 16, 2024

Attacked police officer uses experience to help victims

Kose was stabbed multiple times by a knife-wielding man in the left chest and both thighs in front of a police box.
Palestinians hold Eid al-Adha prayers by the ruins of the Al-Rahma mosque destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 17, 2024

Netanyahu denounces tactical pauses in Gaza fighting to allow in aid

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's reaction underlined political tensions over the issue of aid coming into Gaza.
Rohingya refugee children walk along a road at a refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, on May 2.
WORLD
Jun 17, 2024

Thousands of Rohingya feared trapped in fighting in western Myanmar

Nearly a million Muslim minority group live in refugee camps in Bangladesh's border district after fleeing a military-led crackdown.
Expecting that the Palestinian Authority implement reforms, build institutions, reconstruct Gaza and police its people while Israel withholds its main source of finance is unfair and unrealistic.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 17, 2024

Palestine's fiscal demise

The G7 and other powerful countries should help the Palestinian economy tap into international financial assistance like any other developing country.
Nigel Farage, leader of Reform U.K., during the launch of the party's 'Our Contract with You' general election manifesto in Merthyr Tydfil, U.K., on Monday
WORLD / Politics
Jun 18, 2024

Taking aim at U.K.'s Sunak, Nigel Farage pledges border control and tax cuts

Reform's policies are designed to suck support from Sunak's Conservatives, focusing on immigration, which has divided the governing party.
Doctors take part in a rally to protest against government plans to increase medical school admissions, in Seoul on March 3.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 18, 2024

More doctors walk off the job in South Korea in one-day strike

The dispute began in January, when the South Korean government announced a plan to dramatically expand admissions to medical schools.
Hjelmer Hammeken, Greenland's greatest polar bear hunter, rides his dog sled to look for seals on the sea ice outside Ittoqqortoormiit, on the frozen Scoresbysund Fjord.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jun 19, 2024

On thin ice: Greenland's last Inuit polar bear hunters

Climate change and hunting quotas have been threatening the livelihood on which Inuit families have long survived.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2024

Japan 'seriously concerned' over Russian cooperation with North Korea

The Russia-North Korea treat included a pledge to come to each other's aid if attacked.
Members of Onomichi High School's baseball team (back) have longer hair than members of teams that stick to traditional buzz cuts.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Jul 1, 2024

High school baseball gets a makeover as buzz cut rules are no more

What was once seen as a symbol of fighting spirit is getting a rethink as coaches try to be mindful of students' mental states and preferences.
Founder and owner Kazunori Otowa (left) in the kitchen of his eponymous restaurant together with his two sons, head chef Hajime Otowa (center) and restaurant manager Sou Otowa.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Destination Restaurants
Jun 22, 2024

Kazunori Otowa: Tochigi’s patriarch of French fine dining

Superb cuisine, family values and deep regional roots have elevated Restaurant Otowa to its lofty position.
The Oku knife "hooks or wraps elegantly along the edge of a plate or board," designer Kathleen Reilly says.
LIFE / Style & Design
Jun 22, 2024

A playfully subversive knife from a rising Scottish design star

The Scottish artist fuses East and West in a new knife design crafted in and inspired by Niigata Prefecture’s Tsubame-Sanjo.
Ruby might be shy at first, but as long as you have some treats, she'll warm up to you in no time.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Jun 24, 2024

When Ruby warms up to you, you've got it made

Once this tricolor girl finds that special person who will adopt her, Ruby is sure to settle in, breathe easy and make a gentle, precious and very pretty companion.
Occupational therapist Mitsuyoshi Okutsu interacts with children at Kamioka Elementary School in Hida, Gifu Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society / Regional voices: Chubu
Jul 1, 2024

Occupational therapists join the ranks of staff at Gifu schools

It is estimated that there are around 110,000 occupational therapists in Japan, working mainly at hospitals and welfare facilities.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un toast during a reception at the Mongnangwan Reception House in Pyongyang on Wednesday following summit talks.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jun 21, 2024

New Kim-Putin pact sparks unease — and talk of more aid for Ukraine

An opaque new treaty signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un this week could end up bolstering U.S.-allied cooperation.
Akiteru Nogawa, head of the Kagoshima Prefectural Police Department, speaks at a Kagoshima Prefectural Assembly committee in the city of Kagoshima on June 11.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 21, 2024

Kagoshima police whistleblower charged with confidentiality breach

Kagoshima police department has been hit by a series of scandals this year, including three cases in which police officers have been arrested.
Pedestrians cross a road in Pudong's Lujiazui Financial District in Shanghai. China has long touted itself as the world’s safest nation, making rare outbursts of public violence stand out.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Jun 22, 2024

China’s spate of violence prompts outburst of economic anxiety

The reaction of Chinese social media users to a spate of recent violent attacks has exposed widespread discontent about the nation’s downturn.
Seaweed in the ocean off Hayama, Kanagawa Prefecture. Local residents aim to restore seagrass and seaweed beds suffering from marine desertification, and their project has also been certified to receive "blue carbon" credits.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET
Jun 23, 2024

Japan looks to 'blue carbon' to cut emissions — and restore its coasts

The nation's net zero goal has driven interest in these ecosystems, but verifying the amount of carbon stored by seaweed presents a challenge.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un holds a reception for Russian President Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang on Wednesday. Agreements reached by the two leaders this time were tactical in nature and hardly strategic.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 22, 2024

Putin’s Pyongyang visit, pivotal talks and a generational shift reshape regional dynamics

The move by Russia and North Korea this time is tactical in nature and hardly strategic.
An Afghan woman carries empty containers to fetch water in Balkh province, Afghanistan, in August 2023.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 24, 2024

U.N.-led Doha meeting with Taliban sparks outcry over women's rights

The U.N. has been seeking a unified, international approach to dealing with the Taliban, who have cracked down on women's rights since returning to power.
Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan
WORLD
Jun 24, 2024

Gunmen attack church and synagogue in Russia's North Caucasus

The attacks by unidentified gunmen left an Orthodox priest and multiple police officers dead, the region's head said.
Israelis protest for the release of hostages held in Gaza and against the government in Tel Aviv on June 1.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 24, 2024

Israel tech leaders, irked by Netanyahu, eye moves into politics

The war against Hamas is straining Israel's economy, with the central bank projecting costs of around $67 billion through 2025, nearly 15% of the annual GDP.
Philippine Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro speaks during the opening session of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations defense ministers' meeting in Jakarta last November.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 24, 2024

Philippines says China deliberately used 'illegal force' disrupt resupply mission

The Philippines' defense cheif said last week's maritime incident, which injured a sailor, was neither a misunderstanding nor an accident.
Dagestan region governor Sergei Melikov (left), who on Monday visited the synagogue and church that were attacked in Derbent, said that foreign forces were involved in the planning of the attacks, but gave no details.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jun 25, 2024

Death toll rises to 20 after gunmen attack Russia's Dagestan

No one has claimed responsibility over the coordinated attacks on churches and synagogues, but a local leader claims foreign forces were involved in their planning.
An ingot of a rare earth metal used to make components for technology products at a factory in China. The country is the world’s top exporter of rare earth elements, but that may change if deep-sea mining gains traction in nations like Japan.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 25, 2024

We’ve got to get deep-sea mining right

Seabed mining could muddy the waters of critical minerals' supply chains by tapping into new sources. But will environmental and legal concerns sink the project?
Crosses adorn a makeshift memorial for the shooting victims at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on May 26, 2022.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 26, 2024

U.S. surgeon general declares gun violence a 'public health crisis'

The advisory by Vivek Murthy, who was nominated by President Joe Biden, is the first such major report on gun violence from a surgeon general.
Akimasa Nihongi, who spoke about his experience as a victim of sexual assault by Johnny Kitagawa, the late founder of the eponymous talent agency, said in a video message that victims who report their abuses are often subject to slander and harassment.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 27, 2024

Ex-member of Johnny's calls for victim protection at U.N. panel

Akimasa Nihongi said measures ought to be put in place to protect victims from slander and harassment after they go public with abuses.
Expedition tents at Everest Base Camp, 140 kilometers northeast of Kathmandu, in May 2021
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 27, 2024

As ice melts, Everest's 'death zone' gives up its ghosts

Among those scaling the soaring Himalayan mountain this year was a team aiming to bring corpses down.
Namgyal Phunchok, a Changpa community leader at Chushul village in Ladakh, says the area's pastoralist way of life had been undermined.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 27, 2024

The herders caught up in India and China's icy conflict

Swaths of grazing lands have become demilitarized "buffer zones" to keep rival forces apart.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight