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The Spirit of Barrow statue celebrates Barrow-in-Furness’s long history of shipbuilding.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 1, 2024

Starmer pledge on nuclear stance mends hole in Labour red wall

The arrival of the railways in the mid-1800s helped transform Barrow into an industrial powerhouse. Submarines have been built in the town’s shipyard since 1886.
A Taliban spokesperson addresses a press conference in Kabul on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 2, 2024

Taliban told to 'include women' in public life at U.N. talks

Excluding civil rights groups from the talks was the price for the Taliban government's participation in them.
Each week Neha Mankani comes by boat ambulance to Baba, an old fishing settlement near Karachi, and reportedly one of the world's most crowded islands with some 6,500 people crammed into 0.15 square kilometers.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jul 2, 2024

Midwife on the front line of climate change on Pakistan's islands

Climate change is swelling the surrounding seas off the megacity of Karachi and baking the land with rising temperatures.
"Khaing," a former teacher with the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), sits in a restaurant where she works after fleeing from Myanmar to Thailand to avoid conscription by Myanmar's military junta, in Bangkok on June 4.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 2, 2024

'Can't go back': Myanmar conscription exiles struggle in Thailand

Myanmar's junta says it wants to enlist 5,000 people a month aged between 18 and 35, but details are vague.
The focus on artificial intelligence comes as the Self-Defense Forces grapple with concerns about recruitment and its abilities to harness the power of new technologies.
JAPAN
Jul 2, 2024

Japan’s Defense Ministry unveils first basic policy on use of AI

The new policy comes as Japan looks to stave off a manpower shortage and keep pace with China and the U.S. on the technology’s military applications.
A Ukrainian serviceman waits for Russian drones next to a military vehicle with a anti-aircraft cannon at an undisclosed location in Donetsk region, Ukraine.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 3, 2024

China is making and testing lethal attack drones for Russia

Beijing may be edging closer to providing Russia with the sort of lethal aid that western officials have warned against.
R-Shitei (left) and DJ Matsunaga have scored the biggest hit of the year so far in Japan with “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born.” The track is inspired by the Jersey club style of music, right down to the squeaky chair sample.
CULTURE / Music
Jul 3, 2024

Is Creepy Nuts' catchy, rapid-fire 'Bling-Bang-Bang-Born' the song of the year?

The fast-paced ode to a style called Jersey club is everywhere in Tokyo, and it may just be the rap duo's key to international success.
People walk through the Petionville street market in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on May 2. Unable to work, Haitian families depend on food rations and hygiene kits brought in by nongovernmental organizations.
WORLD / Society
Jul 4, 2024

Camping in schools, hungry Haiti families ask: When will normality return?

Five million people in Haiti, nearly half its population, are struggling to feed themselves due to conflict.
Senior member of the Indian National Congress, Shashi Tharoor, says that Narendra Modi and his BJP party seemed "shaken” by a fiery parliamentary speech by opposition leader Rahul Gandhi.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 5, 2024

Modi’s BJP ‘shaken’ by stronger opposition, says Congress leader

The comments come one month after India’s election results showed the Congress-led opposition alliance delivering a surprise setback to the BJP.
Fish swim near recovering coral reefs after bleaching in late December 2023 due to extreme weather, in Bondalem village, Buleleng regency, Bali, Indonesia, on June 20.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jul 5, 2024

Coral bleachings devastate Bali reefs as sea temperatures rise

Indonesia, which had its most severe dry season last year since 2019, has roughly 5.1 million hectares of coral reefs and accounts for 18% of the world's total.
Housed in ARK’s shelter in western Japan, Jade waits day after day for someone to come along and give her a proper home.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Jul 8, 2024

Jade knows the love you take equals the love you make

Jade's search for someone to return the love she wants to show people is such a contrast to her initial shyness that it might seem out of character at first.
Takashi Miyashita, head of a clinic in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, examines a patient in a temporary medical container on June 26 as he resumes operations for the first time since the Jan. 1 earthquake.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 5, 2024

Ishikawa doctor 'not going anywhere' six months after Noto quake

Deeply touched by patient's pleas to stay post-quake, the doctor vowed to remain and rebuild his practice for the sake of the local community.
Baseballs fans wear jerseys of the South Korean-born San Diego Padres player Kim Ha-Seong and the Los Angeles Dodgers player Shohei Ohtani in Seoul. Many South Koreans have embraced Ohtani, who is Japanese, despite the countries' historic rivalry.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 5, 2024

How long do the memories of a generation last?

The dominant culture of an era can be passed on to the next generation, but struggles to reach the one after that. This has implications for Japan-South Korea relations.
A voter picks up ballot papers at a polling station in Noumea in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 7, 2024

Far right bids for power as France holds parliamentary election

Marine Le Pen's RN scored historic gains to win last Sunday's first-round vote, raising the specter of France's first far-right government since World War II.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer
WORLD / Politics
Jul 7, 2024

Untested Starmer is suddenly the West’s last man standing tall

Keir Starmer — who’s spent the last six weeks campaigning under the one-word banner of ‘change’ — is about to discover how in politics, it can come at you fast.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin attend a meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on Sept. 16, 2022. This was the two leaders’ last meeting.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 8, 2024

Putin to host Modi after hailing ‘best in history’ ties with China

Diplomats say the Indian prime minister’s visit is meant to send a signal that both sides remain close despite Moscow’s deepening embrace of New Delhi’s rival, Beijing.
French President Emmanuel Macron and French First Lady Brigitte Macron leave after voting in the second round of French parliamentary elections at a polling station in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, France, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 9, 2024

France in limbo after Macron gamble deepens political deadlock

No political party wields an outright majority after the French election, and no obvious candidate for prime minister has emerged.
Visitors at Tiananmen Square in Beijing on June 12
WORLD / Politics
Jul 9, 2024

Xi’s efforts to reach to young Americans stumble with scripted moments

Beijing is making its largest outreach yet to U.S. students, but for some, a "curated" atmosphere leaves questions over what's not on show.
A lesbian couple, consisting of a 35-year-old woman (left) and 40-year-old woman, cover their faces with bouquets as they pose for wedding photos in Yokohama on Nov. 1.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 14, 2024

Amid same-sex marriage ban, LGBTQ couples opt for 'photo weddings'

These carefully choreographed images are often kept hidden in conservative Japan.
Suzu General Hospital suffered a significant loss in the last fiscal year due to a decline in the number of patients.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 9, 2024

Public hospitals in quake-hit Okunoto area bleed red ink

The area in Ishikawa Prefecture was hit especially hard by the 7.6 magnitude quake that shook the peninsula on Jan. 1.
Rescuers and paramedics carry a child found at a site an apartment building heavily damaged during a Russian missile strike in Kyiv on Monday.
WORLD
Jul 10, 2024

The race to save Ukrainian infant's life after hospital strike

After the ventilator broke, the five bleeding adults did everything they could to keep the baby breathing.
Europe's Ariane 6 rocket takes off in Kourou, French Guiana, on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 10, 2024

Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket goes retro in challenge to SpaceX

Reusable rockets and frequent launches "were once aspirational but are now minimal requirements" to compete commercially, said the Rocket Lab CEO and founder.
A stone pillar at Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, on which the word "toilet" was found spray-painted in May
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 10, 2024

Chinese man arrested over vandalism at Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine

Police have also obtained arrest warrants for two other Chinese nationals, after an incident involving graffiti and urination was recorded as a video and posted online.
From a Michelin-star kitchen in Italy to a central-Tokyo gelateria, Masako Minaguchi of Gelato MinNa believes doing what you love should always be a priority.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jul 11, 2024

Masako Minaguchi: ‘Gelato is full of possibilities’

From a Michelin-star kitchen in Italy to a central-Tokyo gelateria, this foodie believes doing what you love should always be a priority.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa (center-left) meets with Samoan Prime Minister Afioga Fiame Naomi Mata’afa (center-right) in Samoa in February. Like other Pacific island and Global South states, Samoa is caught in the crossfire of the U.S.-China rivalry.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Jul 11, 2024

Japan can help Global South navigate U.S.-China clash

As Washington and Beijing adopt more inward-looking foreign policies, Japan can be a bridge to Global South countries, whose main concerns are security and growth.
An empty street in Fukiya, Okayama Prefecture. Japan may be both experiencing overtourism in some places and witnessing the opposite in others.
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2024

Japan doesn't have too many tourists, statistics suggest. It just feels that way.

The country received 0.2 tourists per capita in 2023, compared with France's 1.5, Greece's 3.4, Portugal's 2.5 and Spain's 1.8.
Think air conditioning is a requirement for a Tokyo summer? Think again.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Jul 15, 2024

No AC this summer? No problem (for me).

I do have a unit, and I dutifully clean the filters now and then, but over the past two or three years, I’ve learned to live entirely without it.
Bean might be 5 years old, but he still has the energy and personality of a puppy.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Jul 15, 2024

Bean has all the potential for a magical companion

If you need someone to perk you up throughout your days together, Bean may be the perfect pup for you.
Marketing and PR Director at MSC Cruises Japan Kathy Knowles believes inbound tourism in Japan is likely to increase, and hopes more people will want to explore the country by sea.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jul 13, 2024

Kathy Knowles: ‘I would never have been able to see so much if it weren't for this job’

Going on a cruise can be a fun summer travel option, so much so that this industry executive has made a career out of it.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is rushed into a waiting vehicle after a shooting at his campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 14, 2024

An attempt to kill an ex-president, caught in real time, stuns America

In the era of social media, it was not introspection that followed the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, but rather rage, blame, even comedy.

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan