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The motorcade of U.S. President Donald Trump is parked next to a 12-year old Qatari-owned Boeing 747-8 that Trump was touring in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Feb. 15.
WORLD / Politics
May 14, 2025

Trump’s freebie Qatar jet is the stuff of nightmares in spyworld

"If we had built the plane, knowing it was going to a foreign government, we would probably have bugged it,” said Thad Troy, a former station chief with the CIA.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on March 13.
WORLD / Politics
May 14, 2025

NATO is sketching out a plan to meet Trump's call for 5% of GDP on defense

Negotiators are making progress ahead of a NATO summit in The Hague in June on a path to hitting the spending goal by 2032.
Former U.S. President Joe Biden departs Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Jan. 20.
WORLD / Politics
May 18, 2025

Release of 2023 Biden recording renews debate on his capabilities

The four-minute audio clip comes as a book is being released alleging the White House staff covered up Biden's decline even as he was seeking reelection.
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt holds a chart showing the development of antisemitic crime during a news conference in Berlin on Monday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 20, 2025

Elections, Gaza and polarization drive political crime to record high in Germany

Far-right violence recorded by police surged 40.2% to 84,172 in 2024, a report published on Tuesday by the Interior Ministry showed.
An Upper House committee approves new rules drawn up in April following a revision of the law governing lawmaker allowances.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
May 22, 2025

Parliament moves to boost transparency in lawmaker allowances

Both chambers have adopted new rules mandating the disclosure of how the allowances are spent and requiring the return of unused funds to government coffers.
The Harvard University shield "VERITAS" sits above a campus entrance gate at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, last month.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society / FOCUS
May 24, 2025

Long advantageous, Harvard's China ties become a political liability

The ties have yielded major financial gifts, influence in international affairs and global prestige for the school.
A University of Osaka study of more than 1,400 fourth-graders has found that children who chew poorly and eat quickly are significantly more likely to be obese.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 26, 2025

Study links poor chewing to higher obesity risk in children

The University of Osaka study involving over 1,400 fourth-graders is among the first to demonstrate a clear link between eating behavior and obesity risk in children.
Closed-circuit television cameras in a New Delhi street in on May 21. Global makers of surveillance cameras have clashed with Indian regulators over new rules that require them to submit materials for assessment in government labs, driven in part by alarm about China's capabilities.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 28, 2025

India's alarm over Chinese surveillance prompts crackdown on cameras

Rejecting the request from manufacturers for a delay, India said its policy "addresses a genuine security issue" and must be enforced.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and head of the country's Security Service, Vasyl Maliuk, attend a meeting in Kyiv in this image released Sunday.
WORLD
Jun 2, 2025

Ukraine drone strikes hit nuclear bombers deep inside Russia

More than 40 Russian aircraft, including long-range bombers capable of deploying conventional and nuclear weapons, were reported to have been damaged in the operation.
The Justice Department said two Chinese scientists conspired to smuggle a fungus into the United States that causes "head blight," a disease of wheat, barley, maize, and rice.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jun 4, 2025

Chinese researchers charged with smuggling toxic fungus into U.S.

The fungus is classified in scientific literature as a "potential agroterrorism weapon," the Justice Department said.
Japan is the world's biggest market for Iqos, a heat-not-burn tobacco product marketed by its maker Philip Morris as a less harmful alternative to traditional cigarettes — a claim not backed by independent scientific research.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 6, 2025

Smoke and mirrors: How big tobacco manipulates science in Japan

In Japan, not only does the tobacco industry have close ties to government, but universities are also vulnerable to its influence. In this equation, public health loses out.
New Zealand Defense Minister Judith Collins speaks during the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on May 31.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 9, 2025

New Zealand looking at new ways to grow security ties with Japan, defense chief says

The move is part of a reset in New Zealand’s foreign and defense policy as Wellington grows concerned over international security tensions.
Experts are calling on people not to miss children's signs of trouble, particularly in June after fatigue can accumulate over the two months since the beginning of the school year in April.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 9, 2025

Experts warn of 'June syndrome' among children in Japan

Much like the better-known May syndrome, or May blues, June syndrome is a general term for mental and physical disorders and is medically classified as adjustment disorder.
Supporters of the Alternative for Germany party (AfD) wave flags as they take part in an AfD campaign rally in Hohenschoenhausen, Berlin, in February.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 10, 2025

Germany's far-right AfD harbors growing number of extremists: spy agency

The domestic spy agency also reported a surge in overall crime motivated by right-wing extremism.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a payload of Starlink satellites lifts off from the U.S. Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 14, 2025

White House reviews SpaceX contracts as Trump-Musk feud simmers

The administration ordered the agencies to scrutinize Musk’s contracts to ready possible retaliation against the businessman and his companies, sources said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on April 7. Netanyahu is playing a risky game by launching a war against Iran that may not stop its nuclear program and could trigger a wider conflict beyond Israel’s control.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 15, 2025

Netanyahu’s big gamble risks a quicker Iranian bomb

Whether the air strikes can indeed succeed is a very big "if.” It’s more likely that Israel can do no more than delay Iran’s nuclear program.
Ippei Mizuhara, a former interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani, in February in California
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2025

Ohtani's ex-interpreter Mizuhara begins prison sentence

Mizuhara, 40, was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison on charges of bank and tax fraud in a high-profile theft case.
A satellite image shows the Fordo nuclear facility in Iran in January.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 17, 2025

Iran’s best-protected nuclear site is deep underground

Only the U.S. military has the 30,000-pound bomb capable of reaching the facility and the bomber that can carry it.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (left) and his Canadian counterpart, Mark Carney, hold talks on Monday in Kananaskis, Canada.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 17, 2025

Japanese and Canadian leaders agree to enhance security ties

The prime ministers confirmed that their countries will sign early an agreement to share classified information.
Following domestic economic instability after the real estate market’s 2020 collapse, and global geopolitical uncertainty, wealthy Chinese have sought to establish bases in other countries, including Japan.
BUSINESS
Jun 26, 2025

Japan among most attractive Asian nations for uber-wealthy

The standard of living, health care, and safety and security make Japan attractive to wealthy Chinese expatriates, with Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe their main destinations.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, speak during a news conference at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, on Thursday.
WORLD
Jun 27, 2025

No known intel that Iran moved uranium, says U.S. defense chief in fiery presser

Experts have cautioned that Iran likely moved its stockpile of near weapons-grade highly enriched nuclear material before the strikes, and could be hiding it.
U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine arrives for a classified briefing about the American strikes on Iran, on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 28, 2025

U.S. Senate rejects bid to curb Trump's Iran war powers

The Senate vote was 53 to 47 against a war powers resolution that would have required congressional approval for more hostilities against Iran.
A Buddhist monk performs a ceremony for lost souls at a property which is classified as a <i>jiko bukken</i>, or a "misfortunate property" where deaths have occurred, in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, on May 8.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 1, 2025

As property prices soar in Japan, the taint of death may not deter some buyers

Investors attracted by potential high yields increasingly do not care about a property's grim history, mostly because they are unlikely to live there themselves.
Ukrainian firefighter and rescue workers carry a victim of a Russian airstrike that hit an apartment building in Karamtorsk, Ukraine, on June 22.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 8, 2025

U.S. to send 'more weapons' to Ukraine, Trump says

Trump's came after Washington said last week that it was halting some weapons shipments to Kyiv, leaving Ukrainian officials scrambling for clarity.
The growing prevalence of AI-generated child abuse material has alarmed law enforcement worldwide.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 11, 2025

AI-generated child abuse webpages surge 400%, alarming watchdog

Some content is so realistic it has to be treated under U.K. law as if it were actual footage, the Internet Watch Foundation has said.
A drone view shows turf from Derryrush bog left out to dry after being harvested from the blanket bog in Derryrush, Ireland, in April 2024. Ireland's bogs were formed over thousands of years as decaying plants formed a thick layer of peat in wetland areas.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jul 16, 2025

World risks up to $39 trillion in losses from vanishing wetlands: report

Some 22% of wetlands, both freshwater systems and coastal marine systems, have disappeared since 1970, the report says.
Microsoft accused Chinese state-sponsored hackers of using flaws in its SharePoint document management software in a hacking campaign that has targeted businesses and government agencies around the world.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 23, 2025

Chinese hackers exploit Microsoft flaws with U.S. nuclear agency hit

The number of companies and agencies subjected to breaches as a result of exploits in the document-sharing software is mounting.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas speaks to The Japan Times at Europa House in Tokyo's Minato Ward on Wednesday, ahead of an EU-Japan summit.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 23, 2025

EU and Japan aim for deeper defense cooperation in high-tech arena

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas says she sees "a lot of room for cooperation" with Tokyo, particularly in technology-driven areas.
People from the first group of white South Africans granted refugee status for being deemed victims of racial discrimination under U.S. President Trump's Refugee plan, listen to welcoming remarks during a meet and greet event, at Dulles International Airport in Virginia in May.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 26, 2025

U.S. diplomats asked if nonwhites qualify for Trump's South African refugee program

The State Department said U.S. policy is to consider both Afrikaners and other racial minorities for resettlement, echoing guidance posted on its website.
Afghans expelled from Iran arrive at a processing center in the border town of Islam Qala, Afghanistan, on July 10.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 28, 2025

Iran forcing out Afghans en masse after Israel spying claims

Iran is rounding up Afghan nationals due to accusations that non-documented migrants from the country spied for Israel and helped it launch missiles.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear