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Timeleft uses an algorithm to match its users with five or six strangers in an effort to prompt “human connection” over dinner at a restaurant. It determines the attendees with the help of a simple personality quiz available when you sign up for the service.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Dec 2, 2024

Seven strangers and an algorithm: Can this new dinner app help you make friends?

An app called Timeleft hopes to combat big-city alienation through a simple meal with a diverse group of people.
A displaced woman packs up her family's belongings at a school turned into a shelter in Beirut on Nov. 27.
WORLD / Society
Dec 2, 2024

'We have a lost generation': Lebanon's education crisis

At least 500 public schools in Lebanon, roughly one in two in what is a badly underfunded sector, were converted into shelters in recent months to house people.
Jean-Pierre Charriton
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / The Big Questions
Dec 2, 2024

President of L’Oreal Japan leverages innovation

Entered L’Oreal in 1991, in charge of the Biotherme products. After a career path in many countries, he arrived in Japan in 2021.
A supporter of Donald Trump holds a limited edition beer with an image of Trump and the words "Conservative Dad's Revenge," as he attends the New York Young Republican Club watch party on Nov. 6.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Dec 3, 2024

After Trump's win, his election denial movement marches on

Since winning the 2024 election, President-elect Donald Trump has gone quiet on his false claims of voter fraud. But the election denial movement he spawned isn’t going away — and appears to be strengthening in some areas of the country.
The challenge for African governments and communities is how to harness this wave of youthful talent — with all their innovation, resilience and determination — rather than lose them to developed economies.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 29, 2024

Africa must act to stem its youth brain drain

African governments must harness youthful talent or risk losing it to developed economies.
Trees in a forest in Nyanga, Gabon
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 3, 2024

Scientists behind ‘net zero’ concept say nations are getting it wrong

Countries may be claiming carbon credits for work already being done by land and oceans — and the accounting mismatch has consequences.
Anti-government fighters move past abandoned Syrian army military equipment and vehicles southeast of Aleppo on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 4, 2024

Syria rebels 'at gates' of central city Hama

The advance on Syria's fourth-largest city is buoyed by the group's lightning capture of swaths of the north in an offensive that ended four years of relative calm.
Tsutomu Hotta
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2024

Ex-prosecutor Hotta, who probed Lockheed scandal, dies at 90

He also helped decide how to distribute donations made to the Japanese Red Cross Society and the Central Community Chest of Japan after the Great East Japan Earthquake.
Naomi Watanabe, a comedian known for challenging gender and beauty norms in Japan's male-dominated comedy scene
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2024

BBC honors two Japanese in annual list of inspiring women

The theme this year was resilience, celebrating women who "are pushing for change and improving lives at community or global level."
If the deal goes through, the Japanese steelmaker has promised not to transfer any U.S. Steel production capacity or jobs outside the United States.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 5, 2024

Nippon Steel committed to U.S. Steel takeover, executive says

"There is no global strategy without the U.S.," Takahiro Mori, the Japanese company's vice chairman, said this week.
This threat of H5N1 avian flu has been exacerbated by inadequate testing, delayed genetic data and insufficient containment measures, with powerful agricultural interests influencing the response.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 4, 2024

A bird flu pandemic would be one of the most foreseeable catastrophes in history

The threat of H5N1 avian flu has been exacerbated by inadequate testing, delayed genetic data, and insufficient containment measures.
Protesters angry over President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declarations of martial law call on him to step down at a rally at the national assembly in Seoul on Wednesday. REUTERS
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 5, 2024

Where does South Korea's democracy go from here?

Why did he dig himself such a deep political hole? The answer to that is Yoon is not really a “politician” either.
The skeleton of a mammoth, one of the large mammals that roamed North America during the last Ice Age, is displayed at the Mammoth Site where numerous mammoth fossils have been excavated, in Hot Springs, South Dakota, on Aug. 31, 2018.
WORLD
Dec 5, 2024

Mammoths topped the menu for North American Ice Age people

Scientists discovered that the woman's diet was mostly meat from megafauna — the largest animals in an ecosystem — with an emphasis on mammoths.
While FromSoftware's Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is a strong contender for game of the year, Black Myth: Wukong, the first AAA game made by a Chinese developer, offers some stiff competition.
LIFE / Digital / 2024 in Review
Dec 6, 2024

It’s Japan versus China for 2024’s game of the year

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree and Black Myth: Wukong both have a claim to the best game of 2024, a year marked by cultural scandals and lawsuits.
Video game music has come a long way from its humble origins.
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Dec 7, 2024

Beyond beeps and boops: Video game music has grown up

Video game music has gone from 8-bit chiptunes to fully realized productions that bring the gamer’s experience to life.
Many of the investors who stuck with cryptocurrency through its ups and downs, its scandals and scams, are now basking in an I-told-you-so glow.
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 6, 2024

Bitcoin's true believers bask in I-told-you-so glow at $100,000

The milestone marks a spectacular comeback from a “crypto winter” two years ago in the wake of the collapse of the FTX exchange in a pile of fraud.
Newly arrived asylum-seekers take advantage of phone chargers and free Wi-Fi to connect with family back home at an immigrant service center in Oceanside, California, in October 2023.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 26, 2024

Sanctuary cities may be having an identity crisis

So far, the mayors and governors of these sanctuary cities and states have remained largely undeterred, even defiant in the face of such threats.
A man wearing a mask depicting South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol dances on a street as people gather for a protest calling for the ouster of Yoon outside the National Assembly in Seoul on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Dec 7, 2024

K-pop, carols and guillotines at South Korea impeachment protests

Protesters massed outside the National Assembly, many wearing the elaborate outfits, carrying home-made flags or blasting the K-pop tunes.
A low pressure storm system known as a "bomb cyclone" moves off the coast of the U.S. Pacific Northwest and western Canada in a composite satellite image on Nov. 20.
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 7, 2024

Google introduces AI agent that aces 15-day weather forecasts

They report that their new model can, among other things, outperform the world’s best forecasts meant to track deadly storms and save lives.
Lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo sits alone as the only People Power Party lawmaker to remain in the voting chamber during the plenary session for the impeachment vote of President Yoon Suk Yeol at the National Assembly in Seoul on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 7, 2024

South Korea's Yoon survives impeachment after his party boycotts vote

Yoon's party claimed after the vote that it had blocked the impeachment to avoid "severe division and chaos."
Since Oct. 24, there have been 406 cases of an unidentified illness in Congo’s southwest.
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 9, 2024

‘Disease X’ outbreak widens as U.N. sends health team to Congo

The unidentified illness is marked by fever, headache, cough, runny nose, and body aches, with 31 deaths currently on record.
Destruction left in the wake of Russia's military invasion of Ukraine in the city of Hulyaipole, in the country's Zaporizhzhia region, in September 2022
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 9, 2024

Does a savage war of partition await Ukraine?

Donald Trump appears bent on striking a “peace” deal with Russia that involves Ukraine’s dismemberment.
Insurance tycoon Douw Steyn’s 250 million rand home overlooks the luxury residential estate bearing his name near Johannesburg, South Africa.
BUSINESS
Dec 9, 2024

Luxury estates for the rich are a booming business in South Africa

Despite a 20% decline in South Africa’s millionaire population over the past decade, it remains a hub for the continent’s high-net-worth individuals.
A TikTok creator and advocate wears a button showing support outside of the U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 16 in Washington, D.C.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 9, 2024

‘It’s for real this time’: TikTok creators react to potential ban

Many of TikTok’s users seemed to have only just begun to grasp that the app could be on its last legs in this country.
Director Ema Ryan Yamazaki wanted to show situations that everyone, non-Japanese included, could relate to in “The Making of a Japanese,” her documentary about Japan’s schoolchildren. 
CULTURE / Film
Dec 9, 2024

Documentarian praises the positives of stricter schooling

"The Making of a Japanese" director Ema Ryan Yamazaki reflects on the role of the Japanese educational system in creating empathetic children.
Rebel commander Ahmed al-Sharaa, better known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, speaks to a crowd in Damascus, Syria, on Monday.
WORLD
Dec 10, 2024

Syria's rebels work to form government and restore order after Assad ouster

With the mood in Damascus still celebratory, Assad's prime minister, Mohammed Jalali, has agreed to hand power to the rebel-led Salvation Government.
Abed, an asylum-seeker from the Syrian city of Raqqa uses his mobile phone to talk to a relative at the arrival center in Berlin's Reinickendorf district in October 2023.
WORLD
Dec 10, 2024

European countries suspend Syrian asylum decisions after Assad's fall

While Berlin and others said they were watching developments in the war-ravaged nation, Austria signaled it would soon deport refugees back to Syria.
The government is preparing to set Japan’s new Nationally Determined Contribution, an emissions reduction commitment made by members of the United Nations climate framework's Paris Agreement.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / OUR PLANET
Dec 10, 2024

As Japan nears new climate goal, criticism of policy process ramps up

Critics say the process is not intended to facilitate genuine debate, and that those who support the energy status quo are overrepresented on policy panels.
Manabu Sasaki, who runs a painting company, is one of four suspects arrested on suspicion of murdering 56-year-old Osamu Takano.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 10, 2024

Victim of alleged staged suicide was subjected to years of abuse

Tokyo police arrested four men on Sunday on suspicion of murdering a colleague by staging a "suicide" on a railway crossing.
The aftermath of an overnight strike attributed to Israel is seen on the Barzeh scientific research center affiliated with the Syrian defense ministry in northern Damascus on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 11, 2024

Israel steps up airstrikes and sends troops deeper into Syria

The Israel Defense Forces said it struck most of the strategic weapons stockpiles in Syria to prevent them from falling into the hands of terrorists.

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