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A water bomber flies over houses burned down by the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on Thursday.
WORLD
Jan 10, 2025

Los Angeles wildfires devour thousands of homes even as fierce winds ease

The fires menacing Los Angeles from the east and west devoured nearly 10,000 homes and other structures.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Republican governors at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, on Thursday.
WORLD
Jan 10, 2025

U.S. Supreme Court lets Trump sentencing proceed in hush money case

The court turned down Trump's last-minute bid to prevent his sentencing, scheduled for Friday in New York state court in Manhattan.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump appears remotely for a sentencing hearing in front of New York State Judge Juan Merchan in the criminal case in which he was convicted in 2024 on charges involving hush money paid to a porn star, at New York Criminal Court in Manhattan on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 11, 2025

A sentence with no penalty assures Trump will take office as a felon

Justice Juan Merchan gave Donald Trump a symbolic punishment. The judge said that leniency was due the office of the president, not the man who will soon hold the title.
American Lindsey Vonn celebrates after finishing sixth in the women's downhill World Cup race on Saturday in St. Anton, Austria.
MORE SPORTS / Alpine skiing
Jan 12, 2025

Lindsey Vonn sixth in downhill return as veteran Federica Brignone wins

Vonn, 0.58 seconds behind after starting 32nd of the 51 starters, raised her arms as if she had won after her exhilarating effort.
Texans wide receiver Nico Collins runs with the ball after making a reception during the third quarter of Houston's win over Los Angeles on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Jan 12, 2025

Texans devour Chargers as Ravens run over Steelers in wild-card games

After throwing just three interceptions in 504 passing attempts during the regular season, Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert was picked off four times in the loss.
Anti-Yoon Suk Yeol protesters rally in Seoul on Saturday. South Korea's Constitutional Court has scheduled five trial dates spanning from Tuesday to Feb. 4, which will proceed in his absence if the suspended president does not attend his impeachment trial.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 12, 2025

South Korea's Yoon will not attend first impeachment hearing

Yoon has been holed up in the presidential residence since being suspended and impeached last month, following a short-lived declaration of martial law.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen runs with the ball during his team's wild-card game against the Broncos in Orchard Park, New York, on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Jan 13, 2025

Bills dominate Broncos in wild-card matchup to set up showdown with Ravens

The second-seeded Bills will host the third-seeded Baltimore Ravens in the divisional round next weekend.
Tyson Fury during a heavyweight world title fight against Oleksandr Usyk in Riyadh on Dec. 22
MORE SPORTS / Boxing
Jan 14, 2025

Is retirement really the end of the road for Tyson Fury?

Fury has previously announced his exit on a number of occasions, most recently in April 2022.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola (left) congratulates midfielder Jeremy Doku as he leaves the pitch after being substituted off during an FA Cup third round match against Salford City in Manchester on Saturday.
SOCCER
Jan 14, 2025

Manchester City mood lifted by three wins, says Guardiola

"Before, it was impossible to win one, so now we've won three and that helps us," Guardiola said.
Epidurals during childbirth have long been uncommon in Japan, though they have been growing more popular in recent years.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jan 14, 2025

Tokyo plans to subsidize epidurals, but are hospitals ready?

If all goes to plan, Tokyo will be the first to offer prefecture-level financial support for epidurals.
Akan Mashu National Park in Hokkkaido on Dec. 18. A rising number of Hokkaido towns and villages are discussing the introduction of a local accommodation tax for tourists.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Jan 20, 2025

Hokkaido areas examine benefits of taxing tourists

Niseko plans to use accommodation tax revenue to strengthen transportation services and increase the number of tourism-related officials.
A street in Pattaya, Thailand
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 15, 2025

Thai police arrest Japanese man over ¥1.36 billion retiree scam

The scam involved fraudsters impersonating Japanese government staff to sell bogus health insurance packages, according to the police statement.
The flag of Greenland flutters at the Inussivik hall in Nuuk in 2021.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 15, 2025

Why does Trump want Greenland and could he get it?

Greenland's strategic location and resources could benefit the U.S.
One of the brighest spots of Japan's indie gaming landscape in 2024 was Sonokuni, and with more incubators and other avenues of support springing up, there may be more games like it in the future.
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Jan 21, 2025

Japan-made games part of a rising tide of indie greatness

With games developed by lone individuals rivaling the quality of major studios, it's time to reconsider what makes an indie game indie.
A bus driver turns people away after filling his vehicle with Ukrainian evacuees who have just crossed the border in Medyka, Poland, in February 2022.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Jan 17, 2025

Ukrainian migrant exit could squeeze Eastern Europe's economies

Ukrainian workers have helped the region's manufacturing and export-driven economies expand quickly.
Alberto "Beto" Carrasco" (center) and his compatriots in Namnam Space
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Jan 20, 2025

Namnam reborn: A queer, anarchist space resettles in Tokyo's Koenji

After previous incarnations in Shinjuku Ni-chome and Kawasaki, Namnam is bringing art, music and camaraderie to a new neighborhood.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol delivers an address to the nation at the Presidential Office in Seoul on Dec. 12.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Jan 17, 2025

South Korea investigators file request to extend President Yoon's detention

In order to hold Yoon in custody for longer, investigators need a court to approve a detention warrant for up to 20 days.
Then-Rep. Brandon Williams, a Republican from New York, during a House Committee on Education and the Workforce hearing in Washington last May
WORLD / Politics
Jan 18, 2025

Trump picks one-term congressman to manage U.S. nuclear arsenal

Brandon Williams represented a New York congressional district for one term, but little is known about his experience in the management of atomic weapons.
Coco Gauff celebrates after defeating Belinda Bencic in the fourth round of the Australian Open on Sunday.
TENNIS
Jan 19, 2025

Gauff turns up heat on Bencic to reach Australian Open quarters

The world No. 3 was not at her best but outlasted Switzerland's Belinda Bencic 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 on the hottest day in Melbourne so far.
A cartoon image of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump holding a Bitcoin token to mark the cryptocurrency reaching over $100,000 is displayed at a Coinhero store in Hong Kong on Dec. 5.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 20, 2025

Trump’s win sparked euphoria in markets — now comes the real test

A reversal was first apparent in the stock market, where the S&P 500 Index gave back a solid chunk of its "Trump bump.”
Liverpool's Mohamed Salah (left) and Harvey Elliott celebrate after the club's second goal against Lille on Tuesday.
SOCCER
Jan 22, 2025

Liverpool's magnificent seven secures Champions League progress

Harvey Elliott's deflected strike secured a seventh consecutive Champions League victory for Arne Slot's men.
In the survey, 36.7% of respondents said that they have not taken measures to prevent customer harassment.
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2025

Customer harassment pushes part-timers to quit

The proportion of companies whose part-time workers faced customer harassment, such as yelling, within the past year was 45.7%.
Teruko Nakazawa, a retired unpaid parole officer (back), talks with her former parolee in the smoking room of a cafe in Tokyo. Around 47,000 citizen volunteers  far outnumber the 1,000 salaried probation officers working in Japan.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Jan 23, 2025

Japan's unpaid parole officers are driven by a 'love for humanity'

The around 47,000 citizen volunteers far outnumber the 1,000 salaried probation officers in Japan.
Fukushima Prefectural Police have arrested an alleged drunken driver who fatally struck a 19-year-old in Fukushima Prefecture.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 23, 2025

Drunken driver hits and kills 19-year-old student in Fukushima

The victim had traveled from her home in Osaka Prefecture to take a university entrance exam.
Tourists visit shops near Kyoto's Fushimi Inari Shrine on Jan. 13. The nation's growing tourism sector, set to hit 40 million visitors in 2025, boosts the economy but is straining the nation's infrastructure.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 23, 2025

Japan has '$100 billion' reasons to welcome more visitors

Japan's growing tourism, set to hit 40 million visitors in 2025, boosts the economy but strains infrastructure, highlighting a need for smarter policies to manage overtourism.
Marialyce Pedersen cleans burned leaves and debris that accumulated in the sink of her outdoor kitchen made of cob that survived the Eaton fire when her home burned in Altadena, California, on Jan. 20.
WORLD / Society
Jan 23, 2025

Los Angeles wildfires spark interest in adobe and natural building materials

Former homeowners determined to stay want houses that the next fire will not burn easily and that, if burnt, will not turn the soil, water and air into a toxic hazard.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks during a news conference after a two-day monetary policy meeting at BOJ headquarters in Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Jan 25, 2025

BOJ’s clear guidance on rate hike calms markets but may backfire

For some economists, the latest move was too completely priced in, begging the question of how explicitly the BOJ intends to signal its plans in the future.
Then-South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem testifies during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on her nomination to be secretary of homeland security, on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 17.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 26, 2025

Noem confirmed as DHS head to move Trump’s immigration plans forward

The vote clears the way for her to lead a 260,000-person department that will have a key role in Trump’s border security and immigration enforcement agenda.
Released Israeli hostage Liri Albag, a soldier who was seized from her army base in southern Israel during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas, gestures to make a heart shape in an Israeli military helicopter transporting her and other hostages, released as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, to the Beilinson Schneider medical complex in Petah Tikva, Israel, on Saturday.
WORLD
Jan 26, 2025

Fragile Gaza truce enters second week

A last-minute dispute blocked the expected return of hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians to the Gaza Strip's devastated north.
Hong Kong's commercial real estate sector is going through one of its worst slumps in history.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 27, 2025

Hong Kong’s property distress is catching up with city’s banks

Banks with soured loans and mortgages have been reluctant to sell the underlying real estate assets at a loss — but that is changing.

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers