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Kaoru Mitoma celebrates scoring Brighton's second goal against Chelsea in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Feb. 8.
SOCCER
Aug 12, 2025

Kaoru Mitoma looks to build on Premier League success with Brighton

No Japanese player will be more essential for their team’s Premier League ambitions than Kaoru Mitoma.
Athletes compete in the final of the women's 100 meter hurdles at the Paris Olympics in August last year.
MORE SPORTS / Athletics
Aug 16, 2025

New gene testing system in disarray ahead of world championships in Tokyo

With the world championships in Tokyo looming, athletics federations are struggling to comply with new rules concerning gene tests for female athletes.
The All Blacks' Ardie Savea faces off with Pumas wing Rodrigo Isgro during their Rugby Championship match on Saturday in Cordoba, Argentina.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Aug 17, 2025

All Blacks beat Argentina 41-24 to reclaim top world rank

Ahead 31-10 at the interval, New Zealand held off a second-half fightback from the Pumas in Cordoba and ultimately emerged as the victors by scoring six tries to three.
Arsenal's Declan Rice celebrates after his club's win over Manchester United in Manchester, England, on Sunday.
SOCCER
Aug 18, 2025

Arsenal edges Manchester United at Old Trafford in season opener

The Gunners were far from impressive at Old Trafford but earned a huge three points thanks to a glaring error from United's stand-in goalkeeper Altay Bayindir.
Actors in period costume pose on a re-creation of a Tudor wine fountain at Hampton Court Palace in Surrey, England, in April 2010. England’s recent wine boom is hitting limits due to scale, costs and competition.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 18, 2025

England’s sparkling wine is losing its fizz

It really doesn’t help having higher taxes now measured on alcohol content. The going is only getting tougher for fledgling startups.
Shoichi Takahashi holds a photo of himself when he was younger, in Otaru, Hokkaido, on May 17.
JAPAN
Aug 18, 2025

103-year-old remembers Soviet attack right after WWII

"Since we had been fighting Americans, it was beyond my imagination that Soviets launched an attack on us three days after the end of WWII," Takahashi said.
Rohingya refugees fleeing from Myanmar into Palang Khali, near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, in November 2017
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 22, 2025

U.N. investigation seeking justice for Rohingya hit by cost-cutting

A million Rohingya, a Muslim minority group, fled a Myanmar military offensive in August 2017 — a campaign seen by prosecutors as a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.
A screenshot from an AI-generated video showing what could happen to Tokyo if Mount Fuji erupted
JAPAN
Aug 25, 2025

Tokyo releases AI-generated video of Mount Fuji erupting

With Mount Fuji 100 kilometers away, the video from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government aims to inform Tokyoites about how an eruption could still seriously impact their lives.
Nipponia Hotel Ise Kawasaki Merchant Town in Ise, Mie Prefecture
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Sep 8, 2025

Why more hotels in Japan are offering room-only service

Hotels hit by labor shortage hope to reduce their burden, while restaurants and the local community aim to attract more visitors.
As generative AI like ChatGPT becomes more popular, evidence is growing that it may harm mental health by encouraging dependency, weakening critical thinking and even contributing to delusional episodes.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 25, 2025

ChatGPT’s mental health costs are adding up

From brain rot to induced psychosis, the psychological cost of generative AI is growing and flying under the radar.
A journalist holds the blood-covered camera of Palestinian photojournalist Mariam Dagga, who was killed during an Israeli strike on Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, during her funeral on Monday.
WORLD
Aug 26, 2025

Israel hits Gaza hospital, killing at least 20 people, including five journalists

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Israel deeply regretted what he called a "tragic mishap."
Kunitake Toriya, a former corporal in the Imperial Japanese Army who had trained for a suicide attack mission, speaks about his wartime experiences in front of the photographs of his comrades at Tachiarai Peace Memorial Museum in Chikuzen, Fukuoka Prefecture, in June.
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2025

Destined for death, former kamikaze pilot recalls wanting to live

Kunitake Toriya yelled "Banzai" in his heart when his suicide mission was called off. Now, 80 years on, he is determined to share his story.
French President Emmanuel Macron, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz during a photo session in The Hague on June 25
WORLD / Politics
Aug 27, 2025

French, German and Polish leaders to visit Moldova in show of force to Russia

The leaders will meet Moldova's President Maia Sandu to celebrate the country's 34th independence day as she pushes for EU membership.
A worker wearing protective equipment walks near the Electric Arc Furnace at the 7 Steel facility in Cardiff, Wales, on July 18.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Aug 28, 2025

Sky-high electricity costs hindering the U.K.'s progress toward net zero

Energy bills have stripped firms of money to improve efficiency, deterred the shift to lower-carbon power sources and made wind-farm, pylon and battery production less competitive.
Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a reception at the Kremlin in Moscow on May 9.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 29, 2025

Russia eyes China trade revival as Putin prepares for Xi summit, sources say

"Ahead of the visit, officials on both sides are looking into ways to increase trade because the current numbers do not look good," one source said.
Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant in 2019. The U.K., Germany and France on Thursday triggered a 30-day "snapback” process that would lead to a resumption of sanctions originally lifted as part of a 2015 deal.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 29, 2025

European powers pull trigger to slap Iran with U.N. sanctions

The move will likely raise tensions between Tehran and the West amid a standoff over Iran’s atomic activities following Israeli and U.S. airstrikes on nuclear sites in June.
A McDonald’s Japan Pokemon card promotion triggered scalper frenzy, upset children and forced the company to rethink its Happy Set campaigns.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 28, 2025

McDonald’s 'Pokemon' frenzy shows the collecting boom’s dark side

After a "Pokemon" trading card promotion went disastrously wrong, it’s been rebuked by the Consumer Affairs Agency and is rethinking future campaigns.
Volunteers identify the bodies of fallen soldiers in Dobropillya, Ukraine, on Aug. 23. In an interview on Sunday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he is bracing himself for the possibility that the war in Ukraine could go on for a long time.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 1, 2025

Merz sees war in Ukraine dragging on with no clear end in sight

The German chancellor says he hasn’t given up hope that a ceasefire can be secured in Ukraine, but he’s "not under any illusions either.”
A massive landslide in Sudan's western Darfur region has flattened an entire mountain village and killed more than 1,000 people, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army group said, leaving only one survivor.
WORLD
Sep 3, 2025

Landslide wipes out Sudan village, killing hundreds

Heavy rain triggered the disaster, flattening the village of Tarasin in the remote Jebel Marra range, with the death toll estimated at anywhere from 300 to over 1,000.
Women holding up brooms and placards shout slogans during a protest against lawmakers' perks and police brutality, outside the Indonesian parliament building in Jakarta on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 4, 2025

Brandishing brooms, Indonesian women join Jakarta protests

Protest organizer The Alliance of Indonesian Women said the brooms symbolized a need to "sweep (away) the state's dirt ... and the repressiveness of security forces."
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi speaks during an interview in Vienna on Wednesday.
WORLD
Sep 4, 2025

U.N. nuclear chief presses Iran to strike deal on inspections soon

"It would be really good if we could have this agreed before next week," International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said in an interview.
Emoni Narawa of New Zealand runs in a try during the All Blacks' win over South Africa on Saturday in Auckland.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Sep 6, 2025

New Zealand holds off South Africa close battle in Auckland

Under pressure after conceding a first-ever defeat on Argentina soil against the Pumas two weeks ago, the All Blacks responded with a performance of grit and discipline.
Oscar Piastri's lead over teammate Lando Norris in the Formula One standings was cut from 34 to 31 at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, Italy, on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Sep 8, 2025

McLaren team boss Andrea Stella addresses controversy over team orders

The reigning Formula One champion and runaway leader asked Oscar Piastri to hand back second place to teammate Lando Norris after the Briton suffered a slow pitstop.
A vessel, part of the the Global Sumud Flotilla, arrives in Sidi Bou Said, near Tunis, on Sunday.
WORLD
Sep 9, 2025

Flotilla for Gaza says boat struck by drone in Tunisian waters

The boat sustained fire damage, the flotilla group said, but Tunisia’s National Guard spokesman said reports of a drone attack "have no basis in truth."
Kansas City Chiefs' Travis Kelce kisses partner — now finacee — Taylor Swift as they celebrate after his team won Super Bowl LVIII in 2024.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 10, 2025

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s announcement hits all the right notes in Japan

Japanese culture is in the depths of a nostalgia wave, and the engagement announcement for Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce fits in with it nicely.
Supporters of Global Sumud Flotilla gather to show support in Sidi Bou Said port, Tunisia, on Wednesday.
WORLD
Sep 10, 2025

Flotilla headed to Gaza reports second drone attack at Tunisian port

Following the strike, hundreds gathered near the port waving Palestinian flags and chanting slogans against Israel and the United States.
Pro-Palestinian protesters wave flags and shout as the Vuelta a Espana peloton rides by in Poio, Spain, on Tuesday.
MORE SPORTS / Cycling
Sep 10, 2025

Vuelta a Espana director vows to finish race despite pro-Palestinian protests

Stage 16 ended 8 kilometers before the finish after a large protest blocked the road 3 km from the scheduled stage end.
Evan Dunfee competes during the 35-kilometer race walk during the world championships in Budapest on Aug. 24, 2023.
MORE SPORTS / Athletics
Sep 11, 2025

Canada's Evan Dunfee hopes to create race walk to remember at world championships

Having won bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Dunfee will be vying for gold when the 2025 World Athletics Championships begin on Sunday.
Juan Ansotegui walks on his property in Villalibado, a hamlet in the Odra-Pisuerga comarca of Burgos, Castile, Spain.
WORLD / Society
Sep 12, 2025

Spain wants to save rural areas — and it's finding creative ways to do it

Public and private actors are experimenting with ways to reverse demographic decline and save the centuries-old histories, traditions and cultures of Spain's rural communities.
Newly-elected prime minister of Nepal's interim government, Sushila Karki, and other officials observe a moment of silence on Sunday to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in recent protests in Kathmandu.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 14, 2025

Young activists who toppled Nepal's government now picking new leaders

A Nepalese activist group used Discord and Instagram to mobilize deadly Gen Z–driven protests that toppled Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years