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JAPAN
Sep 29, 2023

Japan universities split over new IT section on entrance exam

Universities in Japan are divided in their responses to a new subject — covering the basics of programming, information and communications networks, and databases — on the standard university entrance examination to be held beginning in January 2025.
A Ukrainian serviceman walks at a position near the front line in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 29, 2023

Who’s gaining ground in Ukraine? This year, no one.

Despite nine months of bloody fighting, less than 500 square miles of territory have changed hands since the start of the year.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 29, 2023

Yoshiro Mori's image as LDP kingmaker rubs up against reality

While he remains a strong presence in the LDP, his actual ability to get his way on policy and personnel matters may not be as strong as it first appears.
Many art critics rank Pablo Picasso's "Les Demoiselles d’Avignon," which hangs in New York’s Museum of Modern Art, as one of his greatest. But other critics describe the masterpiece as racist or exploitative.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 29, 2023

What should be done with art that is seen as racist?

So what exactly should we do when people consider extant art racist?
U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington in December 2014.
WORLD
Sep 29, 2023

Long-serving U.S. Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein dies at 90

Feinstein was a Washington trail-blazer who among other accomplishments became the first woman to head the influential Senate Intelligence Committee.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the crowd as he arrives at a Bhartiya Janta Party gathering in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.
WORLD
Sep 30, 2023

Murder claim in Canada is only helping India's Modi at home

India has gone on the offensive since Canadian leader Justin Trudeau accused Modi’s government of orchestrating the murder of a Sikh priest.
Supporters of Niger's National Council of Safeguard of the Homeland wave a flag of the private Wagner military company during a protest near the capital Niamey on Sept. 16.
COMMENTARY
Sep 30, 2023

If the U.S. exits Niger, the terrorists and Russians win

What transpired in Niamey was obviously a coup. Nonetheless, the U.S. has global responsibilities that require it to stay in Niger.
Victor Salinas, who was recruited to travel to Russia in a military support role but eventually changed his mind, at his home near Havana on Sept. 12.
WORLD
Sep 30, 2023

How Cubans were recruited to fight for Russia

Cubans can earn a windfall for enlisting with the Russian army amid Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is accompanied by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in the Old Senate Chamber, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Sept. 21.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 1, 2023

Ukraine aid falls by wayside as Congress passes spending bill

The Biden administration and lawmakers from both parties sought to reassure Ukraine that assistance may be supplied in a separate bill down the road.
A Ukrainian drone pilot, call sign Darwin, operating a first-person-view, or FPV, drone on a test flight near Kupiansk, Ukraine, on Aug. 5.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 1, 2023

Ukraine’s war of drones runs into an obstacle: China

Ukraine's latest fight is one over global electronics supply chains that run through China.
North Korea's Ri Song Gum salutes during the podium ceremony after winning the women's 49-kg final at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS / Weightlifting
Oct 1, 2023

North Korean sets weightlifting world record after four-year absence

North Korean weightlifters have not taken part in international competition since 2019 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev prior to a meeting in Brussels on May 14
WORLD / Politics
Oct 1, 2023

In taking Karabakh, Azerbaijan's president avenged his father

A confluence of factors had convinced Ilham Aliyev, 61, that the time was right to do something his father couldn't.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits the Memory Wall of Fallen Defenders of Ukraine, during Defenders of Ukraine Day in Kyiv on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 2, 2023

Ukraine left out in cold by U.S. shutdown deal

Biden says the U.S. must help Ukraine stand up to Russian President Vladimir Putin, warning that a failure to do so could embolden other autocrats.
A rebound in auto output and falling raw material costs helped lift Japan's business sentiment in the third quarter.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 2, 2023

Japan's business mood improves as economic revival continues

The tankan survey suggests conditions for the BOJ to phase out its massive stimulus could fall into place, even as policymakers remain cautious.
A video grab shows the acting President of Myanmar's National Unity Government, Duwa Lashi La, speaking during an interview from an undisclosed location in Myanmar, in November 2022.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 2, 2023

Myanmar resistance leader claims majority control over territory

Violence has intensified as the military dictatorship faces a crumbling economy, growing dissent and a multi-front conflict.
Fort Myers Beach during a high tide in Florida
ENVIRONMENT
Oct 2, 2023

A hidden climate danger threatens coastal communities

Rising sea levels could push contaminated groundwater to the surface, releasing toxic chemicals from contaminated areas nearby.
The Nasdaq market site in New York. Dozens of Japanese startups are preparing to list on the Nasdaq in the next few years.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 2, 2023

Nasdaq helps Japan startups escape risk-averse home market

An unprecedented number of entrepreneurs turn away from an aging, risk-averse home market.
Gamers play during the first day of Europe's leading digital games fair, Gamescom, in Cologne, Germany, in August 2019
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 2, 2023

Video game competitions should be in the Olympics

Esports is already among the world’s most popular competitive activities. Last year, the global audience totaled more than 500 million people.
A Palm Sunday procession makes its way toward a government-sanctioned Catholic church in Youtong village in China's Hebei province
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 2, 2023

The Holy See shows how to deal with China

In China, the relationship between politics and religion is unique, and the Holy See has adopted a sophisticated approach to diplomacy with Beijing.
Mori Building's Azabudai Hills complex in Tokyo's Minato Ward, which will house offices, shops, apartments, hotels and a school, is set to open in November
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 2, 2023

While Manhattan’s offices stay empty, Tokyo keeps building

Remote working has decimated offices in cities like New York and London. But Tokyo's workspaces have bounced back, also thanks to new builds.
Japan bought yen in September 2022, its first foray in the market to boost its currency since 1998, after a Bank of Japan decision to maintain an ultraloose monetary policy drove the yen as low as ¥145 per dollar.
BUSINESS / Markets / EXPLAINER
Oct 2, 2023

What intervention by Japan to stem yen weakness could look like

Aside from verbal intervention, the government has several options to stem what it considers excessive yen falls.
Hong Kong and China Gas, part of billionaire Lee Shau Kee’s business empire, is accelerating an expansion of biofuel firm EcoCeres in foreign markets.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 3, 2023

Hong Kong tycoon’s energy empire ramps up green jet fuel push

EcoCeres, one of Asia’s largest producers of green jet fuel, is exploring the possibility of expanding into new markets like the U.S. and the Middle East.
Central to China’s global media campaign is the aggressive use of new technologies to target and spread messages, silence critics and create a digital infrastructure that is more easily controlled.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 3, 2023

Pushing back against China’s media offensive

China is using propaganda, disinformation, censorship and covert tactics to promote its preferred narrative and suppress critical reporting.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy speaks at the Capitol after he was ousted as speaker of the House, in Washington on Tuesday. The ouster is without precedent in modern U.S. history and leaves the chamber without a leader, plunging it into chaos.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 4, 2023

U.S. House speaker ouster means more chaos as shutdown fight looms

Kevin McCarthy lost his post after hardliners in his party revolted over his compromise with Democrats to avert government shutdown.
Zoom controlled only about 7% of the market for communication and collaboration software as of the first quarter of the year, while Microsoft topped 42%, according to industry analyst IDC.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 4, 2023

Zoom expands tools and features in bid to compete with Microsoft

The company is adding word processing to its suite of tools and experimenting with novel features for meetings as it faces steep competition from Teams.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 4, 2023

Number of absent schoolchildren in Japan hits record high

The number of elementary and junior high school children who refused to go to school for at least 30 days in fiscal 2022 jumped 22.1%.
The number of phone fraud cases involving international calls has been rising sharply in recent months.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 4, 2023

Japan logs sharp rise in phone fraud using international calls

Over half of telephone fraud cases reported in September involved international phone numbers.
The Justice Ministry is considering revising the law that requires wills to be handwritten so that people can write them on computers and smartphones.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 4, 2023

Japan considers law revision to allow computer-written wills

The Justice Ministry hopes that not requiring wills to be handwritten will both ease the burden of creating the documents and promote their use.
Demonstrators hold signs during a protest against COVID-19 measures Munich in 2022.
WORLD / Society
Oct 4, 2023

AI 'supercharges' online disinformation and censorship, report warns

Internet freedom declined for the 13th straight year, with China, Myanmar and Iran having the worst conditions of the 70 countries surveyed.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 4, 2023

Children's agency chief Ayuko Kato vows to tackle falling birthrate

One of the aims of the agency is to help implement the Children's Future Strategy, a plan that was announced as a way to reverse the declining birthrate.

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building