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Hanagasa Ondo folk song performers from Yamagata Prefecture take part in the Japan Parade held in Manhattan on Saturday.
JAPAN
May 12, 2024

New York hosts a Japan Parade

About 100 groups took part in the event where parade-watchers were able to enjoy traditional Japanese culture and food.
A woman speaks of her experience of being sent to Macau by an overseas prostitution broker during an interview in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on April 8.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 12, 2024

Three men rearrested over brokering of overseas prostitution

The men sent between 200 and 300 Japanese women to brothels in the United States, Canada and Australia over three years, bringing in roughly ¥200 million.
Suspected intervention to drag the yen off a 34-year low against the dollar is already seen as unlikely to have a lasting effect if Japan continues alone.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 13, 2024

Yen’s fragility raises specter of a new currency war in Asia

A destabilizing slump in the yen could be the trigger that forces Japan’s neighbors to take extreme action.
A Palestinian student, who plans to return to his homeland after graduation and who wishes to remain anonymous, poses for a portrait while wearing a kaffiyeh along with his commencement cap at the Auraria Campus in Denver on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
May 13, 2024

Campus Gaza rallies may subside, but experts see possible 'hot summer of protest'

Academics say it's difficult to maintain the people-power energy on campus if most of the people are gone.
Padres starter Yu Darvish reacts after striking out the Dodgers' Will Smith to end the sixth inning during his team's win over the Dodgers in San Diego on Sunday.
BASEBALL / MLB
May 13, 2024

Yu Darvish sharp as Padres hit three HRs in win over Dodgers

Yu Darvish retired the first 14 batters he faced and allowed just two hits in seven shutout innings as the Padres blanked the Dodgers.
Indonesia's new president Prabowo Subianto and vice president Gibran Rakabuming Raka wave after the country's election commission officially announced them as the presidential election winners at General Election Commission (KPU) headquarters in Jakarta, on April 24.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 13, 2024

Indonesia won’t take sides in U.S.-China row, Prabowo tells TV

China is Indonesia’s biggest economic partner and is pouring more than $7 billion into the nation’s commodity processing capacity.
Paris Saint-Germain's Kylian Mbappe celebrates with the French Ligue 1 championship trophy in Paris on Sunday.
SOCCER
May 13, 2024

Kylian Mbappe plays final match with PSG

Mbappe scored in his final home appearance as a Paris Saint-Germain player on Sunday.
SoftBank is regaining its footing just as founder Masayoshi Son readies sizable investments in artificial intelligence and semiconductors.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 13, 2024

SoftBank to get more aggressive on AI after profit and asset sales

The company earned a better-than-expected net income in the March quarter, helped by investment gains.
Lawrence Wong will become Singapore's fourth prime minister on Wednesday. He will be tasked with steering the city-state into new territory as its economy slows down and its population ages rapidly.
COMMENTARY / World
May 13, 2024

New Singaporean PM faces some economic headwinds

Lawrence Wong will be sworn in as the city-state's fourth prime minister on Wednesday. Despite Singapore's strong economy, new challenges lie ahead.
Defendant Chung Biu Yuen leaves Westminster Magistrates' Court in London on Monday after being charged with assisting Hong Kong's foreign intelligence service.
WORLD / Politics
May 14, 2024

China slams U.K. arrests over Hong Kong spy case

China's foreign affairs commissioner in its territory of Hong Kong warned that Britain would receive "China's firm and strong retaliation."
China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi (left), and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul walk with other officials during their talks in Beijing on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 14, 2024

South Korea and China's top envoys eye trilateral summit with Japan

Seoul has not formally announced the date for the summit — the first since 2019 — but media reports have said it will take place on May 26 and 27.
An employee at Otsuka Foods has filed a damages suit against the company with the Otsu District Court in Shiga Prefecture.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 14, 2024

Otsuka Foods whistleblower sues company for work-related depression

The man has claimed he suffered from depression after being reassigned and given little work following a report over the company's alleged wrongdoing.
An image provided by I.J. Glasspool shows a microscopic view of 200-million-year-old charcoal from Greenland. By digging into the geologic record, scientists are learning how wildfires shaped — and were shaped by — climate change long ago.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
May 14, 2024

From ancient charcoal, hints of wildfires to come

For more than 90% of the Earth's history, the planet’s atmosphere and continents lacked the oxygen and kindling required to sustain a flame.
Soldiers and police stand guard outside a South Korean Army boot camp in Yeoncheon county before the arrival of K-pop's BTS band member Jin, in December 2022. South Korea's economic success is often  overshadowed by its cultural exports.
COMMENTARY / World
May 10, 2024

A surprise South Korean boom is going unnoticed

Despite its robust economic performance, South Korea often takes a backseat to neighboring giants like Japan and China.
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark returns the ball against the Connecticut Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut, on Tuesday.
BASKETBALL
May 15, 2024

Basketball fans flood the stands for Caitlin Clark's WNBA debut

Ticket sales have surged across the WNBA on resale platforms, with Clark's celebrity helping bring attention to the league.
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham speaks to reporters during a news conference in Washington on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 15, 2024

Japan concerned over U.S. officials' remarks on atomic bombings

The remarks justifying the August 1945 atomic bombings could put a damper on bilateral ties between Tokyo and Washington.
A man uses a sheet of cardboard to shade from the sun during high temperatures in Bangkok on April 28. Thailand has been bracing for hotter-than-normal days due to the El Nino weather pattern that’s forecast to last until June.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
May 15, 2024

Asia’s killer April heat wave was made much worse by climate change

In countries such as Palestine and Israel, climate change made the heat wave five times more likely than it would have been in pre-industrial times.
Pasona plans to use cartilage conduction technology for headsets for staff and guide earphones for visitors in its exhibition at the 2025 World Exposition in Osaka.
JAPAN / Society
May 15, 2024

Pasona to promote cartilage conduction technology

The firm plans to use the technology for headsets for staff and for audio guides in its exhibition at the 2025 Osaka expo.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is greeted by Chinese leader Xi Jinping before the opening ceremony at the Expo Center at the fourth Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia summit in Shanghai in May 2014.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
May 15, 2024

Putin to visit Xi amid U.S. threat of China sanctions over Ukraine

The two sides are set to discuss ways to challenge the U.S.-led global order while bolstering Moscow’s economic resilience amid its war in Ukraine.
Patty Ortega, widow of slain Philippine environmental activist and radio host Gerry Ortega, points to old photographs of her late husband at their home in Puerto Princesa in Palawan.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
May 15, 2024

A 13-year fight for justice in Philippine activist's murder

Environmental activist and radio host Gerry Ortega was shot in a clothes shop along a busy road in the Palawan capital of Puerto Princesa in 2011.
Gloomy economic conditions, especially weak consumption, raise questions over whether the Bank of Japan will be able to take further steps toward policy normalization.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 15, 2024

Japan GDP data expected to show contraction for first quarter

The preliminary data is expected to show that spending by consumers and companies fell, while net exports dragged on growth for the first time in a year.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks about new actions to protect American workers and businesses from China's "unfair" trade practices, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
May 15, 2024

Who’s toughest on China? Biden’s tariff tactic ups ante as election looms.

U.S. president is seen to be trying to "outtrump Trump" to appeal to voters who worry about geopolitical competition or hold anti-China sentiments.
Taiwan President-elect Lai Ching-te arrives at the CyberSec 2024 Exhibition in Taipei on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
May 15, 2024

New Taiwan president to set tone for ties with China at inauguration

President-elect Lai Ching-te will have the world's attention when he delivers his inaugural address on Monday.
Former President Donald Trump speaks to reporters alongside Todd Blanche, one of his attorneys, before the day's proceedings in his criminal trial in New York on May 9.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 15, 2024

Cohen on cross: 5 takeaways from Trump’s criminal trial

Prosecutors stated that Cohen would be their final witness, while the defense aims to conclude cross-examination by Thursday.
If OpenAI’s mostly male engineers are trying to build the perfect girlfriend, they are on the right track. If they are trying to build a more reliable AI model, there is still more work to do.
COMMENTARY / World
May 15, 2024

OpenAI's new ChatGPT can flirt. What could go wrong?

What are the social and psychological consequences of regularly speaking to a flirty, fun and ultimately agreeable artificial voice?
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico speaks during a news conference, before a shooting incident where he was wounded, in Handlova, Slovakia, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
May 16, 2024

Shooting of Slovak premier brutally exposes political divide

Robert Fico's attempted assassination underscores not only the nation’s ongoing political tensions but also Europe's polarization.
Tesla's charging network is widely viewed as a signature achievement for the EV maker and a key driver of its sales. Tesla Superchargers account for more than 60% of U.S. high-speed charging ports, federal statistics show.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 16, 2024

The inside story of Elon Musk’s mass firings of Tesla Supercharger staff

Former charging chief met Musk expecting the go-ahead for a massive expansion of the charging network, but ended up getting fired along with her 500-member team.
Vendors protect themselves from the scorching heat and sun by using big shades and umbrellas in the Kalighat Temple area of Kolkata, India. The city is facing multiple extreme heat days this summer and citizens are trying to find ways to cope with the weather.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
May 16, 2024

Heat waves are testing India's ability to protect 1.4 billion people

Attempts to improve resilience to extreme heat have often been ill-conceived.
Akitakata Mayor Shinji Ishimaru speaks during a news conference in this screenshot taken from the city's YouTube channel.
JAPAN / Politics
May 16, 2024

Mayor in Hiroshima Prefecture city to run in Tokyo governor race

"I want to change Japan through changing Tokyo," said Shinji Ishimaru, mayor of the city of Akitakata in Hiroshima Prefecture.
Displaced Palestinians travel in the Al-Mawasi area of the southern Gaza Strip on May 6.
WORLD / Society
May 17, 2024

'Our supplies will not last,' warns doctor at Gaza trauma center

Javed Ali says the situation around the southern city of Rafah is "dire."

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?