Search - health

 
 
Palestinians seeking aid gather near an aid distribution site run by the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday.
WORLD
May 28, 2025

Palestinians rush U.S.-backed aid center despite concerns over checks

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said at one point the number of people seeking aid was so great that its team had to pull back to avoid casualties.
Displaced Palestinians carry bags of food aid after storming a World Food Program warehouse in the central Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
WORLD
May 29, 2025

Deadly break-in at U.N. warehouse as aid trickles into Gaza

The World Food Program appealed for an immediate scale-up of food aid "to reassure people that they will not starve."
American Robert Jefferson runs a YouTube channel called The Kamakura Gardener that invites viewers to enjoy the pleasures of gardening, cooking and slow living.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jun 2, 2025

‘A garden is a grand teacher’: The Kamakura Gardener nurtures via YouTube

Veteran broadcaster Robert Jefferson has built up a following through his comforting video content about gardening, cooking and living in Kamakura.
Displaced Palestinians return from a food distribution center in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Sunday.
WORLD
Jun 2, 2025

Israel denies Gaza ministry claim soldiers killed more than 30 aid seekers

Israel's military said that an initial inquiry found soldiers had not fired on civilians while they were near or within the distribution site.
People watch the sunset in Ronda, southern Spain, on Thursday as the country faces its first heatwave of the season.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jun 2, 2025

Half the world has faced an extra month of extreme heat, study finds

The island of Aruba was the worst affected, recording 187 extreme heat days in a one-year period — 45 more than expected in a world without climate change.
Since moving to Tokyo from New York City in 2014, Hiraku Morilla has been promoting Keith Haring’s legacy in his professional life and advocating for the LGBTQ+ community.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jun 6, 2025

Hiraku Morilla: ‘Pride means respect for those who walked so we could run’

The New York-raised director of the Nakamura Keith Haring Collection reflects on his queer, multiracial identity and LGBTQ+ rights in Japan.
The total number of births dropped to about 686,000, marking the first time the figure has fallen below 700,000, according to a health ministry release on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jun 4, 2025

Japan’s fertility rate hits record low despite government push

The new low underscores the immense challenge facing the government as it attempts to reverse the trend in one of the world’s most aged societies.
A demonstrator holds a placard during a protest in front of the Israeli embassy in Athens on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 10, 2025

Israeli forces seize Gaza-bound aid boat carrying Greta Thunberg

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he had instructed that the activists be shown videos of atrocities committed during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel.
People carry relief supplies from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private U.S.-backed aid group that has bypassed the longstanding U.N.-led system in the territory, as displaced Palestinians return from an aid distribution center in the central Gaza Strip on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 10, 2025

Palestinians' dangerous ordeal to reach Israeli-approved aid

Gunfire and a desperate crowd of hungry people make reaching aid points a life-threatening ordeal that may ultimately be an exercise in futility.
Seeking access to pricier and more demanding foreign markets for its beef, Brazil's Amazonian state of Para has seized on the global spotlight of the U.N. COP 30 summit to burnish its environmental credentials.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jun 11, 2025

Why Brazil’s ‘King of Cattle’ is embracing a plan to save the Amazon

The rancher has his eyes on exporting to pricier and more demanding markets in the United States, Europe and Asia.
SMBC Nikko Securities has already introduced a family trust system under which relatives can act as agents for older customers for their investments.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jun 12, 2025

New securities system enables those with dementia to invest with family's help

Under the system, investors can designate trusted family members as their agents while they are still mentally capable.
In an annual gender gap report, Japan recorded its strongest gains in economic participation, where its score climbed to 61.3% from 56.8% in 2024.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 12, 2025

Japan ranks 118th out of 148 countries in gender gap report

Japan's gender parity ranking was unchanged from a year ago and is still the lowest among Group of Seven countries.
A Japanese actress known for voicing Hello Kitty sparked national debate with an anti-immigration blog post, highlighting rising tensions over Japan’s growing foreign population and the government's slow response to related concerns.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 12, 2025

Cultural anxiety and Japan's immigration pains

Japan must address legitimate public worries without inflaming xenophobia — or risk populist backlash.
Research showed that amounts of tau protein accumulation, a factor leading to dementia, were larger among people diagnosed at age 40 or more with mood disorders compared with healthy individuals of the same age group.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 13, 2025

Middle- to old-age depression may be tied to dementia

A study has found that abnormal tau protein causing dementia accumulates in the brains of middle- to old-age patients with mood disorders, such as depression, at a higher rate.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's Cabinet has approved this year's <i>honebuto no hōshin</i>, a document that sets economic and fiscal management guidelines for the government.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 13, 2025

Wage growth a focus of this year's honebuto no hōshin

The government's guidelines for economic and fiscal management outline the target of raising the average minimum hourly wage to ¥1,500 by 2030.
While leaders, researchers and activists at the third United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice, France, took steps to tackle overfishing and pollution threatening delicate ecosystems and the people who depend on them, getting countries to agree to better governance has been challenging.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jun 17, 2025

Investors want clear ocean management rules to scale up funding

The lack of a clear governing framework and robust ocean-related data has stymied private sector finance to date.
Israeli military vehicles maneuver in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, on Tuesday.
WORLD
Jun 18, 2025

Israeli tanks kill 59 people in Gaza crowd trying to get food aid, medics say

Palestinian medics said at least 59 people were killed and 221 wounded in the incident, at least 20 of them in critical condition.
Japan Post President Tetsuya Senda speaks during a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jun 18, 2025

Japan Post to accept loss of truck transport business permit

The transport ministry is expected to revoke the permit by the end of this month at the earliest.
The Tokyo District Court has issued an order to the government to pay ¥1.2 million ($8,300) in damages to two overstayers who got sick while they were held at a detention center.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 18, 2025

Government ordered to compensate overstayers who got sick in detention

The Tokyo District Court held the government responsible over the deterioration of health of the two men — one Iranian, the other Turkish — at an immigration detention facility.
Palestinians carry sacks of flour collected from an aid distribution point in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, on Tuesday.
WORLD
Jun 20, 2025

As death toll rises, Gazans make life-risking journeys to seek food

Like thousands of other Palestinians in Gaza, Hind Al-Nawajha makes a long, dangerous journey every day to try to get food for her family, hoping she makes it back alive.
A missile launched from Iran is intercepted by Israeli defenses on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 21, 2025

Israel says it killed veteran Iran commander as both sides attack

Saeed Izadi, who led the Palestine Corps of the Quds Force, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' overseas arm, was killed in a strike.
People and rescuers inspect the damage at the site of a reported suicide attack at the Saint Elias church in Damascus on Sunday.
WORLD
Jun 23, 2025

Twenty killed in suicide bombing at Damascus church

It was the first suicide bombing in Damascus since Bashar Assad was toppled by an Islamist-led rebel insurgency in December.
Killer whales have been caught on video breaking off pieces of seaweed and using them to rub and groom each other, scientists announced on Monday, saying it is the first evidence of cetacean tool manufacturing.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 25, 2025

Killer whales use seaweed as tools to groom each other

The researchers hypothesize that the behavior promotes skin health while strengthening social bonds.
The serpentine coastline of Funafuti Atoll, home to nearly half of Tuvalu's entire population of 11,500, on Feb. 19, 2004.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 26, 2025

Nearly one-third of Tuvalu citizens seek to live in Australia on climate visa

The visa program has been hailed as a landmark response to the looming challenge of climate-forced migration.
Chef Hideaki Matsuo (middle) and the staff of Oseto Suisan Fisheries prepare to check on their sustainably farmed fish.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 29, 2025

With farmed fish, RelationFish swims against the tide in fine dining

Want to be an advocate of Japan’s marine health? Look out for sustainably farmed fish the next time you dine at a restaurant.
A tourist holding an umbrella to protect himself from the sun walks at Trocadero square next to the Eiffel Tower as an early summer heat wave hits Paris on Tuesday.
WORLD
Jul 1, 2025

France shuts schools as heat wave grips Europe

The Mediterranean Sea was up to 6 degrees Celsius warmer than usual for the time of year.
Palestinians inspect the damage at a school sheltering displaced people, following an overnight Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, on Thursday.
WORLD
Jul 4, 2025

Hamas seeks ceasefire guarantees as scores more are killed in Gaza

Israeli officials said prospects for reaching a ceasefire and hostage deal appeared high, nearly 21 months since the war between Israel and Hamas began.
The U.S. Capitol in Washington. U.S. President Donald Trump’s tax bill largely benefits business investors and wealthy Americans.
WORLD / Politics / EXPLAINER
Jul 4, 2025

Who won and lost in Trump’s tax bill

Those hit the hardest by the sweeping package include elite universities and immigrants.
U.S. President Donald Trump displays the signed bill during a ceremony for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act at the White House on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 5, 2025

Trump signs 'big, beautiful' bill on U.S. Independence Day

"America is winning, winning, winning like never before," Trump said at the event where he signed the bill flanked by Republican lawmakers.
Speculation about Xi Jinping losing his grip on power misreads China’s digital authoritarianism, which uses algorithmic control and emotional scripting to absorb dissent and reinforce the Chinese Communist Party’s power in the information age.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 10, 2025

Online dissent in China doesn’t mean Xi is on his way out

Don’t be fooled by viral posts. The CCP allows and even encourages certain forms of online dissent — all part of its digital authoritarianism.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past