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Xu Pengcheng (right), model Mao Yi and Nono walk along a corridor inside an abandoned hotel in Shanghai on May 24.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 6, 2025

China's abandoned buildings draw urban explorers despite risks

Urban exploration is growing in popularity in China, where a yearslong property sector crisis has left many cities dotted with empty buildings.
Former soldier Shuzo Yamada recounts his experience of being detained in Mongolia after World War II, in Nanto, Toyama Prefecture, in May.
JAPAN / History
Jul 6, 2025

Memory of detention in Mongolia still fresh for 107-year-old Japanese man

As they make a state visit to Mongolia, the imperial couple will offer flowers at a memorial for Japanese who were captured and detained in Mongolia after World War II.
White Sox relief pitcher Bobby Jenks throws against the Astros during Game 1 of the World Series on Oct. 22, 2005.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 6, 2025

Former White Sox closer Bobby Jenks dies at 44

Jenks was a flame-throwing reliever who appeared in the 2006 and 2007 All-Star Games and closed out the 2005 World Series for Chicago.
Maria Tyabut shows off the food stored in her new Chinese-made refrigerator while her husband Sergei Duzhikov holds their 8-month-old daughter, Yekaterina, at their apartment in the Moscow suburb of Mytishchi on June 17.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 7, 2025

Sanctions? No big deal, say middle-class Russian couple

They drive a Chinese car, vacation in Venezuela and buy "Camembert" cheese made in Russia.
Smoke billows during an Israeli strike on Gaza on Thursday. U.S.-based Project HOPE said the strike had hit right outside its Altayara health clinic.
WORLD
Jul 11, 2025

Israeli strike kills children near Gaza clinic, with no immediate truce in sight

Repeated attacks by Israeli forces in recent weeks have put an enormous strain on Gaza's few remaining hospitals.
The museum's curators selected a wide array of works from the archives for the milestone exhibitions. Among other photos, Nobuyoshi Araki's work from the series "Winter Journey" (1990) was included in the "Continuity and Change" exhibition that concluded in June.
CULTURE / Art
Jul 11, 2025

Rare vintage shots and first-time shows at TOP’s 30th anniversary

The 2025 schedule includes two exhibitions showcasing the museum’s permanent collection and three solo shows that focus on the work of Takano Ryudai, Luigi Ghirri and Pedro Costa.
Hiroe Kawashimo enjoys regular walks in the city of Hiroshima.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Jul 28, 2025

Woman with disabilities from atomic bombing recalls mother's dedication

The daughter of a woman exposed to radiation from the Hiroshima atomic bombing has been frail since childhood and constantly in and out of hospitals.
One of Leonard Foujita’s biggest muses was himself. He painted self-portraits, often with a cat on his side, looking back at the viewer. He posed for photographers throughout his life, the displayed photos showing he retained his signature bowl cut and round glasses.
CULTURE / Art
Jul 18, 2025

The self as a muse: Leonard Foujita's world in paintings and photos

“Foujita: Painting and Photography” at Tokyo Station Gallery is being billed as the first exploration of the artist as a photographer and has been a decade in the making.
Daria Slavytska takes shelter inside a metro station with her 2-year-old son Emil during a Russian missile and drone strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, on July 9.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 19, 2025

Sleepless in Kyiv: How Ukraine's capital copes with Russia's nighttime attacks

Russia's offensive is straining Kyiv's air defenses and has its 3.7 million residents exhausted and on edge.
Women and children arrange their containers as they line up at a standpipe, where incomplete water connections caused by USAID funding cuts to the NGO Mercy Corps have led to ongoing water shortages, in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, on June 16.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 20, 2025

Trump's funding cut stalls water projects, increasing risks for millions

The White House's decision to slash nearly all U.S. foreign aid projects has created new hazards for some of the people they were designed to benefit.
Modern global politics, marked by personal rivalries, nickname-driven rhetoric and apocalyptic religious fervor, resembles a “re-medievalization” that challenges the ideals of the Enlightenment.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 21, 2025

The Middle Ages are making a political comeback

Increasingly medieval language from the world’s leaders does not bode well for the rest of us.
A demonstrator holds the Mohawk Warrior Flag during a protest in front of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario against the federal government’s Bill C-5, as members of the Canadian Armed Forces fire cannons in the background during a celebration marking Canada Day in Toronto on July 1.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 21, 2025

Indigenous people in Canada challenge fast-track mine and energy projects

The tensions between the government and Indigenous communities reflect longstanding concerns over consultation and the environmental impact of mining projects in Canada.
Ayaka Ohira (center) celebrates the launch of “Shinsei Galverse” with interpreter Himari Lala Shimizu and executive producer Jack Baldwin.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jul 24, 2025

Ayaka Ohira: ‘Being outside of the traditional path gave me more freedom’

Anime director Ayaka Ohira talks about her newly launched ‘Shinsei Galverse’ series and how she navigates the industry as a self-taught female artist.
A preview of the "Yokai Immersive Experience Exhibition" on Friday in the city of Nagoya
JAPAN
Jul 22, 2025

Get your summer chills in at yōkai exhibition in Nagoya

The main attraction of the exhibition is a room themed on a wild dance of such supernatural creatures, with moving images of them filling the room's walls, ceiling and floor.
Neacher Nazia Hussain (left) holds her child whilst teaching a class at a government school at Rajanpur district in southwestern Punjab province.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jul 22, 2025

Without papers: Ghost lives of millions of Pakistanis

Pakistan launched biometric identification cards in 2000 and registration is increasingly required in all aspects of formal life, especially in cities.
Ozzy Osbourne performs with Black Sabbath as part of "The End" tour at Madison Square Garden in New York in 2016.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Jul 23, 2025

Heavy metal icon Ozzy Osbourne dead at 76

Ozzy Osbourne, the legendary frontman of heavy metal group Black Sabbath, died just weeks after he had played a farewell concert.
London’s worsening disorder — from soaring petty crime to reckless delivery riders and rising drug use — reflects a decades-old pattern of authorities and citizens normalizing lawlessness.
COMMENTARY
Jul 23, 2025

What turning a blind eye to deviant behavior is doing to London

The city’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, needs to take growing disorder on the streets more seriously.
Asuna Yanagi (right, with Misa Tsugawa) plays a high-school student who gets hooked on classic cinema in “Rainy Blue,” a coming-of-age tale that she also wrote, edited and directed.
CULTURE / Film
Jul 24, 2025

‘Rainy Blue’: Behind-the-scenes drama tarnishes an intriguing debut

Made while she was still a teen, Asuna Yanagi’s coming-of-age tale blurs the lines between life, fiction and cinephile obsession.
English forward Marcus Rashford during his introductory news conference after he joined Barcelona on loan from Manchester United on Wednesday.
SOCCER
Jul 24, 2025

'It feels like home': Rashford joins Barcelona on loan from Manchester United

Meanwhile, Barcelona canceled a preseason friendly against Vissel Kobe on Wednesday, citing "serious contractual breaches" by the tour promoter.
Cubs Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg throws out a ceremonial first pitch before the game between the Cubs and the Mets at Wrigley Field on June 23, 2024.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 29, 2025

Legendary Cubs second baseman Ryne Sandberg dies at 65

Longtime Cubs teammate Mark Grace said "When you examine the offense and defense, you'll find some years where he was the best player you've ever seen in your life."
Palestinians carry aid supplies that entered Gaza through Israel, in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 31, 2025

Israeli rights groups break taboo with accusations of genocide

The charge of genocide is deeply sensitive in Israel because of its origins in the work of Jewish legal scholars in the wake of the Nazi Holocaust.
Germany's Laura Dahlmeier died after a mountaineering accident in Pakistan, her management team said Wednesday.
OLYMPICS
Jul 31, 2025

German Olympic champion Laura Dahlmeier dies after mountaineering accident

The accident occurred around noon on Monday, at an altitude of approximately 5,700 meters at Laila Peak, the Alpine Club of Pakistan said on Tuesday.
A pair of Japanese soldiers (Shinichi Tsutsumi, left, and Yuki Yamada, right) stay up a tree rather than standing down after the end of World War II in “Army on the Tree.”
CULTURE / Film
Jul 31, 2025

'Army on the Tree': World War II film leans into absurdist theater

Among the films that commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II this year, Kazuhiro Taira’s film adapted from a play stands out for its lack of iffy politics.
Hiroyuki Goto, president of GTN. The company started after Goto personally co-signed leases for around 20 non-Japanese people, including some friends and friends of friends.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 31, 2025

GTN takes a chance on newcomers to Japan

People said GTN President Hiroyuki Goto was "a bit crazy" guaranteeing leases for foreign residents.
The Bishu Maru LNG tanker, owned by Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, next to the Freeport LNG terminal in Texas
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Aug 3, 2025

How Trump is gaslighting on climate change — with Japan’s help

As the U.S. president ramps up high-polluting LNG projects, Japan is among the nations he's pressuring for investments. The economic case for the push, however, is far from clear.
Palestinians hold out pots and pans to collect free food from a charity kitchen in Gaza, the Gaza Strip, on Monday.
WORLD
Aug 5, 2025

More Gazans die seeking aid and from hunger, with burial shrouds in short supply

The United Nations says more than 1,000 people have been killed trying to receive aid in the enclave since the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began operating in May 2025.
Nyjah Huston of the United States competes in the men’s street finals during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games on July 29, 2024.
OLYMPICS / Skateboarding
Aug 5, 2025

Nyjah Huston targets Olympic skateboarding gold at LA28

Inspired by Los Angeles skateboarding videos, Huston moved to Southern California at 15 and remains deeply connected to the region.
Italy skip Stefania Constantini in action during a match against South Korea at the Women's Curling Championship in Sandviken, Sweden on March 19, 2023
OLYMPICS / Curling
Aug 6, 2025

Curling champion Constantini set to throw rocks at 'special' hometown Games

Constantini will be a defending champion at next year's Games after teaming up with Amos Mosaner to secure Italy's first curling medal in Beijing.
Otake <i>oyakata</i> and his wrestlers at Otake stable in April 2018
SUMO / Inside Sumo
Aug 6, 2025

Fresh start for stable founded by legendary yokozuna Taiho

In a historically significant move, the Otake sumo stable will be taken over by someone without a direct connection to its founder.
A chicken stands in a garbage dump filled with plastic in Rodriguez, Rizal province, the Philippines, on Nov. 28, 2024.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Aug 7, 2025

Trump administration memo urges countries to reject plastic production caps

The U.S. stance broadly aligns with the positions laid out by the global petrochemicals industry.

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