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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Itamar Ben Gvir shake hands as the government approves Netanyahu's proposal to reappoint Ben Gvir as minister of National Security on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 20, 2025

Netanyahu tightens grip on divided Israel with return to war

Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Tel Aviv on Tuesday evening, with more demonstrations in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
Supporters of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu gather near the city's police headquarters on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 20, 2025

Turkey's opposition dubs Istanbul mayor's detention a 'coup'

Popular two-term Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, the main rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is being held on charges of corruption and aiding a terrorist group.
A worker arranges cases of avocados at a packaging facility in Mexico on Tuesday. U.S. President Donald Trump has said he will follow through next month on twice-delayed plans to impose 25% levies on goods from Mexico as well as Canada.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 21, 2025

Trump trade upheaval leaves foreign central banks guessing

The stagflationary direction noted of the U.S. outlook has central banks across the globe parsing what the fallout may mean for them.
Natsue Kondo (left) assumes the post of the Maritime Self-Defense Force's vice admiral commanding the MSDF's Ominato District, based in Mutsu, Aomori Prefecture, in December 2023.
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2025

Natsue Kondo: The female vice admiral who broke the glass ceiling at Japan's SDF

The MSDF vice admiral remains the only female SDF officer holding any of the top ranks.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (left) and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are scheduled to meet in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 21, 2025

Japan and Brazil eye mutual visits by leaders every two years

The plan is expected to be adopted during a summit between Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who visits Japan next week.
AMKK’s latest exhibition, “X-Ray Flowers,” is the culmination of seven years of work aided by CT technologists, who help with the highly specialized imaging techniques.
CULTURE / Art
Mar 21, 2025

Avant-garde botanists AMKK illuminate the inner worlds of flowers

The punk florists' latest exhibition immerses visitors in darkness, bathed only in the glow of X-rays and CT scans of plants and flowers.
Former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi presents his report on the future of European competitiveness to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, in September.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 21, 2025

Europe’s risk aversion comes with consequences

While Europe's culture is more risk-averse, deregulation could spur growth if it adapts to new technologies like AI, balancing risk and reward for a changing economy.
An elderly man walks past rubble in Gaza City on Saturday.
WORLD
Mar 23, 2025

Israeli airstrike reportedly kills Hamas political leader in southern Gaza

Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said Israel's main aim is to destroy Hamas as a military and governing entity.
Children play with trading cards featuring "local heroes" created by a local community council in the Saidosho district of Kawara, Fukuoka Prefecture, in January.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Apr 7, 2025

'Local hero' trading cards nudge children toward community activities

The cards, which feature real people, are helping to break the ice between children and adults in Kawara, Fukuoka Prefecture.
Morinari Watanabe speaks during a news conference in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Jan. 30.
OLYMPICS
Mar 25, 2025

Watanabe stresses significance of his IOC presidency bid

Watanabe, who became the first Japanese to seek the top IOC post, earned only four of the 97 valid votes in the election last week.
Salvadoran police officers escort alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua recently deported by the U.S. government to be imprisoned in the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) prison, as part of an agreement with the Salvadoran government, in Tecoluca, El Salvador, in this handout image obtained March 16.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Mar 25, 2025

Nazis were treated better than Venezuelans deported by Trump, judge says

The case regarding the deportation of Venezuelans has emerged as a major test of Trump's sweeping assertion of executive power.
A protestor waves a Turkish flag in front of riot police during a rally in Istanbul in support of its arrested mayor on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 26, 2025

Turkey protesters fill streets, defying crackdown

The demonstrations erupted after the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu, the main political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to be using U.S. President Donald Trump's desire to present himself as a strong dealmaker against him, some European officials said.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 27, 2025

Putin’s tactics are pushing Trump toward tough choice on Ukraine

Moscow seems intent on prolonging discussions and keeping the scope of talks narrow to pressure Washington into giving ground.
A member of a medical team takes a patient's blood pressure during an HIV clinic day in Kampala, Uganda, on Feb. 17.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 27, 2025

Trump’s foreign aid retreat guts funding for HIV treatments

The withdrawal is risking lives globally and threatening to unravel decades of progress made toward ending AIDS as a public health threat.
Hisashi Hieda, a 41-year veteran of Fuji TV’s board of directors and dubbed the broadcaster’s “emperor,” has stepped down.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 27, 2025

In the wake of several scandals, Fuji TV ‘emperor’ Hieda steps down

Hieda, a 41-year veteran of Fuji TV’s board of directors, also plans to step down as chairman of the Fujisankei Communications Group, of which the broadcaster's parent is a part.
There is concern about a severe decline in democracy in Asia, with many former success stories now backsliding.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 27, 2025

An Asian democracy collapse amid the new world order

By the monitoring organization Freedom House's calculations, for 19 years, democracy has eroded around the world.
Kazuki Morohashi showcases rice "kōji" at a Japanese sake fair held in Chongqing, China, in November.
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2025

Data science helps sake break into wine-dominated market

To preserve the environment for sake production, some breweries are endeavoring to expand their sales channels overseas.
How Fuji TV responds to the results of a third-party probe will be crucial to restoring public trust — and could determine whether sponsors, whose TV ads are the company's main source of revenue, choose to return.
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2025

Fuji TV returns to spotlight as deadline for scandal probe looms

How Fuji TV responds to the report will be crucial to restoring public trust — and could determine whether sponsors choose to return.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance tours the U.S. military's Pituffik Space Base in Greenland on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 29, 2025

Vance accuses Denmark of not keeping Greenland safe from Russia and China

He suggested the territory would come to see the benefit of partnering with the U.S., in remarks the Danish prime minister called unfair.
The World Health Organization's headquarters in Geneva. The WHO is facing an income gap of nearly $600 million in 2025 and has "no choice" but to start making cutbacks, the organization's chief wrote in an internal email.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 30, 2025

WHO must cut budget by a fifth after U.S. pullout

The WHO is facing an income gap of nearly $600 million in 2025 and has "no choice" but to start making cutbacks.
Both houses of the U.S. Congress have effectively become a subordinate branch of government, ceding power to the executive, especially when the president's party also controls Capitol Hill.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 27, 2025

U.S. Congress began ceding power to presidents long before Trump

Since the turn of the century, Congress has increasingly functioned as a quasi-parliament rather than as an independent branch of government
A man stands near the remains of a building destroyed in a strong earthquake, in Amarapura, Myanmar, on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 1, 2025

U.S. aid response in Myanmar faces hurdles after staff cuts

Response hobbled by the huge fund cuts, contractor terminations and plans to fire nearly all USAID staff, source says.
A worker cuts Inada granite, which is used in various buildings in Tokyo.
ESG CONSORTIUM
Apr 1, 2025

Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones

In 2024, the Tsukuba massif granite of the Mt. Tsukuba Area Geopark was certified by the International Union of Geological Sciences as one of the first 55 IUGS Heritage Stones, which have been “used in significant architecture and monuments” and “recognized as integral aspects of human culture.”...
Lawyer Akira Takeuchi (center), the head of a third-party panel commissioned by Fuji TV to investigate a series of scandals at the broadcaster, fields questions along with other panel members at a news conference on Monday in Tokyo's Minato Ward.
JAPAN / Media / FOCUS
Apr 1, 2025

What the Fuji TV third-party probe uncovered

The panel concluded that TV personality Masahiro Nakai committed "sexual violence" against a female newscaster and that there is a culture of harassment at the broadcaster.
Asian countries can counter Donald Trump’s protectionism by deepening regional trade, financial cooperation and strategic alliances to reduce U.S. dependence.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 1, 2025

Asia must unite to survive Trump 2.0

Asian countries can counter Donald Trump’s protectionism by deepening regional trade, financial cooperation and strategic alliances to reduce U.S. dependence.
U.S. Health and Human Services employee Julie Siegel stands outside the Mary E. Switzer Memorial Building on Tuesday as she is denied access and her badge taken away as U.S. President Donald Trump's administration reportedly begins mass layoffs of 10,000 staffers at U.S. health agencies.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 2, 2025

Trump begins mass layoffs at FDA, CDC and other U.S. health agencies

The job cuts are part of a broad plan by the U.S. president and billionaire ally Elon Musk to shrink the federal government and slash spending.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is planning an executive order that would ease rules governing exports of military equipment, sources have said.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 2, 2025

Trump preparing executive order to increase weapons exports, sources say

An executive order could increase sales for big U.S. defense contractors like Lockheed Martin, RTX Corp. and Boeing.
Japanese cars awaiting export at a port in Yokohama. The United States will start collecting new 25% import duties on cars and car parts from Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Apr 2, 2025

Japan has some cards to play in trade war with the United States 

It could offer voluntary restraints on exports, or it could offer to buy more from the U.S. in order to reduce the trade surplus with that country.
Hyogo police believe the handgun a U.S. tourist inadvertently brought into Japan slipped through security procedures at Kansai International Airport in Osaka Prefecture.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 2, 2025

U.S. tourist arrested after bringing a handgun into Japan

The man has said the gun was for self-defense and that he had packed the firearm by mistake.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte holds a news conference in Brussels on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 3, 2025

At summit, NATO eyes growing industrial collaboration with Asian partners

The summit comes as the military alliance seeks to step up ties with its Indo-Pacific partners.

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