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Referee Tom Foley reacts during a Premiership Rugby game in September 2021. Foley has said that he will step away from international match officiating for the foreseeable future due to online abuse.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Dec 5, 2023

Top referee Foley stands down from international rugby over abuse

Tom Foley has previously reported receiving death threats to himself and his family in the wake of this year's Rugby World Cup final.
Tiger Woods on the 18th green during the second round of the Masters in Augusta, Georgia, on April 8.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
Dec 5, 2023

Tiger Woods vaults 430 spots, drawing scrutiny to world rankings

Woods, who was making his first start since withdrawing from the Masters in April, had fallen to a career-low 1,328th in the OWGR by last week.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni
WORLD / Politics
Dec 7, 2023

Italy withdraws from China's Belt and Road initiative

The long-expected decision was quietly communicated to Beijing three days ago without any official announcement.
Parents take their children for infusion treatment at a hospital in Shenyang, Liaoning province, on Friday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 12, 2023

China’s battle with child pneumonia shows risks of drug resistance

In China nearly 80% of child cases of mycoplasma pneumoniae are resistant to macrolides, compared with under 10% elsewhere.
Eddie Jones at a news conference after being named as Japan rugby head coach in Tokyo on Thursday
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Dec 14, 2023

No guilt for Eddie Jones after taking Japan job

Jones quit his native Australia after leading them to a dismal showing at the Rugby World Cup.
A man walks past a pollution pod designed to mimic the air quality in New Delhi, during the COP28 summit in Dubai, on Dec 4.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 15, 2023

How the world agreed to move away from fossil fuels at COP28

This year's climate conference marked the first time in history countries expressed a unified desire to end the oil age.
Narendra Modi, India's prime minister, speaks during a news conference ahead of the winter session of Parliament in New Delhi on Dec. 4.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 19, 2023

Five elections in 2024 that will shape the global order

With half the world heading to the polls in 2024, and some 30 countries electing a president, here are five key elections to watch.
Saeed Al-Shorbaji, the supervisor of Nasser hospital's morgue, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip in November. He was killed in an Israeli airstrike in early December.
WORLD / Society
Dec 22, 2023

As Gaza death toll hits 20,000, many fear the true count is higher

Only bodies identified or claimed by relatives are included in the official figures, and thousands more are believed to be buried beneath the rubble.
Well-wishers light candles as people mourn the lives lost in Thursday's mass shooting, outside Charles University in Prague on Friday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Dec 23, 2023

After Czech mass shooting, shock, grief and a focus on guns

As police Friday scrutinized online threats of copycat attacks, students at Charles University proposed a simple way to prevent any recurrence: ban guns.
A designer at work at Vietnamese internet firm VNG in Ho Chi Minh City
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 24, 2023

'Beyond our borders': Vietnam tech firm VNG takes on world best

Beyond gaming, VNG also dabbles in fintech and AI, with a mission to show the world what Vietnam and its engineers are capable of.
Palestinians wait to collect food at a donation point in a refugee camp in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 25, 2023

U.S. sees new isolation from Israel support

Gaza suffering raises ire against Washington, which is juggling backing for ally with behind-the-scenes pressure to better protect civilians.
Jargal Lhagvasuren practicing an aerial routine at the Mongolian Circus School in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on May 18. Contortionists and acrobats with celestial skills train in squalid conditions as the promise of a former sumo wrestler to restore the national circus to its past glory has gone mostly unfulfilled.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 26, 2023

Mongolians are circus stars all over the world, except at home

The promise to return state circus in Ulaanbaatar to its former glory remains unfulfilled, forcing trained performers abroad.
BYD exhibits its cars ahead of the Munich Motor Show in September.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 27, 2023

China's BYD set to overtake Tesla as world’s most popular EV maker

Its ascent will be both a symbolic turning point for the market and further confirmation of the growing Chinese clout in the global automotive sector.
An Afghan woman holds her newborn child at a maternity hospital in Khost, Afghanistan. According to the latest World Health Organization figures, from 2017, 638 women die in Afghanistan for every 100,000 viable births, compared with 19 in the United States.
WORLD / Society
Dec 28, 2023

For women in Afghanistan, every birth carries heavy risks

Afghanistan is among the worst countries in the world for deaths in childbirth, "with one woman dying every two hours," according to the U.N.
From movies, anime, manga and even to sports stars, 2023 was a year where global audiences demonstrated their increasing fondness for Japanese soft power.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 27, 2023

From Godzilla to Shohei: Japan's soft power had a big year

Little by little, Japan is getting better at pitching its copious wares overseas, and 2023 proved that.
Among the issues that defined 2023 were the U.S. economy's "soft landing," the war in Ukraine, Hamas's terrorist attack and explosive advances in AI.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 29, 2023

The most important developments of 2023

The year reminds us that the world is in desperate need of new leaders who are both competent and inspiring.
The Olympics Aquatics Centre under construction in Saint-Denis, near Paris, on Thursday
SPORTS
Dec 31, 2023

All roads lead to Paris in 2024 in world of sports

The first post-COVID Olympic Games loom large on the horizon, but the two-week extravaganza will merely be the centerpiece for another 12 months of compelling theater.
Queen Margrethe II of Denmark waves to onlookers on Sept. 1, 2023. Europe's longest-serving monarch said on Sunday that she would abdicate on Jan. 14 and pass the baton to her son Crown Prince Frederik.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 2, 2024

From Edward VIII to Emperor Akihito: Famous abdications

From love to failing health, people have relinquished the throne for a variety of reasons.
Carbon capture could help mitigate emissions at polluting power plants, but with the technology largely unproven at scale, it also risks extending their lives.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jan 5, 2024

The world’s next big carbon capture challenge? Figuring out how to use it

Fossil fuel industry's involvement raises fears that the technology might be used to prolong oil and gas extraction, while costs and scalability could limit its utility.
French skipper Armel Le Cleac'h sails his Banque Populaire Ultim multihull (foreground) after the start of the Arkea Ultim Challenge, a solo round-the-world race on a multihull, off the coast of Brest on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS
Jan 8, 2024

Around the world in 50 days? Six sailors in 'biggest challenge'

Under bright winter sunshine in the Brittany port of Brest, the first such race on superpowerful but relatively fragile trimarans got underway.
A Taiwan Air Force Mirage 2000-5 aircraft prepares to land in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on Jan. 2. In the event of a conflict with China, Taiwan would face a military that rivals that of the U.S.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 9, 2024

Xi, Biden and the $10 trillion cost of war over Taiwan

The price tag — equivalent to about 10% of global GDP — dwarfs the blow from the war in Ukraine, COVID-19 pandemic and 2007-2008 Global Financial Crisis.
Snow covers an exhibit of destroyed Russian military equipment and vehicles in Kyiv on Nov. 22. February will mark the second anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 11, 2024

White House throws support behind bill to seize frozen Russian assets

Legislation would allow the confiscation of funds frozen as a result of the Russo-Ukrainian war for use to pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine.
A Royal Air Force Typhoon aircraft takes off to join the U.S.-led coalition to conduct airstrikes against military targets in Yemen on Friday.
WORLD
Jan 12, 2024

U.S. and U.K. airstrikes pound Yemen as Mideast conflict spreads

Houthi rebels have carried out a growing number of attacks on what they deem to be Israel-linked shipping in the Red Sea.
Climate activists install a portrait of French President Emmanuel Macron at Trocadero Square in front of the Eiffel tower to mark the fifth anniversary of the 2015 United Nations Paris Agreement, in December 2020.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 12, 2024

We need to remain true to the pillars of green wisdom

While the Group of Seven countries bear the greatest CO2 responsibility, China, which is now the second-largest emitter in history, must be fully committed, too.
Qatar players celebrate after defeating Lebanon in the opening match of the Asian Cup on Friday in Lusail, Qatar.
SOCCER
Jan 13, 2024

Qatar puts World Cup heartache behind it to win Asian Cup opener

The hosts beat Lebanon 3-0 at the 88,000-capacity Lusail Stadium, where a Lionel Messi-inspired Argentina beat France on penalties in the World Cup final 13 months ago.
John Kerry at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, in 2021. Kerry, U.S. President Joe Biden's special envoy for climate, plans to step down from the Biden administration.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 14, 2024

John Kerry to step down as Biden’s climate envoy

Kerry, 80, plans to transition out of the U.S. government and help the re-election campaign of U.S. President Joe Biden, a report said.
U.S. President Joe Biden and his South Korean counterpart, Yoon Suk-yeol, visit a Samsung semiconductor factory in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, in May 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 14, 2024

South Korea's economic strategy amid the U.S.-China rivalry

If the world is to avoid incurring increasingly high costs from fragmentation, the U.S. and China must learn how to coexist and engage in fair competition.
The Houthis benefit Iran because they command a large country with plenty of remote locations to fire missiles from and are in close proximity to some of the world’s main energy sources.
COMMENTARY
Jan 14, 2024

The Houthis are now Iran’s most potent proxy

For the wider world, responding to the growing Houthi menace will require much more than naval flotillas to the Red Sea.
A vehicle carrying Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang arrives during an official visit in Kehrsatz, near Bern, in Switzerland, on Monday. Li is visiting Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 16, 2024

China set to woo global elites with large delegation at Davos forum

Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang will make a special address on Tuesday, and will be the most senior Chinese official to attend Davos since President Xi Jinping in 2017.
Li Qiang at the World Economic Forum on Tuesday
WORLD / Politics
Jan 17, 2024

In Davos, Chinese premier takes aim at trade 'barriers'

Li's remarks came as the World Economic Forum's 54th annual conference is preoccupied with a slew of global risks, including wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji