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An Israeli Merkava tank on Thursday
WORLD / Politics
Dec 9, 2023

White House presses Congress to OK tank shells for Israel

The request is being made even as concerns grow about the use of U.S. weapons in a war that has killed thousands of civilians.
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2023

Japan to calculate 'blue carbon' amount in emissions cut

Japan aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 46% in fiscal 2030 from the fiscal 2013 level and reduce them to virtually zero by 2050.
A wheat farm outside Scott City, Kansas
BUSINESS
Dec 10, 2023

U.S. raises wheat-export forecast with China buying most in decade

American shipments of the soft red winter wheat variety will rise to the biggest in a decade, reflecting "several large recent export sales” to China.
Justinas Stankus, 38, who came to Canada from Lithuania in 2019 and is studying at the University of Toronto, walks his dog in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
WORLD / Society
Dec 11, 2023

Canada's surging cost of living fuels reverse immigration

The rate of immigrants leaving Canada hit a two-decade high in 2019
Trucks line up in a queue to cross the Polish-Ukrainian border at the Dorohusk-Jagodzin crossing, in Brzezno, Poland, on Dec. 4.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 11, 2023

Front-line troops in Ukraine feel bite of Polish truckers’ protest

A monthslong border blockade by Polish truckers is starting to have an effect on Ukrainian soldiers.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese over the weekend said Australia's migration numbers needed to be wound back to a "sustainable level," adding that "the system is broken."
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Dec 11, 2023

Australia plans to halve migrant intake and tighten student visas

The decision follows a record expected peak in net immigration for 2022-23.
Split over the leadership of Sam Altman, board members and executives at OpenAI turned on one another. Their brawl exposed the cracks at the heart of the artificial intelligence movement.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 11, 2023

Inside OpenAI’s crisis over the future of artificial intelligence

From the moment it was created in 2015, OpenAI was primed to combust.
Central Dublin, near where recent protests and riots took place. The uproar came after a stabbing attack left three young children and two adults injured.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 11, 2023

Dublin’s riot was not a surprise to those who watch the far right

The disorder on Nov. 23 may have appeared to come from nowhere. But experts say it showed deep social problems and an emboldened anti-immigrant movement.
U.S. President Joe Biden with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington on Sept. 21.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 11, 2023

Zelenskyy to meet Biden and Republicans as war funding dries up

The funding row underscores signs that support for Ukraine is fraying just as Kyiv's counteroffensive falters and Putin's forces push for new gains.
A China Coast Guard vessel uses a water cannon against a Philippine supply boat as it carries out a mission to deliver provisions to the Second Thomas Shoal in the disputed South China Sea on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 11, 2023

Manila summons Chinese envoy after tense weekend in South China Sea

The moves came after the Philippines said one of its vessels was rammed and others "directly targeted” by a China Coast Guard ship with a water cannon.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 11, 2023

U.N. General Assembly to meet Tuesday on ongoing Gaza conflict

On Friday the United States vetoed a cease-fire resolution proposed at an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council.
Then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at Graceland, a mansion once owned by Elvis Presley, in Memphis, Tennessee, in June 2006. Koizumi was dubbed the "jujitsu prime minister” for his style of politics.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 11, 2023

Japan needs a 'jujitsu PM' to grapple with this scandal

Kishida fights for survival as the political funding scandal deepens. His predecessor, "jujitsu PM” Junichiro Koizumi, could teach him a thing or two.
The Bank of Japan is likely to keep its monetary stimulus settings unchanged at a two-day policy meeting ending Dec. 19, despite recent market speculation that the negative rate may be scrapped as soon as the December meeting.
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 11, 2023

BOJ sees little need to end negative rate in December: sources

Bank officials are yet to see enough evidence of wage growth that would support sustainable inflation.
Surfers wait for waves in Teahupo'o, Tahiti, French Polynesia, on Aug. 9.
OLYMPICS / Surfing
Dec 12, 2023

Olympic surfing to be held in Polynesia despite row, president says

Debate about the suitability of having Tahiti host the competitions has made waves for weeks.
COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber in Dubai on Monday
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 12, 2023

COP28 summit goes into overtime with new draft deal in works

The UAE's Sultan Al Jaber has the task of getting almost 200 countries to agree to a text that will govern the global fight against climate change.
U.S. President Joe Biden shakes hands with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Feb. 20.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 12, 2023

Biden and Zelenskyy: Odd couple brought together by war

The two men have little in common on the surface, but since Russia invaded Ukraine, have become firm allies.
A record number of Japanese investors have put their money into domestic private credit deals in search of higher returns this year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 12, 2023

Private credit is attracting record numbers of Japanese investors

An unprecedented 236 limited partners have provided money to private capital managers this year through September, more than triple the level of 2017.
Cybersecurity is a growing concern in Taiwan as the island sits at the center of U.S.-China tensions and has a critical presidential election in January.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 12, 2023

Taiwan taps experts and U.S. to prepare banks for cyberattacks

Officials in Taipei are consulting security experts from the U.S. Treasury Department and American cybersecurity specialists to simulate attacks.
Mitsubishi UFJ, Japan's largest banking group, bought 75% of AlbaCore last month to diversify its range of investment capabilities.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 12, 2023

MUFG's AlbaCore sees potential for alternative investments in Japan

Mitsubishi UFJ bought 75% of AlbaCore last month to diversify the range of investment capabilities.
Newly recruits in the Houthi military force march through Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, on Dec. 2.
WORLD
Dec 12, 2023

Yemen's Houthis claim attack on Norwegian tanker

The ship had loaded vegetable oil and biofuels in Malaysia and was headed for Venice, Italy.
Seihan Mori, chief priest of Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto, writes "zei" (taxes), which was chosen on Tuesday as the kanji of the year.
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2023

Talk of taxes spurs choice for Japan’s kanji of the year

The choice came as tax hikes and cuts were heavily covered in the news and discussed among policymakers.
Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts
WORLD / Politics
Dec 12, 2023

Disunity deepens at Harvard as Israel's war on Gaza charges debate

Rhetoric has reached a fever pitch since testimony in Congress by the university’s first Black president, who has only been in the role since July.
The development of AI worries many, including Sam Altman, who testified in Congress in May that he was "nervous" about the technology's ability to compromise election integrity.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 12, 2023

A look at the world's first AI-powered political campaign caller

Ashley is one of the first examples of how generative AI is ushering in a new era of political campaigning.
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 13, 2023

Dodgers, Red Sox and Jays to meet with Yoshinobu Yamamoto

While only one MLB pitcher has ever signed for over $300 million, speculation has Yamamoto potentially landing a deal that would approach that figure.
Ukrainian soldier fire a mortar near Kyiv on Nov. 8.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 13, 2023

Pentagon has a workaround to send Ukraine arms despite aid stalemate

The tactic: Continue to provide arms from U.S. stockpiles in hopes of waiting until later for the money to replace them.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy speak during a news conference in Washington on Tuesday. Zelenskyy came to the U.S. Congress to appeal for more aid to resist Russia's invasion, and Republican leaders told him to first wait for an elusive U.S. deal on immigration.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 13, 2023

Zelenskyy meets U.S. Republicans in push for aid to fight Russia

Some Republicans oppose more aid, saying any further money must be paired with changes to immigration policy at home.
South Korean outfielder Jung Hoo Lee during the Olympic semifinal against Japan in Tokyo in 2021.
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 13, 2023

San Francisco signs South Korean Jung Hoo Lee for $113 million

Lee, 25, was the Korean Baseball Organization MVP in 2022 after he hit .349 with 23 home runs.
A pollution pod designed to mimic the air quality in New Delhi sits during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai on Tuesday
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 13, 2023

Without fairness, fossil fuel phase-out flounders at COP28

Developing countries emphasized that they could not embark on the journey toward renewables in the absence of clear guarantees of international support.
Shingo Takashima, a 26-year-old doctor, killed himself three months into his specialty doctor training at a general hospital in Kobe.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Dec 13, 2023

Young doctor’s suicide highlights overwork culture at Japan hospitals

The issue is coming into sharper focus ahead of the April implementation of a legal cap on doctors’ overtime.
The Tokyo headquarters of the Unification Church in Shibuya Ward
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 13, 2023

Japan enacts law to monitor Unification Church assets

The special legislation is designed to ensure that victims of the organization's malpractices have a source of relief.

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan