Search - 2021

 
 
Junya Ito in Reims, France in March.
SOCCER
Jul 2, 2024

Prosecutors likely to drop sexual assault case against Japan midfielder Junya Ito

Investigators have raised suspicions that the two women filed a criminal complaint based on false or incorrect accounts, sources said.
"Khaing," a former teacher with the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), sits in a restaurant where she works after fleeing from Myanmar to Thailand to avoid conscription by Myanmar's military junta, in Bangkok on June 4.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 2, 2024

'Can't go back': Myanmar conscription exiles struggle in Thailand

Myanmar's junta says it wants to enlist 5,000 people a month aged between 18 and 35, but details are vague.
Ayaka Saito works on a lathe to make a part for a ship at Ena Seisakusho in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture. Saito, who has a 1-year-old child, takes comfort in the fact that her employer allows time off for workers for parenting duties.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Jul 8, 2024

Special skills allow Fukushima mother to shine in full-time job

Her employer also lets her take time off to care for her child, a rare policy seen as pivotal in getting more women back to the workforce.
A firefighter in the aftermath of an attack in the Starokostiantyniv, Khmelnytskyi Region, Ukraine, on Aug. 6, 2023
WORLD / Politics
Jul 3, 2024

China can end Russia’s war in Ukraine with a phone call, Finland says

Finnish President Alexander Stubb's comments reflect growing frustration among Ukraine’s allies over China’s perceived support for Russia.
U.S. President Joe Biden departs after delivering remarks at the White House in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 3, 2024

Who could replace Biden if he withdraws from race?

While the possibility of his withdrawal remains unlikely, here is a look at the names being circulated.
U.S. President Joe Biden greets agency employees after a press conference on extreme weather at the D.C. Emergency Operations Center in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 3, 2024

Biden to meet with governors and sit for an interview to calm backlash

The hope is to counter brewing discontent among leading Democratic donors, aides and elected officials over U.S. President Joe Biden's debate performance.
Renesas Electronics CEO Hidetoshi Shibata
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 3, 2024

Ex-banker behind chipmaker Renesas targets $100 billion value

Renesas’ push coincides with an aggressive campaign by Japan to turn the world’s fourth-largest economy into a chip powerhouse.
Environmental activist Phuon Keoraksmey is arrested after a verdict in Phnom Penh on Tuesday, where a Cambodian court sentenced 10 environmentalists to between six and eight years in jail for plotting to commit crimes in their activism.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 3, 2024

Cambodia sentences green campaigners over their environmental activism

A lawyer for the activists in Cambodia condemned the sentences, saying he would consult with his clients on whether to appeal against the ruling.
Australia's Emma McKeon in action at the 2023 world championships in Fukuoka in July 2023
OLYMPICS / Swimming
Jul 3, 2024

Olympic swimmers hope for winning edge with latest 'rocket suits'

Competitors believe innovation can be the difference in a sport where medals are sometimes decided by a mere fingertip, although the evidence is not as clear.
Chinese EV-maker Nio’s Onvo L60 SUV is unveiled in Shanghai in May. As an EV powerhouse, China should share the fruits of its success with the rest of the world.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 3, 2024

Easy solutions to EU-China tariff dispute

The EU should see the futility of tariffs on Chinese EVs, and China should not retaliate but instead share the fruits of its success in building up its auto sector.
Nikon's new microscope specialized for intracytoplasmic sperm injection, a fertility treatment
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 3, 2024

Nikon develops microscope for fertility treatment

The product reduces the number of operational steps involved in intracytoplasmic sperm injection by about 75%.
Naomi Osaka reacts after losing a point against Emma Navarro during the second round of Wimbledon, in London on Wednesday.
TENNIS
Jul 4, 2024

Naomi Osaka focuses on Olympics after Wimbledon exit

The Japanese superstar, playing at the All England Club for the first time since 2019, went down 6-4, 6-1 in her second-round match on Centre Court in less than an hour.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin meets with China's President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member states leaders' summit in Astana on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 4, 2024

How China and Russia compete, and cooperate, in Central Asia

Even as China has expanded its economic influence across Central Asia, it still faces challenges to its diplomacy from Russia.
During the Olympics, only medalists are automatically tested, but the International Testing Agency wants to find ways to target potential dopers before the end of an event.
OLYMPICS
Jul 4, 2024

Anti-doping testing agency sharpens its tools for Paris Olympics

Benjamin Cohen, director general of the ITA, said potential tools as its disposal included biological and performance passports as well as a mountain of other data.
People walk through the Petionville street market in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on May 2. Unable to work, Haitian families depend on food rations and hygiene kits brought in by nongovernmental organizations.
WORLD / Society
Jul 4, 2024

Camping in schools, hungry Haiti families ask: When will normality return?

Five million people in Haiti, nearly half its population, are struggling to feed themselves due to conflict.
Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani rounds the bases after smacking a two-run home run on Tuesday at Dodgers Stadium.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 4, 2024

Ohtani passes 500 RBIs for his MLB career

Ohtani joined Hideki Matsui and Ichiro Suzuki as the only Japanese players to hit the mark in MLB.
Russia isn’t a theocracy but Orthodox Christianity, the state religion, has become all-encompassing, with President Vladimir Putin claiming to have a divine mission.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 4, 2024

The demigods of populism

By claiming to represent the will of the divine, populist leaders like Putin, Modi, Erdogan — and even Trump — stake an otherworldly claim to political power.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange building in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 4, 2024

Shareholder revolts in Japan put proxy advisory firms in the hot seat

Two proxy advisory firms are having a moment as thinking around corporate governance in Japan undergoes a gradual shift.
A man from North Africa (right) embraces his lawyer after a verdict was handed down by the Osaka District Court revoking a decision by immigration authorities not to grant him refugee status, in Osaka on Thursday.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 4, 2024

Osaka court recognizes gay African man as refugee

The court concluded that the plaintiff had been nearly killed by his family and could be harmed if he returns home.
Lakers forward LeBron James during a play-in game on April 16
BASKETBALL / NBA
Jul 5, 2024

LeBron James cements his billionaire status with record contract

James agreed to a two-year, $104 million deal with the Los Angeles Lakers, the most ever for someone his age.
Seven-Eleven Japan holds a demonstration of delivering freshly baked pizza in Tokyo on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 5, 2024

Japan convenience stores boosting quick delivery services

Over 3,000 products such as drinks, snacks and daily goods are currently available for delivery from 7-Eleven.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is struggling to stay in office amid low public approval ratings and discontent from within his party. However, it is extremely rare for a sitting LDP president running for reelection to be dethroned.
EDITORIALS
Jul 5, 2024

Kishida fights for his political life

Despite low public approval ratings and discontent in the LDP, all is not lost for Prime Minister Kishida if the summer is kind to him and he plays his cards right.
Starting from September, foreign employees on a work visa must abide by a new points-based system to keep working in Singapore.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 5, 2024

Singapore is making life tougher for global talent

The city-state could lose its position as a global business hub if it keeps tightening the rules for overseas employees in a political bid to appease local residents.
Iran's Masoud Pezeshkian, the reformist presidential candidate, waves after casting his vote in the country's presidential runoff election at a mosque in Tehran on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 6, 2024

Iran reformist Masoud Pezeshkian wins presidential election

Pezeshkian has pledged to open Iran to the world and deliver freedoms its people have yearned for.
France forward Kylian Mbappe during his team's quarterfinal win over Portugal on Friday.
SOCCER
Jul 7, 2024

Winning is all that matters at Euro 2024 for Mbappe's minimalist France

Mbappe is surrounded by other world-class attackers, but his penalty in a group-stage match is the only goal scored by a French player at Euro 2024.
A sign for Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, more commonly known as the Unification Church, at its Tokyo headquarters
JAPAN / Society
Jul 7, 2024

Unification Church in tough position two years after Abe shooting

As Monday marks the second anniversary of the fatal shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Unification Church finds itself in a difficult position.
Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands celebrates as she wins gold in the women's 10,000 meters at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
OLYMPICS
Jul 7, 2024

Sifan Hassan: From 'shy' refugee to Olympic champion

At the delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Hassan became the first athlete ever to win medals in the 1,500, 5,000, and 10,000.
Tibetans participate in a protest march held to mark the 65th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule, in the northern hill town of Dharamsala, India, on March 10.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 8, 2024

Exiled Tibetans fear a future without the Dalai Lama, now 89

The Dalai Lama has said he will clarify questions about succession — including if and where he will be reincarnated — around his 90th birthday.
Emma Raducanu serves against Lulu Sun during their match at Wimbledon on Sunday in London.
TENNIS
Jul 8, 2024

Emma Raducanu 'stands by decision' to withdraw from mixed doubles with Andy Murray

Raducanu was scheduled to play with Murray, a former Wimbledon champion, on Saturday, but opted to pull out of the tie due to a stiff wrist.
The PayPay app had about 60 million registered users as of October.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 8, 2024

SoftBank group firm PayPay Securities aims to double accounts

The company has been in the red since February 2021, with a net loss of ¥4.6 billion ($29 million) for the 2023 fiscal year.

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A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami