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Photographs of (clockwise from top left) South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, Justice Minister Park Sung Jae, former Interior and Safety Minister Lee Sang-min, and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo are displayed on a screen during a plenary session at the National Assembly in Seoul on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 13, 2024

Five minutes to martial law: Yoon stunned his Cabinet with snap move

As South Korea waits for another bid to impeach President Yoon, more details are emerging of what happened in the hours surrounding his declaration of martial law.
Yutaka Mataebara (second from left) dines with his managerial colleagues at an event celebrating the 100th anniversary of The Japan Times.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 13, 2024

Here's to Yutaka Mataebara, the 'iron man' of The Japan Times

Mataebara was a pillar of the JT: During his 44 years at the paper until he retired in 2006, he worked in a variety of departments, including as the editor in chief.
Francois Bayrou and French President Emmanuel Macron in Pau, France, in July 2023. On Friday, Macron named Bayrou as prime minister.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 13, 2024

Macron names veteran centrist ally Francois Bayrou as France's prime minister

Bayrou, 73, is expected to put forward his list of ministers in the coming days, but will likely face the same existential difficulties as his predecessor.
Tokyo Union Church volunteers prepare food for unhoused individuals. The church helps people regardless of religion, race or sexuality.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Dec 16, 2024

From the stage to the streets, make a difference this holiday season

Discover the joy of giving back through a variety of charitable efforts. Helping others helps you, too.
Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin was in Damascus on Thursday, just days after an Islamist-led rebel push ousted Syrian strongman Bashar Assad.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 14, 2024

Turkey races ahead of U.S. in push for Syria influence

Ankara has sent a top official to Damascus and restarted diplomatic relations with Syria after more than a decade.
A satellite image shows an An-124 heavy transport aircraft with its nose cone lifted, at Russia's Khmeimim airbase, near Latakia, Syria, on Friday.
WORLD
Dec 14, 2024

Russian military appears to be packing up equipment in Syria, satellite imagery shows

The moves could be a prelude to Moscow’s military withdrawal from the country in the wake of President Bashar Assad’s fall.
"Agent" technology goes further than chatbots, not just performing parlor tricks and spitting out plausible responses to queries but actually doing the kinds of repetitive tasks that today are handled by millions of humans.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 14, 2024

Big Tech's new AI obsession: 'Agents' that do your work for you

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman calls agents "the next giant breakthrough," while Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff says the shift "is really the rise of digital labor.”
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba takes part in an online meeting of Group of Seven leaders at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo early Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 14, 2024

Ishiba urges deeper G7 security cooperation as North Korea gets closer to Russia

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said recent developments have a "direct impact" on security in the Indo-Pacific region.
Girls hold banners urging passersby to stop and pay their respects during a minute of silence honoring the victims of Russia's invasion at 9 a.m. in front of Golden Gates metro station in central Kyiv.
WORLD / Society
Dec 14, 2024

Observing a minute of silence for Ukraine's fallen soldiers

As fewer people stop to pay their respects during a 9:00 am ritual for victims of the war, a small activist group is pushing for a change.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham fighters gather in Damascus on Saturday.
WORLD
Dec 15, 2024

U.S. says it is in contact with new Syria rulers

Secretary of State Antony Blinken's comment on "direct contact" with the HTS rebels came despite the United States having designated the group as terrorists in 2018.
A damaged poster of Syria's ousted leader, Bashar Assad, in Aleppo on Nov. 30
WORLD / FOCUS
Dec 15, 2024

Assad's final hours in Syria: Deception, despair and flight

Hours before he fled to Moscow, Assad assured army and security chiefs that Russian support was on its way and urged ground forces to hold out.
A boy who came to watch the launch of Space One's Kairos rocket in Nachikatsuura, Wakayama Prefecture, on Sunday shows his disappointment after the liftoff was postponed again.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Dec 15, 2024

Japanese firm Space One postpones rocket launch again

Sunday's postponement was due to strong winds, according to the Tokyo-based company, which aims to launch 30 satellites annually by the 2030s.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola reacts at the end of his team's loss to Juventus on Wednesday.
SOCCER
Dec 15, 2024

Man City boss Pep Guardiola says no regrets over contract extension

Following a series of disappointing Premier League performances, City finds itself in fifth place with 27 points, trailing leader Liverpool by nine points.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese leader Xi Jinping meet at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, in October. India and China reached a border deal for Chinese forces to retreat from disputed territory and for India to resume border patrols.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 15, 2024

How India’s soft power led to a border deal with China

New Delhi played its cards right, adopting a multipronged strategy that led to Beijing withdrawing from disputed territory that could be model for other countries, too.
French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou speaks to press in Paris on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 16, 2024

Macron has a new prime minister but the same old problems

73-year-old Francis Bayrou was the torch-bearer of centrism until Macron reshaped the political landscape in 2017.
Israeli military vehicles ride through Syria close to the cease-fire line between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, as seen from Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 16, 2024

Israel plans to double its population on the occupied Golan Heights

Israel captured most of the strategic plateau from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War, annexing it in 1981.
Palestinians inspect the damage at a tent camp sheltering displaced people, following an Israeli strike in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip on Sunday.
WORLD
Dec 16, 2024

Israeli forces carry out air and ground attacks in Gaza; dozens dead

Israel's air and land offensive that has killed almost 45,000 people, mostly civilians, according to authorities in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
185 content moderators sued Meta last year, saying they had lost their jobs for trying to organize a union.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 16, 2024

Meta contractor dismissed threats to moderators by Ethiopia rebels: court documents

Court documents say that Meta allegedly ignored advice from experts it hired to tackle hate speech in Ethiopia.
A rebel fighter inspects writings on a jail cell wall at the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate (GID) Branch 251, also known as Al-Khatib branch, in the capital Damascus on Saturday.
WORLD
Dec 16, 2024

'Torture after torture': Turkish inmate recalls time in Syria's jails

The man said he paid the price for the hatred Syria's authorities bore for Turkey's president, who early in the war urged the Syrian president to leave.
National Rally leader Marine Le Pen delivers a speech during a meeting in Etrepagny, central France, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 16, 2024

Le Pen takedown of Barnier holds lessons for next French PM

There is no placating the leader of the far-right National Rally, the largest party in the French National Assembly.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim (right) shakes hands with Laotian Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone during an ASEAN summit closing ceremony to hand over the grouping's chairmanship to Kuala Lumpur at the National Convention Center in Vientiane, Laos, in October.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 16, 2024

Lowering tensions key priority for incoming ASEAN chair Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur will reach out to key players including Japan to try and jointly tackle the critical security issues affecting Southeast Asia, Malaysian envoy says.
An electric vehicle charging station in Baker, California. The Inflation Reduction Act has spurred investment in EVs and other green technologies across the U.S. and President-elect Donald Trump should continue Joe Biden's climate-related industrial policy.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 16, 2024

Green tech and U.S.-China rivalry: Two sides of the same coin

The incoming president should improve, not undo, Biden's industrial policies, which have boosted investment in green technologies, a key economic battleground.
Southampton fired manager Russell Martin after Sunday's 5-0 loss at home against Tottenham.
SOCCER
Dec 16, 2024

Southampton fires manager Russell Martin after 5-0 loss at home

Southampton, promoted last season, is rooted to the bottom of the table, nine points from safety.
F1 Academy drivers Doriane Pin (left) Abbi Pulling (center) and Chole Chambers stand on the podium after a run at Miami International Autodrome on May 4. Chambers won the race.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Dec 16, 2024

Female driver Abbi Pulling says it will take time before next woman reaches F1

The number of girls coming into karting at the grassroots level is steadily increasing.
Members of the Orthodox community of Latakia attend a Sunday Mass at St. George's Cathedral in Latakia, Syria, on Sunday.
WORLD
Dec 16, 2024

Syrian Christians attend services, schools reopen a week after Assad's overthrow

Some Syrian Christians remain jittery at the prospect of an Islamist government.
Mannequins are displayed inside a lingerie showroom at WeMet Industrial Park in the Guanyun county of Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, China, on Nov. 26.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 16, 2024

China's 'erotic clothing' capital braces for e-commerce crackdown

The development of the lingerie industry in eastern Guanyun county in China has exploded partly due to a U.S. tariff exemption likely to soon be curtailed or scrapped.
Ghazi Mohammed al-Mohammed, a former detainee in a Damascus prison, poses for a picture with his mother at their home in Sarmada, in the northern Syrian Idlib province, on Saturday.
WORLD
Dec 16, 2024

Bashar Assad's prisoner #3006 tells his story

When Syrian military intelligence officers detained Ghazi Mohammed al-Mohammed, they told him to forget his name and who he was.
A Ground Self-Defense Force's soldier takes part in a marine landing drill on Tokunoshima island, Kagoshima Prefecture, in November 2023. The Philippines has ratified a defense pact with Japan that allows them to deploy troops on each other's soil.
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2024

Philippines ratifies key defense pact with Japan

Lawmakers in Tokyo need to vote through the treaty before it takes effect.
Indian musician Zakir Hussain performs during a concert at the Indian Music Experience in Bangalore in 2019
CULTURE / Music
Dec 16, 2024

Zakir Hussain, peerless Indian tabla player, dies at 73

Considered a national treasure in his homeland, the percussionist brought classical Indian music to a global audience
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump embraces SoftBank chief Masayoshi Son at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 17, 2024

SoftBank pledges $100 billion U.S. investment at Trump event

SoftBank chief Masayoshi Son’s announcement this time marks the highest-profile commitment by a company to expand investment in the U.S. since Trump’s election win.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan