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Co-leader of Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party Alice Weidel reacts during the electoral evening in Berlin on Sunday after the first exit polls in the German general elections.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 24, 2025

Alice Weidel, the unlikely queen of German's far-right AfD

Alice Weidel led the Moscow-friendly AfD to a record result of around 20% in Germany.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a news conference in Warsaw on Feb. 14.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 24, 2025

U.S. defense chief and national security adviser avoid naming Russia as aggressor in Ukraine

Asked if Russia attacked Ukraine without provocation, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and national security adviser Mike Waltz both portrayed the question of as a distraction.
Venus Williams, seen during the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, in March 2024, will not compete at the tournament this year.
TENNIS
Feb 24, 2025

Venus Williams will not play at Indian Wells despite wild card

Tournament director Tommy Haas later released a statement confirming that Williams would not be playing at the event in Southern California.
Gresini Racing's Marc Marquez leans into a curve during the Australian Grand Prix in Phillip Island, Australia, on Oct. 20, 2024.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Feb 24, 2025

Dominant Ducati enters MotoGP with two former champions

Marc Marquez, a six-time champion, has joined two-time champion Francesco "Pecco" Bagnaia in the Ducati factory team this season.
From left: "Conclave" cast members Sergio Castellitto, John Lithgow, Isabella Rossellini and Ralph Fiennes pose with the awards for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture at the 31st Screen Actors Guild Awards, in Los Angeles.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Feb 24, 2025

Vatican thriller 'Conclave' wins top prize in SAG Awards upset

"Conclave" surprises with a SAG Award win for best cast, suggesting it may have a real shot at upsetting the Oscars' Best Picture race.
Catholics attend a Mass to pray for Pope Francis' health at the Plaza Constitucion in Buenos Aires on Monday.
WORLD
Feb 25, 2025

Pope Francis still critical but shows 'slight improvement,' Vatican says

The 88-year-old pontiff was spending his 11th night in Rome's Gemelli Hospital, making it the longest hospital stay of his nearly 12-year papacy.
The logo of Rheinmetall is displayed at the Eurosatory international defense and security trade fair in Villepinte, near Paris, in June 2022.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 25, 2025

Rheinmetall to convert German factories to make defense equipment

The move by Europe's top ammunition maker to repurpose two automotive plants highlights the impact of an expected surge in spending in the region.
A Chinese ship, the bulk carrier Yi Peng 3, is anchored and monitored by a Danish naval patrol vessel (unseen) in the sea of Kattegat, near the City of Granaa in Jutland, Denmark. Denmark's navy said on November 20, 2024 it was shadowing a Chinese cargo vessel in the Baltic Sea, a day after Finland and Sweden opened investigations into suspected sabotage of two severed undersea telecoms cables.
WORLD
Feb 25, 2025

Damage to Baltic Sea telecoms cable may have occurred in January

Swedish and Finnish police said they were investigating a suspected case of sabotage of the C-Lion1 cable running along the seabed from Finland to Germany.
Israeli tanks and bulldozers take positions in the Jenin camp for Palestinian refugees, in the occupied West Bank, on Sunday.
WORLD
Feb 25, 2025

West Bank Palestinians fear Gaza-style tactics as Israel clears Jenin camp

Israel says the move is to take on militants implanted in refugee camps but Palestinians accuse troops of permanently displacing the population.
From her early love for "Cardcaptor Sakura" and "YuYu Hakusho" to her rise on "RuPaul’s Drag Race," Rock M. Sakura’s anime inspirations are central to her drag persona.
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 25, 2025

When anime meets drag: The manga-inspired world of Rock M. Sakura

A drag queen who merges manga, anime and queer culture, Rock M. Sakura's persona resonates deeply with fans worldwide.
Germany’s new leader, Friedrich Merz, aims to revive the economy with tax cuts and pro-business reforms, but an aging population, labor shortages and rising social costs may limit growth and strain public finances.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 25, 2025

Germany needs an economic miracle. Merz's odds don’t look good.

Merz faces an aging population that’s set to hold back growth and exacerbate strains on the federal budget and social security system.
Japan Rugby Football Union Chairman Kensuke Iwabuchi, seen at a news conference in June 2019, has been suspended from his role as vice president with Asia Rugby pending an investigation into a potential code of conduct breach.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 25, 2025

Japan seeks answers after Asia Rugby suspends vice president

Asia Rugby said Kensuke Iwabuchi had been suspended "in line with Asia Rugby principles of equality, transparency and accountability."
An ANA Boeing 787 Dreamliner undergoes maintenance in ANA's hanger at Haneda Airport.
BUSINESS
Feb 25, 2025

ANA to buy at least 77 jets from Boeing, Airbus and Embraer

The purchase underscores ANA’s ambitions to exceed its pre-pandemic fleet size by 2030 and capitalize on the boom in global air travel demand.
The weak yen is often cited as one reason why many Japanese don't go abroad.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 25, 2025

Only 17% of Japanese people own passports, Foreign Ministry says

Around 3.7 million passports were issued domestically in 2024, a 8.8% increase from the year before but down 15.2% from prepandemic numbers in 2019.
Toshihiro Suzuki (left), president of Suzuki Motor, and Hisashi Takeuchi, managing director of Maruti Suzuki India, during an event in New Delhi on Jan. 17
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 25, 2025

Suzuki Motor unit opens first new India plant in eight years

India’s largest carmaker by sales had last opened a new factory in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in 2017.
A supporter of South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol waves a flag showing a picture of Yoon during a rally near the Constitutional Court in Seoul on Tuesday, as Yoon attended his final impeachment hearing.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 26, 2025

Yoon accused in final impeachment hearing of seeking 'dictatorship'

In his own closing statement before the Constitutional Court, the South Korean president defended his decisions as lawful and necessary to protect the country.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt (center) takes questions during a daily briefing at the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 26, 2025

White House takes control of picking media who cover Trump

The move came amid an escalating battle between the White House and the Associated Press news agency, which Trump has barred from presidential events.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at a news conference following the Group of 20 foreign ministers' meeting in Johannesburg on Feb. 20
JAPAN / FOCUS
Feb 26, 2025

Japan's soft power may hold key to African development as U.S. cuts aid

Businesses linked to Japanese food and anime, for example, may play an important role in investments to Africa from Japan.
Elon Musk holds up a chainsaw onstage during the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, on Feb. 20.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 26, 2025

Musk's new ultimatum spurs fresh confusion among U.S. government workers

President Donald Trump said workers who did not respond would be "sort of semi-fired," adding to the uncertainty.
Canada's Liberal Party leadership candidates gather for a debate ahead of the March 9 vote to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in Montreal on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 26, 2025

U.S. threats mean Canada must bolster military, candidates say

The four candidates sparred over how fast Canada can realistically roll out the billions of dollars needed to reach the NATO threshold of 2% GDP.
A sample of a wafer is seen at the Semicon Taiwan 2022 exhibition in Taipei in 2022.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 26, 2025

China says Taiwan seeking to give away chip industry to U.S.

U.S. media has said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has been in talks for a stake in Intel.
The People's Liberation Army Navy's Jiangkai-class frigate Hengyang, part of a flotilla sailing inside Australia's exclusive economic zone on Wednesday, is seen at an undisclosed location in this image taken on Feb. 11.
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 26, 2025

'Provocative' Chinese warship near Australia puts Japan on notice

Canberra surmised that China's military moves were intended to “shape the responses of those in the region and observe and learn from our reactions.”
The Taiwanese Coast Guard detains Togolese-registered, Chinese-crewed cargo ship Hongtai in Penghu, Taiwan, on Tuesday after a subsea telecoms cable was severed off the islands.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 26, 2025

China says Taiwan 'manipulating' undersea cable cutting incident

Taiwan's coast guard said it detained a China-linked cargo ship on Tuesday after a cable to the Penghu Islands was disconnected.
Jose Ando purposefully wrote his Akutagawa Prize-winning novel “Dtopia” to be accessible to an audience beyond Japan and to spark conversations about race, gender and the effects of modern entertainment.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 27, 2025

Jose Ando's rapid rise from first pages to the Akutagawa Prize

Just three years after dedicating himself to writing, the author won Japan's top literary award for his novel "Dtopia," which offers a fresh perspective on identity and diversity.
Thousands of mourners, carrying flags and orange balloons, joined a funeral procession on Wednesday for Shiri Bibas and her two sons, who were among the hostages taken by Palestinian militants in Gaza in October 2023 and who died during their captivity.
WORLD
Feb 27, 2025

Hamas releases bodies of hostages; Israel frees Palestinian prisoners

After days of impasse, Egyptian mediators secured the handover of the bodies of the four hostages.
Volker Turk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, addresses the Human Rights Council at the U.N. in Geneva on Feb. 29, 2024.
WORLD
Feb 27, 2025

Israel disregards human rights and Hamas broke international law, U.N. says

The U.N. Human Rights Chief called for all violations to be investigated independently, a move which the European Union supported.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a statement on defense spending at Downing Street in London on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 27, 2025

Starmer tries to buy Ukraine time with Trump security pitch

The British prime minister's main objective is to secure an American "backstop” for any truce between Russia and Ukraine.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach speaks during the opening of an executive board meeting at the Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland, in December 2024.
OLYMPICS
Feb 27, 2025

IOC President Thomas Bach to resign as member after tenure as leader ends

The 71-year-old, who joined the IOC in 1991, could have remained a member until the age of 80.
Japanese nominal wages rose at the fastest pace in nearly three decades according to data out this month, and GDP figures showed Japan’s economy outperformed forecasts.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 27, 2025

Yen traders raise focus on Japanese data as economy shifts gears

The news marks a mindset change since the Bank of Japan ended its negative-rates policy last March.
French President Emmanuel Macron and U.S. President Donald Trump meet at the White House on Monday. The French leader has been forced to appease Trump knowing Europe is unprepared to defend itself without U.S. support.
COMMENTARY
Feb 26, 2025

America is turning its alliances into a protection racket

Trump has no compunction in using his leverage as a global security provider for extortion of allies.

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