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Demonstrators protest against a government plan to increase the number of seats at medical schools in Seoul in March.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 8, 2024

Deaths amid doctor shortage fuel election angst in South Korea

A critical lack of doctors in South Korea has led to thousands of deaths as President Yoon Suk-yeol works to address the problem.  
This year's survey, conducted from May 2023 to February 2024 and released last week, amassed responses from 4,000 children (2,000 boys and 2,000 girls) starting elementary school in April, along with 4,000 parents.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 8, 2024

Cake shop worker remains dream job for many children starting school

"Police officer" and "athlete" were the second and third most popular choices, according to annual survey by a school bag material manufacturer.
James Manyika, who heads Google’s technology and society team, delivers the keynote address at Google I/O in Mountain View, California, in 2023. OpenAI, Google and Meta ignored corporate policies, altered their own rules and discussed skirting copyright law as they sought online information to train their newest artificial intelligence systems.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 8, 2024

How tech giants cut corners to harvest data for AI

The companies’ actions illustrate how online information has increasingly become the lifeblood of the booming AI industry.
NATO headquarters in Brussels. In attacking the transatlantic alliance, Trump fails to see that the grouping is key to safeguarding the United States' own interests.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 3, 2024

NATO is not a hegemonic burden

Trump is wrong in wrangling over NATO. Withdrawing from the alliance would hurt U.S. interests — without really reducing its military spending.
The TSMC plant in Phoenix, Arizona. The chipmaker's projects in Arizona have become increasingly entwined with U.S. President Joe Biden’s campaign message on revitalizing the economy.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 9, 2024

TSMC gets $11.6 billion in U.S. grants and loans for chip plants

TSMC’s projects in Arizona have become increasingly entwined with Biden’s campaign message on revitalizing the economy.
Puma launches a new brand campaign with Olympic athletes in Paris on Wednesday.
OLYMPICS
Apr 10, 2024

Puma hones focus on speed in Olympic battle with Adidas and Nike

As Puma tries to win over more everyday and serious runners, its sponsorship of Jamaica's Olympic team helps to associate the brand with speed.
Tokyo-based artist valknee has stood out as part of a wave of underground acts eager to tear down genre walls.
CULTURE / Music
Apr 12, 2024

Four up-and-coming music acts to start spring off right

Give your algorithms a nudge to put you in the mood for warmer weather with acts such as valknee, Uilou, Cho Co Pa Co Cho Co Quin Quin and kinoue64.
The assembly line at the Volkswagen factory in Zwickau, Germany, on March 14. The factory stopped producing gasoline-powered Golfs and switched to electric vehicles, illuminating the risks and opportunities for factory towns and cities.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 11, 2024

What happened when a German car factory went all electric?

The city of Zwickau, where more than 10,000 people work for Volkswagen and tens of thousands more for suppliers, seems to have avoided dire consequences.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attend an an arrival ceremony as part of a state visit by Kishida, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 11, 2024

Global ambitions? U.S. and Japan eye a boosted partnership, but the hurdles are high.

Can Japan truly be America's "global partner"? Experts are divided over the issue.
A brine pool at an SQM lithium mine on the Atacama salt flat in the Atacama Desert, Chile. The industry that deals with one of the world’s most important commodities is asking whether it's doomed to repeat a boom and bust cycle again and again.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 12, 2024

Lithium industry braces for long-term oversupply after price instability

Those involved with the commodity are asking whether they're doomed to repeat a boom and bust cycle again and again.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida addresses a meeting on AI strategy held at the Prime Minister's Office in December. Japan is beginning to draw global attention for its potential as an AI market.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 12, 2024

Google alums go big in Japan with months-old startup Sakana AI

Sakana is setting out to train low-cost generative AI models using small datasets, unveiling three AI models for Japanese speakers last month.
Protesters step on a caricature of Chinese leader Xi Jinping as they take part in a demonstration to condemn China's recent "aggressive actions" in disputed waters of the South China Sea, in front of the Chinese Consulate in Makati, Metro Manila, on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 13, 2024

China feels boxed in by the U.S. but has few ways to push back

Aside from pointed words and the perfunctory maritime patrol, Beijing's options to push back against U.S. pressure appear limited, analysts say.
Naomi Osaka serves to Yulia Putintseva during their women's singles match in a qualifying tie between Japan and Kazakhstan for the Billie Jean Cup finals, in Tokyo on Friday.
TENNIS
Apr 13, 2024

Osaka wants to play at Paris Olympics 'if they let me'

The four-time Grand Slam champion may need to go through an appeals process missing previous chances to play for Japan at the Billie Jean Cup.
Arthur Mensch, the chief executive and one of the founders of Mistral, a French artificial-intelligence startup, at the company’s offices in Paris in late March.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 14, 2024

Europe’s AI ‘champion’ sets sights on tech giants in U.S.

As Europe vies for AI leadership, Mistral, under Arthur Mensch, is emerging as a formidable contender against U.S. and Chinese giants.
Masayoshi Matsumoto
BUSINESS
Apr 14, 2024

Osaka Expo legacy could bolster Kansai's economy

Kansai accounts for about 5% of Japan’s GDP, but by utilizing the new technologies to be showcased at the expo, it could possibly increase the size to 20%.
Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani during a spring training game on March 12.
BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 15, 2024

Ohtani’s dizzying three weeks end in exoneration by authorities

At times, baseball’s biggest star seemed in danger of being tainted by a gambling scandal, before his longtime interpreter was charged with fraud.
The National Security Education Day opening ceremony in Hong Kong on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 15, 2024

China says Hong Kong must 'tightly hold' national security line to safeguard development

Some countries have criticized Hong Kong's new national security laws as a tool for authorities to clamp down on dissent.
Yukio Kani, chairman and global CEO of Jera
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 15, 2024

Japan’s top power producer Jera considers IPO to fund green push

The Tokyo-based company plans to develop 20 gigawatts of renewable generation capacity by fiscal 2035.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (left) with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing in November 2022. Scholz is travelling to China again this week with the goal of shoring up economic ties with Germany's biggest trading partner.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 15, 2024

An EV trade war with China would be an own goal for carmakers

As German Chancellor Scholz visits China this week, he should push for stronger ties between Chinese and European automakers, especially in the EV market.
The Eiffel Tower Stadium, under construction for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, in Paris on April 13
OLYMPICS
Apr 16, 2024

Stadiums rise at Paris landmarks ahead of Olympics

"The city's being tidied up and the monuments are clean. It's going to be great," said one resident.
A nationwide survey by Japan Press Research Institute released in October found that 74.6% of respondents see or hear news a few times a week on the internet. Meanwhile, 87.6% receive news through private broadcasters.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Apr 21, 2024

How to deal with influence operations in the era of generative AI

A significant number of people in Japan don't care about where online news is sourced from, one poll found.
Japan's exports grew 7.3% year-on-year in March, up for the fourth straight month, showing that the economy continues to benefit from the effects of the sliding yen.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 17, 2024

Japan’s exports get boost from China aided by yen tailwind

Exports gained 7.3% in March from a year earlier, with growth slightly decelerating from February’s 7.8% gain.
Jamoliddin Makhmaliyev sits with his grandson and granddaughters in front of his new house in the village of Khuroson, some 70 kilometers south of the Tajikistan capital Dushanbe, on March 26. “We lived in fear, until the day the mountain collapsed and destroyed our house,” recalls his wife Yodgoroy. Tajikistan is the Central Asian country most vulnerable to climate change and natural disasters.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Apr 17, 2024

Tajikistan builds villages for climate migrants fleeing fatal landslides

The former Soviet country says it relocated 45,000 people between 2000 and 2017, and that tens of thousands of others are waiting their turn.
As of April 4, the bird flu virus had been confirmed in more than a dozen herds across six U.S. states, with Kansas, Idaho, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio and Texas all reporting infected cows.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 17, 2024

Bird flu in cows demands vigilance, not panic

Bird flu had been confirmed in herds across six U.S. states, with Kansas, Idaho, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio and Texas all reporting infected cows.
Outside of some activist movements pressing governments for more climate action, global warming is not yet at the heart of the political agenda in most countries.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 17, 2024

Climate change is political and we must treat it that way

Climate action hasn't made its way onto mainstream political agendas in most countries, to the detriment of our collective ability to solve the crisis.
Israeli soldiers conduct an operation in the Gaza Strip against Hamas fighters in late March.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 16, 2024

Concluding the conflict in Gaza is in Israel’s best interest

Iran’s attack should remind the Israelis that their war with Hamas is not being fought in an international vacuum and support from the outside matters.
Marinos' Jun Amano (left) and Ulsan's Joo Min-kyu fight for the ball during the AFC Champions League semifinal first leg soccer match between Ulsan Hyundai FC and Yokohama F. Marinos in Ulsan, South Korea, on Wednesday.
SOCCER
Apr 17, 2024

Ulsan edges Yokohama in Asian Champions League semifinal opener

The victory has clinched Ulsan's place at next year's Club World Cup.
Warriors guard Stephen Curry dribbes around a defender during a game against the Pelicans earlier this month.
BASKETBALL
Apr 18, 2024

LeBron, Curry and Durant head U.S. Olympic 'Dream Team'

USA Basketball confirmed a formidable 12-man roster bristling with NBA talent that also includes reigning MVP Joel Embiid.
An aircraft from the Thai Department of Royal Rainmaking deposits a sodium chloride-based material in an effort to produce rain.
ENVIRONMENT / Earth science
Apr 18, 2024

How cloud seeding boosts rainfall — and why that’s controversial

Developed in the 1940s, cloud seeding can boost rain and snowfall, but the World Meteorological Organization warns we don't know enough about it yet.
Machida supporters wave giant flags during the team's game against Vissel Kobe at National Stadium in Tokyo on Sunday.
SOCCER / J. League
Apr 18, 2024

Upstart Zelvia shows that, in the J. League, it’s anyone’s game

The fast start by Go Kuroda’s men has highlighted the remarkable parity in the Japanese game when compared with top competitions in Europe.

Longform

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