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Foreign ministers from ASEAN member countries pose for a photo before a meeting session in Vientiane, Laos, on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 25, 2024

ASEAN seeks to tackle the Myanmar crisis and South China Sea tensions

ASEAN's foreign ministers will discuss efforts to end the Myanmar conflict that has turned into a civil war.
Ukraine's Olga Kharlan celebrates on the podium after winning Olympic bronze in the women's sabre event at the Paris Games on Monday.
OLYMPICS / Fencing
Jul 30, 2024

Ukrainian fencer dedicates medal to countrymen killed in the war

The war has torn apart old alliances in fencing, and heightened the acrimony between Russia and Ukraine.
Two people in Tokyo walk past a poster meant to evoke a cooling feeling the summer heat.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 31, 2024

Sunscreen bans, UV-cuts and the language of summer skincare in Japan

Get to know Japanese terms for products that will help you protect your skin in the scorching sun.
Temperatures are soaring across Japan, making getting to sleep at night a constant battle between your body and the right setting for your air conditioner to help you nod off.
LIFE / Lifestyle / Boiling Point
Aug 2, 2024

An ideal AC temperature for sleep? Science says yes ... and no.

Keeping your room at 26 degrees Celsius can help you sleep through summer’s steamy nights — but how long should you leave the AC on?
Bales of hard-to-recycle plastic waste piled up at Renewlogy Technologies in Salt Lake City, Utah, on May 17, 2021.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Aug 15, 2024

In shift, U.S. backs global target to reduce plastic production, source says

The change away from earlier calls to leave such decisions up to each country puts the U.S. in direct opposition to countries like Saudi Arabia and China.
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Aug. 8
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 15, 2024

Hedge funds race to tailor ChatGPT for time-consuming research chores

Fast-money proponents remain steadfast in their conviction that their investments will reap tangible wins.
Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Harrah's Cherokee Center in Asheville, North Carolina, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 17, 2024

How Trump’s intimidation tactics have reshaped the Republican Party

Those seen as disloyal to Trump and his Make America Great Again agenda have been the target of threats by his most ardent supporters.
Berlin's growing military engagement with Indo-Pacific allies and partners is meant to signal that Germany "stands firmly at the side of those countries that are committed to complying with international law and do not accept it being called into  question," German Navy chief Vice Adm. Kaack told The Japan Times.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2024

Sea lane fears drive German military's Asian engagement, navy chief says

Developments in the Indo-Pacific, both economic and geopolitical, have direct implications for the security and prosperity of Germany, Vice Adm. Jan Christian Kaack says.
Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a visit to the Livingston County Sheriff's Office in Howell, Michigan, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 21, 2024

Trump pushes agenda in town with historic links to white extremism

Donald Trump did not speak out against hate during his 45-minute remarks in a Michigan town with historic ties to white supremacy.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an independent candidate for president, at Nassau County State Supreme Court in Mineola, New York, on Wednesday
WORLD / Politics
Aug 22, 2024

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is expected to end his presidential campaign

Kennedy’s departure from the race would be the end of one of the more bizarre and surprisingly durable third-party presidential bids in modern American history.
Even when ships are docked, members of the Japan Coast Guard work on shifts on board. As such, the JCG is considering rehiring retired servicemen to allow crews to take sufficient holidays on land.
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2024

Japan Coast Guard promoting work style reform

The move comes as the agency grapples with a declining number of applicants as well as its rising turnover rate.
Keiichi Tanaami died on Aug. 9 after a 60-year career as a Pop Art pioneer. He was 88.
CULTURE / Art
Aug 24, 2024

Remembering Keiichi Tanaami's surreal grotesqueries

The Pop Art pioneer passed away at age 88 on Aug. 9. His posthumous retrospective, “Adventures in Memory,” turns nightmare into fantasy.
A passenger ferry sails toward Sydney Harbor on Aug. 9. Employees in Australia, in most cases, cannot be punished for refusing to read or respond to contacts from their employers outside work hours, thanks to a new law.
BUSINESS
Aug 26, 2024

Australian workers gain right to ignore work emails and calls after hours

A new "right to disconnect" law is designed to curb the creep of work communications into personal lives.
Sarvam AI, often described as India’s OpenAI, introduced software for businesses that can interact with customers using spoken voice rather than just text.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 26, 2024

Cheap AI voice bots are suddenly everywhere in India

Startups may turn India into a proving ground for what could be the next frontier of generative artificial intelligence products.
An artificial intelligence process sign in the Samsung Electronics hall at the IFA Consumer Electronics and Home Appliances trade fair in Berlin in 2022
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 27, 2024

Is that voice real or AI? One startup says it can tell the difference

The latest wave of artificial intelligence technology can mimic the voice of almost anyone.
OpenAI, whose ChatGPT is credited with accelerating the frenzy over artificial intelligence since its broad release in late 2022, has said AI should be regulated by the federal government but that the California bill creates an uncertain legal environment, and could cause entrepreneurs and engineers to leave the state.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 28, 2024

Big Tech wants AI to be regulated. Why do they oppose a California AI bill?

Many tech giants say the bill threatens to make the state unfavorable to AI development and deployment and puts open-source models at risk.
If you're still trying to be active during Japan's record-setting heat, you should also know how best to care for yourself when you inevitably get a sunburn.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Aug 31, 2024

Japan’s nasty summer has left you with a nastier sunburn. Now what?

Aloe facial masks, non-alcohol-based lotions and souped-up sunscreen can take the edge off the pain of getting a sunburn.
Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown (left), Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele (second left), Tongan Prime Minister Hu'akavameiliku (second right) and Pacific Islands Forum Secretary-General Baron Waqa, announce the Pacific Resilience Facility decision at a meeting in Nuku'alofa, Tonga, on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 31, 2024

Pacific bloc scrubs Taiwan from document after China complaint

A new joint declaration by Pacific leaders was reissued Saturday morning after China slammed an earlier version as a "mistake" that "must be corrected."
Elon Musk, the owner of X, during an event in November last year. Brazil blocked the social network after Musk refused to comply with a Brazilian judge's orders to suspend certain accounts.
BUSINESS
Sep 1, 2024

Musk’s X goes dark in Brazil after supreme court’s ruling

While the U.S. tends toward strong free-speech protections, many countries are taking aggressive steps to make companies more accountable for their online content.
An elevator at the Stade de France commuter train station in Saint-Denis, near Paris, France. Paris built highly accessible accommodation for competitors in the 2024 Paralympic Games, but overall, the city remains difficult to navigate for people with disabilities.
PARALYMPICS
Sep 2, 2024

Paris is utopia for Paralympians until they leave the athletes village

It will be decades before the city's streets, sidewalks and parks achieve even a semblance of the Paralympic Village’s accessibility.
By using an app, call center workers can practice calming down angry callers.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 3, 2024

Japanese companies develop AI tools against 'customer harassment'

Japanese companies are developing artificial intelligence tools to protect call center workers from "customer harassment."
Kyoto International High Shool's baseball team receives a champion flag after winning the Japanese High School Baseball Championship final at Koshien Stadium in Hyogo Prefecture on Aug. 23.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 31, 2024

A high school baseball championship and Japan-South Korea relations

The reactions to Kyoto International High School winning the National High School Baseball Championship, both in Japan and South Korea, were intriguing.
Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, speaks on stage in front of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the Desert Diamond Arena, in Glendale, Arizona, on Aug. 23.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 4, 2024

How Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s pact took shape

A near assassination, a couple of phone calls, and six weeks of secret talks, embarrassing missteps and private misgivings, led to the unlikely alliance.
A polygraph machine sits on a table in an office of AO Eurasian Bank in Almaty, Kazakhstan, in 2013.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 6, 2024

AI-powered lie detectors can help tell if you’re lying on a Zoom call

CyberQ is just one of a crop of new companies looking to build AI-powered lie detectors that could be used during work-related online meetings.
Gabon President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema waves as he arrives at Beijing Capital International Airport ahead of the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing on Sep. 1.
WORLD
Sep 7, 2024

U.S. pitches deal to thwart Chinese military base in Africa

The U.S. is assembling an economic and security assistance package for Gabon in a bid to prevent China from establishing a military footprint there.
A Palestinian student walks between piles of rubble after attending a class in a tent in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Sept. 4.
WORLD / Society
Sep 10, 2024

Fear of 'lost generation' as Gaza school year begins with classes shut

The Palestinian Education Ministry said all Gaza schools were shut, and 90% of them had been destroyed or damaged in Israel's assault on the territory.
A screen displays a message urging supporters of Republican candidate Donald Trump to make a plan to vote early or in-person during a campaign rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, on Aug. 30.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 10, 2024

Trump hunts for elusive 2024 election prize — infrequent voters

Trump, more than in previous cycles, sees infrequent voters as critical.
Job-seekers take a Japanese class at an employment placement company in Hanoi in October 2022.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 11, 2024

Is Japan an attractive option for foreign talent from Asia?

The uptick in young foreign workers is driven by growing interest in Japanese society and culture and difficulty in finding jobs at home.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield attends a U.N. Security Council meeting on Sept. 4 in New York City.
WORLD
Sep 12, 2024

U.S. supports two permanent U.N. Security Council seats for Africa

The move comes as the U.S. seeks to repair ties with Africa, where many are unhappy about Washington's support for Israel's war in Gaza.
U.S. Secret Service and Homeland Security agents check a former home of a Ryan Routh, a suspect in an alleged assassination attempt on former U.S. President Donald Trump, in Greensboro, North Carolina, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 16, 2024

Second assassination attempt on Trump is latest jolt in chaotic campaign

U.S. Secret Service agents spotted and fired on a gunman in some bushes who dropped an assault rifle and was arrested after fleeing the scene.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji