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Students at the Taira First Elementary School in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, learn about the World War II "mock atomic bombs" during a special class given at the school in July.
JAPAN
Aug 7, 2025

People work to pass on stories of U.S. 'mock atomic bombs' dropped on Japan in WWII

Over 400 people were killed by 49 of what are also called "pumpkin bombs" that the U.S. dropped on Japan between July 20 and Aug. 14, 1945.
Sony’s music unit has grown to be a reliable pillar of the group, bringing in a steady flow of revenue as opposed to the company’s more prominent consumer electronics, PlayStation and image sensors.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 7, 2025

Sony lifts outlook on entertainment demand despite tariff threat

The company now expects its operating profit for the year ending March to reach a total of ¥1.33 trillion, compared with a previous forecast of ¥1.28 trillion.
Naomi Osaka hits a return against Clara Tauson during the Canadian Open semifinals in Montreal on Wednesday.
TENNIS
Aug 7, 2025

Resurgent Naomi Osaka books spot in Canadian Open final

Osaka will be playing for her first tour-level title since the 2021 Australian Open.
Toyota Motor vehicles displayed for sale at one of the company's dealerships in Tokyo. The carmaker reported operating income of ¥1.17 trillion in the first quarter, down 11% from a year earlier.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 7, 2025

Toyota braces for ¥1.4 trillion dent in operating income under U.S. tariffs

The carmaker reported operating income of ¥1.17 trillion in the first quarter, down 11% from a year earlier, with a tariff impact of ¥450 billion.
“ChaO” is a romantic comedy centered on a mild-mannered human and a mermaid princess. A spin on Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid,” the animated film takes place in a near-future Shanghai.
CULTURE / Film
Aug 8, 2025

Futuristic mermaid tale ‘ChaO’ makes a splash

Yasuhiro Aoki’s feature film debut reimagines “The Little Mermaid” in vibrant detail.
Now part of the city of Kitakyushu, the former castle town of Kokura, its collection of retro architecture and many of its inhabitants were once targeted for atomic catastrophe that eventually befell the population of Nagasaki to the south.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Aug 9, 2025

A walk through Kokura, the city spared nuclear destruction

Now part of the industrial sprawl of Kitakyushu, the city was originally meant to suffer the destruction that would eventually befall Nagasaki to the south.
It may look like U.S. President Donald Trump is winning his trade war, but analysts say significant hurdles remain.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Aug 8, 2025

Trump may look like he's winning the trade war, but hurdles remain

Some recent data indicate the tariffs are already affecting jobs, growth and inflation in the U.S.
Palestinians sit on a hill looking out over the Mediterranean Sea and a camp for displaced people in Gaza City on June 2.
WORLD
Aug 8, 2025

'How much worse could it get?' Gazans fear full Israeli occupation

Fear and despair have spread in the enclave amid rumors that Israel might decide on a full occupation of Gaza.
The government revised its real growth projection for fiscal year 2025 to 0.7%, down from the previous forecast of 1.2%.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 8, 2025

Japan lowers this year’s growth forecast as tariffs kick in

The downgrade partly reflects a darkening global economic outlook as a result of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.
Stephen Miran, in a paper he co-authored last year for the Manhattan Institute, laid out a case for increasing presidential control of the Fed board, including by shortening members' terms.
BUSINESS
Aug 8, 2025

Trump picks Stephen Miran to fill open spot on Fed board

Miran, who has called for a complete overhaul of the Fed's governance, would take over from Fed Governor Adriana Kugler following her surprise resignation last week.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's lowest wartime trust rating was 52% in December 2024, according to Kyiv's leading pollster.
WORLD
Aug 8, 2025

Ukrainians' trust in Zelenskyy dips after wartime protests, pollster finds

Zelenskyy's move to curb the power of anti-corruption watchdogs fueled public discontent.
The FBI is firing another round of employees who worked on issues that drew U.S. President Donald Trump's ire.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 8, 2025

FBI ousts former acting director and others in latest purge, people briefed say

The firings are the latest move by the FBI to remove officials who worked on issues that drew backlash from U.S. President Donald Trump.
A person holds a Binance cryptocurrencies QR code at a store in La Paz, Bolivia. Binance is favored in the country for its low fees and educational resources for new users.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 8, 2025

In land of 25% inflation, crypto is starting to replace money in Bolivia

From small coffee shops to large corporations, signs of cryptocurrencies being rapidly adoption are everywhere in the landlocked nation of 11 million in South America.
Ben Shelton celebrates with his father, former ATP player Bryan Shelton, after his win in the ATP Candian Open final in Toronto on Thursday.
TENNIS
Aug 8, 2025

Ben Shelton captures first ATP Masters title in Toronto

Toronto marks the third career title for Shelton after victories in Tokyo in 2023 and Houston in 2024.
A game ball with the WNBA Commissioner's Cup logo sits on the court during a game between the Valkyries and Lynx at Chase Center in San Francisco.
BASKETBALL
Aug 8, 2025

WNBA sex toy incidents linked to cryptocurrency group

The group has claimed that their memecoin's goal was to combat a "toxic" environment in the cryptocurrency world and insisted that its members did not "dislike women's sports.
A Chinese warship takes part in a military drill off the Chinese coast near Fuzhou, Fujian Province, across from the Taiwan-controlled Matsu Islands, China, in April 2023.  Recent Chinese military drills have seen its vessels encircle Taiwan.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 8, 2025

Simulated Chinese blockade of Taiwan reveals Singapore as lifeline

Singapore's discreet and decades-old security presence inside Taiwan gives it an edge among Southeast Asian nations, which have close to a million of their nationals on the island.
A model of the upgraded Mogami-class frigate is displayed at the Defense Security Equipment International Japan exhibition at Makuhari Messe in Chiba on May 21.
EDITORIALS
Aug 8, 2025

The Japan-Australia frigate deal is more than a weapons pact

The scale of the agreement is sweeping. Japan has never before won a bid this size.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump meet at the Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires in December 2018. Xi is blending Maoist resolve with pragmatic diplomacy in his foreign policy.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Aug 8, 2025

Xi steals a page from Mao’s foreign-policy playbook

Xi foreign policy blends Maoist ideology, pragmatic statecraft and strategic patience as he advances anti-corruption efforts and selectively cooperates with the U.S.
Recent heat waves and little rain may impact the rice harvest in Japan that typically starts in late summer, at a time when rice supplies have already been strained by adverse weather in recent years.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2025

Japan’s rice crop at risk as farms face record-breaking heat

Weather extremes may impact the harvest that typically starts in late summer, at a time when rice supplies have already been strained by adverse weather in recent years.
Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi is helped out of the SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft on board the SpaceX recovery ship Shannon after he and other crew members landed in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, California, on Saturday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 10, 2025

Four astronauts home from space station after splashdown

The spacecraft carrying U.S. astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan's Takuya Onishi and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov splashed down off California's coast at 8:44 a.m.
U.S. President Donald Trump walks from Marine One to Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Aug. 1.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 9, 2025

Trump rattles Latin America by eyeing military force against drug cartels

The approach discards the previous administration's preference for carrots over sticks to coax countries into alignment with U.S. interests.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on July 14.
BUSINESS / Markets / FOCUS
Aug 9, 2025

The hottest new credit deals in Europe are anything to do with defense

There are few investing booms in the world right now that are bigger than the rush to tap into Europe’s military buildup.
Victoria Mboko gives a speech after winning the Canadian Open as runner-up Naomi Osaka looks on, at IGA Stadium in Montreal on Thursday.
TENNIS
Aug 9, 2025

Montreal protagonists Mboko and Osaka out of Cincinnati Open

Mboko cited the wrist injury she suffered in the semifinals, while four-time Grand Slam winner Osaka blamed a "schedule change" for her absence.
The Republic of Nauru is one of the world's smallest nations, with a total landmass of just 21 square kilometers.
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 9, 2025

Pacific microstate sells first passports to fund climate action

The remote Pacific nation has approved just six applicants since early this year, but officials say interest in joining the low-lying, largely barren island is increasing.
Former astronaut Jim Lovell talks about his historic space flights in Cape Canaveral, Florida, in April 2010
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 9, 2025

Jim Lovell, commander of NASA's Apollo 13 moon mission, dies at 97

The mission nearly ended in disaster but became an inspirational saga of survival and endurance and led to the hit Hollywood movie starring Tom Hanks.
A protest in solidarity with children in Gaza in Berlin
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Aug 9, 2025

As Gaza faces starvation, reluctant Germany starts to curb support for Israel

The shift reflects how Germany's support for Israel, rooted in its historical guilt over the Nazi Holocaust, is being tested like never before.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a press briefing in Kyiv in May.
WORLD
Aug 10, 2025

Europe stresses need to protect Ukrainian interests ahead of Trump-Putin talks

Trump plans to meet Putin in Alaska on Friday, saying the parties, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, were close to a deal.
Einav Zangauker, mother of Israeli hostage Matan Zangauker, sits on the shoulders of Michel Illouz, father of deceased hostage Guy Illouz, as they attend a demonstration in Tel Aviv on Saturday calling for the release of hostages.
WORLD
Aug 10, 2025

Thousands rally in Tel Aviv against Netanyahu’s new Gaza plan

A day earlier, Israeli officials had decided to seize Gaza City, expanding military operations in the devastated Palestinian territory.
An Afghan woman walks next to a pile of trash full of plastic bags in Kabul.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Aug 10, 2025

Momentum sagging at U.N. plastic pollution treaty talks

The negotiations have four working days left to strike a legally-binding instrument that would tackle the growing problem choking the environment.
Terumi Tanaka (left), co-chair of Nihon Hidankyo, and Jorgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, hold a news conference in Tokyo on July 27.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2025

Nagasaki atomic bomb survivor calls on young people to inspire movement

"The era of hibakusha themselves working to share their experiences and talking about nuclear weapons is coming to an end," 93-year-old Terumi Tanaka said.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years