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A barista fills a customer’s order at a Starbucks in Odessa, Texas. Starbucks has more than 16,000 locations in the United States, including this one in Odessa.
BUSINESS
Sep 10, 2024

A funnel cake macchiato anyone? The coffee wars are heating up.

From the giant Starbucks to small coffee shops, the battle is on for who can come up with the craziest, calorie-laden, not-really-coffee drink.
From Malaysia to Brazil, free speech is being pitted against social media regulation.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 11, 2024

To hold Big Tech accountable, focus on the harms

The Malaysian case underscores the urgent need for effective safeguards against online abuse, while raising concerns about the potential misuse of regulatory power.
Cosplayer Xu Yunting (left), dressed as Jesse, a male character from the video game Light and Night, and video game enthusiast Feng Xinyu visit a crafts shop during their 'cos commissioning' date in Shanghai.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Sep 11, 2024

'Dream men': Female cosplayers in China fulfill fantasies for young women

A trend called "cos commissioning" is allowing young women in China to perform idealized heteronormative relationships — with other women.
The Kangei Maru, a 9,300-ton whaling mothership, was launched in May.
JAPAN
Sep 11, 2024

Japan shows first commercial fin whale catch in 48 years

The country this year added the fin whale to a catch list that already includes minke, Bryde's and sei whales.
When it comes to a career in cuisine, chef Andreas Fuchs thinks newcomers will know within three months whether they want to commit to it or not.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Sep 12, 2024

Andreas Fuchs: ‘I love that no two days are the same’

As the Grand Hyatt Tokyo’s executive chef, Andreas Fuchs is responsible for overseeing extensive menus across multiple venues.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivers a speech in Pyongyang in a photo released Tuesday.
JAPAN
Sep 12, 2024

North Korea looks to keep itself on U.S. agenda with missile launches

The launches came just a day after U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris assailed former President Donald Trump for his "love letters" with North Korea's Kim Jong Un.
Historical examples show that technological advances often lead to significant but gradual changes, sometimes accompanied by social and economic disruptions.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 12, 2024

Will the AI revolution lead to greater prosperity?

Historical examples show that technological advances often lead to significant but gradual changes, sometimes accompanied by social and economic disruptions.
Swallows star Norichika Aoki announced his plan to retire on Friday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Sep 13, 2024

Swallows great Norichika Aoki to retire

Veteran Tokyo Yakult Swallows outfielder Norichika Aoki, one of the best hitters Japan has ever seen, plans to retire at the end of this season, he announced on Friday.
An MUFG Bank branch in Tokyo. The bank is stepping up its electronic trading capabilities.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 13, 2024

MUFG pushes to bring its trading into electronic age, except JGBs

MUFG is catching up to rivals, vying to become more competitive across fixed income and equities where electronic trading has taken hold.
A CH-148 Cyclone helicopter and a CP-140 Aurora maritime patrol aircraft fly over the Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Winnipeg in the Asia-Pacific region in November 2020. Canada has been gradually boosting its military engagement with Asian partners.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2024

Canada and Japan aiming to rapidly expand defense ties

Canadian Defense Minister Bill Blair has said he thinks there are "unlimited areas of cooperation" between the two countries.
World Anti-Doping Agency President Witold Banka attends the World Anti-Doping Agency Symposium in Lausanne, Switzerland, on March 12, 2024.
MORE SPORTS
Sep 13, 2024

Report clears WADA in doping case involving Chinese swimmers

The report's author, Swiss prosecutor Eric Cottier, said he found "WADA has done its work autonomously, independently and professionally."
Activists hold up symbolic eye masks during a protest against deepfake porn in Seoul on Aug. 30.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 13, 2024

South Korea is facing deepfake porn crisis

The industry creating AI technology must develop safeguards to address this epidemic.
The Baden-Württemberg frigate and a support vessel sailed through the strait on Friday, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said at a news conference in Berlin.
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 14, 2024

Germany sails first warship through Taiwan Strait in 22 years

The move defied Chinese warnings as relations between the two sides fray over trade and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
"Nightbitch," which premiered at the Toronto film festival on Sept. 7, stars Amy Adams (center) as Mother, an artist who becomes a harried stay-at-home mom caring for a boisterous toddler.
CULTURE / Film
Sep 14, 2024

Amy Adams gets real about motherhood in 'Nightbitch'

The film explores various facets of motherhood — the wonder and joy, but also the darkness and exhaustion — using equal doses of comedy, drama and magical realism.
Family members mourn and react next to the coffin of the slain Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei at the Moi Teaching & Referral Hospital (MTRH) funeral home, in Eldoret, Kenya, on Friday.
MORE SPORTS / Athletics
Sep 14, 2024

Uganda buries slain Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei with full military honors

Rebecca Cheptegei suffered burns to 80% of her body after her former boyfriend allegedly doused her in petrol and set her alight.
While short-term disruptions like inflation are easing, the European Union faces long-term challenges including rising security risks, a widening productivity gap with the U.S. and an innovation deficit.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 15, 2024

Europe needs a new economic vision

The global economic shocks of the past few years have left Europe particularly vulnerable.
Solar panels and wind turbines at a power plant in Hami in China's Xinjiang region. The U.S. and other countries have described China’s actions against Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region, a key cog in the cleantech supply chain, as a genocidal campaign aimed at erasing an entire culture.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Sep 16, 2024

How China’s dominance of solar and batteries is impacting Japan’s energy transition

China has thrown its industrial might behind cleantech, putting Japan in a tough spot as it weighs human rights concerns against its climate targets.
Hiroyuki Sanada and the cast and crew of "Shogun" accept the award for best drama series at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, California.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Sep 16, 2024

‘Shogun’ and the painstaking art of ‘getting it right’

The Emmys-sweeping period drama went to great lengths to achieve historical accuracy — but that's just one piece of a bigger puzzle.
The real significance of Brussels' case against Apple is that it will increase pressure to reform how multinationals allocate their profits globally and are taxed.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 15, 2024

Ireland struck it rich with Apple. Others struck it poor.

The Apple case highlights the need for global tax reforms to ensure multinationals pay taxes where they operate, benefiting countries beyond just Ireland.
The core issue holding back the quicker adoption of electric vehicles is the high cost and complexity of installing DC fast chargers, essential for quick EV refueling.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 15, 2024

EV charging faces deeper problems than we realize

The core issue holding back the quicker adoption of electric vehicles is the high cost and complexity of installing DC fast chargers, essential for quick EV refueling.
Former tennis player Andre Agassi (right) presents the U.S. Open trophy to Jannik Sinner in Flushing Meadows, New York, on Sept. 8.
TENNIS
Sep 17, 2024

The key to Agassi’s reentry: Don’t be too busy, and don’t be too bored

One minute, the former player was in the tennis wilderness in Nevada. The next, he was at the Australian Open.
The Osaka Expo site under construction. One of the key items to be showcased at the expo will be a rock from Mars collected by a Japanese Antarctic research expedition.
JAPAN
Sep 17, 2024

Mars rock to go on display at 2025 Osaka Expo

The rock, the largest Martian meteorite ever found, is significant because it suggests water once existed on Mars.
A man walks in the Hong Kong's Central Financial District on March 15.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 17, 2024

Hong Kong preparing policy statement for artificial intelligence in finance

The guidelines are intended to signal support for the technology, while local regulators try to address its use amid the U.S.-Chinese technology conflict.
A mongoose on a road in Nago, northern Okinawa, in December 2022. The mongoose was first introduced to Japan in Naha in 1910 for the purpose of exterminating the local habu snakes and rats.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Sep 23, 2024

After Amami-Oshima success, Okinawa's mongoose eradication in focus

Okinawa island's much bigger resident population makes it a challenge to get rid of the animal.
In China, discussing feminism is apparently forbidden, as seen with the controversy over the maker of Black Myth: Wukong censoring feminist topics during streaming, despite its global success and praise for visuals and gameplay. 
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 30, 2024

Wukong makes equal rights for women a taboo topic

Women are increasingly active consumers in the gaming industry: The growth rate of new female gamers in Asia is nearly double that of males.
Japan's export growth slowed sharply in August as shipments to the United States dropped for the first time in three years.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 18, 2024

Japan’s export growth slows as external demand moderates

Imports climbed 2.3%, falling short of the 15% gain forecast by economists, with trade deficit widening to ¥695.3 billion.
Marina Tsukada’s “Mitsuki, Sekai” features young nonprofessional actors in the director’s native Nagano Prefecture as their characters mature from childhood to adulthood.
CULTURE / Film
Sep 19, 2024

Intimate and revelatory, ‘Mitsuki, Sekai’ explores the quiet trials of girlhood

Marina Tsukada’s anthology feature containing two unconnected short films lays bare the inner lives of young Japanese women in unexpected ways.
Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy speaks during a news conference ahead of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club in England on Wednesday.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
Sep 19, 2024

McIlroy says players among hurdles to PGA Tour-PIF deal

The four-time major champion said there were different opinions among all the players about the best way forward.
Typhoon Yagi approaches Huizhou, China, on Sept. 5.
ENVIRONMENT
Sep 19, 2024

Historic rainfall inflicts chaotic floods across four continents

Though different meteorological phenomena are behind the series of storms, climate scientists agree an underlying factor is global warming writ large.
Google's lucrative ad tech business attracted EU regulatory scrutiny last year following a complaint from the European Publishers Council.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 19, 2024

EU publishers snubbed Google's offer to sell part of ad tech biz: sources

The European publishers deemed Google's offer to divest its advertising marketplace AdX as insufficient.

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