Search - 2021

 
 
Tesla CEO Elon Mus joins former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a campaign rally at the site of the first assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 5.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 4, 2024

The growing shadow of big money in U.S. politics

Changes in federal election law have made it easier for candidates like Donald Trump to trade influence for donations.
Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a live interview with U.S. commentator Tucker Carlson in the finale of the Tucker Carlson Live Tour at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 4, 2024

Election falsehoods take off on Youtube as it looks the other way

The largest video platform has become a home for election conspiracy theories, half-truths and lies, which provide it with revenue.
Smoke billows from a chimney at a combined-cycle gas turbine power plant in Drogenbos, Belgium, on Dec. 6, 2023.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 4, 2024

The world promised to tame methane, but emissions are still rising

World leaders and fossil fuel executives have declared tackling methane — and doing so quickly — a crucial priority.
An experiment by NITE shows an oil heater catching fire from leaked kerosene.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 5, 2024

Consumers urged to check heater safety ahead of winter accident surge

Past incidents typically surged in November and peaked in December, with elevated levels of heater-related accidents continuing through April.
Operators respond to telephone directory inquiries from Tokyo at a call center in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, in October 1997.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Nov 11, 2024

As NTT ends its Dial 104 service, Okinawa's call centers look elsewhere

Naha and Nago were home to Japan's biggest call center operations, receiving around 125,000 calls a day at their peak in 1999.
Saitama Gov. Motohiro Ono (right) and others call on users to stand still on the escalator in the city of Saitama in September.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 6, 2024

Stop walking on escalators, local Japanese authorities say

Prefectures and cities are using legislation or exploring other measures to discourage pedestrians from walking on escalators in the interest of safety.
Astronauts Ayu Yoneda (left) and Makoto Suwa at a news conference in Tokyo on Oct. 23
JAPAN
Nov 6, 2024

New Japanese astronauts see moon landing as real possibility

Under the Artemis international lunar exploration program, Yoneda and Suwa, may become the first Japanese to land on the moon as early as the late 2020s.
Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump points to supporters as he holds hands with his wife, Melania, before claiming victory in the 2024 U.S. presidential election during a rally at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 7, 2024

Trump defeats Harris, returning U.S. to era of uncertainty

Kamala Harris congratulated her rival on a win expected to have a dramatic impact on the United States' relationships with allies like Japan and rivals like China.
Workers unload a large marble Buddha statue from a truck in Mandalay, Myanmar.
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 6, 2024

The marble 'living Buddhas' trapped by Myanmar's civil war

Buddhist-majority Myanmar has been mired in bloody conflict since the military toppled the government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021.
The film character Godzilla poses on the red carpet during a ceremony to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California, in November 2004.  
COMMENTARY
Nov 6, 2024

After nearly three-quarters of a century, Godzilla’s monstrous empire is thriving

The famed Japanese monster went from serious metaphor for nuclear destruction to a kitschy pop culture icon.
Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump attends a campaign rally in Warren, Michigan, on Nov. 1.
WORLD
Nov 6, 2024

White House win gives Trump a legal reprieve

As U.S. president, the 78-year-old Trump can make the federal criminal cases facing him vanish and see the state cases put on hold.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes the stage to address supporters at his rally, at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Nov. 6.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 7, 2024

Trump 2.0: Who is in the running for top jobs in Trump's second administration?

Trump’s potential cabinet choices signal a hard-line approach, prioritizing tariffs, strict immigration policies, and assertive national security strategies.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, China's president, shake hands during a news conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Nov. 9, 2017.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 7, 2024

Xi is better prepared for Trump even as 60% tariffs risk chaos

Xi would much prefer to avoid a tariff battle that risks proving much more devastating than the first round.
Asian chipmakers, led by Taiwan's TSMC and South Korea's Samsung Electronics, have collectively invested at least $117 billion in the U.S.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 7, 2024

What's at stake for Asian companies under a Trump presidency

Trump has floated the idea of a 10% or more tariff on all goods imported into the U.S.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump managed to win the support of over 72 million Americans despite his history of trying to overturn elections, a lack of policy expertise and his authoritarian rhetoric.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 7, 2024

A Donald Trump victory: How did it come to this?

How did a convicted felon, who sought to overturn a presidential election that he decisively lost just four years ago, win the votes of more than 72 million Americans?
U.S. Steel's Clairton Coke Works facility in Clairton, Pennsylvania
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 8, 2024

Nippon Steel seeks to close U.S. Steel deal before Trump is president

Before the Nov. 5 election, which handed him victory, Donald Trump promised to block the deal if reelected.
Outgoing Komeito leader Keiichi Ishii speaks at the party's executive meeting in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 8, 2024

Komeito pins hopes on new leader after dismal electoral performance

Transport minister Tetsuo Saito, 72, is set to formally succeed party leader Keiichi Ishii.
Outgoing German Finance Minister Christian Lindner receives his dismissal certificate after being sacked by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, following a coalition crisis in the government, in Berlin on Thursday.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 8, 2024

Germany’s government puts itself out of its misery

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz sacked his Finance Minister Christian Lindner over deep rifts within the government on how to revive Germany’s ailing economy.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Sept. 19.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 9, 2024

After GOP wins, Senate Democrats eye major push to confirm Biden judges

The loss of the White House and the Senate majority will end Democrats’ ability to fill judicial vacancies come January.
Philippines' President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. attends the ASEAN-U.S. summit at the National Convention Center in Vientiane, Laos, on Oct. 11.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 9, 2024

China summons Philippine ambassador over new maritime laws

China objected to new laws in the Southeast Asian nation that asserted maritime rights over disputed areas of the South China Sea.
The Marines will make ace pitcher Roki Sasaki available to MLB teams via the posting system, the team announced on Saturday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Nov 9, 2024

Marines to allow fireballer Roki Sasaki to move to MLB via posting system

Sasaki is viewed as one of the best young pitchers in the world.
Donald Trump arrives for an election night event at the Palm Beach Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 10, 2024

Charting the global economy: Trump win reverberates around the world

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Trump’s re-election will have 'no effect' on the central bank’s policy decisions in the near-term.
A pedestrian on a bridge walks past buildings in Pudong's Lujiazui Financial District in Shanghai on Jan. 9.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 10, 2024

Foreign firms pull more money from China’s slowing economy

Should the decline continue for the rest of the year, it would be the first annual net outflow in FDI since at least 1990, when comparable data begins.
Prime Minister of Mauritius and candidate for the Militant Socialist Movement (MSM) Pravind Jugnauth (C) is surrounded by supporters during a campaign rally in Mahebourg on Oct. 20.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 10, 2024

Dynasties battle to lead Mauritius with democracy out of favor

Members of just three families have led the Indian Ocean archipelago since it gained independence from Britain in 1968.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks to reporters at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Sunday afternoon.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 11, 2024

Ishiba battles for survival in parliament vote as Trump looms large

Lawmakers were set to decide on Monday whether Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba remains the country's leader
Pedestrians walk in front of the venue for COP29 Summit in Baku on the eve of UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) on Sunday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 11, 2024

Who are the key voices at the COP29 climate summit in Baku?

The U.S., the world's second largest emitter comes to COP29 following an election that will put Donald Trump back in power in 2025.
The theft of £300,000 worth of top-grade British cheddar serves as a reminder of the quality and joy British cuisine offers, particularly through its artisanal products like cheese.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 11, 2024

The great British cheese heist gets personal

A slice of Brightwell Ash cheese serves as a reminder of the quality and joy British cuisine offers, particularly through its artisanal products like cheese.
China's finance ministry estimates "hidden debt" — or debt accumulated through local government financing vehicles — was at 14.3 trillion yuan ($2 trillion) at the end of 2023.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 11, 2024

What you need to know about China's $1.4 trillion debt package

Beijing aims to swap "hidden debt" for official debt to help local governments save hundreds of billion yuan in interest, and unclog money pipes to the real economy.
People walk along Wall Street in New York.
BUSINESS / Markets
Nov 11, 2024

Wall Street math wizards are decoding private-market returns

Decoding such illiquid investments is fraught with pitfalls, however, as many modeling mortgage bonds and derivatives before the financial crisis would testify.
Taiwanese soldiers participate in a military exercise in the Bali district of Taiwan in July last year. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s call for Taiwan to spend more on its own defense, and his complaints about its semiconductor dominance, may herald a tenser relationship.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Nov 11, 2024

Taiwan braces for Trump’s return, but much will depend on his team

U.S. support may come at a higher price and be decided on a case-by-case basis during Trump's second term.

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell