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Palestinians gather to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Dec. 4.
WORLD
Dec 31, 2024

As Gaza suffers, experts call on hunger monitor to redefine famine

Many food-security experts, aid workers and doctors say famine took hold in Gaza many months ago.
An undated photo of a poster in a window promoting shows at Lincoln Center by Shen Yun, which in its 2023-2024 season performed more than 800 times on five continents, in New York. Over the past decade, the dance group Shen Yun Performing Arts has made money at a staggering rate in large part by getting followers of the Falun Gong religious movement to work for free and pay its bills.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 31, 2024

How Shen Yun tapped religious fervor to make $266 million

Shen Yun’s success flows in part from its ability to pack venues worldwide — while exploiting young, low-paid performers with little regard for their health or well-being.
Opium is harvested from poppies in Bang Laem Village, Shan State, Myanmar.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Dec 31, 2024

Drugs, scams and sin: Myanmar’s war has made it the global crime capital

Growing opium poppies is illegal in Myanmar, but small-scale farmers see it is a relatively low-risk cash crop.
A man offers prayers at Hebikubo Shrine in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward. The shrine is one of several across the country dedicated to the snake.
LIFE / Lifestyle / Longform
Jan 1, 2025

Shed your skin and reinvent yourself in the Year of the Snake

The Year of the Snake is characterized by wisdom, calm and steady progress. It urges introspection, calculated moves and a journey of reinvention.
Tonoike Sake Brewery has been gearing their brewery toward tourism since the late 1980s, attempting to lure tourists to the town of Mashiko.
LIFE / Travel
Jan 3, 2025

Traveling for sake's sake: The emergence of brewery tourism in Japan

While sake consumption has declined in Japan, breweries across the nation are taking advantage of a rise in overseas interest to promote themselves as tourist destinations.
A man pushes a cart along Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles
WORLD / Society
Jan 4, 2025

Ahead of Trump term, U.S. cities grapple with homelessness

The crisis worsened with the end of pandemic-related aid, and are driven by a lack of affordable housing, as well as inflation and low wages.
DOPS Director Dr. Jim Tucker (back row, from left), David Acunzo, Marina Weiler, Philip Cozzolino (front row, from left) Marieta Pehlivanova and Elliot Gish, pose for a photo on the campus of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, on July 15. Is reincarnation real? Is communication from the "beyond” possible? A small set of academics are trying to find out, case by case.
WORLD / Society
Jan 4, 2025

Do you believe in life after death? These scientists study it.

Is reincarnation real? Is communication from the “beyond” possible? A small set of academics are trying to find out, case by case.
Many Japanese dating apps have ways to detail specific interests that can be as narrow as one particular TV show, game or an artist.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 7, 2025

Swiping in Japan: How Gen Z is changing the dating app game

The once-stigmatized apps are flourishing as a new normal for dating among Gen Z in Japan, albeit with a different approach to before.
Rescue teams work amidst rubble in the aftermath of an earthquake in a location given as Shigatse City, Tibet Autonomous Region, China, in this still image obtained from a handout video released Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 8, 2025

Urgency mounts in search for survivors of Tibet earthquake

Survivors trapped under rubble will have endured a night in subzero temperatures and be at risk of succumbing to hypothermia and dehydration.
Migrants queue to board a bus that will take them to a shelter after turning themselves in to agents of Mexico's National Institute of Migration to look for a permit which would allow them to cross the country and reach the northern border with the U.S., in Tapachula, Mexico, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 9, 2025

Anxious but undeterred, migrants brace for Trump presidency

Trump has pledged tougher border controls and immigration enforcement and to launch a mass deportation operation.
Rescuers inspect a damaged house following a powerful earthquake that struck Shigatse in southwestern China's Tibet region on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 9, 2025

Focus shifts to Tibet earthquake survivors as search called off

An initial tally on Tuesday night showed at least 126 people had been killed and 188 injured, according to Chinese state media.
Mark Zuckerberg, then chief executive of Facebook, appears at a joint U.S. Senate Judiciary and Commerce Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington in April 2018.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 11, 2025

Inside Mark Zuckerberg’s sprint to remake Meta for the Trump era

The highly unusual overhaul of the firm's speech policies came after the Meta CEO visited U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in November.
It's back to the classroom for some residents as municipal governments across the country conduct lessons to learn how to use new technologies.
LIFE / Lifestyle / Longform
Jan 13, 2025

Can aging Japan go digital without leaving anyone behind?

Amid a push to digitalize, some experts believe citizens should have the right to stay offline.
The TikTok logo is displayed outside the offices of the social media app's company offices in Culver City, California, in 2023.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 14, 2025

China discusses sale of TikTok U.S. to Elon Musk as possible option

Under one scenario that’s been discussed by the Chinese government, Musk’s X would take control of TikTok U.S. and run the businesses together.
An aerial photograph taken on Monday shows inflatable dinghies and outboard engines stored in a Port Authority yard in Dover, southeast England, that are believed to have been used by migrants who were picked up at sea while crossing the English Channel from France.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 14, 2025

Fortress Europe: What will migration policy look like in 2025?

Some countries in Europe are calling for the rules fast-tracking asylum processes and returns to be sharpened or implemented sooner.
A man stops at a site near a sports center in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, China, where a deadly car attack in November killed 35 people.  
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 14, 2025

China's rising violence that could lead to foreign aggression

While China does have social welfare programs, the current economic system provides insufficient resources for the working class and unemployed individuals.
Firefighters walk next to the remains of beachfront houses that burnt down in the Palisades Fire, in Malibu, California, on Thursday.
WORLD
Jan 17, 2025

Los Angeles evacuees told not to go home for at least another week

Emergency responders are removing toxic waste from incinerated neighborhoods and cutting off electricity and gas lines that pose a hazard amid the ruins.
Children pray for the victims of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake during an early morning ceremony to mark the 30th anniversary of the quake, in Kobe on Friday.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 17, 2025

30th anniversary of Hanshin quake marked with desire to pass on lessons

Hyogo Prefecture is also calling on the central government to pick Kansai as the base of a new disaster relief agency currently in the works.
U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden walk across the South Lawn of the White House in Washington in August 2022, after returning from a trip to Kentucky.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 18, 2025

How Biden’s inner circle protected a faltering president

“Your biggest issue is the perception of age,” Mike Donilon, the president’s longtime strategist, told him in 2022, according to people who heard him.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump greet each other at a campaign event sponsored by conservative group Turning Point USA, in Duluth, Georgia, in October.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 18, 2025

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sought to stop COVID-19 shots six months after rollout

Donald Trump's pick to lead U.S. health agencies, petitioned the FDA to revoke authorization of the shots at a time when they were in high demand and considered life-saving.
Transparent Display installed at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building
JAPAN / Society
Jan 31, 2025

Smoother communication breaking barriers in Tokyo with Transparent Display

The Transparent Display can translate and project the text in 32 different languages.
Animated series “Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi” premiered on Cartoon Network on Nov. 29, 2004, and ran for three seasons. The show is based on real-life J-pop band Puffy.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Jan 24, 2025

The cartoon chaos of ‘Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi’ was ahead of its time

Love for the J-pop duo’s zany Cartoon Network series has endured online for over 20 years since its premiere.
U.S. airmen and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency personnel prepare to load undocumented migrants onto a C-17 Globemaster III at Tucson International Airport in Tucson, Arizona, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 25, 2025

Trump deploys visible military force to launch migrant crackdown

Long done in the shadows, Trump’s administration is releasing photos and videos of authorities herding migrants onto C-17s, military planes.
The Tiffany & Co. store on Fifth Avenue in New York in 2023
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 28, 2025

Tiffany workers mock forced 'joy' that exacerbated staff exits

When Tiffany & Co. executives were looking for ways to boost staff morale, they rolled out an internal social app called "Tiffany Joy.” It didn’t take long to turn into a chore.
Though vegan restaurants have been on the upswing since 2017, Japanese vegans still lack a wide variety of options.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
Jan 29, 2025

In meat- and fish-loving Japan, veganism is making a comeback

Tourism, climate goals and animal rights concerns are sparking a plant-based renaissance in a country famous for sushi and pork ramen.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the White House in Washington on Thursday about the midair crash between an American Airlines plane and a military helicopter.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 31, 2025

Trump blames diversity programs over midair collision

The crash was nation's most deadly commercial airline accident in over a decade.
The first official government survey of Hokkaido backcountry skiing could spell changes for trails in the northern prefecture.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Feb 1, 2025

First official survey set to change backcountry Hokkaido skiing

From October 2024, the land ministry has been gathering opinions on Hokkaido’s alpine adventurers with an eye toward increased support and safety for off-piste enthusiasts.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents walk down a street during a multi-agency targeted enforcement operation in Chicago, Illinois on Jan. 26.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 1, 2025

TikTok influencers leverage power of gossip to thwart ICE raids

They say that as authorities ramp up raids in the early days of the Trump administration, they’re trying to inform migrants of their rights.
The Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, also called the Chinese Six Companies, formed in San Francisco in 1882, was a unifying umbrella organization for immigrant associations, becoming one of the first such influential community advocacy groups in America.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2025

America versus China, the troubling prequel

A forthcoming book details the horrific experience of Chinese immigrants in the U.S. in the 19th century. Is it an omen for the future?
The Osaka Expo site on Yumeshima island in December. A survey of 3,000 people from across Japan conducted in October by the Mitsubishi Research Institute showed that just 24% of respondents expressed an interest in attending the Osaka Expo.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 4, 2025

Excitement for the Osaka Expo is low. Can organizers build hype?

A little over two months before it opens, the Osaka Expo is just about ready to welcome guests from Japan and the rest of the world — that is, if they are ready to come.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’