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While Magic: The Gathering is popular with card game aficionados the world over, the community in Japan is split along some unexpected lines.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 23, 2023

Diehards and casuals clash in Tokyo’s Magic: The Gathering community

The Commander format is widely popular across Europe and the United States, but Japan’s Magic community hasn’t quite followed the same path.
Saeed Al-Shorbaji, the supervisor of Nasser hospital's morgue, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip in November. He was killed in an Israeli airstrike in early December.
WORLD / Society
Dec 22, 2023

As Gaza death toll hits 20,000, many fear the true count is higher

Only bodies identified or claimed by relatives are included in the official figures, and thousands more are believed to be buried beneath the rubble.
Holiday classic "Tokyo Godfathers" centers on three homeless people who have formed a makeshift family.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 23, 2023

Satoshi Kon’s unexpected anime classic for the holidays

The late director and animator's "Tokyo Godfathers" celebrates 20 years with new screenings.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2023

Some foreign fourth generation descendants of Japanese to be given long-term residency

The Immigration Services Agency will revise the residency status system to allow such people to effectively stay in Japan indefinitely.
Competitors play "Warships" at Squid Game: The Trials, Netflixユs new attraction in Los Angeles on Nov. 28, 2023. For $30, fans can compete in some 70 minutes of play, with moral twists and six group activities, including nonlethal versions of the showユs challenges.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Dec 13, 2023

Netflix builds a ‘Squid Game’ universe as it awaits a second season

A reality show and a live experience are two ways of keeping the dystopian series in the public eye. Is the original’s bleak message being diluted?
Well-wishers light candles as people mourn the lives lost in Thursday's mass shooting, outside Charles University in Prague on Friday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Dec 23, 2023

After Czech mass shooting, shock, grief and a focus on guns

As police Friday scrutinized online threats of copycat attacks, students at Charles University proposed a simple way to prevent any recurrence: ban guns.
A member of the Israeli security forces inspects humanitarian aid trucks arriving from Egypt on the Israeli side of the Kerem Shalom border crossing with the southern Gaza Strip on Friday.
WORLD
Dec 24, 2023

Without a truce, U.N. resolution may do little for Gaza, aid groups say

Humanitarian assistance is "impossible" to deploy in an active combat zone, they said.
In writing "Climate Capitalism: Winning the Global Race to Zero Emissions," journalist Akshat Rathi said his goal was to try and determine where climate solutions are being built and uncover the challenges that they face.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / OUR PLANET
Dec 24, 2023

Finding crucial solutions in a time of climate crisis

Journalist Akshat Rathi explores the economic side of the emergency in his book ‘Climate Capitalism.'
Workers plow a field at the site of an economic land concession outside Praeus K'ak village in Cambodia's Preah Vihear province on Dec. 6.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 24, 2023

'Doom for forests': Fears over new Cambodia land grants

Thousands are affected by economic land concessions (ELCs) — land grants to businesses that experts say have driven deforestation and dispossession.
A designer at work at Vietnamese internet firm VNG in Ho Chi Minh City
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 24, 2023

'Beyond our borders': Vietnam tech firm VNG takes on world best

Beyond gaming, VNG also dabbles in fintech and AI, with a mission to show the world what Vietnam and its engineers are capable of.
A flare falls over Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 25, 2023

Palestinians feel 'no joy' as Israel bombs Gaza on Christmas

Festivities were effectively scrapped in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, with few worshippers or tourists on the usually packed streets.
French police evict migrants from a squat in a disused industrial building not far from the Paris 2024 Olympic Village in Ile-Saint-Denis, near Paris, in April.
WORLD / Society
Dec 25, 2023

Asylum-seekers and Roma evicted from Paris squats ahead of Olympics

Advocates and some officials say the evictions appear to be a policy aimed at beautifying the area for the sporting event.
A woman holding an umbrella walks near a fluttering Taiwanese flag outside the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall in Taipei in November.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Dec 25, 2023

What’s at stake in Taiwan’s January presidential election?

Depending on the outcome, the closely watched vote could have markedly different security and economic implications for the entire region.
Damaged buildings following the earthquake in Jishishan county, in China:s Gansu province on Dec. 20. Many of the homes destroyed in the quake were made of earth-wood or brick-wood structures.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 25, 2023

Two still missing a week after China quake as death toll rises to 149

Many of the homes destroyed were built from an earlier era with poor defenses against earthquakes, local authorities say.
Kazuhiro Araki, head of the Investigation Commission on Missing Japanese Probably Related to North Korea (COMJAN), said that the issue of abductions would not be resolved unless the government put the unrecognized abductees on its official list and negotiated with North Korea.
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2023

Families seek reunion with kin possibly abducted to North Korea

Their advanced age and a lack of information about the missing cause them increasing frustrations.
While harsh comments from older generations can sometimes be seen as rude, consider instead that they’re often trying to teach us something they hold on to.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 26, 2023

A survival guide for your first Japanese-style at-home New Year’s

Meeting your partner’s Japanese family for the New Year’s holidays? Here are some do’s and don’ts for an ‘oshōgatsu’ success story.
Bottled and canned cocktails are predicted to be worth $21.1 billion (about ¥3 trillion) in the U.S. alone by 2027.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 31, 2023

Are canned cocktails poised for a meteoric U.S. rise?

The bottled and canned cocktail market is predicted to be worth $21.1 billion (about ¥3 trillion) in the U.S. alone by 2027.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
WORLD / Politics
Dec 26, 2023

Civilians in Gaza navigating 'human chessboard,' says U.N. official

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the fight against Hamas militants amid international pressure to reduce harm to civilians.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III in 2021. The U.S. military carried out strikes on three sites used by Iran-backed forces in Iraq on Dec. 25 after an attack wounded American personnel earlier that day, Austin has said.
WORLD
Dec 26, 2023

U.S. launches strikes on Iran-backed militants in Iraq after attack

The report comes amid fears of broader conflict in the region, the same day an Israeli air strike in Syria was said to have killed an Iranian commander.
Demonstrators rally against COVID-19 vaccine mandates in Buffalo, New York, in February 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 26, 2023

It’s past time scientists admitted their COVID-19 mistakes

In 2019, 13% of Americans were distrustful enough to say they weren’t confident in scientists to act in the public’s best interest. Now it is 27%.
A pedestrian walks past a theatre promoting the "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" show in the West End district of London in 2020.
WORLD / Society
Dec 27, 2023

Researchers draw on Harry Potter to magic future AI into our world

The books’ enduring influence, wide range of language and complex wordplay make them particularly valuable for work on generative artificial intelligence.
Netanyahu said Israel would not succeed in freeing the remaining hostages held by Hamas without applying military pressure.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 27, 2023

Israel launches more Gaza strikes as Netanyahu says Hamas must be destroyed

Israeli military said its air force carried out a strike against 100 Hamas targets, including tunnel shafts, to assist ground forces in Gazan suburb.
Watanabe has made shapes of (from left) a monkey, an elephant and a giraffe by folding oak leaves with his hands.
CULTURE / Art / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Jan 8, 2024

Kumamoto artist embodies re-evaluation of 'outsider art’ in Japan

Dubbed a "genius autistic paper cutout artist," Yoshihiro Watanabe's works are now being alongside those by trained artists.
The iconic structure with its shell-shaped roof at Bennelong Point in Sydney is a source of immense pride for many Australians.
CULTURE / Art
Dec 27, 2023

Yuzo Mikami: The unsung hero behind the Sydney Opera House

On the building's 50th anniversary, those with memories and knowledge of the Japanese architect say recognition of his achievements is long-overdue.
A Ukrainian soldier looks out from a tank as he holds his position near to the town of Bakhmut, in Ukraine's Donetsk region, on Dec. 13.
COMMENTARY / The Year Ahead
Dec 28, 2023

The battles Ukraine has already won

Many of the nation's key victories began long before Russia’s latest assault.
Xi Jinping
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 27, 2023

Xi touts alternative to Western capitalism in speech on Mao

Xi described "Chinese modernization” as "a cause passed down from veteran revolutionaries including Mao Zedong.”
Supporters hoist a giant Taiwan national flag during a campaign rally for Kuomintang ahead of Taiwan's presidential election, in Taipei on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 27, 2023

Whisky and a coal 'shack': Taiwan election is not only about China

The candidates are exchanging blows over everything from property disputes to whether drinking whiskey is out of touch.
As president of Japan's largest opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, Kenta Izumi has the unenviable task of mounting a challenge against the ruling coalition led by the Liberal Democratic Party.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 28, 2023

Amid LDP woes, a familiar question reappears: Is the opposition ready?

Faced with a divided opposition and voter skepticism, CDP President Kenta Izumi says he is looking to adopt a stronger tone.
Relatives mourn a loved one killed during Israeli bombardment at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis on the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
WORLD
Dec 28, 2023

Gaza deaths soar in Israel-Hamas war as WHO warns of 'acute hunger'

Explosions lit up the sky over the Khan Yunis — a focus of heavy urban combat since the Israeli army said it had largely gained control over Gaza's north.
Masimo's headquarters in Irvine, California. The U.S. International Trade Commission ruled earlier this year that the Apple Watch violates two Masimo patents related to blood-oxygen sensing and imposed an import ban on the Ultra 2 and Series 9 models.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 28, 2023

The email to Tim Cook that set the Apple watch saga in motion

Masimo, based in Irvine, California, is the rare company to wound Apple in a patent dispute.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami