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Venezuelas President Nicolas Maduro (left) and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva greet each other before a summit in Brasilia on May 29, 2023.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 2, 2024

Maduro’s crackdown thrusts Brazil's Lula into global hotseat

Venezuela's election dispute and Nicolas Maduro’s crackdown on dissent have thrust Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva into an increasingly uncomfortable position.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Premier Kim Tok Hun visit a flood-affected area near North Korea's border with China in this undated photo released on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 2, 2024

Kim Jong Un wades into North Korean floods in propaganda drive

Showing a hands-on Kim Jong Un in a disaster could mean North Korea's government is trying to enhance the cult of personality around him.
Temperatures are soaring across Japan, making getting to sleep at night a constant battle between your body and the right setting for your air conditioner to help you nod off.
LIFE / Lifestyle / Boiling Point
Aug 2, 2024

An ideal AC temperature for sleep? Science says yes ... and no.

Keeping your room at 26 degrees Celsius can help you sleep through summer’s steamy nights — but how long should you leave the AC on?
Photographer Gaku Lange says Japan's film photography scene is growing, but it still lags behind overseas communities.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Aug 5, 2024

Looking at Japan’s ‘tribal’ photography scene through a new lens

More young people in Tokyo are ditching smartphones for film cameras, but the old guard isn't necessarily pleased about it.
Okinawan rapper Awich’s dynamic and emotional set proved her ability to headline any festival moving forward.
CULTURE
Aug 2, 2024

Why Fuji Rock is still the best party in Japan, no matter who headlines

Kraftwerk paid tribute to Ryuichi Sakamoto in a sentimental set, while Awich, Man with a Mission and Turnstile provided some of the weekend's most thrilling moments.
Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, during an event at the Buergenstock Resort in Stansstad near Lucerne, Switzerland, on June 15.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 3, 2024

Ukraine’s allies are worried about the power of Zelenskyy’s top aide

Some of Ukraine’s international backers are growing concerned about just how much decision making power Andriy Yermak has.
The dark side of artificial intelligence is that it could make deadly and low-cost bioweapons more accessible to nonstate actors.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2024

AI may save us, or may construct viruses to kill us

One reason biological weapons haven’t been much used is that they can boomerang. If Russia released a virus in Ukraine, it could spread to Russia.
A garment store is set ablaze in Dhaka on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 5, 2024

Bangladesh protesters demand prime minister resign as death toll rises

Demonstrations began over the reintroduction of a quota plan that reserved more than half of all government jobs for certain groups.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro spoke last week following the presidential elections, saying that Mara Corina Machado and Edmundo Gonzlez should go to prison.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 5, 2024

Humiliated and furious, Maduro arrests 2,000 Venezuelans over protests

Pressure to share election results has mounted from even Nicolás Maduro’s closest allies abroad.
Israel's Iron Dome air defense system intercepts rockets over the Upper Galilee region in northern Israel that were fired from southern Lebanon on Sunday, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Lebanon's Hezbollah fighters.
WORLD
Aug 5, 2024

Foreign nationals told to leave Lebanon as war fears surge

The nearly 10-month-old war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas has led to a violent fallout that has become routine around the region.
Demonstrators toss a trash bin during an anti-immigration protest in Rotherham, England, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 5, 2024

Britain's Starmer condemns 'far-right thuggery' as unrest flares again

The British PM said perpetrators would face the full force of the law after days of violent anti-immigration protests.
Map exercises for evacuations, simulating a situation in which an armed attack is expected, are conducted at the Okinawa Prefectural Government office in Naha on Jan. 30.
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2024

Japan works on evacuation plans in event of Taiwan contingency

Issues such as stockpiling food and being able to swiftly evacuate all residents of the islands in Okinawa remain as Japan considers various contingencies.
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina speaks at the National Press Club in Tokyo in May 2014.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 5, 2024

Bangladeshi military to form interim government after PM flees country

Sheikh Hasina had sought since early July sought to quell nationwide protests against her government, but she fled after a brutal day of unrest on Sunday.
Ngun Nei Par, the general manager at Ginshotei Awashima in Numata, Gunma Prefecture, graduated from a university in Myanmar with a degree in geography.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 6, 2024

Japan needs foreign workers, but it might not want them to stay long

Japanese politicians remain reluctant to create pathways for foreign workers, especially those in low-skill jobs, to stay indefinitely.
Kohei Saito, associate professor of philosophy at the University of Tokyo, in a "common forest" in Hachioji, Tokyo, in July
JAPAN
Aug 6, 2024

Slow down to save the planet, says Japanese philosopher Kohei Saito

Capitalism is the root cause of climate change, and we need to stop chasing growth, Saito argues.
People shake hands with army personnel as they celebrate the resignation of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 7, 2024

Bangladesh army refused to quell protest, sealing Hasina's fate

In Bangladesh, resentment still lingers even among retired soldiers that Hasina had been allowed to leave.
The Intel Corporation logo at a temporary office during the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, in 2022
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 8, 2024

How spurning OpenAI set chip giant Intel behind in the AI marketplace

OpenAI went on to launch the groundbreaking ChatGPT in 2022 and is now reportedly valued at about $80 billion.
Far-right protestors shout behind a police cordon in Liverpool, U.K., on Saturday.
WORLD / Society
Aug 8, 2024

Suspected foreign accounts aid U.K. extremists to incite riots

Several users in Russian language channels have posted about how they have been deliberately stirring British far-right channels to agitate members.
A bulletin board shows the day's highest temperature in Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, on July 29.
JAPAN / Boiling Point
Aug 8, 2024

From Naha to Nemuro, how Japan’s cities are responding to more heat

Municipalities are reaching for everything from automated misting systems to anime to help cool residents and educate them about the risks of heat.
High school students form a human chain surrounding the hypocenter monument in the city of Nagasaki on Friday.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 9, 2024

High schoolers form human chain in Nagasaki for nuke abolition

About 200 people paid tribute to the atomic bomb victims and prayed for peace at a mass held at Urakami Cathedral in Nagasaki city the same day.
Naoshi Hirata (center), chairman of a committee tasked with evaluating the risk of a Nankai Trough earthquake, speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Explainer
Aug 9, 2024

Japan issued its first-ever megaquake alert. What does that mean?

How serious is the situation, and what should people do in the days to come? Here’s what you need to know.
A nature experience program at the Global Mizuiku Summit in Vietnam.
ESG CONSORTIUM
Aug 12, 2024

Suntory nurtures water, forests and future generations

Just like Suntory Holdings says in its corporate philosophy, “To inspire the brilliance of life, by creating rich experiences for people, in harmony with nature,” the company contributes to the enrichment of people’s lives beyond merely selling food and beverages globally. Although responsive to...
Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
COMMUNITY / Issues / Longform
Aug 9, 2024

In search of the ‘Japanese dream’

You've likely heard of the American dream. In Japan, where no such concept exists, immigrants forge their own ideals.
Workers remove debris from a damaged house in the city of Miyazaki on Thursday following a major earthquake.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 9, 2024

Nankai Trough megaquake concerns become 'real' among locals

Some Kyushu residents are starting to worry about their safety and are taking extra precautions.
Aerial view of the wreckage of an airplane that crashed with 61 people on board in Vinhedo, Sao Paulo State, Brazil, on Friday.
WORLD
Aug 10, 2024

Brazilian plane spins before crashing, killing all 61 on board

Regional carrier Voepass said the plane, bound for Sao Paulo's international airport, crashed at around 1:30 p.m. in the town of Vinhedo.
Displaced Palestinians watch as first responders prepare to transport the bodies of people killed in an Israeli strike on a school in Gaza City on Saturday.
WORLD
Aug 11, 2024

Israel criticized after strike kills scores in Gaza

The Israeli military acknowledged the attack but said Hamas and another armed Palestinian group were using the facility for military operations and attacks on Israel.
Fireworks during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis on Sunday
OLYMPICS
Aug 12, 2024

The Olympics, a triumph of ambition, lift France from its gloom

France came into the Games shaken by a political impasse. It will exit with those problems unsolved but with a new self-confidence.
Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota at a campaign rally in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 12, 2024

Tim Walz’s long relationship with China defies easy stereotypes

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has been an outspoken critic of China's human rights record.
A woman checks her phone as she stands amid the rubble of a building destroyed during Israeli bombardment in Gaza City's Sheikh Radwan neighborhood on Sunday.
WORLD
Aug 12, 2024

In Gaza, keeping the internet on can cost lives but also save them

Preserving the war-torn territory's internet connection comes at a price and the risks can be deadly for desperate users.
Polina Oba enjoys the food in Fukuoka, but still finds herself traveling to Tokyo often as that’s where most of the decision-makers are based. 
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Aug 12, 2024

Polina Oba: ‘Try quick, fail quick, learn quick and you need to always pivot’

Networking is at the core of Polina Oba's GourmetPro startup. Not only is it great meeting new people but you'll never know where those connections may lead.

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