Search - 2021

 
 
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol delivers an address to the nation at the Presidential Office in Seoul on Dec. 12.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 19, 2024

Allies cheered Yoon's foreign policy despite domestic discord

Yoon's political implosion likely heralds the return of the political left, which is less inclined to be as unabashedly supportive of the U.S. and Japan.
A customer leaves a luxury eyewear shop in Hong Kong on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 19, 2024

As bitcoin soars, luxury brands consider accepting crypto payments

Luxury labels have long sought to cater to affluent shoppers from the tech industry.
Inter Milan "ultras" merchandise is displayed outside San Siro Stadium in Milan before a Champions League match on Nov. 26.
SOCCER
Dec 19, 2024

Italy combats spread of mafia among soccer fan groups across country

Ultra groups at Inter and AC Milan, two of the biggest names in Italian soccer, have allegedly been infiltrated by the mafia.
A man eats his lunch inside his shop near Moscow on Nov. 21. Under the impact of the explosion of military orders, Russian inflation is expected to approach 9% at the end of the year.
WORLD
Dec 19, 2024

Economic woes mount for Russia's war machine

Russian media, usually reluctant to report on any sign of social discontent, are turning increasing attention to hard-pressed families.
Alice Weidel, co-leader of the Alternative for Germany, speaks during a vote of confidence at the Bundestag in Berlin on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 19, 2024

Scholz’s far-right rival puts Germany’s EU exit on the ballot

Alternative for Germany co-leader Alice Weidel says the bloc’s "socialist policy making” has "destroyed the market mechanism in Europe.”
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” released in Japanese theaters in April, sharply dramatizes the clash between rural and urban values. The film won five awards at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, including the second-place Silver Lion prize.
CULTURE / Film / 2024 in Review
Dec 20, 2024

A year of Oscar wins and a quiet push for diversity

International collaborations and indie risk-takers steered the film industry in a fresh direction in 2024.
Liam Lawson during a media event ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix in November
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Dec 19, 2024

Lawson officially replacing Perez at Red Bull F1 team

The move means that the more-experienced Yuki Tsunoda will stay with the RB team for the 2025 season.
Supporters of then-President Donald Trump clash with police while storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
COMMENTARY / World / The Year Ahead
Dec 29, 2024

Will the guardrails of U.S. democracy hold?

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump continues to express admiration for authoritarian leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Residential buildings under construction at China Evergrande Group's Riverside Palace development in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China, in November 2023
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Dec 20, 2024

China’s economic rebound hangs on the fate of its richest cities

Preserving earning power in China was given fresh urgency as U.S. Presidential-elect Donald Trump says he will choke off critical Chinese exports.
A police officer stands in front of the residence of a man alleged to have stabbed two junior high school students in Kitakyushu.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 20, 2024

Crime numbers rise in Japan for second straight year

Crime numbers had been steadily declining since 2003, continuing to hit postwar lows from 2015 to 2021, before bouncing back in 2022.
Carmelo Anthony (right) is among the first-time nominees for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
BASKETBALL
Dec 20, 2024

Carmelo Anthony and Sue Bird among first-time Hall of Fame nominees

Finalists will be selected during NBA All-Star Weekend on Feb. 14, and the Class of 2025 will be revealed at the men's Final Four on April 5 in San Antonio.
The Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in September 2019. An inspection of the base by Japanese government officials on Friday came amid public pressure to investigate suspected links between the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam by the U.S. base and contamination of soil and groundwater in western Tokyo.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Dec 20, 2024

Japanese officials inspect Yokota Air Base over PFAS concerns

The inspection follows a reported leak in August of water containing "forever chemicals" outside the U.S. base in western Tokyo.
U.S. President Joe Biden departs from St. Joseph on the Brandywine Catholic Church, on the day of the anniversary of the death of the president's first wife and daughter in a car accident in 1972, in Wilmington, Delaware, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Dec 21, 2024

Fade out: Biden disappears into background

Despite still occupying the world's most powerful pulpit, Biden has remained virtually absent from the public debate about his noisy successor.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a Cabinet swearing-in ceremony on Friday in Ottawa
WORLD / Politics
Dec 21, 2024

Trudeau does major Cabinet reshuffle amid party pressure and Trump taunts

The reshuffle came at the end of a chaotic week in Ottawa spurred by the surprise resignation of Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrives at the federal Liberal caucus holiday party, the day after Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland unexpectedly resigned, in Ottawa on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 22, 2024

From liberal icon to MAGA joke: The waning fortunes of Justin Trudeau

Canada’s prime minister gained global renown 10 years ago for his unabashedly progressive politics. But at home, voters turned sour on him long ago.
Steam rises from a geothermal plan in Yuzawa, Akita Prefecture. Despite its long history and potential, geothermal provided just 0.3% of Japan's overall energy mix in the fiscal year from April 2023
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Dec 22, 2024

Is Japan finally ready to tap its abundant geothermal energy potential?

Japan boasts the world’s third-largest potential supply of geothermal energy, but this renewable energy resource has mostly been untapped.
The container ship MSC Marie can be seen transiting through the Panama Canal in this handout picture released by the Panama Canal Authority on Aug. 30.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 23, 2024

Trump threatens that U.S. could retake control of Panama Canal

Donald Trump's comments were an exceedingly rare example of a U.S. leader saying he could push a sovereign country to hand over territory.
People mourn over the graves of relatives who were killed after gunmen opened fire on passenger vehicles in the Kurram tribal district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, in Shalozan, Pakistan, on Nov. 22.
WORLD / Society
Dec 23, 2024

Terrorism roars back in Pakistan, 10 years after a campaign to end it

Violence has surged in northwestern Pakistan in the past few years, which experts attribute to the Taliban’s 2021 seizure of power in neighboring Afghanistan.
Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani reacts to a standing ovation from fans after hitting his 50th home run of the season, against the Marlins in Miami on Sept. 19.
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 23, 2024

For baseball fans, 2024 brought The Summer of Shohei Ohtani

The superstar was the center of attention for almost a full calendar year during a season straight out of a Hollywood movie.
Film festivals around the world are giving space to AI-generated cinematic experiences, with Venice and Cannes among the heavy hitters with sections dedicated to "immersive" works, including those made using virtual and augmented reality.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 23, 2024

Asia’s film industry should balance AI with human creativity

AI is revolutionizing cinema. Japan and Asia as a whole are well-positioned to harness technology to empower storytelling while retaining film's essentially human nature.
Some of the same mistakes made during COVID-19 can be seen in the U.S. government's response to H5N1, which started in poultry before a new variant began infecting the nation’s dairy cows.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 23, 2024

Another pandemic is inevitable, and the U.S. isn't ready

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s picks to lead the nation’s top public health agencies also don’t inspire confidence.
People's Bank of China Gov. Pan Gongsheng meets with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in Beijing in April.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 23, 2024

What will happen to China’s economy in 2025?

Economic activity in China has been relatively weak since the COVID-19 crisis. This was not unexpected, at least not at first.
The Nagano District Court found Daisuke Maruyama guilty of killing his 47-year old wife, Nozomi, who was a company executive, in September 2021 at their home in the city of Shiojiri, Nagano.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 23, 2024

Ex-Nagano assembly member sentenced to 19 years in prison for killing wife

Prosecutors argued that Daisuke Maruyama, 50, was motivated to kill his wife because she would not agree to a divorce.
Italy's Jannik Sinner in action during the Davis Cup Finals on Nov. 24. Sinner was cleared of wrongdoing in a doping case this year, but an appeal by the World Anti-Doping Agency means a potential ban of up to two years is still hanging over his head.
TENNIS
Dec 24, 2024

Players on edge after Sinner and Swiatek doping cases

Time out of the game to serve or fight a doping ban means a loss of income for players.
Han Duck-soo, South Korean Prime Minister, gives a speech during an event in Seoul on May 22.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 24, 2024

South Korean opposition seeks to impeach acting president Han

The exact timing of the impeachment proposal against Han will be decided after an internal party review, report says.
A volunteer at a Sudanese mobile kitchen prepares food at one of the displacement centers in New Halfa, Sudan, on Nov. 2.
WORLD
Dec 24, 2024

Sudan drops out of hunger-monitor system on eve of famine report

The move is likely to undercut efforts to address one of the world’s largest hunger crises.
The Self-Defense Forces facilities are believed to have become sources of PFAS contamination because they used firefighting foam containing the toxic chemicals in the past.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Dec 24, 2024

High levels of PFAS found in water from 44 private suppliers across Japan

Among them are five that supply water to Self-Defense Forces facilities.
People walk around the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on December 29, 2023. Investors are more confident about the economy than this time a year ago.
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 25, 2024

Investors hope for U.S. stock market trifecta in 2025 after boom years

They are eyeing a solid economy supporting corporate profits, moderating interest rates and pro-growth policies from incoming President Donald Trump.
Doubts about the strength of the conclusions drawn from China’s research add to the mounting questions about how the positive tests were investigated and adjudicated by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
OLYMPICS
Dec 25, 2024

Questions emerge about data used by China to defend against doping allegations

The finding raises more questions about explanations from China and WADA as to why elite Chinese swimmers tested positive for a banned substance.
Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida and Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe during a news conference in Tokyo on Monday
BUSINESS / Companies / ANALYSIS
Dec 25, 2024

Will Honda-Nissan tie-up deliver synergies in time to counter China?

Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe has said the companies need to build up capabilities by 2030 or face being "beaten," but analysts question whether they have that much time.

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’