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Tobias Bieker settled in Osaka in 2018 and started "Unpacking Japan" as a side project with ZenGroup five years ago.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jul 11, 2025

Tobias Bieker: ‘A good interviewer helps the guest shine’

The host of the "Unpacking Japan" podcast offers his take on Osaka life, Japanese jazz and writing fiction.
Alan Bates, a former branch manager who led the fight for justice, has said the compensation process has "turned into quasi-kangaroo courts."
WORLD
Jul 9, 2025

U.K. post office scandal may have caused 13 suicides: inquiry

The Post Office wrongfully prosecuted around 1,000 subpostmasters — self-employed branch managers — between 1999 and 2015.
Search and rescue crews look through piles of debris in Kerrville, Texas, on Sunday following a flash flood.
WORLD
Jul 10, 2025

Rescuers search for 160 missing Texas flood victims

Officials say no one has been found alive since July 4, when the flash flood arrived in the predawn hours.
Rare earth magnets in Baotou, China. India is planning to spur local production of rare-earth magnets to cut its reliance on China.
BUSINESS
Jul 10, 2025

India plans to kickstart rare-earth magnet output to cut China reliance

China's tightening of export controls on rare earths amid a trade war with the U.S. has disrupted supply chains for global carmakers, including those operating in India.
Businesses who cater to fandoms gathered at Tokyo Lifestyle Week for the second annual Oshikatsu — Merch Collection Expo, a trade show devoted to fandom goods.
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Jul 12, 2025

Music idol and anime fandom merch is big business

Over 100 booths showed off the latest in acrylic stands, binoculars and cheering items such as glow sticks and flags at the second Oshikatsu — Merch Expo.
A breakthrough HIV prevention drug, lenacapavir, offers hope to end the epidemic, but U.S. President Donald Trump’s cuts to global health funding threaten access and rollout, especially in Africa where prevention efforts are already strained.  
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 8, 2025

When an HIV scientific breakthrough isn’t enough

Trump administration funding cuts and dismantling of USAID force a shift from HIV elimination back to treatment.
Members of the Indian Army's engineering arm prepare to remove the wreckage of an Air India aircraft in Ahmedabad on June 14.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 11, 2025

Air India crash report to offer peek into last seconds

Investigators have revealed very few details since the Air India accident, which killed all but one of the 242 individuals on board and more than 30 people on the ground.
A woman looks on as Palestinians inspect destroyed tents at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Friday.
WORLD
Jul 12, 2025

U.N. says hundreds killed in recent weeks while seeking aid in Gaza

The violence came as negotiators from Israel and Hamas were locked in indirect talks in Qatar to try to agree on a temporary ceasefire.
U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks on tariffs in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington in April.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 12, 2025

A U.S.-EU trade deal hinges on cars, agriculture and Trump

Cars and tariff levels on agriculture have emerged as key sticking points between the European Union and the U.S., sources have said.
A Palestinian man and one of his sons mourn beside the body of his other son who was killed by Israeli fire while seeking aid near a distribution point in Rafah, according to medics, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Saturday.
WORLD
Jul 13, 2025

Gaza truce talks faltering over withdrawal; 17 reported killed in latest shooting near aid

The latest mass shooting around a U.S.-backed aid distribution system has resulted in 800 people killed in six weeks, according to the U.N.
Israeli-American businessman Moti Kahana holds a flag during a mission to evacuate 200 Jews in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, in March 2022.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 13, 2025

How a U.S. mission to push a Trump deal in Congo unraveled

The story of the ill-fated venture, which has not previously been reported, provides a glimpse of how the Trump administration is prepared to work through unconventional channels.
A Palestinian boy looks at the site of an Israeli strike that killed children who had gathered to collect water from a distribution point, according to medics, in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip on Sunday.
WORLD
Jul 14, 2025

Israel blames malfunction for missile killing Gaza children collecting water

The Israeli military said a malfunction had caused the missile to fall "dozens of meters from the target."
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gives a speech during a plenary session at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, on July 9.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 14, 2025

EU to engage more with other nations hit by U.S. tariffs — including Japan

The move comes as talks between the EU and the U.S. have dragged on and continue to be stuck on several issues, including cars and tariff rates on agriculture.
A woman sitting amid debris looks on as Palestinians inspect destroyed tents at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Younis in the northern Gaza strip on Friday.
WORLD
Jul 14, 2025

Israeli plan to move Gazans into closed zone triggers backlash

The plan envisions building from scratch a closed zone in southern Gaza during a potential 60-day ceasefire in Israel's war with Hamas, currently under negotiation in Qatar.
Buildings inside the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone along the Mekong river in the Bokeo province of Laos on May 26.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Jul 15, 2025

'Las Vegas in Laos': the riverside city awash with crime

With the initial aim of attracting tourists with casinos and resorts, the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone quickly became a center for money laundering and trafficking.
A member of the media records U.S. President Donald Trump speaking during a news conference in Washington on June 27.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 15, 2025

U.S. Justice Department unit defending Trump policies loses two-thirds of staff

Sixty-nine of roughly 110 lawyers in the branch that defends against challenges to key policies have left the unit since Trump's election in November or have plans to leave.
Spanish forward Lamine Yamal prior to a match between Spain and Portugal in June.
SOCCER
Jul 16, 2025

Barcelona star Yamal faces probe into dwarf entertainers at 18th birthday

Guests were not permitted to film at the birthday party but a video emerged of a group of people with dwarfism heading into the event.
Tomoko Tamura, chairperson of the Japanese Communist Party, attends a debate with other party leaders in Tokyo in October. Her party urges voters to end the LDP’s business-centered politics and U.S. dependence by supporting its social, economic and foreign-policy reforms.
COMMENTARY / Japan / From Party Leaders
Jul 16, 2025

JCP vows fairer taxes, stronger social safety net and a commitment to peaceful diplomacy

Tamura says LDP’s politics are now in a terminal and critical state with the party unable to respond to domestic and international issues or the wishes of the people.
Members of the Syrian security forces assess the destruction inside the heavily damaged Syrian army and Defense Ministry headquarters complex in Damascus, following Israeli strikes Wednesday.
WORLD
Jul 16, 2025

Syria's interim leader vows to protect Druze rights as ceasefire holds

In a statement after powerful Israeli air strikes on Damascus, al-Sharaa addressed Druze citizens saying "we reject any attempt to drag you into hands of an external party."
U.S. President Donald Trump in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in 2017. Six months into his second term, Trump has softened his harsh campaign rhetoric that focused on the U.S.’ massive trade deficit with China and resulting job losses.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 17, 2025

Trump softens tone on China to secure Xi summit and a trade deal

U.S. President Donald Trump's warmer posture toward China contrasts with his threats against other trading partners to ravage their economies with crushing tariffs.
The Tokyo district has the highest number of candidates in the 2025 Upper House election with 32 people in the running for seven seats.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 18, 2025

In Upper House race, younger voters in Tokyo turn to DPP for new direction

Many younger voters, especially in the capital, are drawn to the party's idea that the working generation must be supported for the sake of everyone.
Misa Kimura is the main producer for Kawaii Lab, a project by entertainment agency Asobisystem whose groups have found success by pairing a social media-first strategy with a fresh perspective on traditional idol-pop tropes.
CULTURE
Jul 17, 2025

Kawaii Lab redefines idol pop for the TikTok generation

The idol-pop project's main producer, Misa Kimura — a former idol herself — is giving her performers more control over their image and sound.
Food banks are struggling to secure rice and other food items to distribute to people in need as inflation has put a dent in donations.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 18, 2025

As rice shortage hits donations, food banks urge politicians to tackle poverty

Food banks are struggling to secure rice and other food items to distribute to people in need as inflation has put a dent in donations.
Houses and rice fields are submerged due to flooding caused by torrential rain, in Yesan, South Korea, on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 18, 2025

Torrential rain pounds South Korea for third day as thousands take shelter

Warnings of torrential rain remained in effect for most of the country's western and southern regions.
Daria Slavytska takes shelter inside a metro station with her 2-year-old son Emil during a Russian missile and drone strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, on July 9.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 19, 2025

Sleepless in Kyiv: How Ukraine's capital copes with Russia's nighttime attacks

Russia's offensive is straining Kyiv's air defenses and has its 3.7 million residents exhausted and on edge.
Women and children arrange their containers as they line up at a standpipe, where incomplete water connections caused by USAID funding cuts to the NGO Mercy Corps have led to ongoing water shortages, in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, on June 16.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 20, 2025

Trump's funding cut stalls water projects, increasing risks for millions

The White House's decision to slash nearly all U.S. foreign aid projects has created new hazards for some of the people they were designed to benefit.
A woman caresses a child's head as Palestinians wait at a food distribution point in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on Saturday.
WORLD
Jul 20, 2025

Gaza civil defense says Israeli fire kills 39 near two aid centers

Deaths of people waiting for handouts in huge crowds near food points in Gaza have become a regular occurrence, with the territory's authorities frequently blaming Israeli fire.
Palestinians gather to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, on Sunday.
WORLD
Jul 20, 2025

Israel issues new evacuation orders in central Gaza as hunger worsens

Much of Gaza has been reduced to a wasteland during more than 21 months of war and there are fears of accelerating starvation.
Palestinians transport people who were killed or injured while trying to get humanitarian aid, into the Red Cross field hospital in the Mawasi area of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday.
WORLD
Jul 21, 2025

Gaza civil defense says Israeli gunfire kills 93 aid seekers

Israel's military disputed the death toll and said soldiers had fired warning shots as thousands gathered near Gaza City.
Shipping containers at Barcelona port
BUSINESS
Jul 21, 2025

EU to prepare retaliation plan as U.S. trade stance hardens

The overwhelming preference is to keep negotiations with Washington on track in a bid for an outcome to the impasse ahead of next month’s deadline.

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