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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.
Women with children interact in a lounge at a postpartum care facility in Ikoma, Nara Prefecture.
JAPAN
Aug 6, 2024

Private companies increasingly expanding into postpartum care

Companies such as Nestle Japan and Mitsubishi Estate have launched initiatives aimed at mothers and children
Commuters take a subway home at Sungsu station in Seoul on July 15.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 6, 2024

Declaring ‘crisis,’ South Korean firms tell managers to work more

In South Korea, the five-day workweek is only a generation old, introduced by labor laws in 2004.
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.
Sheikh Hasina, then the prime minister of Bangladesh, in her office in Dhaka on June 11, 2023
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 6, 2024

Swift downfall of iron-fisted Sheikh Hasina marks new era in Bangladesh

Hasina saw her 15-year rule as Bangladesh’s prime minister unravel over the course of a bloody weekend that left scores of people dead.
Children use a mobile shower, provided by the local government, amid extreme heat in metro Manila on May 2.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Aug 6, 2024

From the Philippines to Mali, countries fail to count deaths from extreme heat

A lack of reliable data is undermining efforts to mitigate the risk of extreme heat and provide better protection for the most vulnerable.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz at the White House in Washington on July 3.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 6, 2024

Harris picks Minnesota's Tim Walz for vice president, sources say

Walz is a progressive policy champion and a plain speaker from America's heartland who may help Harris win over rural, white voters.
Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize-winning economist, leaves his house to attend a court hearing in Dhaka on May 2.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 7, 2024

Nobel winner Yunus to lead Bangladesh after shunning politics

Though he’s mostly stayed away from politics, Muhammad Yunus is one of Bangladesh’s most famous faces.
High School peace messengers call for abolition of nuclear weapons in front of the United Nations headquarters in New York in November.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 7, 2024

Hiroshima student activist calls for abolition of nuclear weapons

Yukiko Ouchi established an organization promoting peace to pass down the voices of hibakusha to younger generations.
Critics say excluding Israel from the Nagasaki bombing anniversary while inviting representatives from countries with human rights violations, such as Iran, which is pursuing its own nuclear weapons, undermines the ceremony's message of peace.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 7, 2024

Nagasaki bombing ceremony misses an important invitation: Israel's

Nagasaki’s Mayor Shiro Suzuki explicitly disinvited Israeli Ambassador to Japan Gilad Cohen to the 79th anniversary of the bombing of the city, citing security concerns.
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.
Police officers and demonstrators clash during a protest against illegal immigration in Liverpool, Britain, on Aug. 3.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 7, 2024

U.K. PM Starmer: We have police in place to deal with anti-Muslim riots

Riots across a number of towns and cities have erupted following the murder of three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed event in Southport.
U.S. Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, and her just-announced running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, greet supporters on Tuesday at Temple University in Philadelphia, the first day of their "Battleground State Tour."
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 7, 2024

Harris VP pick is a regular guy — exactly what she needs

Walz is the perfect counterbalance to Harris. He brings deep experience as a governor, House contacts as a former congressman and an everyman back story.
In recent years, the number of ambulance dispatches has been on the rise, amid concerns that those who need urgent care may not be receiving it.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 7, 2024

Japan municipalities take tougher stance on nonurgent ambulance calls

The proliferation of nonurgent calls and related requests for ambulances have been giving local municipalities a headache.
A boy skateboards past Yanaka Cemetery in Tokyo’s Taito Ward. A perfectly peaceful spot the rest of the year, it becomes a place children may test their courage during the Bon holidays.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Aug 8, 2024

Japanese cities turn into ghost towns during the Bon holiday period

As people return to their hometowns to pay their respects to their ancestors, children may try to test their nerves with a "kimodameshi."
Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus waves at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 8, 2024

Bangladesh new interim leader Yunus returns to lead new government

Most schools and university campuses in the capital and other cities have reopened
Avocados hang off a tree at an orchard in Tancitaro, Michoacan state, Mexico
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Aug 7, 2024

Avocado goldrush links U.S. companies with Mexico's deforestation disaster

The U.S. demand for avocados divides communities in Mexico, where it is both a driver of economic growth and a catalyst for environmental crises.
Australia today is running aggressive recruitment campaigns to attract Kiwis to work in sectors like health care, early childhood education, police and prisons, tempting them with higher wages and relocation packages.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 8, 2024

Fed-up New Zealanders are flocking to Australia for better pay

Some 44,534 New Zealanders, almost 1% of the nation’s population of 5 million, left to live in Australia in 2023.
Muslims pray in the Abdullah Quilliam Mosque in Liverpool on Tuesday, amid rioting across the U.K. in which mosques and Muslims have been targets.
WORLD
Aug 8, 2024

Muslims feel 'terrorized' by U.K. riots as mosques brace for violence

Tell MAMA, a group which monitors anti-Muslim incidents, has received five times more reports of anti-Muslim behavior from across the U.K. in the past week.
Anti-racism counterprotesters assemble ahead of a potential anti-immigration protest in Walthamstow, London, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Society
Aug 8, 2024

U.K. anti-racism protesters take to streets after days of far-right unrest

Nightly riots — during which mosques and migrant-related facilities have been attacked — have erupted across towns and cities.
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.
A tsunami advisory, shown in yellow, was issued following an earthquake in Kyushu on Tuesday afternoon.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2024

Tsunami advisory lifted after strong quake jolts Kyushu

The 7.1 magnitude quake, measuring a weak 7 on Japan's intensity scale, triggered small tsunami waves in some areas.
Naoshi Hirata, chairman of a committee tasked with evaluating the risk of a Nankai Trough earthquake, speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Thursday evening.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2024

Japan issues first-ever alert over risk of Nankai Trough megaquake

It is believed that the chance of a major earthquake occurring in the Nankai Trough is relatively higher than usual, the weather agency said.
A meeting of the Lao-Lao liquor cooperative held in the village of Xai in Attapeu Province in June.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 19, 2024

Co-op Okinawa nurtures Laos farmers' cooperatives to encourage growth

By setting up cooperatives, farmers can prevent unfavorable price negotiations by sharing information with one another.
An archival photo depicting a CWAJ board meeting from April 6, 1966
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Aug 15, 2024

From the division of war, 75 years of intercultural aid

Celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, the mission of the College Women’s Association of Japan remains straightforward yet ambitious: Women supporting women.
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.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan