Search - 2016

 
 
Former firefighter Yoshifumi Usui now guides tourists in search of active pursuits in and around the Aso caldera.
LIFE / Travel
Oct 21, 2023

In volcanic Aso, the land gives much more than it takes

Locals in Aso have a saying: “The land takes away, but it gives us something, too.”
China Coast Guard ships corral a Philippine civilian boat chartered by the Philippine Navy to deliver supplies to the grounded BRP Sierra Madre vessel in the disputed South China Sea in August.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 23, 2023

Manila says Chinese vessels 'intentionally' hit Philippine boats

The countries have traded blame over Sunday's incidents near Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands chain of the South China Sea
They call it Q-Day: the day when a quantum computer, one more powerful than any yet built, could shatter the world of privacy and security as we know it.
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 23, 2023

The race to save our secrets from the computers of the future

Quantum technology could compromise our encryption systems. Can America replace them before it’s too late?
A bear waits for passing cars that might provide food, on a road in Covasna, Romania.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Oct 23, 2023

Keep or cull? Romania divided over its bear population

In Romania, bear attacks are on the rise as the creatures venture out looking for food, often brought by tourists or left in unsecured garbage cans.
Sections of the forests in Colville, Washington, have already been thinned, allowing trees to grow less densely and reducing the risk for wildfire.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Oct 26, 2023

How to prevent forest fires by building cities with more wood

Not everyone is convinced mass timber will help forest health.
A community health worker speaks during a meeting with pregnant teenagers, teen mothers and their partners, in Navotas, Metro Manila, in 2016.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Oct 28, 2023

Can new law help tackle Philippines' teen pregnancy emergency?

The costs of teen pregnancies in the country are high, with around 30% of the population now under 15 years old.
BUSINESS
Nov 1, 2023

BOJ’s Ueda gets reality check on yen in march to normalization

The yen unexpectedly weakened after the central bank loosened its grip on bond yields Tuesday.
Britain's former Prime Minister and newly appointed Foreign Secretary David Cameron walks outside 10 Downing Street in London on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 13, 2023

Sunak brings back Cameron and sacks controversial interior minister

The return of David Cameron suggests the prime minister wants to bring in a more centrist, experienced hand rather than appease the right of his party.
U.S. President Barack Obama meets with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the White House on Sept. 25, 2015. Speeches by the Chinese leader show how he was bracing for an intensifying rivalry with the United States from early in his rule.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 14, 2023

Behind public assurances, Xi Jinping spreads grim views on U.S.

Speeches by the Chinese leader show how he was bracing for an intensifying rivalry with the United States from early in his rule.
Armando Aroca, environmentalist, former guerrilla and current nursery manager of the Common Community Multi Active Cooperative (COMUCCOM) farm, points to a mural with the image of murdered environmentalist Jorge Santofimio in Puerto Guzman, Colombia, on June 27.
ENVIRONMENT
Nov 16, 2023

How the murders of activists hurt Colombian ecological preservation

Conservationists are targeted as their work poses a threat to illegal activities
A man wearing a t-shirt in support of QAnon, participates in a 'Back the Blue' rally in New York on Aug. 9, 2020.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 16, 2023

U.S. political violence driven by new breed of 'grab-bag' extremists

Such radicals eschew firm creeds. Instead, they embrace notions, no matter how divergent, that blends with their particular grievances.
Steve Jobs, Apple's former chief executive, speaks at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco on June 6, 2011. Sam Altman, the most prominent promoter of artificial intelligence, learned that it’s hard to be a visionary founder like the Apple legend.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 21, 2023

The long shadow of Steve Jobs looms over the turmoil at OpenAI

The sudden firing and bid to reinstate OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has deepened the parallels to Jobs, who was marginalized by the board of Apple in 1985.
Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius leaves a courthouse in Pretoria, South Africa, in 2016.
PARALYMPICS
Nov 24, 2023

Former Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius granted parole a decade after killing girlfriend

Pistorius was found guilty of murder and given a 13-year jail sentence in 2017 after a lengthy trial and several appeals.
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen (right) celebrates with engineer Gianpiero Lambiase after winning the Qatar Grand Prix in Lusail, Qatar, on Oct. 8.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Nov 25, 2023

Gianpiero Lambiase embraces role as man in Max Verstappen’s ear

Lambiase has helped Verstappen win 53 Grand Prix titles and three Formula One drivers’ championships in their time together.
Terry Gou, Foxconn founder and then-presidential candidate (left), former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou (center), Hou Yu-ih presidential candidate of the main opposition Kuomintang attend a news conference in Taipei on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 25, 2023

Taiwan opposition cracks apart, and invites the cameras in

The split over a proposed joint ticket bolsters the governing party candidate’s chances in the coming presidential election. That won’t please Beijing.
A sign at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on July 6
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Dec 7, 2023

How AI fits into China's raft of global initiatives

The administration of President Xi Jinping has recently attached great importance to AI technology and is actively set on promoting it.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after testifying in his civil fraud trial at the State Supreme Court building in Manhattan,  New York, on Nov. 6.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 16, 2023

Material from Russia probe went missing as Trump left office

A binder given to the Trump White House contained details that intelligence agencies believe could reveal secret sources and methods.
The U.S. Supreme Court in Washington
WORLD / Politics
Dec 23, 2023

Push to disqualify Trump pits democracy against the rule of law

Trump’s status as the Republican front-runner for the presidential nomination has created severe tensions.
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.
A scientist works on a quantum computer at the IBM Quantum lab in Yorktown Heights, New York.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 3, 2024

Your money may not survive a quantum heist

Prime numbers have served the internet age well, but the private sector and public authorities can no longer take their continued guardianship for granted.
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stands inside an enclosure for defendants during a court hearing on espionage charges in Moscow on Oct. 10.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 3, 2024

Remember the world’s political prisoners. One could be you.

Hostage diplomacy and arbitrary arrests by autocratic governments are a growing threat.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Reno, Nevada, in December last year. Trump's potential return to the White House could have serious implications for the U.S, as well as Japan, as he appears set to be even less inhibited and open to reason than before.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Jan 5, 2024

Potential Trump redux: Unrestrained in Asia or bound by a changed region?

A win for the ex-president in November's election would potentially have big implications for Japan, given the death of Shinzo Abe, its most effective “Trump whisperer.”
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida delivers his Quad Fellowship Announcement as the leaders of the United States, India and Australia look on after meeting in Tokyo in May 2022.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 8, 2024

Dialogue can boost security where military deterrence can’t

Military buildup without dialogue is too risky — civil society actors in East Asia understand this better than their governments.
A teenage boy (voiced by Hiroshi Kamiya) discovers he has been changed into a vampire in “Kizumonogatari.”
CULTURE / Film
Jan 11, 2024

‘Kizumonogatari’: The weirdness is back and better than ever

Tatsuya Oishi combines three anime adaptations of Nisioisin’s book into one edit that retains the gore and humor of the original.
Outgoing New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick holds a news conference in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on Thursday to announce his departure from the team.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Jan 12, 2024

Why Bill Belichick fit in so well, for so long, in New England

Belichick departed Thursday as the head coach of the New England Patriots after 24 years of unmatched dominance in America’s most popular sport.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the 2024 Iowa Republican caucuses at Horizon Events Center in West Des Moines, Iowa, on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 16, 2024

Trump wins Iowa caucus as DeSantis edges Haley for second

Donald Trump muscled past his rivals to capture the first 2024 Republican presidential contest, once more asserting his dominance over the Republican Party.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 18, 2024

Japanese Communist Party picks first-ever female leader

Upper House member Tomoka Tamura takes over the chair of the 102-year-old political party — Japan’s oldest — from Kazuo Shii, who held the post since 2000.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump's core campaign team of a half-dozen aides is unswervingly loyal to their boss and chooses to stay mostly in the background.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 2, 2024

Inside Trump's election A-team: Lean, mean and largely unseen

A handful of distinctive figures have formed a tight, disciplined inner circle around the former U.S. president in his bid for the White House.
Japan is the only country with a law requiring married couples to adopt the same surname. In 95% of cases, it is women who take their husband's name.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 7, 2024

The land where single surnames are the only option

The business lobby recently joined calls for Japan to accept separate surnames after marriage. What, then, is standing in the way of change? Politics.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts
Feb 15, 2024

Giants' new Godzilla Yuto Akihiro taps into Hideki Matsui's teachings to level up

Akihiro is the latest player to try and walk in Matsui's footsteps.

Longform

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?