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Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Jul 21, 2024

As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals

Can a 700-year-old dance have an effect on extreme heat or torrential rain? Probably not. When you're feeling powerless, though, any little thing helps.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a commemoration ceremony for soldiers killed during the 2014 Gaza war, also known as Operation Protective Edge, at the Memorial Hall on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 21, 2024

Defiant Benjamin Netanyahu to face U.S. Congress amid Gaza tensions

Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving premier, will become the first foreign leader to address a joint meeting of the two chambers four times.
Secret Service officers surround U.S. former President Donald Trump, the Republican  presidential candidate, as he attends the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 21, 2024

Secret Service says it denied earlier Trump requests for more federal resources

The denied requests for additional resources were not specifically for the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where the former president survived an assassination attempt.
Smoke rises from a fire following an Israeli airstrike in Hodeidah, Yemen, in this photo released Saturday.
WORLD
Jul 21, 2024

Israeli jets strike Houthi targets in Yemen after Tel Aviv attack

A port that was one of the main targets had been used to receive weapons shipments from Iran, according to Israel.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris arrives aboard Air Force Two in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, traveling to a campaign fundraiser, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 21, 2024

Trump campaign prepares attack plan for Harris in case Biden withdraws

The effort assumes that the U.S. vice president would be the most likely candidate to replace the president at the top of the Democratic ticket.
Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump stands with Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. J.D. Vance during Trump's first rally with his running mate, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 21, 2024

Trump fans yell they want Biden, not Harris, as 2024 opponent

Donald Trump polled supporters at his Michigan rally whether they’d prefer for him to run against President Joe Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris. An overwhelming cacophony of voices suggested they want the 81-year-old president as Trump’s opponent.
Lamposts and other signs throughout Hirogawa, Wakayama Prefecture, display warnings, evacuation routes and measurements of height above sea level. The town has been hit by eight tsunami in its recorded history.
ENVIRONMENT / Earth science / OUR PLANET
Jul 21, 2024

Why Japanese researchers are looking to submarine cables for faster tsunami warnings

While Japan boasts one of the world's most sophisticated earthquake and tsunami detection systems, gaps still remain.
Passengers wait at the international airport in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on 
Friday after airlines grounded flights due to a worldwide tech outage caused by an update to CrowdStrike’s Falcon sensor software, which crashed Microsoft Windows systems. 
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 21, 2024

CrowdStrike’s global outage doesn’t have to be a recurring nightmare

This time the scale is unprecedented. That should spur Microsoft and other IT firms to do more than simply administer a band-aid.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House in Washington on July 4.
WORLD
Jul 22, 2024

Biden drops out of presidential race, endorsing Kamala Harris

The stunning announcement — just 3½ months before the Nov. 5 election — came as concerns mounted that Biden could not defeat Republican rival Donald Trump.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and U.S. President Joe Biden walk through the colonnade on their way to the Oval Office at the White House in Washington in January 2023.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 22, 2024

World leaders praise Biden’s record after U.S. president quits 2024 race

Leaders, including Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, said they would continue to watch the U.S. presidential race closely.
Having U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee would alter the race in perhaps unforeseen ways, political strategists have said.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 22, 2024

Trump campaign switches gears to confront a Harris challenge

Sources said Donald Trump's campaign had for weeks been planning for Vice President Kamala Harris to be his opponent should she win her party's nomination.
A drone view of Neve Daniel, a Jewish settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on March 12
WORLD
Jul 22, 2024

Israeli settlers court Republican religious right after Hamas attacks

While Donald Trump has suggested U.S. policy could change, neither he nor the Republican Party have been explicit about their position toward a Palestinian state.
Slovenian rider Tadej Pogacar cycles past the Negresco Hotel in Nice, France, on Sunday, during the 21st and final stage of the 111th edition of the Tour de France.
MORE SPORTS
Jul 22, 2024

Pogacar hails 'golden age' after securing third Tour de France title

The victory gave Pogacar the first Giro d'Italia-Tour de France double since Marco Pantani in 1998.
Fireworks during Irumagawa Tanabata Festival in Sayama, Saitama Prefecture in July 2023
JAPAN / Society
Jul 22, 2024

Many summer fireworks festivals in Japan canceled due to complaints

Property damage caused by debris, and littering and trespassing by those looking for a better view are among the reasons for the cancellations.
U.S. President Joe Biden walks to board Marine One at Hagerstown Regional Airport, in Hagerstown, Maryland, on June 20.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 22, 2024

Inside the weekend when Biden decided to withdraw

U.S. President Joe Biden did not tell most of his staff until a minute before making his announcement to the world on social media on Sunday.
At a waste center in Kamikatsu, Tokushima Prefecture, residents separate trash into 45 different categories as the town aims to become "zero waste."
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 22, 2024

How circular economy initiatives are changing the world

From Asia to Europe to Africa, public and private entities are finding new ways to revolutionize the economic paradigm from a linear to a circular model. In Japan, too.
Paris is preparing to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which start on Friday. These Summer Games will likely be very different from the previous ones, held in Tokyo in 2021, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 22, 2024

In defense of Tokyo 2020, the loneliest Olympics

As Paris gets ready to host the Olympics, a reflection on the previous Games, held in Tokyo three years ago, prompts doubts about predictions of a COVID-induced disaster.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Douglas Emhoff arrive at Kamala's Presidential Campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 23, 2024

Buttigieg to Beshear: Kamala Harris' possible vice president

Potential vice presidential candidates for Kamala Harris include Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Mark Kelly.
Brazilian street skateboarder Felipe Gustavo performs a trick during a timed run with the Red Bull team at a skate park in Huntington Beach, California, on April 24.
OLYMPICS / Skateboarding
Jul 23, 2024

Skateboarding's reputation does a 180 as it rolls into Paris

Skateboarding brought in a much-needed younger audience on its Olympic debut in 2021, leading organizers to lock it in for the Paris Games.
A man squats next to a fire as Palestinians, who fled the eastern part of Khan Younis, were ordered by Israeli army to evacuate their neighborhoods in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Monday.
WORLD
Jul 23, 2024

Israel sends tanks back into Khan Younis area and kills 70

"It is like doomsday," said one resident of the area affected in Gaza.
Artificial intelligence is transforming various business sectors and the economy. But concerns about humanoid robots replacing all jobs are unfounded, as human dexterity will remain essential for the foreseeable future.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 23, 2024

AI is making robots smarter. They’ll need boundaries.

Where AI meets the physical world — and creates the potential for conflicts — is in manufacturing and logistics.
A woman watches as soldiers practice laying mines and nets to stymie the landing of enemy forces at the mouth of a major river leading to the city in Taipei on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 24, 2024

China squeezes Taiwan by targeting islands and fishing sites

Mostly using its Coast Guard, Beijing appears to be asserting itself in new ways around Taiwan’s offshore outposts.
Samsung Electronics' headquarters in Suwon, South Korea, on June 13, 2023
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 24, 2024

Nvidia clears Samsung's HBM3 chips for use in China-market processor

Nvidia's approval of the chips comes amid soaring demand for sophisticated graphics processing units.
Hedwig Schreck is a third-generation Tokyoite whose grandfather first arrived in Japan from Germany in 1920 as a submarine engineer.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jul 24, 2024

Hedwig Schreck: ‘Art has always been part of my life’

A third-generation Tokyoite, the former TV producer has pivoted to teaching others about Japanese culture in her retirement.
The health ministry is calling for people to take infection control measures thoroughly as cases of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases are rising in Japan.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 24, 2024

Japan battling 11th COVID wave, data shows, as KP.3 variant evades immunity

New infections have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks amid the rise of the highly transmissible new coronavirus variant.
A child gets a break from the heat thanks to a cooling mist machine at Sensoji temple in Tokyo.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 24, 2024

Whether it's the pool or the park, teach your kids how to be safe this summer vacation

Your children are likely to sneak out of the house for some fun while school is out. Make sure they know the importance of "squid sushi."
Deputy leader of Fatah Mahmoud al-Aloul and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi attend an event at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 24, 2024

Rival Palestinian factions project unity, but deep divisions remain

For China, the agreement represents an opportunity to promote an image of Beijing as a peace broker and an important player in the Middle East.
A building in the city of Osaka where a syndicate suspected of conducting investment scams on social media operated from.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 24, 2024

90 arrested in Osaka over social media investment scam

Police raided four buildings in the city in the biggest bust of a syndicate involved in this kind of fraud in Japan.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi speaks during a news conference at the Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 24, 2024

Toyota chairman and 12 other Japanese executives banned from entering Russia

Others include Rakuten Group Chairman and CEO Hiroshi Mikitani and Japan International Cooperation Agency President Akihiko Tanaka.
People walk along a flooded street in Manila on Wednesday amid heavy rainfall from Typhoon Gaemi.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 24, 2024

Deadly Typhoon Gaemi floods Philippines, shuts Taiwan

The Philippines is one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to extreme weather events, which have cost the nation about $1.2 billion annually between 2000 and 2016.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?