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Awang Suang trims weeds from palm trees on his small plantation in Membakut, Malaysia on Feb. 12. He has been cultivating oil palms for more than 50 years after switching from rubber trees. Palms require less labor and produce more frequent harvests — roughly every two weeks, year round — providing a steadier income, he explained.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Mar 18, 2024

Can Europe save forests without killing jobs in Malaysia?

A new regulation aims to rid the palm oil supply chain of imports that come from former forestland.
People make their way through the rubble in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in January.
WORLD
Mar 18, 2024

Haiti’s hospitals survived cholera and COVID. Gangs are closing them.

Many hospitals in Haiti’s capital have been looted by gangs or abandoned by their staffs amid the violence.
Customers make a toast at an eatery in Tokyo. Many view Japan’s economy as being on the rise, and that of regional powerhouse China as declining. But how accurate is this narrative?
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 18, 2024

Japan is back, China is over. The trouble with narratives.

The idea that Japan and China's roles have flipped, with the former on the rise and the latter in decline, obfuscates important facts and trends.
A group of high schoolers promoting self-liberation from social media and technology meets in New York in December 2022. Young people around the world are switching their smartphones for “dumbphones.”
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 18, 2024

How switching from a smart to a flip phone saved me

To stop the endless doomscrolling, some people are turning the clock back and switching to "dumbphones."
U.S. President Joe Biden (right) is welcomed to Israel by the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. The relationship between the two leaders has since soured.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2024

Biden and Netanyahu are going from frenemies to enemies

President Biden has warned the Israeli prime minister about crossing a red line, but that may cause more trouble than good, as history teaches us.
Prime Minister and Liberal Democratic Party President Fumio Kishida delivers a speech during the LDP's 91st party convention in Tokyo on Sunday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 18, 2024

What is being missed about the funding scandal

In discussions about the LDP funding scandal, certain considerations are missing. Beyond lambasting the party, these must be addressed for a clear vision.
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with the media at his campaign headquarters in Moscow on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 18, 2024

Five takeaways from Putin’s orchestrated win in Russia

Putin always seeks to project an image of political stability and control, which the carefully choreographed presidential votes are designed to burnish.
"Coffin club" member Kevin Heyward poses next to a coffin he built to resemble a hot rod. It's a task of grave importance, but there's nothing to stop New Zealanders having a laugh as they work on DIY caskets in the country's coffin clubs.
WORLD / Society
Mar 18, 2024

New Zealand's 'coffin clubs' bury taboos about death

The clubs, where people work on DIY caskets, provide a space to open up about death and dying during weekly meetups.
Palestinians gather to receive aid outside an UNRWA warehouse as Gaza residents face crisis levels of hunger on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 19, 2024

'Catastrophic' food shortages make mass death imminent in Gaza, agency warns

The number of people in parts of northern Gaza suffering the most severe food shortages is said to be more than triple the famine threshold.
People look at the screens showing views from polling stations across Russia, at the headquarters of Russia's Central Election Commission on the final day of the presidential election in Moscow on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 19, 2024

What Putin’s election win tells us about Russia today

Putin won 87.3%, or 76 million votes, by far the biggest landslide in post-Soviet Russian history.
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2024

Emperor and Empress to visit quake-hit Noto Peninsula

The visit will mark the imperial couple's second visit to a disaster-hit area since the Emperor's enthronement in 2019.
Humility, recognition of cultural blind spots and a renewed effort are needed to find common ground between China and the United States.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 19, 2024

Addressing the 'blind spots' in U.S.-China relations

The dwindling opportunities for unofficial dialogue between scholars and experts from the U.S. and China are also driving by mutual suspicion and fear.
Lawmakers vote on the new national security law at Hong Kong’s Legislative Council on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 19, 2024

Hong Kong adopts sweeping security laws, bowing to Beijing

The body fast-tracked a major piece of legislation that critics say further threatens the China-ruled city's freedoms.
The annual South by Southwest Conference (SXSW) in Austin, Texas, was held on Saturday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 20, 2024

Will AI help or hurt workers? At SXSW, that depends on who you ask.

According to a global survey from Slack, 42% of office workers say they’re excited about AI, but some 27% find the prospect concerning.
Ice forms on the window of an airplane heading from Iqaluit to Pond Inlet, Nunavut, Canada. The Earth's poles are warming faster than elsewhere, with the North Pole heating up about twice as fast as the rest of Earth for the last 30 years.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Mar 20, 2024

Climate change speeds up as major indicators blow off the charts, WMO warns

2023 was the warmest year on record — with global average temperatures 1.45 degrees Celsius higher than in pre-industrial times.
Police officers monitor traffic on the streets from surveillance cameras in Buenos Aires in April 2020.
WORLD / Society
Mar 20, 2024

Reboot of Buenos Aires facial recognition plan fuels privacy fears

The system of 300 cameras linked to a national crime database was suspended two years ago after a court ruled it unconstitutional.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda (center) and Deputy Govs. Ryozo Himino (left) and Shinichi Uchida (right) attend a news conference at the bank headquarters in Tokyo in April 2023
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Mar 20, 2024

How the Bank of Japan's plan for a smooth stimulus exit unfolded

The decision was complicated by differences between BOJ Gov. Kazuo Ueda's two deputies, as well as the governor's wavering on the exit timing.
A commuter walks along an overpass in Jakarta.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Mar 20, 2024

Only 10 countries had healthy air quality in 2023, report finds

Sources of PM2.5 pollution vary widely, but the overwhelming cause is the burning of fossil fuels.
Security personnel guard trucks carrying aid as they arrive in the southern Gaza Strip on Jan. 17.
WORLD
Mar 20, 2024

Palestinian clans and factions step in to protect Gaza aid

Numerous clans, civil society groups and factions — including Hamas' secular political rival Fatah — have stepped in to help provide security.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 20, 2024

Princess Aiko set to work with Red Cross following Gakushuin graduation

The princess studied for four years in the Department of Japanese Language and Literature, writing her thesis on a noted 12th-century poet.
Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Vandalia, Ohio, earlier this month.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2024

The zombification of American politics

Turning a party into an autocracy is a logical first step toward turning the country into one.
A soup kitchen distributes food in Havana on Jan. 15. The communist government of Cuba is grappling with its worst economic situation since the collapse of the Soviet Union more than three decades ago.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2024

Communist Cuba is on the brink of collapse

The communist government of Cuba is grappling with worst economic situation since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 21, 2024

Ohtani’s longtime interpreter fired amid illegal gambling allegations

ESPN reported that at least $4.5 million in wire transfers were sent to a bookmaking operation, which is under federal investigation.
Protesters hold up placards demanding the release of detained Myanmar civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a demonstration against the military in March 2021.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 21, 2024

Myanmar junta facing 'existential threat,' says U.N. expert

"Those who have bet on the junta to restore order and stability in Myanmar have made a losing bet," said Tom Andrews.
Tokyo's Kasumigaseki district, where government ministries and agencies are concentrated
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2024

More retired government employees want to work beyond 65

The most common reason, cited by 85.7% of the respondents, was to maintain their standard of living.
A woman checks a lottery ticket at a lottery ticket store in Shanghai
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Mar 21, 2024

Chinese youth ease economical angst by playing the lottery

"It’s so difficult to make money now, no matter what you do”
Shizue Takahashi, a bereaved family member of the 1995 sarin attack on the Tokyo subway system, offers a prayer at Kasumigaseki Station on Wednesday, the 29th anniversary of the attack.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 20, 2024

Japan marks 29th anniversary of Tokyo subway sarin attack

The Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult's sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system killed 14 people and injured more than 6,000.
Elon Musk's brain-chip startup Neuralink livestreamed on Wednesday its first patient implanted with a chip using his mind to play online chess.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 21, 2024

Musk's Neuralink shows first brain-chip patient playing online chess

The patient had received an implant from the company in January and reportedly learnt to control a computer mouse using his thoughts.
U.S. Indo-Pacific Command chief Adm. John Aquilino said that since he took command in 2021, the PLA has added over 400 advanced fighter aircraft and more than 20 major warships, and has more than doubled its inventory of ballistic and cruise missiles.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 21, 2024

China on track to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027, U.S. commander says

All signs point to the People's Liberation Army meeting President Xi Jinping’s preferred timeline, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command chief says.
Runners fill the street in front of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building at the start of the 2023 Tokyo Marathon.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Mar 25, 2024

Medals, jewelry and veggies: Japan’s race prizes run the gamut

Japan's marathons try everything to offer runners experiences they can’t get elsewhere.

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