Search - 2022

 
 
A protest against Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Hong Kong in 2019. Beijing's United Front Work Department is charged with managing relations with overseas Chinese, including in Hong Kong, with the aim of mobilizing society to achieve the government's goals.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Apr 23, 2025

China’s catch-22: Rapid growth with tight social control

The Chinese government is locked in the contradictory goals of pursuing economic growth while maintaining strong social control through its United Front Work Department.
Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, poses with a "Make America Great Again" cap at the White House in Washington on April 16.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 23, 2025

Japan wants to 'separate' tariff and security issues. That may be tough.

Disentangling the two will prove a challenge as U.S. President Donald Trump continues to voice long-held complaints about the alliance’s fairness.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on April 17
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 23, 2025

Opposition slams Ishiba's gas price cut while calling to scrap provisional tax

Ishiba's decision would lower gas prices by ¥10 per liter starting May 22, but nixing the provisional gas tax would lower prices by ¥25.
Astronauts for China's Shenzhou-20 space mission Wang Jie (left), Chen Dong (center) and Chen Zhongrui wave during a news conference a day before the launch of the mission, at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi desert, in northwest China, on Wednesday.
WORLD
Apr 23, 2025

Veteran Chinese astronaut to lead fresh crew to space station

Chen Dong, a 46-year-old former fighter pilot and experienced space explorer, will be at the helm for the mission.
A 21-month-old artist who goes by the name "Thumbelina" uses a brush to paint alongside her mother at the family's home in Tokyo.
CULTURE / Art
Apr 24, 2025

Thumbelina's bedtime is before 8. Her exhibition runs till 5 a.m.

A toddler’s solo art show lights up Tokyo’s nightlife, even though she’s asleep before her first guests arrive.
Ukrainian service members fire a multiple rocket launch system toward Russian troops near the frontline town of Pokrovsk, in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on April 19.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 24, 2025

Trump ramps up pressure on Zelenskyy to accept peace deal

U.S. President Donald Trump ratcheted up pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to accept a peace deal that critics fear will favor Moscow.
A bereaved family member prays at a port in Shari, Hokkaido, to mourn the victims of the Kazu I boat sinking on its third anniversary on Wednesday.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Apr 24, 2025

Hokkaido fisher to hold memorial service for tour boat accident victims

Sakurai instantly decided to organize the offshore memorial service when he saw photos recovered from a 34-year-old Kazu I passenger's digital camera.
South Korean prosecutors have indicted former President Moon Jae-in for alleged corruption.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Apr 24, 2025

South Korea prosecutors indict ex-President Moon Jae-in for corruption

The case is related to the appointment of his former son-in-law at a Thai airline.
Last year was the hottest on record in Japan and globally. An enduring stretch of peak warm weather worldwide has prompted scientists to look for the causes as they try to understand whether we have entered a dangerous phase of accelerated heating.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 24, 2025

Creating the best possible climate models is existential

Scientists' work in building and interpreting climate models must be fine-tuned so that this data can inform the policies capable of living up to the challenge of global heating.
Emergency workers search for victims under the rubble of an apartment building that was destroyed by a Russian missile strike early Thursday in Kyiv. The attack, which killed at least 12 people, was the deadliest on Ukraine’s capital in nearly a year.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 25, 2025

Trump tells Putin to 'STOP' after Russian attack kills 12 in Kyiv

The rare rebuke from the U.S. president came after Moscow launched its biggest attack this year on the Ukrainian capital.
Emissions from industry in fiscal 2023 declined 4.0% from the previous year, and those from households fell 6.8%, according to the Environment Ministry.
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2025

Japan's greenhouse gas emissions fall to a record low in fiscal 2023

The decrease came as the proportion of renewable and nuclear energy exceeded 30% of overall power sources and manufacturing activities slowed.
A young recruit of the Ukrainian Armed Forces participates in an exercise in the Kyiv region earlier this month.
WORLD
Apr 25, 2025

Cash bonus for a year fighting Russia? Inside Ukraine's youth recruitment drive

Two months after Ukraine launched a national drive to recruit young people to fight in its tired and aged armed forces for a year, fewer than 500 have signed contracts.
Amid U.S.-China trade tensions, the U.S. may be looking at Japan as a potential country to make up for a drop in corn exports to China.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 25, 2025

Japan looks to increase U.S. corn imports ahead of more tariff talks

The idea appears to be aimed at appeasing U.S. President Donald Trump's criticisms about Japan's tariffs and could be used as leverage in next week's bilateral negotiations.
Pope Francis, a reformer known for his humility, inclusivity and focus on social justice, passed away at 88, leaving behind a divided church and a legacy of advocating for humanity's most vulnerable.
EDITORIALS
Apr 25, 2025

The Catholic church loses a lion

Francis’ spirit of inclusion should define who we are as human beings and his compassion should be the lodestar for action, both personal and political.
Russian President Vladimir Putin greets U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff prior to their talks in Moscow on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 26, 2025

Trump says Russia-Ukraine deal 'very close' after new Kremlin talks

But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy again rejected suggestions that his country give up on Russian-held Crimea.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks with U.S. President Donald Trump at St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on Saturday.
WORLD
Apr 26, 2025

Trump and Zelenskyy meet one-on-one in Vatican basilica to seek Ukraine peace

The meeting, their first since an angry encounter in Washington in February, comes at a critical time in negotiations aimed at bringing an end to the war in Ukraine.
Chris Eubank Jr. (right) fights Conor Benn during their middleweight bout at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS / Boxing
Apr 27, 2025

Chris Eubank Jr. beats Conor Benn on points in thrilling middleweight bout

All three judges scored the non-title fight 116-112 after a pulsating 12-round slugfest, with both fighters setting a ferocious pace.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (center) leads prayers next to Palestine Liberation Organization Secretary-General Hussein al-Sheikh (third from left) during a meeting of the organization's executive committee in Ramallah, in the West Bank, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 27, 2025

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas appoints aide as potential successor

Hussein al-Sheikh was appointed by Abbas, 89, after the vice presidency position was created during a convention held in Ramallah this week.
Lee Jae-myung delivers a speech during the national convention of South Korea's Democratic Party to choose their candidate for upcoming presidential election, in Goyang, South Korea, on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 28, 2025

South Korea martial law put Lee Jae-myung back on track for presidency

If elected, he would face polarized politics and rising economic concerns while negotiating with Donald Trump.
A person wears a sign with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and U.S. President Donald Trump on it, at an inauguration party held outside the U.S. embassy in Budapest on Jan. 20.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 28, 2025

'Trump tornado' leaves Hungary’s Orban and other far-right leaders reeling

Far-right leaders must now calculate whether unflinching support for Trump will damage their domestic popularity at a time of growing economic pain.
Ground personnel unload weapons and other military hardware delivered by the U.S. military near Kyiv in 2022.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 28, 2025

U.S. aid pullback is making Ukraine more vulnerable to Russian hacks

USAID has been gutted in the first months of Trump’s presidency by Elon Musk’s "department of government efficiency," and Trump has become increasingly impatient with Zelenskyy.
"Quiet quitting" is most common among the younger generation, with 46.7% of respondents to a survey in their 20s identifying with the practice, reflecting a less-motivated workforce more focused on work-life balance.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 28, 2025

Nearly half of workers in Japan engage in ‘quiet quitting’

Some 45% of full-time employees are doing just the bare minimum at work, according to a survey by job-matching company Mynavi.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami