Search - people

 
 
The Oresundsverket natural gas-fired power plant, operated by Uniper, in Malmo, Sweden
WORLD / Politics
Apr 26, 2024

Sweden plans for worst-case scenario: War spreading in Europe

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has prompted Sweden to prepare for any possible contingency, including war coming to Europe.
Defense Minister Minoru Kihara (third from left) attends a ceremony last month for the Ground Self-Defense Force's systems communications and cyber school.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 26, 2024

The glitch in Japan's plans to bolster U.S. defense

Japan has suffered high-profile hacks in recent years that have elevated concerns over whether Tokyo can fully support its security partners.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Friday
WORLD / Politics
Apr 26, 2024

Top U.S. and China diplomats talk tough amid warnings of new ‘downward spiral’

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi did not mince words when addressing a raft of contentious topics, including trade, Ukraine and Taiwan.
Paul Kraft
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / The Big Questions
Apr 29, 2024

JapanIQ consultancy eases entry to tough market

Kraft began his career at The Schwan Food Company, then moved to C.H. Robinson Worldwide before starting his consulting firm, JapanIQ, in 2023
Police officers stand guard in front of the entrance to the venue of the so-called Palestine Conference in Berlin on April 12. Anger over Israeli aggression in Gaza is growing in the U.S. and in other parts of the world, including in the West.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 26, 2024

The world cannot just cancel Palestine

Germany and other Western governments are appropriating cancel culture to stop demonstrations against Israeli aggression, using antisemitism as a shield.
A young patient is evacuated from a hospital in Kyiv after reports that the building may have been targeted by Russian forces on Friday. Russia attacked railway facilities in three different regions across Ukraine on Thursday night and Friday morning, as the Russian defense minister vowed to step up strikes aimed at slowing the flow of critically needed American weapons and equipment to the front.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 27, 2024

Russia targets Ukraine railways as Western aid due to arrive

Kyiv warned that Moscow was looking to disrupt military supplies ahead of a fresh Russian offensive while Ukraine waits for new U.S. weapons deliveries.
Apple and OpenAI have begun discussing terms of a possible agreement on how some artificial intelligence features would be integrated into the next iPhone operating system, sources have said.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 27, 2024

Apple intensifies talks with OpenAI for iPhone generative AI features

The latest development comes about a month and a half before an Apple conference where it's poised to introduce new AI software and services.
The top leader of Palestinian militant group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, meets with the Iranian president in Tehran on March 27.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 27, 2024

Hamas says it received Israel's response to its cease-fire proposal

After more than six months of war, negotiations remain deadlocked, with Hamas sticking to its demands that any agreement must end the conflict.
Ukrainian guards patrol a stretch of land on the border with Romania. New guidance carries a clear message to Ukrainian men abroad who may be avoiding the draft: You don’t get the benefit of state services if you don’t join the fight.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 27, 2024

Ukraine is denying consular services to men outside the country

The drive to bring fighting-age men back to Ukraine, or keep them from leaving, is part of a broader effort to enlist new soldiers urgently.
An estimated 835,200 people were due to travel through Narita Airport in Chiba Prefecture during the 11-day Golden Week period — about 77% of the number during the same period in 2019, before the eruption of the COVID-19 pandemic.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 27, 2024

Travelers flock to train stations and airports as Golden Week begins

Japan kicked off its Golden Week holidays, which run through May 6, on Saturday, with many people heading to resorts or their home towns.
A prisoner stands behind the door of a cell in the isolation section of the Villepinte detention center in Villepinte, near Paris.
WORLD / Society
Apr 27, 2024

Ahead of Olympics, a packed Paris prison braces for crowds of inmates

Many of the events are being held in Seine-Saint-Denis, which has the highest ratio of immigrants among France's departments and is also the poorest.
Palestinians cover a body that was buried in a mass grave in the northern Gaza Strip.
WORLD / EXPLAINER
Apr 27, 2024

Mass graves in Gaza: what do we know?

The discovery of mass graves at two Gaza hospitals have triggered calls by the U.N. rights chief and others for an international investigation.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo on Friday
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 27, 2024

Japan party leaders make final pitches ahead of Sunday by-elections

The outcome of the Shimane by-election is expected to affect Kishida's grip on power and his strategy for a possible dissolution of the Lower House.
Palestinian children stand amid the debris of a house destroyed by overnight Israeli bombardment in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 28, 2024

Some U.S. officials say Israel may be violating international law in Gaza

A joint submission from four U.S. bureaus raised "serious concern over non-compliance" with international humanitarian law.
A man, identified as Keith Siegel, 64, speaks in a video released Saturday by Hamas that appeared to show two Israeli hostages who have been held in the Gaza Strip since the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, in this screenshot.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 28, 2024

Hamas releases video of two hostages as it weighs cease-fire

The Palestinian militant group’s military wing posted a video showing American Israeli citizen Keith Siegel, 64, and Israeli Omri Miran, 47.
The departure lobby for domestic flights is crowded with travelers at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Saturday, the first day of this year's Golden Week holidays.
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2024

Golden Week crowds greeted with high temperatures as holiday period kicks off

The mercury soared as millions of travelers were venturing to both international and domestic destinations.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during the White House Correspondents' Association dinner at the Washington Hilton, in Washington, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 28, 2024

Biden jabs Trump in election-year roast at correspondents' dinner

The U.S. president used the annual black-tie event to chide his Republican rival Donald Trump for immaturity and poke fun at his own advanced age.
When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Apr 29, 2024

Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree

Among official records in Japan, the "koseki" is key to discovering where you came from. However, it's not without controversy.
At the State Department, an eight-person group informally known as "the firm” is taking steps to help embattled nations when China responds to political disputes with what the U.S. and its allies call "economic coercion."
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 29, 2024

U.S. ‘firm’ steps in when China is seen as a bully, not a partner

At the U.S. State Department, an eight-person group is taking steps to help nations when China responds to political disputes with "economic coercion."
Palestinian children stand in a camp for displaced people in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip by the border with Egypt on Sunday.
WORLD
Apr 29, 2024

U.S. pushes for Gaza truce and hostage release as Blinken visits

The White House said that Israel has agreed to hear out its concerns.
Protesters in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and pro-Israel counterprotesters scuffle during demonstrations at the University of California Los Angeles on Sunday.
WORLD
Apr 29, 2024

White House urges 'peaceful' campus protests after hundreds arrested

The wave of demonstrations began at Columbia University in New York but they have since spread rapidly across the country.
In his book "It’s Okay Not to Look for the Meaning of Life," Buddhist priest Jikisai Minami sprinkles in surprising declarations such as “Stop taking care of yourself,” “It’s okay not to have friends,” “People can live without hopes and dreams.”
CULTURE / Books
Apr 29, 2024

Buddhist priest grounds new book with practical advice and cheeky declarations

"It’s Okay Not to Look for the Meaning of Life" by Jikisai Minami addresses the ills of modern life by revealing the true nature of suffering.
The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan's Natsumi Sakai (center) celebrates with other CDP officials and supporters on Sunday in Tokyo's Koto Ward after being announced as the winner of the Tokyo No. 15 district by-election.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 29, 2024

Election trouncing a blow to Kishida, but snap election unlikely

The PM might order a Cabinet reshuffle and make leadership changes within the LDP to boost his popularity ahead of the party's presidential election.
A screen shows Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron, at the GAC Motor booth at the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition in Beijing on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 30, 2024

Xi seems on a mission to drive a wedge between Europe and the U.S.

During his five-day trip to France, Serbia and Hungary on Sunday, Chinese President Xi Jinping plans to show the EU how much China can offer them.
Demonstrators surround a cardboard cutout of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a protest outside the Indian Consulate in Toronto after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau raised the prospect of New Delhi's involvement in the murder of Sikh separatist leader in the country last September.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 30, 2024

India’s spy chief cleared plot to kill Sikh activist, report says

An alleged plot to kill a U.S. citizen and Sikh activist on American soil last year was approved by senior-level members of India’s intelligence agency, including its chief at the time, the Washington Post reported, citing people familiar with the matter it didn’t identify.
A man rides a scooter past apartment high rises under construction in Zhengzhou, China, in January 2019.
BUSINESS
Apr 30, 2024

Strained Chinese cities struggle to pay homebuying subsidies

Some local governments are unable to raise funds to pay promised subsidies, frustrating buyers and casting doubts over future support measures.
Peaches grown in Fukushima Prefecture. A so-called zebra firm in the prefecture is selling substandard fruits to greengrocers in urban areas, which leads to higher incomes for local farmers.
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2024

Japan eyes socially mindful startups to boost regional economies

Starting in June, the government will launch pilot projects to help such startups cooperate with local governments, banks and companies.
An eruption from Mount Ruang volcano is seen from Tagulandang island in Sitaro, North Sulawesi, Indonesia, on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 30, 2024

Indonesia's Mount Ruang erupts again, closes international airport

Authorities created a 6-kilometer exclusion zone around the volcano, forced evacuations and closed Sam Ratulangi international airport.
A scene from "The Maiden Benten and the Bandits of the White Waves" ("Benten Kozo") at the University of Hawaii at Manoa
CULTURE / Stage
May 5, 2024

Students from Hawaii to perform English-language kabuki in Japan

The group will perform "Benten Kozo," a play depicting the twists and turns of five thieves following their own code of honor.
A Ukrainian serviceman stands guard at his position in a trench at a front line on the border with Russia, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Sumy region, Ukraine, on Jan. 20.
WORLD
Apr 30, 2024

Thirty men have died trying to leave Ukraine to avoid fighting since war started

Nearly 20,000 men have fled Ukraine since the beginning of the war to avoid being drafted, according to BBC reports.

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