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Only two months into his role as agriculture minister, Shinjiro Koizumi has become the face of a risky political bet by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 16, 2025

Japan’s ‘rice minister’ is ruling party’s biggest election gamble

Shinjiro Koizumi’s reformist drive is testing the loyalty of Japan's rural population — the LDP’s most dependable voter bloc.
Spanish forward Lamine Yamal prior to a match between Spain and Portugal in June.
SOCCER
Jul 16, 2025

Barcelona star Yamal faces probe into dwarf entertainers at 18th birthday

Guests were not permitted to film at the birthday party but a video emerged of a group of people with dwarfism heading into the event.
The share of respondents to a Bank of Japan quarterly survey in June who said they have become worse off came to 61.0%, up 5.1 percentage points from the previous survey.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 16, 2025

Living conditions index hits lowest level in 15 years in Japan

The percentage of respondents who said their living conditions improved from a year before minus those who said the opposite was the worst since the September 2009 survey.
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro attends a rally in Sao Paulo on June 29.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 16, 2025

Trump tariffs put Bolsonaro and Brazilian right in a bind 

Three people close to right-wing ex-President Jair Bolsonaro said they were stunned by Trump's latest tariff move and fear it may do more harm than good.
Muneo Suzuki speaks in Sapporo on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 16, 2025

Prodigal Hokkaido son returns to campaign trail for last run in Upper House election

Muneo Suzuki's personality and past actions make him a divisive political figure, but he's teaming up with the Liberal Democratic Party for one final run.
Adam Silver, commissioner of the NBA, at a conference earlier this month.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Jul 16, 2025

Silver says NBA to study possible expansion beyond 30 teams

The NBA Board of Governors meeting in Las Vegas on Tuesday marked the first time team owners officially discussed expanding the league beyond 30 teams.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who serves as president of the Liberal Democratic Party, delivers a campaign speech in Yokohama on July 6.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 16, 2025

Ishiba faces bad poll numbers with Upper House vote only days away

Losing a majority in the Upper House would pile pressure on Ishiba to resign and kickstart efforts by the ruling coalition to find an opposition party to join it.
Wreckage of an Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plane on the open ground outside Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, where it took off and crashed nearby shortly afterwards, in Ahmedabad, India, on July 12
WORLD / Society
Jul 16, 2025

Air India crash and helicopter crash report rekindle cockpit-video debate

Advocates for cockpit video cameras say footage could fill gaps left by the audio and data recorders, while opponents say concerns about privacy and misuse outweigh benefits.
Mod's memoir “Things Become Other Things” chronicles his walking trips across the Kii Peninsula, surveying “a graceful end to a certain life cycle.”
CULTURE / Books
Jul 16, 2025

Craig Mod's life in motion in a disappearing Japan

In “Things Become Other Things,” the longtime resident of Japan captures that grace that lingers in slowly vanishing countryside towns.
Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in Bangkok on July 9
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 16, 2025

Thai ex-PM Thaksin appears on stand in royal defamation case

Thaksin faces up to 15 years in prison if he is convicted in the closed-door trial in Bangkok, where he stands accused of breaching strict lese majeste laws.
Tomoko Tamura, chairperson of the Japanese Communist Party, attends a debate with other party leaders in Tokyo in October. Her party urges voters to end the LDP’s business-centered politics and U.S. dependence by supporting its social, economic and foreign-policy reforms.
COMMENTARY / Japan / From Party Leaders
Jul 16, 2025

JCP vows fairer taxes, stronger social safety net and a commitment to peaceful diplomacy

Tamura says LDP’s politics are now in a terminal and critical state with the party unable to respond to domestic and international issues or the wishes of the people.
Members of the Syrian security forces assess the destruction inside the heavily damaged Syrian army and Defense Ministry headquarters complex in Damascus, following Israeli strikes Wednesday.
WORLD
Jul 16, 2025

Syria's interim leader vows to protect Druze rights as ceasefire holds

In a statement after powerful Israeli air strikes on Damascus, al-Sharaa addressed Druze citizens saying "we reject any attempt to drag you into hands of an external party."
U.S. President Donald Trump in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in 2017. Six months into his second term, Trump has softened his harsh campaign rhetoric that focused on the U.S.’ massive trade deficit with China and resulting job losses.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 17, 2025

Trump softens tone on China to secure Xi summit and a trade deal

U.S. President Donald Trump's warmer posture toward China contrasts with his threats against other trading partners to ravage their economies with crushing tariffs.
The Tokyo district has the highest number of candidates in the 2025 Upper House election with 32 people in the running for seven seats.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 18, 2025

In Upper House race, younger voters in Tokyo turn to DPP for new direction

Many younger voters, especially in the capital, are drawn to the party's idea that the working generation must be supported for the sake of everyone.
The crash site of Air India flight AI171 in Ahmedabad, India, on June 12
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jul 17, 2025

Air India junior pilot asked why captain turned off fuel switches, sources say

While fuel supply to the engines was restored about 10 seconds later, it was too late to avert the June 12 crash that killed 260 people.
Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito takes part in a debate with the heads of other political parties at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo on July 2.
COMMENTARY / Japan / From Party Leaders
Jul 17, 2025

Komeito hears those hit hardest by rising prices

“To stand forever with common citizens.” Our party has faithfully abided by that founding principle for over six decades
A statue of Park Chung-hee, the former South Korean dictator, in Gumi, South Korea, in 2016.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 17, 2025

South Korea retries ex-spy chief over 1979 presidential assassination

Park had ruled the country with an iron fist for more than 15 years when he was shot and killed by his head of intelligence and trusted aide Kim at a dinner in 1979.
A packaged box of ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) bears the USAID logo, inside MANA Nutrition’s plant in Fitzgerald, Georgia, on May 21.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 17, 2025

U.S. aid workers lobbied to save food stocks after Trump cuts

Wasted food will be turned into landfill or incinerated in the United Arab Emirates, costing the U.S. government an additional $100,000.
Misa Kimura is the main producer for Kawaii Lab, a project by entertainment agency Asobisystem whose groups have found success by pairing a social media-first strategy with a fresh perspective on traditional idol-pop tropes.
CULTURE
Jul 17, 2025

Kawaii Lab redefines idol pop for the TikTok generation

The idol-pop project's main producer, Misa Kimura — a former idol herself — is giving her performers more control over their image and sound.
Kiyoshi Shibata stands in front of one of the rice paddies in Murayama, Yamagata Prefecture, where he produces the prefecture's signature rice brand Tsuyahime.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 17, 2025

Japan's rice farmers are confounded by Shinjiro Koizumi’s policies

Farming communities, a key base for the Liberal Democratic Party, are increasingly voicing their distress at how the rice situation is being handled.
Members of Syrian security forces stand on a road as vehicles transporting other Syrian security forces make their way out of the predominantly Druze city of Sweida, Syria, on Wednesday.
WORLD
Jul 18, 2025

U.S. does not support Israel's Syria strikes as al-Sharaa vows to protect Druze

Israel launched airstrikes in Damascus on Wednesday, saying it aimed to protect Syrian Druze, a part of a minority that also has followers in Lebanon and Israel.
One of the entrances to Pao Compound, a nine-story Silk Road-inspired complex in Tokyo's Higashinakano neighborhood
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jul 19, 2025

Touring the Silk Road — without leaving Tokyo

Located near Higashinakano Station, Pao Compound is an eclectic mix of restaurants, event spaces and an affinity for cultural exploration.
The Palestinian Embroidery Obi Project brings together a traditional Japanese garment and age-old designs from the Middle Eastern region.
LIFE / Style & Design
Jul 19, 2025

In Gaza-made obi, Palestinian embroidery meets Japanese kimono

Kimono sashes from the Palestinian Embroidery Obi Project combine Japanese materials with Middle Eastern designs.
A woman holding a child listens to a stump speech in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on June 25.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 18, 2025

Parties vow measures to tackle falling birth rate

Last year, Japan recorded fewer than 700,000 births for the first time.
Mazda employees walk at the company's main plant in the town of Fuchu, Hiroshima Prefecture, on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 18, 2025

Japan voters see little hope for tariff reprieve in carmaker Mazda's hometown

The economic engine of Hiroshima Prefecture faces U.S. tariffs of 25% on cars, a dispiriting prospect for an electorate already battling inflation.
A think tank researcher said anti-government propaganda by Russian bot accounts was what has made the small far-right party Sanseito so popular leading up to the Upper House election.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 18, 2025

Concerns grow in Japan over possible Russian interference in Sunday’s election

A blog post from a member of the Japan Institute of Law and Information Systems went viral for stating Russian bots were interfering in the upcoming Upper House election.
Food banks are struggling to secure rice and other food items to distribute to people in need as inflation has put a dent in donations.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 18, 2025

As rice shortage hits donations, food banks urge politicians to tackle poverty

Food banks are struggling to secure rice and other food items to distribute to people in need as inflation has put a dent in donations.
Houses and rice fields are submerged due to flooding caused by torrential rain, in Yesan, South Korea, on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 18, 2025

Torrential rain pounds South Korea for third day as thousands take shelter

Warnings of torrential rain remained in effect for most of the country's western and southern regions.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks during a news conference with President Donald Trump in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington on June 27.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 19, 2025

Trump sues Wall Street Journal over Epstein report, seeking $10 billion

The newspaper said that Trump in 2003 sent Jeffrey Epstein a birthday greeting that included a sexually suggestive drawing and a reference to secrets they shared.

Longform

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