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A firefighter works in a rural area of Corumba, Mato Grosso do Sul state, Brazil, on Wednesday.
ENVIRONMENT
Jun 27, 2024

'Breathing smoke': Brazil's Pantanal wetlands hit by record fires

In the first half of this year, satellites recorded more than 3,300 fires in the region.
Of the 384 people who died from all mpox strains in Congo this year, more than 60% were children, the World Health Organization has said.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 27, 2024

Fears emerge over new 'most dangerous' mpox strain crossing borders

The new deadlier strain transmits more easily between people — including through nonsexual contact — and is killing children and causing miscarriages in Congo.
Labour Party leader Keir Starmer speaks during a debate in Nottingham, England, on Wednesday, in the build-up to the U.K. general election set for July 4.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 27, 2024

Starmer denies Sunak clear win he needed in U.K. election debate

The head-to-head contest came amid a betting scandal that’s dominated the last two weeks of the campaign.
Expedition tents at Everest Base Camp, 140 kilometers northeast of Kathmandu, in May 2021
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 27, 2024

As ice melts, Everest's 'death zone' gives up its ghosts

Among those scaling the soaring Himalayan mountain this year was a team aiming to bring corpses down.
Nannalin "Fleur" Pornprasertsom, 14, surveys bleached corals during her coral conservation and citizen science course at Black Turtle Dive, around Koh Tao island in the southern Thai province of Surat Thani, on June 14.
ENVIRONMENT
Jun 27, 2024

Divers become conservationists as corals bleach all over the world

Coral bleaching has been recorded in more than 60 countries since early 2023.
Namgyal Phunchok, a Changpa community leader at Chushul village in Ladakh, says the area's pastoralist way of life had been undermined.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 27, 2024

The herders caught up in India and China's icy conflict

Swaths of grazing lands have become demilitarized "buffer zones" to keep rival forces apart.
Candidates for the July 7 Tokyo gubernatorial election Yuruko Koike (left), Shinji Ishimaru (center left), Toshio Tamogami (center right) and Renho pose for a photo after a public debate in Tokyo this week.
JAPAN
Jun 27, 2024

Tokyo governor candidates call for measures on low birth rate

Suggestions range from higher income for younger workers to subsidies for painless deliveries.
Masayoshi Son, chairman and chief executive officer of SoftBank Group, speaks during the company's annual general meeting in Tokyo last Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 27, 2024

SoftBank to back AI startup Perplexity at $3 billion valuation

SoftBank will invest between $10 million and $20 million in the firm, which aims to use AI to compete with Alphabet’s Google search.
China has made no secret of its dislike of Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te, whom it views as a "separatist."
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 27, 2024

Taiwan warns against travel to China after execution threat

In announcing new legal guidelines last week, Beijing threatened to execute those deemed "diehard" Taiwan independence supporters.
Yuta Orisaka strips things back on his latest album, “Jumon,” though it still features a few explosive moments.
CULTURE / Music
Jun 28, 2024

Yuta Orisaka's folk style is far more than a throwback

The singer-songwriter wanted to make songs his grandmother could enjoy, but that doesn't mean he'll skimp on the electronic touches.
Bolivian President Luis Arce holds a news conference in Casa Grande del Pueblo after the country's armed forces pulled back from the presidential palace and a general was arrested following an apparent coup attempt, in La Paz, Bolivia, on Thursday.
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Jun 28, 2024

Bolivia coup fiasco lays bare a divided country in crisis

The attempt has uncovered tense political fault lines in the nation and growing anger with a flagging economy.
Villager Yurii stands in the library of the school where he previously worked, which was destroyed during heavy fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces, in the village of Dolyna in the Donetsk region of Ukraine in April.
WORLD
Jun 28, 2024

In his home near Ukraine's front line with Russia, Yurii makes a stand

With no electricity or running water, and shelling heard in the distance, one man prays for the day his neighbors return.
Traffic cones mark the site where a drunken driver plowed into a group of elementary school students two days earlier in Yachimata, Chiba Prefecture, on June 30, 2021.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 28, 2024

Alcoholism seen as factor in increase in drunken driving in Japan

There were approximately 2,300 drunken driving collisions reported last year, marking an increase from the previous year.
Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura, speaking in the city of Osaka on Thursday, explains his plan to propose measures to protect people from fraud.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 28, 2024

Osaka governor eyes ban on mobile phone calls at ATMs

The proposal is part of an effort to protect elderly people from fraud.
Ryosuke Kunisawa hopes his "concept brewpub" serves as a focal point to an image change for the salaryman epicenter that is the Shimbashi neighborhood.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 30, 2024

Craft beer, craftsmanship and a family of reinvention

On the first two floors of his family’s slender eight-story building, Kunisawa launched the Kunisawa Brewing Company, Shimbashi's first beer brewery, in May 2022.
While Japan may not have a large market for English-language publications, there's still hope to grow your career overseas while living here.
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Jul 1, 2024

How to make it as an English-language author in Japan

Some writers find career stability in teaching, while others find that the culture and vibrance of this country inspires their imaginations.
Prospective candidates for the Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election include digital minister Taro Kono (left) and former LDP Secretary-General Shigeru Ishiba.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 28, 2024

Potential candidates in LDP presidential election come into view

Digital minister Taro Kono and former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba appear ready to run in September.
Kansai International Airport in Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture, in December
JAPAN / Society
Jun 28, 2024

Deportations over immigration violations in Japan up 65% in 2023

Foreign nationals subject to deportation procedures nearly doubled to 18,198.
The door of a polling station is closed after the end of voting Saturday in Tehran, in a snap presidential election to choose a successor to Ebrahim Raisi following his death in a helicopter crash.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 29, 2024

Sole moderate candidate leads Iran presidential vote amid low turnout

With over 3.8 million ballots from Friday's election counted so far, Massoud Pezeshkian won over 1,595,000 votes.
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with graduates of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration via a video link at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 29, 2024

Putin hints Russia to start making previously banned midrange missiles

Such missiles, capable of carrying nuclear warheads, were previously banned under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.
Foreign tourists visit Tsukiji Outer Market in Tokyo on June 14.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jun 29, 2024

Why it feels like everyone in the world is heading to Japan right now

The yen’s historic collapse coupled with the post-pandemic surge in global tourism has sparked interest in the nation like never before.
The central government will provide subsidies to slash electricity and city gas bills of ¥4 per kilowatt-hour of electricity and ¥17.5 per cubic meter of city gas.
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2024

Japan to offer average of ¥2,125 per month in subsidies for utility bills

The move is designed to cushion the impact of rising prices on households in the summer, which is expected to be among the hottest on record.
Then-Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte holds a sniper rifle next to outgoing Philippine National Police Chief Ronald Bato Dela Rosa during the National Police chief handover ceremony in Camp Crame, Quezon City, in metro Manila, in April 2018.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 29, 2024

Years later, Philippines reckons with Duterte’s brutal drug war

The violence unleashed by the former Philippine leader is finally getting a look, including from the International Criminal Court.
U.S. President Joe Biden meets with steelworkers at United Steel Workers headquarters in Pittsburgh in April.
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Jun 29, 2024

Biden and Trump battle for blue-collar voters as steel merger looms over vote

Just how many rank-and-file workers ignore union chiefs and vote for Donald Trump could have a decisive impact in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Estonian Prime Minister and newly nomiated EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas addresses a news conference at the end of the European Council summit at EU headquarters in Brussels on Friday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 29, 2024

A lifetime fighting Putin’s aggression drives EU’s next diplomatic chief

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, the bloc's next foreign policy chief, will be charged with shaping its response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In a recently released report, a U.N. group has urged Japanese companies to draw up policies vowing to fulfill their responsibility in protecting human rights.
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2024

U.N. voices concern over rights violations in Japan workplaces

While noting "important advancements" on the issue, a report expressed concerns about difficulties in addressing deeply embedded harmful gender and social norms.
The U.S. Supreme Court justices pose for a group photo in Washington in October 2022. Two recent rulings by the Republican-appointed majority add to its steady pursuit of enfeebling the ability of the administrative state to impose rules on powerful business interests.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jun 29, 2024

Weakening regulatory agencies to be key legacy of conservative U.S. Supreme Court

Two recent rulings add to its steady pursuit of enfeebling the ability of the administrative state to impose rules on powerful business interests.
Labour Party leader Keir Starmer and Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves tour a Morrisons supermarket during a Labour general election campaign event in Wiltshire, England, on June 19.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 29, 2024

Revolt against Starmer’s Labour by long-time backers puts star candidates at risk

There’s little prospect the trend will cost Labour the election, but some of the party's leading lights could lose their seats.
Voters listen to a stump speech in Tokyo on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 29, 2024

Candidates turn to AI in Tokyo governor race

Experts warn that while social media give voters more insight into candidates, there are risks of information bias.
U.S. President Joe Biden looks back before boarding Air Force One at Francis S. Gabreski Airport in Westhampton Beach, New York, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 30, 2024

Biden asks donors to stick with him after disastrous debate

The U.S. president repeated that he wouldn’t be running "if I didn’t believe I could win” as he seeks to rebuild momentum in his campaign against Donald Trump.

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