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Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a video conference meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 22, 2025

Xi and Putin discuss relations with Trump, Ukraine and Taiwan

In a video call, Xi and Putin proposed a further deepening of the strategic partnership between their countries that worries the West.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Laotian Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone shake hands in the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 22, 2025

Japan and Laos agree to arrange vice ministerial security talks

The two countries also issued a joint statement calling for upgrading their relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership.
In 2024, child mortality for children before the age of 5 reached a record low of 3.6%, down from over 25% in 1950. For most of history, about half of all newborns died as children.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 22, 2025

Even this year is the best time ever to be alive

Another way of looking at it: Every day over the past couple of years, roughly 30,000 people moved out of extreme poverty worldwide.
Donald Trump pardoned Jan. 6 participants, while Joe Biden granted clemency to family members and officials to avoid potential prosecutions, highlighting the personalization and politicization of U.S. presidential pardon power.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 22, 2025

Trump seriously abused his pardon power. Biden also indulged.

A torrent of U.S. reprieves signals democratic decline and the rise of a monarchical presidency.
People walk in front of billboards in a subway station in Shanghai on Jan. 16.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 22, 2025

China's frugal young adults accelerate saving, raising economic risks

Some economists warn entrenched saving could hollow out demand just as policymakers are counting on domestic consumption to bolster China's GDP.
Israeli tanks near the border with Gaza, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, as seen from Israel, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jan 22, 2025

Hamas' tight grip on Gaza complicates plan for lasting peace

Hamas remains deeply entrenched in Gaza and its hold on power represents a challenge to implementing a permanent ceasefire.
The crime scene where three people were attacked near JR Nagano Station on Wednesday
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 23, 2025

Search for suspect underway after fatal stabbing at Nagano Station

One person died in the attack, which happened around 8 p.m. Wednesday, while two others sustained injuries.
An aide places the Presidential seal before President Donald Trump addresses guests and supporters in an overflow room in the Emancipation Hall of the U.S. Capitol for his Inauguration ceremony in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 23, 2025

What Trump has done since returning to the White House

The orders aim to meet campaign promises such as on illegal immigration, energy and the environment, as well as gender and diversity policies.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs documents as he issues executive orders and pardons in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, on Jan. 20.
WORLD / Society
Jan 23, 2025

Trump escalates campaign against diversity, threatening private sector probes

The U.S. president has issued a series of executive orders to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Takuya Mori, a curator of Yokkaichi Municipal Museum in Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, works on converting magnetic recordings kept at the museum into digital files.
JAPAN / Society / Regional voices: Chubu
Mar 3, 2025

Magnetic tapes at risk without digitization, archive groups warn

UNESCO has called for the digitization of audio and video recordings kept in academic and cultural institutions.
Celtic's Kyogo Furuhashi has been linked with a move to Rennes  in France.
SOCCER
Jan 23, 2025

Celtic captain Calum McGregor hopes Kyogo Furuhashi remains with club

Furuhashi, who turned 30 on Monday, helped Celtic reach the Champions League playoffs in a 1-0 win over Young Boys.
Thai actors Apiwat "Porsch" Apiwatsayree (right) and Sappanyoo "Arm" Panatkool pose for pictures in front of a Thai national flag after registering their same-sex marriage at the Phra Nakhon district office in Bangkok on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jan 23, 2025

Hundreds to wed as Thai same-sex marriage law comes into force

Thursday's milestone makes Thailand the first Southeast Asian country to allow equal marriage, and the biggest place in Asia to recognize such unions.
Tourists visit shops near Kyoto's Fushimi Inari Shrine on Jan. 13. The nation's growing tourism sector, set to hit 40 million visitors in 2025, boosts the economy but is straining the nation's infrastructure.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 23, 2025

Japan has '$100 billion' reasons to welcome more visitors

Japan's growing tourism, set to hit 40 million visitors in 2025, boosts the economy but strains infrastructure, highlighting a need for smarter policies to manage overtourism.
The day care room for younger children at a multipurpose facility on Tonaki Island, Okinawa Prefecture, has never been used since its establishment in 2019.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Feb 3, 2025

The harsh reality of migration outflow on Okinawa’s least populated island

Since Tonaki Island established its only day care center in 2019, not a single child has set foot inside.
The bus stop in Suzhou, China, where a bus used by a Japanese school came under attack from a man, since identified as Zhou Jiasheng, in June last year
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 23, 2025

China sentences man to death over Japanese school bus attack

A Chinese court deemed the death penalty as appropriate in view of the "extremely heinous" nature of the crime, which resulted in the death of a bus attendant.
Marialyce Pedersen cleans burned leaves and debris that accumulated in the sink of her outdoor kitchen made of cob that survived the Eaton fire when her home burned in Altadena, California, on Jan. 20.
WORLD / Society
Jan 23, 2025

Los Angeles wildfires spark interest in adobe and natural building materials

Former homeowners determined to stay want houses that the next fire will not burn easily and that, if burnt, will not turn the soil, water and air into a toxic hazard.
Imperial family members wave to well-wishers during a public appearance in Tokyo on Jan. 2.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 23, 2025

Parliament to resume discussions over imperial family succession this month

The two chambers of parliament plan to resume talks Jan. 31 on measures to secure a sufficient number of imperial family members.
Graffiti created by French artist Big Ben Street Art depicting Donald Trump as Darth Vader from "Star Wars" in Lyon, France, on Nov. 6, 2024
WORLD / Politics
Jan 24, 2025

Trump is back. But what happened to the 'Resistance'?

The U.S. has seen almost none of the mass mobilization that made opposition to Trump in 2017 the largest social movement in a half-century.
U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks at the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 24, 2025

U.S. judge temporarily blocks Trump's order limiting birthright citizenship

The judge's order prevents Trump's policy from being enforced nationwide for 14 days while he considers whether to issue a long-lasting preliminary injunction.
Daisuke Komatsu (left), who heads the Liberal Democratic Party's group in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, and others bow in apology during a news conference at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 24, 2025

LDP Tokyo assembly members to correct funds reports

Some LDP members of the assembly kept some revenues from fundraising parties held in 2019 and 2022 for themselves and did not declare the income.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba delivers his policy speech at the Lower House of parliament in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 24, 2025

Ishiba stresses regional revitalization in policy speech

The relocation of industrial, state and academic institutions to regions outside of Tokyo will begin with government agencies.
Fuji Television's poor handling of sexual misconduct allegations against celebrity Masahiro Nakai has led to an exodus of sponsors from the broadcaster.
JAPAN / Media / FOCUS
Jan 24, 2025

What are the real issues behind the Fuji TV scandal?

Fuji TV's handling of sexual misconduct allegations against TV personality Masahiro Nakai led to a firestorm of public disapproval. Where did it go wrong?
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with U.S. President Donald Trump at the G20 summit in Osaka in June 2019.
WORLD
Jan 24, 2025

Putin ready to talk to Trump and waiting for 'signals,' Kremlin says

The Ukraine conflict has plunged relations between the U.S. and Russia their lowest levels since the Cold War.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio looks on as he meets with his "Quad" counterparts at the State Department in Washington on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 25, 2025

Rubio clashes with Chinese top diplomat on Taiwan

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio clashed with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, over Taiwan, with the top U.S. diplomat denouncing Beijing's "coercive" moves.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio waves to employees upon arrival at the State Department in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 25, 2025

U.S. issues broad freeze on foreign aid after Trump orders review

The move risks cutting off billions of dollars of life-saving assistance. The United States is the largest single donor of aid globally.
Palestinian fighters from the armed wing of Hamas take part in a military parade in the central Gaza Strip in July 2023.
WORLD
Jan 25, 2025

Hamas has added up to 15,000 fighters since start of war, U.S. figures show

The intelligence suggests the Iran-backed fighters could remain a persistent threat to Israel.
U.S. President Donald Trump throws pens to the crowd after signing executive orders during the inaugural parade inside Capital One Arena in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 25, 2025

Trump fires 17 inspectors general in late-night purge

The firings of the internal watchdogs who monitor federal agencies capped a week of dramatic shake-ups of the federal bureaucracy with a focus on loyalty to the president.
Ukrainian refugees, who recently crossed the border from Mexico, head to waiting transportation in Chula Vista, California, on April 4, 2022.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 25, 2025

Trump officials pause programs to let in immigrants, including Ukrainians

Department of Homeland Security officials have ordered what amounts to a pause for a range of programs that allowed immigrants to settle in the U.S. temporarily.
The four Israeli hostages stand on a stage just before their release, in Gaza City on Saturday.
WORLD
Jan 25, 2025

Hamas releases four Israeli hostages in second swap

The four hostages are being released in exchange for 200 Palestinian prisoners under a ceasefire agreement aimed at ending the 15-month-old war in Gaza.
Madison Keys celebrates with the trophy after winning the Australian Open on Saturday in Melbourne.
TENNIS
Jan 26, 2025

Madison Keys fulfills Grand Slam ambition after banishing doubts with therapy

Good things come to those who wait as the saying goes — but Keys' wait may have seemed interminable.

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