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Kemi Badenoch is the bookmakers’ favorite to win the U.K. Conservative Party leadership contest.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 1, 2024

U.K.’s most Tory district uninspired even as leadership race heats up

Even in the Britain's most Conservative constituency, the former governing party’s contest to choose a new leader is failing to set pulses racing.
With so many voters suffering financially and showing an eagerness to throw politicians out of office, delivering higher living standards appears to be a necessary condition for restoring political stability to the world’s democracies.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 1, 2024

Political and economic chaos through 'the looking glass'

America is not alone in experiencing an unanticipated upheaval. Five years ago, it seemed inconceivable that a major ground war would occur on the European continent.
When it comes to trade disputes between the U.S. and China, not even the game of golf is spared.
BUSINESS
Sep 3, 2024

U.S. golf cart industry reveals how China tariffs are a blunt instrument

In factories and shops around the country, finding complaints about cheaper Chinese competitors is easy — but reaching a consensus on how to combat them is harder.
The 225-issue Nikkei average plunged 4.2% on Wednesday, its sharpest drop since a 12% crash on Aug. 5.
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 5, 2024

Japanese stocks seen as volatile and capped as U.S. walks economic tightrope

Japan's stock market is heavily influenced by movements in Wall Street and the exchange rate, which remain uncertain due to the unpredictable U.S. presidential election.
An Nvidia Quantum-X800 InfiniBand Platform on display in Taipei on June 5
WORLD / Politics
Sep 6, 2024

U.S. targets China with quantum and chip-related export curbs

The rules cover all worldwide exports, but include exemptions for countries that implement similar measures.
Jessica Pegula hits a return during her U.S. Open women’s final against Aryna Sabalenka, at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens on Saturday.
TENNIS
Sep 8, 2024

Sabalenka downs Pegula to win U.S. Open thriller

The 26-year-old from Belarus clubbed 40 winners to become the first woman since Angelique Kerber in 2016 to capture both hardcourt majors in the same season.
Director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) William Burns arrives to testify before a closed Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee hearing on U.S. President Joe Biden's proposed budget request for the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 12.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 8, 2024

U.S. and U.K. spy chiefs warn of deepening Iran-Russia military links

Iran has sent ballistic missiles to Russia, defying months of warnings by U.S. and European officials.
Jannik Sinner celebrates after defeating Taylor Fritz in the U.S. Open final in New York on Sunday.
TENNIS
Sep 9, 2024

Jannik Sinner rolls past Taylor Fritz in U.S. Open final

For 23-year-old Sinner, it was his 55th match win of the season and sixth title.
U.K. Ambassador to Japan Julia Longbottom says the Indo-Pacific region offers a unique opportunity to not only tackle shared security concerns but also to generate new sources of economic growth.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 9, 2024

U.K. envoy to Japan pushes back on Indo-Pacific disengagement concerns

The region — and Japan — remain “critical" to Britain's interests, Ambassador Julia Longbottom told The Japan Times.
U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris shakes hands with former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a debate at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 11, 2024

Harris rattles Trump in combative U.S. presidential debate

The Democratic vice president put her Republican rival on the defensive with a stream of attacks on abortion limits, his fitness for office and his myriad legal woes.
Hokkaido's cuisine and the culture that underpins it get top billing in Tim Anderson's newest cookbook.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 15, 2024

‘MasterChef U.K.’ winner’s new cookbook puts Hokkaido cuisine on vivid display

Tim Anderson's cookbook covers a lot, but its strength is in presenting Japan’s largest prefecture as a detailed tapestry via straightforward recipes.
Candidates for Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party presidential election stand together onstage at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 15, 2024

LDP presidential hopefuls outline approach to U.S. and China concerns

The nine candidates jostled over the best way to resolve Nippon Steel's contentious bid for U.S. Steel, while also grappling with the Chinese military challenge.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni meet on Monday and plan to discuss a proposal for Ukraine to use British long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles on Russian territory.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 16, 2024

U.K.’s Starmer seeks Italy’s support for missiles to Ukraine

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's visit to Rome comes days after he met with U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington.
Campaign spending in the U.S. has surged, with dark money and Super PACs dominating elections.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 13, 2024

Dark money is a cancer on U.S. lawmakers — but it’s curable

Nearly three-fourths of Americans voters say lobbyists and special interests wield too much influence compared to constituents.
The Typhon missile system at Laoag International Airport, in Laoag, Philippines, on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 19, 2024

U.S. keeps missile system in Philippines as China tensions rise

China and Russia condemned the move — the first deployment of the system to the Indo-Pacific — and accused Washington of fueling an arms race.
Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing in Washington on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 19, 2024

Microsoft executive warns of meddling in final days of U.S. election

Brad Smith said lessons should be learned from certain other elections that have seen fake information circulated.
OpenAI announced a new reasoning model on Thursday that it said was capable of surpassing human experts in a number of technical benchmarks for the first time. The new model received the company's first "medium" rating on bioweapon risk.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 20, 2024

Battle rages over U.S.' first binding AI safety bill in California

The legislation has exposed a deep divide across the tech industry and the political establishment, upending the usual coalitions.
A U.S. Marine aircraft at Futenma Air Station in Okinawa
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 21, 2024

U.S. marine in Okinawa indicted for alleged sexual assault

The suspect has denied part of the charges, claiming that he had consent, investigative sources said.
Americans face a choice in the November presidential election between Donald Trump’s isolationist vision of America alone and Kamala Harris’ approach, which builds on the Biden administration’s legacy of strengthening alliances to tackle global challenges.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 23, 2024

America’s role in the world is hard. It just got much harder.

November's election offers stark contrast between Donald Trump’s isolationism and Kamala Harris’ focus on strengthening alliances.
Inger Andersen, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program, speaks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 18.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Sep 23, 2024

'Convergence' growing on global plastics treaty: U.N. environment chief

At negotiations in November in South Korea's Busan, countries are hoping to seal a potentially groundbreaking deal to tackle the problem of plastic pollution.
Caption TK
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Sep 23, 2024

Hokkaido seeks to grow market for scallops in the U.S. — and beyond

China's refusal to budge from its ban on Japanese seafood forces local officials to look elsewhere.
A Ukrainian soldier operates a DJI drone on the front line of the war, in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine in March 2023. U.S. authorities consider Chinese drone-maker DJI a security threat.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 25, 2024

Taiwan and U.S. work to counter China’s drone dominance

Discussions in Taiwan, set to finish Wednesday, brought more than two dozen U.S. companies together with Taiwanese firms looking for U.S. knowledge and customers.
Eric Adams, mayor of New York, exits a weekly news conference at City Hall in New York in 2023.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Sep 27, 2024

NYC mayor was corrupt for years, U.S. claims in scathing case

The indictment calls into question the political future of New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who is in charge of running the biggest U.S. city.
Shipping containers are stacked on a pier at the Red Hook Terminal in Brooklyn, New York. A prolonged strike, alongside an ongoing strike by 30,000 machinists at Boeing, could put a dent in the U.S. job market next month at a critical moment.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 27, 2024

Shippers scramble for workarounds ahead of threatened U.S. port strike

A prolonged strike, alongside an ongoing strike by 30,000 machinists at Boeing, could put a dent in the U.S. job market next month at a critical moment.
A series of satellite images from Planet Labs appears to show cranes at the Wuchang shipyard in Wuhan, China, on June 15.
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 27, 2024

China's newest nuclear-powered submarine sank this year, U.S. says

It was not clear if the sub was carrying nuclear fuel, but the accident has dealt a major blow to Beijing as it seeks to showcase its growing military prowess.
Supporters of Donald Trump display a Trump flag at The National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa, where Polish President Andrzej Duda attended mass and spoke at the monument dedication in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 22.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 30, 2024

Harris courts Polish-American voters in crucial U.S. states

In an election likely to be decided by a razor-thin margin in a handful of key states, Kamala Harris is seeking to appeal to the Polish-American community.
The U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington on June 1
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Oct 3, 2024

Guns and transgender rights cases loom as U.S. Supreme Court returns

The justices return from their summer recess under intense scrutiny by many politicians and the public.
U.S. officials are warning that foreign adversaries are aiming to sow doubt in the Nov. 5 election results to stoke division and undermine trust.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 8, 2024

U.S. expecting foreign actors to question validity of election

Countries would seek to "launder their narratives" through witting and unwitting American voices and stoke divisions in society.
Efforts to protect neurological data have proliferated in recent years, as electronic devices available directly to consumers become capable of capturing medical-grade brain data similar to what neurologists would use to diagnose patients.
WORLD
Oct 11, 2024

A new frontier of data privacy in the U.S. — your brain

California's new law defines neurological data as "sensitive personal information," a class of data that includes DNA, precise geolocation and other protected data.
The U.S. Federal Reserve's cutting of the federal funds rate from 5.3% to a range of 4.75-5%, its first monetary-easing cycle in over four years, has provided China with greater flexibility to stimulate its struggling economy.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 10, 2024

What U.S. interest-rate cuts mean for China

The Fed's easing cycle means lower debt burdens and higher liquidity, allowing countries to cut rates without fearing excessive capital outflows.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji