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Ukraine's air defenses shoot down Russian drones during a strike toward Kyiv in September 2024. Experts worry how long Ukraine can fend off the nightly attacks if Russia maintains — or escalates — its strikes.
WORLD
May 31, 2025

As Russia intensifies attacks, Ukraine air defenses under strain

Experts worry how long Ukraine can fend off the nightly attacks if Russia maintains — or escalates — its strikes.
Iris Ohyama began sales of government-stockpiled rice at a home center location in Chiba Prefecture on Saturday morning.
JAPAN
May 31, 2025

Japanese customers brave the rain to line up for cheap stockpiled rice

Lines formed in the early hours of Saturday morning at an outlet in Chiba Prefecture as people clamored to purchase 5 kilogram bags of rice for ¥2,000.
The sun sets over the Gaza Strip, as seen from Israel, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 1, 2025

Hamas seeks changes in Gaza proposal as U.S. calls response 'unacceptable'

Hamas reiterated demands for an end to the war and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, conditions Israel has rejected.
Workers add clean topsoil to a rice field, part of a government pilot project to add fresh earth to recycled and removed soil taken from areas affected by the 2011 nuclear disaster, in the village of Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture, in April.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 1, 2025

Recycling contaminated soil from Fukushima: Japan's dilemma

Massive amounts of the soil — around 14 million cubic meters of it — remain in storage near the damaged plant.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and head of the country's Security Service, Vasyl Maliuk, attend a meeting in Kyiv in this image released Sunday.
WORLD
Jun 2, 2025

Ukraine drone strikes hit nuclear bombers deep inside Russia

More than 40 Russian aircraft, including long-range bombers capable of deploying conventional and nuclear weapons, were reported to have been damaged in the operation.
Former Deputy Wakayama Gov. Izumi Miyazaki, who won Sunday's Wakayama gubernatorial election, speaks in Wakayama the same day.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 2, 2025

Miyazaki elected Wakayama governor for first time

Voter turnout stood at 39.86%, the same as in the previous Wakayama gubernatorial election in 2022.
People watch the sunset in Ronda, southern Spain, on Thursday as the country faces its first heatwave of the season.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jun 2, 2025

Half the world has faced an extra month of extreme heat, study finds

The island of Aruba was the worst affected, recording 187 extreme heat days in a one-year period — 45 more than expected in a world without climate change.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Singapore's Minister of Defense Chan Chun Sing and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas attend a ministerial lunch on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 2, 2025

Asia defense summit reveals gaps between U.S. and European perspectives

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made clear he wanted Europeans to concentrate on European security while the U.S. focuses on the Indo-Pacific.
Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki speaks during an event held on Ie Island in Okinawa Prefecture on Sunday to read aloud the names of people killed in fierce battles in the prefecture during World War II.
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2025

Event to read aloud names of victims of Okinawa battles begins

"I sincerely hope that Okinawa's wish for peace will spread" through the event, Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki said in an opening speech.
Displaced Palestinians carrying relief supplies return from an aid distribution center in the central Gaza Strip on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 2, 2025

Trump vowed to remake aid. Is Gaza the future?

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is distributing food through several hubs in the war-ravaged territory, with contracted U.S. security and Israeli troops.
Toshiba's Richie Mo'unga runs with the ball at Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium on May 24.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Jun 2, 2025

Mo'unga shrugs off broken hand to win Japanese title

The fly-half has finished every season in top-level domestic rugby since 2017 with a winner's medal, and he picked up another with Toshiba.
Investigators inspect a construction site in Tokyo's Edogawa Ward on May 28 after an explosion occurred there a day earlier.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 2, 2025

Tokyo construction site blast caused by gas cylinder buried in the ground

The gas cylinder "may have been illegally dumped a long time ago" at the site, which was a paved parking lot for about 40 years.
Muslim worshipers gather to pray around the Kaaba, Islam's holiest shrine, at the Grand Mosque complex in the holy city of Mecca on Sunday ahead of the annual Hajj pilgrimage.
WORLD
Jun 2, 2025

Saudi Arabia cracks down on unauthorized Hajj pilgrims, aiming to save lives

Last year, 1,301 pilgrims, most unregistered and lacking access to air-conditioned facilities, died as temperatures soared to 51.8 degrees Celsius.
Shigeo Nagashima (left), then the manager of the Tokyo Giants, waves to fans with players and coaches during a victory parade in central Tokyo in 2000. Nagashima died at the age of 89 on Tuesday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jun 3, 2025

Japanese baseball legend Shigeo Nagashima dies at 89

Long before the rise of Shohei Ohtani and Ichiro Suzuki, Nagashima was arguably the most famous player in Japanese baseball history.
Oscar Dolan (center), the founder of the New York Sumo Club, officiates at a match between Josh Ortiz (left) and Daniel Akandu during the Empire Cup competition at Japan Village in New York on May 17.
SUMO
Jun 3, 2025

At this New York City sumo club, ‘Everybody gets thrown’

The New York Sumo Club has about 100 wrestlers, with around 20 regulars.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi (third from left) speaks at a Council for Gender Equality meeting held at the Prime Minister's Office on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 3, 2025

Japan to promote women's startups as part of push to stop rural outflow

Seeing fewer job prospects for women in the countryside as a problem, the government will improve consulting systems for business startups in rural areas.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has called for a parliamentary confidence vote in a bid to demonstrate continuing support for his pro-EU government, after nationalist Karol Nawrocki won the Polish presidential election.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 3, 2025

Tusk calls confidence vote after nationalist wins Polish presidential election

European far-right leaders welcomed the election of Karol Nawrocki, a fan of U.S. President Donald Trump who has said he will oppose the government's progressive agenda.
Mongolian Prime Minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene speaks at the parliament in Ulaanbaatar on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 3, 2025

Mongolia prime minister resigns after losing confidence vote among lawmakers

Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene will remain as caretaker prime minister until his successor is appointed within 30 days.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba offers a flower during a ceremony to pay respects to unidentified war dead from World War II at the Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery in Tokyo on May 26.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 3, 2025

Ishiba faces political and diplomatic quandary ahead of WWII anniversary

There is fierce opposition among conservatives to any form of official reflection on the 80th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II.
A man weaves cane into a chinlone ball, used in the ancient Myanmar game considered a blend of sport and art, at a workshop in Hinthada township in the Irrawaddy delta region.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jun 3, 2025

Ancient Myanmar ball game battles for survival in troubled nation

Myanmar's 2021 military coup and subsequent civil war have made it increasingly difficult for craftsmen to source materials for chinlone balls.
While governments have succeeded in reducing the number of smokers, they have yet to hit their 30% reduction target.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 3, 2025

Global crises disrupt effort to get millions to quit smoking

Governments had planned to reduce smoking rates among people over 15 by 30% between 2010 and 2025, but the timeline was extended an extra five years.
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung waves with his his wife, Kim Hye-gyeong, following his inauguration ceremony at the National Assembly in Seoul on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jun 4, 2025

South Korea’s Lee pledges to heal deep wounds as ‘president for everyone’

Lee Jae-myung, in his inauguration speech, said his government would continue his predecessor’s policy of strengthening cooperation with Japan.
Since moving to Tokyo from New York City in 2014, Hiraku Morilla has been promoting Keith Haring’s legacy in his professional life and advocating for the LGBTQ+ community.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jun 6, 2025

Hiraku Morilla: ‘Pride means respect for those who walked so we could run’

The New York-raised director of the Nakamura Keith Haring Collection reflects on his queer, multiracial identity and LGBTQ+ rights in Japan.
Arrows lead to the tax-free counter at a branch of discount retailer Don Quijote in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 4, 2025

Is Japan ready to say goodbye to tax-free shopping?

Amid widespread abuse of Japan’s tax-free shopping system, a group of Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers are mulling over its possible abolition.
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof in The Hague, Netherlands on Tuesday. Schoof has resigned as prime minister after the far-right Freedom Party pulled out of the government.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 4, 2025

Dutch prime minister resigns after far-right party pulls out of coalition

The Freedom Party withdrew from the Dutch government over the refusal of three coalition partners to agree to its plans to curb migration.
Yasuhiko Morine (left), Esperanza Morine (center left), Lydia Morine (center right) and Naoaki Morine on the island of Linapacan in the western Philippines on May 25
JAPAN
Jun 4, 2025

Some descendants of Japanese in Philippines still without Japan nationality

As this year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the government is strengthening support for those seeking Japanese nationality based on their ancestry.
Security personnel keep watch near the portrait of late Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong displayed on the Tiananmen Gate, in Beijing on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 4, 2025

We will never forget Tiananmen crackdown, Taiwan and U.S. say on 36th anniversary

The events are not publicly discussed in China and the anniversary is not officially marked.
Elon Musk looks on during a news conference with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Saturday. Musk has dubbed Trump's sweeping tax and spending bill as a "disgusting abomination."
WORLD / Politics
Jun 4, 2025

Trump's 'big, beautiful bill?' Musk calls it a 'disgusting abomination.'

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO says the U.S. president's sweeping tax and spending bill will increase the federal deficit.
The scene where a crumbling glacier partially collapsed and tumbled, at the village of Blatten, Switzerland, on Monday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jun 4, 2025

Swiss glacier collapse is a lesson on climate disaster management

The collapse of the glacier in the Swiss Alps was an expected disaster. When the first signs of instability started to appear, the town was evacuated.
The total number of births dropped to about 686,000, marking the first time the figure has fallen below 700,000, according to a health ministry release on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jun 4, 2025

Japan’s fertility rate hits record low despite government push

The new low underscores the immense challenge facing the government as it attempts to reverse the trend in one of the world’s most aged societies.

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