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Core inflation in Japan's capital accelerated for a third straight month in July, keeping alive market expectations of a near-term interest rate hike by the central bank.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 26, 2024

Tokyo inflation quickens, keeping BOJ hike option in play

Consumer prices excluding fresh food rose 2.2% in the capital, versus 2.1% in June, the internal affairs ministry reported.
A cyclist cools off at a fountain at Madrid Rio park during a heat wave in Madrid, on Thursday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jul 26, 2024

U.N. demands action on extreme heat as world registers warmest day

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urges governments to "heatproof" their economies, critical sectors such as health care, and the built environment.
Ryo Ogawa (right), chief executive officer of Timee, and Tomoaki Yagi, chief financial officer, strike the trading bell during the company's listing ceremony at the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 26, 2024

Shares of job app firm Timee jump in Japan stock trading debut

The stock surged to as high as ¥1,855 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Growth market.
People who made hometown tax donations to the city of Narita in Chiba Prefecture take part in a tour on Sunday at Narita Airport in the city, which was offered as a return gift.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2024

Japan's hometown tax donations top ¥1 trillion for first time

The number of people who received residence tax breaks through the system is also believed to have hit a record 10 million.
Waves crash against the coast of Sansha town in Ningde, Fujian province, China, on Thursday as Typhoon Gaemi approaches.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jul 26, 2024

Climate change driving change in rainfall and fiercer typhoons

About 75% of the world's land area has seen a rise in "precipitation variability," or wider swings between wet and dry weather, scientists have found.
American tennis star Coco Gauff speaks during a news conference on Thursday in Paris.
OLYMPICS / Tennis
Jul 26, 2024

Coco Gauff 'going in blind' as she prepares to carry U.S. flag in Paris

The world No. 2 tennis player will join NBA superstar LeBron James as the U.S. flag bearers for the opening ceremony.
A vehicle carrying Kohei Iitsuka, suspected of killing his probation officer, leaves the Otsu Kita Police Station in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, on June 10.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 26, 2024

Justice Ministry to assign multiple volunteer probation officers to watch over offenders

Previously in Japan, one volunteer probation officer was assigned to watch over one individual, except in rare cases.
A tunnel inside the Sado Island Gold Mines in Sado, Niigata Prefecture
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2024

South Korea to accept Sado Gold Mines as World Heritage site

The International Council on Monuments and Sites urged Japan to provide visitors with information on all mining periods at the site.
Beijing's push to integrate core socialist values into its chatbots highlights a significant challenge in China's bid to compete with the U.S. in AI development.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 26, 2024

What's wrong about ‘Chat XiPT’ is bigger than China

The difficulty of creating AI models infused with specific values will likely hurt China’s efforts to create chatbots as sophisticated as those in the U.S.
The students at Mitaka Municipal No. 7 Junior High School have access to various cooling devices for when they play sports.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / Longform
Jul 26, 2024

Japan's extreme heat is causing a rethink of school sports

At risk of sunburns and heatstroke, principals across Japan are trying to protect students' health as well as their athletic opportunities.
Some investors are warning that a yen rally is fragile, as was on show this week when the yen rapidly retraced an advance after Thursday’s stronger-than-expected U.S. economic growth figures.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 27, 2024

‘Crazy’ yen rally is at risk of shattering as soon as Wednesday

Swaps markets suggest a roughly 45% chance of the Bank of Japan hiking rates by 15 basis points at the conclusion of its July 31 policy meeting.
The Sado Gold Mine, so heavily tapped that the mountain bearing it has been cleaved in two, is up for consideration for UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site status.
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2024

Japan should display full history of Sado mine, South Korean archaeologist says

He will not advise the South Korean UNESCO delegation against accepting the designation of the mine if Japan explains its history properly.
U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, addresses a crowd of supporters during a campaign event at Radford University in Radford, Virginia, on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 27, 2024

J.D. Vance’s ‘cat ladies’ insult sparks criticism of Trump’s VP pick

Comments JD Vance made in 2021 disparaging "childless cat ladies” are drawing criticism from not only Democrats, but also some members of his own party.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and her South Korean counterpart, Cho Tae-yul, shake hands during talks on the sidelines of Association of Southeast Asian Nations meetings in Vientiane, Laos, on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 27, 2024

Japan and South Korea top diplomats pledge even stronger cooperation

The pair reaffirmed the importance of cooperation in order to maintain and strengthen a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
Athletes from South Korea take part in the floating parade on the River Seine during the 2024 Paris Olympics' opening ceremony on Friday.
OLYMPICS
Jul 27, 2024

South Korea expresses 'regret' over Olympics opening ceremony gaffe

The South Korean athletes were introduced as representing the Democratic People's Republic of Korea — the official name for North Korea.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris,  candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, speaks during her first campaign rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 27, 2024

Harris team champions her ‘strong’ foreign policy record in memo

The VP's team sent memo to national security professionals highlighting the new Democratic nominee’s "strong record” on foreign policy.
A tunnel inside the Sado Island Gold Mines in Sado, Niigata Prefecture
JAPAN / History
Jul 27, 2024

Japan's Sado gold mines added to World Heritage list

The site is associated with Korean wartime labor and was once the world's largest gold mine complex.
TikTok has deployed Washington power brokers and $1,500-an-hour attorneys to fend off a new law barring the app unless its Beijing-based parent, ByteDance, divests.
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Jul 27, 2024

TikTok’s survival is at stake in all-out fight against U.S. ban

TikTok has deployed Washington power brokers and $1,500-an-hour attorneys to fend off a new law barring the app unless ByteDance divests.
South Korean and U.S. soldiers conduct a joint river-crossing exercise in Yeoncheon, South Korea, in March.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 28, 2024

South Korea reports leak from its military intelligence command

The military said in a brief statement that it planned to "deal sternly with” those responsible for the leak.
Torchbearers Teddy Riner and Marie-Jose Perec light the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony of the Paris Games on Friday.
OLYMPICS
Jul 28, 2024

Upset bishops and mixed reviews for Paris Olympics ceremony

The show's artistic director Thomas Jolly, who is gay, had pledged earlier this month that the ceremony would celebrate "diversity" and "otherness."
Former U.S. President Donald Trump during a rally in St. Cloud, Minnesota, on Saturday
WORLD / Politics
Jul 28, 2024

Trump tells Christians ‘You won’t have to vote anymore’ if he’s elected

The former President has further embraced a brand of conservatism that experts on autocracy have said veers toward totalitarian.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks in Widnes, England, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 28, 2024

Keir Starmer’s clash with Labour left sets up wider fight on tax rises

Making the numbers add up while keeping her tax promises is the unenviable task that’s been top of U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves’ mind.
Canada head coach Bev Priestman prior to a match in February
OLYMPICS
Jul 28, 2024

Canadian women's team loses six points and coach banned over drone scandal

The Canadian Soccer Association was also fined 200,000 Swiss francs ($226,346) in a case that has rocked the Paris Games.
The Ishizawa River in Yurihonjo, Akita Prefecture, is seen bursting its banks on Friday due to heavy rain.
JAPAN
Jul 28, 2024

Two dead and three missing in Tohoku deluge

Yamagata and Akita prefectures are likely to see severe rain continue until around Tuesday.
Disaster response vehicles parked at a roadside rest station at Noto Airport in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 17.
JAPAN
Jul 28, 2024

Japan to pick more roadside stations for disaster relief

The ministry plans to increase the number of such roadside stations to about 100 from the current 39 so that each of the country's 47 prefectures will have one or two.
U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign fundraising event at the Colonial Theater in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 28, 2024

Harris says she is 'underdog,' as Trump goes on offense

The candidates' dueling appearances capped a whirlwind week with Harris ascending to the top of the Democratic ticket.
Mourners hold a mass funeral in the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights on Sunday. The Israeli military said the victims, 12 youths, died when an Iranian-made missile fired by Hezbollah landed on a soccer field in the town.
WORLD
Jul 28, 2024

Thousands of Druze mourn youths killed in Golan rocket attack

Since October when war in the Gaza strip began, Israeli forces and Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement have regularly exchanged fire over the border.
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, gives a presidential decree to Iran's new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, during an endorsement ceremony in Tehran on Sunday.
WORLD
Jul 28, 2024

Iran's Khamenei formally grants Pezeshkian presidential powers

Pezeshkian, 69, won a runoff race on July 5 against the ultraconservative Saeed Jalili to replace president Ebrahim Raisi who died in a helicopter crash in May.
Hifumi Abe reacts after defending his Olympic title in the judo men's under-66 kg division at the Champ-de-Mars Arena in Paris on Sunday.
OLYMPICS / Judo
Jul 28, 2024

Japan's Hifumi Abe defends Olympic title after sister falls early

The Abe siblings famously both won gold at their home Olympics in Tokyo in 2021 just 30 minutes apart.
Though some in the country rejected their wartime associations, the Japanese government made the Hinomaru flag and "Kimigayo" anthem official 25 years ago.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Aug 1, 2024

Japan Times 1999: Flag, anthem now official

After some controversy, the Hinomaru flag was made official alongside the country's national anthem, "Kimigayo."

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan