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Taiwan officials have warned that Beijing is trying to nudge voters toward candidates who seek closer ties with China in the island's Jan. 13 presidential and legislative elections.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 8, 2023

Taiwan intelligence says China leadership met on election interference

Taiwan officials have warned that Beijing is trying to nudge voters toward candidates who seek closer ties with China.
The end-of-year company party has been pretty much on hold for the past few years due to the pandemic. Will people embrace the tradition in bigger numbers as a result?
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 8, 2023

Should we forget the year or forget the party?

After a few years without proper yearend work parties, are Japanese workers ready for a big bash? Or, has the tradition come to an end?
Cinema at Sea film festival entry “God Is a Woman,” directed by Andres Peyrot, examines the complex feelings the Kuna, indigenous people living on Panama’s San Blas Islands, have about an unreleased documentary made about them in 1975.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 9, 2023

Cinema at Sea festival highlights diversity and unheard voices

The inaugural event for the film festival in Naha, Okinawa, boasted a strong lineup of features from places and peoples underrepresented in world cinema.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s future is uncertain as a fund-raising scandal casts a shadow over who will lead the Liberal Democratic Party. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 8, 2023

Unpacking the scandal rocking the LDP to its core

What may be termed as the “faction parties scandal” is a shock to the system that will have deep implications for the Japanese political landscape.
Demonstrators call for action on climate change and environmental justice during a march in Washington in July 2018.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 7, 2023

There can be no climate justice if rich countries don’t pay

Rich countries are responsible for the climate crisis and it's only fair that they bear the burgeoning costs that poorer nations are having to pay.
An Israeli Merkava tank on Thursday
WORLD / Politics
Dec 9, 2023

White House presses Congress to OK tank shells for Israel

The request is being made even as concerns grow about the use of U.S. weapons in a war that has killed thousands of civilians.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan (left), South Korean national security adviser Cho Tae-yong (center) and secretary-general of Japan's National Security Secretariat, Takeo Akiba, at a news conference in Seoul on Saturday.
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2023

Japan, U.S., South Korea to step up action on North's cyberthreats

The national security advisers of the three countries met in Seoul on Saturday as Pyongyang warned that it would deploy more spy satellites.
Rina Gonoi, a former member of the Self-Defense Forces, who has accused colleagues of sexually assaulting her during her time in the military, speaks in Yokohama on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 11, 2023

Former Japanese soldier fights for justice in landmark sexual assault case

A former Self-Defence Forces member's yearslong fight for justice against the men she has accused of sexually assaulting her will reach a climax on Tuesday when a court delivers a verdict in a trial that has drawn international attention.
Gold ornaments on display for sale at a Chow Tai Fook jewellery store in Shanghai.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 11, 2023

Young Chinese spurn traditional investments in favor of gold

The trend underscores uncertainty about growth prospects in the world's second-largest economy, which has not recovered from COVID-19 as fast as expected.
The COP28 climate conference is being held at Expo City Dubai for a total of 100,000 attendees, 2,000 of which are from fossil fuel companies.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 11, 2023

COP28 like a trade show? That’s not a bad thing.

Some lament the presence of many fossil fuel representatives among the 100,000 attendees of COP28 in Dubai, failing to recognize their key role.
Data has shown that the United States women's team — which has routinely been targeted for online abuse over the years — was subjected to the most abuse during the 2023 Women's World Cup.
SOCCER / Women's World cup
Dec 12, 2023

One in five players at Women's World Cup suffer online abuse: study

Nearly 50% of the verified online abuse was homophobic, sexual or sexist in nature.
Gold medalist Noah Lyles of the U.S. celebrates after the men's 200m final at the World Athletics Championship in Budapest on Aug. 25.
MORE SPORTS / Athletics
Dec 12, 2023

Lyles and Kipyegon named track athletes of the year

Lyles was recognized for the three gold medals he won at the world championships in Budapest.
COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber in Dubai on Monday
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 12, 2023

COP28 summit goes into overtime with new draft deal in works

The UAE's Sultan Al Jaber has the task of getting almost 200 countries to agree to a text that will govern the global fight against climate change.
FACTEV shows that a Nissan Leaf electric car driven in Hokkaido will get between 106 kilometers and 212 kilometers per charge in its first year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 12, 2023

Using big data to speed up Japan’s slow electric car transition

Gaming company DeNA has developed an EV simulation tool that can assess the lifespan and cruising range per charge of battery cars over time.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks at a government meeting on child policies on Monday.
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2023

Japan to boost spending on measures to tackle low birthrate

The government will make official a program that will have nursery schools accept children even if both parents do not work, among other measures.
Seihan Mori, chief priest of Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto, writes "zei" (taxes), which was chosen on Tuesday as the kanji of the year.
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2023

Talk of taxes spurs choice for Japan’s kanji of the year

The choice came as tax hikes and cuts were heavily covered in the news and discussed among policymakers.
A man holding a child crosses a damaged bridge after Typhoon Doksuri, in Zhuozhou, China, on Aug. 7.
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 12, 2023

Storm assault on Chinese ports a wake-up call for climate risks

Typhoon Doksuri delivered Beijing's worst flooding in more than 50 years, shuttering factories, collapsing homes and displacing tens of thousands.
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un waves as he takes poses for photos during the Fifth National Mothers' Convention in Pyongyang.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 13, 2023

Kim Jong Un admits rare weakness as North Korea population falls

The rare admission indicates Kim is just as worried about a demographic crunch as he is about the U.S. forces that he says want to end his regime.
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2023

15,907 mistakes found over My Number info linkages

The government said it has completed personal identification checks for 82.06 million of the 82.08 million My Numbers subject to inspection.
The reading of the key index measuring confidence among major Japanese manufacturers, such as those in the auto and electronics sectors, rose for the third straight quarter, according to the Bank of Japan's tankan survey.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 13, 2023

Firms more confident ahead of BOJ policy meeting, tankan shows

Evidence of robust corporate sentiment boosts the odds of large wage hikes, paving the way for the normalization of monetary policy.
An oil pump outside Saint-Fiacre, near Paris, in 2019
BUSINESS
Dec 13, 2023

Big Oil's bid to woo ESG investors fails to impress

A pledge by 50 of the biggest oil and gas companies at the U.N. climate talks in Dubai commits to reaching near-zero methane emissions by 2030.
A pollution pod designed to mimic the air quality in New Delhi sits during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai on Tuesday
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 13, 2023

Without fairness, fossil fuel phase-out flounders at COP28

Developing countries emphasized that they could not embark on the journey toward renewables in the absence of clear guarantees of international support.
The Tokyo headquarters of the Unification Church in Shibuya Ward
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 13, 2023

Japan enacts law to monitor Unification Church assets

The special legislation is designed to ensure that victims of the organization's malpractices have a source of relief.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Dec 13, 2023

Sumo's big ticketing problem

Securing tickets for sumo's biggest matches can be a headache, particularly for sumo's many foreign fans, partially due to outdated information online.
COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber, of the United Arab Emirates, addresses the plenary, after a draft of a negotiation deal was released, at the COP28 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai on Wednesday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 13, 2023

Nations strike deal at COP28 to transition away from fossil fuels

More than 100 countries had lobbied hard for strong language in the deal to "phase out" oil, gas and coal use, but came up against powerful opposition.
Wiring connects photovoltaic panels at the Al Dhafra Solar project, constructed by Electricite de France (EDF) and Jinko Power Technology, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, in January.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 13, 2023

China’s pressured clean energy industry sees Saudi potential

Saudi Arabia is said to offer benefits including low-cost electricity, good relations with other countries and a central location.
Hamas leader Yehia Sinwar addresses an anti-Israel rally in Gaza City in May 2021.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 8, 2023

Can the governments that grew Hamas destroy it?

This is a war in which Hamas, designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and E.U., need only survive to win.
The construction of TSMC’s new plant in Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture, has seen companies anticipating expanded collaborations with the semiconductor firm grow keen to establish footholds in the area.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 19, 2023

Semiconductor projects in Japan whip up local optimism

Companies anticipating expanded collaborations with TSMC are keen to establish footholds in the area around its new plant in Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture.
Shohei Ohtani is joining a franchise that has long been a trailblazer in an increasingly diverse and global game.
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 13, 2023

In a land of stars, Los Angeles can’t stop talking about Ohtani

Dodgers fans were still beside themselves days after Ohtani agreed to the most lucrative contract in sports history.
Members of the Deokjeok High School baseball team during a tournament in Seoul in August
BASEBALL
Dec 13, 2023

South Korean island is a field of dreams for young baseball hopefuls

A sports academy in remote Deokjeok has breathed life into the island, which was struggling to retain, and attract, youngsters in the aging nation.

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo