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The peloton rides from Florence to Rimini, Italy, during the first stage of the 2024 Tour de France.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 28, 2025

For Tour de France, foreign starts make financial sense

The Barcelona start will be the 27th non-French starting location since the Tour first went on the road internationally in Amsterdam in 1954.
Democratic Party for the People head Yuichiro Tamaki speaks at the party's convention in Tokyo on Feb. 11.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 28, 2025

DPP goes on offensive after failing to secure budget deal with LDP-Komeito

The opposition party plans to oppose the ruling coalition's budget proposal after talks between them broke down.
The government adopted a bill to help prevent cases of human rights abuses and other malicious activities related to the use of artificial intelligence but without hindering businesses' willingness to develop the technology.
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2025

New bill lets government publicize names of firms who maliciously use AI

The bill doesn't include "excessive regulations" that could impede technological innovation, the science and technology policy minister said.
China's recent naval exercises near Australia and New Zealand, though legal, highlight Beijing’s growing reach and willingness to test other nations' responses.
EDITORIALS
Feb 28, 2025

China pushes the military envelope with power projections

This week, Chinese ships conducted military exercises, including live-fire drills, in waters near Australia and New Zealand. While legal, the moves expose its hypocrisy.
People take photos of the Shinjuku Alta building on Friday evening.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 28, 2025

Shinjuku Alta closes its doors after 45 years

The shopping complex near the JR Shinjuku Station served as a de facto meeting point for many in one of Tokyo’s busiest entertainment districts.
Taiwanese comic artist Rishiazao and interpreter Yun-wen Huang greet an attendee at the 2025 Angouleme International Comics Festival in France.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 1, 2025

Taiwan comics on the rise: Local storytellers, global aspirations

A supportive ecosystem and eager audiences — both domestic and global — are boosting the soft power of illustrated narratives from Taiwan.
Australia’s new International Gender Equality Strategy aims to improve the situation of women and girls, but its success may depend on addressing male resentment by providing men with a sense of purpose and social achievement.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 28, 2025

What’s missing from Australia's gender equality strategy?

It’s necessary to recognize that the male backlash to female empowerment is a locally and globally destabilizing force.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr. by his side, speaks with the media during his first official arrival at the Pentagon to take his new post on Jan. 27.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 28, 2025

Firing top generals makes the U.S. less secure

How should we think about this rare purge at the very top of the uniformed military? Is it unprecedented?
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House in Washington on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 1, 2025

Trump kicks Zelenskyy out of White House after Oval Office meltdown

The ugly clash in the Oval Office saw Trump and Vice President JD Vance berate the Ukraine leader for not being "thankful" for U.S. help in the three-year war against Russia.
Some 230 million people globally thought to be affected by long COVID. The effects range from mild to disabling, and there are no proven diagnostic tests or treatments.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Mar 1, 2025

'Going mad': Lack of data plagues Asia's long COVID patients

Some 230 million people are thought to be affected by long COVID — defined as symptoms persisting for three months or more after the initial infection.
Disaster was the word European officials used as Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s long-sought meeting with Donald Trump descended into a livestream of raised voices and angry bickering.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 1, 2025

Zelenskyy-Trump blowup leaves U.S. allies facing disaster

Kyiv’s European allies, who’ve spent weeks trying to talk Trump out of rushing into a quick deal to end the war on Putin’s terms, were aghast.
A photo released by the Australia Defense Force showed an Australian Navy ship in the foreground and two Chinese navy ships in the Tasman Sea in February.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 1, 2025

China’s military puts Pacific on notice as U.S. priorities shift

While Washington is consumed with other matters, from Ukraine and the Middle East to budget cuts at the Pentagon, China keeps pressing.
Wayne Gretzky arrives for the inauguration ceremony before Donald Trump is sworn in at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington, on Jan. 20.
MORE SPORTS / Ice Hockey
Mar 2, 2025

Wayne Gretzky faces backlash in Canada over support for Donald Trump

Trump's provocative comments about making Canada the 51st U.S. state have raised tensions.
Hidetaka Ishii, an official at the Chiba Municipal Government, says close coordination with private-sector operators is key for regional decarbonization efforts.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Mar 2, 2025

Japan’s climate heroes show potential and limits of local initiatives

Chiba and others show the potential for local areas to accelerate the energy transition, as well as the challenges of building locally driven, carbon-free energy models.
Smoke is seen rising from the mountains of the city of Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, on Friday. Authorities said the wildfire kept spreading, burning 1,800 hectares by Sunday morning.
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2025

Thousands flee after Japan's biggest wildfire in decades

There were about 1,300 wildfires across Japan in 2023, concentrated in the February to April period when the air dries out and winds pick up.
Container cranes at the Port of Vancouver in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Friday
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 3, 2025

Trump heads toward tariff barrage on Canada, Mexico and China

The long-promised tariffs scheduled to take effect Tuesday would easily be among the most sweeping of the Trump era, applying to roughly $1.5 trillion in annual imports.
Chinese President Xi Jinping
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 3, 2025

Xi prepares to unveil China stimulus plan as trade war heats up

AI breakthroughs and Xi’s recent embrace of private entrepreneurs have driven a rally ahead of the National People’s Congress.
Xiaobaodang Coal Mine, in Shaanxi province, China, in 2023. China, which mines and burns half the world’s coal, is facing swelling inventories of the fuel.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 3, 2025

Coal’s four-year lows hide a coming global supply squeeze

Demand for the fuel continues to rise in India and China, outpacing breakneck rates of expansion in solar and wind.
The higher cost of food is forcing Japanese consumers to scrimp and bargain hunt as their purchasing power drops.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 3, 2025

Japan’s consumers hunt for bargains as food inflation bites

The prices of staples such as rice, eggs and cabbage have all surged in the past 12 months.
The entrance to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, in the city of Hiroshima, on Feb. 22
JAPAN / Society
Mar 3, 2025

Annual visitors to Hiroshima museum top 2 million for the first time

The total number of visitors since the museum's opening is expected to surpass 80 million by the end of this month.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi speaks at a news conference at the Prime Minister's Office on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 3, 2025

Japan unlikely to attend future meetings for nuke ban treaty

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi indicates that Tokyo's absence from this week's meeting is due to the treaty being incompatible with U.S. nuclear deterrence.
Bybit, one of the biggest crypto exchanges, was forced to borrow from other platforms and use its own treasury funds to replace the roughly 515,000 tokens, mostly Ether but also derivatives of the coin, that were stolen in the North Korean attack.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Mar 3, 2025

North Korea’s $1.5 billion heist puts the crypto world on notice

Cybersecurity researchers quickly concluded that the era of giant digital-asset heists had entered a new and potentially ruinous phase following the theft.
JR East started the services in Minamiboso and Tateyama, cities in Chiba Prefecture, on Monday and will begin them in Senboku, Akita Prefecture, in the second half of this year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 3, 2025

JR East to offer ride-hailing services at limited locations

The firm started the services in the cities of Minamiboso and Tateyama in Chiba Prefecture on Monday, and will begin them in Senboku, Akita Prefecture, later this year.
In recent years, Japanese life insurers have increasingly entered contracts in which assets underwritten by reinsurance companies are invested to obtain higher returns.
BUSINESS
Mar 3, 2025

Japan’s FSA said to examine life insurers’ reinsurance risks

The Financial Services Agency is asking life insurers about the scale of the practice and the type of contracts they have in place.
Koichiro Ito, a producer of the hit Japanese anime film "Your Name," has been convicted of "violating laws on child prostitution and pornography" as well as non-consensual sex and the filming of indecent images, a Wakayama District Court spokesperson said on Monday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 3, 2025

'Your Name.' anime producer jailed over obscene acts against minors

Koichiro Ito was reportedly accused of paying a 15-year-old girl money in return for sex, and demanding that another teenager take and send him explicit photos of herself.
Prince Hisahito attends his first news conference at Akasaka Estate in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2025

At first news conference, Prince Hisahito pledges to fulfill royal duties

The prince, who is second in line to the throne, underlined the importance of thinking of the people as a member of the imperial family.
Yarn shortages are a sign that hobbies like knitting and crochet are gaining in popularity.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 4, 2025

‘Granny hobbies’ are the new self-care

Pastimes long associated with Japanese grandparents are booming on social media as young people look for new (old) ways to relax.
Houses and buildings lie in ruins in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on Jan. 19 following a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 4, 2025

Egypt's alternative to Trump's 'Gaza Riviera' aims to sideline Hamas

Cairo's plan does not tackle issues such as who will foot the bill for Gaza's reconstruction or outline any specific details around how the strip would be governed.
U.S. F-18 Super Hornet fighter jets are seen on the flight deck of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson at a port in Busan, South Korea, on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 4, 2025

North Korea slams U.S. 'provocations' over aircraft carrier visit to Busan

Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korea's leader, hinted that her country could respond with the testing of nuclear-capable missiles or other technology.
Natsumi Sakai, a Lower House member of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, during an interview in parliament last month
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 4, 2025

Gender equality in politics remains elusive in Japan

Japan has a long way to go before fully achieving gender equality in politics.

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A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami