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Rintaro Sasaki hits a home run during a game against Duke at Stanford's Sunken Diamond on March 16.
BASEBALL
Aug 17, 2025

Top MLB prospect Rintaro Sasaki is committed to doing it 'the hard way'

The Stanford slugger could have taken an easier path with a quicker payday. Instead he's determined to blaze his own unique trail to the top of the sport.
Onetime members of a now-defunct faction once led by the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are calling for the party to more actively promote conservative policies.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 17, 2025

Internal battle pits LDP's conservatives against liberals

Some in the party —mainly ex-members of the now-defunct Abe faction — are calling for it to more actively advertise conservative policies.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a joint news conference with the European Commission president in Brussels on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 18, 2025

Trump’s peace-deal demands leave Ukraine's Zelenskyy with only bad options

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy faces an existential dilemma as he travels to Washington for talks with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday.
Nissan workers walk outside its Oppama plant in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture. Nissan plans to shut the plant by the end of fiscal 2027.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Aug 18, 2025

A factory town in crisis shows Japan’s fading manufacturing era

Nissan directly employs almost 10% of Oppama’s 29,700 residents, but its factory is set to shut down by 2028.
U.K. Prime Miniter Keir Starmer speaks at the Jaguar Land Rover automobile manufacturing plant in Solihull, U.K. Starmer declared in May that his trade deal with U.S. President Donald Trump included a cut in U.S. tariffs on British steel to zero.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 18, 2025

Trade partners grow restless waiting for Trump’s tariff breaks

While deals have been cut, the lower tariff rates agreed have yet to kick in.
People watch a wildfire burn in Castrillo de Cabrera, northwestern Spain, on Saturday.
WORLD
Aug 18, 2025

Spain deploys more troops as it battles 20 major wildfires amid scorching heat

Southern Europe is experiencing one of its worst wildfire seasons in two decades, and Spain is among the hardest-hit countries.
A Pertamina fuel storage facility at Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta in 2022
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 18, 2025

Indonesia’s ‘gasoline godfather’ targeted in $18 billion graft probe

Mohammad Riza Chalid is the most audacious target to date for the current administration, as it reshuffles its energy procurement and attempts to supercharge growth.
A Qantas Airways Boeing 737 aircraft takes off from Sydney International Airport on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 18, 2025

Qantas fined $59 million for firing 1,820 during pandemic

Justice Michael Lee questioned the airline’s degree of contrition and its commitment to change, noting Qantas’ "unrelenting and aggressive litigation strategy.”
Firefighters work at the scene of a fire in the Dotonbori district in the city of Osaka on Monday.
JAPAN
Aug 18, 2025

Osaka fire kills two firefighters and leaves four injured

The fire department has been working to put out the fire and said there is no concern that it will spread any further.
Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 18, 2025

Singapore prioritizes jobs amid fragmenting world and the rise of AI

Prime Minister Lawrence Wong campaigned on the need to preserve stability amid slowing global growth and rising protectionism.
Demonstrators burn a Rising Sun flag featuring a portrait of Hideki Tojo, former leader of Japan's Imperial Army and prime minister during World War II, outside the Japanese Consulate in Hong Kong in September 2015.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 14, 2025

Continued demands for an apology ignore Japan’s postwar progress

As the 80th anniversary of World War II’s end nears, demands for renewed Japanese apologies risk empowering authoritarian narratives, especially from China.
Fujifilm's X Half digital camera allows users to take film camera-style photos in vertical format.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 18, 2025

Japan's digital camera-makers boost lineups as global shipments of devices rise

Among new products, digital compact cameras with fixed lenses are drawing attention in particular.
Beijing imposed a ban on imports of Japanese fisheries products in August 2023.
JAPAN
Aug 18, 2025

JETRO struggles to expand scallop supply chain in U.S.

Steep tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump left prospects for the project uncertain, apparently making businesses reluctant to invest in it.
Shoichi Takahashi holds a photo of himself when he was younger, in Otaru, Hokkaido, on May 17.
JAPAN
Aug 18, 2025

103-year-old remembers Soviet attack right after WWII

"Since we had been fighting Americans, it was beyond my imagination that Soviets launched an attack on us three days after the end of WWII," Takahashi said.
An Israeli tank maneuvers on the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip on Monday.
WORLD
Aug 19, 2025

Hamas agrees to Gaza truce deal proposed by Egypt and Qatar

The proposal would see Hamas release half of the hostages it still holds in return for the freeing of Palestinian prisoners and a partial withdrawal of Israeli troops.
With graffiti now covering the crumbling walls of the main thermal baths in one of Europe's oldest spa towns, a group of young architects hopes to restore the picturesque Romanian resort.
WORLD / Society
Aug 19, 2025

The volunteers battling to save Romania's famed thermal baths

The picturesque Baile Herculane spa town's baths have fallen into an advanced state of decay.
A Palestinian child in need of medical treatment is evacuated through the King Hussein Bridge crossing in Jordan on March 4.
WORLD
Aug 19, 2025

U.S. charity says halt in visitor visas for Gazans will harm wounded kids

The U.S. State Department said it was stopping all visitor visas for Gazans while it conducted "a full and thorough" review.
Inside the Mount Zozan underground bunker, which was once planned as a relocation site for government agencies, on May 22 in the city of Nagano
JAPAN / Society
Aug 19, 2025

Nagano residents recall wartime efforts to build replacement military HQ

The replacement headquarters was not completed, but construction continued until the day of Japan's surrender in the war.
Izumi Nakamitsu, U.N. undersecretary-general and high representative for disarmament affairs, speaks during a news conference on Monday in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward.
JAPAN
Aug 19, 2025

U.N. official Nakamitsu urges Japan to attend disarmament summit

Nakamitsu highlighted the importance of Tokyo's involvement in disarmament in the face of rising tensions and nuclear threats.
The Bank of Japan maintains a wait-and-see approach as calls grow for it to raise rates.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Aug 19, 2025

Bank of Japan encouraged to increase rates soon, before it’s too late

Business and political leaders argue that inflation is too high and must be brought under control soon.
Villagers pan for gold in Bombana district of Indonesia's Southeast Sulawesi province in 2009.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Aug 19, 2025

Indonesia grapples with small-scale illegal gold mining

Local authorities face the challenge of encouraging villagers to keep to less-destructive ways of making money, such as sustainable agriculture.
Reigning Olympic and world javelin champion Haruka Kitaguchi poses during a photo session in the Athletics tunnel in Domazlice, Czech Republic, on August 14, 2025.
MORE SPORTS / Athletics
Aug 19, 2025

Javelin star Kitaguchi finds new home in small Czech town

The 27-year-old Japanese athlete is getting ready for next month's world championships in Tokyo in the western Czech town of Domazlice.
China’s massive scale, strong education system and competitive local governance have enabled it to reach the technological frontier and dominate high-tech manufacturing despite its low per capita gross domestic product.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 19, 2025

Demystifying the manufacturing success of China

The obvious question is how a country with such low per capita GDP has managed to reach the technological frontier in so many sectors.
A third-party probe into the Fuji TV scandal had reported about a dinner hosted by an executive attended by “a powerful male cast member,” since revealed to be singer and actor Masaharu Fukuyama.
JAPAN / Media
Aug 19, 2025

Masaharu Fukuyama admits to attending Fuji TV dinner

The singer-actor said he was the “powerful male cast member” referenced by a third-party panel investigating the broadcaster, but denied involvement in any harassment.
Sharon Kwok Pong, founder of the Hong Kong Parrot Rescue, interacts with "Winnie," a rescued yellow-crested cockatoo.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Aug 19, 2025

Hong Kong scientist puts hope in nest boxes to save endangered cockatoos

Their future now hangs in the balance, due to habitat loss and, some suspect, a black market for the rare birds.
Just 42% of respondents in a recent survey approved of U.S. President Donald Trump's performance on crime.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 19, 2025

Trump approval holds at 40%, lowest level of his term, poll finds

The latest poll showed Hispanics, a group that swung toward Trump in last year's election, have also soured on the president.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks with top European leaders in the White House Library in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 20, 2025

Trump says no ground troops, but maybe air support, to back Ukraine peace deal

The path to peace remained uncertain as the U.S. and allies prepared to work out what military support for Kyiv might include.
Local residents carry their belongings out of a heavily damaged residential building following a Russian strike in the town of Bilozerske, in Ukraine's Donetsk region, on Aug. 12.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 20, 2025

U.S. and European planners start to craft Ukraine security guarantee options

One option being considered is sending European forces to Ukraine but putting the U.S. in charge of their command and control.
Born in 2012, Lynx has a striking appearance with his golden eyes and steel-gray coat.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Aug 20, 2025

Handsome cat looking for brighter days ahead

Lynx, born in 2012, may seem shy at first, but has proven himself to be a sweet cat full of affection.
Teruko Yahata speaks to elementary school students in the city of Hiroshima on July 1 about her wartime experience.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2025

Atomic bomb survivor uses English to convey horrors of nuclear weapons

Determined to speak for herself, Teruko Yahata resolved to convey the cruelty and sorrow in her own words, in English, rather than through an interpreter.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past