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Chikako Utsumi holds bottles of Rose Mind at Tenpoichi sake brewer in Fukuyama, Hiroshima Prefecture.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Aug 7, 2023

Local Hiroshima sake and beef grow in popularity due to G7

Popular sake Rose Mind has seen its popularity surge since it was served during the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima.
Former U.S. President and 2024 presidential hopeful Donald Trump arrives to speak at an event in West Palm Beach, Florida, on July 15.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 2, 2023

Indictment could push Trump closer to 2024 Republican nomination

The former U.S. president has made the indictments a central plank of his campaign platform, portraying himself as the target of a biased justice system.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday called the downgrade of the United States' top-tier sovereign credit grade by Fitch Ratings "arbitrary” and "outdated.”
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 2, 2023

U.S. credit rating downgraded from AAA by Fitch 

Fitch Ratings criticized the country’s ballooning fiscal deficits and an "erosion of governance” that have led to repeated debt limit clashes.
Facebook owner Meta Platforms has started the process of ending news availability in Canada.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 2, 2023

Meta starts blocking news in Canada

Google has said it is considering a similar move amid an ongoing global debate as more governments try to make tech firms pay for news content.
Tiger Woods will join five other players on the PGA Tour's policy board.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
Aug 2, 2023

Tiger Woods joins PGA Tour's policy board as player director

The move is part of new governance and transparency measures announced by the Tour that promises to give players more say in future decisions.
After Russia invaded Ukraine last year, Alexey Sossinsky left with two suitcases in the middle of the night. But as it did decades ago, exile still makes him feel restless.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 2, 2023

A Russian mathematician finds himself in exile once again

Alexey Sossinsky's family story is a microcosm of Russia's history of upheaval, war and repression going back more than a century.
Vivian Tung eats her first meal since the egg retrieval surgery. Tung is one of a rising number of women in Taiwan opting to freeze their eggs to give them the option to have a child later in life.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Aug 2, 2023

A rising number of women in Taiwan are freezing their eggs

Demand for egg freezing has surged, with the number of women opting for the technology up 86% over the past three years.
The central business district in Melbourne in 2016
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 2, 2023

Australians fight for the right to work from home permanently

While remote work spells pain for investors in bricks and mortar, employees can only see benefits: "It just helps get through life a little bit easier."
Paris Saint-Germain players line up before the team's club friendly against Inter Milan at Tokyo's National Stadium on Tuesday.
SOCCER
Aug 2, 2023

Second straight tour shows PSG's commitment to Japanese market

The French superclub has experienced explosive growth in its global base, especially in Asia, since its 2011 takeover by Qatari ownership.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Aug 2, 2023

Hakuoho hints at what's to come with breakout makuuchi debut

Last month's Nagoya Basho may have just been the coming out party for sumo’s newest superstar.
Up until the 1980s, Mexico was a country in which drug cartels and a corrupt state could cut deals that took much of the bloodshed out of the business. The government's crackdown on the drug traders, at the behest of the U.S., changed that.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 2, 2023

Mexico and the U.S. are divided by guns and fentanyl

The two neighbors see the toll taken on their citizens by violence and drugs in different ways and can’t agree on which poses the most pressing threat.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, attend a document signing ceremony during the Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi, Russia, in October 2019.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 2, 2023

China’s weaponization of race and history

BRICS nations seek a more equitable global architecture that represents the interests of the Global South as China uses race to challenge the West.
As the Kremlin’s grip on power slips, Russia’s generals will likely organize a putsch against Putin and his KGB/FSB cronies — the army’s historical rival.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 19, 2023

The Kremlin’s mobster code

While Western experts continue to view Russia as a modern state, it turns out that President Vladimir Putin is the boss of one crime family, but not all of them.
More than 30 samples of drugs made by Synokem, including generic abortion pills, have failed quality tests conducted by Indian regulators and public health researchers since 2018.
BUSINESS
Aug 3, 2023

Global abortion pill provider buys from maker with poor quality record

More than 30 samples of drugs made by Delhi-based Synokem Pharmaceuticals have failed quality tests conducted by Indian regulators.
Japan head coach Jamie Joseph during a match in London in November.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Aug 3, 2023

Jamie Joseph demands focus as Japan face Fiji in World Cup warm-up

Joseph made four changes to the team that beat Tonga 21-16 last week as Japan continues its World Cup preparations.
A downgrade by Fitch Ratings is being viewed as a condemnation of partisan U.S. politics, including the recent debt ceiling standoff and the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
BUSINESS
Aug 3, 2023

Fitch’s U.S. downgrade stokes the very fight it warned against

Washington’s hostile political factions have quickly taken up the agency's downgrade of U.S. government debt as a new weapon of political combat.
Akira Amari, Japan's chip czar, has said that funding around one-third of the cost of a chip plant is the norm, and the 50% funding for Japan's first TSMC chip plant was unusually high.
BUSINESS
Aug 3, 2023

Chip minister hints Japan to fund one-third of second TSMC plant

The subsidies will be part of Japan’s efforts to revive its domestic chipmaking industry, a sector viewed as crucial for growth and economic security.
Beijing's Ministry of State Security said China should create a system that makes it 'normal' for regular people to participate in counter-espionage.
WORLD
Aug 3, 2023

U.S. raises concerns over China's counter-espionage push

Washington worries that foreign companies in China could be punished for regular business activities.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 3, 2023

Japan plans to insure construction firms against Osaka expo losses

Doubts remain over whether the move will be enough to push more than 50 countries to design, build and complete their pavilions before the expo opens.
You may hear words like "kanshin" used when talking about baseball player Shohei Ohtani, but are people talking about "interest" or "admiration"?
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Aug 3, 2023

Step on a rhyme to better understand Japanese homophones

Spending time to learn the Japanese language's many homophones can result in a better understanding of definitions — and it's fun.
This year’s Fuji Rock Festival, which took place last weekend and featured The Strokes, Foo Fighters and Lizzo as headliners, brought a cumulative total of 114,000 attendees to the mountains of Niigata Prefecture.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 4, 2023

Fuji Rock’s diversity is back — and it feels great

Millennial rock, Gen Z rap and a Sinead O’Connor tribute fill a stellar weekend of music.
The Keppel Marina East Desalination Plant in Singapore on July 21. Public Utilities Board, which is responsible for Singapore's water management, has a long-term goal of reducing the energy use of water desalination to 1 killowatt-hours per 1,000 liters.
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 3, 2023

Singapore is building the technology it needs for new climate era

Building renewables like solar and wind requires a lot of land, one thing Singapore doesn’t have.
Two U.S. Navy sailors have been arrested on charges of providing sensitive U.S. military information to China. Both men are Chinese-born naturalized U.S. citizens.
WORLD
Aug 4, 2023

U.S. sailors charged with selling military secrets to China

Two sailors have been arrested on charges of providing sensitive U.S. military information to China. Both men are Chinese-born naturalized U.S. citizens.
Migrants sit onboard an inflatable boat before attempting to illegally cross the English Channel to reach Britain, off the coast of Sangatte, northern France, on July 18.
WORLD
Aug 4, 2023

Migrant boat rescue missions do not encourage crossings, study shows

The finding contradicts claims that ships that save migrants in the Mediterranean incentivize people to risk their lives trying to get to the EU.
A man makes his way through a flooded road after the rains and floods brought by remnants of Typhoon Doksuri, in Zhuozhou, Hebei province, China, on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 4, 2023

China’s ‘sponge cities’ are not built for extreme flood events

China has invested billions of dollars in recent years to protect against extreme rainfall after a 2012 flood in Beijing killed 79 people.
The U.S. Capitol in Washington. After its downgrade of the U.S., Fitch’s AAA club now consists of Germany and Australia, along with seven others, including smaller, rich countries such as Switzerland and Luxembourg.
BUSINESS
Aug 4, 2023

Pristine AAA bond universe just got a whole lot smaller

Fitch's U.S. downgrade is the latest example of a decadelong trend in rich economies as worries about high and rising debt burdens come to the fore.
A new study suggests that the benefits from shifting to a four-day week may last and grow stronger over time, rather than dissipating.
BUSINESS
Aug 4, 2023

Employee health benefits of four-day weeks persist, study shows

Self-reported physical and mental health scores held steady over a full year of the pilot program, while work-life balance continued to improve.
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 4, 2023

Bobby Valentine enjoying more relaxed time with Angels

Former Marines manager Bobby Valentine is viewing the game from a different perspective these days.
Imma, a virtual influencer, is the face of Nomura’s new campaign for tax-free investment accounts.
BUSINESS
Aug 4, 2023

Nomura hires virtual influencer to coax Japan’s young investors

Boosting individual investments is particularly crucial as the country's baby-boomer generation passes on their assets to a younger generation.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 4, 2023

Foreign minors born, raised in Japan to be eligible for residency

The move comes in response to a controversial revision to the asylum law that was passed earlier this year.

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