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Shanghai's financial district under heavy rain. China's economy has slowed down, with some pointing to a possible balance sheet recession.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 15, 2024

Mr. Xi, only change will help China weather the storm

How does Xi Jinping plan to address China's growing economic woes? Only openness to change will allow the global power to survive these turbulent times.
Volkswagen has long come under scrutiny over its factory in Urumqi in Xinjiang, which opened in 2013.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 15, 2024

Pressure mounts on Volkswagen to exit China's Xinjiang region

The carmaker said it was discussing the future of its activities in the region, following fresh allegations of human rights abuses.
OpenAI has announced that it will add a memory feature to its AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 15, 2024

The perils of giving ChatGPT more memory

ChatGPT developer OpenAI is rolling out a memory feature that, it says, will improve the bot. But not if it ends up replicating the biases of social media.
Motenashi Kuroki's smart new premises boast an eye-catching window display, aptly enough featuring a colorful display of ramen bowls.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 18, 2024

Motenashi Kuroki finally has a place worthy of its premium ramen

Naohito Kuroki has finally found a worthy location for his ever-popular, self-named ramen shop.
Smoke billows following Israeli bombardment over Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 16, 2024

Israel raids main hospital in southern Gaza as Rafah concerns grow

The Israeli military said the raid was based on intel that Hamas militants were hiding and had kept hostages there, which the militant group denies.
Pedestrians in Piazza Cordusio in Milan. Europe's fertility rate has been stuck around 1.5 births per woman for the past decade.
WORLD / Society / ANALYSIS
Feb 16, 2024

How Europe can dodge a birth rate hard landing

Europe's fertility rate has been stuck around 1.5 births per woman for the past decade, far short of the 2.1 needed to maintain population levels.
The dekayama float ritual of the Seihaku Festival is held in Nanao, Ishikawa Prefecture, in May 2019.
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2024

UNESCO-listed float festival to be skipped in wake of Noto quake

The ritual in Nanao, Ishikawa Prefecture, is believed to date back to 1473.
Members of the LGBTQ community and supporters celebrate in front of the Greek parliament, after a vote in favor of a bill that approved allowing same-sex civil marriages, in Athens on Thursday.
WORLD / Society
Feb 16, 2024

Greece among first Orthodox Christian countries to legalize same sex marriage

While the ruling party abstained or voted against the bill, it gained support from the opposition in a rare show of cross-party unity despite tense debate.
At the Akan International Crane Center, just north of the city of Kushiro proper, visitors can see the majestic red-crowned crane — a symbol of Hokkaido.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Feb 17, 2024

Faces of the north: A Hokkaido town grapples with depopulation

Residents of Kushiro face an issue that more and more communities in Japan are having to deal with. The city may be young, but it's rich with tradition.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s first Kumamoto plant in the town of Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture, on Feb. 10
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 16, 2024

Japan boosts aid to chip projects amid global race

Prompted by concerns, the government acted swiftly to prevent the potential loss of domestic production bases.
Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said on Thursday that a visit by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to Pyongyang could materialize, but only if Tokyo met several caveats.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 16, 2024

North Korea-Japan summit push gains steam after remarks by Kim’s sister

A visit by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to Pyongyang could materialize, but only if Tokyo met several caveats, Kim Yo Jong said.
A young man (Ayumu Nakajima) argues over trivial matters with his love interest in “This Hamburger Has No Pickles.”
CULTURE / Film
Feb 17, 2024

‘This Hamburger Has No Pickles’: A hefty helping of awkward heart-to-hearts

Satoshi Kimura’s rambling rom-com offers a peek into the lives of entangled adults struggling to communicate with each other.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 16, 2024

Nikkei stock index nears all-time high

The index closed at 38,487.24, up by 329.30 points and near the all-time high of 38,915 recorded in December 1989.
A new report by the McKinsey Institute for Black Economic Mobility estimates that it could take up to 320 years for Black Americans to catch up to their white counterparts in quality of life.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 8, 2024

Black Americans gain no ground on income and wealth

One study estimates that it could take up to 320 years for Black Americans to catch up to their white counterparts' in quality of life.
Donald Trump's recent remarks on defense spending by allies, which were highly criticized, highlight the complexities of U.S. foreign policy.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 16, 2024

Trump's defense spending critiques: Valid concerns or political rhetoric?

Do U.S. allies need to step up defense spending? What do the numbers really say?
The PTI party of imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan triumphed in Pakistan's Feb. 8 elections despite not having the backing of the country's powerful military.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 14, 2024

Has Pakistan’s military finally lost its mystique?

Many Pakistani voters supported PTI, Imran Khan's party, in recent elections, showing the military that it has a rival powerhouse to contend with.
Exit polls show Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto (right) decisively winning the first round of voting for the presidency, eliminating the need for a runoff. The size and scale the election means finalizing the count will take weeks.
EDITORIALS
Feb 16, 2024

Prabowo’s win signals continuity for Indonesia and the region

Prabowo is likely to be more engaged in foreign policy, mostly because outgoing President Joko Widodo had been largely uninterested.
Damo Suzuki, who passed away at the age of 74 on Feb. 9, was best known as a vocalist for the German “krautrock” pioneers Can. He later launched Damo Suzuki’s Network, a live music project that took him around the world, playing with different musicians every night. 
CULTURE / Music
Feb 17, 2024

Damo Suzuki forged a path outside of mainstream pop and rock

Idiosyncratic and spontaneous, the Can vocalist was an influential figure of the “krautrock” scene.
BASEBALL
Feb 16, 2024

Seoul mayor hopes interest in Shohei Ohtani and MLB brings more games to South Korea

The Seoul Series will be a chance for South Korea and MLB to work together to revive professional baseball’s popularity in the nation.
Kylian Mbappe has reportedly informed PSG of his intention to leave at the end of the season.
SOCCER
Feb 16, 2024

Kylian Mbappe informs Paris Saint-Germain of intention to leave team

Mbappe declined to activate a clause that would allow him to remain with PSG for another year.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Feb 17, 2024

Japan’s space agency successfully launches latest H3 rocket

With the H3, JAXA aims to maintain Japan’s prowess in rocket development technologies and give a jolt to related industries.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Moscow in August 2013. Navalny, the most outspoken domestic critic of President Vladimir Putin, has died in prison, Russian state media said Friday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 17, 2024

Alexei Navalny's death deprives Russia's opposition of a leader and hope

His death leaves the groups that oppose Russian President Vladimir Putin with no obvious candidate to try to turn any discontent into mass protests.
A Palestinian woman stands at al-Najar Hospital in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Friday amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 17, 2024

Fears grow for crucial Gaza hospital after Israeli raid

Several patients had died there from a lack of oxygen at one of Gaza's main hospitals after Israeli troops raided the facility.
Residential buildings heavily damaged by  Russian military strikes in the front-line town of Avdiivka, Ukraine, last November.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 17, 2024

Ukraine troops withdraw from front-line city of Avdiivka

Capturing Avdiivka is the most significant territorial gain for Russian forces since they seized the eastern city of Bakhmut last May.
Police officers detain a woman during a gathering in memory of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, near the Wall of Grief in Moscow on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 18, 2024

Risking arrest, Russians mourn Navalny in small acts of protest

Bouquets at the Wall of Grief become a form of dissent in a country where such action could result in detention.
Workers unload bags of humanitarian aid that entered Gaza by truck in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 18, 2024

Netanyahu says he won’t bow to pressure to call off Rafah invasion

Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu has come under international pressure to drop a threatened incursion into Rafah.
Men in loincloths scramble for a bag of talismans during the Sominsai festival at Kokuseki Temple in Oshu, Iwate Prefecture, on Saturday.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2024

Festival with 1,000-year history succumbs to graying population

Kokuseki Temple's Sominsai festival used to take place from the seventh day of Lunar New Year through to the following morning.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 18, 2024

‘Dictators do not go on vacation,’ Zelenskyy warns Washington and Europe

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on world leaders not to abandon his country saying that Russia would continue to test the international order.
Lakers forward LeBron James celebrates after a dunk against the Pistons on Tuesday.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Feb 18, 2024

All-Stars say NBA future in good hands once LeBron is gone

James has been the top star in an older generation of talent that also includes Golden State's Stephen Curry and Phoenix's Kevin Durant.
A model of the next-generation fighter jet set to be built by Japan, Britain and Italy is seen at the DSEI defense event in London last September.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 18, 2024

Japan looks to limit third-country defense exports to next-gen fighter jet

Tokyo plans to limit — at least for now — exports of finished defense equipment co-developed with others to the jet being built with Italy and Britain.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years