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Giovanna Gonzalez of Chicago demonstrates outside the U.S. Capitol following a press conference by TikTok creators to voice their opposition to the "Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act," pending crackdown legislation on TikTok in the House of Representatives, on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 12.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 19, 2024

TikTok and its 'secret sauce' caught in U.S.-China tussle

China's ByteDance's algorithm has helped drive TikTok's stratospheric success since the app was launched for the international market in 2017.
Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani arrives at Incheon International Airport in South Korea ahead of the MLB's Seoul Series, on Friday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 19, 2024

All eyes on Ohtani on eve of MLB's Seoul Series

The Dodgers star touched down in South Korea to a welcome worthy of a K-pop act
People look at the screens showing views from polling stations across Russia, at the headquarters of Russia's Central Election Commission on the final day of the presidential election in Moscow on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 19, 2024

What Putin’s election win tells us about Russia today

Putin won 87.3%, or 76 million votes, by far the biggest landslide in post-Soviet Russian history.
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2024

Emperor and Empress to visit quake-hit Noto Peninsula

The visit will mark the imperial couple's second visit to a disaster-hit area since the Emperor's enthronement in 2019.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo attend a working luncheon at the Sofitel Hotel in Manila on Tuesday. Blinken’s trip, which also touched upon economic cooperation, followed a trade mission visit by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo a week earlier.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 19, 2024

Blinken pledges closer U.S.-Philippine security ties ahead of trilateral summit with Japan

The top U.S. diplomat and his Philippine counterpart also signaled the allies were eyeing ways to "operationalize" security cooperation with Tokyo.
Humility, recognition of cultural blind spots and a renewed effort are needed to find common ground between China and the United States.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 19, 2024

Addressing the 'blind spots' in U.S.-China relations

The dwindling opportunities for unofficial dialogue between scholars and experts from the U.S. and China are also driving by mutual suspicion and fear.
Children and teachers walk past an electronic screen displaying Japan's Nikkei share average outside a brokerage in Tokyo on March 4.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 19, 2024

Japan OKs bill on background checks for work involving children

Once the bill becomes a law, employers will be able to screen prospective employees for past history of sex offenses via the Children and Families Agency.
Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting at the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing in October last year.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 19, 2024

Putin to travel to China in May for talks with Xi, sources say

The visit could be the Kremlin chief's first overseas trip of his new presidential term.
Ice forms on the window of an airplane heading from Iqaluit to Pond Inlet, Nunavut, Canada. The Earth's poles are warming faster than elsewhere, with the North Pole heating up about twice as fast as the rest of Earth for the last 30 years.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Mar 20, 2024

Climate change speeds up as major indicators blow off the charts, WMO warns

2023 was the warmest year on record — with global average temperatures 1.45 degrees Celsius higher than in pre-industrial times.
A commuter walks along an overpass in Jakarta.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Mar 20, 2024

Only 10 countries had healthy air quality in 2023, report finds

Sources of PM2.5 pollution vary widely, but the overwhelming cause is the burning of fossil fuels.
Australia and China have rapidly improved their diplomatic relations since the election of the center-left Labor government in May 2022, including the restoration of high-level official meetings and the lifting of trade sanctions imposed by Beijing at the height of tensions.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 20, 2024

China and Australia face difficult diplomatic road after trade spat

Hurdles exist in the form of persistent political differences and increased competition between Beijing and Canberra’s principal ally, the U.S.
A South Korean presidential official has resigned following criticism of his comments regarding a 1988 knife incident, where a journalist who had written columns critical of the government was attacked.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 20, 2024

South Korean official resigns amid controversy over knife attack comment

South Korea has a history of media censorship, which was particularly harsh during administrations from the 1960s to the 1990s.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 20, 2024

Princess Aiko set to work with Red Cross following Gakushuin graduation

The princess studied for four years in the Department of Japanese Language and Literature, writing her thesis on a noted 12th-century poet.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo. A survey by Bloomberg indicates a majority of analysts surveyed doesn’t expect another rate hike as a base case, but plenty of others are warning that the BOJ may not be finished.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 20, 2024

Investors and economists split on whether BOJ will raise rates again

By moving in March instead of the consensus view of April, Gov. Kazuo Ueda secured space to raise borrowing costs again if data supports the case.
Artisan Suzanne Ross says Japanese lacquerware is a "treasure that belongs to the world."
JAPAN / Society
Mar 20, 2024

Wajima artisan’s livelihood, four decades in the making, upended by disaster

Lacquerware artist Suzanne Ross' life was upended by a massive earthquake. Now, she's determined to keep her craft alive.
As two friends deal with normal problems teenagers face, their lives are complicated by the looming specter of an alien takeover in “Dead Dead Demons Dededede Destruction Part 1.”
CULTURE / Film
Mar 21, 2024

‘Dead Dead Demons Dededede Destruction: Part 1’: A prophetic vision of pandemic life

Tomoyuki Kurokawa’s adaptation of Inio Asano’s manga of the same name pokes fun at modern society and politics amid a crisis.
A ruthless teen (Jinsei Hamura, right) attempts to blackmail a man stuck in an unhappy marriage (Masaki Okada) with evidence of a double murder in “Gold Boy.”
CULTURE / Film
Mar 21, 2024

‘Gold Boy’: Clever criminal minds offer a study of evil

Shusuke Kaneko’s drama about twisted teens extorting money from a murderer thrills and chills in equal measure.
A soup kitchen distributes food in Havana on Jan. 15. The communist government of Cuba is grappling with its worst economic situation since the collapse of the Soviet Union more than three decades ago.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2024

Communist Cuba is on the brink of collapse

The communist government of Cuba is grappling with worst economic situation since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
With Vladimir Putin's electoral triumph, Russia's democratic facade fades further.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2024

Putin's win isn't just a sham. It's a danger.

Vladimir Putin can now expect at least another six years in office that would make him Russia’s longest-serving leader since Catherine the Great.
A recent $1 billion donation to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine will make the school tuition-free indefinitely, but greater systemic changes would better serve students and society.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2024

Free tuition is no panacea for medical schools

An historic $1 billion donation paves the way for debt-free medical education.
Sayaka Murata uses inventive language to bring the character of Keiko to life in "Convenience Store Woman."
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 22, 2024

'Convenience Store Woman' and the 'normal' in life and literature

Author Sayaka Murata's use of marked and unmarked language provides new layers to a commentary on modern society.
The resignation of Vietnam President Vo Van Thuong on Wednesday is "not really a good sign for a country often boasted for having very strong political stability.”
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 21, 2024

‘Political earthquake’ shakes up succession battle in Vietnam

The ouster of a second president in just over a year leaves a leadership vacuum in one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies.
Japan’s exports grew for a third consecutive month in February on the back of robust shipments of vehicles.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 21, 2024

Japan’s exports rise for third straight month led by autos

The economy is projected to record another small expansion in the current quarter, as the weak yen is expected to continue offering support to exporters.
Elon Musk's brain-chip startup Neuralink livestreamed on Wednesday its first patient implanted with a chip using his mind to play online chess.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 21, 2024

Musk's Neuralink shows first brain-chip patient playing online chess

The patient had received an implant from the company in January and reportedly learnt to control a computer mouse using his thoughts.
U.S. Indo-Pacific Command chief Adm. John Aquilino said that since he took command in 2021, the PLA has added over 400 advanced fighter aircraft and more than 20 major warships, and has more than doubled its inventory of ballistic and cruise missiles.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 21, 2024

China on track to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027, U.S. commander says

All signs point to the People's Liberation Army meeting President Xi Jinping’s preferred timeline, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command chief says.
Giant cut-outs of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other party leaders are positioned beside a road in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh on Feb. 25.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 21, 2024

Hardships and broken promises no hindrance for Modi in India's rural north

If India's prime minister earns a third term in office, it will be in spite of the state of the rural and farming economy — not because of it.
A co-production between Hiroshi Koike Bridge Project and the Grotowski Institute in Wroclaw, Poland, “N/Kosmos” features performers from Poland and Japan, each of whom mostly uses their native tongue.
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 21, 2024

‘N/Kosmos’ puts on a dazzling display of controlled chaos

Stage director Hiroshi Koike welcomes pandemonium in his latest genre-fluid production in collaboration with Polish electronic musician Waclaw Zimpel.
Afghan schoolgirls in 2022. Boys and men will return to classes when the Afghan new year starts in late March, but girls and women will be left behind again by a Taliban government education blockade that is part of a raft of restrictions the United Nations has labelled "gender apartheid."
WORLD / Society
Mar 21, 2024

Afghan girls and women cling to glitchy, lonesome online learning

Schools in Afghanistan have opened for the new academic year, but girls have been banned from joining classes for the third year in a row.
The Bank of Japan's recent decision to abandon negative interest rates is seen more as a symbolic shift.
COMMENTARY
Mar 21, 2024

BOJ finally ditches negative rates, but this is no liftoff

It's the end of an era for the Bank of Japan as negative interest rates are phased out.
With little pushback from the international community, particularly the U.S., China has managed to expand its maritime borders unilaterally in the South China Sea without hardly firing a shot.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 21, 2024

The South China Sea could boil over

With the wars in Ukraine and Gaza stretching its military resources thin, a direct confrontation with China is the last thing the U.S. needs.

Longform

"Shake hands with Lima-chan," a statue that shares the name of the Peruvian capital looks in the direction of Peru, where a sister statue, "Sakura-chan," is located. Erected in Yokohama's Rinko Park in 1999, it commemorates Peruvian-Japanese friendship.
The journey of Peru’s Nikkei: Finding identity in Japan