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Missile systems form part of the Victory Day military parade in Moscow on May 9. The FBI tries to maintain a tricky balance in spy operations: the more access informants have to valuable intelligence, the higher the risk that they could be compromised.
WORLD / Politics
May 21, 2024

FBI shed informants linked to Russian influence operations

After a secret review several years ago, the bureau cut off confidential sources thought to be connected to Russian disinformation.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa delivers a video message at an international meeting on nuclear arms reduction held in Yokohama on Tuesday.
JAPAN
May 21, 2024

Global experts' nuke disarmament discussions cover AI's impact

Fifteen experts from nuclear and non-nuclear countries, including the U.S., China, and Russia, participated in the discussions, some joining online.
Justice Minister Ryuji Koizumi speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 21, 2024

Japan's revised immigration bill clears Lower House

Permanent residency holders may have their status revoked if they deliberately fail to pay their taxes, impacting only those "with malicious intent."
The modernization of Japan's defense strategy is not just about military capabilities, it is also about building consensus and fostering public understanding.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 21, 2024

The winding road to Japan's defense modernization

The government's efforts to engage the public on defense issues are crucial for building consensus and ensuring the sustainability of defense reforms.
Mourners gather in Tehran's Valiasr Square on Monday to honor President Ebrahim Raisi and others who died in a helicopter crash a day earlier.
COMMENTARY / World
May 21, 2024

Iranian President Raisi's failed experiment in ideological purity

Yet totalitarian regimes such as Iran don’t need their populations to be content, so long as they have security forces willing to kill to suppress dissent.
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki (left) receives a draft proposal produced by the Fiscal System Council from Keidanren Chairman Masakazu Tokura in Tokyo on Tuesday.
BUSINESS
May 22, 2024

Japanese advisory panel calls for strengthening fiscal resilience

The Fiscal System Council warned that the country's finances will deteriorate further if debt servicing costs swell.
Demonstrators during a protest outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 22, 2024

Thousands protest contentious Taiwan parliament reforms

The protests in Taiwan outside parliament, and a raucous session inside, demonstrate the feverish political atmosphere facing new President Lai Ching-te.
Japanese Paralympic Committee Chairman Junichi Kawai says this summer's Paris Games offer an opportunity to pass on the legacy of the Tokyo Paralympics.
OLYMPICS
May 22, 2024

Paris Games a chance to pass on Tokyo's legacy: Paralympics head

Japanese Paralympic Committee chairman says increasing the number of medalists is more important than the number of medals.
Matthew Trickett leaves Westminster Magistrates' Court in London on May 13.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
May 22, 2024

Former U.K. marine in Hong Kong spy case found dead: police

Matthew Trickett was one of three men accused in the recent Hong Kong spy case.
Japan's Ayumi Fukushima competes in the women's Breaking B-Girls semifinal during an Olympic Qualifier Series ahead of the 2024 Paris Games, in Shanghai on Sunday.
OLYMPICS / Breakdancing
May 22, 2024

Japanese break dancer on cusp of fulfilling Olympic dream

Ayumi Fukushima, 40, has been busting moves for longer than some of her rivals have been alive.
The entrance to Maruyama Park, one of Sapporo's most popular parks for summer recreation. The Maruyama Park area is part of a designated region where Sapporo plans tougher bear countermeasures, including the possible use of bear traps.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
May 27, 2024

From coexistence to separation: Sapporo's battle with bears

An increasing number of bears in Hokkaido is forcing the prefectural capital to change its strategy for dealing with the animals.
An Israeli tank near the Israel-Gaza border on Tuesday
WORLD
May 22, 2024

Israeli forces raze parts of Gaza's Jabalia and hit Rafah with airstrikes

Simultaneous Israeli assaults on the northern and southern edges of the Gaza Strip have sharply restricted the flow of aid, raising the risk of famine.
Demonstrators during a protest outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei on Tuesday
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 22, 2024

Taiwan lawmakers defy protesters as they look to pass bill Friday

Opposition lawmakers will make a final push to pass legislation aimed at reining in new President Lai Ching-te’s administration.
Aonishiki at the Sumo World Championships 2023 on Oct. 8. The Ukrainian wrestler remains on track to reach the sport’s salaried divisions by the end of the year.
SUMO / Inside Sumo
May 22, 2024

Is Ukraine's Aonishiki set to be the next European sumo superstar?

28 wins in 30 bouts suggests the former evacuee is on the fast track to glory.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with the families of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Tehran on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
May 22, 2024

Raisi death reshapes Iran succession, putting focus on Khamenei son

Following the death of President Ebrahim Raisi, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's, son Mojtaba has emerged as a top contender.
New Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te speaks on stage during his inauguration ceremony outside the Presidential Office in Taipei on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 22, 2024

Japan protests Chinese envoy's 'inappropriate remarks' over Taiwan

Ambassador Wu Jianghao appeared to insinuate that the Japanese people would be “brought into the fire” of conflict over support for self-ruled Taiwan.
People attend a demonstration in support of Gaza and Palestinians outside the building of the Norwegian parliament in Oslo, Norway, on Nov. 4, 2023.
WORLD
May 22, 2024

Norway, along with Ireland and Spain, to recognize Palestinian state

Before the announcement, some 143 out of 193 member-states of the United Nations recognized a Palestinian state.
Shigeru Omi, then-Japan's top COVID-19 advisor, speaks to reporters at the Prime Minister's Office in April 2022. A study published this month has shown that many experts who spoke to the media about COVID-19 in Japan were harassed by the public.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 22, 2024

Many COVID experts in Japan harassed after speaking to media, survey shows

The research conducted by a professor at Waseda University is Japan’s first comprehensive survey on threats targeting COVID-19 experts.
Iwao Hakamata's older sister Hideko (left) marches to the Shizuoka District Court in the city of Shizuoka on Wednesday for a retrial of her younger brother Iwao, who had been on death row over a 1966 murder case.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 22, 2024

Trial ruling date for man accused of 1966 murder set for September

Iwao Hakamata, who in a rare example is being retried over a 1966 murder case, will be given a verdict on Sept. 26.
In trying to govern AI, the U.N. and other institutions need an approach as dynamic, innovative and creative as the pursuit of the technology itself.
COMMENTARY / World
May 22, 2024

We need effective governance to shape AI for good

How can we govern AI so that it serves the interests of humanity? Three key principles can guide the way for the U.N. and other actors undertaking this daunting challenge.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping attend a concert marking the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations on May 16.
COMMENTARY / World
May 22, 2024

Deepening China-Russian ties: a sign of strength or insecurity?

Russia’s ongoing struggles in Ukraine and economic reliance on China illustrate its weakened position in their partnership.
Some strategists have predicted that Japan’s 10-year sovereign yield will rise to 2% by the end of 2026.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 22, 2024

Japan yields have room to rise after 1% reached on BOJ bets

The focus turns now to how quickly the supereasy monetary policy will be dialed back and how much further yields may rise.
Kakunoshin Yanagida (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi), a ronin and master of go, seeks revenge and justice in Kazuya Shiraishi’s “Bushido.”
CULTURE / Film
May 23, 2024

‘Bushido’: A realistically stylish samurai throwback

Slashing realism, fluid camera work and moody color palettes achieve an evocative effect in Kazuya Shiraishi’s samurai drama “Bushido.”
Palestinian kids stand in a house an Israeli strike destroyed, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on Wednesday.
WORLD
May 23, 2024

Israeli forces move deeper into Rafah in night of heavy fighting

Israel's assault on the city has set hundreds of thousands of people fleeing in what had been a refuge for half of the enclave's 2.3 million people.
Health officials are increasingly on guard for cases of H5N1, a bird virus that’s known to jump between species and can sometimes cause severe cases in people.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 23, 2024

Second U.S. human bird flu infection reported in Michigan

A farmworker in the state experienced mild symptoms in the eye after coming into contact with an infected cow and has since recovered.
A Soyuz-2.1b rocket booster with a Fregat upper stage, carrying Russian the Meteor-M spacecraft and 18 Russian and foreign additional small satellites, blasts off from a launchpad at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the far eastern Amur region of Russia on Feb. 29.
WORLD
May 23, 2024

Russia launched space weapon in path of U.S. satellite, Pentagon says

Russia and the United States have traded accusations over weaponizing space in recent months, and they have proposed rival nonproliferation resolutions at the U.N.
A missile is launched as North Korea conducts a test firing of a tactical ballistic missile on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 23, 2024

Japan underlines qualitative improvement of North Korean nukes

An early draft of Japan's annual defense white paper also expressed a strong sense of crisis over China's military over its activities around Taiwan.
A portrait of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un is displayed at a national meeting to commemorate Kim's 10-year anniversary as head of the country's ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) in Pyongyang on April 10, 2022.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 23, 2024

Kim Jong Un’s portrait elevated to big three in personality cult

Also spotted at a new training school were rare portraits of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin.
Service prices, a key component of Japan’s inflation data, may be sturdier than in the past.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 23, 2024

Steady and widening service price rises may spur BOJ’s next move

Service prices, a key component of Japan’s inflation data, may be sturdier than in the past.
Artificial-intelligence-related talks in Geneva between China and the U.S. yielded no concrete agreements, but the conversations set the stage for continued engagement on safety and risks related to the technology.
WORLD / Politics
May 23, 2024

Seven hours in Geneva hotel highlight U.S.-China struggle on AI

Officials from the U.S. and China stressed in the meeting at the hotel a shared desire to prevent nightmare scenarios like a computer-triggered nuclear war.

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