Search - international-reports

 
 
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 31, 2022

Arming to disarm: North Korea’s nuclear paradox

Even as its nuclear capacity continues to advance, Pyongyang will keep its anti-nuclear doctrine in place — despite the growing contradiction.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 15, 2022

Is BRICS going to break up?

India has always been the indispensable swing member of BRICS. The bloc's current strategic direction in favor of China and possible enlargement could push the country toward an exit.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 22, 2022

Afghanistan earthquake kills at least 1,000 with toll expected to rise

Officials said hundreds of people were injured and that the death toll was likely to rise as information trickled in from remote mountain villages.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
Jun 16, 2022

Overlapping rules to curb 'greenwashing' may only add to company frustration

A coalition of 7,000 global companies is calling on the regulators to converge their definitions, terminology and concepts before finalizing the rules later this year.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
May 18, 2022

Poor countries face a mounting catastrophe fueled by inflation and debt

The consequences of the war in Ukraine are being compounded by the continuing pandemic, a global tightening of credit and a slowdown in China, the second-largest economy.
Japan Times
PODCAST / deep dive
Mar 9, 2022

Sanctions and sanctuary: Japan responds to Russia's war in Ukraine

As Vladimir Putin's grim war in Ukraine escalates, The Economist's Tokyo bureau chief, Noah Sneider, joins to discuss the reasons for the conflict, the lengths to which Japan is supporting Ukraine, and how the war will redefine relationships between Japan and its northern neighbor, Russia.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 5, 2022

How China embraces Russian propaganda and its version of the war

In much of the world, Russia is losing the information war over Ukraine. In China, though, it's winning big.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Dec 16, 2021

Putin and Xi show united front amid rising tensions with U.S.

The leaders' meeting seemed intended as a riposte to the 'Summit for Democracy” that Biden hosted last week.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 2, 2021

Out of Texas, a cowboy solution to an Afghan crisis

The informal currency swap will prop up a small part of the Afghan economy but certainly won't be enough to prevent the country from slipping into full-blown famine this winter.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 16, 2021

Rescuers race to find Haiti quake survivors as death toll hits 1,297

The 7.2 magnitude quake on Saturday destroyed thousands of homes and buildings in a Caribbean nation which is still clawing its way back from another major temblor 11 years ago.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
May 14, 2021

‘COVID-Zero’ havens may find reopening harder than taming virus

Some fear territories that prioritized safety early in the pandemic may be left behind by rivals with higher caseloads that have boosted vaccine uptake.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 1, 2020

Ski, party, seed a pandemic: Travel rules that let COVID-19 take flight

Nine months into an outbreak that has killed 1 million people, Ischgl, Austria, is where the era of global tourism collided with a pandemic.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 23, 2020

Celebrating 75 years of the United Nations

The U.N. and the belief in global solidarity that it embodies have never been more essential as the world finds itself in turmoil amid a virus pandemic and a recession.
Nepali security personnel stand guard at Pokhara International Airport in Pokhara, Nepal, ahead of the arrival of the first international flight from China on June 21.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 13, 2023

Nepal is investigating new airport made by China

A few engineers who had worked on the airport said that building quality had been compromised and that the project’s infrastructure was not sound.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping receives European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel ahead of the 24th EU-China Summit in Beijing on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 8, 2023

Amid trade and Ukraine concerns, EU takes strong stance in Beijing

Europe’s top two officials visited China with a list of economic grievances, calling on Beijing to improve market access and cut trade imbalances.
Six months have passed since Japan started releasing treated water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 4, 2024

Fukushima water release still vexing China-Japan ties

China-bound exports of Japanese fishery products in 2023 plunged by some 30% from the previous year in value terms.
A Palestinian girl sits holding a toddler on a sand dune overlooking a camp for displaced people in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 18, 2024

Oxfam says Israel 'deliberately' blocking aid to Gaza

NGO accuses Israel of "systematically and deliberately" blocking and undermining meaningful humanitarian response" in the Palestinian territory.
The problem many developing countries have in repaying their debts might be even bigger than the world realizes, as many sovereign debts are hidden.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 10, 2024

Tackling the world’s hidden debt problem

Low-income countries are struggling to repay their debts. Better transparency and accounting systems could help them tackle this challenge.
A volunteer sits near a Starlink terminal constructed for local residents at a street in Kherson, Ukraine, in November 2022.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Apr 23, 2024

Starlink highlights economic security challenges facing democracies

The system has stirred a variety of debates over the issue of military application of civil technology.
Much like other hot spots across Okinawa, Onna has diligently strived to captivate both domestic and international tourists, while at the same time grappling with the environmental strain induced by the influx of visitors.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
May 5, 2024

As visitors surge, Japan seeks ways to make tourism eco-friendly

A record tourism boom has raised concerns over the enormous stress visitors put on the environment.
Job-seekers take a Japanese class at an employment placement company in Hanoi in October 2022.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 11, 2024

Is Japan an attractive option for foreign talent from Asia?

The uptick in young foreign workers is driven by growing interest in Japanese society and culture and difficulty in finding jobs at home.
Indonesian President-elect Prabowo Subianto (right) talks with the country's outgoing leader, Joko Widodo, after the latter delivered the annual State of the Nation Address in Jakarta on Aug. 16.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 16, 2024

Indonesia’s new president will keep the world guessing

Eliminating hunger is one thing — ensuring the economy is able to provide enough jobs for young people as they graduate from school and university is quite another.
Scott Bessent speaks at a campaign event for Donald Trump in Asheville in North Carolina in August.
WORLD
Nov 23, 2024

Trump taps Scott Bessent for U.S. Treasury

Bessent has advocated for tax reform and deregulation, particularly to spur more bank lending and energy production.
The Chinese bulk carrier Yi Peng 3 is anchored near the city of Granaa in Jutland, Denmark, on Nov. 20. Sweden's foreign minister said last month that China had denied a request for prosecutors to conduct an investigation of the ship linked to recently severed Baltic Sea cables.
EDITORIALS
Jan 10, 2025

Be ready for the new Cold War, under the sea

In the South China Sea, a least one cable fault is reported in the waterway every few weeks; in other parts of the world it’s one incident a year.
Israeli tanks near the border with Gaza, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, as seen from Israel, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jan 22, 2025

Hamas' tight grip on Gaza complicates plan for lasting peace

Hamas remains deeply entrenched in Gaza and its hold on power represents a challenge to implementing a permanent ceasefire.
An immigration detention center in Bangkok. A group of Uyghurs were sent to China in accordance with international standards, Thailand's defense minister said, in Thailand's first confirmation of the deportation.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 28, 2025

Thailand sends 40 Uyghurs back to China after decade in detention

Rights experts warned that the Uyghurs were at risk of torture, ill-treatment and "irreparable harm" if returned.
China had accounted for the biggest international student body in the U.S. for 15 years until it was overtaken by India last year.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 22, 2025

Trump visa cuts and tariff hikes turn Chinese students away from American Dream

A growing number of Chinese students are exploring other destinations.
The Trump administration's escalating campaign against Harvard — cutting billions in funding, blocking foreign students, and threatening its independence — marks an unprecedented attack on U.S. higher education.
EDITORIALS
May 30, 2025

U.S. soft power is a casualty in Trump’s war on Harvard

The fight against Harvard will do extensive and potentially irreparable injury. It is an extraordinary act of self-harm.
India’s potential participation in the Japan-U.K.-Italy fighter jet project GCAP makes strategic sense but should be postponed until the core partners solidify the program to avoid delays, conflict and operational risk.
COMMENTARY
Jun 12, 2025

India should join the Global Combat Air Program — but not just yet

GCAP is more than just a weapons platform. It is a statement of strategic autonomy, industrial innovation and trilateral cooperation among democracies.
A visitor looks into North Korea from South Korea's Odusan Unification Observatory in Paju on June 12.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Jun 20, 2025

Rights abuses continue in North Korea a decade after probe, says U.N.

A U.N official said he is still surprised by the continued prevalence of executions, forced labour and reports of starvation in the authoritarian country.

Longform

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?