Search - time

 
 
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a news conference at the EU headquarters in Brussels on Oct. 30.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 5, 2024

First candidates grilled in parliament test for EU top team

The showdown is a rare opportunity for the European Union parliament to flex its muscles against the bloc's powerful executive.
Operators respond to telephone directory inquiries from Tokyo at a call center in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, in October 1997.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Nov 11, 2024

As NTT ends its Dial 104 service, Okinawa's call centers look elsewhere

Naha and Nago were home to Japan's biggest call center operations, receiving around 125,000 calls a day at their peak in 1999.
Workers at a garment factory in Gazipur, Bangladesh, on April 16, 2023
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 5, 2024

AI supports fashion's climate goals, but workers may be left behind

In Bangladesh, about 60% of apparel workers, or 2.7 million people, risk losing their jobs due to automation.
Donald Trump and Kamala Harris concluded their presidential campaigns on Monday with closing arguments that mirrored, in tone and in substance, the competing visions they have offered a deeply divided nation.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 5, 2024

Harris and Trump conclude historic campaign with dueling rallies

Their closing arguments mirrored, in tone and in substance, the competing visions they have offered a deeply divided nation.
Staff work at a sake brewery in Fukushima Prefecture in October. Sake, a traditional Japanese alcoholic beverage made from grains and water, holds deep cultural significance in Japan.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 5, 2024

UNESCO panel recommends sake brewing for intangible cultural heritage list

A UNESCO intergovernmental committee meeting in December is expected to make a final decision on its inclusion in the Representative List.
A race whipsawed by unprecedented events remained too close to call on Election Day, even after billions of dollars in spending and months of frenetic campaigning.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 6, 2024

Trump takes early electoral lead as race with Harris takes shape

With polls closed in more than two-thirds of states, Trump had taken preliminary leads in Georgia and North Carolina, two key swing states.
Former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant attends a press conference shortly after he was sacked by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who cited a lack of trust, at the Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 6, 2024

Netanyahu fires defense minister, jolting Israeli politics

After Yoav Gallant was fired, protesters in Israel blocked highways and lit bonfires on roads.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends a press conference at the NATO headquarters in Brussels on Oct. 17.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 6, 2024

Clashes with North Korean troops create 'instability,' Zelenskyy says

More than 10,000 North Korean troops have arrived in Russia, South Korea's Defense Ministry said.
Coco Gauff of the U.S. celebrates after winning her women's singles group stage match against Poland's Iga Swiatek at the WTA Finals in Riyadh on Tuesday.
TENNIS
Nov 6, 2024

Gauff beats Swiatek at WTA Finals as Sabalenka earns year-end No.1

Gauff, 20, entered the contest having lost 11 of her 12 previous meetings with Swiatek.
A parent pushes a baby stroller in Shanghai on April 2, 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Nov 6, 2024

China's latest cry for more babies may fall on deaf ears

Events aimed at encouraging couples to marry and have babies were criticized for being regressive, disparaging toward women, and reinforcing gender roles.
A screen grab taken from a live video stream broadcast by the Shizuoka Municipal Government on Wednesday shows Mount Fuji with a dusting of snow on its peak, seen from the Shizuoka side of the mountain.
JAPAN
Nov 6, 2024

Snow seen on Mount Fuji after record time without snowcap

Photographs taken from different points around the mountain, where the skies were clearer early on Wednesday, showed a covering of snow on its peak.
Astronauts Ayu Yoneda (left) and Makoto Suwa at a news conference in Tokyo on Oct. 23
JAPAN
Nov 6, 2024

New Japanese astronauts see moon landing as real possibility

Under the Artemis international lunar exploration program, Yoneda and Suwa, may become the first Japanese to land on the moon as early as the late 2020s.
Unattended picket signs are piled up outside a Boeing facility in Seattle on Monday, after unionized workers voted to end their strike.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 6, 2024

Boeing CEO in battle to mend rifts after bitter strike ends

The strike exposed divides that run right through the company.
The Kyoto Prefectural Police headquarters in the city of Kyoto. A 23-year-old university student from Kyoto sought help from police days before his alleged involvement in an attempted burglary in western Tokyo last month.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 6, 2024

Tokyo burglary suspect sought police help days before attempted heist

University student Masaki Saen told police that he had received threats after applying for a “dark” part-time job, or “yami baito.”
Aonishiki competes at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo on Jan. 28.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Nov 6, 2024

Head to sumo's second tier and it's a dog-eat-dog world

Jūryō action is something fans of exciting sumo shouldn’t miss.
Toyota posted its first quarterly profit drop in two years, as slowing sales and production volume stalled the world's top-selling automaker's recent record run.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 6, 2024

Toyota keeps profit outlook despite weakness in Japan and China

The carmaker showed signs of recovery from domestic scandals in Japan and major recalls in the United States.
Rizwan Gondal, the head police officer in Rahim Yar Khan distric, says that his detectives have a dossier proving the "heinous criminal activities" of Pakistani gangster Shahid Lund Baloch, who broadcasts on TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram defiant messages delivered gun-in-hand, romanticizing his rural lifestyle and cultivating a reputation as a champion of the people.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Nov 6, 2024

TikTok bandits terrorize and transfix Pakistan riverlands

In riverine terrain in central Punjab that has long offered them refuge, bandits use the internet to enthrall citizens even as they prey on them.
UA Zensen President Tomoko Nagashima addresses the labor union's meeting in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Nov 6, 2024

Japan’s UA Zensen union aims for continued 6% wage hike in 2025

UA Zensen’s target follows an announcement last month by Rengo that it will continue to aim for at least a 5% pay rise in the next round of negotiations.
Seven & I Holdings' 46% stake in Seven Bank could raise around ¥30 billion by the end of the current fiscal year in February.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 6, 2024

Seven & I is said to plan reducing stake in banking unit to 38%

The retailer’s 46% stake in Seven Bank could raise around ¥30 billion by the end of the current fiscal year in February.
American voters in Tokyo gather at an election watch party, organized by Democrats Abroad Japan, at a British bar in Tokyo's Shimokitazawa district on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Nov 6, 2024

American voters in Japan reflect divisions in home country

Several Republican voters said they believed Trump’s leadership could address the problems they are most concerned about, such as illegal immigration.
Nintendo reported ¥27.7 billion in net profit in the July-September quarter, down 69% year on year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 6, 2024

Nintendo Switch sales drop as successor console looms

Despite the decline, sales continue to be robust in comparison to past Nintendo platforms in the same year, Nintendo said.
A cruel twist of fate upends the life of Jin Ai-hsia (Sylvia Chang) in "Daughter's Daughter," director Huang Xi's meditation on maternal grief.
CULTURE / Film
Nov 6, 2024

Chinese ghosts and grief compete at Tokyo International Film Festival

A slate of evocative features at Tokyo's major film event showcased established and upcoming directors from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump attends a campaign rally in Warren, Michigan, on Nov. 1.
WORLD
Nov 6, 2024

White House win gives Trump a legal reprieve

As U.S. president, the 78-year-old Trump can make the federal criminal cases facing him vanish and see the state cases put on hold.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs one of five executive orders related to the oil pipeline industry in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Jan. 24, 2017.
BUSINESS / Markets
Nov 7, 2024

From oil to EVs, here’s how Trump’s victory affects energy

The prospect of a Trump-era pullback from some policies promoting emission-free energy has already helped spark a slide in shares of renewable power firms.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attends a media briefing after sacking Finance Minister Christian Lindner, in Berlin on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 7, 2024

Germany faces snap election as Scholz's coalition crumbles

Chancellor Olaf Scholz is expected to head a minority government with his Social Democrats and the Greens after sacking his Free Democrat finance minister.
Marinos' Kenta Inoue (center) celebrates with his teammates after scoring against Buriram United in Yokohama on Wednesday.
SOCCER
Nov 7, 2024

Marinos rise up Asian Champions League standings after beating Buriram

Marinos continued their recovery from a heavy 7-3 loss in their opening game of the competition against South Korea's Gwangju FC.
Kunihiko Katsuta is taken to Hyogo Prefectural Police's Tatsuno police station on Thursday after he was arrested for an attempted murder.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 7, 2024

Murder inmate arrested for stabbing of another girl in Japan

The inmate has also hinted at his involvement in the 2007 murder of a 7-year-old girl in Hyogo Prefecture.
Indian and Bangladeshi girls rescued from sexual exploitation stand near the window of a house provided by a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Kolkata on Sept. 11.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Nov 7, 2024

Trafficked: The girls sold for sex in India

A 2023 U.S. report on trafficking said that India is making "significant efforts" but still falls below minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.
One irony of the U.S. election outcome is that, on almost every issue that voters identified as a priority, Donald Trump’s proposals would likely make matters worse.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 7, 2024

Once again, America needs to deal with Donald Trump

Dealing with a reckless president is an exhausting job, but it can and must be done — and it’s a job for members of both parties.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who serves as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, speaks during a party meeting in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 7, 2024

LDP lawmakers urge Ishiba to step down after budget passage next year

But neither the prime minister, nor LDP Secretary-General Hiroshi Moriyama, said they would step down.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight