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U.S. President Donald Trump's Gaza proposal is a reckless plan that would forcibly displace Palestinians, destabilize neighboring countries, empower Iran and and hinder any long-term peace efforts.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2025

Trump’s Gaza plan is a crazy answer to a valid question

It is a propsal that will love Israel to death, revive Iran to life and destabilize every American friend.
The Thai Royal Police held a meeting on Monday in Bangkok with representatives from 18 countries, including Japan, as well as international organizations like the United Nations regarding the transnational scam operation.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 18, 2025

Japanese nationals thought to be held captive at Myanmar-Thailand border

Foreign nationals from several countries have been held at the border and forced to participate in a variety of scams.
Chinese President Xi Jinping
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 18, 2025

Xi’s embrace of China tech CEOs spurs hope of big economic shift

Developing national tech champions is core to Beijing’s plan for boosting the economy as it deflates a bubble in the property market.
Newly manufactured cars ready for shipping. U.S. President Donald Trump said he is likely to impose new 25% tariffs on imported cars, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals in the coming months.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 19, 2025

Trump floats 25% tariffs on U.S. auto, drug and chip imports

The U.S. president has also threatened other streams of tariffs, all part of an effort to reconfigure the country's trading relationships across the globe.
A person holds candles of Pope Francis on Tuesday near a statue of Pope John Paul II outside the Gemelli hospital in Rome where Pope Francis is hospitalized.
WORLD
Feb 19, 2025

Pope Francis has double pneumonia, complicating his treatment, Vatican says

Pope Francis has had a respiratory infection for more than a week and was admitted to Rome's Gemelli Hospital on Feb. 14.
Novak Djokovic in action during his round of 32 match against Italy's Matteo Berrettini at the Qatar Open in Doha on Tuesday
TENNIS
Feb 19, 2025

Djokovic stunned by Berrettini in Qatar Open first round

Djokovic, who was aiming for a 100th ATP title, was playing his first singles match since retiring from the Australian Open semifinals due to injury.
Nihon Hidankyo co-chair Toshiyuki Mimaki (left) meets Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito (right) in Kitahiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture, in December.
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2025

Japan not to attend meeting on nuclear ban treaty for third time

The decision may draw criticism from many members of the public and Komeito, with both calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons.
Vehicles bound for shipment at a port in Yokohama. Japan's auto exports to the United States surged 21.8% in January as U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threats continued to mount.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 19, 2025

Japan’s exports rise again ahead of Trump’s tariff measures

Exports measured by value increased 7.2% from a year earlier, led by shipments of cars and ships.
Rafael Grossi (left), director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya at a joint news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2025

Japan and IAEA to boost cooperation on Fukushima No. 1 decommissioning

Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and IAEA chief Rafael Grossi discussed the nuclear plant and the release of treated water from the facility into the ocean.
A gasoline blend containing bioethanol is sold at a gas station in Illinois in December. The United States and Brazil are keen to expand exports of bioethanol to Japan.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Feb 19, 2025

With 2050 net-zero goal on horizon, momentum builds for biofuel in Japan

Experts hope the increasing push for use of biofuels in gasoline-powered vehicles may help shift public awareness on environmental issues.
Ryuji Kimura in the city of Wakayama in April 2023
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 19, 2025

Kishida attacker sentenced to 10 years in prison for attempted murder

Kimura maintained through the trial that he did not intend to harm anyone, adding that he threw the explosive to draw attention to his 2022 lawsuit.
Norinchukin Bank Chief Executive Officer Kazuto Oku
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 19, 2025

Norinchukin CEO plans to resign after massive bond losses

Norinchukin reported wider losses this month as it boosted investments in riskier leveraged loans and sought additional capital.
The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan wants to use the Bank of Japan’s exchange-traded funds to help cover the cost of making high school education free.
BUSINESS
Feb 19, 2025

CDP eyes BOJ’s exchange-traded funds to pay for free schooling

The Bank of Japan's exchange-traded funds have remained untouched even as Gov. Kazuo Ueda oversaw further rate hikes.
Newly promoted grand champion Hoshoryu (center) performs a dedication ceremony at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo on Jan. 31.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Feb 19, 2025

What is the ceiling for sumo’s newest yokozuna?

The ceremonies are complete, the celebrations are done, and now it’s time for Hoshoryu to get down to the daily task of leading Japan’s national sport.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged troops for a Ukraine peacekeeping force, but Britain and its military lack the resources to deliver.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 19, 2025

Starmer offers Ukraine a defense check it can't cash

Under Starmer’s leadership, there has been no sign that the U.K. is ready to expand its armed forces to the numbers that could sustain such a campaign.
The rapid advance of artificial intelligence and technology threatens traditional human life and values, but finding a balance between innovation and preserving human connection may offer a path forward for humanity's future.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 19, 2025

Does humanity have a future in the virtual and AI age?

The virtual age and artificial intelligence are making traditional ways of life seem increasingly obsolete, and this will only grow with AI's spread.
Resonac Holdings CEO Hidehito Takahashi
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 19, 2025

Resonac explores deal structures for possible JSR takeover

A deal would be a key step in the chemicals maker’s ambition to corner the Japanese artificial intelligence semiconductor materials market.
DPP tax chair Motohisa Furukawa speaks during a meeting of the party's tax committee in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 19, 2025

Debate over income tax threshold reform hits roadblock with new LDP proposal

Neither Komeito, the ruling coalition's junior partner, nor the opposition Democratic Party for the People supported the LDP's new income tax plan.
Ilias Roussos, 54, looks on at a summer camp where he lives with his family in Agios Andreas, about 30 kilometers northeast of Athens, on Tuesday, after having fled recurring earthquakes on the island of Santorini.
WORLD
Feb 19, 2025

Islanders keen to return to Santorini even as quakes continue

One of Greece's top travel destinations, Santorini and its neighboring islands of Amorgos, Anafi and Ios have since January been rocked by thousands of tremors.
“Hypnosismic — Division Rap Battle — Movie” centers on groups of male rappers from neighborhoods around Tokyo and Japan at large.
CULTURE / Film
Feb 20, 2025

‘Hypnosismic — Division Rap Battle — Movie' lets viewers remix the narrative

Armed with LED-lined gloves and their smartphones, audiences take control of the action for Japan’s first interactive movie.
Polish military vehicles are transported during NATO exercises in Klusy, Poland, in November 2022.
WORLD
Feb 20, 2025

On NATO's eastern flank, U.S. policy shift stokes security fears

Some in Poland fear that Russian President Vladimir Putin will feel emboldened to invade more countries.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin hold a bilateral meeting at the Group of 20 leaders summit in Osaka in June 2019. A Putin-Trump summit is on the horizon.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 20, 2025

Russian forces advance on Ukraine's critical minerals as Trump talks of a deal

The seizure of Kyiv's mineral wealth, while not the main war aim, is among Moscow's strategic goals, experts say.
The Chip Mong Insee cement factory in Kampot province, Cambodia, on Jan. 9. An investigation has shown that the plastic credits sector relies heavily on the polluting cement industry to burn collected waste, despite concerns about health risks and carbon emissions.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Feb 20, 2025

'What would you have us do?': The plastic credits problem

Credits place no obligations on buyers to stop producing or using unrecyclable plastic that ends up in the environment.
Victims of scam centers, who were trafficked into working in Myanmar, wait for their embassies to pick them up in Tak province, Thailand, on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 20, 2025

Myanmar scam center survivors recall torture and coercion

"I got a lot of punishments," said one man, who had cuts along his leg. "I received electric shocks every day."
Australia's spy chief, Mike Burgess, called for a greater effort to tackle the threat from extremism, especially among young people.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 20, 2025

Australian spy chief warns of rising role of minors in terror

Almost all foiled terrorist attacks in Australia over the past year involved the radicalization of children, according to the spy chief's annual assessment.
The poet and essayist Kamo no Chomei wrote “Hojoki” in 1212 after bearing witness to a series of natural and man-made disasters. His experiences caused him to withdraw into a hermetic lifestyle.
LIFE / Language
Feb 20, 2025

Attempting the classics: Deciphering impermanence in ‘Hojoki’

With modern-day aids, this 13th-century piece of text isn't as challenging as you may think.
The Japanese currency climbed as much as 1% to ¥149.95 against the dollar on Thursday, a level it hasn’t touched since Dec. 9.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 20, 2025

Yen advances past ¥150 per dollar as BOJ rate-hike bets ramp up

Japan’s currency climbed as much as 1% to ¥149.95 against the dollar, a level it hasn’t touched since Dec. 9.
Rebel fighters with the Rwanda-backed M23 militia secure Congolese soldiers who had surrendered in Goma, Congo, on Jan. 30.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2025

Sanctions on Rwanda alone won't stop war in DRC

Past peace efforts collapsed as Rwanda accused the DRC of sheltering the FDLR, a Hutu militia tied to the 1994 Tutsi genocide.
Yokohama District Court Judge Takahira Yoshii said Thursday that educative and protective measures are appropriate for a 16-year-old boy charged with the murder of his parents in the city of Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, last year.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 20, 2025

Boy referred to family court over murder of his parents near Tokyo

The presiding judge ruled that educative and protective measures are appropriate for the 16-year-old boy.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 16, 2018
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 20, 2025

China risks becoming U.S. military’s top priority if Trump cuts a deal with Putin

U.S. and Russian officials have started talks in Saudi Arabia to negotiate an end to the three-year war, prompting deep concern in Europe and Ukraine itself.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past