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An anti-regime fighter operates a truck-mounted gun as displaced Syrian Kurds drive vehicles loaded with their belongings along the Aleppo-Raqqa highway.
WORLD / FOCUS
Dec 3, 2024

Who are the former jihadis now holding Syria's Aleppo?

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) says it no longer has any links to al-Qaida, but it remains blacklisted by the United States and the European Union.
While Donald Trump’s legacy and the future ideological direction of the country remains uncertain, the U.S. still retains a democratic future and a dynamic character.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 1, 2024

The post-cold war era is finished. Liberalism and democracy will go on.

For now, the weirder, stranger future the U.S. is entering still looks like a democratic future.
The challenge for African governments and communities is how to harness this wave of youthful talent — with all their innovation, resilience and determination — rather than lose them to developed economies.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 29, 2024

Africa must act to stem its youth brain drain

African governments must harness youthful talent or risk losing it to developed economies.
Iraqi military equipment is transported towards the border with Syria on Monday.
WORLD
Dec 3, 2024

Iraqi fighters head to Syria to battle rebels but Lebanon's Hezbollah stays out, sources say

Syria's civil war had been frozen since 2020, with Assad in control of most territory and all major cities.
The yen carry trade is expected to ramp up next year, driven by wide gaps in interest rates, higher government borrowing in the U.S. and low volatility in currency markets, analysts say.
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 3, 2024

Yen carry trade that rattled markets shows signs of a comeback

Japanese retail investors as well as leveraged funds and asset managers outside the country are estimated to have boosted bearish wagers on the yen in November.
Kim Seongmin, president of Free North Korea Radio, edits content for the station at his home on Ganghwa Island, west of Seoul, on Nov. 21. Kim has cancer and was recently told that he has months to live.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 3, 2024

A North Korean voice that Kim Jong Un would like to silence

North Korean defectors have been infiltrating the North with outside media for two decades, through balloons floated across the border or radio broadcasts.
A giant TV screen shows news footage of military drills conducted in the Taiwan Strait and areas to the north, south and east of Taiwan, by the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, in Beijing on Oct. 14.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 3, 2024

Taiwan watching Chinese carrier movements as drills could start over weekend

Beijing could launch large-scale drills to coincide with Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te's trip to the Pacific this week that includes visits to Hawaii and Guam.
Police officers enforce electric scooter traffic regulations in Chuo Ward, Osaka, in July.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 3, 2024

Luup CEO blames repeat offenders for high e-scooter traffic violations

According to the National Police Agency, there were 25,156 e-scooter traffic violation cases in the year after e-scooter regulations were relaxed.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has, in rapid-fire fashion, named a spate of ideological warriors, conspiracy theorists and now even family members to senior government positions.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Dec 3, 2024

Trump doubles down on defiance after collapse of Matt Gaetz selection

Trump, in rapid-fire fashion, has kept naming more ideological warriors, conspiracy theorists and now even family members to senior government positions.
A farmer burns straw stubble after harvesting a paddy field on the outskirts of Jind in India's Haryana state on Nov. 26.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Dec 3, 2024

The farm fires helping to fuel India's deadly air

Burning is a cheap way to clear fields for new crops, making it hard for farmers to shift to other methods despite the consequences.
"No matter who takes the helm, Japan’s fiscal discipline will worsen in a situation like this," said Mana Nakazora, a credit analyst on an economic panel advising Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 3, 2024

Japan needs a wake-up call on debt, government advisor warns

The advisor criticized the government’s decision to resume subsidies for utilities as part of the stimulus package.
An H2A rocket carrying the Hayabusa2 asteroid probe is launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture on Dec. 3, 2014.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Dec 3, 2024

Hayabusa2 continues its journey, 10 years after launch

The unmanned asteroid probe was launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture on Dec. 3, 2014.
Barcelona manager Hansi Flick has urged his players to be more clinical up-front and make the most of the chances they create, after the team picked up only one point in its last three matches.
SOCCER
Dec 3, 2024

Barca boss Flick rues missed chances and urges players to be more clinical

The team seems to have hit a brick wall as it has picked up only one point in its last three matches
War Tours co-founder Dmytro Nykyforov stands next to a destroyed Russian tank at a tank graveyard during a tour near Dmytrivka village, outside Kyiv, on Nov. 7.
WORLD
Dec 3, 2024

Ukraine sees influx of Western war tourists

Ukraine's destroyed Irpin brige, blown up to stop Russian troops in 2022, is now one of many hotspots for thrill-seeking tourists visiting the country.
U.S. President Joe Biden hugs his wife Jill Biden as his children Hunter and Ashely Biden look on during his presidential inauguration in Washington on Jan. 20, 2021.  
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 3, 2024

Hunter Biden’s pardon is understandable — but wrong

Who wouldn't try sparing a child from prison? It's still a tragedy for the republic.
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova in Moscow on May 31.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 4, 2024

Putin's Kremlin planes took away Ukrainian children for adoption, report alleges

The research identified 314 Ukrainian children taken to Russia as part of what it says was a systematic, Kremlin-funded program to "Russify" them.
Members of the German Navy operate a submarine drone onboard German mine hunter FGS Weilheim during a NATO exercise led by the Finnish Navy, in the Baltic Sea in Turku, Finland, on Nov. 20
WORLD / Politics
Dec 3, 2024

As sabotage allegations swirl, NATO struggles to secure the Baltic Sea

The defense alliance conducted one of northern Europe's largest naval exercises on Nov. 18 to step up its protection of critical infrastructure.
Trees in a forest in Nyanga, Gabon
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 3, 2024

Scientists behind ‘net zero’ concept say nations are getting it wrong

Countries may be claiming carbon credits for work already being done by land and oceans — and the accounting mismatch has consequences.
Soldiers try to enter the main hall of the National Assembly on Tuesday, after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 4, 2024

What we know about South Korea's martial law

The unexpected move — the first time martial law has been declared in South Korea in over 40 years — alarmed the U.S. and Seoul's other allies.
Protesters outside the National Assembly call for the impeachment of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 4, 2024

How the streets of Seoul responded to a martial law decree

South Koreans immediately took to the streets after President Yoon Suk Yeol shocked the nation with a late-night decree of martial law.
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during the Saudi-French Business Forum during an official visit in Riyadh on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 4, 2024

French government can survive a no-confidence vote, Macron says

A government collapse in France would underscore the power acquired by Marine Le Pen since Emmanuel Macron called a surprise election in June.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (left) and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha pose for a photograph after signing a memorandum of understanding during a NATO foreign ministers' meeting at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 4, 2024

Ukraine pushes for NATO membership as allies sidestep call for invite

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said an invitation would remove one of Russia's main arguments for waging its war: preventing its entry into the alliance.
Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson reviews an honor guard during a ceremony with his Japanese counterpart, Gen Nakatani, ahead of a bilateral meeting at the  Defense Ministry in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 4, 2024

Sweden aims to deepen defense cooperation with Indo-Pacific partners

Stockholm plans to boost cooperation in defense policy dialogue and technology exchanges while boosting its military presence.
Beijing has banned the export of gallium, germanium and antimony to the U.S.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 4, 2024

China dials up U.S. trade tension with tit-for-tat metals export ban

The targeted metals are used in everything from semiconductors to satellites and night-vision goggles.
Masayo Ishimaru, the head of volunteer group Tanpopo no Sato, cuddles cats rescued from a pet hoarder, in the city of Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, in September.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 4, 2024

Local governments tighten rules on pet ownership as hoarding persists

Municipalities are introducing mandatory reporting requirements for owners of large numbers of pets as well as fines for non-compliance.
The start of the Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday in Lusail, Qatar.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Dec 4, 2024

A 12th F1 team after Cadillac? Why not, says FIA president

Formula One has always had a provision for 12 in the rules but there was strong opposition from existing teams to going beyond 10 before a deal was reached.
Naomi Watanabe, a comedian known for challenging gender and beauty norms in Japan's male-dominated comedy scene
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2024

BBC honors two Japanese in annual list of inspiring women

The theme this year was resilience, celebrating women who "are pushing for change and improving lives at community or global level."
Japan's bluefin tuna catch quotas will increase from 2025, with the first increase ever for smaller ones.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2024

WCPFC decides to expand Japan's pacific bluefin tuna catch quotas

Japan's catch quota will increase to 8,421 metric tons from 5,614 metric tons for large bluefin tuna, rising for the first time in three years.
A screen displays market data at Hana Bank in Seoul on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 4, 2024

Yoon’s gambit a tempest in a teapot for financial markets

Tokyo stocks opened flat and the yen was little changed from a day earlier, when the South Korean president declared martial law in a late-night address.
The government plans to lower official drug prices for fiscal 2025 while carefully considering the scope of items subject to the planned cuts in light of the impacts on drugmakers.
BUSINESS
Dec 4, 2024

Japanese drug market prices 5.2% lower than official prices

Generic drugs made up 62.1% of the market by value in September, with a government target of 65% by fiscal 2029 to cut medical costs.

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