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A concept model of the Global Combat Air Program's fighter jet is displayed during the DSEI Japan defense exhibition in the city of Chiba on Wednesday.
JAPAN
May 23, 2025

GCAP next-gen fighter joint venture likely to be running by this summer

Headquartered in the United Kingdom, the new business will be responsible for the industrial side of the Global Combat Air Program.
Shinjiro Koizumi, Japan's newly appointed agriculture minister, arrives at the ministry building in Tokyo on Wednesday. He replaced Taku Eto, who quit after saying he’s never needed to buy rice, a comment that angered many people.
EDITORIALS
May 23, 2025

Rice price uproar intensifies ruling party's election fears

When the remarks triggered a predictable and understandable backlash, Eto explained that he was trying to make a joke.
Democratic Party for the People head Yuichiro Tamaki speaks to reporters in Tokyo on April 22.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
May 23, 2025

Three Upper House candidates are creating headaches for DPP

The DPP hopes to win more seats this summer, but keeping every candidate on-message could be a challenge for leader Yuichiro Tamaki.
An Aeon store in Osaka. Aeon, the country’s largest supermarket chain operator, last month said it will launch a tender offer to make Tsuruha a consolidated subsidiary at ¥11,400 per share.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 23, 2025

Tsuruha shareholders to vote on criticized Aeon merger plan

The chorus reflects rising shareholder activism in Japan in recent years as the country’s governance reforms embolden investors.
Mitsui O.S.K. Lines President and CEO Takeshi Hashimoto speaks during an interview in Tokyo in April.
BUSINESS
May 23, 2025

Japanese gas tanker giant sees difficulty buying Chinese vessels

Washington has issued a flurry of measures since President Donald Trump took office aimed at curbing China’s maritime dominance and reviving its own flagging shipbuilding industry.
Russian and Ukrainian delegations attend a meeting in Istanbul on May 16.
WORLD
May 23, 2025

Major Russia-Ukraine POW exchange begins

Russia and Ukraine each agreed after two hours of talks in Istanbul last week to swap 1,000 prisoners, but failed to agree to a ceasefire.
The ASEAN logo is displayed with Kuala Lumpur's skyline in the background on Friday ahead of an ASEAN summit in the city.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
May 24, 2025

U.S. tariff tensions test Southeast Asian leaders at regional summit

ASEAN leaders will express deep concern over U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff blitz when they meet at a summit Monday, according to a draft statement.
A U.S. government statement this month showed how the Trump administration is seeking to change the ways the U.S. limits China's access to state-of-the-art semiconductors needed to develop AI.
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
May 24, 2025

How the U.S.-China chip conflict is evolving under Trump

The Trump administration is seeking to change the ways the U.S. limits China's access to state-of-the-art semiconductors needed to develop AI.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks as President Donald Trump meets with President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on April 14. Rubio is also serving as the national security adviser.
WORLD / Politics
May 24, 2025

White House National Security Council slashes staff in dramatic restructuring

The NSC restructuring is expected to transform it into a small organization focused more on implementing the president's agenda than on shaping it.
U.S. President Donald Trump holds an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Friday. Trump signed orders meant to accelerate the construction of nuclear power plants, including small, untested designs that offer the promise of rapid deployment but have yet to be built in the U.S.
WORLD
May 24, 2025

Trump signs orders to revive U.S. leadership in nuclear power

The order includes accelerating construction of small, untested designs that offer the promise of rapid deployment but haven’t yet been built in the U.S.
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, shakes hands with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Washington on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 24, 2025

U.S. and Japan eye June G7 leaders’ summit for possible tariff deal

Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, met separately with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Washington.
Napoli's Pasquale Mazzocchi celebrates after his team won its fourth Serie A title, in Naples, Italy, on Friday.
SOCCER
May 24, 2025

Napoli back on top in Italy after sealing fourth Serie A crown

Scott McTominay and Romelu Lukaku netted in a 2-0 win over Cagliari at a packed and wild Stadio Diego Armando Maradona as Napoli secured its second league crown in three years.
People visit the exhibition "Space: Could Life Exist Beyond Earth?" at the Natural History Museum in London on May 16.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 24, 2025

Doubt cast on claim of 'hints' of life on faraway planet

There is not enough evidence to support such lofty claims some studies say, with one scientist accusing the astronomers of "jumping the gun."
The Harvard University shield "VERITAS" sits above a campus entrance gate at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, last month.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society / FOCUS
May 24, 2025

Long advantageous, Harvard's China ties become a political liability

The ties have yielded major financial gifts, influence in international affairs and global prestige for the school.
Mervat Hijazi washes clothes inside the tent they took shelter in after being displaced in Gaza City.
WORLD / Society
May 24, 2025

Diary of a Gazan family's descent toward starvation

The family's plight is a snapshot of the misery plaguing the Palestinian enclave of Gaza.
Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito lawmakers meet to discuss a pension reform bill at the Diet in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 24, 2025

Bill that would raise Japanese pension benefits on track to pass parliament

The ruling bloc will back the CDP's amendment, which includes a plan to raise basic pension benefits.
Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa (right) meets with Tom Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey and a special envoy to Syria, in Istanbul on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
May 25, 2025

Syria reboots interior ministry as Damascus seeks to reassure West

Keen to reboot and rebuild nearly 14 years after a devastating civil war began, the new authorities have hailed Washington's lifting of U.S. sanctions.
Rescuers transport a covered body in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip on Friday.
WORLD
May 25, 2025

Rescuers say nine children of Gaza doctor couple killed in Israeli strike

Israel has recently stepped up its campaign in Gaza drawing international criticism and calls to allow in more supplies after it eased a total aid blockade imposed on March 2.
Liverpool's Mohamed Salah after a match against Brighton on May 19.
SOCCER
May 25, 2025

Liverpool's Salah named Premier League player of the season

Salah scored 28 goals and provided 18 assists to guide the Anfield club to the title.
A worker sorts plastic waste for recycling at Minato Resource Recycle Center in Tokyo in 2019. Japan has been criticized by environmental groups for its strategy on plastics, which is heavily reliant on recycling instead of reduction.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
May 25, 2025

Are microplastics hurting our fertility?

While a lot remains unknown about how microplastics affect our health, scientists in Japan and around the world broadly agree there's an urgent need to reduce plastic production.
The U.S. military’s longstanding dominance is eroding as China exploits its vulnerabilities with cheaper, faster and smarter warfare, demanding urgent American reinvention in energy, logistics and artificial intelligence.
COMMENTARY / World
May 21, 2025

America’s hard power must get harder — quickly

Aircraft carriers and fighter jets look a lot less stealthy in a world of limitless drones and autonomous submarines.
Emperor Naruhito plants seedling at the 75th National Tree-Planting Festival at Chichibu Muse Park in Saitama Prefecture on Sunday.
JAPAN
May 25, 2025

Emperor attends tree-planting festival and calls for nurturing healthy forests

The emperor arrived in Saitama on Saturday for a two-day visit, where he inspected a research institute on tea, a local specialty, and a special-needs school.
European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen gestures prior to a meeting at the EU headquarters in Brussels last Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 26, 2025

Trump extends deadline for 50% tariffs on EU goods to July 9

U.S. President Donald Trump had threatened to impose a higher, 50% tariff on the EU starting June 1 after complaining the bloc was slow-walking negotiations.
McLaren's Lando Norris celebrates on the podium after winning the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
May 26, 2025

Lando Norris lives boyhood dream with victory at Monaco Grand Prix

Norris set up his first victory in the Mediterranean principality by securing pole position on Saturday and then making no mistakes on a sunny Sunday devoid of overtaking.
Rafal Trzaskowski, Mayor of Warsaw and candidate for president of Poland, speaks from the stage to his supporters as he begins the Great Patriots' March at Bankowy Square in Warsaw on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
May 26, 2025

Polish presidential hopefuls rally supporters ahead of election

The election will decide whether one of the European Union’s fastest-growing economies can resist the surge of populism sweeping the bloc.
The container terminal at Bremerhaven port in Bremerhaven, Germany, on April 22
BUSINESS
May 26, 2025

Europe’s shipping bottlenecks expected to persist into July

"Port delays are stretching transit times, disrupting inventory planning and pushing shippers to carry extra stock," said maritime consultancy Drewry.
Firefighters extinguish a blaze in damaged private houses following Russian strike in Kyiv region on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
May 26, 2025

Calling Putin ‘crazy,’ Trump says he’s weighing Russia sanctions

The U.S. leader's remarks came after Moscow launched a second night of deadly missile and drone strikes across much of Ukraine.
At a calligraphy class in Hanoi, Hoang Thi Thanh Huyen slides her brush across the page to form the letters and tonal marks of Vietnam's unique modern script, in part a legacy of French colonial rule.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
May 26, 2025

'It's in our blood': How Vietnam adopted the Latin alphabet

The history of romanized Vietnamese links the arrival of the first Christian missionaries, colonization by the French and the rise to power of the Communist Party.
Reindeer herder Ari Maununiemi feeds lichen to his reindeer at his home and farm outside Rovaniemi, Finland, on Feb. 26.
WORLD
May 26, 2025

Growing Arctic military presence worries Finland's reindeer herders

"Military activity has increased massively here since Finland joined NATO," one herder said.
Construction equipment sits idle in a park near Shiba Toshogu shrine in Tokyo's Minato Ward. While Japan has a history of treating its trees with reverence, green coverage is said to be lacking in most of the major cities.
ENVIRONMENT / Earth science / Longform
May 26, 2025

Do Japan's trees no longer occupy the sacred space they used to?

Trees have long occupied a sacred place in Japanese culture. In the fast pace of the 21st century, however, they're increasingly losing out to progress.

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