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Bucks point guard Damian Lillard shoots the ball past Trail Blazers shooting guard Shaedon Sharpe during the second half at Moda Center in Portland, Oregon on Jan 28.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Jul 18, 2025

Deal being finalized to return Damian Lillard to Trail Blazers

Lillard, who turned 35 on Tuesday, saw his season come to an abrupt end on April 27 after a torn left Achilles tendon knocked him out of the rest of the playoffs.
Just 17% of Americans approve of U.S. President Donald Trump's handling of the Jeffery Epstein case, a weaker rating than the president received on any other issue in the poll.
WORLD
Jul 18, 2025

Trump faces backlash as 69% believe Epstein details concealed, poll finds

Close to two-thirds of Republicans surveyed think the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is hiding details on Jeffrey Epstein's business.
A woman holding a child listens to a stump speech in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on June 25.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 18, 2025

Parties vow measures to tackle falling birth rate

Last year, Japan recorded fewer than 700,000 births for the first time.
Analysts say the failure of Alimentation Couche-Tard’s attempt to acquire the operator of 7-Eleven stores runs counter to the broader trend in Japan's investing landscape.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 18, 2025

Couche-Tard’s failed bid for Seven and I sparks debate over foreign acquisitions

Couche-Tard's acquisition failure is seen as running counter to the broader trend in the investing landscape in Japan.
Emperor Emeritus Akihito is accompanied by Empress Emerita Michiko as he leaves the University of Tokyo Hospital on Friday.
JAPAN
Jul 18, 2025

Emperor emeritus diagnosed with another heart disorder

In 2022, the emperor emeritus was diagnosed with right heart failure caused by tricuspid valve insufficiency.
Tadej Pogacar (right) and Jonas Vingegaard in action during Stage 12 of the Tour de France on Thursday
MORE SPORTS / Cycling
Jul 18, 2025

Vingegaard and team get a taste of their own medicine on the Tour

Vingegaard was left shattered by Pogacar's brutal attack in the climb up to Hautacam in the 12th stage, leaving the two-time champion 3:31 behind his rival in the standings.
Once seen as an unlikely prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba has struggled to deliver on promises, mishandled ties with U.S. President Donald Trump and now faces an election where the odds don’t look good for his party to come out victorious.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 18, 2025

A trade deal fumble could be Ishiba’s last mistake

Ishiba already leads a coalition that lacks a majority in the Lower House, and another bad showing Sunday will likely mean Japan is looking for its third leader in as many years.
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi visits a rice farm in Ibaraki Prefecture on July 9. Inflation is eating into household budgets, and higher prices are causing much concern among the Japanese public.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 18, 2025

In Japanese politics, rice is the 'third rail'

If inexperienced politicians inadvertently damage Japan’s food security, voters will send them packing.
A Sanseito campaign van in Shinjuku. The populist party is gaining ground and challenging the more centrist parties.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 18, 2025

Japanese markets brace for triple whammy if opposition wins big

Bonds, stocks and the yen could be destabilized if spendthrift parties gain influence.
While Seven & I shares are higher than they were before Couche-Tard’s interest became public in August 2024, they fell after the proposal was withdrawn this week and are down by more than a fifth this year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 18, 2025

7-Eleven operator risks becoming buyout target again if turnaround fails

Seven & I Holdings remains a buyout target in the eyes of some investors, who say new suitors may emerge unless the operator of 7-Eleven turns around its business.
A man takes part in Tokyo’s Sanja Matsuri by helping to carry a "mikoshi" (portable shrine). Many Japanese festivals are open to foreign residents and tourists to participate in.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 19, 2025

Dancers, festivals and one very useful Japanese grammar point

From Kyoto’s Gion Matsuri to Tokyo’s Sumida fireworks, Japan’s summer festivals offer history, spectacle — and a chance to learn some vocabulary.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks during a news conference with President Donald Trump in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington on June 27.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 19, 2025

Trump sues Wall Street Journal over Epstein report, seeking $10 billion

The newspaper said that Trump in 2003 sent Jeffrey Epstein a birthday greeting that included a sexually suggestive drawing and a reference to secrets they shared.
Men work at a makeshift oil refinery site in the town of Marchmarin, in Syria's Idlib province, in December 2015.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 19, 2025

U.S. firms to develop Syria energy master plan after Trump lifts sanctions

The partnership is aimed at rebuilding the country's energy infrastructure after it was shattered by 14 years of civil war.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who serves concurrently as leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, waves to voters from atop an election campaign van during a rally Friday in Yokohama for Sunday's Upper House election.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 19, 2025

Ishiba's future in balance as polls hint at rout in Upper House election

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba likes the nitty gritty of policy, cigarettes and making models, but his dream job as Japanese leader could go up in smoke this weekend.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who serves concurrently as  president of the Liberal Democratic Party, delivers a campaign speech in Yokohama on July 6.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 19, 2025

Japan's minority government faces election snub as economic storm brews

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's LDP and its partner Komeito are forecast to lose their majority in a repeat of last year's Lower House election.
Women and children arrange their containers as they line up at a standpipe, where incomplete water connections caused by USAID funding cuts to the NGO Mercy Corps have led to ongoing water shortages, in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, on June 16.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 20, 2025

Trump's funding cut stalls water projects, increasing risks for millions

The White House's decision to slash nearly all U.S. foreign aid projects has created new hazards for some of the people they were designed to benefit.
WNBA All-Stars Caitlin Clark (right) and Kelsey Plum prior to the All-Star Game in Indianapolis on Saturday.
BASKETBALL
Jul 20, 2025

Clark urges more pay for WNBA players as labor talks intensify

Commissioner Cathy Engelbert struck a positive tone with reporters, saying she felt a recent meeting with players had been productive.
Tribal and bedouin fighters cross Walga town as they mobilize amid clashes with Druze gunmen, near the predominantly Druze city of Sweida in southern Syria on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 20, 2025

Syria believed it had green light from U.S. and Israel to deploy troops to Sweida

Israel carried out strikes on Syrian troops and on Damascus on Wednesday in an escalation that took the Islamist-led leadership by surprise.
A Dole Food Company worker rakes coffee cherries for them to dry at the company's Waialua coffee and cocoa farm on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, in November 2011.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 20, 2025

Trump tariffs spell trouble for Hawaii’s few coffee farmers

Coffee is more popular in the U.S. than even bottled water, with two-thirds of Americans drinking it every day.
Yukihiro Kaneko, a Panasonic research officer, shows a perovskite panel, through which the background can been seen, during an interview in Tokyo.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jul 20, 2025

Japan sees bright future for ultrathin and flexible solar panels

The government is offering generous incentives in order to reach Japan's target of having renewable energy cover up to 50% of electricity demand by 2040.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba takes part in a campaign event in Yokohama on July 6. Japan faces deep structural challenges but lacks bold political vision and leaders willing to take risks for transformative change.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 20, 2025

Performative ‘elections’ expose a sad lack of vision

Political parties jostle for position and trade barbs but offer no clear plan for Japan’s growing structural challenges.
Canada’s Couche-Tard has abandoned its bid for Japan’s Seven & I, easing fears it would ruin the beloved convenient store experience, while giving the company a chance to refocus and strengthen its business.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 18, 2025

The bid for Japan’s 7-Eleven was doomed from the start

Seven & I ’s more measured response shows the company is ready to move on.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who serves concurrently as president of the Liberal Democratic Party, leaves at the party's headquarters following announcement of Upper House election result projections in Tokyo early Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 21, 2025

Japan ruling bloc loses majority in Upper House after election drubbing

The ruling LDP-Komeito coalition's devastating loss in Sunday’s poll could lead to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s resignation or political gridlock in parliament.
Palestinians gather to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, on Sunday.
WORLD
Jul 20, 2025

Israel issues new evacuation orders in central Gaza as hunger worsens

Much of Gaza has been reduced to a wasteland during more than 21 months of war and there are fears of accelerating starvation.
Palestinians transport people who were killed or injured while trying to get humanitarian aid, into the Red Cross field hospital in the Mawasi area of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday.
WORLD
Jul 21, 2025

Gaza civil defense says Israeli gunfire kills 93 aid seekers

Israel's military disputed the death toll and said soldiers had fired warning shots as thousands gathered near Gaza City.
Ukrainian soldiers fire a howitzer near the Russian border in the Sumy region, Ukraine, on June 19.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 21, 2025

U.K. urges ‘50-day drive’ to arm Ukraine and raise pressure on Putin

The push comes after U.S. President Donald Trump promised more weapons for Ukraine and threatened 100% "secondary tariffs” on Russia unless it agrees to a ceasefire within 50 days.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (left) and Donald Trump during their meeting at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, on March 8, 2024
WORLD / Politics
Jul 21, 2025

'Trump before Trump': Orban's illiberal model on show

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been accused of silencing critical voices from the judiciary, academia, media and civil society, and of restricting minority rights.
Sanseito leader Sohei Kamiya in Tokyo on Sunday night
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 21, 2025

‘Japanese First’ Sanseito emerges as powerful force after Upper House poll

The small rightwing populist party led by firebrand Sohei Kamiya won 14 seats in Sunday’s Upper House election.
Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the Democratic Party for the People, in Tokyo on Sunday. Smaller conservative parties such as the DPP gained in the election at the weekend, at the expense of the Liberal Democratic Party.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 21, 2025

Conservatives win big in Japan — just not the Liberal Democratic Party

Sunday's election marks the first time the once-proud party has lost a majority in both houses since its foundation in 1955.
Commanders helmets are seen on the field during training camp in Ashburn, Virginia, in July 2022.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Jul 21, 2025

Trump threatens stadium deal unless Commanders revert to Redskins name

The NFL team dropped the name Redskins in 2020 after decades of criticism that it was a racial slur with links to the U.S. genocide of the Indigenous population.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years