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China’s Made in China 2025 program set an ambitious agenda, and a decade later, initial assessments conclude it had mixed success but maintain its goals will shape Chinese policy for years to come.
COMMENTARY / World
May 20, 2025

Ten years of Made in China 2025 sees mixed success

MIC2025 set an ambitious agenda, and a decade later, early reviews say it has had mixed success but maintain that its goals will shape Chinese policy for years to come.
Wendy Ortiz walks with her son Axel on a street in Lebanon, Pennsylvania.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 20, 2025

Low-income migrants fined up to $1.8 million by Trump administration

The steep fines are part of Trump’s aggressive push to get immigrants in the U.S. illegally to leave the country voluntarily, or "self deport.”
Rainmaker Mountain in Pago Pago, American Samoa
BUSINESS
May 21, 2025

Trump sets stage to sell ocean mining rights off American Samoa

There’s growing appetite in Washington for new domestic sources of critical minerals, following China’s decision to curb exports of rare-earth materials.
A branch of Danish jewelry maker Pandora in central Copenhagen on Feb. 6, 2024. Pandora CEO Alexander Lacik said the company is debating whether to raise prices globally or more in the U.S.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 21, 2025

Global retailers' tariff strategy risks spreading pain beyond U.S. consumer

Raising prices elsewhere to avoid big hikes in the U.S. risks fueling inflation in those other markets.
Toyota Motor Chairman Akio Toyoda. Toyota Industries investor Zennor Asset Management said a plan by Toyoda to take over the Japanese auto parts maker raises governance issues and may undermine minority shareholders’ interests.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 21, 2025

Toyota Industries investor Zennor says it wants minority safeguards

A founding partner of Zennor said the buyout plan would benefit the founding family and may undervalue the target’s stock and real estate holdings.
Although Japan's rate of cashless transactions remains relatively low compared with those of other countries, the share of such payments in personal consumption has surpassed 40% for the first time.
BUSINESS / FOCUS
May 21, 2025

Cashless payments top 40% of consumer spending in Japan

The country's cashless payment penetration remains low globally, with the risk of fraud and service interruptions due to natural disasters presenting hurdles to growth.
A partially submerged car is seen in the aftermath of Typhoon Hagibis, in Nagano Prefecture in October 2019. The Weather Attribution Center Japan, which was founded Tuesday, aims to publicize the results of its climate attribution assessment within days of a typhoon, torrential rain or extreme heat.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / OUR PLANET
May 21, 2025

When extreme weather hits, Japan scientists will have faster answers on climate links

The Weather Attribution Center will aim to publish concrete links between global warming and extreme weather events within days, rather than months.
Lists containing the names and details of members of biological warfare units that the former Imperial Japanese Army had stationed in China
JAPAN
May 21, 2025

Name lists of former Imperial Japanese Army biowarfare units released

The National Archives has disclosed details of the members of two units based in China to researchers looking to uncover the mysteries surrounding them.
Then-U.S. national security adviser Mike Waltz checks his mobile phone while attending a Cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington on April 30.
WORLD / Politics
May 22, 2025

Hacker behind U.S communication breach stole data from across government

The discovery potentially raises the stakes of a breach that has already drawn questions about data security in the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said Japan has strongly urged Israel to provide a full explanation of the incident.
JAPAN
May 22, 2025

Tokyo lodges protest after Israel fires shots at diplomats in West Bank

The diplomats were inspecting a refugee camp in the West Bank city of Jenin.
Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Itsunori Onodera (fourth from left) visits a driver's license center in Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo, on Wednesday to see how foreign driver's licenses are converted into Japanese ones.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 22, 2025

Japan considers toughening rules on driver's license conversions

The National Police Agency revealed the plan amid concerns that the system for converting a foreign license is too easy.
“Marion” provides a glimpse into the lives of bull dodgers, who perform a nonlethal version of bullfighting.
CULTURE / Film
May 23, 2025

Six short films that capture our world in mere minutes

The Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia proves that less time doesn't have to mean a lack of substance.
The Business School campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts
WORLD / Politics
May 23, 2025

Trump administration blocks Harvard's international enrollments

The move came after Harvard refused to give Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem information about some foreign student visa holders at the school.
Ten-year-old Cupcake lost her home suddenly when her owner was hospitalized and took some time to adjust to her new circumstances.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
May 23, 2025

Tuxedo cat Cupcake is a special treat

At 10 years old, this cat is settled in her ways but shows sweetness over time.
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.
Posters, flowers, and letters are placed at a memorial honoring victims of police violence in George Floyd Square in Minneapolis on May 18.
WORLD / Society
May 25, 2025

George Floyd's uncertain legacy is marked five years on

Americans on Sunday mark five years since George Floyd was killed by a U.S. police officer, as President Donald Trump backtracks on reforms designed to tackle racism.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s attempt to punish Harvard by targeting its international students is an unconstitutional power grab aimed at intimidating free institutions and advancing his authoritarian agenda.
COMMENTARY / World
May 25, 2025

Harvard is fighting for much more than foreign students

Trump is trying to break the world’s leading university because he knows that higher education — everywhere — is one of the bulwarks of a free society.
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.
A house damaged during a Pakistani artillery shelling in Poonch, in India-administered Kashmir, on May 14
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 26, 2025

India and Pakistan battle for global sympathy after border truce

Both sides are sending delegations to global capitals to influence international perception of the conflict, as tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals continue to simmer.
Vietnam Communist Party General Secretary To Lam (right), his wife Ngo Phong Ly (left), French President Emmanuel Macron (second from right) and his wife Brigitte Macron pose for a picture with traditional dance performers during a luncheon at the Temple of Literature in Hanoi on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 26, 2025

France and Vietnam sign Airbus deals as Macron visits Hanoi

The French president's visit is aimed at boosting his country's influence in its former colony, which is grappling with threats of crippling U.S. tariffs.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's new plan to restrict updated COVID-19 vaccines to high-risk groups has sparked confusion and criticism, with experts warning it could limit public access and bypass established advisory channels.
COMMENTARY / World
May 26, 2025

The FDA’s new COVID-19 vaccine policy is clear as mud

The U.S. health agency's promises of transparency and choice for COVID-19 vaccines fall short in its first big test. 
Members of the Iranian delegation leave the Omani Embassy, where the fifth round of U.S.-Iran talks took place, in Rome on Friday.
WORLD
May 26, 2025

Iran rejects push to suspend uranium enrichment to reach U.S. deal

The issue of enrichment has come into focus in recent weeks, with Iran staunchly defending its right to enrich uranium as part of what it says is a civilian nuclear program.
Representatives of bereaved families lay flowers at a memorial service held at Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN
May 27, 2025

Remains of 368 Japanese war dead laid to rest in National Cemetery

The number of people laid to rest at the Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery now totals 371,008, including some who died after the war as detainees in Siberia.
Participants crouch and take cover inside the Toei Subway Higashi-Nakano Station as part of a civil protection drill simulating the launch of a ballistic missile, held on Jan. 15 in Tokyo's Nakano Ward.
JAPAN / FOCUS
May 27, 2025

Hurdles remain for securing missile shelters in Japan

Government carries out first large-scale survey to identify more potential evacuation sites.
A Chinese J-10B fighter jet is put on display at the China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai, China, in October 2016. The short May conflict between India and Pakistan became a live trial for Chinese arms, exposing vulnerabilities in its fighter aircraft and air defense systems.
COMMENTARY / World
May 27, 2025

Lessons from India-Pakistan war: Were China's arms overrated?

The short May conflict between India and Pakistan became a live trial for Chinese arms, exposing vulnerabilities in its fighter aircraft and air defense systems.
Palestinians seeking aid gather near an aid distribution site run by the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday.
WORLD
May 28, 2025

Palestinians rush U.S.-backed aid center despite concerns over checks

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said at one point the number of people seeking aid was so great that its team had to pull back to avoid casualties.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (center) arrives at Argentina’s Ministry of Health to meet with Argentinian Health Minister Mario Lugones in Buenos Aires on Monday.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 28, 2025

RFK Jr. says COVID-19 shot isn’t recommended for healthy kids

The decision reverses the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s earlier stance that everyone six months of age and older get vaccinated.
Ukrainian lawmakers discuss ratifying the deal with the United States about mineral resources during a session of parliament in Kyiv on May 8.
BUSINESS
May 28, 2025

Ukraine revamps minerals sector, eyeing billions in investment from U.S. deal

The country has deposits of 22 of 34 minerals deemed as critical by the European Union for industries such as defense, high-tech appliances and green energy.
An election poster board set up in Tokyo's Suginami Ward on Friday
JAPAN / Politics
May 28, 2025

Tokyo installs extra-large campaign boards ahead of metropolitan assembly vote

In some areas, boards with up to 70 slots are being installed, a move also intended to prepare for the Upper House election that will follow shortly after.
Visitors at the EdgeCortix booth during the AI Expo Tokyo event in Tokyo in May 2023
BUSINESS / Companies
May 28, 2025

Japan backs AI chip startup EdgeCortix in boost to defense tech

The startup secured government subsidies of ¥3 billion to develop energy-efficient AI chiplets for commercialization in 2027.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’