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Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico during a meeting in Moscow on Dec. 22.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 30, 2024

Ukraine-Russia gas transit deal faces critical moment of truth

As its year-end expiry looms, Slovakia and a group of central European companies are putting pressure on Ukraine to keep Russian gas flowing.
Members of the Wajima City Morning Market Association pose for a group photograph on the site where the market once stood.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Dec 30, 2024

In the wake of disaster, the revival of Wajima's market brings hope

Wajima's morning market on the Noto Peninsula was devastated a year ago. Now, led by women vendors and bold ideas, it is rising as a symbol of resilience.
Former President Jimmy Carter, furthest right, in a group photo with his successors at the White House in 2009. From his re-election defeat in 1980 until his death on Sunday, he was the odd man out, distant from the Republicans and Democrats who followed him.
WORLD
Dec 30, 2024

In the presidents’ club, Carter was the odd man out

Jimmy Carter’s relationship with his successors in the Oval Office, both Republicans and fellow Democrats, was generally tense because of his outspokenness.
U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Prime Minister Masayoshi Ohira share a laugh ahead of talks in Tokyo in June 1979.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 30, 2024

Jimmy Carter's surprising connection to Japan: his Christian faith

The former U.S. president, who died Sunday, bonded with his counterpart, Prime Minister Masayoshi Ohira, over their shared faith.
Oleksandr, a 45-year-old Ukrainian soldier of the 1st Separate Assault Battalion Da Vinci, who left his unit without permission and later returned to the army, poses for a portrait in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, on Dec. 12.
WORLD / Society
Dec 30, 2024

Desertions spark panic, and pardons, in Ukraine's army

More than 90,000 cases have been opened into instances of soldiers in Ukraine going absent without leave or deserting since Russia invaded in 2022.
Private detective Marcus Lentz holds his camera as he poses for photos in his office in Hanau, western Germany, on Dec. 20.
BUSINESS
Dec 30, 2024

For German 'sick leave detective,' business is booming

Workers in Germany, on average, took 15.1 days of sick leave last year, up from 11.1 days in 2021.
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter (center) waves after meeting with authorities in Port-au-Prince about the upcoming elections in Haiti in 1990.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 30, 2024

'Democracy and freedom': Jimmy Carter's human rights work in Latin America

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter defied the furor of U.S. conservatives to negotiate the handover of the Panama Canal to Panamanian control.
At 60, the shinkansen has been mostly stuck in Japan, with only one system ever sold overseas.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 1, 2025

Japan’s go-slow approach to selling high-speed rail globally

The shinkansen has been mostly stuck in Japan as competitors from Europe and China sell their own high-speed trains in an increasing number of countries.
Demonstrators from a labor group take part in a protest calling for the ouster of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol outside City Hall in Seoul on Dec. 12.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 30, 2024

South Korea investigators seek arrest warrant for Yoon over martial law

The application by investigators marks the first attempt in the country's history to forcibly detain a president before the impeachment procedure is complete.
Ian Lynam's "Fracture" is the result of 15 years of research and production and excavates 100 years of Japanese graphic design history from the Meiji (1868-1912) to Showa eras (1926-89).
CULTURE / Books
Jan 4, 2025

‘Fracture’ dissects 100 years of Japanese graphic design

Ian Lynam puts his kaleidoscopic expertise to work examining Japanese graphic design from an internationalist and feminist perspective.
U.S. President Joe Biden
WORLD
Dec 30, 2024

Biden announces $2.5 billion in fresh military aid to Ukraine

Biden's announcement includes $1.25 billion in military aid drawn from U.S. stockpiles and a $1.22 billion Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative package.
A satellite image shows the Sverdlov plant in Dzerzhinsk, Russia, on Sept. 13, 2022.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 31, 2024

The Russian billionaires whose chemical factories fuel Moscow's war machine

The analysis demonstrates how heavily plants forming part of Russia's war machine rely on the chemical factories.
A Starlink antenna placed at a public facility in disaster-hit Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Dec. 10
JAPAN
Dec 31, 2024

Ishikawa municipalities weigh Starlink service one year after earthquake

Municipal officials think that Starlink is effective in securing communication methods in the early days of a disaster.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba must get cooperation from at least one opposition party to ensure passage of the 2025 fiscal year budget. He must also show he is capable of a smooth working relationship with the incoming administration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 1, 2025

Three tests Ishiba must pass to survive in 2025

Overcoming the challenges that lay ahead will require the prime minister to make the best use of his political and diplomatic negotiating skills.
The city of Kumamoto has seen a surge in the number of students from Taiwan, following the arrival of chipmaking giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and related businesses in Kumamoto Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 31, 2024

Kumamoto public schools respond to influx of Taiwanese students

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s arrival in Kumamoto has heightened the need to adapt to the needs of Taiwanese families.
Ipswich Town's Omari Hutchinson (right) scores his team's second goal in a clash against Chelsea in Ipswich on Monday.
SOCCER
Dec 31, 2024

Chelsea's title hopes rocked by shock defeat to Ipswich

Chelsea's second successive defeat after their Boxing Day loss against Fulham left it without a win in its last three matches.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks at a news conference after a policy meeting in Tokyo on Dec. 19.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 1, 2025

After historic year, the Bank of Japan ambles into 2025

Two or three rate hikes expected this year could take the central bank's benchmark to 1% for the first time in three decades.
A voter casts a ballot at a polling station in Tokyo on Oct. 27. Last year, incumbents in every major country that held a national election lost that vote, the first time that has happened in almost 120 years.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 31, 2024

The world is ever more angry. That is not good.

Hostility toward existing leadership stems from the belief that lives aren't improving and future generations will have fewer opportunities than previous ones.
An Air Self-Defense Force airman sets up a drone during a bilateral live fire exercise at Draughon Range, near Misawa Air Base, in Aomori Prefecture in July 2023.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jan 5, 2025

Taking a page from Ukraine war, SDF carves out growing role for drones

Whether for use in the air, on land or at sea, the SDF is gradually integrating these increasingly capable and often autonomous systems into their units.
An undated photo of a poster in a window promoting shows at Lincoln Center by Shen Yun, which in its 2023-2024 season performed more than 800 times on five continents, in New York. Over the past decade, the dance group Shen Yun Performing Arts has made money at a staggering rate in large part by getting followers of the Falun Gong religious movement to work for free and pay its bills.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 31, 2024

How Shen Yun tapped religious fervor to make $266 million

Shen Yun’s success flows in part from its ability to pack venues worldwide — while exploiting young, low-paid performers with little regard for their health or well-being.
Opium is harvested from poppies in Bang Laem Village, Shan State, Myanmar.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Dec 31, 2024

Drugs, scams and sin: Myanmar’s war has made it the global crime capital

Growing opium poppies is illegal in Myanmar, but small-scale farmers see it is a relatively low-risk cash crop.
Japan's 2024 Word of the Year, "futehodo," is a phrase tied to a Netflix show and highlights the broader decline in the cultural significance of such awards, with recent selections often seen as superficial or promotional.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 31, 2024

Japan’s 2024 word of the year has no rizz

Some critics wondered why the word of the year award was, essentially, functioning as advertising for a TV show that is still available on streaming.
Students perform a play they produced during a Liberal Arts Japanese class at Aichi Prefectural Kariyahigashi High School, as teacher Tomohiko Hyodo (left) watches.
JAPAN / Society / Regional voices: Chubu
Jan 13, 2025

Aichi school uses theater to foster communication skills

Liberal Arts Japanese, designed to supplement conventional Japanese language studies, emphasizes practical skills in listening and speaking, the school says.
Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako pose for a photo at the Imperial Palace Small Hall in Tokyo on November.
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2025

Emperor prays for world peace in New Year's message

Emperor Naruhito stressed the "importance of people recognizing their differences and working hand in hand to realize a peaceful world."
Stock market information on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday
BUSINESS / Markets / FOCUS
Jan 1, 2025

Investors hope for U.S. stock market trifecta in 2025 after back-to-back boom years

Investors are more confident about the economy than this time a year ago, with consumers and businesses having absorbed higher interest rates.
One of the themes in American guitarist Marty Friedman’s autobiography “Dreaming Japanese” is that while he has become a star in his own right in Japan, he still feels that he doesn’t “belong.”
CULTURE / Books
Jan 1, 2025

Guitarist Marty Friedman goes to bat for J-pop in new autobiography

"Dreaming Japanese" tells the story of how the Megadeth guitarist navigated Japan's music industry.
A man offers prayers at Hebikubo Shrine in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward. The shrine is one of several across the country dedicated to the snake.
LIFE / Lifestyle / Longform
Jan 1, 2025

Shed your skin and reinvent yourself in the Year of the Snake

The Year of the Snake is characterized by wisdom, calm and steady progress. It urges introspection, calculated moves and a journey of reinvention.
Police investigators surround a white truck in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jan 2, 2025

FBI probes New Orleans truck ramming as IS-inspired terrorist attack

A U.S. Army veteran drove into the city's French Quarter on New Year's Day, killing 15 in what officials suspect might be a coordinated attack inspired by the Islamic State group.
Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers attempts a pass against the Rams during the second half of their game in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Dec. 22.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Jan 2, 2025

Jets quarterback Rodgers ponders NFL future ahead of season finale

The 41-year-old Rodgers, a four-time NFL MVP, said he would make a decision about whether he'll play in 2025 before free agency in March.
Investigators inspect he remains of a Tesla Cybertruck that burned at the entrance of Trump Tower Las Vegas on Wednesday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jan 2, 2025

Tesla Cybertruck explodes outside Trump Las Vegas hotel, killing one

The FBI is joining the investigation of the blast, which Tesla CEO Elon Musk said "was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck."

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