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A banner honoring the late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is displayed on a street in Tehran on Sunday.
WORLD
Sep 29, 2024

As Hezbollah threat loomed, Israel built up its spy agencies

Israel has spent the years since bolstering what was already considered one of the world’s best intelligence-gathering operations.
Wozme, founded by dancer and choreographer Wakaba Kohei, is composed of Kana Kitty, Ami Ishii, Akane Watanabe and Natsuki. Its aim is to inject elegance and beauty, traits traditionally associated with femininity, into the sometimes grotesque art form of butoh dance.
CULTURE / Stage / Longform
Sep 29, 2024

Wozme, an all-women dance troupe, wants to move the needle in butoh

The art form’s younger dancers are experimenting with long-standing approaches to the choreography, marketing and image of this captivating piece of Japanese culture.
The four remaining U.K. Conservative leadership contenders (from left): Robert Jenrick, James Cleverly, Kemi Badenoch and Tom Tugendhat
WORLD / Politics
Sep 30, 2024

Tories turn on each other in race to succeed low-key Sunak

The U.K. Conservatives' annual conference has kicked off with jibes between leadership contenders.
Volkswagen expects to deliver fewer vehicles this year than in 2023 — its fourth annual sales slump in five years.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 30, 2024

Volkswagen’s second profit warning exposes a carmaker in decline

The company expects to deliver fewer vehicles this year than in 2023.
Shigeru Ishiba, the new head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, speaks during a news conference at the party's headquarters in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 30, 2024

Incoming PM Ishiba sets Oct. 27 as date for snap election

The newly elected Liberal Democratic Party president's announcement is highly unusual and not without controversy.
Knowing how Earth’s temperature behaved deep in the past can also help scientists test climate models that predict the future.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 30, 2024

We just got a wake-up call from the time before dinosaurs

The die-offs happen when the Earth’s temperature changes too rapidly for organisms to evolve and adapt — as is starting to happen now.
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting via videoconference in Moscow on Sept. 30.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 1, 2024

Putin orders conscription of 133,000 servicemen in autumn draft

Head of Russia's conscription office says new conscripts will not be sent to Ukraine
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in Newark, New Jersey, on Monday. Some 45,000 union workers could walk off the job at seaports on the U.S. East and Gulf coasts on Oct. 1.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 1, 2024

U.S. port labor dispute threatens range of products

A possible strike by 45,000 union workers could affect the availability of anything from bananas to clothing to cars and cost the U.S. economy $5 billion daily.
Community leaders discuss the role of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in ending the HIV/AIDS threat to public health by 2030 at a seminar hosted by Gilead Sciences in Tokyo on Sept. 25.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Oct 1, 2024

HIV prevention drug remains out of reach for many in Japan despite approval

The drug's high cost together with insufficient knowledge and awareness are hindering efforts to broaden access to it, experts and community leaders say.
Incoming child care policy minister Junko Mihara (center) arrives at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Tuesday. Mihara is one of only two female ministers in Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's Cabinet.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Oct 1, 2024

A very LDP Cabinet — more of the same, despite hints of a power shift

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba retained veterans in key posts and rewarded those who supported him in the LDP presidential race.
Dani Alderman, 31, who was diagnosed in May 2023 with triple negative breast cancer, at her apartment in Manhattan on Sunday
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 2, 2024

Breast cancer cases continue to rise among younger women, study finds

One in 50 U.S. women will develop invasive breast cancer by age 50, according to the American Cancer Society report.
The French government and Paris Games organizers had promised to leave a legacy that would help tackle the problem of people spending too much time on screens and doing too little exercise.
OLYMPICS
Oct 2, 2024

Frustrated French clubs turn away players in post-Olympics sports boom

Swimming clubs have registered around 10,000 new members, while table tennis clubs are expecting around 20% more players.
Workers picket outside of the APM container terminal at the Port of Newark in Newark, New Jersey, on Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Oct 2, 2024

U.S. dockworkers strike to stop automation already seen at other ports

Longshoremen have gone on strike for the first time since 1977 as the union takes a hard-line stance against automation.
Institute of Science Tokyo's Chief Executive Officer Naoto Otake (right) and Chief Academic Officer Yujiro Tanaka at the university's campus in Tokyo's Meguro Ward on Tuesday
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2024

Institute of Science Tokyo launched after merger of two universities

The new university has 6,242 undergraduates and 7,116 postgraduates. Of them, 2,145 are foreign students.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a news conference at the Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 2, 2024

Ishiba to focus on fighting inflation ahead of election

He also aims to calm financial markets by signaling a willingness to spend flexibly in the wake of a stock market plunge following his accession in the ruling party.
Chinese People’s Liberation Army soldiers march in the Victory Day Parade in Moscow in 2020. China and Russia are working together to undermine the liberal international order through military means.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Oct 2, 2024

Tackling an international order in disarray

The liberal international order is fraying at the edges. A more assertive stance against leaders trying to undermine the status quo, Putin and Xi most notably, is needed.
A Russian submarine arrives at the port of Dagang, in Qingdao, Shandong province, China, in April 2019 for a joint Chinese-Russian naval exercise.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 2, 2024

The China-Russia relationship once derided, now looks to endure

Both China and Russia are concerned about U.S. alliances in the Indo-Pacific and are acting to counterbalance them.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani, 66, has experience as the onetime head of Japan’s former Defense Agency before it became a full-fledged ministry and is seen as a pair of steady hands.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 2, 2024

Ishiba looks to 'defense tribe' to fill key Cabinet positions

The new prime minister has named four former defense ministers to key posts — most notably, the defense and foreign affairs portfolios.
A male employee of Gunma Bank in Fukaya, Saitama Prefecture, allegedly swindled clients out of a total of ¥55.35 million ($377,000) by falsely claiming to exchange their old banknotes for new ones.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 3, 2024

Gunma Bank dismisses employee over alleged ¥55 million scam

He allegedly took money from clients under the pretext of exchanging old banknotes for new ¥10,000 ones.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba meets with Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda at the Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Oct 3, 2024

Further BOJ rate hike this year in doubt after Ishiba's surprise warning

A survey last month showed 53% of economists forecast the BOJ would push up interest rates in December, but that outlook is now in question.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 3, 2024

Early Ishiba missteps add to anticipation over key policy speech

The prime minister's early days in power have been marked by a U-turn on the approach to a general election as well as challenges forming his government.
Starbucks has 10 support centers around the world where agronomists work with farmers on research and best practices.
BUSINESS
Oct 3, 2024

Starbucks buys research farms as climate change threatens coffee supply

Bolstering the coffee industry’s climate resilience has taken on fresh urgency this year.
Port workers from the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) participate in a strike at the Virginia International Gateway in Portsmouth, Virginia, on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Oct 4, 2024

U.S. port workers, operators reach deal to end East Coast strike

A tentative agreement for a wage hike of around 62% over six years will immediately end a crippling three-day strike.
As is the trend in movies and TV, the games with the biggest budgets at Tokyo Game Show 2024 were by and large remakes and remasters.
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Oct 5, 2024

At Tokyo Game Show 2024, nostalgia was king

Indie gems were on the show floor, but the nostalgia from remakes and remasters drew the biggest crowds this year.
Yoshinobu Kimura is not afraid to break the accepted norms when it comes to devising surprising new sips for Sushi M.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Kanpai Culture
Oct 6, 2024

Sake, coffee and fish bones: Anything goes for Sushi M’s cocktails

Yoshinobu Kimura's experiments with coffee, cocktails and sushi are just one facet of his boundary-pushing philosophy.
Fever guard Caitlin Clark reacts during a game against the Mercury in Phoenix on June 30.
BASKETBALL
Oct 4, 2024

Caitlin Clark named WNBA Rookie of the Year

She received 66 of 67 votes from a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters, with Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese drawing one vote.
Dul Saroth (left) and Soeum Samrach, deminers with the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority, practice using the Advanced Landmine Imaging System in Cambodia’s Siem Reap province in August.
JAPAN / Longform
Oct 7, 2024

The Japanese tech that could one day make Southeast Asia landmine-free

The Advanced Landmine Imaging System being tested in Cambodia promises to speed up landmine clearance work and save lives.
If the Liberal Democratic Party does not perform well and loses seats in the coming election, Shigeru Ishiba’s tenure may be one of the shortest in modern Japanese political history.
EDITORIALS
Oct 4, 2024

Ishiba faces challenges from the opposition — and his own party

Ishiba needs to be ready for challenges coming from all directions: outside the country, from the opposition and from his own party.
Paul Watson speaks at a news conference on the sidelines of the U.N. climate summit in Paris in December 2015.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 4, 2024

Japan says Paul Watson case 'nothing to do with whaling'

The co-founder of Sea Shepherd was arrested in Greenland in July on an arrest warrant issued by Japan.
Containers are stacked at the Portsmouth Marine Terminal (PMT) in Portsmouth, Virginia, on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies / ANALYSIS
Oct 5, 2024

U.S. port strike throws spotlight on big union foe: automation

Companies view automation as a path to better profit while unions see it as a job-killer.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes