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Students wave flags as they join during a rally at the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh on Sept. 5, 2024.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 23, 2025

After revolution, Bangladesh textbooks rewrite history

Radical changes to school curricula are routine in Bangladesh, where fierce political divisions date back decades.
As more countries gain global influence, disagreements over the future world order are making cooperation harder, especially between democracies and autocracies.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 23, 2025

The age of multipolarization

The shift to a multipolar world has been accompanied by deepening polarization within and between countries.
U.S. President Donald Trump has in recent days rolled out a memorandum telling a key government committee to curb Chinese spending on tech, energy and other strategic American sectors.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 24, 2025

Trump targets China with biggest salvo so far in second term

In recent days, U.S. President Donald Trump has rolled out a memorandum telling a key government committee to curb Chinese spending on tech, energy and other strategic sectors.
U.S. President Donald Trump's officials recently met with their Japanese and Dutch counterparts about restricting Tokyo Electron and ASML engineers from maintaining semiconductor gear in China, according to people familiar with the matter.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 25, 2025

Trump team seeks to toughen Biden’s chip controls over China

The move is an early indication the new U.S. president plans to expand efforts that began under Joe Biden to limit Beijing’s technological prowess.
Gene Hackman during the 60th annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California, on Jan. 19, 2003
CULTURE / Film
Feb 27, 2025

Actor Gene Hackman and wife found dead alongside dog at home

A statement from the sheriff said deputies had found the 95-year-old actor and Arakawa, 64, deceased on Wednesday afternoon.
On March 21, 1925, a front page headline announced that the Tokyo Radio Broadcasting Bureau, the precursor to NHK, had begun operations with a communications range of 50 kilometers.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Mar 1, 2025

Japan Times 1925: Government sanctions official broadcasting station, the precursor to NHK

Japan’s first official broadcasting station began operating 100 years ago, setting a new precedent for the speed of communication and news.
The global electric vehicle boom has resulted in a lithium supply shortage since 2022 despite the 180% increase in production compared to 2017.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 1, 2025

Three novel approaches that can revolutionize batteries

The innovations aren’t yet available at a commercial scale, but they are part of an effort to prevent the global clean energy transition from stalling.
Container cranes at the Port of Vancouver in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Friday
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 3, 2025

Trump heads toward tariff barrage on Canada, Mexico and China

The long-promised tariffs scheduled to take effect Tuesday would easily be among the most sweeping of the Trump era, applying to roughly $1.5 trillion in annual imports.
Pedestrians commute through Shibuya Station in central Tokyo, an area that is almost never devoid of people.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Mar 3, 2025

As the rest of Japan shrinks, Tokyo grows

Women and young people are leading a migratory wave that the government is struggling to halt.
Xiaobaodang Coal Mine, in Shaanxi province, China, in 2023. China, which mines and burns half the world’s coal, is facing swelling inventories of the fuel.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 3, 2025

Coal’s four-year lows hide a coming global supply squeeze

Demand for the fuel continues to rise in India and China, outpacing breakneck rates of expansion in solar and wind.
Japan aims to more than triple domestic cybersecurity industry sales in the next decade, from the current ¥900 billion ($6 billion) to ¥3 trillion.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 5, 2025

Japan aims to triple domestic cybersecurity industry sales in next decade

Japan-made cybersecurity products currently occupy less than half of the nation's domestic market share.
People gather in front of an Israeli military vehicle in the Nur Shams camp for Palestinian refugees, where troops allowed residents to retrieve belongings after issuing reported demolition notifications for several houses, in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday.
WORLD
Mar 6, 2025

Israel's settler pressure on West Bank villages stirs annexation fears

Most countries consider Israel's settlements in the occupied West Bank to be illegal.
Campaign supporters light a total of 1,638 candles, representing the number of dead victims claimed by HIV/AIDS in the Philippines since 1984, as part of their commemoration of International AIDS Candlelight Memorial Day in metro Manila in 2016.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 6, 2025

Philippines' LGBTQ+ groups seek options to replace U.S. aid

Advocacy groups are looking at new financing strategies and calling for greater involvement by local health institutions to protect against foreign aid withdrawals.
Rintaro Sekizuka runs a record store in both London and Tokyo’s Katsushika Ward.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 8, 2025

Tokyo’s vinyl experts say overseas buyers are ‘sustaining the scene’

A weak yen makes rare vinyls a steal for tourists, and locals say it's all part of a circular musical exchange.
Syrian army personnel gather as they head toward Latakia to join the fight against the fighters linked to Syria's ousted leader Bashar Assad, in Aleppo, Syria, on Friday.
WORLD
Mar 10, 2025

Syrian leader scrambles to contain deadliest violence in years

Clashes that a war monitoring group said had already killed over 1,000 people in Syria continued for a fourth day.
Canadian Prime Minister-designate Mark Carney speaks during the Liberal Party’s gathering in Ottawa, Canada, on Sunday. Carney will most likely be in power just a few weeks before a federal election is held.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 11, 2025

Carney gets down to work as Canada election drumbeat grows

The prime minister-designate promises a speedy transition to a new administration that he says will focus on the economy and fighting back against U.S. tariffs.
A woman reacts next to one of the pictures of victims of a recent wave of sectarian violence targeting Syria's Alawite minority in the west of the country along the Mediterranean sea coast, during a protest condemning the attacks in Syria's northeastern city of Qamishli on Tuesday.
WORLD
Mar 12, 2025

Syria determined to 'prevent unlawful revenge,' says fact-finding committee

The latest violence has marked the gravest threat to Syria's new authorities, calling into question their ability to govern.
U.S. President Donald Trump is often portrayed as a master dealmaker, but his approach tends to be erratic, his business record includes notable failures and his style leans more toward performance than strategic negotiation.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 11, 2025

Trump’s dealmaking is all about him

From effectively ending the war in Ukraine to setting tariffs, the president’s negotiating skills are coming up short.
President Donald Trump’s order making English the official language of the country is unnecessary, as nearly 80% of people in the U.S. already speak it at home.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 14, 2025

America doesn’t need an official language

After all, what is our shared culture if not the mix of cultures — including languages — that make and remake America every day?
Thames Water's Beddington Sewage Treatment Works near Croydon, south London, on Friday. Thames Water, and other British water companies privatized since 1989, are under fire for allowing the discharge of large quantities of sewage into rivers and the sea.
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 15, 2025

A stain on Britain: Sewage contaminates its waterways and seas

Failings with the most basic services in British society, such as water and sewage, have been harming the broader U.K. economy.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (second from left) cheers along with other members of the Liberal Democratic Party during the party's annual convention in Tokyo on March 9.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 16, 2025

As it turns 70, LDP struggles to find its fountain of youth

Having lost 60,000 members in 2024 amid a slush funds scandal, the party is under pressure to seek out new blood, but its old ways may be a turnoff for many.
Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer leaves a luncheon on Thursday in Washington.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 16, 2025

U.S. Democrats fume as some in party cave to Trump on spending bill

Congressional passage of the controversial spending bill was being seen as a setback for Democratic backbenchers.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s foreign policy, marked by betrayal and disregard for relationships, has weakened America’s global alliances, prompting countries to consider alternative allies.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 16, 2025

America is surrounded by enemies — that it created

This is not just a Trump problem; America’s whole reputation is shot.
Smoke rises while members of the Syrian forces ride on a vehicle as they battle against an insurgency by fighters from ousted leader Bashar Assad's Alawite sect, in Latakia, Syria, on March 7.
WORLD
Mar 17, 2025

'Pray for us. They've arrived': How Syria descended into revenge bloodshed

Just three months after Bashar Assad's ouster, parts of western Syria descended into vengeful bloodletting.
An aerial view of Thames Water's Beddington Sewage Treatment Works near Croydon, south London on Friday. Thames Water — and other British water companies privatized since 1989 — are under fire for allowing the discharge of large quantities of sewage into rivers and the sea.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 17, 2025

A stain on Britain: Sewage contaminates its waterways and seas

The pollution affects the seafood and tourism industries, while delaying construction projects and hampering the economy.
BYD's large cylindrical cell batteries are pictured at Smart Energy Week in Tokyo on Feb. 19.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 18, 2025

How BYD’s five-minute charging stacks up against the competition

The Chinese firm is now staking claim to a system it says will make it as quick to charge an electric vehicle as to refuel a gasoline car.
Outgoing International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach delivers a speech during the 144th IOC Session in Costa Navarino, Greece, ahead of an election to determine his successor.
OLYMPICS
Mar 20, 2025

Strange race to lead Olympic sports gets stranger

Smear campaigns have targeted some of the leading contenders in the final days before the vote, scheduled for Thursday in Greece.
Japan forward Mina Tanaka dribbles during a SheBelieves Cup match against Australia in Houston on Feb. 20.
SOCCER
Mar 20, 2025

How Mina Tanaka evolved into a prolific striker for Nadeshiko Japan

Mina Tanaka is having a moment. The Nadeshiko Japan and Utah Royals striker dominated the SheBelieves Cup, winning both MVP and top scorer as Japan defeated the U.S.
The AI management shift has been months in the making and predates Apple announcing the Siri delays.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 21, 2025

Apple shuffles AI executive ranks in bid to turn around Siri

The company is undergoing a rare shake-up of its executive ranks, aiming to get its artificial intelligence efforts back on track.
Lyft envisions a hybrid future where human drivers will complement autonomous vehicle fleets, especially during periods of peak demand.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 21, 2025

Lyft to offer driverless ride-hails ‘as soon as this summer’

The company sees its human drivers transitioning to other work such as fleet management as autonomous rides become more ubiquitous.

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’