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Five years since COVID-19 started upending the world, the virus is still infecting and killing people across the globe — though at far lower levels than during the height of the pandemic.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 8, 2025

Is the world ready for the next pandemic?

While the U.N. health agency considers the world more prepared than it was when Covid hit, it warns we are still not nearly ready enough.
A man looks at the presidential residence of impeached South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol from a hill in Seoul on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 8, 2025

South Korea's Yoon faces second arrest attempt in fortified compound

A court has reissued a warrant to arrest President Yoon Suk Yeol.
The myth that the West provoked Russian aggression in Ukraine overlooks Russia's expansionist history, the complex dynamics of NATO expansion and the true nature of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 8, 2025

What you think you know about Ukraine is probably wrong

It’s more important than ever to fact check the Kremlin's claims and excuses for the war
Former Bank of Japan board member Makoto Sakurai sees the likelihood of a hike in March as high as 70%, as the central bank may be better off waiting out at least the first couple of months of the new administration of incoming U.S. President Donald Trump.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 9, 2025

Former BOJ board member sees rising chance of March rate hike

Makoto Sakurai says the central bank may wait out at least the first couple of months of the new administration of incoming U.S. President Donald Trump.
Firms in Japan are becoming more proactive to fend off global rivals and activist investors showing renewed interest in the country after decades of stagnant growth.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 9, 2025

Japan’s ¥36.4 trillion M&A boom expected to grow as activist investors circle

Firms are becoming more proactive to fend off global rivals and activist investors showing renewed interest in the country after decades of stagnant growth.
The town of Ilulisat in Greenland in September 2021. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has said he would like to make Greenland part of the United States.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 9, 2025

Why is Trump interested in Greenland?

The U.S. president-elect has said control of the Arctic island is "an absolute necessity" for "purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World."
A lithium smelter in Yichun, Jiangxi province, China
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 9, 2025

Stubbornly resilient lithium supply remains hurdle to recovery

Lithium prices have plunged since late 2022 on oversupply and slower-than-expected growth in electric vehicle demand.
Staff from Aomori Bank and Michinoku Bank, along with family members, participate in the Aomori Nebuta Festival in August 2023, with a large float sponsored by Procrea Holdings behind them.
BUSINESS / Companies / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Jan 20, 2025

Rival regional Aomori banks merge to survive amid population decline

Aomori Bank and Michinoku Bank, which had long been rivals, merged this month to form Aomori Michinoku Bank.
Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing reported strong growth in revenue and operating profit for the three months through November on robust demand in Japan, North America and Europe.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 9, 2025

Uniqlo owner reports strong growth in Japan and Western markets

Operating profit rose 7% to ¥157.6 billion for the three months ended November from a year earlier, with sales increasing to ¥895.2 billion.
Volkswagen ID. Buzz electric vehicles are lined up at the company's plant in Hanover, Germany, on Dec. 17.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 9, 2025

Germany electric vehicle sales go into reverse

Just 380,609 EVs were registered in 2024 in Europe's largest auto market, 27.4% fewer than in the previous year.
A serviceman prepares to fire a Giatsint-B howitzer toward Russian troops at a front-line position in the Kharkiv region on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 10, 2025

Zelenskyy urges allies not to drop the ball ahead of Trump's return

The Ukrainian president implored representatives from roughly 50 nations to maintain their military support for his country’s nearly three-year war with Russia.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Republican governors at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, on Thursday.
WORLD
Jan 10, 2025

U.S. Supreme Court lets Trump sentencing proceed in hush money case

The court turned down Trump's last-minute bid to prevent his sentencing, scheduled for Friday in New York state court in Manhattan.
Otono Kuboki, a Japanese Canadian hair stylist for salon chain Sozo, is a key figure in the company's mission to elevate the viability of Japan's hairdressing industry to foreign residents.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 11, 2025

Can an international makeover help Tokyo salons meet foreign demand?

Sozo Education aims to train Tokyo’s next crop of stylists not just in English vocabulary related to hairdressing but in the diverse needs of foreign hair types.
Hobonichi's 'techō' notebooks come in both set and customizable formats, and a thriving community of enthusiasts means there are even extensive guides on how to make the journal even more unique to your individual approach to journaling.
LIFE / Style & Design
Jan 10, 2025

American stationery nerds are fueling a Japanese notebook boom

A Japanese-made paper planner from the 1980s has reblossomed in the post-COVID era.
Pan-roasted baby beets, carrots, turnips and orange may be an otherwise American dish, but Sonoko Sakai's addition of lemon-miso yogurt turns it into a 'wafū' (Japanese style) marvel.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 12, 2025

The case for Japan-ifying everything you cook

“Wafu Cooking: Everyday Recipes with Japanese Style” coins the term “wafuing” — shorthand for bringing Japanese flavors into anything and everything.
Palestinians at the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, on Thursday.
WORLD
Jan 10, 2025

Gaza death toll 40% higher than recorded, peer-reviewed study estimates

New study used data from Gaza's health ministry, an online survey and social media obituaries to reach a best estimate of 64,260 deaths by June 30 last year.
Footage released in December by the Israeli Army shows Israeli soldiers operating in a location given as the Golan Heights. Under new rules, media interviewing soldiers of the rank of colonel and under cannot display their full names or faces.
WORLD
Jan 10, 2025

Israeli military tightens media rules over legal action concern

The full names and faces of soldiers of the rank of colonel and under are not to be displayed by the media under the new rules.
Greenland’s new international prominence is helping drive its independence movement, which has grown alongside resentment toward Denmark.
WORLD
Jan 10, 2025

Greenland eyes the benefits in Trump’s proposed land grab

Greenland's geopolitical importance is rising as its ice sheet melts, and it is expected to be a key part of global shipping routes.
“The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic” centers on three teenage protagonists who are transported into a fantasy world where they must grapple with a foreign culture.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Jan 11, 2025

Isekai anime offers a key to understanding globalization

The fantastical genre wherein characters are dropped into unlikely worlds — and sometimes bodies — can be read as an allegory for the structure of the contemporary anime industry.
Kaz Shiomi is looking forward to the Osaka Expo this year, which will be held from April 13 to Oct. 13.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jan 10, 2025

Kaz Shiomi: ‘I want to show people … how to color outside the lines’

Producing toys under her kiko+ & gg* brand, the business owner hopes to encourage children to find their own unique paths in life.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump appears remotely for a sentencing hearing in front of New York State Judge Juan Merchan in the criminal case in which he was convicted in 2024 on charges involving hush money paid to a porn star, at New York Criminal Court in Manhattan on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 11, 2025

A sentence with no penalty assures Trump will take office as a felon

Justice Juan Merchan gave Donald Trump a symbolic punishment. The judge said that leniency was due the office of the president, not the man who will soon hold the title.
Burned-out homes reduced to rubble by the Eaton Fire are seen in Altadena, California, on Friday.
WORLD
Jan 11, 2025

Los Angeles faces more wildfire evacuations even as fierce winds ease

Fierce winds that have supercharged wildfires sweeping parts of Los Angeles eased Friday, but the largest blaze shifted direction, triggering new evacuation orders.
Mark Zuckerberg, then chief executive of Facebook, appears at a joint U.S. Senate Judiciary and Commerce Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington in April 2018.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 11, 2025

Inside Mark Zuckerberg’s sprint to remake Meta for the Trump era

The highly unusual overhaul of the firm's speech policies came after the Meta CEO visited U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in November.
A Syrian fighter with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham patrols the gate as men wait outside a reconciliation center in Damascus on Dec. 30.
WORLD
Jan 11, 2025

Western powers warn Syria over foreign jihadis in army

HTS and allied groups have hundreds of foreign fighters in their ranks, many of them followers of hard-line interpretations of Islam.
Dana White, the CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, speaks during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on July 18.
MORE SPORTS
Jan 11, 2025

UFC seeks more than $1 billion a year in next TV rights deal

The UFC’s deal with Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN expires at the end of 2025, and the two sides are entering an exclusive negotiating window later this month.
Yuzuru Hanyu smiles during an interview in his hometown of Sendai in between performances of his latest tour, Ice Story.
MORE SPORTS / Figure skating
Jan 11, 2025

30 minutes with Yuzuru Hanyu

The two-time Olympic champion exited the competitive arena in 2022. His overall career goal — to make spectators say "wow" — has not changed.
A clinic in the city of Saitama in May 2020
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jan 11, 2025

Japan may provide support to boost rollout of smartphone-based health cards

The health ministry may provide support to medical institutions and pharmacies to promote the use of digital My Number personal identification and health insurance cards.
Smoke from the Pacific Palisades fire blankets the area in Los Angeles on Tuesday. Researchers see a growing health danger from the vast plumes of pollution spawned by wildfires like the ones devastating Los Angeles.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jan 12, 2025

Far from the Los Angeles fires, the deadly risks of smoke are intensifying

By some estimates, wildfire smoke causes as many as 675,000 premature deaths a year worldwide, as well as a range of serious health problems.
Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket on the launch pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Friday
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 12, 2025

Blue Origin rocket set to debut in crucial SpaceX challenge

New Glenn, originally intended to launch as early as 2020, is set to lift off as soon as Monday out of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Houses destroyed in the Palisades Fire along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California, on Thursday
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 12, 2025

California fires expose a $1 trillion hole in U.S. home insurance

Santa Ana winds and wildfires are natural to California, but climate change and human development have made them far more destructive.

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