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Camels in Shubaytah, Saudi Arabia, in January 2024. Nature is prominent feature of Saudi Arabia’s $1 trillion bet on tourism.
WORLD
Aug 6, 2025

Saudi Arabia’s new tourism play trades skyscrapers for nature

The little-touristed province of Aseer, an area with a rich cultural heritage, forms the linchpin of the Saudi Arabia's $1 trillion bet on tourism.
A woman prays at the Peace Memorial Park ahead of the memorial service to mark the 80th anniversary of the world's first atomic bomb attack, in the city of Hiroshima early on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 6, 2025

Documents show U.S. initially estimated Hiroshima bombing victims at 100,000

One of the documents said that the heart of the city of Hiroshima was so completely devastated that "not even debris of buildings was left."
Wakaba is a Scottish fold, a breed of cat known for the distinctive appearance of their ears.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Aug 7, 2025

‘Mad cute’ Scottish fold to brighten your day

Five-year-old Wakaba has a distinctive appearance and friendly disposition.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump meet at the G20 summit in Osaka in 2019.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 7, 2025

Trump could meet Putin over Ukraine as soon as next week, official says

Such a face-to-face meeting would be the first between a sitting U.S. and Russian president since Joe Biden met Vladimir Putin in Geneva in June 2021.
A wave of corporate governance and capital policy reforms in Japan has led to an increase in buyouts by investment funds, management and founders.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 7, 2025

Japanese liquor maker Yomeishu is said to consider going private

A wave of corporate governance and capital policy reforms in Japan has led to an increase in buyouts by investment funds, management and founders.
The average wage hike rate among major Japanese firms this year hit 5% for the second straight year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 7, 2025

Major Japan firms set record with pay hikes above 5% for second year

This year's average raise of 5.39% was the second biggest since comparable data became available in 1976.
A Cardinals fan fans himself during the seventh inning of a game against the  Pirates in St. Louis, Missouri, in June 2022.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 7, 2025

Cheer with caution: Expert advises sports fans have game plan for extreme heat

The consequences of extreme heat exposure range from dehydration to heatstroke and even death.
Tokyo Electron's Kyushu head office in Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture. Chip industry veterans say they see no clear reason for Tokyo Electron to engage in an act of intellectual property theft and risk its relationship with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest contract chipmaker.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 8, 2025

TSMC trade secrets leak puts Tokyo Electron in hot seat

The Japanese supplier of chipmaking tools is struggling to address the potential fallout after a former employee was implicated in the case.
Myanmar's military chief Min Aung Hlaing has appeared eager to engage with U.S. President Donald Trump's administration after years of isolation.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 8, 2025

Myanmar signs deal with Washington lobbyists to rebuild U.S. relations

Engaging the junta would be a sharp departure for the United States, given U.S. sanctions on the military leaders and the violence committed against the Rohingya.
Sung in Japanese, German and Ukrainian, “Natasha” is a multilingual opera with a multinational cast. Belgian soprano Ilse Eerens will originate the titular role, with Japanese mezzo-soprano Hiroka Yamashita as Arato and German baritone Christian Miedl as their trickster guide.
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 9, 2025

‘Natasha’ distills global zeitgeist on the opera stage

An original work commissioned by the New National Theatre, Tokyo, “Natasha” is a multilingual opera with a multinational cast from Japan, Germany and Belgium.
Thai Deputy Defense Minister Nattaphon Narkphanit (left), Malaysian Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail (center) and Cambodian Defense Minister Tea Seiha join hands ahead of a meeting to discuss a border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia, in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 8, 2025

Thailand and Cambodia agree to extend peace pact

A joint statement signed by both countries' defense officials said they agree to continue a freeze on border troop movements and patrols.
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision to cancel funding for mRNA vaccine development dismantles an important public health tool and could weaken America’s ability to respond to future pandemics.
COMMENTARY
Aug 8, 2025

RFK Jr.’s mRNA decision may be his worst yet

U.S. Health Secretary RFK Jr.’s decision to cancel funding for mRNA vaccine development dismantles a public health tool and could weaken the ability to respond to future pandemics.
U.S. President Donald Trump walks from Marine One to Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Aug. 1.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 9, 2025

Trump rattles Latin America by eyeing military force against drug cartels

The approach discards the previous administration's preference for carrots over sticks to coax countries into alignment with U.S. interests.
Liu Jianchao in 2015. Liu, 61, has led the Communist Party's body in charge of managing ties with foreign political parties since 2022.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 10, 2025

China detains senior diplomat Liu Jianchao for probe, WSJ reports

Liu was taken away after returning to Beijing in late July from an overseas work trip, WSJ reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Smoke and fire rise from an industrial facility that was damaged in a Ukrainian drone attack in Russia's Saratov region, in a screenshot from a video shared on social media on Sunday.
WORLD
Aug 10, 2025

Ukraine drone attack kills one and damages buildings in Saratov, Russia says

Ukrainian media reported that the oil refinery in the city of Saratov, the administrative center of the region, was on fire after the attack.
Masakazu Hori, the principal of Koryo High School in Hiroshima Prefecture, speaks to reporters in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, on Sunday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Aug 10, 2025

Hiroshima school exits Summer Koshien tournament over bullying

An outcry over alleged violence earlier this year within the Koryo High School baseball team had prompted calls on social media for their withdrawal from the tournament.
People attend a groundbreaking ceremony of the Trump Organization and a partner for a luxury residential development with three 18-hole golf courses in Hung Yen, a northern province of Vietnam, on May 21.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 11, 2025

Little offered to Vietnam farmers displaced for $1.5 billion Trump golf club

While some see opportunity, many of the farmers are elderly and fear they will struggle to find alternative livelihoods in Vietnam's vibrant economy.
Ahmad Habibi and his younger brother Mahmood Habibi pose for the camera in Canada in 2014.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 11, 2025

How a CIA hit on al-Qaida ensnared a U.S. citizen in Afghanistan

Interviews reveal that the Taliban likely detained Mahmood Habibi because the CIA had penetrated the company where he worked.
Visitors have their photo taken by a portrait of President Xi Jinping at the Military Museum in Beijing on Oct. 20, 2023. The Chinese leader’s crackdown on military corruption reveals how deep his concerns run, not only about battlefield readiness, but about political survival, as well.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 11, 2025

Xi looks to tighten grip after scandals shake China’s military elite

Outwardly, China’s military has never been stronger. Its naval ships venture farther across the oceans. Its nuclear force grows by about 100 warheads every year. Its military flights around Taiwan are increasingly frequent and intimidating. Every few months, China unveils new weapons, like a prototype...
Andrew Bosworth, Meta’s chief technology officer; Bob McGrew, an adviser at Thinking Machines Lab and OpenAI’s former chief research officer; Shyam Sankar, Palantir’s chief technology officer; and Kevin Weil, OpenAI’s chief product officer at a military ceremony in Arlington, Va., in June 2025. The four current and former executives were pronounced lieutenant colonels in a new unit, Detachment 201, which will advise the Army on new technologies for potential combat.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 11, 2025

Silicon Valley is in its ‘hard tech’ era

Instead of the tap-to-pay apps of a decade ago like Clinkle and Bump, young companies are now making unmanned aerial drones stocked with AI-guided Barracuda cruise missiles.
Four units at the Gravelines nuclear power plant in northern France were shut down on Monday due to the "massive and unforeseeable presence of jellyfish" in the pumping stations for the water used to cool the reactors.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 12, 2025

Jellyfish shut down French nuclear reactors as heat wave builds

A marine heat wave, like the one intensifying off the west coast of France, can help jellyfish populations "bloom," and several beaches have been closed due to their invasion.
Ralph Edwards (far left), Capt. Robert Lewis (rear left), Bertha Starkey (rear center), Marvin Green (rear right), Kiyoshi (seated, left) and Chisa Tanimoto (seated, right), Koko Kondo (front left) and her three younger siblings, on the show “This Is Your Life,” on May 11, 1955
JAPAN / History / FOCUS
Aug 12, 2025

How an A-bomb survivor found forgiveness for Hiroshima bombers

Koko Kondo’s anger was extinguished when she saw the co-pilot of the Enola Gay bomber recall with regret what he and his crew had done on Aug. 6, 1945.
A notice is displayed at a McDonald's restaurant informing customers of the end of the Pokemon card promotion, on Tuesday in Tokyo's Toshima Ward.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 12, 2025

McDonald’s Japan apologizes over frenzy linked to Pokemon card promotion

Many customers bought Happy Meals in bulk to get their hands on limited-edition Pokemon trading cards, only to discard the food and resell the cards online.
Born in 2011, Ginger is a medium-size poodle that acts about half his age.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Aug 13, 2025

Fluffy poodle Ginger, forever young at heart

This spirited dog is full of sugar and spice for those who treat him nice.
Metal-meets-idol trio Babymetal is sure to bring spectacle to this weekend's Summer Sonic.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 13, 2025

The early bird gets the bangers at this year’s Summer Sonic

This year’s festival makes its biggest moves before noon, with Japan’s top acts and K-pop stars commanding early slots.
Fred Kerley celebrates with his 100m bronze medal at the Stade de France at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
OLYMPICS / Athletics
Aug 13, 2025

Olympic medalist Kerley provisionally suspended for whereabouts failure

Kerley took 100m silver in Tokyo and bronze last year in Paris as well as the 2022 world 100m crown.
Among the middle school students who admitted to abusing over-the-counter medication, the majority — around 64% — said they got them from pharmacies while a third said they had access to them in their own households.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 13, 2025

1 in 55 Japanese middle schoolers abuse over-the-counter drugs, survey shows

Most of them got the drugs from pharmacies and their own households.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's political survival likely hinges on whether a leadership race will take place within the Liberal Democratic Party following its decision to have its election committee canvass the opinions of party members and prefectural chapters on the subject.
JAPAN / Politics / EXPLAINER
Aug 13, 2025

Will Ishiba's critics be able to garner enough support for a leadership race?

The only way to remove an LDP president from office — other than a resignation — is to invoke the recall clause and hold a leadership race.
Filmmakers interview the general manager of a Bald Men's club for an upcoming Flix Oven documentary that will be available via the streaming platform Samansa.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Aug 14, 2025

Samansa bets on commuter cinema

As attention spans get shorter, a Japanese startup is banking on short films as easily digestible entertainment.
Kinga Skiers (left) co-founded the Tokyo chapter of Food Not Bombs in 2023. The organization aims to provide the capital’s homeless population with food and other essentials.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Aug 18, 2025

Solidarity with Tokyo’s homeless residents, one day at a time

Since 2023, the Tokyo chapter of Food Not Bombs has been supplying vegetarian meals and everyday goods to homeless people across the city.

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’