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Takuya Haraguchi, head of ReFruits, speaks while looking at the kiwifruit vine at his farm in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, on April 24. A newcomer to farming, he hopes to revive the area by growing kiwifruits in this former no-go zone.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 2025

'Moving forward': the Gen Z farmer growing Fukushima kiwifruits

Fukushima is renowned for its delicious fruit, from pears to peaches, but the nuclear disaster led many people in Japan to shun produce grown there.
Cantonese opera actor Lung Koon-tin, portraying U.S. President Donald Trump, performs on stage in "Trump, The Twins President" in Hong Kong, on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jun 6, 2025

Trump-inspired Cantonese opera in Hong Kong aims to bring love and peace

"Trump, The Twins President" has been through several iterations since its 2019 debut, with the latest version featuring the attempted assassination of the U.S. president.
A Homeland Security vehicle is parked in front of the Fred D. Thompson Federal Building, housing the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, where Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported from Maryland to El Salvador by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, faces criminal charges, in Nashville, Tennessee, on Friday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jun 7, 2025

Wrongly deported Salvadoran migrant arrested on return to U.S.

Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia was brought back to the United States from El Salvador and charged with trafficking undocumented migrants, Attorney General Pam Bondi said.
Carlos Alcaraz (center) celebrates with the ball boys and girls after his win in the French Open final in Paris on Sunday.
TENNIS
Jun 9, 2025

'Prince of Clay' Carlos Alcaraz stages epic rally to retain French Open crown

The victory made Alcaraz only the second man since tennis turned professional in 1968 to win his first five Grand Slam singles finals.
Alexandr Wang, co-founder and chief executive officer of Scale AI, has emerged as an influential force in the artificial intelligence industry. His company's army of contractors label the data that tech firms use to train and improve their AI models.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 9, 2025

Meta set to throw billions at startup that leads AI data market

Scale AI uses an army of contractors to label the data that tech firms use to train and improve their AI models
An industrial park in Yiwu, Zhejiang province, China. Nomura Holdings plans to shut its branch in the province by the end of the year, according to sources.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 9, 2025

Nomura to shut branch in China as it scales back wealth business

The company’s brokerage subsidiary plans to shut its branch in Zhejiang province by the end of the year.
Former yokozuna Hakuho gives a news conference to announce his retirement from the Japan Sumo Association and reveal his future plans in Tokyo on Monday.
SUMO
Jun 9, 2025

Hakuho vows to grow sumo globally after exiting domestic sports body

The impetus for the decision, Hakuho said, was the failure of the Japan Sumo Association to provide a clear timeline about the restoration of Miyagino stable.
A demonstrator holds a placard during a protest in front of the Israeli embassy in Athens on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 10, 2025

Israeli forces seize Gaza-bound aid boat carrying Greta Thunberg

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he had instructed that the activists be shown videos of atrocities committed during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel.
Expectant parents Masataka and Saki Ohita look at ultrasound images of their unborn twins.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Jun 23, 2025

Childbirth facilities disappearing from Fukushima towns

With just 26 facilities in the prefecture that can handle deliveries, there is concern that the trend could accelerate population decline.
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro gestures as he attends Brazil's Supreme Court trial over an alleged coup attempt, in Brasilia on Monday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jun 10, 2025

Bolsonaro planned to 'redo' 2022 Brazil election he lost, court told

The former president faces charges of having led a "criminal organization" plotting to wrest power from leftist election victor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Canadians Michael Kovrig (right) and Michael Spavor (center), former detainees held by China in a case widely seen as hostage diplomacy, attend an address by U.S. President Joe Biden in the Canadian House of Commons in Ottawa in March 2023.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 11, 2025

In its relationship with China, Canada is behaving like an abuse victim

The attempt to normalize trade relations with China on the heels of Beijing’s pattern of economic coercion bears an uncomfortable resemblance to a domestic abuse scenario.
World Bank President Ajay Banga at the Milken Institute Global Conference in California on May 5
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2025

World Bank to end ban on nuclear energy projects, but undecided on upstream gas

The global development bank, which lends at low rates to help countries build everything from flood barriers to railroads, decided in 2013 to stop funding nuclear power projects.
Relatives of victims who died in the Air India plane crash mourn as they wait outside the postmortem room at a hospital, in Ahmedabad, India, on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 12, 2025

Search for answers hastens in Air India crash that killed over 240

Questions are growing over how and why the 787-8 Dreamliner, bound for London, exploded into a huge fireball just minutes after takeoff.
India’s potential participation in the Japan-U.K.-Italy fighter jet project GCAP makes strategic sense but should be postponed until the core partners solidify the program to avoid delays, conflict and operational risk.
COMMENTARY
Jun 12, 2025

India should join the Global Combat Air Program — but not just yet

GCAP is more than just a weapons platform. It is a statement of strategic autonomy, industrial innovation and trilateral cooperation among democracies.
Smoke billows from a site targeted in an Israeli strike in Tehran on Friday.
WORLD
Jun 13, 2025

Israel attacks Iran’s nuclear program in major escalation

Explosions were heard across Tehran, Natanz — home to one of Iran’s key nuclear sites — and other cities, according to local and social media.
The public breakdown between U.S. President Donald Trump and Elon Musk highlights a familiar pattern among authoritarian leaders: They elevate allies only to discard them when their loyalty falters or their influence threatens the throne.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 12, 2025

No loyalty lasts: Why authoritarians always betray their allies

The very public and acrimonious split between U.S. President Donald Trump and his once-favorite aide, Elon Musk, would be amusing if it were not so terrifying. Their puerile public feud demonstrated just how insecure — even unhinged — the world’s most powerful person and its wealthiest really are....
A library on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, late last month
WORLD / Society
Jun 13, 2025

Foreign students scrub social media as U.S. expands visa vetting

Digital rights lawyers argue that the level of scrutiny that appears to be under consideration could set a dangerous precedent for digital surveillance in immigration processes.
The classic red brick arches of Tokyo’s first “gādo-shita,” built in 1910, are what most Japanese people think of when they think about commercial spaces under elevated railways.
LIFE / Style & Design / Longform
Jun 16, 2025

Revitalizing the space under Tokyo’s train tracks

Rail underpasses in big cities are being transformed into vibrant spaces for artisans, foodies and travelers — without erasing their past.
A defiant U.S. President Donald Trump attend the 44th Group of Seven gathering in Charlevoix, Canada, in 2018.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 16, 2025

Trump returns to G7 he once loathed as Iran crisis intensifies

President Donald Trump arrives in Canada as the center of attention for a Group of Seven summit of world leaders whose main purpose will be to mollify him.
French President Emmanuel Macron (left) gestures next to Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen (center) and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen at the end of a joint press conference in Nuuk, Greenland, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 16, 2025

Macron offers aid for Greenland security amid Trump threats

The French president described a U.S. annexation as a "crazy” scenario and called for joint exercises in the Arctic region.
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking will be one of the funding sources for a wealth management joint venture by Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and SBI Holdings.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 16, 2025

Sumitomo Mitsui and SBI to launch wealth management joint venture

Policymakers in Japan are encouraging individual investors to put more of their money in riskier assets such as equities.
The skyline of Astana, Kazakhstan. Chinese President Xi Jinping is visiting Kazakhstan for the third time since 2020, making the country of 20 million people one of his favorite destinations in the years after the COVID-19 pandemic curtailed his global travels.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 16, 2025

Xi visits Kazakhstan for talks with Central Asian leaders

The summit in the Kazakh capital Astana is taking place in parallel to the Group of Seven's event in Canada.
Africa’s "blue economy" (oceans and waterways) is vital for global trade, climate resilience and food security, and remains deeply underfunded despite its multibillion-dollar potential.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 16, 2025

Scaling investment for Africa’s sustainable 'blue economy'

Spanning more than 30,000 kilometers of coastline, Africa’s "blue economy" does $300 billion worth of business each year.
Japan faces a growing crisis of social isolation, with over 1.4 million people — many middle-aged — living reclusive lifestyles, and experts say only long-term, trust-based community support can reverse the trend.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 16, 2025

Japan needs to rethink how it helps hikikomori

While hikikomori, the Japanese term for acute social withdrawal, often brings to mind young recluses in dark bedrooms, the reality is broader.
Nihonbashi bridge, long overshadowed — literally — by an elevated expressway, is at the center of a multidecade project to relocate the highway underground in hopes of restoring the scenery around the historically significant bridge.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2025

Tokyo moves to restore open skies over historic Nihonbashi bridge

The elevated expressway is set to be completely removed in fiscal 2040 under a project expected to cost ¥320 billion ($2.2 billion).
While leaders, researchers and activists at the third United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice, France, took steps to tackle overfishing and pollution threatening delicate ecosystems and the people who depend on them, getting countries to agree to better governance has been challenging.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jun 17, 2025

Investors want clear ocean management rules to scale up funding

The lack of a clear governing framework and robust ocean-related data has stymied private sector finance to date.
Reiwa Shinsengumi deputy leader Yasuhiko Funago during a news conference at the Diet building on Tuesday
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 18, 2025

Reiwa Shinsengumi lawmaker with ALS to retire

Yasuhiko Funago, 67, said that it would be difficult for him to serve another six-year term considering his age and physical strength.
The Leonardo da Vinci International Airport in Fiumicino, near Rome, in 2024
BUSINESS
Jun 18, 2025

Airfares from Western Europe to United States drop amid pullback in U.S. travel

In March, travel to the United States from Western Europe fell 17% year-over-year, according to U.S. data
The AUKUS submarine deal was flawed from the start, and its possible collapse offers Australia a chance to rethink its defense strategy, reclaim sovereignty and pursue more practical, cost-effective alternatives.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 18, 2025

Cross your fingers, Australia, and hope the AUKUS deal collapses

Some analysts assume that the U.S. Defense Department review is just another Trumpian extortion exercise designed to extract an even bigger financial commitment from Australia.
Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako greet upon their arrival at Hiroshima Airport on Thursday.
JAPAN
Jun 19, 2025

Japan's emperor and empress arrive in Hiroshima

Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako traveled to the city to commemorate the victims of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji