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Private detective Marcus Lentz holds his camera as he poses for photos in his office in Hanau, western Germany, on Dec. 20.
BUSINESS
Dec 30, 2024

For German 'sick leave detective,' business is booming

Workers in Germany, on average, took 15.1 days of sick leave last year, up from 11.1 days in 2021.
Indonesia's plan to increase biodiesel mandates to 50% by 2028 could require clearing 5.3 million hectares of forest for palm oil plantations by 2042, an area larger than Denmark.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2024

The year’s worst climate news you haven’t heard about

Not enough floodwaters for dams, more coal burning and demand for Indonesian palm oil show efforts to slow global warming are flagging.
An advertisement in Tokyo's Kabukicho, Japan's largest red-light district. The country is home to a thriving adult entertainment industry and has recently seen a boom in sex tourism fueled by the weak yen and availability of red-light services.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 30, 2024

From geisha to oshikatsu, toxic tropes fuel sex industry

It isn't only the foreign gaze that produces stereotypes of Japanese women as submissive and promiscuous. Local laws and cultural norms play just as important a role.
Some local governments are launching initiatives outside schools to support children who are bullied at school.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 30, 2024

Japan working to address school bullying through local support

"It's necessary to solve the problem in local communities rather than leaving it to schools," a senior official said.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump speaks to Brendan Carr, his intended pick for Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), as he attends a viewing of the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket, in Brownsville, Texas, on Nov. 19.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 31, 2024

Social media companies face global tug-of-war over free speech

Trump’s return to the White House is expected to widen the free speech divide that has long existed between the United States and Europe.
Populist and far-right parties globally are gaining working-class support as center-left parties fail to address their economic concerns and cultural disconnects.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 10, 2024

The working class and the rise of populism

Talking about creating good jobs in the industries of the future is not the same as doing it. Workers want bold, effective leaders who will take concrete action.
Abdur Rahim Jabbar, half-brother of the man accused of the New Orleans truck attack, sits in the garage of their house in Beaumont, Texas, on Thursday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jan 3, 2025

Investigators seek clues to New Orleans attacker's path to radicalization

It is still unclear what contact Shamsud-Din Jabbar might have had with overseas extremist groups.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends a conference organized by the European Jewish Association in Krakow, Poland, in January 2024.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jan 4, 2025

Musk projects his hard-right influence in Europe

The multibillionaire has demanded new elections in Britain, promoted Germany's far-right, blasted the European Commission — and that's just the start.
Recovering Ukrainian soldiers pray at the Holy Cell of Saints Archangels Falakrou in Mount Athos, Greece
WORLD
Jan 4, 2025

Wounded Ukrainian soldiers find solace in Greek monasteries

They arrived with marks of war — one with a head scar, another with both legs amputated above the knee, and some with invisible mental wounds.
A woman in her 60s talks about her son who became addicted to online gambling and committed a crime through an illegal part-time job.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 5, 2025

Online gambling addiction becoming serious issue in Japan

The number of consultation requests received by one aid group has surged 11-fold in five years.
An Israeli soldier sits atop a tank as it drives into the U.N.-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams, on Dec. 13.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 5, 2025

U.S. plans $8 billion arms sale to Israel

Some of the munitions deliveries could be furnished through current U.S. stock, while the majority would take up to several years to deliver.
Hillary Rodham Clinton receives the Medal of Freedom from U.S. President Joe Biden during a ceremony at the White House in Washington on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 5, 2025

Biden awards Hillary Clinton, George Soros and others Medal of Freedom

First awarded by President John F. Kennedy, the medal is considered the highest civilian honor a president can bestow.
Naomi Osaka looks on after she withdrew from the Auckland Classic women's singles final on Sunday.
TENNIS
Jan 5, 2025

Naomi Osaka retires with abdominal injury in finals of Auckland Classic

Playing in her first WTA final in three years, the four-time Grand Slam champion called for the physio after taking the opening set 6-4 and pulled out shortly afterward.
On Sunday, authorities in Iwate Prefecture began culling some 50,000 chickens Sunday after an outbreak of bird flu.
JAPAN
Jan 5, 2025

Bird flu outbreaks strike Iwate Prefecture farms

It is the 19th bird flu outbreak of the season in Japan, the agriculture ministry said.
Ritsumeikan University researchers succeeded in completely breaking down PFAS compounds, often called "forever chemicals" for their persistence in the environment.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jan 5, 2025

Japanese researchers develop method to break down PFAS 'forever chemicals'

Ritsumeikan University researchers succeeded in completely breaking down perfluorooctane sulfonate, or PFOS.
Britain's Reform U.K. party leader Nigel Farage speaks during a news conference in London on Nov. 28.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 6, 2025

Musk turns on U.K.'s Farage, saying he should quit as Reform party chief

The Tesla CEO, a close ally of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, said the Reform U.K. party leader "doesn’t have what it takes."
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrives at King Khalid International airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Dec. 9.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 6, 2025

Starmer’s travels outstrip past U.K. leaders, posing ratings risk

The premier has spent 31 days on working trips since he took office following his Labour Party’s landslide win in the July 4 general election.
Naomi Osaka withdrew from the Auckland Classic final on Sunday.
TENNIS
Jan 6, 2025

Naomi Osaka 'very optimistic' about playing at Australian Open

Osaka returned to the Top 50 in the world rankings on Monday.
Children at a traditional festival in the city of Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Thursday. A forecast made by Tohoku University professor Hiroshi Yoshida estimates that Japan will be left with just one child on Jan. 5, 2720, based on current birthrate trends.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 6, 2025

2720 — the year when Japan is left with just one child

An expert on the graying of society has warned that the nation will be left with just one child age 14 and below in 695 years if its birthrate continues to decline.
Terunofuji performs during a ceremony at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo on Tuesday.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Jan 8, 2025

Questions linger over Terunofuji's health ahead of year's first tournament

During the Yokozuna Deliberation Council's practice session on Monday, Terunofuji’s latent power, but also his physical decline, were on full display.
Kyoto University's CiRA Foundation will automatically make autologous induced pluripotent stem cells and turn them into heart muscle and nerve cells at a new facility in the city of Osaka starting in April.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jan 8, 2025

Automated iPS cell production to start in Japan in April

Autologous iPS cells will be created and turned into, among others, heart muscle and nerve cells.
Beauty salon Dione, which has over 100 branches nationwide, offers hair removal treatments for children as young as 3 years old. It uses hair removal equipment that emits a special light heated to around 38 degrees Celsius, unlike conventional equipment that involves temperatures of 60 to 80 C.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 9, 2025

Hair removal for kids — boosting confidence or preying on insecurities?

Hair removal treatments are increasingly being extended to children as young as three years old in Japan, raising concerns over the risks.
Cancer patient Anne Maldzinski was given an experimental therapy developed by French biotech MaaT Pharma through an early access program. The effect was dramatic.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 9, 2025

Drug from bowel bacteria helps blood cancer patients facing deadly complication

A burgeoning field of therapies is harnessing the power of the microbiome to treat and potentially prevent diseases.
The sun sets over the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes in Death Valley National Park, near Furnace Creek, during a heat wave impacting Southern California in July.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jan 10, 2025

Record heat pushed 2024 above global warming threshold of 1.5 C

A clear acceleration in rising temperatures has puzzled scientists, even as the evidence of the fast-warming atmosphere became impossible to miss.
Kotozakura is in position to fight his way to a promotion to yokozuna going into the New Year Basho.
SUMO
Jan 10, 2025

Stage set for action-packed New Year Basho with yokozuna promotion battle

Few years in recent sumo history have begun with a landscape of possibilities as wide as 2025.
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.
Dodgers star Mookie Betts is interfered with by Yankees fans during Game 4 of the World Series on Oct. 29.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jan 11, 2025

Two fans who grabbed Mookie Betts in World Series banned by MLB

Both men were ejected from the stadium and had their tickets revoked for Game 5 after interfering with Betts.
Fire retardant is dropped as the Palisades Fire grows near Encino Hills, California, on Saturday.
WORLD
Jan 12, 2025

Aerial assault aims to stem Los Angeles fire's eastward spread

Fire officials say that while 11% of the Palisades Fire was now contained, it has so far burned over 22,000 acres (8,900 hectares).
Competitors are interviewed after a women's esports event in Beijing last month.
MORE SPORTS / esports
Jan 12, 2025

China's women esports players defy sexism for love of the game

For female esports players in China, mastering the game is just the first hurdle to carving out a space for themselves in the male-dominated field.
Rescue workers search a flooded area during the aftermath of Typhoon Hagibis, which caused severe floods at the Chikuma River, in the city of Nagano in October 2019.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / OUR PLANET
Jan 12, 2025

Disaster-hardened Japan faces enormous costs from climate change

The total cost in climate damages for the country through 2050 could amount to ¥952 trillion if more ambitious action isn't taken.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight