Search - 2019

 
 
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attends the launch of the Global Biofuels Alliance at the G20 summit in New Delhi in September 2023.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 29, 2025

Delayed pricing policy for cleaner ethanol keeps India burning food for fuel

The Indian government wants petrol sold in the country to contain 20% ethanol by October 2025, and has ramped up production by diverting food crops, but could use waste instead.
The Tokyo District Court on Tuesday sentenced Tomohiro Koyama, who is believed to be the third-highest-ranking member of the "JP Dragon" crime ring, to three years and six months in prison for fraud.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 29, 2025

Senior 'JP Dragon' crime ring member jailed for 42 months

Tomohiro Koyama, 51, is believed to be the third-highest-ranking member of the ring comprising Japanese nationals.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media on board Air Force One en route from Scotland to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 30, 2025

Trump says he fell out with Epstein because he was taking Mar-a-Lago spa staff

U.S. President Donald Trump gave some of his most expansive public comments yet about his falling out with Jeffrey Epstein.
A bus belonging to the Think Outside Da Block gun violence prevention program is parked outside the organization’s office in Chicago, Illinois, on July 25.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 30, 2025

Trump administration slashed federal funding for gun violence prevention

The funding cuts threaten the sustainability of community violence intervention initiatives that have taken years to establish, advocates say.
“Memory of Lines” is Chiharu Shiota’s second art installation on Teshima as part of the Setouchi Triennale.
CULTURE / Art
Jul 30, 2025

Artist Chiharu Shiota weaves a hidden marvel on Teshima

The artist cherished for her red-thread installations creates a new work in one of Japan’s famed art islands.
Germany's Laura Dahlmeier died after a mountaineering accident in Pakistan, her management team said Wednesday.
OLYMPICS
Jul 31, 2025

German Olympic champion Laura Dahlmeier dies after mountaineering accident

The accident occurred around noon on Monday, at an altitude of approximately 5,700 meters at Laila Peak, the Alpine Club of Pakistan said on Tuesday.
Reflecting a sharp rise in fraud cases involving offenders posing as police officers, the number of special fraud cases between January and June increased 50% from a year before, with the amount of damage shooting up by 2.6 times.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 1, 2025

'Fake police' fraud cases surging in Japan

The amount of money swindled in such cases totaled ¥38.93 billion between January and June.
The Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, where Ghislaine Maxwell was transferred on Friday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Aug 2, 2025

Ghislaine Maxwell moved to lower-security facility; Trump says no plea for pardon

Maxwell's move to the Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, comes a week after she met with Deputy U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche.
Ottawa Senators defenseman Jordan Spence helps lead the Dreamskate Japan hockey camp in Tomakomai, Hokkaido, on July 5.
MORE SPORTS / Ice Hockey
Aug 3, 2025

From Osaka to the NHL: Jordan Spence hopes to inspire young Japanese hockey players

The Ottawa Senators defenseman briefly returned to Japan last month to help run a hockey camp in Hokkaido.
A three-generation family, Susumu Sato (center), his daughter Akiyo Nishida (left) and his granddaughter Nanako Nishida, is working to pass on to future generations the memory of a massive air raid in the city of Toyama that occurred 80 years ago.
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2025

80 years on: Three generations pass on memory of Toyama air raid

In the air raid, which occurred shortly before the end of World War II, U.S. B-29 bombers destroyed 99.5% of Toyama's urban area.
Vladimir Putin has been rehabilitating Josef Stalin for more than two decades — and reviving some of the worst elements of the Soviet era in the process.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 3, 2025

Glory to Stalin and the whitewashing of history

Russia’s Communist Party recently asserted that, in Stalin’s “deeds and works,” Russians can seek “answers to the fateful challenges of our time.”
Actor Nicholas Hoult, Rachel Brosnahan and David Corenswet attend the Los Angeles premiere of “Superman” at the TCL Chinese Theater on July 7.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 1, 2025

Hollywood has lost the plot on telling stories

Western culture seems to have reached an impasse — wistful for our youth and unable to come up with any new ideas.
The impeachment exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington
WORLD / Politics
Aug 3, 2025

U.S. museum says Trump administration did not compel impeachment display removal

The placard was meant to be temporary and "did not meet the museum's standards in appearance, location, timeline and overall presentation," the Smithsonian said.
Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Koichi Hagiuda
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 4, 2025

Summary indictment eyed for secretary of LDP's Koichi Hagiuda

A panel of citizens ruled that the secretary of Hagiuda, a member of the House of Representatives, should be prosecuted.
A woman adds a message to the a COVID-19 memorial wall in London in March 2023.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Aug 4, 2025

'Long COVID' hits the U.K. economy harder than most other countries

Five years since the start of the pandemic, Britain is still dealing with a spike in public debt, 1.2 million extra people on sickness benefits and a record postwar tax burden.
Sha'Carri Richardson competes in a women's 100-meter heat at the U.S. Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon, on July 31.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 4, 2025

Christian Coleman defends Sha'Carri Richardson after reported arrest

Reigning 100-meter world champion Richardson was arrested for domestic violence at a Seattle airport ahead of the U.S. Track & Field Championships
A worker fumigates for mosquitos on a rooftop sewer in Guangzhou, China, on July 30.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Aug 4, 2025

Hong Kong sees first mosquito-borne illness from China outbreak

Foshan, a city just 90 minutes away by high-speed train, has seen over 6,500 people affected in the past few weeks.
Reflecting CEO Masayoshi Son's artificial intelligence-focused strategy, SoftBank Group has boosted its stakes in Nvidia and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 5, 2025

SoftBank builds Nvidia and TSMC stakes under Son’s focus on AI gear

SoftBank Group raised its stake in Nvidia to about $3 billion by the end of March and bought around $330 million worth of TSMC shares.
The Carp's Sandro Fabian hits an RBI single against the Swallows during the first inning at Jingu Stadium in Tokyo on July 21.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Aug 5, 2025

Central League votes to adopt designated hitter rule from 2027

The change means NPB’s two leagues will operate under the same set of rules for the first time since the Pacific League adopted the designated hitter in 1975.
Naomi Osaka reacts after winning a point against Elina Svitolina in quarterfinal play at IGA Stadium in Montreal on Tuesday.
TENNIS
Aug 6, 2025

Sizzling Osaka to face Tauson in WTA Canadian Open semis

Osaka seeks her eighth WTA-level title, and her first since a maternity leave comeback last year.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman attends a talk session with SoftBank group Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son in Tokyo on February 3.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 6, 2025

OpenAI releases two ‘open’ AI models after DeepSeek’s success

The release is a new business strategy for the ChatGPT developer and allows users to customize and run AI systems themselves.
The National Tax Agency at the Ministry of Finance, Kasumigaseki, Tokyo. Japanese tax authorities can bill foreign residents in Japan for assets inherited globally.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 7, 2025

Japan's inheritance tax is high, unforgiving and sometimes avoidable

Under certain circumstances, overseas inheritance can pass tax-free to foreigners who are residents in the country.
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.
Haji Karam Jat (right), a fisherman, and his family members walk along an embankment in Keti Bandar town of Thatta district near the Indus delta, in the south of Pakistan on June 25.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Aug 7, 2025

Death of a delta: Pakistan's Indus sinks and shrinks

More than 1.2 million people have been displaced from the region in the last two decades as the downstream flow of water into the delta has fallen 80% since the 1950s.
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.
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.
Russian President Vladimir Putin views Tu-160M strategic bombers at the Kazan Aviation Factory in Kazan, Russia, in February 2024.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 8, 2025

Stagflation is hitting Russia’s war economy

Putin apparently does not think his popularity could withstand devoting much more of the budget to the war effort.
From left to right: Green Legacy Hiroshima volunteer staff Mariko Kikuchi, Tomoko Watanabe, Nassrine Azimi and Sophie Qano stand before one of the trees that survived the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
COMMUNITY / Issues
Aug 9, 2025

A campaign to preserve Hiroshima’s historic trees for another 1,000 years

A total of 170 trees survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. Since 2011, a nonprofit organization has been dedicated to sharing their seeds and saplings with the world.
Aryna Sabalenka hits a forehand during her win over Marketa Vondrousova at the Cincinnati Open on Saturday.
TENNIS
Aug 10, 2025

Defending champions Sabalenka and Sinner cruise through Cincinnati second round

Sabalenka, who had a first-round bye, had not played since her semifinal defeat at Wimbledon and said the downtime served her well.
Ichiro speaks during a ceremony to retire his number a T-Mobile Park in Seattle on Sunday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 11, 2025

Mariners to honor Ichiro with statue at T-Mobile Park in 2026

The Seattle Mariners will unveil a statue of franchise legend Ichiro Suzuki at T-Mobile Park during the 2026 season.

Longform

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?