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Tournament Director Stephen Farrow (far left) and others pose with United Cup trophy at the draw for the competition in Sydney on Oct. 21.
TENNIS
Oct 22, 2024

United Cup is here to stay, says tournament director

The tournament kicks off its third edition in Perth on Dec. 27, just 33 days after the Davis Cup finals conclude in Spain.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba arrives to deliver a campaign speech in Osaka on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 23, 2024

Polls show Japan's ruling bloc could lose its majority. What would happen then?

Depending on the final count, one option for the LDP and Komeito might be to invite another party into a coalition.
Preparations ahead of the Bloomberg New Economy event at the B20 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Wednesday
WORLD / Politics
Oct 24, 2024

Brazil's business leaders reluctant to pick between U.S. and China ties

Brazil’s agriculture minister has called for the country to join China’s Belt and Road, the superpower’s flagship global trade and infrastructure program.
A demonstration calling for the return of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Lucerne, Switzerland, in June. Securing detainees' fair treatment and release isn't important only for resolving the Russia-Ukraine war, but to uphold human rights writ large.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Oct 25, 2024

Human rights are key to resolving the war in Ukraine

The war against Russia can't be won without clear political objectives. This also means not losing sight of the need to uphold human rights in Ukraine, and beyond.
In Japan, terms like "progressive," "liberal," "conservative," and "nationalist" may sound familiar but do not align with their meanings in other democracies.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 25, 2024

How to understand labels in Japanese politics

The issues that define political labels are often unique to Japan. As a result, quite a few Western authors will pick them up and use them.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 27, 2024

Is Kamala Harris’ race or gender affecting her support? ‘It’s very complicated.’

While she frequently recounts her background on the campaign trail, Harris tends to focus more on her middle-class roots than her race or gender.
This screen grab released on Oct. 26 by the Israeli military shows one of its air force planes departing to carry out strikes on Iran.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 27, 2024

Israel’s strike on Iran was smart. Now take the win.

Both Iran and Israel need to reconsider their aggressive postures to prevent a devastating regional conflict.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda responds to questions during a governors talk on Japanese inflation and monetary policy at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group meeting in Washington on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Oct 28, 2024

BOJ on quest for better communication as more rate hikes loom

Communicating in a unified voice could prove challenging if each policymaker interprets data differently.
After a two-day meeting of the Bank of Japan policy board ends on Thursday, Gov. Kazuo Ueda is likely to stick to the script and repeat almost verbatim his previous remarks.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 30, 2024

Bank of Japan set to stay course with Ueda seen sticking to script

Deviations from expectations in the statement could have an impact on markets, analysts say.
Manchester United interim manager Ruud Van Nistelrooy hugs Amad Diallo after the team's League Cup win over Leicester City in Manchester, England on Wednesday.
SOCCER
Oct 31, 2024

Ruud Van Nistelrooy lends hand as United targets Ruben Amorim as next manager

Van Nistelrooy enjoyed a winning start as interim manager with United beating Leicester 5-2 to reach the League Cup quarterfinals.
Democratic Party for the People Secretary-General Kazuya Shimba (left) and Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Hiroshi Moriyama meet in the Diet building in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 31, 2024

LDP and DPP inch closer together on economic policy cooperation

If their arrangement is successful, it would mean a majority of parliamentary votes for issues especially important to the DPP.
Smoke rises from the site of explosive detonations in the southern Lebanese village of Khiam on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Nov 1, 2024

Hezbollah willing to bend but not break for a truce

With much of its senior leadership killed and its strongholds pulverized, Hezbollah could use the recovery time that a truce would offer.
Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the Democratic Party for the People, speaks during an interview in Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS
Nov 1, 2024

Japan’s potential kingmaker says BOJ shouldn’t hike before March

The central bank needs to closely examine the results of next year’s wage deal results before moving on policy again, Tamaki said.
Ukrainian law enforcement officers comfort a woman crying over the body of her 15-year-old son following a missile attack in Kharkiv on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Nov 2, 2024

In Ukraine, hopes of war breakthrough slim whoever wins U.S. election

For many in war-torn county, the outcome of the U.S. election and its impact on the war with Russia feels less likely to be pivotal than it once did.
The closing session of the United Nations' COP16 summit in Cali, Colombia, on Friday
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Nov 2, 2024

Talks on halting nature loss run into extra time in Colombia

A closing plenary session started more than four hours late as groups of negotiators huddled behind closed doors seeking to iron out their differences.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Salem, Virginia, on Saturday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 3, 2024

Climate skeptics are hatching big plans for a second Trump term

Pushed to the fringes during the Biden administration, they are now preparing to revive coal, gut the EPA and limit the tools used by climate scientists.
As the European Commission prepares to make decisions on Google’s practices by the end of 2024, there is hope for a collaborative approach with U.S. regulators to create meaningful structural reforms.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2024

Google’s breakup needs an international tag team

There’s a growing consensus among regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to redefine antitrust harm beyond just pricing issues.
While NATO membership is unlikely until the war concludes, some NATO members are open to allowing Ukraine to strike deep into Russia, though U.S. President Joe Biden remains hesitant.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 4, 2024

Biden has a crucial decision to make on Ukraine

Biden may not be the U.S. president to make the congratulatory call to Ukraine's leader when peace is declared, but he can help keep him in the fight until it happens.
Colombian Environment Minister and COP16 President, Susana Muhamad, attends the last plenary session of the COP16 Summit in Cali, Colombia, on Saturday.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Nov 4, 2024

U.N. nature summit ends in limbo as countries spar over funding

Notwithstanding the last-minute drama, the summit did achieve some of its goals.
The guidance provided in the White House’s first-ever National Security Memorandum on artificial intelligence is bound to have implications for U.S. allies and partners, some of which are already struggling to keep up with the fast pace of technological change.
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Nov 4, 2024

New U.S. AI guidance puts pressure on allies — and rivals — to adopt tech

The extent to which these guidelines will be fully implemented in Washington may ultimately depend on one important factor, however: Tuesday's presidential election.
Donald Trump and Kamala Harris concluded their presidential campaigns on Monday with closing arguments that mirrored, in tone and in substance, the competing visions they have offered a deeply divided nation.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 5, 2024

Harris and Trump conclude historic campaign with dueling rallies

Their closing arguments mirrored, in tone and in substance, the competing visions they have offered a deeply divided nation.
Democratic Party for the People chief Yuichiro Tamaki (left) and his counterpart in the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, Yoshihiko Noda, meet in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 5, 2024

Opposition parties band together to shape Lower House agenda

Four main opposition parties have agreed to jointly request the opening of a session of the budget committee and a special committee on political reform.
An exhibition of captured military hardware from NATO countries in Moscow in May.  Whatever the results of the U.S. presidential election, the prospect of improved U.S.-Russia relations seems even more distant.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 6, 2024

Whether Trump or Harris, pessimism reigns in Russia over U.S. election winner

The sentiment is prevalent in a Russia that feels scorned and underestimated by Democrat administrations and betrayed by Trump.
A sign shows people where to vote in the 2024 presidential election on Election Day in Dearborn, Michigan, on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 6, 2024

China braces for more rivalry as close U.S. presidential race ends

Regardless of who wins, Beijing faces four more years of bitter superpower rivalry over anything from trade to Taiwan.
A child looks out of a tent at a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) school-turned-camp for internally displaced people in Deir el-Balah on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 7, 2024

U.N. to Israel: Replacing UNRWA relief agency would be your responsibility

The United Nations has repeatedly said there is no alternative to UNRWA.
Onlookers watch a broadcast of Republican candidate Donald Trump addressing his election night watch party, in Times Square, New York, on Wednesday. Trump has been elected the 47th president of the United States, pulling off a stunning political comeback in one of the most polarized contests for the White House in U.S. history.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Nov 7, 2024

U.S. allies and partners gird for return of ‘transactional’ Trump

Trump is expected to raise his demands at every turn, a scenario that could very well play out with Japan, especially if Tokyo remains mired in political turmoil.
European Union Ambassador to Japan Jean-Eric Paquet says the bloc's unprecedented security and defense partnership recently launched with Japan is a clear reflection of Brussels' moves to “enhance and fortify ties” with its Indo-Pacific partners.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 8, 2024

New EU-Japan partnership to take ties to ‘next level,’ envoy to Tokyo says

It will complement existing initiatives between Tokyo and individual European states and pave the way for broader, collective measures at the EU level in critical areas.
Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Itsunori Onodera (right) and his Democratic Party for the People counterpart, Makoto Hamaguchi, meet in Tokyo on Friday to discuss policies their parties could potentially agree on.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 8, 2024

LDP between a rock and a hard place in struggle to get DPP support

The opposition party wants to raise the threshold for tax exemptions from the current ¥1.03 million ($6,740), a move that would cost the government tax revenues.
Outgoing German Finance Minister Christian Lindner receives his dismissal certificate after being sacked by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, following a coalition crisis in the government, in Berlin on Thursday.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 8, 2024

Germany’s government puts itself out of its misery

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz sacked his Finance Minister Christian Lindner over deep rifts within the government on how to revive Germany’s ailing economy.
An automated truck is seen at Anglo American's Quellaveco copper mine in Peru in April.
JAPAN
Nov 9, 2024

Japan and Peru to agree on mineral mining technology tie-up, report says

Resource-poor Japan has been actively reinforcing global supply chains for critical minerals — essential components for decarbonization technology.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?