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U.S. President Joe Biden waves as he boards Air Force One prior to departure from Dane County Regional Airport in Madison, Wisconsin, o Friday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 6, 2024

Biden allies abroad think it’s untenable for him to stay on

Some officials are now saying that Biden should step aside for someone with a better shot at beating rival Donald Trump.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrive to deliver a joint statement following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 6, 2024

Kyiv and allies slam Hungary's Orban for Ukraine talks with Putin

Hungary's six-month EU presidency gives the central European country sway over the bloc's agenda and priorities for the next six months.
Japanese troops during an amphibious landing exercise on Tokunoshima island, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan is letting go of old assumptions about the reliability of the rules-based international order and is making efforts to boost its military capabilities.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 8, 2024

As militaries are rebuilt, are we turning American?

Some countries stopped investing in their militaries and defense under the illusion that the rules-based order would prevail. Now, they're facing tough, new realities.
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games' opening ceremony, which will be held outside of a stadium for the first time in history, has attracted a lot of interest from Japanese fans.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 10, 2024

Japan fans shun pricey Olympics tickets even as top-tier packages sell out

Travel agencies report a noticeable drop in demand for Paris Olympics tours amid a weakening of the yen and the introduction of a new booking system.
Ground Self-Defense Force troops conduct a military drill on the uninhabited island of Irisuna in Okinawa Prefecture in November.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 12, 2024

Japan’s new defense white paper delivers strongest words yet on Taiwan

Tokyo pins the blame squarely on China's large-scale military exercises around the democratically ruled island for continued tensions in the region.
Beds that once were used by children to take naps at a kindergarten-turned-elderly center in Taiyuan, in China's northern Shanxi province, on July 2
ASIA PACIFIC / Society / FOCUS
Jul 13, 2024

Chinese kindergartens pivot to senior care as population ages

Some educational facilities are remaking themselves as a recreational center for people of retirement age and above.
Japanese athletes during a send-off ceremony for the upcoming Paris Games, in Tokyo on July 5.
OLYMPICS
Jul 13, 2024

Mental health experts to join Japan delegation at Paris Olympics

It will be the first Summer Olympics during which such experts, called "welfare officers," will accompany Japanese athletes.
Former U.S. President and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to his vice presidential pick, Sen. J.D. Vance, during the second day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 17, 2024

Trump's VP pick signals stronger focus on China

J.D. Vance represents a hardening of Trump’s “America First” stance, but could also help push a tougher line on China and support for democratic Taiwan.
PwC is considering slashing up to half its financial services auditing staff in China and about 20% of its staff in other auditing teams and nonauditing business lines.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 17, 2024

PwC weighs halving of China financial services audit staff, say sources

The firm has 781 partners and nearly 19,000 employees in mainland China as of last September.
The general secretary of Vietnam's Communist Party, Nguyen Phu Trong, in February 2021. Trong died on Friday at age 80, state media said.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 19, 2024

Vietnam's most powerful Communist Party leader dies

For months, Trong had appeared frail at public events or missed them outright and on Thursday his duties as party chief were taken over by President To Lam.
Japan midfielder Yu Hirakawa controls the ball during a match against the United States in Kansas City, Kansas, on June 11.
OLYMPICS
Jul 23, 2024

Japan eyes gold — and the future — as Olympic men's soccer campaign begins

With the squad being the only one in Paris not to feature any overage players, it is clear that this competition is partly about building for the future.
Demonstrators hold a rally in Tbilisi, Georgia, in May against a bill labeling organizations that receive foreign funding as spies. The passing of the so-called Russia law has been a setback for Georgia's democracy.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Jul 29, 2024

Democracy is on tenuous ground this ‘election year’

From former Soviet countries to India and even the U.S., democracies are backsliding and authoritarianism is gaining ground, with far-reaching global implications.
French fans cheer on their team during an Olympic rugby sevens match on Sunday. Fans are back in force at the Games and providing a lively atmosphere for the competition after COVID-19 forced the Tokyo and Beijing Olympics to be mostly played without spectators.
OLYMPICS
Jul 29, 2024

The Olympic roar is back in Paris after two pandemic-hit Games

The sights and sounds of the Olympics have returned to normal this year, with fans able to attend the Games without restrictions for the first time since 2018.
The U.S. Capitol building stands past visitors taking photographs at the Washington Monument in Washington in 2017.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 30, 2024

Russia, Iran and China all seek to shape U.S. election, officials say

Some U.S. citizens have been knowingly helping foreign governments shape the election narrative while others have been tricked into helping.
Shujun Wang leaves the federal courthouse in Brooklyn on June 26 during his trial on charges that he acted as an agent of a foreign government. Wang, who billed himself as a scholar and a democracy activist, was convicted in Brooklyn federal court on Tuesday of acting as a spy for the Chinese Communist Party.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 7, 2024

Chinese academic convicted of acting as foreign agent in U.S.

The U.S. Department of Justice is cracking down on what it calls "transnational repression" by U.S. adversaries such as China and Iran.
American Quincy Hall crosses the line to win gold in the men's 400-meter sprint at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday.
OLYMPICS / Athletics
Aug 8, 2024

Quincy Hall shows sheer grit to win Olympic 400-meter title

The 26-year-old lunged at the line to pip Britain's Matthew Hudson-Smith, who set a new European record of 43.44 seconds.
Across Japan, sports fans are sacrificing a good night’s sleep to catch their favorite Olympics events and beloved athletes.
OLYMPICS
Aug 9, 2024

Sleepless in Japan: How to recover from ‘Olympic fever’

The Paris Olympics are just about done, so sleep-deprived sports junkies can take comfort in the fact that they’ll soon be able to get a full night’s rest.
Fireworks are set off during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics at Stade de France in Saint-Denis on Sunday.
OLYMPICS
Aug 12, 2024

France brings down the curtain on its Olympic party with Tom Cruise and Leon Marchand

Following a tumultuous buildup to the Games, France staged a successful and mostly problem-free Olympics.
Former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi says changes in the international balance of power, along with deepening economic interdependence, have led some countries to attempt to use their economic power to impose their will on others.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 13, 2024

Economic security is about strengthening and sustaining growth, former minister says

The nascent concept goes beyond more regulations and restrictions, says Japan's first economic security minister, Takayuki Kobayashi.
Berlin's growing military engagement with Indo-Pacific allies and partners is meant to signal that Germany "stands firmly at the side of those countries that are committed to complying with international law and do not accept it being called into  question," German Navy chief Vice Adm. Kaack told The Japan Times.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2024

Sea lane fears drive German military's Asian engagement, navy chief says

Developments in the Indo-Pacific, both economic and geopolitical, have direct implications for the security and prosperity of Germany, Vice Adm. Jan Christian Kaack says.
Military vehicles carrying DF-26 ballistic missiles travel past Beijing's Tiananmen Gate during a military parade to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in Beijing in September 2015.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 21, 2024

Biden approved secret nuclear strategy refocusing on Chinese threat

In a new classified document, the U.S. president ordered preparations for possible coordinated nuclear confrontations with Russia, China and North Korea.
A ship transports passengers to Honiara Port in the Solomon Islands. The region’s maritime location between Asia, North America and Australia is set to keep it at the forefront of major powers’ defense strategies.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 22, 2024

New ‘great game’ in Pacific between U.S. and China puts development at risk

Great power attention in the Pacific could cause local needs like poverty reduction, education, health and other key areas to be neglected in favor of strategic projects.
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the government, via video link at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow on Aug. 22.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 31, 2024

Kremlin says not worried Putin could be arrested in Mongolia

Putin will travel to Mongolia on Tuesday, his first trip to an ICC member since The Hague-based court issued a warrant for his arrest.
Ashwini Vaishnav (left), the Indian minister of electronics and information technology, and N. Chandrasekaran, the chairman of Tata Sons, take part in the foundation stone laying ceremony for India's first AI-enabled semiconductor fabrication facilities in Dholera, Gujarat, India, on March 13.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 9, 2024

Could India become an alternative to China in the ‘chip war’?

As decoupling from China gains traction, the U.S. and its allies are betting on India for supply chain restructuring and semiconductor development.
Swallows star Norichika Aoki announced his plan to retire on Friday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Sep 13, 2024

Swallows great Norichika Aoki to retire

Veteran Tokyo Yakult Swallows outfielder Norichika Aoki, one of the best hitters Japan has ever seen, plans to retire at the end of this season, he announced on Friday.
President Xi Jinping last week appeared to signal tolerance for a rate slightly lower than 5%.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 16, 2024

China’s deepening slowdown tests Xi’s tolerance for growth miss

The People’s Bank of China signaled in a rare statement alongside disappointing credit data that fighting deflation would become a higher priority.
National People's Power presidential candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayaka attends the launch of his election manifesto in Colombo on Aug. 26.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 16, 2024

Sri Lanka's leftist leader turns from bullets to ballots

Anura Kumara Dissanayaka has emerged as a serious contender in the presidential polls on Sept. 21.
French Ambassador Philippe Setton says that, despite previous differences over whether Japan should host a NATO liaison office, Paris aims to deepen ties with Tokyo "in all security areas."
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 18, 2024

France-Japan military pact expected by year-end, envoy to Tokyo says

Concerns over the worsening security situation in the Indo-Pacific are speeding up negotiations on a visiting-forces pact between France and Japan.
Yonaguni Mayor Kenichi Itokazu speaks to a Ground Self-Defense Force soldier at the town hall on Yonaguni, Japan's westernmost inhabited island in Okinawa Prefecture last  November.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 26, 2024

Deterring Taiwan conflict is top priority for Japan's ‘front-line’ mayor

The mayor believes the U.S. and Japan must do away with "strategic ambiguity" over Taiwan if they intend to keep China in check.
Pedestrians in the Chinatown neighborhood of New York on Dec. 26, 2023
WORLD / Society
Sep 27, 2024

Chinese Americans face racism and mental health risks amid tensions

Survey respondents were presented with questions covering their experience of discrimination, political engagement and opinions on China-U.S. relations.

Longform

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