Search - 2020

 
 
A boy next to a nearly dried-up lake during an electricity blackout in Yangon on Thursday
ASIA PACIFIC
May 3, 2024

Myanmar's junta stops issuing permits for men to work abroad

The junta said in February it would enforce a law allowing it to call up all men to serve in the military for at least two years.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen runs during a Diamond League meet in Brussels on Sept. 8, 2023.
OLYMPICS
May 3, 2024

Jakob Ingebrigtsen expects Paris to be 'walk in the park' compared to Tokyo

Jakob Ingebrigtsen believes his 1,500-meter Olympic title defense will be a breeze as long as he avoids illness and injury on the road to Paris.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks about student protests at U.S. universities during brief remarks at the White House in Washington on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
May 3, 2024

After breaking silence, Biden faces balancing act on Gaza demos

Biden took a tough, law-and-order tone after police broke up some of the protests that have rocked U.S. college campuses.
Jiro Suzuki, head of Kosaka Railroad Railpark in Kosaka, Akita Prefecture, stands next to a retired Akebono sleeper train that is now being used as a lodging facility, on April 22.
JAPAN / Society
May 3, 2024

Lodging in 'blue train' to resume in Japan after five-year hiatus

Services using the retired sleeper train are set to restart Saturday after five years of suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tiger Woods accepted a special exemption to compete in this year's U.S. Open, the USGA announced on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
May 3, 2024

Tiger Woods accepts special exemption into U.S. Open

"The U.S. Open, our national championship, is a truly special event for our game and one that has helped define my career," Woods said.
The Singapore skyline. The Wall Street Journal will be shifting its Asia base to the city from Hong Kong.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 3, 2024

Wall Street Journal moves Asia base from Hong Kong to Singapore

The U.S. newspaper said its decision comes after other foreign firms have reconsidered their operations in the Chinese financial hub.
Resistance soldiers ride in the back of a pickup truck in southern Karenni State, Myanmar, on Jan. 28. Three years after a military coup, the Southeast Asian nation is teetering on the brink of failed statehood.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 3, 2024

What’s happening in Myanmar’s civil war?

The military is still the country’s most influential institution, and a militarized culture pervades many areas that ethnic minorities control.
Strong family ties act as an insurance against economic and other shocks and can be strengthened by government policies that promote intergenerational solidarity.
COMMENTARY / World
May 3, 2024

As families change, so must safety nets

Intergenerational family ties act as a form of insurance. Governments like Singapore's are supporting such arrangements and others should follow suit.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and her Sri Lankan counterpart, Ali Sabry, after a bilateral meeting in Colombo on Saturday.
JAPAN
May 4, 2024

Japan seeks Sri Lanka recovery for regional stability

After talks with her Sri Lankan counterpart, Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said that Colombo should secure agreements with bilateral lenders.
An attendee holds a cardboard cutout of Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway, inside the CHI Health Center during the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, on Saturday.
BUSINESS
May 5, 2024

Buffett says Berkshire in good hands, lauds Apple despite lowering stake

The legendary investor paid tribute to his late business partner and said he expected the conglomerate’s $189 billion cash pile to keep growing.
Over the past two years, 2.4 million people arrived in Canada, more than the population of the U.S. state of New Mexico. Yet Canada barely added enough housing that would cater to just the residents of the New Mexico capital of Albuquerque.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 6, 2024

Global housing shortages are crushing immigration-fueled growth

In developed economies such as Canada, Australia and the U.K., life is getting tougher for both locals and immigrants alike.
Quantas will pay out AU$20 million between more than 86,000 customers who booked tickets on the so-called "ghost flights" and pay an AU$100 million fine instead of defending the lawsuit that it had previously vowed to fight.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 6, 2024

Australia's Qantas to pay $79 million to settle flight cancellation case

The fine is the biggest ever for an Australian airline and among the largest globally in the sector.
A social welfare office in Tokyo sets up a counter for special COVID loans in June 2020.
JAPAN
May 7, 2024

Only 37% of COVID-19 special loans were repaid in Japan

Some special loan recipients had been facing financial difficulties even before the pandemic
A news conference is held following a settlement being reached in a labor tribunal proceeding in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
May 7, 2024

Nondisclosure issue a lingering problem in Japan labor cases

One worker in Osaka Prefecture is contesting a nondisclosure clause that was added to her labor tribunal case's resolution against her will.
Her, a self-described feminist bar in Shanghai, on March 15. Women in Shanghai gather in bars, salons and bookstores to reclaim their identities as the country’s leader calls for China to adopt a “childbearing culture.”
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
May 7, 2024

In China, ruled by men, women quietly find a powerful voice

Women in Shanghai gather to reclaim their identities as the country’s leader calls for China to adopt a “childbearing culture.”
Tokyo DisneySea Fantasy Springs Hotel is set to open in June in the theme park's new section featuring areas based on "Frozen," "Tangled" and "Peter Pan."
BUSINESS
May 7, 2024

Tokyo DisneySea taps ‘Frozen’ and 'Peter Pan' in ¥320 billion expansion

The expansion, which opens to the public June 6, is expected to help boost total annual sales by ¥75 billion.
Beijing is quietly supporting the Kremlin’s war machine. For China, the longer the West stays distracted with the Ukraine war, the better.
COMMENTARY / World
May 7, 2024

The West is hastening its own decline

Unless it changes course, the West is likely to lose its global supremacy, including its hold on the international financial architecture.
Workers on the production line at a cotton textile factory in Korla, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China, on April 1, 2021
BUSINESS
May 8, 2024

Banned Chinese cotton found in 19% of U.S. and global retailers' merchandise, study shows

The U.S. enacted a law in 2021 to safeguard its market from products potentially tainted by human rights abuses in Xinjiang, a major cotton producer.
Cleaning worker Hu Dexi, 67, at a shopping mall in Beijing on April 10
BUSINESS / Economy
May 8, 2024

In rapidly aging China, millions can't afford to retire

With a low retirement age, meager pension benefits and no family to support them, many in China feel they simply can't ever stop working.
Sony employees simulate the physical sensations of pregnancy at the company’s headquarters in Tokyo in February. The simple power of numbers can begin to remake workplace cultures, but many Japanese women still struggle to balance their careers with domestic obligations.
JAPAN / Society
May 8, 2024

It took decades, but Japan’s working women are making progress

Employers have taken steps to change a male-dominated workplace culture. But women still struggle to balance their careers with domestic obligations.
Medical workers take care of a COVID-19 patient on a mechanical ventilator, in a negative pressure room in an intensive care unit at St. Marianna University School of Medicine Yokohama City Seibu Hospital in Yokohama in August 2021.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 8, 2024

Many still face COVID aftereffects a year after assessment downgrade

As there is no cure yet for long-lasting symptoms, doctors are calling on people to continue taking infection preventative measures.
Russian officers march during the main military parade rehearsals in Moscow's Red Square on May 5.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 8, 2024

Russia’s war economy starves crucial oil industry of manpower

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, its oil and gas sector has faced increasingly strict international sanctions aimed at limiting petrodollar revenue.
Despite Shinzo Abe's numerous achievements as prime minister, including job creation and efforts to promote workforce gender equality, recent controversies surrounding his tenure, including ties to controversial groups and scandals within his political faction, have tarnished his image.
COMMENTARY
May 7, 2024

The economic legacy of Japan's longest-serving prime minister

Under Abenomics and the BOJ's monetary policy, employment rose more than under any other Japanese government in the 21st century.
Antigovernment protesters sing the protest anthem "Glory to Hong Kong" on May 13, 2020.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 9, 2024

Hong Kong court bans protest anthem, saying it can be used as weapon

The ruling to ban the anthem "Glory to Hong Kong" comes amid what critics say is an erosion in Hong Kong's rule of law and individual rights.
Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (left) works against the Timberwolves' Rudy Gobert during the second quarter in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series in Denver on May 4.
BASKETBALL / NBA
May 9, 2024

Nuggets star Nikola Jokic named NBA MVP for third time in four seasons

Jokic is the ninth player to win the award three or more times.
Cambodia's then-Prime Minister Hun Sen and Aung San Suu Kyi walk past the honor guard during her visit to Phnom Penh on April 30, 2019. Myanmar's junta said on Wednesday that it would not permit Hun Sen to meet with Suu Kyi, who has been detained since a 2021 coup.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 9, 2024

Myanmar junta rebuffs Hun Sen's request to meet Suu Kyi

Cambodia's former leader said he had requested a meeting with the Nobel laureate, detained since 2021, during talks with junta chief Min Aung Hlaing.
Workers make pods for e-cigarettes on the production line at Kanger Tech, one of China's leading manufacturers of vaping products, on Sept. 24, 2019 in Shenzhen, China.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 9, 2024

China’s factory glut alarms the world, but there’s no quick fix

European Union leaders, who are threatening tariffs on electric cars, were the latest to scold China about overcapacity, but there are no plans to change.
SoftBank Group is in talks to acquire Graphcore, a struggling British semiconductor startup.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 9, 2024

SoftBank said to be in talks to buy troubled AI chip firm Graphcore

Graphcore reported just $2.7 million in revenue for 2022, a 46% drop from the prior year, according to its latest financial report.
Pete Reynolds (front row, right) has trained for 38 years with the Bujinkan, an organization that teaches skills used by ninja. The American moved to Japan in 2000 and is now a senior instructor at the organization’s dojo in the Nezu neighborhood in Tokyo.
LIFE / Lifestyle
May 10, 2024

The unexpected acolytes helping to keep ninja heritage alive

What may have started as youthful fantasy has led to a deeper passion in an area of Japanese history by non-Japanese martial arts practitioners.
A toddler tries to pull an electric kettle cord. Parents can often recognize the dangers within their own home, but may not be as vigilant when visiting new places during the holidays.
JAPAN / Society
May 10, 2024

Indoor child safety warnings issued for caregivers in Japan

Parents can often recognize the dangers within their own home, but may not be as vigilant when visiting new places during the holidays.

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