Search - 2020

 
 
A general view of the Belmarsh prison in London on May 20
WORLD / Politics
Jul 10, 2024

U.K.'s overflowing prisons present PM Starmer with early crisis

The U.K. prison population has doubled over 30 years despite falling crime rates, and is projected to exceed 100,000 by 2026.
Politicians pay their respects to former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday in the city of Nagato, Yamaguchi Prefecture.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 11, 2024

Two years after Abe’s death, LDP's conservatives still lack direction

The absence of a figure who is able to embody conservative ideals and marshal widespread consensus within the party has weighed heavily on conservatives.
U.S. President Joe Biden attends a NATO event to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the alliance in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 12, 2024

Why Joe won't go: Behind Biden's rejection of calls to leave the race

The reasons U.S. President Joe Biden won't step down range from the deeply personal to party politics.
Located in Yokohama's chic Minato Mirai neighborhood, the Kahala Hotel & Resort opened in 2020 but still has the feeling of a newly launched accommodation.
LIFE / Travel
Jul 13, 2024

The paradox of a five-star Hawaiian-themed hotel in Yokohama

What manner of overseas tourist would come all the way to Japan just to stay at a Hawaiian-themed hotel?
A down jacket that uses recycled feathers. An Environment Ministry survey has shown that around 60% of newly supplied clothing in Japan is expected to be discarded without being reused.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 12, 2024

Japan aims to recycle 50,000 metric tons of discarded clothing

Large amounts of clothes are being thrown away as a result of massive production amid the spread of fast fashion.
Masayoshi Son, chairman and chief executive officer of SoftBank Group, speaks during a news conference in Tokyo in June.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 12, 2024

SoftBank buys struggling U.K. chip startup Graphcore in AI race

The deal marks Softbank's second acquisition of a U.K. semiconductor firm, following its 2016 purchase of Cambridge-based Arm Holdings.
Yuta Watanabe played in 34 NBA games this season, including five for the Grizzlies.
BASKETBALL / B. League
Jul 12, 2024

Jets signs former NBA player Yuta Watanabe for upcoming season

The 29-year-old forward and the team have a "basic agreement" on a contract for the 2024-25 season.
England's Jude Bellingham celebrates after the team's Euro 2024 semifinal win over the Netherlands on Wednesday in Dortmund, Germany.
SOCCER
Jul 12, 2024

England ready to reap benefits of decade of development in Euro 2024 final

England will face Spain in the Euro 2024 final.
Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Longform
Jul 14, 2024

The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'

Great pianists aren't made overnight, it takes years of practice. It can all be undone in a matter of days, however, due to a medical condition called dystonia.
U.S. President Joe Biden prior to a rally in Detroit on Friday
WORLD / Politics
Jul 14, 2024

Is Biden competent to serve again? Here's what health experts say.

A battery of new cognitive tests could enlighten voters on the mental abilities of both Biden and Trump, who has had his own share of verbal lapses.
Shuji Ogawa of PD Aerospace (left) shows the PDAS-X06 unmanned aircraft at Shimojishima Airport in Okinawa Prefecture in March 2023, before it crashed into the sea during a test flight later that year.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Jul 22, 2024

Okinawa space ambitions still strong a year after test-flight crash

The aircraft's developer aims to realize space travel by manned spacecraft from an airport in the prefecture.
Mai Tarumi, who previously volunteered at the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, has a travel budget of ¥1 million for her trip to volunteer at the Paris Games.
OLYMPICS
Jul 14, 2024

She’s paying ¥1 million to help behind the scenes at the Paris Olympics

While news sites have suggested that being a volunteer is a way to attend the Games for “free,” that doesn’t apply to international volunteers like Mai Tarumi.
Spain's Carlos Alcaraz celebrates after beating Serbia's Novak Djokovic during their men's singles final tennis match on the fourteenth day of the 2024 Wimbledon Championships on Sunday.
TENNIS
Jul 15, 2024

No escape from Alcaraz as Djokovic suffers Wimbledon mauling

For much of Alcaraz's 6-2 6-2 7-6(4) victory — a scoreline that flattered Djokovic — the packed crowd in the old arena were left stunned at what they were witnessing.
UAE Team Emirates team's Slovenian rider Tadej Pogacar cycles to the finish line to win the 15th stage of the 111th edition of the Tour de France cycling race, 197.7 kilometers between Loudenvielle and Plateau de Beille, in the Pyrenees mountains of southwestern France on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS
Jul 15, 2024

Pogacar pulverizes opposition at Tour de France

The Slovenian extended his overall lead to more than three minutes on Sunday with a convincing second straight stage win in the Pyrenees.
An air conditioning unit being installed in Kotor, Montenegro, on June 22. Life almost stopped in Montenegro’s capital Podgorica earlier this summer, with cars and buses getting stuck in gridlock as traffic lights went out, the internet crashed and security alarms blared in reaction to a sudden loss of power supply.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Jul 15, 2024

The world’s power grids are failing as the planet warms

Hotter summers cause spikes in demand for cooling, but upgrades to power infrastructure haven’t kept pace with climate change.
Ohio Senator JD Vance at Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Monday
WORLD / Politics
Jul 16, 2024

Trump taps Vance as running mate, picking populist protege

Sen. J.D. Vance’s selection saw Donald Trump bypass many of the senator’s own colleagues, including Tim Scott of South Carolina and Marco Rubio of Florida.
A worker at Sakai Seisakusyo prepares to transport metal rods at its factory in Kakamigahara, Gifu Prefecture, on July 8.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Jul 16, 2024

Japan finds a 'stealth' cure for zombie businesses: Let them fail

The shift in thinking is a clear departure for a country that has typically sought to avoid bankruptcies and protect existing jobs at the cost of productivity.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump during the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Monday
WORLD / Politics
Jul 16, 2024

Trump makes his grand RNC entrance with a bandaged ear and a VP pick

Donald Trump entered the venue to a standing ovation that lasted several minutes, during the Republican National Committee’s convention.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump campaigns for president in Racine, Wisconsin, on June 18.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 17, 2024

Trump security was tightened on Iran plot intel; no link to shooting

There has been a broad pattern of threats against former Trump administration officials after the 2020 killing of the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.
China's 15-day visa-free policy is giving tourism a huge boost, with bookings from eligible countries surging 150% and attracting millions of visitors post-pandemic.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 17, 2024

China strives to lure foreign tourists, but it's a hard sell for some

The recent surge in tourism comes after China closed its borders in early 2020 to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, and kept them shut until the start of 2023.
Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy participates in a practice round on Tuesday in Troon, Scotland, ahead of the British Open.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
Jul 17, 2024

Scheffler and DeChambeau loom over McIlroy's bid for major redemption

McIlroy's major drought continued in last month's U.S. Open, where he agonizingly finished second after bogeying three of his last four holes.
Several people from Nomura Holdings in charge of Asia excluding Japan are leaving the company, according to an internal memo.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 17, 2024

Nomura reshuffles Asia investment banking team and cuts jobs in slump

A management change coincides with a new round of job cuts involving about 10 bankers this week, sources have said.
Illustrious historical figures swoop in to save Japan amid the COVID-19 pandemic in “What If Shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa Was to Become the Prime Minister.”
CULTURE / Film
Jul 18, 2024

‘What If Shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa Was to Become the Prime Minister’: A historical dream team underperforms

Esteemed figures from Japan’s past are digitally reincarnated to lead the country through a time of crisis in Hideki Takeuchi’s flat-footed comedy.
When Renho (center) announced her candidacy for the Tokyo gubernatorial election on May 27, the head of the Japanese Communist Party's secretariat, Akira Koike (far left), was also in attendance.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 17, 2024

Cutting ties with JCP not easy for CDP despite Renho's defeat

Despite calls to end the relationship, there is still pressure on the CDP to seek interparty cooperation to avoid splitting the opposition vote.
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.
Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump and Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance applaud on the second day of the Republican National Convention, at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 18, 2024

Trump's running mate J.D. Vance set to take spotlight in convention speech

The Republican campaign was dramatically altered four days ago when Trump narrowly survived an attempt on his life at a political rally in Pennsylvania.
A commercial district in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, on Sunday. Thomas Crooks, 20, a lifelong resident of the borough, has been identified as the gunman who opened fire during a campaign appearance by former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.
WORLD
Jul 18, 2024

Trump gunman Thomas Crooks leaves behind a pile of mysteries

Gunman Thomas Crooks seemed to have a bright future waiting for him after having earned a spot at a college engineering program.
U.S. President Joe Biden disembarks Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 18, 2024

Biden called ‘more receptive’ to hearing pleas to step aside

Biden has not given any indication that he is changing his mind about staying in the race, but has been willing to listen to rundowns of new and worrying polling data.
U.S. pressure to slow Beijing’s advances in making semiconductors led the Netherlands to ban exports to China of ASML’s second-most advanced category of machinery at the start of the year. But ASML continues to service machines that were bought before the restrictions were in place.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 18, 2024

ASML falls as outlook clouded by risk of U.S. export curbs

ASML shares plunged 11% in Amsterdam on Wednesday to €870.90 ($952), wiping out €42.7 billion of market value — its biggest decline since March 2020.
Japan's tradition of offering investors gifts is nice. But with the stock market at record highs, such perks are no longer needed.
COMMENTARY
Jul 18, 2024

It’s time Japan's shareholders buy their own wine

The practice by Japanese companies of giving gifts once served as a good way to encourage trading novices to dabble in the stock market.

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?