Search - 2020

 
 
In this NASA handout, a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft onboard at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of a test flight at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida in July 2021.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 26, 2024

Boeing's CEO faces hard choices after NASA snubs Starliner for SpaceX

The specter of NASA astronauts being stuck in space is just one embarrassing moment of many for Boeing during an epically bad year.
A Tepco official shows emptied water tanks at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant as he explains about a plan to dismantle the tanks.
JAPAN
Aug 26, 2024

Tepco aims to dismantle Fukushima water tanks from 2025

Tepco plans to dismantle 12 empty treated water tanks out of about 1,000 existing tanks.
Naotoshi Iwamoto of Kansai Transmission and Distribution explains about how power grid operators cooperated to restore electricity in areas affected by the Jan. 1 Noto Peninsula earthquake.
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2024

Industry collaboration leads to early power recovery in Noto

Eight regional utility groups dispatched a total of more than 4,000 workers to help restore power to more than 90% of outage-hit areas within about a month of the quake.
Coco Gauff of the United States hits to Varvara Gracheva of France on Day 1 of the 2024 U.S. Open in New York on Monday.
TENNIS
Aug 27, 2024

Defending champions Djokovic and Gauff off to blazing starts at U.S. Open

Gauff cruised past France's Varvara Gracheva 6-2 6-0.
A cardboard cutout of the Monkey King character, or Sun Wukong, from the Chinese action role-playing game Black Myth: Wukong is displayed on the day of its launch in Beijing on Aug. 20.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 27, 2024

Black myth, Black samurai and gaming nationalism

While China has to date enjoyed success in mobile and PC gaming, those lucrative sectors carry relatively little prestige. That makes Wukong’s breakout a landmark event.
Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 28, 2024

Trump adds former Democrats RFK Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard to transition team

Trump's move risks reinforcing criticism that he is embracing figures espousing fringe or extreme views in his bid to return to power.
Participants take part in a mystery-themed matchmaking event organized by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government at Jindai Botanical Gardens in Tokyo in March.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 28, 2024

Japan to support women moving from Tokyo to countryside for marriage

The plan is aimed at helping those interested in relocating at a time when the population of young women in the countryside is shrinking.
A government survey has found that 31.7% of men age 20 and older in Japan and 21% of women can be classed as obese.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 28, 2024

Obesity among Japanese men continuing to rise, government survey shows

The 2022 survey found that 31.7% of men age 20 and older had a body mass index, or BMI, of 25 or higher.
A fireworks display was part of the 2024 Paralympic opening ceremony at Place de la Concorde in Paris on Wednesday.
PARALYMPICS
Aug 29, 2024

Paris Paralympics open with colorful ceremony and message of inclusion

The colorful and hope-filled ceremony that marked the start of 11 days of competition in a city still riding the wave of the successful Olympics.
Jonah Ndeuludila (right) is studying at Tochigi Prefecture's Asian Rural Institute in order to bring skills back to his job at Namibia's Namib Desert Environmental Education Trust.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Sep 2, 2024

Over half a century, seeds of change grow at a Tochigi farm

Founded by Toshihiro Takami in 1973, ARI promotes organic, subsistence farming methods and the practice of servant leadership.
A remote-controlled BurnBot RX1 prototype produces a containment line during a prescribed burn operation in Paicines, California, on Aug. 12.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Aug 30, 2024

Robots are starting (good) fires in California

BurnBot's robot keeps combustion within its burning chamber, where propane torches and air blowers bring flame temperatures up to 1,000 degrees Celsius.
Activists attend a news conference after a ruling by the Constitutional Court in Seoul on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Aug 30, 2024

Top South Korean court says climate law doesn't protect basic rights

The court asked the legislature to revise the carbon neutrality act by the end of February 2026.
Democratic presidential nominee and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris waves during a campaign rally in Savannah, Georgia, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 30, 2024

In CNN interview excerpts, Harris defends ideological shift to center

In her interview, Kamala Harris sought to stake out political ground that would appeal to swing voters even as she assured progressive supporters she was still with them.
Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally at Enmarket Arena during a two-day campaign bus tour in Savannah, Georgia, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 30, 2024

Seven takeaways from Harris’ first major interview

The vice president answered questions in the CNN interview without causing herself political harm or providing herself a significant boost.
China's Xia Zhou celebrates after crossing the line to win gold in the women's T35 100-meter final on Friday at the Paris Paralympics.
PARALYMPICS
Aug 31, 2024

China extends lead in Paralympic medals table after track success

The Chinese, who have topped the medal standings at every Paralympics since Athens in 2004, finished the second day of competition with 12 gold.
A Ukrainian firefighter works to extinguish a burning car after what Ukrainian officials said was a Russian missile strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Sunday.
WORLD
Sep 2, 2024

Russia strikes Kharkiv following Ukraine's mass drone attack

Russia said Kyiv had launched one of the biggest drone attacks against it since the full-scale war began.
Cows graze in a field near the Green Bank Telescope, a 100-meter fully steerable radio telescope, at the Green Bank Observatory in the U.S. National Radio Quiet Zone in Green Bank, West Virginia, on May 20.
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 2, 2024

Inside the 'golden age' of alien hunting at the Green Bank Telescope

If intelligent life exists out there, there's a good chance the teams at the world's largest fully steerable radio astronomy facility will be the first to know.
A satellite image shows what is believed to be a deployment site for a Russian nuclear-powered cruise missile, including five nuclear warhead storage bunkers (right) and bermed launch positions (lower left), in Vologda, Russia.
WORLD
Sep 3, 2024

U.S. researchers find probable launch site of Russia's new nuclear-powered missile

Russia's Vladimir Putin has said the weapon — dubbed the SSC-X-9 Skyfall by NATO — has an almost unlimited range and can evade U.S. missile defenses.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand in Wellington in 2017
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 3, 2024

New Zealand's data fog leaves its central bank flying blind

Years of tight funding by successive governments have left statisticians struggling to keep up with a rapidly changing economy.
For a billionaire with a mission to prevent climate change, “He greened the energy policy of the world’s fourth-biggest economy (Japan),” would make a hell of an epitaph for Mike Cannon-Brookes. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 29, 2024

An activist investor could green Japan for $700 million

For a billionaire with a mission to prevent climate change, "Greened the energy policy of the world’s fourth-biggest economy” would make a hell of an epitaph.
With so many voters suffering financially and showing an eagerness to throw politicians out of office, delivering higher living standards appears to be a necessary condition for restoring political stability to the world’s democracies.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 1, 2024

Political and economic chaos through 'the looking glass'

America is not alone in experiencing an unanticipated upheaval. Five years ago, it seemed inconceivable that a major ground war would occur on the European continent.
A building emblazoned with a Great Wall graphic in Kitwe, Zambia
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 3, 2024

Xi wants bigger returns and fewer headaches from African debt deals

From Angola to Djibouti, for over a decade, China poured more than $120 billion of government-backed loans through its Belt and Road Initiative.
A welcome message for Pope Francis is displayed on an electric billboard at a roundabout in Jakarta on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 3, 2024

Pope heads to Indonesia as the first stop of his four-nation tour

The tour — the longest and farthest of his 11 years leading the worldwide Catholic Church — will test Pope Francis' increasingly fragile health.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong
BUSINESS
Sep 3, 2024

Australia firms should invest in Southeast Asia, foreign minister says

Southeast Asia is expected to be the world’s fourth-largest economy by 2040 with an expanding population.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa attends a new conference for the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) Ministerial Meeting in Tokyo on Aug. 25.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 3, 2024

Africa's rising importance for Japan’s Indo-Pacific goals

Africa is becoming an increasingly important element of Japanese FOIP strategy. It is a work in progress, but it is proceeding.
Nvidia shares got zapped by 9.5% on Tuesday, wiping out $278.9 billion in the biggest loss of value ever for a U.S. stock.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 4, 2024

Nvidia suffers record $279 billion rout as stocks sink

Chipmakers touched off another bout of selling after industry analysts rekindled worries that the mania surrounding artificial intelligence had gone too far.
Passersby outside Shinjuku Station in Tokyo on July 29. A new analysis has found that Japan's extreme heat in July would have been "almost impossible" without climate change.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / Boiling Point
Sep 4, 2024

Japan's record heat in July 'almost impossible' without climate change

Heavy rainfall that caused severe floods the same month was also exacerbated by global warming, according to a new analysis.
One survey revealed that 68% of recruiters admit to appearance-based hiring and 96% say interviews are influenced by visual impressions, which is why many employment experts advise job hunters to invest significantly in their appearance.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 4, 2024

Why do I need a photo on my resume to apply for a job in Japan?

It is time to build a recruitment system in Japan that rewards people’s talents, irrespective of their looks
2024 Paris Paralympics taekwondo bronze medalist Palesha Goverdhan greets the crowd upon her arrival at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu on Wednesday.
PARALYMPICS
Sep 4, 2024

Crowds give Nepal's first Paralympic medalist hero's welcome

Palesha Goverdhan brought the nation its first medal in the Games after returning home with a bronze in taekwondo.
Michie Hino, 77, works at an elderly care home in Chiba Prefecture. She is one of a growing number of senior Japanese citizens working into their 70s.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Sep 5, 2024

Working till your 70s — Japan's prospective gift to the world

A struggling pension system and the highest inflation in decades have led more Japanese people to delay retirement until their 70s or later to make ends meet.

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A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami