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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Chinese President Xi Jinping hold a joint news conference at the Carmelite Monastery in Budapest, Hungary, on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
May 10, 2024

Xi uses Europe visit to slow continent’s ‘de-risking’ from China

Closer ties with Hungary and Serbia serve to benefit Beijing politically and economically as they help sustain its waning footprint in the region.
Ryo Wakabayashi, a distal myopathy patient, lives alone in the city of Fukushima.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Regional Voices: Tohoku
May 20, 2024

Persistence pays off with approval of distal myopathy drug

The disease is estimated to affect only 300 to 400 people in Japan.
A view of Matazo Kayama’s folding screen paintings reproduced on ceramic panels by Otsuka Ohmi Ceramics, displayed at Simose Art Museum.
CULTURE / Art
May 11, 2024

Art and architecture come together at Simose Art Museum

Tradition and innovation converge at Shimose Art Museum. For it first anniversary, the venue is spotlighting trailblazer nihonga artist Matazo Kayama.
Relations between Russia and Western nations have been in the deep freeze since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but Norway has been keen to keep some limited cooperation alive through the Arctic Council.
WORLD / Politics
May 15, 2024

West and Russia manage limited cooperation in Arctic despite chill in ties

Norway has been keen to keep some limited cooperation between Russia and the West alive.
Displaced Palestinian children stand at a school as they wait to flee Rafah after Israeli forces launched a ground and air operation in the eastern part of the southern Gaza city, on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
May 15, 2024

How many of Gaza’s dead are women and children? For 10,000, it’s unclear.

The absence of personal details needed to ascertain their identities leads to their exclusion from the breakdown now being cited by the U.N.
Demonstrators carry flags and banners during a protest in Amman, Jordan, on May 3 in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
WORLD / Politics
May 16, 2024

Jordan foils arms plot as kingdom gets caught in Iran-Israel shadow war

The weapons were sent by Iranian-backed militias in Syria to a Muslim Brotherhood cell in Jordan that has links to Palestinian group Hamas.
Author Yukio Mishima accepts the Arts Festival Award in the drama category at the 20th Arts Festival Award Ceremony on Jan. 22, 1966.
LIFE / Bilingual
May 16, 2024

Unraveling the Japanese prose of Yukio Mishima

Achieving success at a young age, Yukio Mishima's creative use of compound verbs and kanji stand out in his writing.
A monk practices "zazen" (seated meditation), a practice that the monk Dogen said would help one cast aside the world in service of the Way.
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
May 17, 2024

The joy of Zen — Part 1: Prose

The writings of the monks Eisai and Dogen sought to determine the proper way to live on this Earth, in harmony with the Way.
Meta's board of experts is seeking public comments regarding a post criticizing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on its Threads text messaging app.
JAPAN / Society
May 17, 2024

Meta seeks public opinion on Threads post criticizing Japan's PM

This is the first time the board has examined a case related to Threads.
Supporters of former U.S. President Donald Trump, including Republican North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (center), Republican Florida Rep. Cory Mills (center right) and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy (second from right), listen as Trump speaks after court proceedings ended for the day in his trial at Manhattan criminal court, on Tuesday in New York.
WORLD / Politics
May 18, 2024

Rule No. 1 to be Trump’s running mate: Defend him, but don’t steal the show

Donald Trump’s search is still in its early stages, but he is said to be leaning toward more experienced options who can help the ticket without seizing his precious spotlight.
Ukrainian servicemen of the 148th Separate Artillery Brigade of the Ukrainian Air Assault Forces, fire a M777 howitzer toward Russian troops near a front line, in Ukraine's Donetsk region on May 1.
WORLD / FOCUS
May 19, 2024

Ukraine struggles to hold eastern front as Russians advance on cities

The drive has marked an inflection point in the conflict spawned by Russia's full-scale invasion more than two years ago.
Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov attends a meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin with commanders of troops of military districts, in Moscow on May 15.
WORLD / Politics
May 20, 2024

The technocrat who’s taking control of Putin’s war effort

While other technocrats in Russian President Vladimir Putin's orbit privately see his geopolitical moves as problematic, the new defense minister is a true believer.
Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks during the U.K. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Safety Summit at Bletchley Park, near Milton Keynes, Britain, on Nov. 2, 2023.
WORLD / Politics
May 20, 2024

South Korea and U.K. to host second global AI summit as boom fans risks

The breathtaking pace of innovation since the first AI summit in November leaves governments scrambling to keep up with a growing array of risks.
Language support groups in Fukushima Prefecture are calling for the creation of a better environment for foreign children to learn Japanese.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
May 27, 2024

With more foreign children, Fukushima struggles with language support

A number of children attending schools in the prefecture in fiscal 2023 were unable to fully understand Japanese.
Tunisia's Ons Jabeur in action during her exhibition match against Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka in Riyadh on Dec. 26. Saudi Arabia has hosted exhibition matches and last year hosted its first ATP Tour event with the Next Gen Finals.
TENNIS
May 21, 2024

Women's tennis signs 'multi-year partnership' with Saudi investment fund

Much like its forays into golf and football, the Saudi tennis push has met some resistance.
Martin Gruenberg, chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), speaks during a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing in Washington on May 16.
BUSINESS
May 21, 2024

FDIC chair says he’ll step down after toxic workplace report

The chair faced mounting pressure to quit following a scathing report that detailed allegations of harassment and discrimination at the bank regulator during his tenure.
Missile systems form part of the Victory Day military parade in Moscow on May 9. The FBI tries to maintain a tricky balance in spy operations: the more access informants have to valuable intelligence, the higher the risk that they could be compromised.
WORLD / Politics
May 21, 2024

FBI shed informants linked to Russian influence operations

After a secret review several years ago, the bureau cut off confidential sources thought to be connected to Russian disinformation.
Shigeru Omi, then-Japan's top COVID-19 advisor, speaks to reporters at the Prime Minister's Office in April 2022. A study published this month has shown that many experts who spoke to the media about COVID-19 in Japan were harassed by the public.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 22, 2024

Many COVID experts in Japan harassed after speaking to media, survey shows

The research conducted by a professor at Waseda University is Japan’s first comprehensive survey on threats targeting COVID-19 experts.
Water tanks used to cultivate seaweed on land by Three Lines in Uwajima, Ehime Prefecture
JAPAN / Science & Health / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Jun 3, 2024

Poor seaweed harvest prompts Kyushu University team to look toward land

The team has found some success with on-land farming, although increasing production yields for commercialization remains a challenge.
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan attends a meeting with Venezuela's National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez (not pictured) at the Federal Legislative Palace, in Caracas, Venezuela April 22, 2024.
WORLD / Politics
May 23, 2024

Why a prosecutor went public with arrest warrant requests for Hamas and Israeli leaders

ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan accused Netanyahu and his defense minister of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Richard Grenell speaks at a Donald Trump rally in Florence, Arizona, on Jan. 15, 2022.  Grenell has a good chance of landing a top foreign policy job in a second Trump administration — if not as secretary of state, which requires Senate confirmation, then perhaps as national security adviser, which does not.
WORLD / Politics
May 26, 2024

He threw ‘spaghetti at the wall’ for Trump. Now he’s after a top job.

If Donald Trump wins the U.S. presidency, Richard Grenell hopes to be secretary of state. But his work raises questions, even from his former boss.
Catherine Wallace
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / The Big Questions
May 27, 2024

Hitotsubashi’s Catherine Wallace on business ethics

Active in cross-cultural collaboration, innovation and sustainability, Wallace worked as a diplomat and is now a professor at Hitotsubashi University
A boy walks past a mural painted outside the house where former South African President Nelson Mandela once lived in, in Johannesburg's Alexandra township, on June 9, 2013.
WORLD / Society
May 27, 2024

Mandela's vision for South Africa fades as nation closes door to migrants

Immigration has become a hot issue in the run-up to the country's May 29 national vote, the first in which most people have no memory of decades of apartheid.
Simon Cheng, a pro-democracy activist from Hong Kong now living in Britain, at the offices of an organization he founded to aid new Hong Kong arrivals, in London on May 20. Hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers have resettled in the United Kingdom since 2021, including prominent pro-democracy activists — and China has not forgotten them.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
May 27, 2024

Spying arrests send chill through Britain’s thriving Hong Kong community

The arrests have cast a spotlight on activists’ concerns about China's surveillance of its critics abroad.
Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra greets his supporters after landing at Bangkok's Don Mueang Airport last August. He will be prosecuted for insulting the monarchy, the attorney general's office said on Wednesday, over comments he made while in self-exile in 2015.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 29, 2024

Former Thai PM Thaksin will be indicted in royal insult case

The move creates fresh legal risk for former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the head of the political dynasty that controls the country’s ruling party.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivers a keynote address at the Shangri-La Dialogue security conference in Singapore on Friday night.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 31, 2024

Marcos lays out red line in South China Sea at security conference

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivered his clearest remarks yet on his red lines in the ongoing row with China over the disputed waterway.
The ultimate challenge for the next government is to balance infrastructure investment with measures that improve household financial stability and income.
COMMENTARY / World
May 29, 2024

India’s election winner has a repair job waiting

The ultimate challenge for the next Indian government is to balance infrastructure investment with measures that improve household financial stability and income.
An ambulance bearing a message calling for the appropriate use of ambulance services enters Matsusaka Municipal Hospital in Matsusaka, Mie Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society / Regional voices: Chubu
Jun 10, 2024

City in Mie Prefecture starts charging some ambulance-borne patients

Matsusaka is targeting patients taken to any of its three core hospitals by ambulance but who are assessed as not needing hospitalization.
A variety of instant noodle products is sold at Miyagi Co-op Saiwaicho Store in Sendai. The city placed second in household spending for instant noodles in a 2023 nationwide ranking.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Jun 10, 2024

Tohoku's love for instant noodles shines through in survey

The spending for instant noodles in Tohoku cities far exceeds the national average.
Artificial chemical scents that come from things like perfume or fabric softener can cause discomfort or even sickness for some individuals.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 7, 2024

Scents and sensitivity: Understanding ‘smell pollution’ in Japan

In the country's crowded urban areas, it is important to be aware of how your deodorant, perfume or fabric softener can affect others.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan