Search - 2020

 
 
Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa (right) meets with Tom Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey and a special envoy to Syria, in Istanbul on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
May 25, 2025

Syria reboots interior ministry as Damascus seeks to reassure West

Keen to reboot and rebuild nearly 14 years after a devastating civil war began, the new authorities have hailed Washington's lifting of U.S. sanctions.
A worker sorts plastic waste for recycling at Minato Resource Recycle Center in Tokyo in 2019. Japan has been criticized by environmental groups for its strategy on plastics, which is heavily reliant on recycling instead of reduction.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
May 25, 2025

Are microplastics hurting our fertility?

While a lot remains unknown about how microplastics affect our health, scientists in Japan and around the world broadly agree there's an urgent need to reduce plastic production.
Women visit a stand during the 23rd international gold and jewellery exhibition in Kuwait City on May 21.
WORLD
May 26, 2025

Stateless overnight: Kuwait strips tens of thousands of citizenship

The mass revocations have been cast as part of a reformist agenda spearheaded by Kuwaiti emir Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.
At a warehouse managed by online grocer BigBasket in central Mumbai, employees work with military-like precision to pull off deliveries in just 10 minutes.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 26, 2025

In India's congested cities, delivery apps cash in

Delivery apps have faltered elsewhere in recent years, but sales in India have soared from $100 million in 2020 to an estimated $6 billion in 2024.
A military exercise in Bali, Taiwan, on July 27, 2023. Taiwan Defense Minister Wellington Koo says the Trump administration has a shared interest in security in the region, but Taiwan must also ready its own forces for asymmetric warfare.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 26, 2025

In Trump era, Taiwan defense chief says U.S. still is a check on China

Wellington Koo says the Trump administration has a shared interest in security in the region, but Taiwan must also ready its own forces for asymmetric warfare.
Jack Ma attends his company Alibaba Group's initial public offering at the New York Stock Exchange in September 2014. After a long absence from the public sphere, Ma recently attended a government-led private enterprises symposium in Beijing.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
May 26, 2025

Harnessing China’s tech giants: The case of Jack Ma

Alibaba founder Jack Ma's rehabilitation into public life signals China's intention to steer its tech entrepreneurs to do business with broader national interests in mind.
A Chinese J-10B fighter jet is put on display at the China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai, China, in October 2016. The short May conflict between India and Pakistan became a live trial for Chinese arms, exposing vulnerabilities in its fighter aircraft and air defense systems.
COMMENTARY / World
May 27, 2025

Lessons from India-Pakistan war: Were China's arms overrated?

The short May conflict between India and Pakistan became a live trial for Chinese arms, exposing vulnerabilities in its fighter aircraft and air defense systems.
A Liverpool football club scarf lies on the ground at the scene of an incident where a car plowed into a crowd of Liverpool fans during a parade celebrating their side's Premier League soccer title, in central Liverpool, Britain, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 28, 2025

Man arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after Liverpool parade crash

British police believe the incident, in a packed Liverpool city center on Monday, was isolated and not an act of terrorism.
The World Health Organization is struggling financially due to the departure of its biggest donor, the United States.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 28, 2025

WHO restructures and cuts budget after U.S. withdrawal

Hit by the withdrawal of its biggest donor, the United States, the WHO trimmed its already smaller 2026-2027 budget from $5.3 billion to $4.2 billion.
Closed-circuit television cameras in a New Delhi street in on May 21. Global makers of surveillance cameras have clashed with Indian regulators over new rules that require them to submit materials for assessment in government labs, driven in part by alarm about China's capabilities.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 28, 2025

India's alarm over Chinese surveillance prompts crackdown on cameras

Rejecting the request from manufacturers for a delay, India said its policy "addresses a genuine security issue" and must be enforced.
Ohkawara Kakohki CEO Masaaki Okawara (third from left) holds a sign saying "Complete victory" in Tokyo on Wednesday after the Tokyo High Court upheld a lower court ruling ordering the government to pay damages over investigations into a case against him and the company.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 28, 2025

Central and Tokyo governments ordered to compensate over probe

The case related to spray-dryer-maker Ohkawara Kakohki and allegations of an illegal export.
Carlos Alcaraz advanced to the third round of the French Open by defeating Fabian Marozsan 6-1, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 in Paris on Wednesday.
TENNIS
May 29, 2025

Reigning champions Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek advance at French Open

Alcaraz defeated Fabian Marozsan 6-1, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang delivers a keynote at Nvidia's GPU Technology Conference (GTC) at the SAP Center in San Jose, California, on March 18.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 29, 2025

Nvidia eases concerns about China with upbeat sales forecast

"Every nation now sees AI as core to the next industrial revolution,” CEO Jensen Huang said on a conference call with analysts.
A KJ-500 early warning plane, along with Y-20 transport aircraft, are parked on the tarmac of an airfield on Woody Island, in the disputed Paracel archipelago in the South China Sea, on May 19.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 29, 2025

China's most advanced bombers seen on disputed South China Sea island

Some analysts described the move as Beijing's latest signalling of its growing military capabilities to rivals.
Agrolend CEO Andre Glezer (second from right), JICA Brazil Office chief Akihiro Miyazaki (far left) and others on Wednesday in Sao Paulo
BUSINESS / Companies
May 29, 2025

JICA signs deal to invest in Brazilian farming fintech firm

JICA hopes the investment will help ensure stable food procurement by Japan, which imports such crops as soybeans and corns from the South American agricultural giant.
Akie Abe (right), the widow of assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 30, 2025

Putin praises Abe, saying the late prime minister wanted a peace treaty

No treaty was ever signed between the two countries as they could not resolve a dispute over what is known in Japan as the Northern Territories.
Rio Takeda tees off on the 10th hole during the first round of the U.S. Women's Open in Erin, Wisconsin, on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
May 30, 2025

Rio Takeda in six-way tie for lead after first round of U.S. Women's Open

Defending champion Yuka Saso's bid for a third U.S. Open title in five seasons got off to a rocky start with a 2-over-par 74.
Paris Saint-Germain's Ousmane Dembele controls the ball during the first leg of the team's Champions League semifinal against Arsenal in London on April 29.
SOCCER
May 30, 2025

New-look Paris Saint-Germain on brink of long-coveted Champions League glory

Luis Enrique, who took charge last year, said his team had long targeted this moment, which comes after it won the domestic double of Ligue 1 and the French Cup.
AI is beginning to suppress white-collar job growth in high-cost, tech-heavy U.S. cities like San Francisco, signaling a potential structural shift in the labor market amid stagnant interstate migration.
COMMENTARY / World
May 30, 2025

The next great job churn is already starting

San Francisco’s sluggish labor market may signal the AI disruptions ahead.
Mao Saigo watches her putt during the second round of the U.S. Women's Open in Erin, Wisconsin, on Friday.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
May 31, 2025

Mao Saigo takes three-shot U.S. Women's Open lead

The Japanese golfer, who won a five-way playoff to lift her first major trophy at the Chevron Championship, shrugged off a spectacular piece of bad luck to build a lead.
Paris Saint-Germain is seeking its first Champions League title in Saturday's final, while Inter Milan is bidding to win its fourth.
SOCCER
May 31, 2025

PSG and Inter Milan set for Champions League final showdown

The match pits an experienced Inter against a PSG team appearing in its second final since the transformative Qatari takeover of the club in 2011.
A screen shows the Muchu College metaverse school, with avatars and the face of Hiroaki Tsujita, CEO of operator Wowfull.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Jun 16, 2025

Metaverse and local subsidies help children in alternative learning

Municipalities are subsidizing the use of alternative educational institutions to help families with children who are not attending regular schools.
Japan has enforced tougher rules on companies to protect workers from heat after 30 workplace deaths and roughly 1,200 injuries were reported last year that were associated with high temperatures.
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2025

Protect workers from heat waves or face fines, Japan tells firms

The revised legislation is a rare global example of a national-level policy on heat safety for employees.
After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Jun 2, 2025

How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic

Labor shortages and shifting mindsets are driving younger Japanese workers to challenge the country’s traditional office culture.
People watch the sunset in Ronda, southern Spain, on Thursday as the country faces its first heatwave of the season.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jun 2, 2025

Half the world has faced an extra month of extreme heat, study finds

The island of Aruba was the worst affected, recording 187 extreme heat days in a one-year period — 45 more than expected in a world without climate change.
Polish President-elect Karol Nawrocki in Warsaw on Sunday
WORLD / Politics
Jun 2, 2025

Pro-Trump nationalist wins Poland’s presidential election

Karol Nawrocki, a conservative historian and former boxer, won 50.9%, while Rafal Trzaskowski took 49.1%, according to calculations based on electoral commission data.
Honda will provide a fleet of cars for athletes, officials and stakeholders, along with motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles and other multipurpose vehicles during the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 3, 2025

Honda joins 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games as major partner

The carmaker will provide a fleet of cars for athletes, officials and stakeholders, along with motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles and other multipurpose vehicles during the event.
Volcanic steam rises from Mount Etna, as seen from Milo, Italy, on Monday.
WORLD
Jun 3, 2025

Italy's Mount Etna erupts, spewing ash, gas and rock

Sicily's Mount Etna has been active recently but Monday's eruption was the most dramatic, with experts warning that such activity could continue for weeks.
The Fighters' Franmil Reyes celebrates after hitting a walk-off home run against the Marines on Sunday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jun 3, 2025

What you need to know ahead of NPB interleague play resuming

Since 2005, one constant has been Pa League dominance.
Zheng Yanxiong, former director of China's Hong Kong Liaison Office, speaks during the National Security Education Day opening ceremony in Hong Kong on April 15, 2024.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 3, 2025

Hong Kong leader calls sudden removal of top China official 'normal'

No explanation by Beijing or Chinese state media was given for the change.

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan