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Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz speaks during a debate with Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance in New York on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 2, 2024

Walz and Vance clash at policy-heavy vice presidential debate

The two rivals, who have savaged each other on the campaign trail, struck a cordial tone, instead saving their fire for the candidates at the top of their tickets.
A bus is seen submerged in floodwaters in Yufu, Oita Prefecture, on Aug. 29 as Typhoon Shanshan dumps torrential rain across southern regions of Japan.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Oct 3, 2024

How climate change affects Japan's typhoons

The number of typhoons appears to be dropping, but the ones that do arrive are also becoming more violent.
Walking through Tokyo's varied neighborhoods and the sub-communities within them can be the best way for a tourist, even one with limited time, to take the city in.
LIFE / Travel
Oct 5, 2024

Sure, Tokyo’s trains are amazing. But are they ruining your trip?

Amid a visit to the infinite urban landscape that is Tokyo, what does it mean to maximize your time?
Without Japanese outdoorsman George Masa, America might not have the Great Smoky Mountains National Park — so why do so many people in Japan not know he existed?
COMMUNITY / Issues
Oct 7, 2024

The forgotten Japanese naturalist who created a U.S. national park

George Masa was an enigmatic figure, but his contributions to preserving America's natural beauty are unassailable.
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2024

Masamitsu Yoshioka, last Pearl Harbor bombardier, dies at 106

"I’m ashamed that I’m the only one who survived and lived such a long life,” Yoshioka said in an interview last year.
Scientists now think they know the reason behind Mount Everest's growth, and it has to do with the monumental merger of two nearby river systems.
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 4, 2024

Scientists explain Mount Everest's anomalous growth

The geological process at work on Mount Everest, scientists say, is called isostatic rebound.
A funeral is held for Russian military personnel and civilians killed in the war with Ukraine, at a cemetery in Luhansk, in Russian-controlled Ukraine, in May 2023. The U.S. estimates that 120,000 Russian soldiers have been killed and another 180,000 injured, further worsening the nation's manpower shortages and economic output.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 4, 2024

The Russian war economy’s days are numbered

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his cronies boast that the sanctions make Russia stronger, but they incessantly call for all restrictions to be lifted.
To preserve the integrity of the game in the legalized gambling era, Major League Baseball must double down and maintain its now posthumous ban on Pete Rose.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 4, 2024

Pete Rose fans are wrong: He's not worthy of the Hall of Fame

Backing down would undermine the league’s zero-tolerance stance and signal that "permanently ineligible" isn't always permanent.
There's long been one mantra in mainstream economics: Growth is good. But recently, an alternative term has begun taking root in popular culture and policy: "degrowth."
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 5, 2024

These are boom times for ‘degrowth’

Kohei Saito believes one reason degrowth has had increasing appeal is because "younger generations are not enjoying the fruits of economic growth.”
A flock of Common Teal fly across a wetland on a winter day on the outskirts of Srinagar.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Oct 5, 2024

Study documents extinction of 610 bird species and ecological impacts 

The disappearance of avian species erases functions they serve in innumerable ecosystems and may lead to "secondary knock-on extinctions."
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar looks on during an anti-Israel rally in Gaza City on Oct. 1, 2022.
WORLD
Oct 5, 2024

Hunted yet unrepentant: Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar remains committed to Israel's destruction

For Sinwar, architect of the cross-border raids a year ago, armed struggle with Israel remains the only way to force the creation of a Palestinian nation.
Vladimir Putin’s actions in Ukraine, much like those of past Soviet leaders, stem from a desire to be recognized as a global power and from perceived Western threats.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 7, 2024

The sources of Russian conduct

From Josef Stalin to Mikhail Gorbachev, Soviet leaders shared Putin’s desire for “great power” prestige.
Japan's has experienced a significant decline in global economic power, with its share of global gross domestic product dropping from 18% in the 1980s to an anticipated 3% by 2050.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 8, 2024

Japan needs more than mere economic strength

Japan, a country that has long relied on its economic prowess for international stature and standing, must change its perspective.
A destroyed mosque in the Shujaiya neighborhood of Gaza City on Monday, the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 8, 2024

Nothing new on the Middle Eastern front

While Israel claims self-defense, this concept can be problematic when considering similar situations in other conflicts, such as Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Scotland's former first minister, Alex Salmond, attends an event in Ellon, Scotland, in April 2021.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 13, 2024

Alex Salmond, champion of Scottish independence, dies at 69

Salmond, who died after falling ill after making a speech in North Macedonia, stepped down as Scotland's first minister after losing the 2014 independence referendum.
President of the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) Hun Sen (center), Honorary President of the CPP Heng Samrin (left) and Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Manet (right)
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 14, 2024

The son almost rises: Cambodia's Hun Sen the power behind throne

More than a year after inheriting power from his father, Cambodian PM has yet to hold an open news conference to explain how he will navigate challenges.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event in Flint, Michigan, on Oct. 4.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 15, 2024

Harris to raise concern about Trump's 'enemy from within' comments

Harris' trip to Pennsylvania is her 10th to the battleground state since she announced her candidacy for president in July.
A billboard displaying pro-Russian slogans in the Russian-controlled city of Melitopol in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine. The billboard reads: "We are the one people. We are together with Russia."
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 16, 2024

Like in magic, Moscow is playing a game of distraction

Defying common sense, the Kremlin continues to proclaim with a straight face that its attack on Ukraine was an act of self-defense.
Journalist Shiori Ito's documentary "Black Box Diaries," which follows her own investigation into her sexual assault and struggle for justice, was one of 19 Japanese films that screened at the Busan International Film Festival this month.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 18, 2024

Japan-based features generate buzz at Busan International Film Festival

With 278 films on offer, Asia's largest film festival tackled heavy themes such as assisted suicide and struggles faced by migrants.
A new report said that fires in the northern boreal forests, which span from Russia to North America, have almost tripled during the past 20 years.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Oct 18, 2024

Global forest fire carbon emissions have jumped 60% in 20 years

Forest fire severity — a measure of how much carbon is emitted per unit of area burned — is also up by nearly 50% globally.
Students at the University of Toronto campus. Facing growing criticisms for losing control of immigration, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has put a limit on international student intakes.
WORLD / Society
Oct 18, 2024

Support for immigration in Canada plunges to lowest in decades

Nearly 6 in 10 people now agree that there’s too much immigration to Canada, according to the country's longest-running survey on the topic.
China has shifted the economic narrative. The country's rapid growth and production under a repressive regime challenges the idea that good institutions are necessary for wealth.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 18, 2024

Beijing’s success is a conundrum for Nobel winners

China has shifted the economic narrative. The country's rapid growth under a repressive regime challenges the idea that good institutions are necessary for wealth.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a BRICS business forum in Moscow on Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2024

The rise of BRICS and the emerging multipolar world

The diversity among BRICS members presents challenges in forming a unified agenda, especially given differing political systems and goals.
Workers picket outside the Boeing Co. manufacturing facility during a strike in Renton, Washington, on Oct. 3.
COMMENTARY
Oct 20, 2024

Time for unions to join the 21st-century economy

Automation stands to make U.S. ports and transportation of goods cheaper and more efficient. And it is easy to see why unions oppose it.
Having learned from the experience of losing in the last election and from actions taken by similar movements elsewhere, another Trump administration would be far more effective at wielding — and maintaining — power.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 21, 2024

Why another Trump term would be worse than the first

A political movement with autocratic tendencies often becomes more ruthless and effective after experiencing electoral defeat.
Asako Osaki attends the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, in New York in March.
BUSINESS / WOMEN AT WORK
Nov 3, 2024

How global lessons can improve prospects for women in rural Japan

Through motherhood, education and work, Asako Osaki worked to bring global standards to the front lines of gender issues.
Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani scores ahead of the tag by Yankees catcher Jose Trevino during a game at Yankee stadium in New York in June.
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 23, 2024

Dodgers and Yankees set for World Series steeped in history

The two teams from the biggest media markets in the U.S. will meet in the Fall Classic beginning on Friday for the first time since 1981.
Former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi presents his report on the future of European competitiveness to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, on Sept. 17.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 23, 2024

Europe’s wake-up call on innovation and competitiveness

Europe stands at a critical juncture, needing to choose between maintaining the status quo or moving toward deeper integration.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer pose for a group photo at a meeting on Ukraine reconstruction at the United Nations on Sept. 25.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 24, 2024

Shifting the paradigm in Ukraine

In Ukraine, inaction — the refusal to permit Ukraine’s government to act in self-defense — possesses the quality of death.
Embers glow at night as the Basin Fire burns in the Sierra National Forest in Fresno County, California, on June 26.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Oct 25, 2024

Wildfires are gaining speed in a worrying trend for western U.S.

The growth rate of the fastest wildfires increased 249% in the region between 2001 and 2020.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight