World Jan 1, 2019
The Japan Times newsroom selected the following world news stories as the most important of 2018.
World / Social Issues Dec 17, 2018
U.S.-bound Hondurans who fled political violence fear for lives if sent home from Tijuana
The Pineda family trudged northward for more than a month with a caravan of Central American migrants who are now stuck at the U.S. border. But they were on the run in Honduras much longer than that due to fears of political persecution. According to ...
World / Politics Nov 28, 2018
U.S. government shutdown looms as Trump digs in on border wall demand
President Donald Trump's renewed demand for U.S. taxpayer funding of his proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall was threatening again on Tuesday to bring on a budget standoff and a partial government shutdown, leaving Congress just 11 days to act. With time running short, Trump and Republican ...
World Nov 20, 2018
Trump likely to give U.S. troops authority to protect immigration agents
U.S. President Donald Trump is likely to give troops authority to protect immigration agents stationed along the border with Mexico if they come under threat from migrants seeking to cross into the United States, an official said Monday. Ahead of U.S. congressional elections earlier this ...
World / Social Issues Nov 19, 2018
New Salvadoran migrant caravan forms, swells as hundreds wait at U.S.-Mexico border
At least 150 Salvadorans set off on Sunday from their impoverished Central American country in a U.S.-bound caravan, ignoring their likely rejection at the U.S.-Mexico border where a larger caravan of mostly Hondurans has been stalled for days. Guarded by police officers, the men, women ...
World / Politics Nov 2, 2018
'Divisive Donald at his worst': Democrats, some Republicans blast Trump ad as racially charged
U.S. President Donald Trump faced scathing criticism on Thursday for an advertisement linking Democrats and immigrants to violent crime, as Democrats and some of his fellow Republicans blasting it as the most racially divisive political ad in three decades. The online ad features courtroom footage ...
World / Social Issues Oct 29, 2018
A new group of migrants bound for the United States set off from El Salvador on Sunday, following thousands of other Central Americans fleeing poverty and violence who have taken similar journeys in recent weeks. The group of more than 300 Salvadorans left the capital ...
World / Social Issues Oct 24, 2018
Second U.S.-bound migrant caravan moves through Guatemala toward Mexico
A group of more than a thousand Central Americans in Guatemala headed toward the Mexican border on Tuesday as the first caravan of migrants paused in southern Mexico on its planned journey towards the U.S. border. U.S. President Donald Trump has vowed to begin cutting ...
World / Social Issues Apr 4, 2018
Mexico throws bureaucracy at northbound migrant caravan as dispersal begins
Mexican officials stepped up efforts on Tuesday to register a dwindling group of hundreds of largely Central American migrants who are moving through Mexico toward the United States, seeking to disperse the "caravan" that has drawn the ire of U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump, who ...