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July 14, 2025
 

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CENSORSHIP

A Beijing store selling merchandise based on the "boys’ love" genre of graphic novels on June 16
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Jul 10, 2025
China detains female writers of 'boys' love' content in porn crackdown
The detentions since March have triggered debate on social media about the limits of free speech and the apparent sexist nature of the crackdown.
Speculation about Xi Jinping losing his grip on power misreads China’s digital authoritarianism, which uses algorithmic control and emotional scripting to absorb dissent and reinforce the Chinese Communist Party’s power in the information age.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 10, 2025
Online dissent in China doesn’t mean Xi is on his way out
Don’t be fooled by viral posts. The CCP allows and even encourages certain forms of online dissent — all part of its digital authoritarianism.
Children play video games on their mobile phones at an internet cafe in Demoso township in Myanmar's eastern Karenni state.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jul 5, 2025
Making connections in Myanmar's fractured state
Four years of civil war between Myanmar's military and its myriad opponents have shattered communications networks.
Kari Lake, senior adviser to the U.S. Agency for Global Media, said the Voice of America staff reduction meant 1,400 positions had been eliminated as part of U.S. President Donald Trump's agenda to cut staffing at the agency and Voice of America to a statutory minimum.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 21, 2025
Voice of America parent terminates over 600 more staff in likely death knell
The move likely marks an end to the broadcasting network that was founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda.
Harvard University’s crest is displayed on banners from the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library on campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, last month.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jun 21, 2025
U.S. judge blocks Trump ban on foreign students at Harvard
A federal judge has indefinitely paused Donald Trump's bid to block Harvard from enrolling foreign students as the U.S. president said a "deal" with the school was in the works.
Social activists and artists remove graffiti from the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles on June 10, after days of protests against federal immigration sweeps.
JAPAN
Jun 19, 2025
Japanese American museum criticizes Trump order
U.S. authorities issued orders to put up notices for exhibitions, movies and others that are deemed to disparage U.S. history.
The Trump administration's decision to ban The Associated Press from the White House press pool over a style guide dispute is part of a long and troubling history of presidents retaliating against journalists who displease them.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 13, 2025
Presidents have been treating journalists badly since Lincoln
Indeed, long before there existed a White House press corps, presidential peevishness led to the punishment of newspapers.
U.S. President Donald Trump talks to the press aboard Air Force One on the way to Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, New Jersey, on Friday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jun 7, 2025
Trump can bar AP from some White House events for now, U.S. appeals court says
The Associated Press in a statement said it was disappointed by the decision and weighing its options.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer meets U.S. President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the Oval Office on Feb. 27. U.S. conservatives may be unlikely defenders of free speech but their criticism of censorship in the U.K. and Europe raises real concerns about vague hate laws and curbs on liberty in the name of harmony. 
COMMENTARY
Jun 2, 2025
European kindness is threatening the foundations of free speech
Right-wing U.S. critics of U.K. and European censorship have a point.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s attempt to punish Harvard by targeting its international students is an unconstitutional power grab aimed at intimidating free institutions and advancing his authoritarian agenda.
COMMENTARY / World
May 25, 2025
Harvard is fighting for much more than foreign students
Trump is trying to break the world’s leading university because he knows that higher education — everywhere — is one of the bulwarks of a free society.
Requiring journalists to have escorts in much of the Pentagon building is the latest in a series of restrictions placed on the press by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration.
WORLD / Politics
May 24, 2025
Trump administration puts new limits on reporters at Pentagon
The move is the latest in a series of restrictions placed on the press by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration.
People walk through Harvard Yard on the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
WORLD
May 23, 2025
Trump's Harvard foreign student attack threatens key college revenue
The administration’s move to stop foreign enrollment is a huge blow to Harvard and sends a message to other universities.
Indonesian President Prabowo delivers a speech during a May Day rally in Jakarta on May 1.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 19, 2025
In Indonesia, fears grow that new history books may rewrite dark past
The 10-volume series would have an Indonesia-centric narrative and aims "to reinvent the Indonesian identity," Culture Minister Fadli Zon said.
The government is looking into measures to address a situation in which online advertisements with sexual content are posted on websites that may be accessible by children.
JAPAN / Media
May 7, 2025
Regulation of online ads with sexual content draws mixed views in Japan
While advocates seek measures to better protect children, critics worry they might infringe on freedom of expression.
U.S. President Donald Trump dances after delivering a commencement address at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa on Thursday.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 5, 2025
Nordic nations hope to attract U.S. researchers alienated by Trump
Experts have voiced concerns that Trump's cuts to American research threaten the United States' standing as a global science leader.
Japan climbed four positions from last year, with Reporters Without Borders noting that "the principles of media freedom and pluralism are generally respected" in the country.
JAPAN
May 3, 2025
Japan ranks 66th in press freedom, lowest among G7
Reporters Without Borders noted that "the principles of media freedom and pluralism are generally respected" in the country.
Podcast hosts Terence Chia (left) and Haresh Tilani discuss their show "Yah Lah But" in their studio in Singapore.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Apr 30, 2025
Mic check: Singapore's podcast boom amplifies opposition voices
Mainstream election coverage of Singapore's opposition parties has improved over the past decade, with its news podcasts showing a willingness to feature alternative voices.
Demonstrators hold a rally against U.S. President Donald Trump's attacks on Harvard University at its campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on April 17.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 29, 2025
Stop scaring future world leaders off U.S. campuses
To the extent that a U.S. education gets others to think as Americans think, it is the ideal tool of soft power
A car with curtains drawn, one of two, is seen leaving Hong Kong's Shek Pik prison just before sunrise on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 29, 2025
First batch of Hong Kong democrats freed after four years in jail
Four former pro-democracy lawmakers, including Claudia Mo, Kwok Ka-ki, Jeremy Tam and Gary Fan, were driven away from three separate prisons across Hong Kong around dawn.
A demonstrators protest against U.S. President Donald Trump's moves to force changes at colleges such as Columbia University and others by cutting grants and imposing various sanctions, at Foley Square in New York on April 17.
WORLD / Society
Apr 23, 2025
U.S. college presidents unite against Trump's higher education policies
They have described the moves as "the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education."
Nissan clinches $4.5 billion bond deal after orders soar
Nissan Motor has raised $4.5 billion through a junk bond sale in U.S. dollars and euros, part of which carries a record-high coupon rate.
U.S. urges clarity on Japan’s role in potential war over Taiwan, report says
A Ground Self-Defense Force member conducts a military drill with an anti-ship missiles unit, at the GSDF's base on Miyako Island in Okinawa Prefecture in April 2022.
Tokyo hit by torrential rainfall at rush hour
People line up at Shibuya Station in Tokyo as they try to avoid the heavy rain on Thursday.
Osaka police crack down on crime ring over underage prostitution
Osaka Prefectural Police headquarters
Foreign drivers in Japan to face tougher license conversion rules from October
According to the National Police Agency, there were 75,905 people who converted their foreign driver’s license to a Japanese one in 2024, up from 48,885 in 2019.
An emoji used to say it all. Now it might say too much.
Apple’s Craig Federighi shows off a set of emoji at a conference on June 13, 2016. While the small pictures have proved helpful in conveying nuance in our texts, younger people are using them less often.
‘Our ultimate goal is to save every single Japanese video game’
After nearly shuttering earlier this year, the Tokyo-based Game Preservation Society continues its work to save the early history of Japanese gaming.
Rare vintage shots and first-time shows at TOP’s 30th anniversary
The museum's curators selected a wide array of works from the archives for the milestone exhibitions. Among other photos, Nobuyoshi Araki's work from the series "Winter Journey" (1990) was included in the "Continuity and Change" exhibition that concluded in June.
New IG Arena set to dial down temperature at Nagoya Basho, in a good way
With IG Arena getting glowing early reviews as the Nagoya Basho’s replacement venue, it may be a while before fans wax nostalgic about the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium.
Once a niche, anime is now mainstream content for Netflix and other streaming services
Though Netflix remains the dominant choice globally for anime viewers, Amazon Prime Video has also invested heavily in anime, steadily adding titles to their catalogue.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji
By Alex K.T. Martin

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