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October 31, 2025
 

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GANGS

Brazilian police launched their biggest ever raids on Rio de Janeiro's drug traffickers on Tuesday, with as many as 2,500 officers taking part.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Oct 29, 2025
At least 64 killed in war-like Rio drug raids
As many as 2,500 heavily armed officers took part in the operation targeting Brazil's main drug-trafficking gang in two poor neighborhoods.
A Thai soldier keeps watch over people who crossed over from Myanmar, as they wait to be screened and interrogated by officials on Oct. 23.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Oct 28, 2025
Myanmar detains over 10,000 foreigners in scam center crackdown
The move comes as the international community pressures the junta to dismantle billion-dollar scam networks.
Workers at a coca plantation in Colombia. Experts say the U.S. strikes on narcotics traffickers are having no real impact on Latin America's drug trade.
WORLD / Crime & Legal / EXPLAINER
Oct 24, 2025
Are U.S. strikes hurting Latin America's drug trade?
In short, no.
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly suggested he could order the U.S. military to escalate attacks by hitting cartel infrastructure on land in Venezuela.
WORLD
Oct 24, 2025
Trump says U.S. eyeing land strikes next after drug boat attacks
Trump's statement was the clearest indication yet that he’s preparing to broaden strikes in his campaign to stop the flow of drugs into the U.S. from Venezuela.
Retired yakuza Mako Nishimura sorts fallen leaves during a clean-up activity at the Gifu Gokoku shrine in Gifu Prefecture on Sept. 28.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 21, 2025
Rare female yakuza walks path to redemption in Japan
Heavily inked Mako Nishimura, 58, spends her days helping other retired gangsters reintegrate into society.
Police officers escort repatriated South Koreans, who were detained by authorities in Cambodia over alleged cyberscam operations, upon their arrival at Incheon international airport, west of Seoul, on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Oct 18, 2025
64 South Koreans held in Cambodia return home under arrest
South Korea had sent a team to Cambodia on Wednesday to discuss cases of fake jobs and scam centers involved in kidnapping dozens of its nationals.
Suspect Qian Ling (center), who is believed to be the group's leader, following his re-arrest, in Tokyo's Koto Ward on Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 17, 2025
Tokyo police arrest phone scam group leader
The Metropolitan Police Department suspects that the group was behind at least some 500 phone scam cases committed in half a year through January.
The Aichi Prefectural Police headquarters in Nagoya
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 17, 2025
Seven key members of major bank account brokerage ring arrested
The organization is believed to be one of the biggest of its kind in Japan, handling over 1,000 accounts annually for the purpose of money laundering
Screen captures from a video posted on the White House's X account on Sept. 15 depict what U.S. President Donald Trump said was a military strike on a Venezuelan drug cartel vessel that had been on its way to the United States.
WORLD
Oct 17, 2025
In a first, U.S. strike in Caribbean leaves survivors, U.S. official says
Tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela have escalated amid U.S. strikes on alleged drug vessels off the South American country's coast.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said Tuesday the recent kidnappings in Cambodia were causing "significant harm to South Koreans," and urged immediate government action.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Oct 14, 2025
80 South Koreans missing in Cambodia scam center row, Seoul says
Between January and August this year, 330 South Koreans were reported to have gone missing or been held against their will after entering Cambodia.
U.S. President Donald Trump departs after addressing senior military officers gathered at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Quantico, Virginia, on Tuesday. His administration has declared a "non-international armed conflict” with Latin American drug cartels.
WORLD
Oct 3, 2025
Trump declares cartels in ‘armed conflict’ with U.S. military
The move offers additional legal justification for recent strikes on alleged drug-runners from Venezuela and opens the door for possible further escalation.
National Police Agency Commissioner-General Yoshinobu Kusunoki (right) hands a letter of appointment to Akira Uno, head of the agency's newly created information analysis office, at the agency in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 1, 2025
Police in Japan launch teams to combat tokuryū crime groups
Members of the groups are connected through social media for illegal activities such as fraud and robbery.
A street in Naha in August. In entertainment districts in southern Okinawa, a drug known as "laughing gas vape" is being abused at nightclubs and bar. Now, some establishments have put up warning notices.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Sep 22, 2025
Abuse of 'zombie cigarettes' among Okinawa youths raises alarm
"Laughing gas vape," inhaled using devices resembling e-cigarettes, can cause its users to lose control.
The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday upheld an indefinite prison sentence for 54-year-old man over a fatal 2023 robbery in Komae, Tokyo.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 11, 2025
Indefinite term upheld for man over Tokyo robbery resulting in death
The case was one of a series of high-profile robberies committed across Japan by a group led by masterminds using the pseudonym "Luffy."
Investigators escort suspects extradited from Cambodia after arresting them on suspicion of attempted fraud, on Wednesday at Chubu Centrair International Airport in the city of Tokoname, Aichi Prefecture.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 21, 2025
Aichi police arrest 29 Japanese extradited from Cambodia over phone scams
The suspects allegedly posed as police officers when calling victims in the Kanto region to swindle them of cash.
The Pentagon building in Arlington, Virginia
WORLD
Aug 15, 2025
U.S. military deploying forces to southern Caribbean against drug groups
U.S. President Donald Trump has wanted to use the military to go after Latin American drug gangs that have been designated as global terrorist organizations.
U.S. President Donald Trump walks from Marine One to Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Aug. 1.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 9, 2025
Trump rattles Latin America by eyeing military force against drug cartels
The approach discards the previous administration's preference for carrots over sticks to coax countries into alignment with U.S. interests.
Tomonobu Kojima arrives at Tokyo's Haneda Airport in February 2023 after being deported from the Philippines.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 23, 2025
Senior member of 'Luffy' crime ring gets 20 years in prison
Tomonobu Kojima, 47, was the first of the four indicted members of the group, whose members went by the nickname "Luffy," to receive a court ruling.
The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 15, 2025
23-year sentence sought for senior member of 'Luffy' crime ring
"The cases have led to many copycat crimes, and the defendant should be punished severely," prosecutors stressed.
Osaka Prefectural Police headquarters
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 12, 2025
Osaka police crack down on crime ring over underage prostitution
The group, made up of roughly 70 members, is suspected of recruiting about 130 underage girls for prostitution through social media.
Takaichi buys time and builds trust with ‘near-perfect’ Trump summit
U.S. President Donald Trump walks with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi aboard the USS George Washington aircraft carrier during a visit to the U.S. Navy's Yokosuka base in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Tuesday.
Trump trims fentanyl-linked China tariffs after 'amazing' Xi meeting
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping greet each other as they arrive for talks at the Gimhae Air Base, next to the Gimhae International Airport in Busan, South Korea, on Thursday.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell
Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Kyushu banzuke sets the stage to cement 2025’s sumo narratives
Onosato ahead of his bout against Aonishiki at The Grand Sumo Tournament at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Oct. 18
Takaichi pushed back on U.S. request to ban Russian gas imports, sources say
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi reportedly turned down a request from the U.S. to cease imports of liquefied natural gas from Russia.
At Japan Mobility Show, BYD gears up to conquer Japan's EV market
BYD Auto Japan President Atsuki Tofukuji unveils the Racco at the Japan Mobility Show in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Oasis returns to Tokyo: Rain, rapture and rock
Fans wait to get into the Oasis show at Tokyo Dome on Saturday. While lining up in the rain, some broke into impromptu versions of the British rock group's hits.
Kyushu banzuke sets the stage to cement 2025’s sumo narratives
Onosato ahead of his bout against Aonishiki at The Grand Sumo Tournament at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Oct. 18
Tokyo Film Festival opens with global stars and a spotlight on Asian storytelling
Director Junji Sakamoto (left) walked the Tokyo International Film Festival red carpet with Sayuri Yoshinaga (center) and Non (right), who both play mountaineer Junko Tabei, the first woman to summit Mount Everest, in the biopic "Climbing for Life."
Spanish artist and Japanese writer duos diversify the manga talent pool in Japan
"Menheim” is a dark fantasy manga with a story that centers on a girl’s quest to find a cure for her ill brother.

Podcast

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

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell
By Alex K.T. Martin

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Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo

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