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October 26, 2025
 

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POLLUTION

Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 20, 2019
Regulators said 'asleep at the wheel' in raising health alarm over Houston chemical conflagration
As a towering plume of black smoke billowed a mile above Houston for a third day, local officials said they don't know how long the petrochemical blaze that sent orange fireballs into the sky will continue.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Mar 13, 2019
South Korea labels air pollution a 'social disaster' in move that could unlock emergency funds
South Korea on Wednesday ramped up its firepower as it battles pollution, passing a set of bills that designate the problem a 'social disaster' and which could unlock emergency funds to tackle the issue.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 8, 2019
Awash with plastic bottles and lacking a law, Kenya struggles to recycle with help from Coca-Cola and Unilever
As global concern over plastic pollution rises, corporate giants such as Coca-Cola and Unilever are pumping cash into a recycling initiative in Kenya they hope will provide a model for other developing countries.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 7, 2019
A new paradigm for plastics
We can no longer ignore the fact that plastic is a problem at all stages of its life cycle — not just after it ends up in the ocean.
JAPAN / Beyond Tokyo
Feb 24, 2019
As the world drowns in plastic, Kameoka in Kyoto and other cities across Japan fight back
Plastic pollution in the ocean has become one of the world's most urgent environmental problems. Footage of vast fields of floating plastic debris between California and Hawaii — now commonly known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch — have driven home the gravity of the problem, with scientists and...
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 22, 2019
Future of food under 'severe threat' amid rapid decline in species diversity, U.N. warns
The future of food supplies is under "severe threat" because of the number of animal and plant species that are quickly disappearing, a United Nations report said Friday as the world grapples with how to feed a growing population.
WORLD
Feb 18, 2019
U.K. plans new tax to boost recycled plastic content and get producers to pay for waste disposal
Britain is to set out plans to overhaul its recycling system on Monday, including making producers of plastic packaging pay the full cost of dealing with their waste and introducing a deposit return scheme for cans and bottles.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Feb 8, 2019
Startup's 'water from air' project aims to turn back Thailand's tide of plastic
Staying at a hotel on the Thai island of Koh Samui in 2015, Meghan Kerrigan noticed the four bottles of water she was given every day were clogging her trash can with plastic. Outside her door, Chaweng Beach was smothered in rubbish.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 27, 2019
Germany to phase out coal by 2038 in move away from fossil fuels
Germany should shut down all of its coal-fired power plants by 2038 at the latest, a government-appointed commission said on Saturday, proposing at least €40 billion ($45.7 billion) in aid to regions affected by the phase-out.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Jan 22, 2019
China vows to crackdown on underperformers in ongoing war on air pollution
China will order detailed punishment measures for officials in regions that miss air-quality targets this winter, refusing to accept unfavorable weather or mounting economic pressure as excuses, an environment ministry official said Monday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Jan 21, 2019
Factory night views of Yokkaichi a tourist draw and a bitter legacy of pollution
Factory night view cruises in Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, are recently attracting visitors from across the nation. While the city's tourism association hopes the tour will help make the city become a major tourist destination, people who suffered from industrial pollution in the 1960s say they don't want...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 17, 2019
Plastics and consumer goods makers announce $1.5 billion pledge to rein in waste
Global companies including BASF, DowDuPont, Procter & Gamble and SABIC have formed an alliance to fight plastic waste, pledging to spend $1.5 billion over the next five years.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jan 16, 2019
Trash talk: Tokyo city opens bar in waste-management facility to spark environment debate
Like many Tokyoites, Miki Takara, 53, was sipping beer and indulging in specially prepared delicacies at a bar on a recent Friday evening. But something made this scene in Tokyo's western city of Musashino a bit different: At this bar, the only thing separating her from a concrete waste pit was a single...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Jan 11, 2019
India launches national program to fight air pollution, but experts are skeptical
India has launched a program to rein in dangerous pollution levels in more than a hundred cities, an initiative the government expects to significantly improve air quality.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 10, 2019
Trump makes ex-coal lobbyist's position as chief of U.S. environment agency permanent
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday nominated acting EPA chief Andrew Wheeler to run the agency permanently, the White House said, placing a former energy lobbyist at the helm of the nation's top environmental regulator.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 26, 2018
New Delhi residents spend Christmas indoors as smog crisis stretches into fourth day
Many Delhi residents were forced to spend Christmas indoors this year as air quality remained at "severe to emergency" levels for a fourth day, in the Indian capital's worst smog crisis this year.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Dec 24, 2018
New Delhi chokes as pollution levels in Indian capital hit the worst level this year
Pollution levels in New Delhi have hit their worst this year in the past two days — earning a "severe" to "emergency" rating and indicating conditions that can spark a public health crisis.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Dec 10, 2018
Bug business: Cockroaches corralled by the millions in China to crunch waste
In the near pitch-dark, you can hear them before you see them — millions of cockroaches scuttling and fluttering across stacks of wooden boards as they devour food scraps by the ton in a novel form of urban waste disposal.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 7, 2018
Trump to roll back Obama-era carbon rule, opening door for new coal plants
The Trump administration took aim at two Obama-era environmental policies on Thursday to boost the oil and coal industries, proposing to open up a wildlife habitat to drilling and mining and to remove hurdles to the construction of coal-fired power plants.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 7, 2018
12.5% of Indian deaths due to polluted air: study
India's toxic air claimed 1.24 million lives in 2017 — 12.5 percent of total deaths recorded that year — according to a study published in Lancet Planetary Health on Thursday.
Bear kills another person in Japan in record year for fatal attacks
Police investigate at the scene of a bear attack that killed one person and injured three others on Friday in the village of Higashinaruse in Akita Prefecture.
Tokyo launches English-language international school database
A screenshot of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's international schools portal site
New ‘immigration minister’ post signals Takaichi Cabinet’s priorities
Kimi Onoda, economic security minister and minister for harmonious coexistence with foreign nationals, arrives at the prime minister's office in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Takaichi focuses on economic and security concerns in first policy speech
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi delivers her first policy speech in the Lower House in Tokyo on Friday.
New tourism minister calls concentration of tourists in certain areas 'very serious'
Tourism minister Yasushi Kaneko holds a news conference in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Stars align for Kim-Trump meeting — but any talks will be on N.K. leader’s terms
A South Korean soldier stands next to a TV broadcasting a news report about a possible summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump, at the main railway station in Seoul on Wednesday.
New ‘immigration minister’ post signals Takaichi Cabinet’s priorities
Kimi Onoda, economic security minister and minister for harmonious coexistence with foreign nationals, arrives at the prime minister's office in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Number of suicide cases among students in Japan hits record high in 2024
The health ministry's Suicide White Paper for 2024 has found that numbers for both men and women peak at age 21, with “concerns over future career paths” being identified as the most likely cause.
The newly formed LDP-JIP coalition may not be as solid as it seems
Ruling Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi and Japan Innovation Party leader Hirofumi Yoshimura sign a policy agreement between the two parties at the Diet in Tokyo on Monday.
AI-optimized cybercrime increasingly targeting Japan
A recent cyberattack on brewer Asahi Group Holdings resulted in the company suspending shipments.

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