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June 06, 2025
 

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RIGHTS

Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Friday. Suzuki said preparations for the changes that will focus more on rehabilitation are being actively made at each correctional facility.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Jun 5, 2025
Japan’s prison reform focuses on rehabilitation
Prison labor is no longer mandatory, which allows more time for educational and rehabilitative programs aimed at reducing recidivism.
Security personnel keep watch near the portrait of late Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong displayed on the Tiananmen Gate, in Beijing on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 4, 2025
We will never forget Tiananmen crackdown, Taiwan and U.S. say on 36th anniversary
The events are not publicly discussed in China and the anniversary is not officially marked.
Yasuhiko Morine (left), Esperanza Morine (center left), Lydia Morine (center right) and Naoaki Morine on the island of Linapacan in the western Philippines on May 25
JAPAN
Jun 4, 2025
Some descendants of Japanese in Philippines still without Japan nationality
As this year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the government is strengthening support for those seeking Japanese nationality based on their ancestry.
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.
The chief prosecutor of Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal, Mohammad Tajul Islam (center), speaks during a news conference in Dhaka on Sunday, the opening day of fugitive former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's trial for allegedly orchestrating a "systemic attack" to crush an uprising against her government.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 1, 2025
Bangladesh opens fugitive ex-PM's trial over protest killings
The prosecution of senior figures from Hasina's government is a key demand of several of the political parties now jostling for power.
A vehicle exits Shek Pik Prison after former leader of the Civil Human Rights Front, Jimmy Sham, served a four-year, three-month sentence for conspiracy to commit subversion in a landmark national security case, in Hong Kong, on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
May 30, 2025
Second group of Hong Kong democrats freed after 4 years in jail
Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ+ activist Jimmy Sham, who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups.
A view of the construction site of BYD's electric vehicle factory at the Industrial Complex in the city of Camacari, in the state of Bahia, Brazil, on Jan. 9
BUSINESS / Companies
May 28, 2025
Brazil sues EV giant BYD over ‘slavery’ conditions at plant
Prosecutors said 220 Chinese workers were found in December in conditions "analogous to slavery” and described them as victims of human trafficking.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio buttons his jacket at the start of a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing in Washington on May 21.
WORLD / Politics
May 28, 2025
U.S. suspends student visa processing as Trump ramps up social media vetting
A U.S. diplomatic cable has ordered embassies and consulates not to allow "any additional student or exchange visa ... appointment capacity until further guidance is issued."
A Palestinian woman carries a toddler as she walks amid the destruction following Israeli strikes in Jabalia's Saftawi neighborhood in the northern Gaza on Thursday.
COMMENTARY / World
May 26, 2025
Nothing civilized about Netanyahu's war in Gaza
The continued razing of Palestinian enclave following the killing of Israel Embassy staffers will only perpetuate the cycle of violence.
Women visit a stand during the 23rd international gold and jewellery exhibition in Kuwait City on May 21.
WORLD
May 26, 2025
Stateless overnight: Kuwait strips tens of thousands of citizenship
The mass revocations have been cast as part of a reformist agenda spearheaded by Kuwaiti emir Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.
Posters, flowers, and letters are placed at a memorial honoring victims of police violence in George Floyd Square in Minneapolis on May 18.
WORLD / Society
May 25, 2025
George Floyd's uncertain legacy is marked five years on
Americans on Sunday mark five years since George Floyd was killed by a U.S. police officer, as President Donald Trump backtracks on reforms designed to tackle racism.
Family members, friends and Minneapolis residents pay their respects at the memorial site where George Floyd was murdered on May 25, 2020, by police officer Derek Chauvin, ahead of the fifth anniversary of Floyd’s death on Friday.
WORLD / Society
May 25, 2025
Did George Floyd protesters miss their moment for change?
Despite widespread revulsion at racism and police brutality, many turned away when BLM activists broadened their message to calling for the defunding of law enforcement.
Director Jafar Panahi, Palme d'Or award winner for the film "Un simple accident" ("It Was Just an Accident"), poses during a photocall after the closing ceremony of the 78th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
May 25, 2025
Iranian filmmaker Panahi urges 'freedom' as he wins top prize at Cannes
The dissident filmmaker's "Un Simple Accident" tells the tale of five Iranians confronted with a man they believed tortured them in jail.
A demonstration is held in Malawi as part of government efforts to pilot test the use of drones for humanitarian purposes, with assistance from UNICEF. As this and other technologies become more accessible, we must ensure their use advances sustainable development.
COMMENTARY / World
May 22, 2025
How efficiency can transform sustainable development
In our haste to improve efficiency, we can't ignore the interests of humanity. Democratizing access to AI and other technologies is a fundamental step in this direction.
Detainees play outside during a media tour of the Port Isabel Detention Center, hosted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Harlingen Enforcement and Removal Operations, in Los Fresnos, Texas, on June 10, 2024.
WORLD / Politics
May 21, 2025
Deportations to South Sudan appear to violate court order, U.S. judge says
The development marked a new clash between the federal judiciary and U.S. President Donald Trump's administration in its efforts to implement mass deportations.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in parliament in Budapest on Tuesday. Critics have likened recent moves by the prime minister to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attempts to crack down on domestic rivals.
WORLD / Politics
May 20, 2025
Viktor Orban tightens grip on freedoms in Hungary ahead of election next year
Over the past 15 years, the premier has expelled a university, overhauled the judiciary and whipped up propaganda campaigns against political opponents.
Nipppon Ishin no Kai members submit to the Lower House on Monday a bill to give legal validity to maiden names.
JAPAN / Politics
May 19, 2025
Nippon Ishin submits bill to give legal validity to maiden names
The DPP is preparing its own bill and Komeito plans to wait for the LDP to consolidate party opinion on the issue.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Canberra "is appalled at the sham trial and 13-year sentence given to Australian man Oscar Jenkins."
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 17, 2025
Canberra slams Russian jailing of Australian who fought for Ukraine
Oscar Jenkins, 33, was convicted of being a "mercenary in an armed conflict" by the court in Ukraine's Russian-occupied east Luhansk region.
U.S. President Donald Trump lashed out Friday at the Supreme Court after it blocked his bid to resume deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members, saying the justices are "not allowing me to do what I was elected to do."
WORLD / Politics
May 17, 2025
U.S. Supreme Court maintains block on Trump deportations under wartime law
The top court faulted his administration for seeking to remove the Venezuelan migrants without adequate legal process.
A new U.S. citizen holds a U.S. flag after a naturalization ceremony in Boston on March 11.
COMMENTARY / World
May 16, 2025
U.S. citizenship could soon look very different
Trump's vision tilts heavily toward the wealthy and well-to-do, with special shortcuts for them and barriers to entry for the rest.
Japan’s fertility rate hits record low despite government push
The total number of births dropped to about 686,000, marking the first time the figure has fallen below 700,000, according to a health ministry release on Wednesday.
Japan eyes tougher rules for foreign residents and tax hike for tourists
A tax-free shop in Kyoto in April 2024. Last week, members of a Liberal Democratic Party study group drafted a proposal seeking to scrap the country's tax-free shopping system altogether.
Hakuho’s departure highlights worrying sumo trend
Former <i>yokozuna</i> Hakuho performs a ring-entering ceremony at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in February 2020.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic
After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
Is Japan ready to say goodbye to tax-free shopping?
Arrows lead to the tax-free counter at a branch of discount retailer Don Quijote in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward.
New Naoshima museum bets on Asia, not the West
Detail of Takashi Murakami, “Rakuchu-Rakugai-zu Byobu: Iwasa Matabei RIP” (2023-25)
Japan’s prison reform focuses on rehabilitation
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Friday. Suzuki said preparations for the changes that will focus more on rehabilitation are being actively made at each correctional facility.
Six months into 2025, J-pop is having a full-on identity crisis (and a great time)
The year so far is only proving that Mrs. Green Apple is the biggest band in Japan. Their success also seems to be hinting at a change in the musical landscape more broadly.
Nintendo’s Switch 2 console is finally here
The Switch 2 is Nintendo's first new gaming console in eight years.
Hakuho’s departure highlights worrying sumo trend
Former <i>yokozuna</i> Hakuho performs a ring-entering ceremony at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in February 2020.

Podcast

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

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic
By Alex K.T. Martin

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