Riley Griffin - The Japan Times

December 24, 2024

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Riley Griffin

A poster advertising a reward for information is posted near the site where Brian Thompson, chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, was fatally gunned down in New York on Monday.

BUSINESS / Companies

Dec 10, 2024

CEO killing and rage over insurance plunges UnitedHealth into crisis

Instead of eliciting sympathy from the public, the death of UnitedHealth’s CEO has spawned a hate machine against the insurance industry.

The World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. The organization said on Wednesday that a person in Mexico had died after contracting a strain of bird flu that hasn’t been confirmed in humans before.

WORLD / Science & Health

Jun 6, 2024

Mexico death linked to bird flu strain that is new to humans

The person died one week after developing a fever, shortness of breath and diarrhea.

Health officials are increasingly on guard for cases of H5N1, a bird virus that’s known to jump between species and can sometimes cause severe cases in people.

WORLD / Science & Health

May 23, 2024

Second U.S. human bird flu infection reported in Michigan

A farmworker in the state experienced mild symptoms in the eye after coming into contact with an infected cow and has since recovered.

A worker organizes cannabis flowers before the opening of the first legal recreational marijuana dispensary, located in the East Village in the Manhattan borough of New York, on Dec. 29, 2022.

WORLD / Crime & Legal

May 1, 2024

Marijuana could be reclassified in U.S. as less dangerous

The rumored move would ease access to cannabis for patients and researchers studying its medical applications without decriminalizing it.

Jim Rauh, founder of Families Against Fentanyl, holds a photograph of his son Thomas in Akron, Ohio, on March 4. How Trump and Biden address a lethal chapter of the U.S. drug-overdose epidemic will be pivotal in swing states that are likely to decide the election.

WORLD / Politics

Mar 27, 2024

270,000 overdose deaths thrust fentanyl into heart of U.S. presidential race

More than 4 in 10 Americans personally know someone who has died from a drug overdose.

Japan Times

WORLD / Science & Health

Jun 24, 2023

COVID-19 origins remain a mystery, U.S. declassified report shows

The report comes months after U.S. President Joe Biden signed a bill into law requiring declassification of intelligence related to the pandemic’s potential links to a Wuhan lab.

Japan Times

ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health

Mar 21, 2023

COVID report based on China samples puts suspicion back to animal origins

A new analysis of samples taken from a market in Wuhan during the early days of the pandemic are the strongest evidence yet that the COVID-19 virus jumped from animals to humans.

Japan Times

WORLD / Science & Health

Mar 9, 2023

COVID lab leak fight obscures the global rise of high-security biolabs

Scientific safety has re-emerged as a high-stakes global issue after the U.S. suggested it had intelligence showing a lab leak was the most likely origin of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Japan Times

WORLD

Jan 31, 2023

U.S. to end COVID emergency declarations in May

The U.S. response has gradually shifted to the background, though the uptake of the latest booster shot remains modest and about 500 people are dying each day from COVID-19 in the nation.

Japan Times

WORLD

Nov 2, 2022

How to move on from the debate over the origins of the pandemic

Nearly three years since the beginning of the outbreak, and after endless debate about COVID-19's origins, the answers we're getting aren't pat, definitive or satisfying.

Japan Times

WORLD

Jul 25, 2022

Monkeypox proves elusive foe as WHO sounds alarm on global spread

COVID-19 forced governments to revamp their pandemic response programs. Now monkeypox is putting those upgrades to the test — and they're falling short.

Japan Times

BUSINESS

Jun 6, 2022

How an airport nail salon became the front line of U.S. COVID surveillance

Despite rules that require travelers to produce a negative COVID-19 test result in order to enter the U.S., the former nail salon chain's testing service routinely finds positive cases.

Japan Times

BUSINESS

Mar 15, 2022

Drugmakers pause trials in Russia while still sending medicine

Major pharmaceutical firms are seeking to strike a balance between international opprobrium over Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the needs of sick patients.

Japan Times

WORLD / Science & Health

Jan 11, 2022

Pfizer starts making vaccine that targets both omicron and the original COVID virus

While research continues, Pfizer will evaluate the new hybrid shot against one specific to omicron and determine which should move forward by March, the firm's CEO has said.

Japan Times

WORLD

Oct 30, 2021

Pfizer won the first round, but Moderna sees final victory ahead

Pfizer has been first across the finish line in nearly every leg of the COVID-19 vaccine race, but Moderna executives say their company's mRNA technology gives it an advantage.

Japan Times

WORLD / Science & Health

Jul 26, 2020

The supply chain to save the world is unprepared for a vaccine

The industries that shepherd goods around the world on ships, planes and trucks acknowledge they aren’t ready to handle the epic challenges of shipping an eventual COVID-19 vaccine from drugmakers to billions of people.

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Visitors to Kyoto walk along a street near Kiyomizu Temple in April. A popular tourist spot, Kyoto has seen what locals feel to be an overwhelming amount of tourists in 2024.

Is Japan ready for 60 million tourists?

By Kathryn Wortley

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’

Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’

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