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Smoke rises from Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas war on Saturday.
WORLD
Nov 18, 2023

Forever war? Israel risks a long, bloody insurgency in Gaza

None of the ideas floated so far by Israel, the United States and Arab nations for the postwar administration of Gaza have managed to gain traction.
Sam Altman, then the chief executive of OpenAI, in Redmond, Washington, in February
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 19, 2023

The perpetual rise of Sam Altman takes an unexpected turn

The former OpenAI CEO was the face of an AI-fueled future. He was the most Silicon Valley person alive. Then, on Friday, he was fired.
BASEBALL
Nov 19, 2023

Australia gains crucial experience at Asia tourney in Tokyo

For smaller baseball countries like Australia, the opportunity for its young players to play Japan at a packed Tokyo Dome is invaluable.
Hamas fighters take part in a military parade in Gaza in July to mark the anniversary of the 2014 war with Israel.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 21, 2023

Israel's historical role in the rise of Hamas

The complicated relationship between Israel and Hamas with the the "Frankenstein" Jewish state help create
An Israeli volunteer helps farmers from Kibbutz Beeri, Israel — near the border with Gaza — to pick avocados from their land on Nov. 15.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Nov 24, 2023

Thousands of Sri Lankan workers to depart for Israel despite war

The Sri Lankan workers will join some 9,000 compatriots already in Israel, working in farming and care for the elderly.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan speaks at an event in June.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 26, 2023

London’s mayor tries to unite a city divided by war in Gaza

The fighting between Israel and Hamas is shaking Muslim and Jewish people, who have lived side-by-side in London for generations.
Israeli soldiers walk during a raid at the Balata camp for Palestinian refugees, east of Nablus in the occupied West Bank on Nov. 19.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Nov 27, 2023

The West Bank is being reshaped along with Gaza post-Oct. 7

Hamas' attack has aggravated the long-standing conflict over the land between Israel and the Jordan River that forms the other Palestinian territory.
This handout picture released by the Israeli army shows hostages released by Hamas, Gal (center) and Tal Almog-Goldstein (left) being transported in a helicopter after they were released by the Palestinian militant group Hamas from the Gaza Strip on Monday.
WORLD
Nov 28, 2023

11 more Gaza hostages released as Israel-Hamas truce extended

Shortly after the arrival of the hostages was confirmed, Israel's prison authority said 33 Palestinian inmates had been released.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 29, 2023

Japan moves to strengthen crackdown on malicious host clubs

Some women end up with massive debts and are forced into prostitution to repay the sums.
A wind farm near near Golmud, Qinghai province, China
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 29, 2023

The promise of China’s sustainable-development path

As of this month, China has (since 2017) approved 572 “ecological civilization construction demonstration zones.”
Mourners at a funeral on Nov. 19 carry the body of a Palestinian shot dead earlier during a raid by Israeli forces on a refugee camp near the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 29, 2023

While Gaza burns, the West Bank is at a boiling point

Mideast violence spreads beyond Gaza into the West Bank causing the U.S. to take a stand against extremist Israeli settlers.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin attend a meeting at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia's far eastern Amur region on Sept. 13.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Dec 5, 2023

The China-Russia-North Korea triangle looks unlikely to last

Despite a recent raft of leaders' visits and a warming of ties, the three nations still have their own agendas.
JAPAN
Dec 1, 2023

Japan falls out of top 10 in digital government rankings

The result reflects a series of problems with the country's My Number social security and tax identification cards.
Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets launched from the Gaza Strip on Friday, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel.
WORLD
Dec 2, 2023

Israel tells Arab states it wants buffer zone in postwar Gaza, sources say

Israel detailed its plans to its neighbors Egypt and Jordan, along with the United Arab Emirates, which normalized ties with Israel in 2020.
The former lead singer of The Pogues, Shane MacGowan, attends the funeral service of his mother in Silvermines, Ireland, in January 2017.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 6, 2023

The life of the Pogues' frontman and the ‘banality of crazy’ in U.S. politics

The current focus on performative acts in politics diminishes serious policy debates, leading to social and political divides.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 6, 2023

Satellite imagery startup iQPS surges 82% in Tokyo debut

The stock opened at ¥860 per share versus its IPO price of ¥390, with trading delayed by nearly five hours due to a glut of buy orders.
Chinese President Xi Jinping meets former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in November 2018.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 7, 2023

If Kissinger was serving as the U.S. secretary of state

There was no other U.S. diplomat whose reputation in Japan and China was as polar opposite as that of Henry Kissinger.
Yokohama F. Marinos manager Kevin Muscat during an exhibition match against Manchester United at National Stadium in Tokyo in July
SOCCER
Dec 8, 2023

Kewell a possibility after Muscat steps down from Marinos

Tough-tackling former international Muscat has been in charge since July 2021 and won the J. League top division last year.
Israeli military vehicles maneuver inside the central Gaza strip on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 12, 2023

Alarm over possibility of Palestinian displacement in Gaza war

Comments by some Israeli politicians — including some close to the government — have stoked Palestinian and Arab fears of a new Nakba.
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un waves as he takes poses for photos during the Fifth National Mothers' Convention in Pyongyang.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 13, 2023

Kim Jong Un admits rare weakness as North Korea population falls

The rare admission indicates Kim is just as worried about a demographic crunch as he is about the U.S. forces that he says want to end his regime.
Roger Goodell, commissioner of the National Football League, at a meeting in Atlanta on Tuesday.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Dec 14, 2023

NFL expands overseas games and books Brazil contest in 2024

NFL team owners voted Wednesday to stage a 2024 regular-season game in Brazil and approved an increase in the number of international contests from four to eight starting in 2025.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 15, 2023

Why should any city want to host a world expo?

The projected budget for the 2025 Osaka Expo has nearly doubled and netizens and opposition politicians are calling for a cancellation.
Smoke rises from damaged buildings in the Gaza Strip on Friday. Washington has appealed to Jordan, Egypt and Gulf states to persuade Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to pursue institutional reforms with urgency to prepare for post-war Gaza.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 18, 2023

U.S. wants overhauled Palestinian Authority to run Gaza after Hamas

Washington considers the Mahmoud Abbas-led administration as the the only realistic post-war solution despite its unpopularity.
Taiwan's vice president and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's presidential candidate Lai Ching-te. China has rebuked Lai as a dangerous separatist.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 21, 2023

To China, all candidates are separatists, says Taiwan front-runner

The Jan. 13 presidential and parliamentary elections will define Chinese-claimed Taiwan's ties with Beijing.
A line worker installs an airbag at GM's Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup truck plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 2018.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 21, 2023

Carmakers battle massive air-bag recall that may cost $10 billion

The U.S. safety regulator could recall as 52 million air-bag inflators made by ARC Automotive after some were reported to have exploded.
Ineos chairman Jim Ratcliffe
SOCCER
Dec 25, 2023

Billionaire Ratcliffe agrees deal to buy 25% of Manchester United

United also said that Ratcliffe's INEOS company would take control of football operations after years of under-achievement under the Glazer family.
Palestinian's mourn relatives killed in an Israeli strike at the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis on the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 29, 2023

Devastating Israel-Hamas war looks set to continue into 2024

The war has more U.S. military forces to the region and fears of spillover are high, with little hope of reviving peace moves as Washington had hoped.
A man dozes while leaning on a crutch as he sits outside a tent where displaced Palestinians are camped in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 2, 2024

Israel army warns Gaza war will continue throughout 2024

Its 300,000 reserve soldiers will be gradually deployed in the battle against Hamas.
A Tokyo toilet cleaner (Koji Yakusho, left) bonds with his teenage niece (Arisa Nakano) in “Perfect Days.”
CULTURE / Film
Jan 4, 2024

Wim Wenders’ ‘Perfect Days’ finds beauty in small pleasures

Koji Yakusho gives an evocative, multilayered performance as a Tokyo toilet cleaner with a passion for simple joys in this poetic drama.
A yakuza member (Go Ayano, right) enlists a teenage choir leader (Jun Saito) to teach him how to sing in "Let's Go Karaoke!"
CULTURE / Film
Jan 11, 2024

‘Let's Go Karaoke!’: Unlikely duo's friendship hits a comic sweet spot

The chemistry between Go Ayano as a gangster and newcomer Jun Saito as a young choir leader makes their characters’ relationship shine.

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan