Search - 2017

 
 
French President Emmanuel Macron warns of existential threats to Europe from Russia, China and the U.S.
COMMENTARY / World
May 6, 2024

Is this Macron's moment to shine?

Underlying all the problems that Europe faces in a new age of geopolitical, economic and climate insecurity is a crisis in leadership.
Naoya Inoue (second from left) celebrates after defeating Luis Nery to retain his IBF, WBA, WBC, and WBO super bantamweight titles at Tokyo Dome on Monday.
MORE SPORTS / Boxing
May 6, 2024

Naoya Inoue dominates Luis Nery to remain undisputed super bantamweight champ

Inoue sent Nery to the canvas with in the sixth round to seal the victory.
MORE SPORTS / Weightlifting
May 7, 2024

Ukrainian two-time European champion weightlifter dies in war

Oleksandr Pielieshenko ranked fourth at the Rio 2016 Olympics in the men's 85 kg category.
Naoya Inoue celebrates his victory over Luis Nery in their IBF-WBA-WBC-WBO super bantamweight title boxing match at Tokyo Dome on Monday.
MORE SPORTS / Boxing
May 7, 2024

After blockbuster boxing victory, what next for ‘Monster’ Inoue?

Some want the boxer to take on more fights outside of Japan.
The Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Kaga destroyer has undergone the first stage of modifications to turn it into a de facto aircraft carrier for F-35B stealth fighter jets.
JAPAN / Politics / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
May 13, 2024

MSDF’s Kure base expanding mission as it marks 70th anniversary

The unit has increased its activities not only in national defense, but also in disaster relief operations and overseas missions.
A Towa Bank employee's suicide in 2017 has been recognized as a work-related accident.
JAPAN / Society
May 8, 2024

Towa Bank employee suicide linked to overwork and harassment

Findings from the Labor Standards Inspection Office showed the man was under extreme stress due to unmanageable work pressures.
Increasingly denuded areas can be seen on the slopes of Mount Ibuki in Ibigawa, Gifu Prefecture, on April 10.
JAPAN / Society / Regional voices: Chubu
May 13, 2024

Deer cause damage to Mount Ibuki, known for its rare alpine flowers

As the amount of snowfall has decreased, affected by global warming, the number of deer has increased.
Russian officers march during the main military parade rehearsals in Moscow's Red Square on May 5.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 8, 2024

Russia’s war economy starves crucial oil industry of manpower

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, its oil and gas sector has faced increasingly strict international sanctions aimed at limiting petrodollar revenue.
The growing divide between U.S.-led and China-aligned blocs is taking a toll on the global economy as trade and investment flows are redirected along geopolitical lines in ways not seen since the Cold War.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 9, 2024

Cold War-type divide puts trade and investment at risk, top IMF official warns

After years of shocks, countries are reevaluating their trading partners, an IMF official has said.
Archaeologists say a 1,600-year-old wooden coffin at the Tomio Maruyama tumulus in the city of Nara was kept in good condition probably because it was protected by a layer of clay and copper ions that had seeped out of the mirrors that were buried together.
JAPAN / History / FOCUS
May 9, 2024

How the discovery of a giant sword in Nara offers clues into ancient Japan

Experts say a series of surprise finds at the burial mound could help untangle the many mysteries surrounding the rulers of fourth-century Japan.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman chairs a session of the virtual Saudi-Bahraini Coordination Council in Riyadh in December 2020.
JAPAN
May 10, 2024

Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to visit Japan

The visit to Japan by Saudi Arabia's de-facto leader, known by his initials MBS, will be his first since 2019.
As the entire world is fixated on Gaza, the Iranian government has been arresting girls who go out in the street without headscarves and executing people.
COMMENTARY / World
May 10, 2024

Don't let Gaza help Iran cloak its own repression

As the entire world is fixated on Gaza, the Iranian government has been arresting girls who go out in the street without headscarves and executing people.
Padres starter Yu Darvish reacts after striking out the Dodgers' Will Smith to end the sixth inning during his team's win over the Dodgers in San Diego on Sunday.
BASEBALL / MLB
May 13, 2024

Yu Darvish sharp as Padres hit three HRs in win over Dodgers

Yu Darvish retired the first 14 batters he faced and allowed just two hits in seven shutout innings as the Padres blanked the Dodgers.
Paris Saint-Germain's Kylian Mbappe celebrates with the French Ligue 1 championship trophy in Paris on Sunday.
SOCCER
May 13, 2024

Kylian Mbappe plays final match with PSG

Mbappe scored in his final home appearance as a Paris Saint-Germain player on Sunday.
Nintendo tends to innovate and take unconventional product development routes, producing both great successes, like its Switch console, and spectacular failures.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 10, 2024

Nintendo needs to 'switch' its next console up

The Kyoto firm has been coy about what will come after the highly successful Switch console, but it needs to step up its game and learn from past mistakes.
The eighth edition of the Yokohama Triennale, held at the Yokohama Museum of Art, opened in March this year with the theme “Wild Grass: Our Lives."
CULTURE / Art
May 14, 2024

Yokohama Triennale's eighth edition makes room for context

Curators Liu Ding and Carol Yinghua Lu's dynamic and vital show positions art at the vanguard of social change.
Andrei Belousov has been described as a tough-talking and professional government insider who once led a campaign to wring more money out of big business for the state, proving he had sharp enough elbows to navigate the system.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
May 14, 2024

Surprise pick as Russia’s defense minister is tough-talking economist and Putin ally

Andrei Belousov's appointment as defense chief suggests to many that President Vladimir Putin is reshaping Russia for a long war in Ukraine.
China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi (left), and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul walk with other officials during their talks in Beijing on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 14, 2024

South Korea and China's top envoys eye trilateral summit with Japan

Seoul has not formally announced the date for the summit — the first since 2019 — but media reports have said it will take place on May 26 and 27.
Scottie Scheffler makes his final putt during the final round of the RBC Heritage golf tournament in Hilton Head, South Carolina, on April 22.
MORE SPORTS
May 14, 2024

Golf's No.1 Scottie Scheffler arrives at Valhalla for PGA Championship

The 27-year-old American, who captured his second Masters title last month, has won four of his past five starts.
Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, during a rally in Gaza City on April 14, 2023
WORLD / Politics
May 14, 2024

Secret Hamas files show how it spied on everyday Palestinians

A 62-slide presentation on the activities of the General Security Service reveals the degree to which Hamas penetrated the lives of Palestinians.
Russia's Daniil Medvedev eyes the ball as he plays against Tommy Paul of the U.S. during the Rome Open tournament on Tuesday.
TENNIS
May 15, 2024

Defending champion Medvedev out, while Swiatek cruises in Rome Open

Rome is now missing the world's top four ranked men.
A man uses a sheet of cardboard to shade from the sun during high temperatures in Bangkok on April 28. Thailand has been bracing for hotter-than-normal days due to the El Nino weather pattern that’s forecast to last until June.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
May 15, 2024

Asia’s killer April heat wave was made much worse by climate change

In countries such as Palestine and Israel, climate change made the heat wave five times more likely than it would have been in pre-industrial times.
North Korea's Ambassador to the United Nations Kim Song speaks during a meeting of the U.N. General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York on June 8, 2022.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
May 15, 2024

U.N. experts: North Korea laundered $147.5 million in stolen crypto

The money was stolen from the HTX cryptocurrency exchange before being laundered in March this year, the experts said.
A tofu business summit is held in Nagoya in October.
JAPAN / Society
May 15, 2024

Tofu shops in Japan at crossroads amid rising costs

The number of tofu producers has been declining at an annual rate of 400 to 500 in recent years
Former President Donald Trump speaks to reporters alongside Todd Blanche, one of his attorneys, before the day's proceedings in his criminal trial in New York on May 9.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 15, 2024

Cohen on cross: 5 takeaways from Trump’s criminal trial

Prosecutors stated that Cohen would be their final witness, while the defense aims to conclude cross-examination by Thursday.
A liquefied natural gas shipment on the Suez Canal in Ismailia, Egypt
BUSINESS / Economy
May 16, 2024

Red Sea disruptions are splitting global LNG trade into regions

It’s been four months since an LNG tanker has passed through the strait separating the Arabian Peninsula and Africa.
The Celtics' Jayson Tatum drives the ball against the Cavaliers' Evan Mobley during the third quarter in Game 5 of their playoff series in Boston on Wednesday.
BASKETBALL
May 16, 2024

Celtics finish off Cavs; Mavericks push Thunder to brink

The top-seeded Boston Celtics overpowered the Cleveland Cavaliers 113-98 to reach their third straight Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday.
Xander Schauffele smiles on the eighth green during the first round of the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
May 17, 2024

Xander Schauffele grabs early lead at PGA Championship with record-tying 62

Xander Schauffele matched the lowest round in major golf history on Thursday, firing a 9-under-par 62 to seize command after the opening day of the PGA Championship.
Representatives of the ruling bloc and opposition parties meet in Tokyo on Friday to start discussions on possible relaxations of the imperial family's strict succession rules.
JAPAN
May 17, 2024

Lawmakers begin talks on Japan's dwindling imperial line

Japan currently has only one heir: Emperor Naruhito's 17-year-old nephew Prince Hisahito.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman welcomes Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, last July.
JAPAN / FOCUS
May 18, 2024

Saudi crown prince seeks soft power in game hub Japan

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will visit Japan soon, where he will hold talks on energy while hunting more opportunities in gaming.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.