Search - text

 
 
Products used to eradicate bedbugs at a pest control shop in Paris. The French government said on Sept. 29 that it was launching a concerted effort to fight the pests. The blood-sucking insects have been spotted in the Paris metro, high-speed trains and at Paris's Charles-de-Gaulle Airport, with disgusted travelers posting videos on social media.
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 4, 2023

France to hold crisis meetings on bedbug 'scourge'

The blood-sucking insects have been spotted in the Paris metro, high-speed trains and at Paris's Charles De Gaulle Airport.
Generative AI will change work for young professionals, but their reasoning skills will still be needed.
COMMENTARY
Oct 5, 2023

Is ChatGPT coming for entry-level jobs?

If entry-level workers get that much faster and better, won’t companies be able to get by with fewer of them? Maybe.
Bianca Vara, a Democrat and grandmother of five, at the flea market where she runs a stall in Chamblee, Georgia, on Thursday. American voters’ broad discontent with the disarray in Washington transcends political parties, race, age and geography. "Disgust isn’t a strong enough word,” said Vara.
WORLD
Oct 7, 2023

Americans are too turned off by Washington to even complain

Griping about politics is a time-honored American pastime — but lately, the country’s political mood has plunged to some of the worst levels on record.
A woman walks past newly unveiled lettering that references the Oct. 29 Itaewon crush in Seoul. A more fully developed memorial was later built to commemorate the event and the more than 150 people who lost their lives.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society / Longform
Oct 27, 2023

One year on, Itaewon's scars remain

A year on from the Itaewon crush, foot traffic in the Seoul neighborhood is picking back up. But what the future of the area is still in doubt.
A road is flooded in Mehar, Pakistan, in August 2022.
WORLD
Nov 5, 2023

Climate negotiators reach framework to aid vulnerable countries

Delegates meeting in Abu Dhabi agreed late Saturday that the World Bank will host a new Loss and Damage Fund on an interim basis for four years.
Rapid improvements in image generation have spurred artists to push back on generative AI startups, which ingest vast troves of internet data in order to generate content like pictures or text.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 6, 2023

Dall-E 3 is so good it’s stoking a revolt against AI scraping

It hasn’t helped much that OpenAI’s new process for artists who want to exclude their data from the system is time-consuming and complex.
Communicating over the phone, a necessity for businesspeople, is a headache for many young people.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Nov 27, 2023

Many young people in Japan scared of telephone calls

For some, their heart skips a beat when they hear phones ringing and they hesitate to make calls, fearing they might be considered a nuisance.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 11, 2023

U.N. General Assembly to meet Tuesday on ongoing Gaza conflict

On Friday the United States vetoed a cease-fire resolution proposed at an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council.
COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber, of the United Arab Emirates, addresses the plenary, after a draft of a negotiation deal was released, at the COP28 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai on Wednesday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 13, 2023

Nations strike deal at COP28 to transition away from fossil fuels

More than 100 countries had lobbied hard for strong language in the deal to "phase out" oil, gas and coal use, but came up against powerful opposition.
Climate activists protest against fossil fuels at the COP28 conference in Dubai on Tuesday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 14, 2023

'Many will die': Climate scientists slam COP28's limited ambition

Last-minute compromises on wording described as 'devastating' and a 'death knell' for averting the worst impacts of long term planetary heating.
A man walks past a pollution pod designed to mimic the air quality in New Delhi, during the COP28 summit in Dubai, on Dec 4.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 15, 2023

How the world agreed to move away from fossil fuels at COP28

This year's climate conference marked the first time in history countries expressed a unified desire to end the oil age.
An exhibition on marine life at COP28 in Dubai. The conversation around oceans and climate change was not the main focus of the conference, despite the key role oceans play in absorbing carbon.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 15, 2023

COP28, didn't the oceans deserve more attention?

Oceans are key to mitigating climate change and severely impacted by it. Yet they didn't take center stage at COP28 — though some progress was made.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after testifying in his civil fraud trial at the State Supreme Court building in Manhattan,  New York, on Nov. 6.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 16, 2023

Material from Russia probe went missing as Trump left office

A binder given to the Trump White House contained details that intelligence agencies believe could reveal secret sources and methods.
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son speaks at the SoftBank World 2023 corporate conference in Tokyo on Oct. 4.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 31, 2023

Will generative AI speed up Japan's digital transformation?

An initially cautious attitude has given way to wider acceptance in the public and private sectors, providing a boost to digitalization efforts.
Oscar Pistorius, a South African Olympic and Paralympic sprinter, arrives at a courthouse in Pretoria in October 2014.
SPORTS
Jan 5, 2024

Oscar Pistorius, Olympian convicted of murder, set for release

Pistorius was granted parole in November on the basis that he had served half of a 15-year sentence for murder.
People walk past a billboard promoting Prabowo Subianto, Indonesia's defense minister and a presidential candidate, and his running mate, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, who is the eldest son of Indonesian President Joko Widodo and current Surakarta's mayor, in Jakarta on Jan. 12.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 8, 2024

Generative AI faces major test as Indonesia holds election

Front-runner Prabowo Subianto is using AI tools to create campaign art, track social media sentiment, build interactive chatbots and target voters.
China’s tech firms were caught off guard by breakthroughs in generative artificial intelligence — Beijing’s regulations and a sagging economy aren’t helping.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 22, 2024

China’s rush to dominate AI has a twist: It depends on U.S. technology

Even as the United States has tried to slow China’s advancements, it has not held back the practice of openly releasing software to encourage its adoption.
Vocalist Adam Lambert (center) and original Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor hit Nagoya, Osaka, Sapporo and Tokyo for the final leg of their marathon Rhapsody Tour.
CULTURE
Feb 24, 2024

Queen wraps marathon Rhapsody Tour in Japan

The final leg of the global tour hit four Japanese cities, providing fans with an appropriately grandiose send-off from the rockers on Valentine's Day.
Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms, arrives following a break during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington on Jan. 31.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 27, 2024

Mark Zuckerberg meets with Kishida to discuss AI

The Meta Platforms CEO is in Japan as part of an Asia tour, during which he will also travel to South Korea and India.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, whose company launched a pair of smart glasses, on stage at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, in September.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2023

Do you want Meta snooping in your closet with AI wearables?

AI wearable devices represent yet another intrusion into our privacy, allowing tech companies to learn even more about who we are — and what we might buy.
Sayaka Murata uses inventive language to bring the character of Keiko to life in "Convenience Store Woman."
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 22, 2024

'Convenience Store Woman' and the 'normal' in life and literature

Author Sayaka Murata's use of marked and unmarked language provides new layers to a commentary on modern society.
European Council President Charles Michel during a news conference in Brussels on Feb. 1
WORLD / Politics
Mar 21, 2024

EU leaders to discuss using profits from Russian assets to arm Ukraine

EU leaders have voiced alarm about the state of the war in recent weeks, with ammunition-starved Ukrainian forces struggling to hold back Russian troops.
Smoke rises from the Gaza Strip during an explosion following an airstrike on Saturday. The war in Gaza has not stopped and Hamas has not freed anyone despite the adoption of a U.N. resolution on Monday demanding a cease-fire and the release of hostages.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 27, 2024

The U.N. Security Council demanded a Gaza cease-fire. What happens now?

While the U.S. did not veto the cease-fire resolution, its description of the text as "non-binding" sparked an uproar in the world body.
As they enter the workforce, the young employees who grew up texting one another have their own rules for communicating.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 2, 2024

Fear of a full stop? Young Japanese say drop the period in your texts.

In addition to "maruhara," or "period harassment," younger employees want to cut down on the unnecessary emails that are a part of work culture.
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani and his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, in December at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California
BASEBALL
Apr 12, 2024

How Ippei Mizuhara allegedly wired millions from Shohei Ohtani’s account

Crucially for Ohtani, a U.S. investigation clearly paints him as a victim without any involvement in or knowledge of his interpreter's gambling woes.
A nationwide survey by Japan Press Research Institute released in October found that 74.6% of respondents see or hear news a few times a week on the internet. Meanwhile, 87.6% receive news through private broadcasters.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Apr 21, 2024

How to deal with influence operations in the era of generative AI

A significant number of people in Japan don't care about where online news is sourced from, one poll found.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump takes the stage for a campaign event in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on April 2.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 21, 2024

Deconstructing the spectacle and stagecraft of a Donald Trump rally

Trump's rallies are a defining feature of his presidential campaigns: all-day spectacles blending evangelical revivalist meeting and carnival.
A member of the National Animal Health and Production Research Institute takes a swab from a duck during surveillance of the poultry section of the Orussey market, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on May 7.
WORLD
May 21, 2024

The disease detectives trying to keep the world safe from bird flu

Front-line work in low-income countries is increasingly vital to a global system to detect viruses that jump between animals and humans, the way COVID-19 did.
The Japanese government updated its English education guidelines in 2017 to emphasize communication over grammar and memorization. Public school teachers are incredibly busy, however, which means schools haven’t been able to implement changes uniformly. Private and alternative schools are attempting to remedy this.
LIFE / Language / Longform
May 27, 2024

The language of opportunity: Bilingual education is on the rise in Japan

Stuck with a reputation for poor English, Japan is pushing its next generation to be bilingual. Privately run schools are seeing the benefits.
Senior ruling and opposition lawmakers on the Lower House political reform committee decide Monday that the bill will be voted on in parliament the following day.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 3, 2024

Lower House vote on political funds law revision agreed

Movement on the vote follows a deal between the Liberal Democratic Party, Komeito and Nippon Ishin no Kai on the content of the bill.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?