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A customer uses a mobile phone at a contactless payment terminal in a pub in London. As with so many other industries, technology has been a primary driver of the change.
WORLD / Society
May 10, 2024

American-style tipping is testing British pub culture

Restaurants, cafes, pubs and bars, account for more than 90% of tipping across the country.
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.
Palestinians sit on an animal-pulled cart as they move to safer areas in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Friday amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the militant group Hamas.
WORLD / Politics
May 11, 2024

U.S. working to keep Israel and Hamas engaged in Gaza truce efforts

The United Nations warned that aid for Gaza could grind to a halt within days after Israel seized control of the Rafah border crossing.
CIA Director William Burns testifies during a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing on worldwide threats on Capitol Hill in Washington in March 11.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
May 11, 2024

U.S. spy chief becomes key envoy as Biden-Netanyahu ties fray

CIA Director William Burns is quietly keeping Washington’s lines of communication open across the Middle East.
Employees work on a production line at an automotive plant producing electric cars near Ningbo, China. The U.S. is set to announce new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and other goods as early as next week, according to people familiar with the matter.
BUSINESS
May 11, 2024

Biden set to hit China EVs and strategic sectors with tariffs

The decision, which could come as early as next week, represents one of Biden’s biggest moves in the economic race with China.
Current AI systems, designed to be honest, have developed a troubling skill for deception, from tricking human players in online games of world conquest to hiring humans to solve "prove-you're-not-a-robot" tests, a team of scientists argue in the journal Patterns on Friday.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 11, 2024

AI systems are already deceiving us — and that's a problem, experts warn

Current AI systems have tricked human players in online games and even hired humans to solve "prove-you're-not-a-robot" tests.
Soldiers load boxes of relief goods into a U.S. CH53 Sea Stallion aircraft at Lal-lo Airport in Cagayan province, northern Philippines, last August. The Lal-lo Airport is one of the additional sites for the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) between the Philippines and the United States.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 11, 2024

China woos Philippine elites near base U.S. needs to defend Taiwan

The moves come as Washington and Beijing remain locked in a struggle for influence that is still playing out.
A meteor is seen in an aurora borealis above Lausanne and the Jura from the Tour de Gourze in Riex, Switzerland, on Saturday.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 11, 2024

First 'extreme' solar storm in 20 years brings spectacular auroras

The "extreme" geomagnetic storm is the first since the so-called Halloween Storms of October 2003.
Philippine and U.S. Marines watch as a projectile hits a target at sea during a live-fire exercise against an imaginary "invasion" force as part of the annual joint military drills, on a strip of sand dunes in Laoag on Luzon island's northwest coast, on May 6.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 11, 2024

U.S. builds web of arms, ships and bases in the Pacific to deter China

With missiles, submarines and alliances, the Biden administration has built a presence in the region to rein in Beijing’s expansionist goals.
George Guttridge-Smith brews tea at Kyoto Obubu Tea Farm in Wazuka, Kyoto Prefecture, where he serves as head of international development.
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 13, 2024

Is black the new green for Japan’s flagging tea farmers?

With coffee and bottled tea cutting into their potential profits, harvesters in Japan are dabbling in the less-regulated production of black tea.
Activists from Amnesty International march in support of the Uyghurs during Chinese President Xi Jinping's two-day state visit in France on May 6.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 13, 2024

China accused of targeting overseas citizens for political activism

Students said their family in China received threats after they attended events such as the commemoration of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.
Officers from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police raid the Tsubasa no To office in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 13, 2024

Political party Tsubasa no To investigated over election obstruction

The group is suspected of interfering with the campaign activities of candidates in the recent by-election in Tokyo’s No. 15 district.
Plaintiff Miyuki Ariga (left) speaks at a news conference along with her lawyer, Yoshitomo Morohashi, after filing a lawsuit at the Tokyo District Court on Monday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 13, 2024

Japanese stripper bids to have her porn movies taken off internet

Having the porn videos in which she featured available to be streamed online causes damage to her image as an artist and dancer now, Miyuki Ariga says.
The plaintiff in an indirect gender discrimination case speaks at a news conference after winning the case in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 14, 2024

Japan AGC unit loses suit over indirect gender discrimination

A subsidiary of Japanese glass-maker AGC has lost a lawsuit filed by a female clerical worker seeking damages for indirect gender discrimination.
French President Emmanuel Macron during an interview on the fringes of the Choose France summit in Versailles, France, on Monday
BUSINESS / Companies
May 14, 2024

Macron puts French banks in play with plan to transform Europe

Macron has been trying to persuade his EU partners to embrace reforms that he says would turn the bloc into a more united and powerful economic force.
Members of Taiwan's Navy and media onboard a special operation boat navigate near a Kuang Hua VI-class missile boat, during part of a demonstration for the media to show combat readiness ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays, on the waters near a military base in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on Jan. 31.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 14, 2024

U.S. and Taiwan navies quietly held Pacific drills in April

The exercises, which were not publicized and involved "multiple military assets," took place last month in the Western Pacific, according to sources.
Spectators gather on South Padre Island to watch the planned launch of SpaceX's next-generation Starship spacecraft from the company's Boca Chica launchpad, near Brownsville, Texas, on March 14.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 14, 2024

Musk's SpaceX is quick to build in Texas, slow to pay its bills

Unpaid bills and finger-pointing among contractors have led many construction-industry businesses to file liens against SpaceX properties.
Michael Cohen, former lawyer for Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump departs his home in Manhattan to testify in Trump's criminal trial over charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, in New York on Monday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 14, 2024

Michael Cohen testimony ties Trump to hush money payment

Cohen's account of Trump directing the falsification of financial records is potentially the most damaging testimony against the former president so far.
Boys watch smoke billowing during Israeli strikes east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
May 14, 2024

Celebrities face digital backlash over Gaza silence

For months, activists have flooded the comments sections of social media sites, urging stars to join calls for a cease-fire in the war.
A drone view shows a flooded street in downtown Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, on Monday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
May 14, 2024

Persistent Brazil floods raise specter of climate migration

The mayor of one town in southern Brazil said his office is planning to rebuild 40% of it elsewhere after the area flooded yet again.
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.
Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson (left) argues with the club's manager Pep Guardiola following a decision to substitute him during a Premier League match against Tottenham Hotspur in London on Tuesday.
SOCCER
May 15, 2024

Job not done, warns Guardiola, as City edge toward title

Manchester City are two points ahead of Arsenal heading to the finale of a neck-and-neck race.
A pro-Palestinian supporter in Tokyo takes part in a protest against Israeli attacks on Gaza. Japanese universities are also experiencing their share of pro-Palestinian student demonstrations similar to those elsewhere in the world.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 15, 2024

What the campus Gaza protests lack — in Japan, too

Students are right to be distressed over the suffering of Palestinians. But are they applying cognitive empathy to understand the other side, too?
A gawky high school senior (Hsu Kuang-han, right) falls for an older colleague (Kaya Kiyohara) who gives him life advice in “18×2 Beyond Youthful Days.”
CULTURE / Film
May 16, 2024

‘18×2 Beyond Youthful Days’: Formulaic tearjerker hits the road for true love

Though the leads lack chemistry, they nonetheless earn kudos for their performances in Michihito Fujii’s Japan-Taiwan co-production.
Shipping containers at Pier J at the Port of Long Beach wait for processing in Long Beach, California, in 2018.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 16, 2024

U.S. efforts to reshape global supply chains gathers pace in Asia

Investment flows are shifting along with trade, with global firms investing in Southeast Asia to avoid U.S. tariffs on China.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen drives during the Miami Grand Prix on May 5.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
May 16, 2024

Formula One leader Max Verstappen hoping to get back on track at Imola

Max Verstappen will being trying put his friend Lando Norris back in his place among the chasing pack when Formula One returns to Italy.
A white flag residents displayed to express their intention to peacefully keep watch over the neighborhood, is seen on a temporary roadblock residents set up in the Magenta district of Noumea, New Caledonia, on Thursday.
WORLD
May 16, 2024

Four dead in New Caledonia riots; France declares state of emergency

Rioting broke out over a new bill lawmakers adopted in Paris that will let French residents who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years vote there.
Japan's gross domestic product shrank at an annualized pace of 2% in the three months through March.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 16, 2024

Japan’s economy contracts as consumers and firms cut spending

Gross domestic product contracted at an annualized pace of 2% in the three months through March.
Projections consistently show that low-lying Bangkok risks being inundated by the ocean before the end of the century.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
May 16, 2024

Climate change could force Thailand to relocate its capital, official warns

Projections consistently show that low-lying Bangkok risks being inundated by the ocean before the end of the century.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant talks to soldiers during a visit to a position along the border with the Gaza Strip in southern Israel near Rafah.
WORLD / Politics
May 16, 2024

Israeli defense chief challenges Netanyahu over post-war Gaza plans

The televised vow to oppose any long-term Israeli rule over the ravaged Palestinian enclave is the most vocal dissent from within Israel's top echelon.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat