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Migrants plead with the Texas National Guard to be let through to the U.S. side of the Rio Grande on in El Paso, Texas, as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Society
Mar 22, 2024

Anti-migrant rhetoric surging ahead of elections worldwide, U.N. warns

With around half the global population due to go to the polls in 2024, migrants were "easy" targets, the United Nations' migration chief has said.
Homes affected by sea level rise on Tierra Bomba Island, Cartagena, Colombia
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 22, 2024

Global sea level jumped due to El Nino and climate change, NASA says

The global average sea level rose by about 0.76 centimeters from 2022 to 2023 — nearly four times the increase of the previous year.
Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi delivers a speech during during the party's 91st convention in Tokyo on March 17.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 23, 2024

LDP secretary-general vows to dole out tough punishments over funds scandal

The remarks came at the first session of the LDP's regional roundtable dialogue on political reform, aimed at reflecting the voices of its local branches.
A view of the Legislative Council chamber with Chinese and Hong Kong flags reflected on the window is seen as the second reading of the Article 23 security law is read, in Hong Kong on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 23, 2024

Hong Kong's new national security law comes into force

The United States, the European Union, Japan and Britain have been among the law's strongest critics.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 25, 2024

LDP heavyweight Nikai says he won't run for reelection

Toshihiro Nikai, 85, said he had conveyed his decision to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, as the LDP grapples with an ongoing political funds scandal.
Police escort Do Kwon from court in Podgorica, Montenegro, on Saturday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 26, 2024

Terraform goes on trial as Do Kwon awaits extradition in Montenegro

The trial is the latest in a series of high-profile legal confrontations in which U.S. regulators seek to assert greater control over the crypto industry.
The Dali cargo vessel that crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing it to collapse in Baltimore, Maryland, on Tuesday
BUSINESS
Mar 27, 2024

Baltimore’s freak bridge collapse reverberates from cars to coal

The aftermath of the bridge’s collapse throws another spotlight on the fragile nature of global supply chains.
Those who are planning to move to new homes are finding themselves either struggling to make a reservation or facing increasingly higher costs.
BUSINESS
Mar 27, 2024

Japan's moving companies struggle to meet demand amid driver shortage

Charges have increased, even doubled, during the March-April peak moving season as a regulation capping overtime hours for drivers kicks in.
Directed and co-written by Sunao Katabuchi, animated film “In This Corner of the World” depicts the beauty of nature and the horrors of war with equal potency.
CULTURE / Film
Mar 27, 2024

Films that give the Japanese perspective of the atomic bomb

Movies about the nation's darkest days — in genres such as dramas, fantasies and anime — offer another side to Christopher Nolan's 'Oppenheimer' story.
An Israeli military helicopter flying away from the helipad of a hospitalin Tel Aviv, Israel, after transporting a patient on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 28, 2024

Israel deploys expansive facial recognition program in Gaza

Members of Israeli intelligence and its military are concerned about the experimental surveillance effort's false positives and cases of mistaken identity.
Wildlife researcher Amelia Hiorns says Japan's bears feel the pressure of human presence and have learned that encountering us is not worth their time.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Mar 30, 2024

Amelia Hiorns: 'Guiding and introducing people to Japan's nature has been rewarding'

Wildlife researcher Amelia Hiorns shares how separate interests in Japan and in bears culminated in conservation work in the mountains of Nagano.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attends an Upper House Budget Committee session on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 28, 2024

Ex-PM Yoshiro Mori may face LDP probe over kickback scheme

The target and scope of such an investigation has yet to be decided, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 29, 2024

'2024 problem' seen hitting regional logistics sectors hard

Overtime caps for truck drivers coupled with soaring fuel prices could put transport companies out of business, unless consignors agree to higher fees.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has expressed his eagerness to revise the political funds law in the current session of parliament, slated to end on June 23.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 29, 2024

Spotlight on political reform after budget clears Japan's parliament

Ruling and opposition parties are eager to outline a bolder plan for reform to raise their profile among voters amid growing political disenchantment.
JR Tokai President Shunsuke Niwa speaks to reporters after meeting with transport ministry officials on Friday.
JAPAN
Mar 30, 2024

JR Tokai gives up on 2027 maglev target date for opening

JR Tokai gave up the 2027 goal as the Shizuoka Prefectural Government has declined to approve tunnel drilling work due to environmental concerns.
Tsunami-hit houses in Noto, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Sunday
JAPAN / Society
Apr 1, 2024

Noto quake-hit areas show signs of recovery three months on

The number of evacuees has decreased by about 3,000 to around 8,100.
The National Museum of China following the closing of the Second Session of the 14th National People's Congress in Beijing on March 11
WORLD / Politics
Apr 3, 2024

China’s advancing efforts to influence the U.S. election raise alarms

The accounts signal a potential shift in how Beijing aims to influence American politics, with more of a willingness to target specific candidates.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un looks on as he guides a training of the fire division in this picture released on March 19. Pyongyang has spent decades stockpiling millions of rounds of artillery and thousands of rockets in the terrain north of the demilitarized zone, which sits some 40 kilometers away from Seoul.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 3, 2024

Kim Jong Un faces annihilation in nearly all Korea war scenarios

Although North Korea has a manpower advantage, the bulk of its forces rely on "increasingly obsolete equipment” dating back to Soviet era.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspects the first test-fire of the Hwasong-16B, a new-type intermediate-range, solid-fueled ballistic missile outside Pyongyang in this image released Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 3, 2024

North Korea aims to adopt solid-fuel missiles for faster launches

Analysts say solid-fuel missiles can be faster to deploy than liquid-fuel variants, but it's unclear if the North can or will adopt these exclusively.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Woodside, California, on Nov. 15
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 3, 2024

Biden-Xi call highlights stabilizing ties, but also hints at lingering divide

The nearly two-hour telephone call saw the leaders of the world's two largest economies discuss a range of other issues, from TikTok to Taiwan.
Shizuoka Gov. Heita Kawakatsu apologizes for his gaffe at a news conference in Shizuoka on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 3, 2024

Shizuoka governor's resignation may remove hurdle for maglev project

Heita Kawakatsu has long opposed the construction of a tunnel in the prefecture for the next-generation shinkansen, citing environmental concerns.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen in action during the 2023 Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka, Mie Prefecture, on Sept. 24.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Apr 4, 2024

Cherry blossoms greet F1 on eve of spring debut at Suzuka

Red Bull's Max Verstappen will be looking to reestablish a pecking order that has him firmly on top.
The Osprey provides vertical takeoff and landing like a helicopter but is also capable of flying at high speeds over long distances when operating as a conventional plane.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 3, 2024

The Japan-U.S. alliance needs the versatile Osprey

In Japan, there has been an outsized and lingering concern about the aircraft’s safety. That concern is, frankly, misplaced,
People visit to view cherry blossoms in full bloom at Chidorigafuchi, one of the moats around the Imperial Palace, in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN
Apr 4, 2024

Tokyo crowds revel as cherry blossoms reach full bloom

The Meteorological Agency declared that Japan's most common and popular Somei Yoshino variety of cherry tree was in full bloom.
In 2017, chef Shinsaku Suzuki moved to the Yatsugatake region of Yamanashi Prefecture with his wife, Emi Ishida, after locating the perfect premises: a splendid 170-year-old traditional Japanese house.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Destination Restaurants
Apr 6, 2024

Ai to Ibukuro: Terroir of Yamanashi's uplands

With a name that translates to “Love and Stomach,” this rural restaurant not far from Tokyo delivers with flying colors on both counts.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield (right) at U.N. headquarters in New York in March
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 5, 2024

U.S. ambassador to U.N. to visit Japan and South Korea this month

The ambassador plans to discuss responses to North Korea, diplomatic sources said.
Drivers in California’s Marin County rely on a single hydrogen fueling station.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Apr 6, 2024

Few stations and $200 to fill up: Life on California’s ‘hydrogen highway’

Fuel shortages and soaring prices have stalled the adoption of hydrogen cars — but proponents aren’t throwing in the towel.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen meets China's Vice Premier He Lifeng at the Guangdong Zhudao Guest House, in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, China, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 6, 2024

U.S. and China to start new talks on balanced growth, Yellen says

The top priority of her four day visit to China was to persuade Beijing to rein in excess production capacity for clean energy technology.
South Korean soldiers stand guard in the truce village of Panmunjom inside the demilitarized zone separating South and North Korea.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 9, 2024

Biden’s envoy to the U.N. set to visit border with North Korea

Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield will become the most senior U.S. official to visit the DMZ since Vice President Kamala Harris in 2022.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the Akasaka Palace state guest house in Tokyo in May 2022.
JAPAN
Apr 9, 2024

Biden and Kishida likely to discuss Texas bullet train project, sources say

The leaders may publicly voice support for the multi-billion-dollar Texas project after Wednesday's talks.

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