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In Australia, past El Nino events have led to destructive fire seasons, including the catastrophic Black Summer of 2019-2020.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2023

Australia hoped to dodge wildfires. El Nino has other plans.

The 1983, 2003, 2007, 2010 and 2015 fire seasons, some of the most damaging in the country’s history, all occurred during El Nino.
The University of Tokyo ranked 29th in the latest World Universities Rankings, up from 39th in last year’s report.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 28, 2023

Japanese universities move up in global rankings

The overall improvement is due to a change in methodology by Times Higher Education.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visits a logistics company in Tokyo's Ota Ward on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Sep 28, 2023

What is Japan's so-called 2024 problem?

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is turning his attention to a looming challenge: a shortage of truck drivers.
A meeting to discuss how to prevent the use of kiken drugs (hazardous drugs), is held at the health ministry on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 29, 2023

As drug use rises in Japan, government eyes prevention plans

The ministry reported that by the end of August, around 300 stores in the country were found to be selling quasi-legal products known as “kiken drugs.”
The Materials Provided by Mizuno Baseball Bat Tableware set is made from a recycled, discarded baseball bat and includes two large tumblers, a vase, a small cup, four cutlery rests and a sake cup.
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Sep 30, 2023

Game-changing designs from sporting goods brands

On: Design looks at two major Japanese sporting goods companies that have launched unique SDG-inspired projects.
Tupac Shakur
CULTURE / Music
Sep 30, 2023

Suspect in rapper Tupac Shakur's 1996 slaying charged with murder

The charges marked a breakthrough for a long-unsolved case that was a defining moment in the history of rap music.
Emily’s List President Laphonza Butler
WORLD / Politics
Oct 2, 2023

Laphonza Butler tapped to replace Feinstein in U.S. Senate

Butler's appointment makes her the only Black woman in the current U.S. Senate and just the third in its history.
An employee prepares tables and chairs outside a restaurant in Bucharest, Romania.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 3, 2023

EU membership supercharged Romania. Ukraine faces a tougher task.

Romania’s accession offers lessons that can help Kyiv along the way and offer an indication of the potential rewards.
Hans Ellegren, permanent secretary of the Royal Academy of Sciences, flanked by Eva Olsson and Mats Larsson, members, announces this year's Nobel Prize winners in physics, at the Royal Academy of Sciences in Stockholm on Tuesday..
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 3, 2023

Trio wins 2023 Nobel in physics for electron experiments

The award was given to Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier for work “exploring the world of electrons inside atoms and molecules."
A man walks toward Sankore mosque, also known as the former University of Sankore, in Timbuktu, Mali
WORLD / Politics
Oct 3, 2023

Mali in meltdown as militants advance and U.N. withdraws

The violence risks adding instability to a region already reeling from military coups in neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.
Russian activist Natalia Arno in Paris on Sept. 29
WORLD / Politics
Oct 4, 2023

'Organs failing': A Russian activist details her poisoning

Five months after being poisoned, Natalia Arno still goes numb across much of her body when she stands up for any length of time.
South Korean tourists shield themselves from the sun in Ronda, Spain, on Aug. 9. Much of the world sweltered through unseasonably warm weather in September, in a year expected to be the hottest in human history.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Oct 5, 2023

September hottest on record by 'extraordinary' margin: EU monitor

The average surface air temperature for the month was around 1.75 C hotter than the September average in the 1850-1900 pre-industrial period.
Giants manager Tatsunori Hara (left) waves to fans following his final game at Tokyo Dome on Wednesday. Shinnosuke Abe (right) will manage the team next season.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts
Oct 5, 2023

Giants prepare to start new era as manager Tatsunori Hara walks away

Manager Tatsunori Hara's departure closes the book on an eventful chapter in the storied history of the Giants.
U.K. Prime Minster Rishi Sunak, left, and his wife Akshata Murty, on the closing day of the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester on Wednesday
WORLD / Politics
Oct 6, 2023

Seeking everyman image, U.K. PM Rishi Sunak taps Indian heritage

Sunak’s rise to power in a country that until 1947 ruled India as a colony has seen little of the fanfare that accompanied the first Black U.S. president.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 6, 2023

ChatGPT-owner OpenAI is exploring making its own AI chips: sources

Obstacles include a shortage of the advanced processors and the 'eye-watering' costs associated with running the hardware.
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump, accompanied by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, announces a slew of retaliatory measures against China, including sanctions, at a news conference at the White House in May 2020.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 6, 2023

Protectionism started the geopolitical fire

The protectionism in the post-pandemic economic shutdowns will also impact international relations.
Japan fullback Lomano Lemeki breaks free from Samoa's Ben Lam during their Pool D match at the Rugby World Cup in Toulouse, France, on Sept. 28.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Oct 7, 2023

Brave Blossoms braced for climactic showdown against Argentina

The winner of the match will advance to the Rugby World Cup quarterfinals.
British Labour Party leader Keir Starmer speaks to reporters in Wakefield, England, in 2022.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 7, 2023

Britain's Keir Starmer plots painstaking path to power

Taking lessons from center-left parties in Australia and Germany, Starmer has imbued Labour with a cautious and methodical approach.
Taylor Swift attends the MTV Video Music Awards at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on Sept. 12.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 8, 2023

Taylor Swift and the political needle

With hundreds of millions of social media followers and a staunchly loyal fan base, she can move any dial with the tiniest of efforts.
A woman takes her meal alone in Tokyo's Yanaka neighborhood. As the country ages, Japan's average caloric intake has been shrinking.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Oct 9, 2023

Downsizing dinner: Aging Japan is eating less

As older citizens' shrinking appetites lead to less on the plate, businesses are having to adjust to a new market.
People hold Israeli and U.S. flags as they take part in a demonstration in Tel Aviv on Sept. 20.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 10, 2023

Conflict forces Biden and Netanyahu into uneasy partnership

After months of strain over the path forward in the Middle East, the two leaders have been thrust into a wartime partnership.
Japan had hoped to progress to the knockout phase of the Rugby World Cup on international soil for the first time.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Oct 10, 2023

Japanese rugby faces murky future following World Cup exit

The 2019 Rugby World Cup, and all that it promised, feels like a long time ago after the Brave Blossoms' pool-stage exit in France.
The U.K.'s decision to cut back on its HS2 high-speed rail network runs contrary to the path taken by Japan, which stuck to a long-term infrastructure plan.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 11, 2023

U.K. effort to imitate Japan's shinkansen falls short

There is value of sticking to a long-term infrastructure plan, as Japan has done for almost 50 years with its high-speed rail system.
OpenAI chief executive officer Sam Altman speaks during a forum in Taipei on Sept. 25.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 12, 2023

OpenAI plans major updates to lure developers with lower costs

The new features mark the company's ambition to expand beyond a consumer sensation into one also offering a hit developer platform.
The Diamondbacks' Ketel Marte reacts after hitting a home run against the Dodgers in the third inning of the NLDS in Phoenix, Arizona, on Wednesday.
BASEBALL
Oct 12, 2023

Upstart Diamondbacks finish off sweep of Dodgers

The win was the latest chapter in the D-Backs' improbable and impressive playoff run.
Climate activists protest demanding that the World Bank stop fossil fuel financing on the first day of the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, in Marrakech, Morocco, on Monday
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / ANALYSIS
Oct 13, 2023

Why money matters when taking climate change to court

More litigation funding for climate lawsuits could mean more cases.
Hiroshi Watanabe, former Japanese currency policy chief and onetime head of  the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, speaks during an interview in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Oct 15, 2023

IMF warning on China puts 'Japanization' risk in spotlight

Stalling inflation and a deepening real estate crisis were said to be among the biggest risks to global growth during a recent IMF and World Bank meeting.
The Iriomote cat, native to the island of the same name in Okinawa Prefecture, is remarkable for its resilience: It occupies the smallest habitat of any wildcat on Earth.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife / OUR PLANET
Oct 15, 2023

The last of Japan's wildcats

Only about 100 animals of each species survive today, putting both on the brink of extinction along with more than 3,700 other species nationwide.
Enza Guzzo holds the letter of dismissal in Arese, Italy, on Oct. 11. Guzzo's former employer fired her in 2011 after she had a second daughter. She later won a lawsuit against them.
WORLD / Society
Oct 16, 2023

Job or baby? Italian women's struggle to have both holds back growth.

Over half of Italian women said they found it impossible to combine work and childcare.
Donald Tusk, leader of the largest opposition grouping Civic Coalition (KO), gestures after the exit poll results are announced in Warsaw on Sunday. Poland's opposition is on course for a majority after Sunday's election, an upset that would deny the ruling nationalists a third term and see the country re-engage with the European Union.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 17, 2023

Polish opposition faces challenges in undoing nationalist reforms

Over eight years, nationalist PiS said its goal has been to rid Poland of the vestiges of its communist past.

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