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A worker rides a scooter past an unfinished bridge near the center of the Qianhai new district in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 16, 2023

China's not-so-special economic zone embodies a harsh new reality

Qianhai is struggling to stand out among 2,500 other special zones across China.
Milk Talk members Yuqi Shinohara (left), who goes by the moniker Q.i, and Miles Ungar officially started their electro-boogie project in 2019.
CULTURE / Music
Nov 17, 2023

Milk Talk's deliciously funky mix of sweet and sour

The duo turns bottled-up feelings into electro-boogie delights on their debut album.
Tyson Fury (left) and Oleksandr Usyk will meet for the undisputed heavyweight championship in Saudi Arabia on Feb. 24, 2024.
MORE SPORTS / Boxing
Nov 17, 2023

Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk to meet for undisputed title

Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk will meet for the undisputed heavyweight championship in Saudi Arabia on Feb. 24, 2024.
Overflowing trash next to a vending machine in the Asakusa district of Tokyo, which is popular with tourists, in March
JAPAN / Science & Health
Nov 18, 2023

Trash cans make techie comeback in Japan as tourists flood cities

This week, the tourist-heavy Dotonbori district in Osaka installed around 20 new technologically enabled garbage cans called SmaGO.
Petroleum pipelines and fuel storage tanks at a refinery near Manama, Bahrain, in 2017
ENVIRONMENT
Nov 18, 2023

To meet climate goals, Gulf countries will have to overhaul everything

The growing oil-rich region faces myriad challenges as the world pushes to decarbonize.
Sam Altman, then the chief executive of OpenAI, in Redmond, Washington, in February
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 19, 2023

The perpetual rise of Sam Altman takes an unexpected turn

The former OpenAI CEO was the face of an AI-fueled future. He was the most Silicon Valley person alive. Then, on Friday, he was fired.
U.S. President Jimmy Carter and first lady Rosalynn Carter dance at a White House Congressional Ball in Washington, on Dec. 13, 1978.
WORLD
Nov 20, 2023

Former U.S. first lady Rosalynn Carter dies at 96

Seen as unassuming and quiet before coming to Washington in 1977, Carter developed into an eloquent speaker, campaigner and activist.
Members of the Australian national team celebrate after winning the Cricket World Cup final at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India, on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Cricket
Nov 21, 2023

One-day format revived as Australia gatecrashes India's World Cup

It was a remarkable journey for Australia, which began its campaign with back-to-back defeats yet still won the trophy for the sixth time.
By Monday, OpenAI's board were overseeing a company in name only, with virtually the whole staff committed to a pledge of seeing them go or quitting the firm for fired former CEO Sam Altman's project at Microsoft.
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Nov 21, 2023

AI doomsayers blamed in OpenAI's undoing

Harsh critics see a deeply troubled startup that fell victim to the pearl-clutching of an incompetent board that was divorced from reality.
Farm workers carry rice saplings on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, India, in July.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Nov 21, 2023

In India, 'natural farming' draws young people back to the land

The farming method shuns synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, involves the use of organic manure and no tilling of the land.
Steve Jobs, Apple's former chief executive, speaks at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco on June 6, 2011. Sam Altman, the most prominent promoter of artificial intelligence, learned that it’s hard to be a visionary founder like the Apple legend.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 21, 2023

The long shadow of Steve Jobs looms over the turmoil at OpenAI

The sudden firing and bid to reinstate OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has deepened the parallels to Jobs, who was marginalized by the board of Apple in 1985.
Despite being a global leader in more costly offshore wind production, the number of new turbines going up in the English countryside has been at a virtual standstill for nearly a decade.
BUSINESS
Nov 22, 2023

Winds of change? The bid to revive England's onshore sector

The number of new turbines going up in the English countryside has been at a virtual standstill for nearly a decade.
Takakeisho (seated, left) following his loss to Asanoyama on Sunday in Fukuoka.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Nov 22, 2023

Takakeisho falters as sumo’s wait for next superstar continues

The good news for Takakeisho is that slip-ups elsewhere mean he remains in the title race.
Up until very recently, the business of packaging semiconductors — encasing chips in materials that both protect them and connect them to the electronic device they’re part of — was, at best, an afterthought for the industry.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 22, 2023

A new front is opening up in the U.S.-China conflict over chips

The process of packaging semiconductors is increasingly seen as the "secret sauce" — a path toward achieving higher performance.
A Houthi military helicopter flies over the Galaxy Leader cargo ship in the Red Sea in this photo released Monday.
WORLD / Politics / EXPLAINER
Nov 22, 2023

Houthi ship hijacking stokes fears of escalating Israel-Hamas war

The group warned they would continue to target vessels linked to Israelis until the end of the military campaign against Hamas militants in Gaza.
Shareholders arrive to attend Toshiba's extraordinary shareholders meeting in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 22, 2023

Toshiba shareholders approve plan to go private next month

The decision will allow a consortium led by JIP to buy all of Toshiba's remaining shares, marking the end of its decadeslong history as a public firm.
COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber addresses delegates during the Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi on Sept. 5.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 23, 2023

Sultan al-Jaber: the UAE oil boss steering COP28

Climate funding has caused divisions between developed countries held largely responsible for global warming and poorer countries most vulnerable to it.
Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius leaves a courthouse in Pretoria, South Africa, in 2016.
PARALYMPICS
Nov 24, 2023

Former Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius granted parole a decade after killing girlfriend

Pistorius was found guilty of murder and given a 13-year jail sentence in 2017 after a lengthy trial and several appeals.
Police patrol the Champs Elysees in Paris last month amid security concerns following a deadly knife attack in northern France.
WORLD
Nov 25, 2023

Gaza war raises risk of Islamist extremism in Europe

Intelligence in five European countries including Britain, Germany and France said they are increasing surveillance of Islamist militants.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin (center) and Chinese top diplomat Wang Yi pose for a photo ahead of trilateral talks in Busan, South Korea, on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 26, 2023

Japan, South Korea and China seek leaders' summit at 'earliest' time

The talks were seen as a steppingstone toward reviving the three-way summit, but progress on hammering out a specific date appeared elusive.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan speaks at an event in June.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 26, 2023

London’s mayor tries to unite a city divided by war in Gaza

The fighting between Israel and Hamas is shaking Muslim and Jewish people, who have lived side-by-side in London for generations.
Staff members work at a desk next to an exhibition for Shenzhen's metro carbon inclusion project, inside a subway station in Pingshan district of Shenzhen on Oct. 19.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / ANALYSIS
Nov 27, 2023

China turns to households in fight to slash carbon emissions

"Carbon inclusion" programs aim to help transform the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitter into a carbon-neutral country by 2060.
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks at a news conference in Nantucket, Massachusetts, on Friday. Biden will not attend a major United Nations climate summit that begins Thursday in Dubai.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 27, 2023

Biden to skip U.N. climate summit, White House official says

Climate activists are likely to be angered by the decision, but analysts said it was not typical for a U.S. president to attend every climate summit.
Lee Kyeong-sig, who runs a dog meat farm, feeds dogs in cages in Hwaseong, South Korea, on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Nov 27, 2023

South Korea's canine farmers protest proposed ban on dog meat

Despite its declining popularity and opposition from animal rights activists, previous attempts to ban dog meat have failed because of industry protests.
With COP28 taking place during a year set to be the hottest on record, the need for more progress has never been greater.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 29, 2023

Japan's relationship with coal likely to be in focus at COP28

With the climate talks taking place during a year set to be the hottest on record, the need for more progress has never been greater.
A young boy (Tsukao Oga) struggles to survive in a war-ravaged city in “Shadow of Fire.”
CULTURE / Film
Nov 30, 2023

The human costs of war linger in ‘Shadow of Fire’

While the film’s message about the lasting traumas of war is at times overt, newcomer Tsukao Oga centers the drama with an unsentimental performance.
Ukrainian servicemen of the 22nd Mechanized Brigade take part in a military training exercise in Ukraine's Donetsk region on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 29, 2023

'Point of no return': Why Kyiv won't sit down with the Kremlin

Pleas for a return to talks are building as concerns grow over the West's commitment to supporting Ukraine, and disruptions to ammunition deliveries.
Yoshikazu Uchikawa, head lawyer representing plaintiffs of a lawsuit demanding that cuts in welfare benefits be revoked, speaks at a news conference in Nagoya on Thursday following a Nagoya High Court ruling.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 1, 2023

Japan high court revokes welfare benefit cuts

The plaintiffs argued that there was an error in the method for calculating the price index used as the basis for the reductions.
Forensic police work at the scene of a stabbing in Paris on Saturday.
WORLD
Dec 3, 2023

Attacker fatally stabs German tourist in Paris

The attack took place close to the Eiffel Tower during a busy late weekend night and came with the country on its highest alert for attacks.
The Principals’ Board for the Combined Space Operations initiative gather in Ottawa in February 2020 for its annual meeting to formally recognize the addition of France and Germany to the CSpO.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2023

Japan to attend meeting of multilateral space security initiative

Current member countries are slated to discuss Japan's bid to become an official CSpO member, among other topics.

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