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A Uniqlo store in Shanghai, China. The clothing chain's operator Fast Retailing announced last year that it expected to open 80 stores in China and roughly 60 new stores each year in Southeast Asia, India and the Australian region.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 9, 2024

Fast Retailing’s peer-beating 48% jump may extend on global push

Uniqlo owner has become one of the top performers among 10 other clothing companies worldwide that have a market value exceeding $10 billion.
Indonesian Defense Minister and presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto salutes supporters during a campaign rally in Jakarta on Feb. 2.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 12, 2024

How could Indonesia’s presidential vote affect foreign relations?

While all three candidates portend continuity with their predecessor, only the front-runner vows more visible leadership in the region.
The tail of a BYD electric vehicle sports the company’s motto, “build your dreams,” at a dealership in Shenzhen, China, on Jan. 29.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 12, 2024

How China built BYD, its Tesla killer

BYD’s sales, over 80% of them in China, passed Tesla in worldwide sales of fully electric cars late last year.
Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan, who is currently imprisoned, speaks with foreign journalists at his residence in Islamabad on April 9, 2019.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 12, 2024

The rise, and fall, and rise again of Imran Khan

When Pakistan’s government censored the media, former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party posted campaign videos on TikTok. When the police barred his supporters from holding rallies, they hosted virtual gatherings online.
Presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto votes at a polling station during the general election in Bogor, West Java, Indonesia, on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 14, 2024

Prabowo on track to win Indonesia’s presidential election

This is Prabowo’s third time to run for the country’s top job, after losing in 2014 and 2019 to incumbent Joko "Jokowo" Widodo.
SOCCER
Feb 24, 2024

Want to play in the Asian Champions League? It will cost you.

Urawa Reds reported to the FIFPro union that only the finalists would earn enough prize money to recover their costs.
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Feb 29, 2024

Politicians betting the earth on climate backlash in election year

Moves to roll back green policies and downplay climate change within the world's top climate polluters follow the hottest year on record.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to decide whether former U.S. President Donald Trump is immune from prosecution on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 29, 2024

U.S. Supreme Court immunity case jeopardizes Trump trial pre-election

Polls indicate a conviction of Trump could undercut the Republican front-runner’s bid to reclaim the White House.
A housing development next to the Sasol’s petrochemicals plant in Sasolburg, South Africa.
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 2, 2024

What it's like to live in the most polluted place on Earth

Coal and steel plants offer steady work for residents in South Africa's Vaal Triangle, yet they’re also pumping out harmful emissions.
Serbia's Novak Djokovic in action during his Australian Open semifinal match against Italy's Jannik Sinner in Melbourne on Jan. 26.
TENNIS
Mar 5, 2024

Djokovic returns as Gauff hopes for a U.S. win at Indian Wells

Djokovic hasn't competed at the BNP Paribas Open since 2019 due to U.S. travel restrictions related to COVID-19.
Both China and Russia may believe there will never be a more opportune moment to overthrow American dominance than now. And should the two combine their forces, they could represent the most serious challenge to the global economic and strategic order since 1945.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 8, 2024

The threat to American hegemony is real

Russia and China might be tempted to threaten America's hegemony with a simultaneous and coordinated challenge.
Anti-capitalist protesters with Occupy San Francisco take part in a demonstration on the streets of the Californian city in October 2011.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 10, 2024

The economic future of our overworked grandchildren

While John Maynard Keynes predicted a future of leisure and abundance, the world has seen an increase in wealth disparity and a culture of overwork.
Kirishima (behind) gets thrown down against Ura on Tuesday. The newly promoted ozeki's 0-3 start in Osaka has been one of the big disappointments of the tournament so far.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Mar 13, 2024

Scandal and poor starts have sumo in a rut in Osaka

While the meet has had a rocky first few days, one of the sport's most promising young wrestlers is proving to be a beacon of light on the horizon.
MIT professor Yasheng Huang  argues that the seeds of China’s decline were planted as far back as the 6th century with the implementation of the famed and stifling Keju civil-service examination system.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 14, 2024

Understanding China’s political economy

The seeds of China’s decline were planted as far back as the 6th century, with the implementation of the stifling Keju civil-service examination system.
Hezbollah members take part in the funeral of four members of one family killed by in an Israeli air raid in southern Lebanon, on March 11 in Blida, near the border with Israel.
WORLD / FOCUS
Mar 16, 2024

Hezbollah tells Iran it would fight alone in any war with Israel

Hezbollah, a sworn enemy of Israel, has shown support for Hamas in the form of limited volleys of rockets fired across Israel's northern border.
A commuter walks along an overpass in Jakarta.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Mar 20, 2024

Only 10 countries had healthy air quality in 2023, report finds

Sources of PM2.5 pollution vary widely, but the overwhelming cause is the burning of fossil fuels.
Shoppers in Tokyo on Tuesday
BUSINESS
Mar 22, 2024

Historic day for BOJ will take some time to be felt by people in Japan

With future rate hikes likely, the yen and mortgages could still see a more substantial impact.
Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, appears in this still image taken from video released Friday in which she announced that she is undergoing preventative chemotherapy after cancer was found to have been present, following her abdominal surgery in January.
WORLD
Mar 23, 2024

Catherine’s cancer diagnosis puts U.K. royals on even more uncertain terrain

First King Charles and now Catherine, Princess of Wales, are facing grave health concerns, stretching an already slimmed-down monarchy.
The antitrust settlement against Visa and Mastercard is one of the largest in U.S. history.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 27, 2024

Visa and Mastercard settle for $30 billion over merchant credit card fees

The antitrust settlement is one of the largest in U.S. history, and would resolve most claims in nationwide litigation that began in 2005.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Mar 28, 2024

Tigers remain the Central League's team to beat as rival Giants loom

While Hanshin may be favored to repeat, the rest of the league will be waiting to pounce should the Kansai club falter.
Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi (left), Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (center), and Taro Aso, the party's vice president, meet in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 2, 2024

LDP’s formal punishment likely to spark discontent

Exempting Kishida and Nikai from any reprimands over the slush funds scandal will likely deepen rifts within the party, experts say.
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 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.
Summer averages in eastern Hokkaido float in the high teens and low 20s, not necessitating widespread air conditioning usage in homes and businesses.
LIFE / Travel
Apr 12, 2024

Fear the impending heat? Escape to Kushiro, the land of no summer.

A once mighty fishing port, Kushiro now aims to capture the hearts of tourists seeking escape from sweltering urban jungles for a misty paradise.
A funeral procession in Tehran for seven Iranian military commanders killed by an Israeli airstrike in Syria, on April 5. American intelligence analysts and officials said Friday that they expected Iran to strike multiple targets inside Israel within the next few days in retaliation for an Israeli bombing in the Syrian capital on April 1 that killed several senior Iranian commanders.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 13, 2024

U.S. targets unlikely to be on list in possible Iranian attack, officials say

In anticipation of the strikes, several countries have issued new guidelines to their citizens about travel in Israel and the surrounding region.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses supporters during an election campaign rally in Pushkar, India, on April 6, ahead of the country's upcoming general election starting Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 15, 2024

For Modi, the Indian election is less about winning and more about by how much

For Indian leader Narendra Modi, an upcoming parliamentary election is less about winning and more about by how much.
Lee Hsien Loong might not stray far from politics, having said previously that he will remain at the "new PM’s disposal” after the handover.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 16, 2024

Singapore charts new path after half-century of Lee family rule

Lee Hsien Loong announced that he will step aside next month after 20 years as prime minister and hand the reins over to Lawrence Wong.
Max Lange, 19, a plant mechatronics engineering trainee from Oederan, stands next to a solar panel rolling off the assembly line as part of the last production of solar modules at the Meyer Burger Technology AG plant, due to an announced closure of the plant, in Freiberg, Germany, on March 12.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 16, 2024

Lacking support in battle with China, European solar firms head to U.S.

This week the European Commission has launched a voluntary charter for governments and companies to sign in support of solar manufacturing plants.
Mike Gallagher, the Republican chair of the bipartisan select committee, said that China's incentives suggest Beijing wants more fentanyl entering the U.S.
WORLD
Apr 17, 2024

U.S. committee finds China is subsidizing American fentanyl crisis

China denies the allegation, and says the U.S. government must do more to reduce domestic demand.
Paris Saint-Germain's Kylian Mbappe celebrates after the club ousted Barcelona from the Champions League quarterfinals on Tuesday.
SOCCER
Apr 17, 2024

PSG exorcise old ghosts as Mbappe keeps Champions League dream alive

Another disappointing exit looked possible for the Qatar-owned club, which had gone out in the last 16 in five of the previous seven seasons.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.