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Members of the State Duma, the lower house of Russian parliament, attend a plenary session in Moscow on July 10.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 24, 2024

Russian MPs vote to broaden 'undesirable organizations' law

One of the bill's authors said that British, German and Japanese organizations could fall under the new legislation.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi (right) during a meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 24, 2024

Why Japan's mysterious stash of classified funds escapes scrutiny

The funds can be used by the chief cabinet secretary with no explanation needed, fueling speculation of widespread misappropriation.
London Stadium, which hosted track and field during the 2012 Olympics. The stadium's primary tenant is West Ham United, but it hosts a variety of major events throughout the year.
OLYMPICS
Jul 26, 2024

How London paved the way for Olympics sustainability

Before Paris, London demonstrated in the 2012 Olympics that host cities didn’t have to end up with empty venues long after the Games are over.
Former U.S. President Barack Obama embraces Vice President Kamala Harris while arriving to speak on the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid in the East Room of the White House in Washington in April  2022.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 27, 2024

Harris to lean on tight team and Obama staff in White House run

Here’s a look at the people in her orbit as she moves to reshape the campaign and form the nucleus of a potential new administration.
Nicolas Maduro speaks to members of the media after casting a ballot in Caracas on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 29, 2024

Venezuela opposition rejects Maduro election win

Venezuela’s political opposition has vehemently rejected the electoral authority’s ruling that Nicolas Maduro was reelected as the nation’s president, calling on the military to intervene. The U.S. and some Latin American neighbors also raised concerns about the official result.
Takanori Nagase celebrates after winning gold in the men's under-81 kg judo event at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday.
OLYMPICS / Judo
Jul 31, 2024

Japan's Takanori Nagase defends Olympic judo title

Before Paris, Nagase's form was uncertain as the 2015 world champion competed just eight times between his two Olympic titles.
Hakushi Hasegawa places their emotive vocals and dexterous keyboard work at the center of the music on their latest album, “Mahogakko” – reminding listeners that there’s a very human presence at the controls.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 2, 2024

Electronic wiz Hakushi Hasegawa pulls back the curtain

The musician's latest album, “Mahogakko,” strikes a delicate balance between the dazzling and the downright baffling.
Noah Lyles celebrates after winning gold in the men's 100-meter final at the Paris Olympics on Sunday.
OLYMPICS / Athletics
Aug 5, 2024

Showman Noah Lyles wins 100-meter gold by five thousandths of a second

Lyles had believed he had left it too late to catch the powerful Kishane Thompson, but he was soon confirmed as the winner in a personal best of 9.79 seconds.
Visitors enter a haunted house at the Namjatown indoor theme park in Tokyo on July 30.
LIFE / Travel
Aug 7, 2024

Japanese beat the heat in 'liver-chilling' haunted houses

A visit to a haunted house is seen as a refreshing respite in Japan from the summer's heat and humidity.
South Korean Minister of National Defense Shin Won-sik on during an interview in Seoul on Wednesday
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 8, 2024

South Korean nuclear weapons would break U.S. ties, defense chief says

The idea of another term for former U.S. President Donald Trump, who complained about the cost of the U.S. military presence in South Korea, has fueled the debate.
New Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar's ascension to power, combined with Netanyahu’s refusal to agree to a cease-fire unless the group capitulates, makes finding a resolution in Gaza difficult.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 8, 2024

New Hamas chief is an arsonist in a desert tinderbox

Yahya Sinwar fills a post that opened with the July 31 killing of Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s politburo chairman, while on a visit to Tehran.
Young divers taking part in strength training at Muxiyuan sport school in Beijing on Monday.
OLYMPICS / Diving
Aug 14, 2024

China's Olympic divers inspire next generation at Beijing pool

China completed a clean sweep of all eight Olympic diving gold medals in Paris on Saturday — a historic first. It didn't happen by accident.
People walk past a banner with a picture of late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in a street in Tehran on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 14, 2024

Only Gaza cease-fire can delay Iran's Israel response, Iranian officials say

Iran, along with allies such as Hezbollah, could launch a direct attack if the Gaza talks fail or it perceives Israel is dragging out negotiations.
Health minister Keizo Takemi fields questions from reporters in March after a Cabinet meeting to deal with health problems caused by Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's beni kōji red yeast rice supplements.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 14, 2024

Health Minister Keizo Takemi on how to improve Japan's health care system

Digitalization, hiring high-skilled foreign workers and increasing wages are among the steps that Japan could take.
Kylian Mbappe made his Real Madrid debut on Wednesday and started as he means to go on, scoring and lifting the UEFA Super Cup in a 2-0 win over Atalanta.
SOCCER
Aug 15, 2024

Mbappe bolsters stellar Real Madrid's La Liga title defense

Mbappe made his Real Madrid debut on Wednesday and started as he means to go on, scoring and lifting the UEFA Super Cup in a 2-0 win over Atalanta.
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Aug. 8
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 15, 2024

Hedge funds race to tailor ChatGPT for time-consuming research chores

Fast-money proponents remain steadfast in their conviction that their investments will reap tangible wins.
A damaged statue of the Soviet Union's founder, Vladimir Lenin, is seen during a media tour organized by Kyiv in the Ukrainian-controlled town of Sudzha, in Russia's Kursk region, on Friday.
WORLD / FOCUS
Aug 17, 2024

Ukraine’s allies watch its push into Russia for clues to endgame

Some allies have voiced misgivings publicly and privately, citing the risk that the escalation in fighting could divert badly needed troops from a fragile front line.
Participants of Shomeikai’s Type B employment support workshop take part in a training session at a rental meeting room in the city of Fukuoka in May.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Aug 26, 2024

Welfare workshop helps people with disabilities become IT engineers

Shomeikai leverages on a cutting-edge software development methodology that lets users work in a team and support one another.
Two recent studies have added to the growing body of evidence that a meat-heavy diet may increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 21, 2024

Eating meat is linked with diabetes risk, new studies suggest

Two recent studies have added to the growing body of evidence that a meat-heavy diet may increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes.
A drone view shows Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida, on Aug. 11.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 22, 2024

Trump earns big from Florida golf resorts as his other businesses flag

The health of Donald Trump’s golf business is a bright spot at a precarious moment for the Trump Organization.
Three Tokyo restaurants claim to be the inventor of Japan's 'katsu karē' (breaded and fried pork served with Japanese curry), but Ginza Swiss' take (pictured) may be the most unique.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Aug 25, 2024

Japan’s dueling ‘katsu’ curry creators are just happy to see the dish thrive

1918? 1921? 1947? The dish’s origin is uncertain, but its popularity today both within and beyond Japan is unassailable.
Robert C. Neff, passed away at after a long illness at 77 years old on July 31, 2024, at his home in Hayama, south of Tokyo.
COMMUNITY
Aug 25, 2024

The American journalist ahead of the game on an ascendant Japan

Neff was part of a golden age of magazine journalism as Tokyo bureau chief for Businessweek magazine and a lover of hot spring retreats.
Shohei Ohtani steals second against the Tigers during the eight inning at Comerica Park in Detroit on July 13.
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 23, 2024

Shohei Ohtani on doorstep of 40-40 season after embracing art of stealing bases

With 39 stolen bases, Ohtani has obliterated his previous career high for stolen bases (26, in 2021).
A television station broadcasts U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Chair Jerome Powell speaking in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Aug 24, 2024

Powell's Fed not shy about election-year cuts and ready to defend job market

The Fed chief sent a strong signal that the central bank will start cutting interest rates in mid-September, roughly seven weeks before the Nov. 5 election.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi embrace at the entrance of the Mariinskyi Palace ahead of their meeting in Kyiv on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Aug 24, 2024

After Russia, Modi visits Ukraine as he walks diplomatic tightrope

The Indian leader reiterated the need for “dialogue and diplomacy” to end the war, during talks in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Typhoon Shanshan is the sixth typhoon to form in August, with the Meteorological Agency forecasting strong winds and potentially severe weather for a broad swath of the country from Tuesday as it approaches.
JAPAN
Aug 25, 2024

Typhoon Shanshan set to become a 'very powerful' storm later this week

JR Central, JR West and JR East have all warned that the storm could prompt suspensions or significant delays for some shinkansen operations.
A target explodes after being hit by an apparent North Korean "suicide drone" in this image released Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 26, 2024

North Korea's Kim Jong Un calls for building more 'suicide drones'

Kim said that developing different types of the autonomous weapons and “steadily increasing their combat performance” are crucial “in preparing for a war.”
Giant figures depicting Russian authors Anton Chekhov, Alexander Pushkin, Daniil Kharms and Fyodor Dostoyevsky are paraded through a carnival in central Moscow in September 2015.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 27, 2024

When art is all that remains

Looking at the Kremlin today, one wonders, “Do they really now know how this story ends?” Art will always have the last word.
Yoko Tawada's novella “Paul Celan and the Trans-Tibetan Angel” is something of an intellectual love letter to a poet who greatly influenced the author.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 28, 2024

'Paul Celan and the Trans-Tibetan Angel': Yoko Tawada's work defies comparison

The author's latest book to be translated into English is simply Tawadaesque: peerless, unique and incomparable.
Waves break against protecting walls as Typhoon Gaemi approaches Keelung, Taiwan, on July 24.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Aug 29, 2024

Climate change fueled deadly Typhoon Gaemi, study finds

Typhoon Gaemi's wind speeds were 7% more intense due to human-caused climate change, and its rainfall was 14% heavier in Taiwan and 9% heavier in Hunan.

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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.