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On the Diving Deep podcast hosted by Olympic athlete Sam Fricker, Former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison dismissed the idea that China is unable to become a multiparty democracy, saying there is no "anti-democratic” instinct in the Chinese people.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 29, 2024

Former Australia PM Scott Morrison says China can be a democracy

The former Australian PM said Canberra’s relationship with China will always be transactional and never "values-based” like Australia’s ties with the U.S.
Blue pipelines to transport seawater, part of the facility for releasing treated radioactive water to sea from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, are seen during a treated water dilution and discharge facility tour for media, in Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture, last August.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 31, 2024

Experts from Japan and China discuss Fukushima water release

The two Asian powerhouses have spared over the issue since Japan began releasing the water into the Pacific Ocean last August.
French swimmer Caroline Jouisse (left) has had her training sessions analyzed daily, with the data then examined in relation to her menstrual cycles.
OLYMPICS
Apr 1, 2024

How period tracking could boost performance of female Olympians

France's National Institute of Sport launched a program in 2020 to track and learn from the menstrual cycles of athletes.
Daiya Seto in action during the men's 400m medley final at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha on Feb. 18.
OLYMPICS / Swimming
Apr 2, 2024

Japanese swimming veteran ready to make waves at Paris Olympics

Daiya Seto wants to be a voice for meaningful change in the domestic sport.
Chinese President Xi Jinping made the call for the PBOC to gradually increase the buying and selling of government bonds in October but his remarks were publicized recently in a new book and newspaper article, hinting at a policy pivot for a central bank that hasn’t made a significant bond purchase since 2007.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 2, 2024

Xi’s cryptic bond comments hint at PBOC becoming more like Fed

PBOC could pivot toward strategies used by other central banks in heeding the call to "gradually increase the buying and selling of government bonds.”
Citigroup is betting that Japan’s bond market revival will gather steam after the Bank of Japan's rate hike.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 4, 2024

Citigroup sees ‘exciting market’ for Japan bonds after BOJ move

"Normalization has started, so we foresee a lot of activity going forward”
Streptococcal Toxic Shock Syndrome (STSS) is caused by bacteria called group A streptococcus, the same type that causes a strep throat infection, which affects mostly children. A strep A throat infection is not the same as STSS, however.
JAPAN / Science & Health / EXPLAINER
Apr 5, 2024

Japan's tissue-damaging bacterial disease: What you need to know

Misconceptions are fueling jitters at home and abroad, with travelers considering putting off their plans to visit the country.
Yayoi Kusama’s “Pumpkin,” once the victim of high waves that dragged it into the sea, sits at the end of a pier on the south side of Naoshima.
CULTURE / Art / Longform
Apr 6, 2024

Why is the most exciting art in Japan so hard to get to?

Japan has a unique movement of public art projects and festivals that are a slog to get to — by design. A writer examines the country's “inconvenient art."
Dogs are long-lived enough to serve as better models for human aging than mice, but short-lived enough that aging treatments can be tested in just a few years.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 5, 2024

Your dog will have an anti-aging drug before you do

Dogs are long-lived enough to serve as better models for human aging than mice, but short-lived enough that aging treatments can be tested in a few years.
China’s greenhouse footprint can be boiled down to three factors: its economic growth, the energy intensity of that growth and the carbon intensity of that energy.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 7, 2024

China’s growth ambitions will erase the world’s climate gains

Global greenhouse pollution hit a record and increased 1.1% last year, the International Energy Agency reported. That was almost entirely a China story.
A boat carrying Philippine Coast Guard personnel moves past a China Coast Guard ship during a resupply mission in the disputed South China Sea on Nov. 10, 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 8, 2024

China’s huge sea buildup dwarfs Philippine push on tiny island

China's military presence in the South China Sea outshines Manila's plans to invest in a small, underdeveloped island there.
Pakistan finance minister Muhammad Aurangzeb in Islamabad on March 22
WORLD / Politics
Apr 9, 2024

Pakistan’s finance minister leaves behind banker's life and pay to fix economy

The country has Asia’s fastest inflation, anemic growth and one of the lowest tax-collection rates in the world.
Haruko Obokata speaks to reporters in the city of Osaka in 2014. Ten years after the STAP scandal, structural problems that led to the scandal persist, leaving ample room for researchers to tamper with research data, experts say.
JAPAN / Science & Health / FOCUS
Apr 9, 2024

Little change in Japan’s research sector 10 years after stem cell fraud

A decade after the STAP scandal, there is still a lot of leeway for researchers to tamper with data.
A recent near-hacking incident underscores the critical role of open-source software in the digital economy and the vulnerabilities inherent in its decentralized development process.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 9, 2024

The world narrowly escapes a supply chain doomsday scenario

A software engineer last month stumbled on what some say would have been the most widespread and effective backdoor ever planted in any software product.
Electricity pylons next to the Sizewell B nuclear power station, in Sizewell, U.K.
BUSINESS
Apr 9, 2024

European nuclear plants put out of work by green power surge

The drive to promote renewable energy is turning the screws on Europe’s nuclear industry.
People walk under flags of China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on Queen’s Road in Hong Kong in June 2022.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 11, 2024

Hong Kong court jails first dual national under Beijing's security law

Joseph John, a 41-year-old Portuguese citizen, has been denied bail for over 16 months since he was arrested and charged in November 2022.
O.J. Simpson appears in district court during his trial at the Clark County Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas in September 2008.
SPORTS
Apr 12, 2024

O.J. Simpson, football star who faced trial for ex-wife's murder, dies at 76

One of the most popular U.S. athletes of the 1970s, Simpson was later found responsible for his former wife's death then imprisoned for other crimes.
Ukrainian soldiers take cover during fighting in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Feb. 25, 2022.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 13, 2024

Kharkiv's civilians under fire as Ukraine faces 'catastrophic' air defense shortage

The city is so near the border that Russian missiles can reach their target in less than a minute.
Passengers wait at Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport after Lebanon closed its airspace to all flights on Sunday following an attack by Iran on Israel.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 15, 2024

Airlines confront new Iran-Israel risks as disruption grows

Several Middle Eastern countries temporarily closed their airspace as Iran launched drones and missiles.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is an unpopular leader at home, whom many hold responsible for failures that led to Hamas' Oct. 7 attack.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 15, 2024

Iran attack tests Netanyahu’s political staying power

For almost three decades, Netanyahu has warned that a nuclear Iran would be catastrophic.
Leaders of intelligence agencies testify before a congressional committee about worldwide threats in Washington on March 11.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 15, 2024

Campaign puts Trump and the spy agencies on a collision course

Some former officials fear that Trump, if elected again, would try to weaken intelligence agencies or undermine their independence.
In Japan, there’s a huge gap between how companies value their real estate assets on their books against what those same properties would fetch if sold in the market.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 16, 2024

Hidden billions in Tokyo real estate lure activist hedge funds

Billions in value can be unlocked by pressuring companies to sell off holdings, a tactic that activist funds are now employing.
French President Emmanuel Macron with French fencing champion Sara Balzer and Minister of Culture of France Rachida Dati, as the president attends a demonstration by the French fencing team during his visit to the Grand Palais, 100 days ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 16, 2024

Macron’s push to arm Europe is getting more urgent — and more dangerous

The fundamental problem for Macron is that he hasn’t managed to energize either France’s voters or its economic and military might behind his approach.
Protesters hold images of Aung San Suu Kyi and a flag of Myanmar during a demonstration outside the Embassy of Myanmar in Bangkok on Feb. 1, 2023, to mark the second anniversary of the coup in Myanmar.
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 17, 2024

Jailed Myanmar leader Suu Kyi moved to house arrest

During her months-long trial, Suu Kyi reportedly suffered dizzy spells, vomiting and at times had been unable to eat because of a tooth infection.
A new study has found that women with long COVID had significantly lower levels of testosterone compared to those who had recovered from their infection.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 17, 2024

Sex differences could be key to the successful treatment of long COVID

New research links testosterone levels to the severity of long COVID in women.
One of the lawyers representing a group of doctors suing Google told a news conference that the main purpose of the lawsuit is not to seek compensation but instead to raise awareness over various problems with the Google Maps system.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 18, 2024

In a first, Japan doctors sue Google over negative reviews on firm's map app

The suit is the first in Japan — and possibly the world — to target a platform rather than the individuals who posted the reviews, lawyers said.
David Inoue, the executive director of the Japanese American Citizens League, in Farragut Square, near the building that used to house the War Relocation Authority, in Washington. Inoue says his group has been more divided than it has been in decades on how it should respond to the Israel-Hamas war.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 20, 2024

War in the Gaza Strip causes surprising rift within Japanese American group

A new generation is pushing one of the largest Asian American civil rights groups to sever ties with prominent Jewish American organizations.
Vitor Gaspar, director of fiscal affairs at the International Monetary Fund, speaks at a news conference during the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Washington on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 19, 2024

Japan should pursue fiscal consolidation, IMF economist says

With Japan's inflation mostly in line with the Bank of Japan's 2% target, an IMF economist is encouraging fiscal consolidation.
Contact was lost with the two SH-60K helicopters, each carrying four crew, in an area east of Torishima in the Izu Island chain during anti-submarine warfare training Saturday night.
JAPAN
Apr 21, 2024

At least one dead, seven missing after two MSDF helicopters crash off Izu Islands

The two aircraft were believed to have collided during a nighttime training anti-submarine drill, Defense Minister Minoru Kihara said.
Iranians at an anti-Israeli rally after Friday prayers in Tehran. An Israeli airstrike on Iran on Friday damaged an air defense system, according to Western and Iranian officials, in an attack calculated to deliver a message that Israel could bypass Iran's defensive systems undetected and paralyze them.
WORLD
Apr 21, 2024

Israel’s strike on Iran highlights its ability to evade Tehran’s air defenses

The strike Friday was the latest salvo between the two countries this month that have heightened fears of a broader regional conflict.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?