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A harvest at a palm oil plantation in Khammam, India, in 2022
BUSINESS
Oct 1, 2023

Aging trees show a crisis looms for the world’s everything oil

Malaysia and Indonesia provide 85% the world's most versatile edible oil — but their trees are growing old, and replacing them is expensive.
Sosuke Ikematsu plays two pianists — or is it just one? — pursuing dreams of becoming a jazz musician in late-1980s Tokyo in “Between the White and Black Keys.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 5, 2023

'Between the White and Black Keys': Offbeat biopic will have you seeing double

Masanori Tominaga’s free-spirited film about jazz pianist Hiroshi Minami captures the vibe of 1980s Tokyo nightlife but remains mostly on the surface.
A screen shows this year's winners of the Nobel Prize in chemistry — U.S. chemists Moungi Bawendi and Chemist Louis Brus and Russian physicist Alexei Ekimov — during the announcement of the winners at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm on Wednesday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 4, 2023

Three win chemistry Nobel for work on quantum dots

Nanoparticles and quantum dots are used in LED lights and computer screens and can also be used to help guide doctors removing cancerous tissue.
A woman walks past a market in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon. Lebanon is one of nine Arab nations using an algorithm-powered poverty assessment formula funded by the World Bank that ranks welfare applicants according to dozens of different data points.
WORLD / Society
Oct 5, 2023

In Middle East, poor excluded from welfare by 'faulty' algorithms

Around the world, 40 countries use an algorithm-powered poverty assessment formula funded by the World Bank to rank welfare applicants.
Soy farming has seldom been synonymous with sustainability, but more farmers in Brazil are working to regenerate depleted land instead of expanding the agricultural frontier.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Oct 5, 2023

Can Brazil's farmers grow more soy without deforestation?

Deforestation is fueling climate change impacts including harsher heat, drought and floods.
This year's Tokyo Game Show attendance came up just shy of 2019's draw — an encouraging sign for the event's future.
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Oct 7, 2023

A dark fantasy spin on ‘Pinocchio’ may put FromSoftware under pressure

It wasn’t the biggest TGS ever, but it's hard to imagine anyone behind the scenes at TGS headquarters pulling their hair out over 2023’s return to form.
Bianca Vara, a Democrat and grandmother of five, at the flea market where she runs a stall in Chamblee, Georgia, on Thursday. American voters’ broad discontent with the disarray in Washington transcends political parties, race, age and geography. "Disgust isn’t a strong enough word,” said Vara.
WORLD
Oct 7, 2023

Americans are too turned off by Washington to even complain

Griping about politics is a time-honored American pastime — but lately, the country’s political mood has plunged to some of the worst levels on record.
Smoke rises in the aftermath of rocket barrages that were launched from Gaza, in Ashkelon, Israel, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 7, 2023

Israel 'at war' as Hamas launches surprise attack from Gaza

The Islamist group's attack — which saw gunmen crossing the border and a barrage of rockets — was the biggest in years against Israel.
Dendrobium orchids — highly sought after due to their use in traditional Chinese medicine — growing in the wild in Nepal.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
Oct 8, 2023

The orchid obsession: How science and smuggling meet in a global trade

Love of the flowers has a dark side, with the desire for rare varieties underpinning a robust illegal trade believed to have wiped out entire species.
U.S. President Joe Biden joins members of the United Auto Workers union as they strike in Belleville, Michigan, on Sept. 26 to demand higher wages.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 8, 2023

Down on the Biden economy: Why Americans aren't happy

The U.S. economy is doing well. Why, then, are people not satisfied? The answer lies in their pockets.
U.S. economist Claudia Goldin is only the third woman to be awarded the Nobel economics prize.
WORLD
Oct 10, 2023

Gender gap economist Claudia Goldin wins Nobel prize

Exploring the origins of the gender gap in labor markets, Goldin is only the third woman to win the Nobel economics prize.
Los Angeles 2028 organizers have recommended five "new" sports for inclusion in their edition of the Summer Games.
OLYMPICS
Oct 10, 2023

Cricket among proposed new sports for 2028 Los Angeles Games

The choice of the sports still needs approval from the International Olympic Committee.
Images of French scientist Jean-Michel Claverie and work by his research team from Information Genomique et Structurale at Aix-Marseille University, France
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 10, 2023

Probing the permafrost that could release 50,000-year-old viruses

Discoveries by virologist Jean-Michel Claverie shine a light on a little-known risk of global warming as it thaws ground frozen for millenniums
Google, Amazon and Cloudflare have reportedly endured the internet's largest-known denial of service attack.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 12, 2023

Internet companies report biggest denial of service operation

Internet protection company Cloudflare said the attack was "three times larger than any previous attack we've observed."
Naoya Hatakeyama’s “Rikuzen Takata 2011-2023” is a display of hundreds of color contact prints of his hometown, Rikuzen Takata, Iwate Prefecture. The images show the shifting landscape of a place that was heavily affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 13, 2023

Tokyo Biennale 2023 seeks healing through art

The contemporary art festival creates safe spaces for its artists and their works by embracing a “we accept anything” maxim.
A representative of Chevalier Brewery presents a bottle of its sake adapted to French drinkers' tastes.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 15, 2023

Sake fights an uphill battle for France’s wine lovers

Among many French drinkers, sake is still associated with cheap, low-quality alcohol only served at the end of meals in Japanese restaurants.
Hiruzen Kougei employee Moeko Hirao, craft brewer “Sugichan” and furry friend Tsubu help out with the tomato harvest at 6:37 a.m.
LIFE / Travel / Longform
Oct 16, 2023

The farmer's intern: A month in the Japanese countryside

Escaping the chaos of Tokyo for a month, our writer heads to rural Okayama Prefecture and discovers the delights of natural farming.
Palestinians carry empty bottles and containers as they look for water at the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 16, 2023

Gazans struggle without water as Israel strikes south of enclave

The U.N. estimates that about 1 million people have been displaced since Israel began a relentless aerial bombardment of the coastal strip.
A ball of fire and smoke rises during an Israeli strike on the Gaza Strip on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 16, 2023

Gaza border crossing set to reopen before Israeli ground assault

Hundreds of metric tons of aid from several countries have been held up in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula for days, pending a deal for its safe delivery to Gaza.
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.
Chinese civil servants and employees of state-linked enterprises are facing tighter constraints on private travel abroad and scrutiny of their foreign connections.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 17, 2023

China tightens curbs on foreign travel by bankers and state workers

Individuals' accounts varied but were consistent in describing heightened scrutiny of overseas travel even after China reopened borders in January.
A young university grad (Kana Kita, right) is introduced to the world of "shunga" erotic art by an older academic (Seiyo Uchino) in “Picture of Spring.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 19, 2023

‘Picture of Spring’: Smart, silly and lots of fun

Akihiko Shiota’s film about the world of Japanese erotic art feels like a crash course in “shunga” before veering into playfully risque territory.
Commuters ride on rickshaws on a flooded road after heavy rains in Dhaka in September.
ENVIRONMENT / ANALYSIS
Oct 19, 2023

Can pre-disaster cash and aid help fix climate loss and damage?

Anticipatory action can help avert the worst effects of climate-related disasters.
Former firefighter Yoshifumi Usui now guides tourists in search of active pursuits in and around the Aso caldera.
LIFE / Travel
Oct 21, 2023

In volcanic Aso, the land gives much more than it takes

Locals in Aso have a saying: “The land takes away, but it gives us something, too.”
Chef Stuart Brioza (left) of San Francisco’s State Bird Provisions explores the vineyard at Domaine Takahiko in Yoichi, together with his partner, Nicole Krasinski, and their son, Jasper.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 22, 2023

A California chef's quest across Hokkaido for umami

Acclaimed chef Stuart Brioza has been to Hokkaido many times — but never with a focus like this on the island’s stunning natural bounty.
Labyrinth organizer Russell Moench sparked controversy with transphobic tweets, leading booked artists to pull out of the highly regarded electronic music festival’s 2023 edition.
CULTURE / Music
Oct 20, 2023

Art and politics clash at Labyrinth 2023

A controversy surrounding the prestige electronic music festival sparks an old debate over separating art and the artist.
Chinese President Xi Jinping during the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing on Wednesday
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 20, 2023

Europe’s snub turns Xi’s Belt and Road into Global South party

The Chinese leader appears to have reformed the initiative as a club for emerging economies known as the Global South.
People inspect the area of a hospital where hundreds of Palestinians were killed in a blast that Israeli and Palestinian officials blamed on each other, and where Palestinians who fled their homes were sheltering amid the ongoing conflict with Israel, in Gaza City, the Gaza Strip, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 21, 2023

Uncertainty still surrounds Gaza hospital strike

Was a hospital in Gaza hit by Israeli fire? Or a misfired Palestinian rocket? How many civilians were killed? Experts are not ruling out any scenario.
An assembly engineer works on a TWINSCAN DUV lithography system at ASML in Veldhoven, Netherlands, in June.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 21, 2023

The multimillion-dollar machines at the center of the U.S.-China rivalry

Complex lithography machines that print intricate circuitry on computer chips are at the heart of Washington's tough new measures on Beijing.
Palestinians inspect destruction from an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis, a city in southern Gaza, on Thursday. The Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, in retaliation for a deadly Hamas attack on southern Israel, has brought a new outpouring of support in the Arab world for the Palestinian quest for a state.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 21, 2023

Passion for Palestinian cause had faded, but Gaza violence reignited it

The Israeli bombardment of Gaza brought a new outpouring of support in the Arab world for the Palestinian quest for a state.

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