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Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 19, 2022

Trump’s shadow looms over fading Iran nuclear talks

With no compromise in sight and Iran making steady progress toward nuclear capability, the Biden administration could soon face a stark choice.
At 60, the shinkansen has been mostly stuck in Japan, with only one system ever sold overseas.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 1, 2025

Japan’s go-slow approach to selling high-speed rail globally

The shinkansen has been mostly stuck in Japan as competitors from Europe and China sell their own high-speed trains in an increasing number of countries.
An undated photo of a poster in a window promoting shows at Lincoln Center by Shen Yun, which in its 2023-2024 season performed more than 800 times on five continents, in New York. Over the past decade, the dance group Shen Yun Performing Arts has made money at a staggering rate in large part by getting followers of the Falun Gong religious movement to work for free and pay its bills.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 31, 2024

How Shen Yun tapped religious fervor to make $266 million

Shen Yun’s success flows in part from its ability to pack venues worldwide — while exploiting young, low-paid performers with little regard for their health or well-being.
Police investigators surround a white truck in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jan 2, 2025

FBI probes New Orleans truck ramming as IS-inspired terrorist attack

A U.S. Army veteran drove into the city's French Quarter on New Year's Day, killing 15 in what officials suspect might be a coordinated attack inspired by the Islamic State group.
Police officers investigate the scene after 15 people were killed by a man driving a truck in an attack during New Year's celebrations, in New Orleans on Thursday.
WORLD
Jan 3, 2025

New Orleans attack shows enduring influence of Islamic State group

Since 2019, when then-U.S. President Donald Trump declared the group’s so-called caliphate had been defeated, Islamic State has "metastasized” elsewhere.
Abdur Rahim Jabbar, half-brother of the man accused of the New Orleans truck attack, sits in the garage of their house in Beaumont, Texas, on Thursday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jan 3, 2025

Investigators seek clues to New Orleans attacker's path to radicalization

It is still unclear what contact Shamsud-Din Jabbar might have had with overseas extremist groups.
A police officer enters a vehicle on Thursday at the location where a truck was driven into a crowd of New Year's Day revelers in New Orleans, Louisiana, a day earlier.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jan 3, 2025

Texas man behind New Orleans attack acted alone, FBI says

The suspect, identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old Texan who once served in the U.S. Army in Afghanistan, had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a news conference at Rideau Cottage in Ottawa on Monday to announce his resignation.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 7, 2025

Canada's Trudeau resigns after nine years in power as Liberals force him out

Trudeau, 53, currently the longest-serving leader of any Group of Seven country, bowed to sagging approval numbers and a rebellion within his political party.
Climate scientists say that global warming is making extreme weather events more frequent and intense.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jan 13, 2025

2024 hottest recorded year, crossed global warming limit

Excess heat is supercharging extreme weather, and 2024 saw countries all over the world suffer disasters that cost more than $300 billion.
Tyson Fury during a heavyweight world title fight against Oleksandr Usyk in Riyadh on Dec. 22
MORE SPORTS / Boxing
Jan 14, 2025

Is retirement really the end of the road for Tyson Fury?

Fury has previously announced his exit on a number of occasions, most recently in April 2022.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba enters the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 27, 2025

Ishiba carefully considering release of war anniversary statement

Conservative members of the prime minister's ruling Liberal Democratic Party oppose releasing such a statement.
Fuji TV adviser Hisashi Hieda in 2005
JAPAN / Media
Jan 29, 2025

Who are the key figures involved in the growing Fuji TV scandal?

Koichi Minato, who resigned as president of Fuji TV on Monday, will be one focus of a third-party probe, given his executive role when the incident occurred.
A gas flare on an Iranian oil production platform in 2005
WORLD / Politics
Feb 5, 2025

Trump reimposes 'maximum pressure' on Iran that aims for zero oil exports

Trump said he was open to a deal with Iran and expressed a willingness to talk to the Iranian leader.
A suspected victim of modern slavery who was initially denied state support after Britain introduced a tougher immigration policy, in London on Sept. 19
WORLD / Politics
Feb 11, 2025

U.K.'s tougher immigration policy risks trapping victims in modern slavery

The protections created under Britain's Modern Slavery Act have been eroded by rules introduced in 2023 to curb illegal migration.
Leaders of patients' groups submit signatures opposing the move by the government to raise the medical copayment ceiling on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Science & Health / EXPLAINER
Feb 14, 2025

Japan to rethink medical copayment hike amid patient outcry

Many patients, especially those undergoing costly but effective cancer therapy, say a hike might force them to abandon their treatments.
The Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda last month reiterated his long-held position that he needs more time to mull the fate of the ETFs because it’s a complicated issue.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 17, 2025

BOJ shifts focus to ETF assets as end of bank stock sales nears

The ETF holdings are the last major piece of Gov. Kazuo Ueda’s policy puzzle.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (second from left), Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (right) and envoys meet in Riyadh on Feb. 18.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 5, 2025

Putin agrees to help Trump broker nuclear talks with Iran

Discussions are in their initial stages and it’s not clear whether any talks between the U.S. and Iran would yield any progress.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (left) and U.S. President Donald Trump arrive for a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, on Feb. 7.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 7, 2025

Tokyo responds to Trump remarks on 'interesting' Japan-U.S. security pact

Japan's top government spokesperson underlined the agreement's cooperative element after the U.S. president complained the deal was one-sided.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei looks on during a meeting with students in Tehran on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 15, 2025

Despite tough talk, economic woes may force Iran to bargain with Trump

Behind the defiant rhetoric of Iran's leaders in public, there is a pragmatic willingness within Tehran to strike a deal with Washington.
Thames Water's Beddington Sewage Treatment Works near Croydon, south London, on Friday. Thames Water, and other British water companies privatized since 1989, are under fire for allowing the discharge of large quantities of sewage into rivers and the sea.
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 15, 2025

A stain on Britain: Sewage contaminates its waterways and seas

Failings with the most basic services in British society, such as water and sewage, have been harming the broader U.K. economy.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a press briefing in Kyiv on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 16, 2025

Zelenskyy accuses Russia of trying to trap Ukraine’s forces amid ceasefire talks

Fighting is raging in and around the part of the Kursk region that Ukraine seized in a surprise offensive into Russian territory last summer.
While climate demonstrations around the world often draw thousands of participants, in Japan such demonstrations rarely break the 100-person barrier.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Mar 16, 2025

Japan’s youth climate activists still searching for a breakthrough

With Japan endorsing climate targets criticized as unambitious, activists are looking to education and more tailored strategies to make an impact.
An aerial view of Thames Water's Beddington Sewage Treatment Works near Croydon, south London on Friday. Thames Water — and other British water companies privatized since 1989 — are under fire for allowing the discharge of large quantities of sewage into rivers and the sea.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 17, 2025

A stain on Britain: Sewage contaminates its waterways and seas

The pollution affects the seafood and tourism industries, while delaying construction projects and hampering the economy.
The buildings sector consumes 32% of the world's energy and contributes 34% of CO2 emissions.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Mar 18, 2025

'More and faster': U.N. calls to shrink buildings' carbon footprint

CO2 emissions from the building sector rose around 5% in the last decade when they should have fallen 28%, according to a new report.
Honda Racing President Koji Watanabe says the carmaker's development on the next generation of Formula One engines is proceeding as planned ahead of sweeping regulation changes in 2026.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Apr 5, 2025

Honda looks toward its F1 future as Red Bull partnership nears end

Honda Racing President Koji Watanabe discusses the carmaker's past and future in Formula One as its Red Bull partnership draws to a close.
Iranian missiles are displayed at the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force Museum in Tehran last November.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 8, 2025

U.S. and Iran set for return to nuclear talks

While U.S. President Donald Trump called the talks "direct," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said they would be "indirect" and held in Oman on April 12.
Yamaguchi-gumi executives (center and right) leave the Hyogo Prefectural Police headquarters in Kobe after submitting a pledge to end turf battles on Monday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 8, 2025

Yamaguchi-gumi pledges end to yakuza war

The crime syndicate has been involved in turf battles with the rival Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, formed by more than a dozen gangs that splintered from it, since 2015.
Nuggets head coach Michael Malone gestures in the third quarter against the Chicago Bulls at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado, on March 24.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Apr 9, 2025

Nuggets fire coach Michael Malone three games before playoffs

Malone led the Nuggets to the franchise's first ever NBA title in 2023, but Denver has struggled for consistency this season and is currently on a four-game losing streak.

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.