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Roki Sasaki pitches for Japan during the World Baseball Classic at Tokyo Dome on March 11, 2023.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jan 18, 2025

Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki signs with Dodgers

Sasaki is considered one of the most talented young pitchers on the planet. 
U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden walk across the South Lawn of the White House in Washington in August 2022, after returning from a trip to Kentucky.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 18, 2025

How Biden’s inner circle protected a faltering president

“Your biggest issue is the perception of age,” Mike Donilon, the president’s longtime strategist, told him in 2022, according to people who heard him.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a rally at Capital One Arena ahead of the 60th presidential inauguration in Washington on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 20, 2025

On inauguration eve, Trump promises harsh immigration limits

Donald Trump repeated his campaign pledge to launch the largest deportation effort in U.S. history.
Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki speaks during his introductory news conference with the team in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jan 23, 2025

Dodgers introduce Japanese pitching phenom Roki Sasaki

A frenzied sweepstakes among MLB clubs officially came to an end with Sasaki's decision to join Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto in LA.
The P4 laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China, in April 2020
WORLD
Jan 26, 2025

CIA now favors China lab leak theory to explain COVID’s origins

A new analysis that began under the Biden administration is released by the C.I.A.’s new director, John Ratcliffe, who wants the agency to get “off the sidelines” in the debate.
A memorial stone listing the names of 183 people who lost their lives in the flooding accident at Chosei coal mine in the city of Ube in Yamaguchi Prefecture in 1942, photographed in December
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2025

Survey to begin at western Japan site of 1942 undersea mine accident

The remains of 136 people from the Korean Peninsula and 47 Japanese nationals still lie in the flooded Chosei coal mine in Ube.
More than a dozen Justice Department lawyers were fired after Acting Attorney General James McHenry, a Trump appointee, concluded they "could not be trusted to faithfully implement the President’s agenda because of their significant role in prosecuting the President," a Justice Department official said.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 28, 2025

Trump administration fires team of lawyers who prosecuted him

The officials were fired after the administration concluded they "could not be trusted to faithfully implement the President’s agenda."
Swedish Coast Guard vessel KBV033 (right) and vessel Vezhen are anchored outside Karlskrona, Sweden, on Saturday.
WORLD
Jan 28, 2025

Sweden seizes ship suspected of sabotage in Baltic Sea

Sabotage has not been confirmed, but many policymakers suggest activity could be malicious.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the White House in Washington on Thursday about the midair crash between an American Airlines plane and a military helicopter.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 31, 2025

Trump blames diversity programs over midair collision

The crash was nation's most deadly commercial airline accident in over a decade.
Demonstrators protest outside the U.S. Agency for International Development headquarters in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 4, 2025

Elon Musk targets closure of U.S. humanitarian aid agency

The billionaire tasked with downsizing the federal government has been increasingly critical of USAID, calling it a left-wing agency unaccountable to the White House.
Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro says Manila's moves to beef up deterrence — including continuing to have a powerful U.S. missile system deployed on its territory — “are for the protection of our territorial integrity and sovereignty."
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 6, 2025

Philippines all in to get its own midrange missile system

The plan, as disclosed by Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, comes amid Chinese pressure to remove a powerful U.S. weapons system from its territory.
Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally surged in French legislative elections last year. Despite social media being a key megaphone for political campaigning, issues like voter dissatisfaction still play a determinant role in electoral outcomes.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Feb 5, 2025

Social media alone didn’t decide last year’s elections

Last year's record number of elections around the world hold some important lessons. One is that social media wasn't the key determinant of outcomes that many made it out to be.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shows a map of strategic resources and objects during an interview in Kyiv on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 8, 2025

'Let's do a deal': Zelenskyy offers Trump mineral partnership, seeking security

The U.S. president said on Monday he wanted Ukraine to supply the U.S. with rare earths in return for financially supporting its war effort.
New Zealand Ambassador to Japan Hamish Cooper says his country and Tokyo are close to inking a key intelligence-sharing agreement that will further reinforce growing security and defense ties.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 13, 2025

New Zealand paving way for deeper security ties with Tokyo, envoy says

The moves are part of a reset in New Zealand’s foreign and defense policy as Wellington looks to step up engagements with its Asian partners.
Emergency responders work at the scene where a car drove into a crowd in Munich on Thursday, leaving several people injured.
WORLD
Feb 14, 2025

Dozens injured as driver crashes car into Munich protest

A suspected attack in Munich renews debates over immigration and public safety ahead of an upcoming election.
Co-leader and main candidate of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party Alice Weidel is seen on a screen as she takes part in a TV debate in Berlin on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 17, 2025

Anger, fear, nostalgia: Why German voters back far-right AfD

All other parties have pledged to isolate it behind a "firewall" of noncooperation.
An F-35B stealth fighter jet loaded in the hangar of the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Kaga destroyer
JAPAN / FOCUS
Feb 17, 2025

SDF's biggest ships are being converted into de facto aircraft carriers

The Izumo and Kaga, each about 248 meters in length and 38 meters in width, are the largest vessels in the MSDF.
A worker rides a tractor while spraying organic pesticide on crops at a farm in Hudson, New York, in 2020.
BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2025

EU plans stricter food import restrictions over pesticide use

EU farmers have been protesting across Europe over the past year about the increasing burdens of the bloc’s climate and environmental rules.
The Grok-3 artificial intelligence chatbot has "more than 10 times” the computing power of its predecessor, billionaire Elon Musk said in a presentation alongside three engineers from xAI, his AI startup, on Monday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 18, 2025

Musk debuts Grok-3 AI chatbot to rival OpenAI and DeepSeek

Grok-3 beats its rivals across math, science and coding benchmarks, the chatbot's developer says.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin hold a bilateral meeting at the Group of 20 leaders summit in Osaka in June 2019. A Putin-Trump summit is on the horizon.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 20, 2025

Russian forces advance on Ukraine's critical minerals as Trump talks of a deal

The seizure of Kyiv's mineral wealth, while not the main war aim, is among Moscow's strategic goals, experts say.
Steve Bannon gestures during a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland, on Thursday.
WORLD
Feb 22, 2025

Echoing Musk, Bannon salute draws sharp criticism, including from French right

It came a month after Elon Musk made a similar salute and at a time when the Trump administration seems to be leaning into far-right alliances worldwide.
Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro assists Defense Minister Gen Nakatani as he signs a guest book prior to their bilateral meeting at a hotel in Manila on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 24, 2025

Japan and Philippines to establish high-level defense gear framework

The two sides also agreed to establish a “strategic dialogue” between the Self-Defense Forces and the Philippine Armed Forces to deepen operational collaboration.
Chef Kentaro Mura’s favorite way of serving snow crab is as shabu-shabu: The legs are lightly blanched in dashi, then the meat is removed and served with a generous scoop of crab tomalley.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Destination Restaurants
Mar 2, 2025

Toyama’s finest seafood underpins Ebitei Bekkan’s return to greatness

This "kaiseki" restaurant has been making up for lost time with a culinary flair that presents Toyama’s seafood tradition in a contemporary guise.
Multibillionaire and Trump adviser Elon Musk speaks via video link to an election campaign rally for the far right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in Halle, Germany, on Jan. 26.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 5, 2025

Musk rallies the far right in Europe. Tesla is paying the price.

The multibillionaire's support for right-wing political parties could help boost his empire by cutting back regulations he thinks impede tech innovations.
The law will require scrap metal dealers to verify the identity of sellers during transactions.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 11, 2025

Japan moves to curb metal theft with new identity check laws

Metal theft has surged in recent years, driven by rising copper prices.
The findings suggest that heat waves and rising temperatures from climate change could be chemically modifying people’s DNA and speeding up their biological aging.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 12, 2025

Extreme heat linked to accelerated aging in older adults, study finds

The analysis found that those living in areas prone to extreme heat showed more accelerated aging at a molecular level compared those who live elsewhere.
A protest called "America, wake up" is held in front of the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv on March 8, days after U.S. President Donald Trump paused American military and intelligence support for Ukraine.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 14, 2025

Ukraine needs U.S. weapons — but it needs intelligence more

The problem is that, on issue after issue, Trump changes course on a whim.
Alimentation Couche-Tard founder Alain Bouchard (center), CEO Alex Miller (left) and CFO Filipe Da Silva attend a photo session after a news conference on their bid for Seven & I Holdings in Tokyo on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies / EXPLAINER
Mar 17, 2025

Why Couche-Tard's deal with Seven & I isn't going anywhere

The buyout bid has seen a mixed response in Japan, with some expressing concerns over the convenience store chain being taken over by a foreign company.
Documents related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy are displayed after they were released following an order from U.S. President Donald Trump, in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 19, 2025

Trump releases JFK assassination documents

Many of the documents reflected the work by investigators to learn more about assassin Lee Harvey Oswald's time in the Soviet Union.
An example of a Russian disinformation poster that was spread via Telegram. Some analysts said that reducing work to counter Moscow's hybrid war tactics would prove dangerous for the U.S.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 20, 2025

U.S. suspends some efforts to counter Russian sabotage

Since U.S. President Donald Trump took office, much of the work on monitoring and countering Russia's hybrid warfare campaign has come to a standstill.

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan