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The border between the two Koreas is seen from an observatory inside the Demilitarized Zone.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 18, 2024

Warning shots fired as North Korean troops cross border again

More than 20 North Korean soldiers who were on maintenance work crossed the line Tuesday and moved back north after the shots were fired.
A person walks among the giant columns supporting the Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel in Saitama Prefecture.
PODCAST / deep dive
Jun 20, 2024

Tokyo underground: The city beneath our feet

Join us this week on Deep Dive as we discuss with Alex K.T. Martin the expansive subterranean world of Tokyo’s ever-changing underground.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Vietnam President To Lam during a reception in Hanoi on Thursday
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 23, 2024

Putin came to Asia to disrupt, and he succeeded

After stops in Pyongyang, North Korea, and Hanoi, Vietnam, last week that were draped in communist red, Putin left behind a redrawn map of risk in Asia.
U.S. President Joe Biden meets with steelworkers at United Steel Workers headquarters in Pittsburgh in April.
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Jun 29, 2024

Biden and Trump battle for blue-collar voters as steel merger looms over vote

Just how many rank-and-file workers ignore union chiefs and vote for Donald Trump could have a decisive impact in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Wind turbines near New Brighton, England. According to the International Energy Agency, Japan could produce over 900% of its energy demand with offshore wind alone.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Jun 30, 2024

Japan looks farther out to sea for overdue wind power boost

A bill enabling development in the country's exclusive economic zone is seen as key to Japan achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
The Defense Ministry holds a lecture for military and police officials from Pacific island countries at the ministry on Friday as part of its security-related capacity-building support.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 3, 2024

Japan Defense Ministry boosting aid to Pacific island nations

Only three out of 14 Pacific island nations — Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Tonga — have armed forces.
While Tokyo has secured enough fuel to deal with expected surges in power demand as temperatures rise this summer, economy minister Ken Saito is urging people not to waste electricity.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 12, 2024

Japan on ‘high alert’ for summer power shortages, economy minister says

Thermal power facilities put on maintenance earlier this year are set to come online by end-July while earlier fixes are expected for other equipment failures.
Members of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces take part in a military review at Camp Asaka in October 2018. The nation’s public is currently favorable to the SDF, but if scandals aren’t handled correctly, that opinion may change. 
EDITORIALS
Jul 12, 2024

A multitude of scandals threaten Japan’s national defense

Individually, recent scandals are troubling. Together they are reflective of a problematic culture within the defense forces and bureaucracy.
The potential of AI in fighting climate change is immense. It can accelerate progress by redesigning industrial processes, optimizing transport systems, maximizing energy efficiency and significantly reducing emissions.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 16, 2024

Embracing the AI-energy-climate nexus

AI's potential to fight climate change is immense. It can accelerate progress by redesigning industrial processes, maximizing energy efficiency and reducing emissions.
The No. 1 reactor building stands at Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co.'s Shin-Kori nuclear power plant in Ulsan, South Korea.
BUSINESS
Jul 21, 2024

South Korea edges ahead of rivals to build Europe’s nuclear reactors

A pair of projects in the Czech Republic could set up South Korea to build reactors for Western countries that are reconsidering nuclear energy.
At a waste center in Kamikatsu, Tokushima Prefecture, residents separate trash into 45 different categories as the town aims to become "zero waste."
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 22, 2024

How circular economy initiatives are changing the world

From Asia to Europe to Africa, public and private entities are finding new ways to revolutionize the economic paradigm from a linear to a circular model. In Japan, too.
Artificial intelligence is transforming various business sectors and the economy. But concerns about humanoid robots replacing all jobs are unfounded, as human dexterity will remain essential for the foreseeable future.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 23, 2024

AI is making robots smarter. They’ll need boundaries.

Where AI meets the physical world — and creates the potential for conflicts — is in manufacturing and logistics.
Men inspect an electric car at a showroom in Riyadh in June. Although the EV market in Saudi Arabia remains small compared with the United States and China, it tripled last year to nearly 800 cars.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 25, 2024

EV adoption gathers steam in fossil fuel-rich Saudi Arabia

The kingdom's EV market tripled last year to nearly 800 cars, according to Saudi business news outlet Al-Iqtisadiyah.
Railway workers and French police officers inspect the scene of an attack on the country's high-speed railway network on Friday.
WORLD
Jul 28, 2024

More trains, but few answers, after railway sabotage in France

While rail workers are claiming success, a key question still remains: Who did this and why?
Technicians assemble a component of the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment at the CERN nuclear research facility in Cessy, France, in March 2007. International cooperation in science is essential for solving global challenges and maintaining innovation.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 30, 2024

Geopolitics threatens science and societal progress

In this world, the prospect of greater controls or reduced international cooperation can only be damaging.
Children use a mobile shower, provided by the local government, amid extreme heat in metro Manila on May 2.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Aug 6, 2024

From the Philippines to Mali, countries fail to count deaths from extreme heat

A lack of reliable data is undermining efforts to mitigate the risk of extreme heat and provide better protection for the most vulnerable.
The introduction of a two-tier pricing system which charges foreign tourists more than local residents is being considered at Himeji Castle in Hyogo Prefecture.
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2024

More Japan tourist hot spots consider two-tier pricing system

However, experts have warned that the system may lead to discrimination if it is not carefully thought out.
Remnants of the first Moji station complex are located near the current Mojiko Station in the city of Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 27, 2024

Kitakyushu clashes with academics over Meiji Era remains

The city wants to proceed with plans to build a five-story complex to house several aging public facilities on the site of the original Moji railway station.
The Kursk nuclear power plant. A typical containment dome could resist an impact as powerful as that of a falling aircraft, but the Kursk design was "completely different," said Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
WORLD
Aug 28, 2024

U.N. watchdog says Russian nuclear plant 'extremely exposed' if attacked

The design of the Kursk nuclear power plant is "completely different" to that of a typical containment dome capable of withstanding heavy impacts.
The Maritime Self-Defense Force's Aegis destroyer Chokai
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2024

Japan to add Tomahawk launch function to Aegis destroyer Chokai

Deployed at the MSDF's Sasebo base in Nagasaki Prefecture, the Chokai will be the first Japanese Aegis destroyer equipped with a counterstrike capability.
Cows graze in a field near the Green Bank Telescope, a 100-meter fully steerable radio telescope, at the Green Bank Observatory in the U.S. National Radio Quiet Zone in Green Bank, West Virginia, on May 20.
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 2, 2024

Inside the 'golden age' of alien hunting at the Green Bank Telescope

If intelligent life exists out there, there's a good chance the teams at the world's largest fully steerable radio astronomy facility will be the first to know.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan greet the press before welcoming leaders from African countries in Beijing on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Sep 5, 2024

Debt woes and funding needs in focus as China hosts African leaders

Africa and its ample mineral and oil resources have become the focus of intense geopolitical competition in recent years.
A ride-hailing service vehicle in Sendai. In times of disasters, such services will be available more widely.
JAPAN
Sep 17, 2024

Japan to allow use of ride-hailing services in disasters

Demand for transportation tends to increase during disasters such as earthquakes and typhoons, as well as in the recovery and reconstruction process.
Warships and fighter jets of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy take part in a military display in the South China Sea in April 2018.
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Sep 21, 2024

U.S. leans on shipbuilding prowess of allies to compete with China

America’s shipbuilding industry has virtually collapsed over the last generation, raising concerns amid its rivalry with China.
A woman passes an "akichi" (vacant lot) in Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo. The capital is littered with such small lots in part because of Japan's aging and shrinking population.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Sep 21, 2024

Dealing with rising land vacancies as Japan shrinks

"Akichi," or vacant plots of land, are nothing new to the urban landscape. As the population decreases, however, the challenge is how to handle their steady increase.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during the Summit of the Future on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 23, 2024

Kishida seeks 'concrete actions' for U.N. Security Council reform

As next year marks the 80th anniversary of the establishment of the U.N., Kishida stated that "concrete actions" should be taken on Security Council reform.
Rescuers work at the site of an apartment building hit by a Russian airstrike in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 27, 2024

Biden announces $8 billion in military aid for Ukraine

The funds will provide Ukraine with additional air defense, unmanned aerial systems and air-to-ground munitions.
Myanmar's then-state counselor, Aung San Suu Kyi, meets with Fumio Kishida, Japan's then-foreign minister, for talks in Tokyo in November 2016.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 27, 2024

Kishida’s failure to support democracy in Myanmar

Kishida's lack of engagement with Myanmar's pro-democracy movement shows he prioritized economic relations over democratic values.
United Nations peacekeepers stand watch over the Lebanese-Israeli border from the roof of a watch tower ‏in the town of Marwahin, in southern Lebanon, in October 2023.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 1, 2024

Understanding the mandate of U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon

Any unauthorized crossing of the zone maintained by the peacekeepers by land or by air from any side constitutes a violation of a related Security Council resolution.
Chinese People’s Liberation Army soldiers march in the Victory Day Parade in Moscow in 2020. China and Russia are working together to undermine the liberal international order through military means.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Oct 2, 2024

Tackling an international order in disarray

The liberal international order is fraying at the edges. A more assertive stance against leaders trying to undermine the status quo, Putin and Xi most notably, is needed.

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