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Former U.S. President Donald Trump's core campaign team of a half-dozen aides is unswervingly loyal to their boss and chooses to stay mostly in the background.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 2, 2024

Inside Trump's election A-team: Lean, mean and largely unseen

A handful of distinctive figures have formed a tight, disciplined inner circle around the former U.S. president in his bid for the White House.
While this year will be a year of elections, with voting scheduled in more than 70 countries around the world, all eyes with be on who moves into the White House after November's U.S. presidential election.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Feb 8, 2024

Why the eyes of the world will be on the U.S. presidential election

The future of politics in the U.S., the world’s biggest military and economic power, could cast a giant shadow over international order.
Collapsed homes in the town of Noto, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 12. Ever since breaking off from the Eurasian continent 20 million years ago and opening the Sea of Japan, the archipelago has always been at the mercy of nature’s seismic whims, its landscape and ecology undergoing perpetual transfiguration.
ENVIRONMENT / Earth science / OUR PLANET
Feb 4, 2024

For Japan, earthquakes are an existential matter

The New Year's Day quake was a stark reminder of how Japan has been shaped by rumbling, grinding and often deadly convulsions and volcanic activity.
Nippon Ham manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo is trying to turn around the Fighters after last-place finishes in 2022 and 2023.
BASEBALL / Sac Bunts
Feb 5, 2024

Fighters' Tsuyoshi Shinjo needs to match substance with style in third season

Nippon Ham manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo is trying to turn around the Fighters after last-place finishes in 2022 and 2023.
Wall Street giants are endorsing India as the prime investment destination for the coming decade.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 6, 2024

Wall Street snubs China for India in a historic markets shift

India has vastly expanded infrastructure under Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his bid to lure global capital and supply lines away from Beijing.
While online influence campaigns are increasingly common as powerful people and governments around the world seek to manipulate public opinion, experts tracking such operations say China is one of the biggest sources of such drives alongside Russia and Iran.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 8, 2024

Chinese firm behind ‘news’ sites pushes pro-Beijing content globally, report says

Spread over websites in 30 countries, the propaganda material is interspersed with news aggregated from local news outlets and Chinese state media.
The hippocampus is a part of the brain that controls memory, learning and emotions. Stressful life events such as disasters and terrorist attacks are known to lead to post-traumatic stress disorder and result in its shrinkage.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Feb 9, 2024

Tokyo teens were less stressed during first COVID emergency: study

Increases in the volume of the hippocampus in their brains suggest reduced stress, according to research conducted by the University of Tokyo.
For the first time in 16 years, Taiwan will have a minority government when Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party is sworn in on May 20.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 9, 2024

To Taiwan’s president-elect, here is a proposal for your consideration

For the first time in 16 years, Taiwan will have a minority government when Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party is sworn in on May 20.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes will be vying for his third Super Bowl title when Kansas City faces San Francisco in Las Vegas on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 9, 2024

Chiefs and 49ers ready for another Super Bowl showdown

The same two teams met in the Super Bowl four years ago.
The market in 2023 and 2024 has been marked by breathless enthusiasm for the potential of artificial intelligence as well as wildly disparate guesses about how the technology will translate into future cash flows.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 11, 2024

Is the S&P 500's surge signaling a bubble or a bull market?

Are we reliving 1995 — when, coincidentally, a previous "soft landing” economy pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average above 5,000?
Sony trimmed its revenue forecast after sales of its flagship PlayStation 5 in the December quarter came in roughly a million units lower than analysts’ estimates.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 15, 2024

Sony dives most in two years after cutting PS5 sales outlook

Shares fell as much as 8.4% in early Tokyo trading, the biggest intraday fall since February 2022.
Sun simulation at the Rail Tec Arsenal facility in Vienna, Austria, on Dec. 15, 2023
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Feb 16, 2024

Climate change threatens EU trains, but resilience is expensive

Europe’s railways, a safe, low-carbon technology that still carries a little glamor, are on the brink of a new era.
A second test model of the H3 rocket lifts off from the launch pad at Tanegashima Space Center on the southwestern island of Tanegashima, Kagoshima Prefecture, on Saturday.
JAPAN / Science & Health / FOCUS
Feb 20, 2024

Can Japan’s new H3 rocket compete with Elon Musk’s Falcon 9?

In order to seriously compete with the Falcon 9, which currently dominates the market, experts say price and usability of the H3 would be key.
Hideo Shimoju points to a possible site that his fellow neighbors may relocate to. Such relocations have happened before, but not preemptively.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / Longform
Feb 24, 2024

In disaster-prone Japan, some communities consider major moves

Rural communities are considering collective relocation as a means to deal with worsening climate disasters.
The Tokyo High Court ruled that there was a causal relationship between Kazuo Ishibashi’s driving and the fatal crash that followed, upholding the Yokohama District Court’s findings and 18-year prison term.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 26, 2024

Tokyo court upholds 18-year prison term for driver over 2017 road rage

Kazuho Ishibashi had deliberately slowed down his vehicle in front of the victim’s car on an expressway, resulting in its rear-ending by a truck.
U.S. flags are inspected at Valley Forge Flag’s manufacturing facility in Lane, South Carolina on Feb. 22. Almost a third of independent respondents also picked extremism as their top concern in the poll.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 28, 2024

Extremism is U.S. voters' greatest worry, poll finds

The issue is by far the biggest one for Democrats while Republicans are most concerned about immigration.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks to reporters outside the White House in Washington on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 3, 2024

For Democrats pining for an alternative, Biden team has a message: Get over it.

While a new poll shows that 2 in 5 Democrats say the president shouldn't be the nominee, no one who matters to Biden is willing to suggest he step aside.
When Japanese American makeup artist Kazu Hiro first started experimenting with makeup as a teenager in the 1980s, one face leapt out at him from books and magazines he saw in shops: legendary conductor Leonard Bernstein.
CULTURE / Film
Mar 4, 2024

Oscar-nominated makeup genius Kazu Hiro comes full circle with 'Maestro'

Nominated for his fifth Academy Award, Kazu Hiro faced some criticism for the way he depicted Bradley Cooper as conductor Leonard Bernstein in "Maestro."
Chinese Premier Li Qiang speaks during the 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 4, 2024

China scraps premier's briefing, breaking years of convention

The decision removes a rare platform for investors to learn more about the nation’s policy direction under President Xi Jinping.
PFAS does not break down easily and remains in the body and the environment for a number of years, and is thus called “forever chemicals.”
JAPAN / Explainer
Mar 4, 2024

Japan’s food safety panel drafts intake limit for 'forever chemicals'

The report spells out the “tolerable daily intake” of PFAS through food for the first time. Here's what you need to know.
The Hong Kong flag and surveillance cameras outside the Central Government Offices in Hong Kong
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 8, 2024

Hong Kong government issues draft of new national security law

It includes sentences of up to life imprisonment for treason, 20 years for espionage and 10 years for state secrets offenses.
From left: Hong Kong's Secretary for Justice Paul Lam, Chief Executive John Lee and Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung hold a news conference regarding national security laws, in Hong Kong on Jan. 30.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Mar 9, 2024

Hong Kong fast-tracks new security law at Beijing’s urging

The legislation would impose life sentences for crimes such as treason and give police expanded powers.
Unpicked grapes wither on the vine near the town of Griffith in southeast Australia in February.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 11, 2024

Australian farmers rip out millions of vines amid wine glut

Falling consumption of wine worldwide has hit Australia particularly hard as demand shrinks fastest for the cheaper reds that are its biggest product.
Knives displayed for sale at the "Survival & Prepper Show" in Longmont, Colorado, on March 2
WORLD / Society
Mar 11, 2024

Disaster 'prepping' finds broad appeal as climate and politics threaten safety

Researchers say the number of Americans getting ready to survive political upheaval and natural catastrophes has doubled in size since 2017.
While Donald Trump and Joe Biden are both highly unpopular, key economic indicators and recent polls suggest that Biden should be worried about the coming election.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 13, 2024

The anatomy of the Biden-Trump rematch

Trump has an energetic base whereas Biden’s re-election bid generates almost no enthusiasm. Still, many Americans strongly oppose a second Trump term.
A worker in the factory of Optimax Systems, in Ontario, New York on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 18, 2024

Markets frustrated as Fed drops no hints on post-pandemic economy

With investors having to guess how they will respond, households and businesses are finding it harder to plan.
People walk under flags of China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, on Queen's Road in Hong Kong.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 20, 2024

What's in Hong Kong's new national security law?

The law's broadly defined provisions have drawn condemnation from Western countries, which had urged Hong Kong to reconsider it.
A view of the Legislative Council chamber with Chinese and Hong Kong flags reflected on the window is seen as the second reading of the Article 23 security law is read, in Hong Kong on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 23, 2024

Hong Kong's new national security law comes into force

The United States, the European Union, Japan and Britain have been among the law's strongest critics.
Legislative Council lawmakers in Hong Kong unanimously voted in favor of a new national security law on Tuesday. The legislation introduces penalties such as life imprisonment for crimes related to treason and insurrection.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 25, 2024

Is Hong Kong headed for a rubber-stamp legislature?

With the unanimous passing of the new national security law, Hong Kong's "patriotic" council has shown that its willingness to toe the government line.
Tesla Model 3 assembly line at Tesla's factory in Fremont, California, in 2018. Before the Shanghai plant opened, Fremont was Tesla’s principal factory.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 27, 2024

A pivot to China saved Elon Musk. It also binds him to Beijing.

Musk is now treading a fine line, sounding the alarm about Chinese rivals, even as he remains reliant on the Chinese market.

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