Search - 2023

 
 
Petra Kvitova plays a forehand return against Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki during the US Open tennis tournament on Aug. 30, 2023.
TENNIS
Feb 4, 2025

Kvitova to make comeback this month after maternity break

The former world No. 2 last played in October 2023 and won titles in Miami and Berlin that year.
Suns guard Devin Booker (left) shoots the ball and sinks the shot over Trail Blazers forward Toumani Camara to become the Suns' all-time leading scorer, in the second half at Moda Center on Monday night.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Feb 4, 2025

Devin Booker becomes Suns' all-time leading scorer in loss to Blazers

Booker scored 34 points but missed a free throw that would have tied the game with 4.4 seconds left in overtime.
Trading company Mitsui
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 4, 2025

Japan's Mitsui could study Alaska LNG project, but no decision yet

Japan is considering offering support for a $44-billion gas pipeline in Alaska as it seeks to court U.S. President Donald Trump and forestall potential trade friction.
Highway One after a portion of the road collapsed into the Pacific Ocean in Monterey County, California, in March 2024
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Feb 4, 2025

These roads aren’t built for wilder weather driven by climate change

Worldwide warming temperatures are hammering roads that were built for a different climate and ballooning repair budgets.
Russian demand for Japanese grand pianos is always very high, a dealer has said.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 4, 2025

Smuggled grand pianos show Trump’s challenge in pressuring Putin

High-end Japanese pianos still make their way to Russia despite export ban, highlighting Tokyo's struggle to enforce sanctions.
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.
Tourists carry their luggage as they leave the village of Fira, following increased seismic activity on the island of Santorini, Greece, on Tuesday.
WORLD
Feb 5, 2025

Thousands leave as fresh tremors shake Greece's Santorini

Some 750 earthquakes have shaken the island and the surrounding 1,000 square kilometers since Jan. 24.
Protestors gather outside of the headquarters for United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on Monday ahead of a news conference by Congressional Democrats.
WORLD
Feb 5, 2025

U.S. aid agency places global staff on leave as part of Trump's purge

The move is part of the Trump administration's radical drive to shrink the U.S. government, which has shocked Washington and caused angry protests.
Tigers players toss manager Yoshio Yoshida into the air after the club clinched its first Japan Series title, on Nov. 11, 1985.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Feb 5, 2025

Hanshin Tigers legend Yoshio Yoshida dies at 91

During his 17-year playing career, Yoshida appeared in 2,007 games and recorded 1,864 hits. But he was perhaps most notable for leading the Tigers to the 1985 Japan Series.
Homes destroyed by wildfire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles earlier this month. Insured losses caused by this and other fires raging in the area in recent weeks have been valued at over $30 billion.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 5, 2025

Fossil fuel insurance is still way too cheap

Despite mounting losses from climate-induced disasters, insurers continue underwriting fossil fuels. Raising the cost of such policies would help cut emissions and benefit many.
Households continue to be squeezed as inflation outpaces pay increases.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 5, 2025

Real wages in Japan rise in December, but fall for third straight year

Inflation continued to outpace pay increases, which have been generous on a nominal basis in recent years.
Japanese cellist Eru Matsumoto, South African flutist Wouter Kellerman and Indian American vocalist Chandrika Tandon won a Grammy on Sunday for their album “Triveni.”
CULTURE / Music
Feb 5, 2025

Japanese cellist Eru Matsumoto awarded Grammy for best new age album

Alongside South African flutist Wouter Kellerman and Indian American vocalist Chandrika Tandon, Matsumoto took home the accolade for the trio’s album “Triveni.”
Tanks containing water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant at the facility in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, in March 2023
JAPAN
Feb 5, 2025

Fukushima plant operator to dismantle treated water tanks next week

The step is a milestone of a sort as Tokyo Electric Power Company moves ahead with a decades-long project to dismantle the entire plant.
A Palestinian sits among the rubble of buildings destroyed during an Israeli offensive in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 6, 2025

Trump aides defend Gaza takeover proposal but walk back some elements

Trump shattered decades of U.S. policy with a vaguely worded announcement saying he envisioned transforming Gaza into the "Riviera of the Middle East."
Ditching the U.S.' normal trade relations designation for China could lead to an automatic jump in levies, at rates that could far exceed what Trump has so far slapped on China.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Feb 6, 2025

Trump's China focus increases odds of end to special trading status

The Permanent Normal Trade Relations designation was was extended to China in 2000.
The new generative AI-powered Alexa represents at once a huge opportunity for Amazon, which counts more than half a billion Alexa-enabled devices in the market, and a tremendous risk.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 6, 2025

Amazon set to release long-delayed Alexa generative AI revamp

The new generative AI-powered Alexa represents at once a huge opportunity for Amazon.
South Korea, along with countries such as France and Italy, have asked questions about DeepSeek's data practices, submitting a written request for information about how the company handles user information.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 6, 2025

South Korean ministries and police block access to DeepSeek

The move comes after the Chinese artificial intelligence startup did not respond to a request about how it manages user information.
A cargo ship full of shipping containers at the port of Oakland in Oakland, California, as trade tensions escalate over U.S. tariffs on Monday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 6, 2025

Economists brace for Trump's new trade war to rekindle inflation worldwide

Stubborn growth in consumer prices was bothering much of the world even before U.S. President Donald Trump entered the White House.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes takes off his helmet after defeating the Bills during the AFC Championship game at Arrowhead Stadium on Jan. 26.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Feb 6, 2025

NFL heralds helmet technology for reduction in concussions

Concussions fell to a record low this season, down 17% from the previous campaign, with improvements to helmet technology and after the league changed rules governing kickoffs.
Kuaishou Technology has attracted tens of millions of younger viewers who habitually scroll screens for new stories and trending videos.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 6, 2025

Mini dramas have supplanted movies in China. Is the U.S. next?

Professionally produced series for the web, mini dramas have clear storylines and big cliffhangers, with episodes running just 60 to 90 seconds each.
The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission has raided locations related to a former Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank division manager on suspicion of violating the financial instruments and exchange law.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 6, 2025

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank worker's insider trading likely lasted years

The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission has raided locations related to the former employee.
New Orleans Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram reacts to making a three point basket against the Phoenix Suns on Dec. 5, 2024. Ingram was reportedly traded to the Toronto Raptors ahead of Thursday's deadline.
BASKETBALL
Feb 6, 2025

Pelicans ship Brandon Ingram to Raptors, say reports

Ingram was reportedly moved for fellow forwards Bruce Brown and Kelly Olynyk along with two draft picks.
Gaza’s reconstruction is needed, but U.S. President Donald Trump’s approach — framing it as a business deal without addressing Palestinian political aspirations — makes little sense as foreign policy.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 6, 2025

Trump’s ‘Gaza Riviera’ scheme may be more than a fantasy

It’s tempting to dismiss Donald Trump’s bid to take over Gaza as just another wild proposal, designed more to change the conversation and wrong-foot negotiating partners than as policy.
New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Aug. 27, 2024
BASEBALL
Feb 6, 2025

Mets set to retain Pete Alonso on two-year $54 million deal

Alonso reportedly turned down a three-year offer from the Mets before accepting the two-year contract.
Naomi Osaka celebrates winning her second round match at the Australian Open over the Czech Republic's Karolina Muchova on Jan. 15.
TENNIS
Feb 6, 2025

Naomi Osaka on tennis, motherhood and being Japanese

Osaka returned to the tour a year ago and has had mixed results overall. But there are early signs in 2025 that she's starting to "get her pink back."
Investigators pursue a criminal case in the town of Oshima in Tokyo in January.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 6, 2025

Concern over crime grows in Japan as cases rise for third straight year

The most drastic increase was seen in the number of fraud cases, which numbered 57,324 — up 24.6% from the previous year and with a total of ¥307.5 billion in damages recorded.
The rubble of destroyed buildings in Jabalia on Jan. 30
WORLD / Society
Feb 7, 2025

Trump call for Gazan exit echoes in destroyed homes

The war has stopped after 16 months, but the destruction left in its wake leaves Palestinians in a daily battle of trying to decide whether to stay or go.
Philippine National Security Council Assistant Director-General Jonathan Malaya says information and psychological warfare have "become part and parcel" of China's malign influence in his country.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 7, 2025

Chinese hybrid warfare ops surge in Philippines: top security official

There has been a rise in Chinese disinformation tactics as well as suspected surveillance and espionage activities in the Philippines, the official said.
The government plans to provide university tuition aid to families with three or more dependent children attending universities, junior colleges, technical colleges or vocational schools, regardless of income levels.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2025

Japan's government plans expanded university tuition aid for families

A proposed legal revision would slash or fully eliminate the cost of university tuition for families with three or more dependent children.
Spurs center Victor Wembanyama will play in the NBA All-Star tournament after being selected by Charles Barkley in Thursday's All-Star Draft.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Feb 7, 2025

Barkley picks global lineup for NBA All-Star tournament

In a revamped format for the Feb. 16 All-Star event in San Francisco, four elite teams will meet in a tournament format.

Longform

The building of new high-rise residential buildings has some alarmed that they could empty and fall into disrepair as Japan's population shrinks.
The high cost of letting Japan's condos crumble