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This year is expected to be the hottest year on record, and the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service predicts it will also be the first year ever to breach 1.5 C of warming.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 12, 2024

Global warming is already on the cusp of 1.5 C, new research finds

While there is nothing symbolic about the number 1.5 in particular, every extra increment of heat risks worsening climate impacts like powerful storms and drought.
A destroyed bridge in the town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Nov. 4
WORLD
Nov 12, 2024

Flood fears as Ukraine says Russian strike damages dam

Environmental groups have warned of Russia's invasion devastating Ukraine's nature
Blogger and marketer Alina Rzhanova, 33, adjusts clothes of her 8-month-old son, Igor, during an interview in their apartment in the city of Yaroslavl, Russia, on Oct. 3.
WORLD / Society
Nov 13, 2024

Russia bans 'child-free propaganda' to try to boost birth rate

Official data released in September in Russia put the birth rate at its lowest in a quarter of a century while mortality rates are up as Moscow's war in Ukraine rages on.
The Democrats focused on issues like racial and gender inequality and overlooked the economic and social struggles of the working class, allowing Donald Trump to tap into this resentment.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 12, 2024

Voters to elites: Ignore the working class at your own peril

The redistribution of respect saw those who climbed the academic ladder celebrated with accolades, while those who didn’t were rendered invisible.
A Chinese foreign national was arrested Tuesday for allegedly swindling an elderly woman through a fake investment scam.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 13, 2024

Chinese national held over swindling of Ibaraki woman who lost ¥809 million

Wan Cheuklun allegedly conspired with others to impersonate economist Takuro Morinaga on LINE, offering false investment opportunities.
The Israeli team practices at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France, on Wednesday.
SOCCER
Nov 14, 2024

Israel coach Ran Ben Shimon urges team to focus on soccer

Israel has urged its citizens to avoid attending cultural and sporting events abroad following last week's violence in Amsterdam.
Taxes on U.S. citizens working abroad aren’t excessive so much as excessively complicated.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 14, 2024

Trump is right: Expat taxes are too complicated

Taxes on U.S. citizens working abroad aren’t excessive so much as excessively complicated.
The grey tabby cat Dorayaki is timid and cautious, but a gentle and patient person will certainly gain his trust over time.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Nov 18, 2024

Scaredy-cat looking for his safe place

Someone gentle, caring and patient would be the best fit to help this poor thing overcome the fears from his past.
Marco Rubio debates Donald Trump during the 2016 Republican presidential primary race. The president-elect has named the senator from Florida as his prospective secretary of state.
EDITORIALS
Nov 15, 2024

Trump’s Cabinet picks make clear his priorities. Allies get ready.

Trump claims a mandate — winning the popular vote and both Houses of Congress — but his margin of victory is smaller than he will admit.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump attends a meeting with House Republicans at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Washington on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 16, 2024

G20 set to back climate goals and global trade in message to Trump

Group of 20 leaders meeting in Brazil next week are set to show unity on climate action and global trade rules.
A Sardinian miner helmet, painted with the logo of Sardinia region, in Carbonia, west of Cagliari, Italy. Sardinia relies largely on coal for its electricity.
BUSINESS / Markets
Nov 18, 2024

Locals revolt against renewables in Italy's coal-fired island, Sardinia

The island a prime location for wind and solar power but intense investor interest has spooked locals who say Sardinia is being exploited.
Investigators from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police raid a metal shop in Koga City, Ibaraki Prefecture, on Monday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 18, 2024

Four shops raided in Japan for allegedly buying stolen cables

By October, Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department had arrested seven members of a Thai group for stealing copper cables from solar power plants.
The Bluesky social network has soared to one of the top positions in social network downloads in app stores in the past week since the U.S. election. The company reported a recent gain of 700,000 new users joining the social media platform, an alternative to X.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 18, 2024

How Bluesky, alternative to X and Facebook, is handling explosive growth

Bluesky’s meteoric growth underscores its role as a decentralized alternative to traditional social networks, prioritizing user control and developer creativity.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer poses for a photograph with Chinese President Xi Jinping during their bilateral meeting at the Sheraton Hotel, on the sidelines of G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 19, 2024

Starmer confronted Xi on human rights at G20. It did not go well.

The incident in the first meeting between the leaders of the U.K. and China in almost seven years underscores the challenge Keir Starmer faces in seeking to thaw ties.
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Nov 19, 2024

Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby

Up to 17 teams are slated to join this year’s Asian Japanese Rugby Cup tournament in Malaysia on Dec. 14.
Donald Trump, the then-Republican presidential candidate and now the president-elect, visits the U.S.-Mexico border at Eagle Pass, Texas, in February. His appointments to key positions in his new administration show he is moving aggressively on mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 19, 2024

Trump's mass deportation plan has its leaders in place

Even before Trump’s victory, Tom Homan, the former acting director for ICE, promised to "run the biggest deportation operation this country's ever seen.”
Haruna Kojima sings at an event held in Central Park, New York, in 2015 as a member of the AKB48 pop group.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 19, 2024

Chinese man suspected of stalking celebrity Haruna Kojima

The man is suspected of ambushing Haruna Kojima several times since around August, including near event venues in Tokyo.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer meets with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro on Monday.
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2024

Japan to hold regular economic security talks with U.K. under two-plus-two model

The talks are set to focus on improving growth and advancing bilateral cooperation in trade and economic security.
Leaders of over 70 universities and research institutions from Japan and India attended a forum in New Delhi in mid-October.
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2024

Japan's public and private sectors seek workers from India

The number of technical trainees and what are known as specified skilled workers coming from India to Japan has been on the rise in recent years.
From left: Pakistani education activist and producer Malala Yousafzai, U.S. actress Jennifer Lawrence, producer Justine Ciarrocchi and director Sahra Mani attend the Los Angeles premiere of "Bread and Roses" on Nov. 14.
WORLD / Society
Nov 19, 2024

Phone documentary details Afghan women's struggle under Taliban rule

Exiled Afghan filmmaker Sahra Mani reached out to a dozen women after the fall of Kabul in 2021, tutoring them on how to film themselves for the purpose of the film.
Omar Nok arrived in Japan 250 days after leaving Egypt. He didn't use a plane for any part of his journey.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Nov 20, 2024

Omar Nok: 'There are good people everywhere'

Omar Nok says the hospitality he has received from locals at every stop on his journey from Egypt to Japan has been nothing short of inspirational.
A strait-laced tax officer (Seiyo Uchino) teams up with a gang of con artists to take down a crooked property developer in “Angry Squad: Civil Servant and Seven Swindlers.”
CULTURE / Film
Nov 21, 2024

‘Angry Squad’: A caper comedy with a lot of heart

The film’s two-hour running time breezes by as a strait-laced tax officer joins a colorful crew of con artists.
The Chinese bulk carrier Yi Peng 3 (right) is anchored while being monitored by a Danish naval patrol vessels in the sea of Kattegat, near Jutland, Denmark, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Nov 21, 2024

Chinese ship stirs suspicions after Baltic Sea cables damaged

The Yi Peng 3 bulk carrier was in the vicinity of fiber optic cables connecting several countries when they were damaged.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen (left) speaks with McLaren's Lando Norris after the sprint race during the weekend of the Brazilian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo on Nov. 2.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Nov 21, 2024

Verstappen in sight of exclusive club of four-time F1 champions

Red Bull's three-time champion needs only to stay ahead of Lando Norris to secure the title.
Kurdish people in Japan in 2015. A court injunction has banned acts that defame the Japan Kurdish Cultural Association and are disrespectful, such as putting up banner flags or handing out fliers with hate speech like “Refugees should go back to their home countries.”
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 22, 2024

Saitama court bans demonstrations over anti-Kurd hate speech

The individuals targeted by the injunction have said things like “Kurds should get out of Japan” at demos around the Japan Kurdish Cultural Association’s office.
The remains of the original Moji Station in Kitakyushu
JAPAN / Society
Nov 22, 2024

133-year-old Kyushu railway station remains to be partially preserved

Sections of the foundation of what used to be the locomotive shed — which experts believe is the most important element of the remains — will be kept.
This 6-year-old pug loves being held, snuggling with his favorite blanket, relaxing on a sofa and going for strolls.
COMMUNITY / ADOPT ME!
Nov 25, 2024

After some rough times, Tosca needs a home for Christmas

This 6-year-old pug loves being held, snuggling with his favorite blanket, relaxing on a sofa and going for strolls.
The Northvolt facility in Skelleftea, Sweden.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 23, 2024

Northvolt crisis may be make or break for Europe's EV battery ambitions

Europe's biggest hope for an electric vehicle battery champion filed for bankruptcy protection on Thursday after talks for funding failed.

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