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Demonstrators during a Women's Day march in Tokyo on March 8
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 28, 2023

Consent issue casts shadow on safe abortion in Japan

The law stipulates that abortion must be carried out in the early stages of pregnancy with the consent of one's spouse.
Members of the Afghan women's volleyball team spin balls for photos after practice in Hangzhou, China, on Wednesday.
MORE SPORTS
Sep 28, 2023

Games-displaced Afghan women athletes defy Taliban at Asian Games

There are 17 Afghan women competing at the Asian Games
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meets Russian President Vladimir Putin on  Sept. 13.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 28, 2023

Mystery Russian plane in Pyongyang stokes concerns of arms deals

Data from FlightRadar24 indicates the plane returned to Russia on Thursday after having been on the ground in North Korea for about two days.
Former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori gives an interview in Tokyo on July 4.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 29, 2023

Yoshiro Mori's image as LDP kingmaker rubs up against reality

While he remains a strong presence in the LDP, his actual ability to get his way on policy and personnel matters may not be as strong as it first appears.
From left: Prin, Sen and jiGook of QI.X call themselves one of the first openly queer, transgender K-pop acts.
CULTURE
Sep 30, 2023

Queer K-pop group QI.X wants to change South Korea

In conservative South Korea, few LGBTQ entertainers have ever come out. The young members of QI.X don’t see the point of staying in.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet addresses the 78th Session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Sept. 22
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 29, 2023

Cambodia's dictatorship marches on and nary a word

Just as quickly as countries condemned Cambodia’s sham elections, its new leader, Hun Manet, was welcomed by the U.N.
The two tankers Turba (right) and Simba side by side during secretive maneuvers off the coast in the Laconian Gulf on Sept. 19
WORLD
Sep 29, 2023

Fake coordinates and tanker tricks expose shadowy Russian oil trade

Estimates vary, but at least half of Russia’s oil is thought to flow out through shadow-fleet tankers.
Singer and dancer Shizuko Kasagi's life is the basis for the new morning drama series on NHK.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / Longform
Oct 1, 2023

When the 'Queen of Boogie' reigned in Japan

Shizuko Kasagi gave Japan a reason to rejoice again and inspired a generation of young women in the process.
U.S. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy talks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 1, 2023

Last-gasp deal averts U.S. government shutdown

The U.S. Congress passed an 11th-hour funding bill Saturday to keep federal agencies running for another 45 days.
A Ukrainian sniper with the call sign Bart patiently waits at an abandoned building overlooking a Russian position, in southern Ukraine, on Sept. 21.
WORLD
Oct 1, 2023

Four seconds to impact: On the front line with Ukraine’s snipers

Overshadowed by high-tech killing tools, Ukraine’s snipers are no less essential than those of World War I were more than a century ago.
Both Lamington and Tim Tam are  increasingly putting more importance on playtime.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Oct 1, 2023

This pair of cats are as sweet as their names

Lamington and Tim Tam were brought into the shelter together and are hoping to stay close when they get adopted.
Turkish Police Special Forces secure the area near the Interior Ministry following a bomb attack in Ankara on Sunday.
WORLD
Oct 1, 2023

Turkey ministry hit by bomb attack on parliament's opening day

The attack was also heard in the Parliament building, where President Erdogan was due to speak at the opening ceremony of the new legislative year.
Johnny & Associates president Noriyuki Higashiyama (second from right), flanked by Johnnys' Island President Yoshihiko Inohara (second from left), unveils the company name Smile-Up during a news conference in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 2, 2023

Johnny's to form new company in wake of sexual abuse by founder

The move comes after the agency acknowledged abuse and apologized to victims in a news conference last month.
An employee prepares tables and chairs outside a restaurant in Bucharest, Romania.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 3, 2023

EU membership supercharged Romania. Ukraine faces a tougher task.

Romania’s accession offers lessons that can help Kyiv along the way and offer an indication of the potential rewards.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks at a government panel meeting on measures to tackle Japan's declining birthrate on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 3, 2023

Debate begins on funds to tackle Japan's low birthrate

The prime minister has instructed relevant ministers to draw up a road map for securing necessary funds by reducing social security spending.
A total of €22 million ($23.15 million) will be made available to UEFA members in order to implement European soccer's new standards for women's national teams.
SOCCER
Oct 3, 2023

UEFA introduces new standards framework for women's national teams

The framework, approved by the UEFA Executive Committee in June, is aimed at leveling the playing field for women's soccer players across Europe.
Squash officials have attempted to make the sport more accessible to viewers in a push for Olympic recognition.
OLYMPICS
Oct 3, 2023

Squash desperate to end 'very weird' Olympic exile in 2028

Squash is one of nine sports vying for a place at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, along with the likes of cricket, lacrosse and motorsports.
A pedestrian walks past a mobile recruitment point located to promote service in the Russian army and invite volunteers to sign a contract with the Defense Ministry, in a street in Moscow on May 3. The slogan reads: "Our profession is to defend fatherland."
WORLD / Politics
Oct 3, 2023

Russia deploys 'punishment battalions' in echo of Stalin

Drunk recruits, insubordinate soldiers and convicts are part of hundreds who've been pressed into Russian penal units known as "Storm-Z" squads.
A 93-year-old at his office in Tokyo solves ancient math problems in Egyptian numbers to keep his mind sharp.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Oct 3, 2023

Japan prepares national project to deal with dementia

About 9.53 million people, or 1 in 4 elderly people, are predicted to have dementia in 2040.
A man walks toward Sankore mosque, also known as the former University of Sankore, in Timbuktu, Mali
WORLD / Politics
Oct 3, 2023

Mali in meltdown as militants advance and U.N. withdraws

The violence risks adding instability to a region already reeling from military coups in neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy speaks at the Capitol after he was ousted as speaker of the House, in Washington on Tuesday. The ouster is without precedent in modern U.S. history and leaves the chamber without a leader, plunging it into chaos.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 4, 2023

U.S. House speaker ouster means more chaos as shutdown fight looms

Kevin McCarthy lost his post after hardliners in his party revolted over his compromise with Democrats to avert government shutdown.
People protest outside Myanmar's embassy in Jakarta in February 2021.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 5, 2023

Activists say Indonesian state weapons makers supplying Myanmar

Groups filed a complaint to Indonesia's human rights commission alleging that three state-owned arms makers had been selling equipment to Myanmar.
Lin Te-wang, chairman of Taiwan People's Communist Party, in 2022
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 5, 2023

Taiwan communist party head indicted on China infiltration charge

Lin Te-wang, chairman of the Taiwan People's Communist Party, has been charged with violating the Anti-infiltration Act.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino attends a FIFA Virfual Council meeting in Zurich, Switzerland, on Wednesday.
SOCCER / World cup
Oct 5, 2023

FIFA World Cup be held across three continents in 2030

FIFA will allow all six of those countries' national teams to receive automatic entries.
A woman walks past a market in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon. Lebanon is one of nine Arab nations using an algorithm-powered poverty assessment formula funded by the World Bank that ranks welfare applicants according to dozens of different data points.
WORLD / Society
Oct 5, 2023

In Middle East, poor excluded from welfare by 'faulty' algorithms

Around the world, 40 countries use an algorithm-powered poverty assessment formula funded by the World Bank to rank welfare applicants.
Taiwan has become a hot spot that is capable of precipitating a military conflict between China and the United States, and possibly even a nuclear war.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 5, 2023

Applying Chinese wisdom to resolve the Taiwan issue

Some 70 years after the Chinese Civil war ended, do the winners of that war still think that violence is the way to achieve unification with Taiwan?
French President Emmanuel Macron arrives to greets Finland's Prime Minister at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 5, 2023

With subtler engagement, Macron refashions himself as EU linchpin

In areas ranging from defense to industrial policy, officials familiar with Europe's inner workings say Macron is calling the shots as rarely before.
Nippon Ishin no Kai lawmaker Muneo Suzuki speaks during an interview.
JAPAN
Oct 6, 2023

Nippon Ishin to expel lawmaker Muneo Suzuki over visit to Russia

The majority of Nippon Ishin members are calling for a severe punishment due to concerns about the impact of Suzuki's pro-Russian remarks and actions.
Bianca Vara, a Democrat and grandmother of five, at the flea market where she runs a stall in Chamblee, Georgia, on Thursday. American voters’ broad discontent with the disarray in Washington transcends political parties, race, age and geography. "Disgust isn’t a strong enough word,” said Vara.
WORLD
Oct 7, 2023

Americans are too turned off by Washington to even complain

Griping about politics is a time-honored American pastime — but lately, the country’s political mood has plunged to some of the worst levels on record.
A man carrying shovels walks along an area affected by a flood near the bank of the Teesta River in Singtam, Sikkim, India, on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 7, 2023

A calamitous flood shows the dangers lurking in melting glaciers

At least 26 people were killed in the tiny state of Sikkim. But as much as the disaster was a shock, it was hardly a surprise.

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