Search - i

 
 
Chinese leader Xi Jinping speaks during a news conference in Brasilia on Nov. 20.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society / ANALYSIS
Nov 30, 2024

China’s lone-wolf attacks pose challenge for Xi’s security state

A new wave of deadly attacks is putting pressure on officials to expand the country's sprawling security system.
A trainer feeds an elephant at the Elephant Conservation Center in Laos' Sainyabuli province on Oct. 13.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Nov 30, 2024

Researchers analyze DNA from dung to save Laos elephants

Once abundant in the forests of Laos, Asian elephants have been decimated by habitat destruction, poaching and scarce breeding opportunities.
Anti-government fighters pose for a picture on a tank on the road leading to Maaret al-Numan in Syria's northwestern Idlib province on Saturday.
WORLD
Dec 1, 2024

Syrian rebels sweep into Aleppo as Russia conducts strikes

The offensive forced the Syrian army to redeploy in the biggest challenge to President Bashar Assad in years.
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te is welcomed aboard his aircraft by Ingrid Larson, managing director of the American Institute in Taiwan, upon arrival at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 1, 2024

China vows ‘resolute and forceful’ response as Taiwan leader visits Hawaii

The leader's “transit” comes ahead of visits to the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau, three of the countries that still have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili attends an opposition rally to protest after the government halted the EU application until 2028, in Tbilisi, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 1, 2024

Georgian president pledges to stay on after violent clashes

Georgian police and special forces cleared protesters and barricades from the main street of Tbilisi.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum delivers a speech during the inauguration of a family medicine unit in San Nicolas de los Garza, Nuevo Leon State, Mexico, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Dec 1, 2024

Trump’s demand that Mexico stop migrants and drugs may never be met

Mexico's new leader must find ways to appease Trump while avoiding the perception that she easily bends to U.S. demands.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta during his team's dominant win over West Ham United on Saturday in London.
SOCCER
Dec 1, 2024

Arsenal building momentum, coach Mikel Arteta says

A dominant victory over West Ham United lifted Arsenal back into second place in the Premier League and confirmed the club has engaged top gear again.
Kaja Kallas, who was set to take up her post as the European Union's top diplomat, looks on during a plenary session of the European Parliament, before a vote to approve the new European Commission, in Strasbourg, France, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 1, 2024

New EU chiefs visit Kyiv on first day of mandate

The visit by the EU's new top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, and head of the European Council, Antonio Costa, was a symbolic show of support for Kyiv.
Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte holds a news conference in Quezon City, in Metro Manila, on Tuesday. She denied she was plotting to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., saying recent comments that sparked a government probe only reflected "consternation" with her one-time ally.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 1, 2024

Philippines politics is often mad. It just got crazier.

Manila cannot afford to be distracted by the latest round of clan rivalry and violent threats.
A sign at the entrance to the Vauxhall van factory in Luton, England, on Nov. 27. Stellantis plans to close the factory, and has made efforts to pin the blame on the government's mandate for more electric vehicle sales.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 2, 2024

The EV transition is leaving the U.K. auto industry behind

The country wants to be a leader in EVs but has lagged others in establishing the necessary plants and battery factories.
A tank, left behind by Syrian regime forces, is seen on the road leading to the town of Khan Sheikhun, in Idlib province, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 2, 2024

Syria's embattled Assad seeks to shore up support after Aleppo loss

For the first time since the civil war started more than a decade ago, the country's second city is out of control of Syrian regime forces, observers said.
Ken Kutaragi, the creator of Sony's PlayStation, speaks at the annual Tokyo Game Show in the city of Chiba in September.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 2, 2024

Father of PlayStation says 'everyone told us we would fail'

With revolutionary 3D graphics and titles like "Tomb Raider" and "Metal Gear Solid," the device first hit shelves on Dec. 3, 1994.
Japanese companies' capital expenditure on goods excluding software rose 9.5% year on year in the three months through September.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 2, 2024

Japanese firms boost capex in sign of confidence holding up

Expectations are also growing for the Bank of Japan to raise rates sooner rather than later.
European Council President Antonio Costa looks on as he attends a handover ceremony at the European Council in Brussels on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 2, 2024

Before tackling Trump, new EU leader aims to end infighting

For years, attempts to shore up the EU have been hampered by internal dysfunction.
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te speaks by phone with former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, during his visit to Honolulu on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 2, 2024

Taiwan's Lai talks 'China threats' with ex-U.S. House Speaker Pelosi

The pair discussed among other things "China's military threats toward Taiwan," a presidential spokesperson said, describing the 20-minute call as "warm and amicable."
The average price of osechi traditional food for the 2025 New Year stood at ¥27,826 ($185), a 1.3% increase — or ¥360 — compared with that for the 2024 New Year.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 2, 2024

Osechi ryōri prices climb for a third consecutive year

The latest increase, at ¥360 ($2.40), is the smallest in three years, at less than half the increase for the 2024 New Year.
The yen carry trade is expected to ramp up next year, driven by wide gaps in interest rates, higher government borrowing in the U.S. and low volatility in currency markets, analysts say.
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 3, 2024

Yen carry trade that rattled markets shows signs of a comeback

Japanese retail investors as well as leveraged funds and asset managers outside the country are estimated to have boosted bearish wagers on the yen in November.
Kim Seongmin, president of Free North Korea Radio, edits content for the station at his home on Ganghwa Island, west of Seoul, on Nov. 21. Kim has cancer and was recently told that he has months to live.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 3, 2024

A North Korean voice that Kim Jong Un would like to silence

North Korean defectors have been infiltrating the North with outside media for two decades, through balloons floated across the border or radio broadcasts.
President Joe Biden walks with his son Hunter and his family through Nantucket, Massachusetts, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 3, 2024

Biden's Hunter pardon riles Democrats who defended U.S. justice system

Biden had previously pledged not to intervene in the two criminal convictions against his son.
Members of the German Navy operate a submarine drone onboard German mine hunter FGS Weilheim during a NATO exercise led by the Finnish Navy, in the Baltic Sea in Turku, Finland, on Nov. 20
WORLD / Politics
Dec 3, 2024

As sabotage allegations swirl, NATO struggles to secure the Baltic Sea

The defense alliance conducted one of northern Europe's largest naval exercises on Nov. 18 to step up its protection of critical infrastructure.
Trees in a forest in Nyanga, Gabon
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 3, 2024

Scientists behind ‘net zero’ concept say nations are getting it wrong

Countries may be claiming carbon credits for work already being done by land and oceans — and the accounting mismatch has consequences.
People watch South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's declaration of martial law and the following announcement that he will lift the martial law, after parliamentary vote, at a railway station in Seoul on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 4, 2024

South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol, embattled conservative

The novice politician took office with some of the lowest approval ratings of any democratically elected South Korean president.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (left) and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha pose for a photograph after signing a memorandum of understanding during a NATO foreign ministers' meeting at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 4, 2024

Ukraine pushes for NATO membership as allies sidestep call for invite

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said an invitation would remove one of Russia's main arguments for waging its war: preventing its entry into the alliance.
Masayo Ishimaru, the head of volunteer group Tanpopo no Sato, cuddles cats rescued from a pet hoarder, in the city of Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, in September.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 4, 2024

Local governments tighten rules on pet ownership as hoarding persists

Municipalities are introducing mandatory reporting requirements for owners of large numbers of pets as well as fines for non-compliance.
Vissel's Daiju Sasaki (center) fights off a defender during Kobe's Asian Champions League loss to Pohang Steelers on Tuesday in Pohang, South Korea.
SOCCER
Dec 4, 2024

Pohang clip Vissel's wings in Asian Champions League

Kobe racked up four wins and one draw from their opening five games but Vissel could not cope with a hungry Pohang side on Tuesday.
A line of police officers stand guard as protesters gather at the edge of Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul on Wednesday after President Yoon Suk Yeol formally lifted martial law earlier, six hours after having declared it.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Dec 4, 2024

Yoon fights for political life as martial law repercussions reverberate

A coalition of lawmakers from six opposition parties on Wednesday submitted a motion to impeach the South Korean president, with a vote set for Friday or Saturday.
The Bank of Japan regularly sells government bonds with repurchase agreements to boost liquidity.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 4, 2024

BOJ sells 10-year cash bonds to ease shortage tied to futures

The BOJ owned ¥8.03 trillion of the bonds due in March 2032 as of Nov. 29, down from ¥8.23 trillion on Nov. 20.
A screen displays market data at Hana Bank in Seoul on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 4, 2024

Yoon’s gambit a tempest in a teapot for financial markets

Tokyo stocks opened flat and the yen was little changed from a day earlier, when the South Korean president declared martial law in a late-night address.
Donna Nelson (fourth from left) with her family members. Nelson was found guilty of smuggling drugs to Japan.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 4, 2024

Australian woman given six-year sentence over Japan drug smuggling

Donna Nelson has said that she was a victim of an online romance scam and that she was not aware she was carrying luggage containing illegal drugs.
Fulham's Junichi Inamoto scores his third goal of the game during a match against Bologna on Aug. 27, 2002.
SOCCER
Dec 4, 2024

Japan's Premier League pioneer, Junichi Inamoto, retires at age 45

Inamoto became a national hero when he scored twice at the 2002 World Cup on home soil, including the winner against Russia.

Longform

Visitors to Kyoto walk along a street near Kiyomizu Temple in April. A popular tourist spot, Kyoto has seen what locals feel to be an overwhelming amount of tourists in 2024.
Is Japan ready for 60 million tourists?