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Al Nassr's Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates scoring his team's third goal against Al Fayah in Riyadh on Friday.
SOCCER
Feb 11, 2025

Ronaldo reaches deal with Al Nassr to extend contract, official says

Ronaldo turned 40 last week, with his current contract due to end in June 2025.
SoftBank Group Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son announces  the Stargate Project, an artificial intelligence venture with OpenAI, during a news conference in Tokyo on Feb. 3.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 11, 2025

SoftBank eyes debt-heavy financing for $500 billion AI push

SoftBank and OpenAI’s push to build out tens of gigawatts of datacenter capacity has the potential to be the biggest rollout of computing power ever.
A structure burns during the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, on Jan. 7.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Feb 11, 2025

It’s ‘virtually certain’ the world has already breached 1.5 C

"Every increment of warming above 1.5 degrees Celsius means worse extremes,” said a research scientist.
Emperor Hirohito speaks during a welcome ceremony hosted by U.S. President Richard Nixon in Anchorage, Alaska, on Sept. 26, 1971.
JAPAN / History
Feb 11, 2025

Emperor Showa was cautious about Nixon's 1972 visit to China, document shows

That the emperor voiced his own position on the visit to China may raise questions about diplomacy involving the imperial family.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba talks with executives of his Liberal Democratic Party in the parliament building in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 11, 2025

Japan's ruling-opposition talks reach a critical point

For its enactment by the end of March, the fiscal 2025 budget bill needs to clear the Lower House on March 2, at the latest.
People walk past a banner that reads "no to divorce" outside the Quiapo Church in Manila. The Philippines is one of just two countries — along with Vatican City — where divorce is illegal, and the Catholic Church retains a powerful grip on society and outsize influence on politics.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 11, 2025

Philippine divorce activists vow to fight on

The Philippines is one of just two countries — along with Vatican City — where divorce remains illegal.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping hold a bilateral meeting during the Group of 20 leaders summit in Osaka in June 2019.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 11, 2025

Trump’s initial moves will benefit China

And while Trump has claimed that his policies will strengthen America, in reality, thus far, the biggest winner of many of his actions has actually been China.
South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol attends a hearing of his impeachment trial over his short-lived imposition of martial law, at the Constitutional Court in Seoul on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 11, 2025

South Korea's Yoon blames 'malicious' opposition for martial law bid

The suspended president told the Constitutional Court that their refusal to applaud him or shake his hand exposed their plans to "destroy" his government.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a joint news conference with the President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) in Kyiv on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 12, 2025

Zelenskyy offers land swaps as Russia heartens Trump with prisoner release

The Ukrainian president said he was ready to trade land in Russia's Kursk region which Ukraine seized in a surprise offensive last year.
Netflix series “Asura,” directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, is a remake of a classic TV drama (known as “Like Asura” in English), created by Kuniko Mukoda and broadcast by NHK between 1979 and 1980.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Feb 12, 2025

The different faces of ‘Asura’ through the generations

While Hirokazu Kore-eda’s new series meticulously remakes a classic NHK drama, this reinterpretation tweaks the story to give its female characters more agency.
Shishi (left) wrestles Tokihayate at the Fukuoka Kokusai Center on Nov. 10.
SUMO / Inside Sumo
Feb 12, 2025

Could Ukraine be the next nation to produce a yokozuna?

The amateur powerhouse is starting to make its presence felt in professional sumo.
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki addresses a meeting of the Legislative Council held at the ministry on Monday.
BUSINESS
Feb 12, 2025

Japan eyes measures to empower firms with details of de facto shareholders

Shareholder lists compiled by companies currently display only the names of trust banks and other nominal shareholders, making it difficult to identify de facto shareholders.
Construction workers in Pasadena, California, on Tuesday. The U.S. could lose millions of workers in the construction industry if President Donald Trump carries through on his campaign of mass deportations, with workers in agriculture, bars and restaurants also at risk.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Feb 12, 2025

Trump deportations send construction workers 'back to the shadows'

Such a response could worsen a labor shortage that already threatens to delay homebuilding and exacerbate a housing affordability crisis.
Japanese companies face mounting pressure as U.S.-China tensions grow, forcing them to navigate security concerns, economic dependencies and shifting trade policies.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 12, 2025

For Japanese firms, the China dilemma is set to intensify

“America First” and “Make America Great Again” are simple slogans that can be fitted to any outcome. All that ultimately matters is the final say of the president.
In “Kanasando,” when Mika (Ruka Matsuda, left) returns to her hometown in Okinawa Prefecture, she starts to see her estranged father (Tadanobu Asano) in a new light as his health deteriorates.
CULTURE / Film
Feb 13, 2025

‘Kanasando’: Heartwarming homecoming inspires a change of heart

Tadanobu Asano shows a vulnerable side of his tough-guy image while playing a dementia-afflicted father reconnecting with his daughter in Toshiyuki Teruya’s film.
People attend a vigil for a recently deceased 43-year-old Japanese woman in central Budapest on Feb. 4
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 13, 2025

Hungarian police discipline officers over Japanese woman’s death

Despite repeated claims of domestic abuse at the hands of her ex-husband, local police failed to follow up with an investigation until it was too late.
While AI has added increased uncertainty over what is and isn't true, misinformation has been around for a while.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 14, 2025

How to tell if what you're hearing is true (or just sounds like it is)

Some Japanese grammatical terms signal uncertainty, and that is when you need phrases to help you get to the truth of the matter.
U.S. President Donald Trump with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing in November 2017. For Xi, the concerns about Trump provide an opportunity to thwart a broader convergence between America and its allies.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 14, 2025

Trump gives Xi chance to court U.S. allies and repair global image

For Xi, the concerns about the U.S. president provide an opportunity to thwart a broader convergence between America and its allies.
A special police member monitors a protest, while inside the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) building, a day after members of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk moved into the CFPB, in Washington last Saturday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 14, 2025

Rapid unraveling of U.S. consumer watchdog leaves financial firms in limbo

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may be reviled by the industry, but its abrupt undoing is causing upheaval among those it regulates.
Mary Jean Burke, first executive vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees National VA Council, speaks during a rally against U.S. President Donald Trump's policies, outside the Department of Veterans Affairs headquarters in Washington on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 14, 2025

Thousands fired in U.S. government as Trump and Musk purge workers

Termination emails have been sent in the past 48 hours to workers across the government, mostly recently hired employees still on probation.
Jesse Lingard, seen with Manchester United in 2021, is preparing for his second season in South Korea.
SOCCER
Feb 14, 2025

Jesse Lingard aiming high in second year since surprise move to South Korea

The new K League campaign kicks off on Saturday.
Migrants picked up at sea attempting to cross the English Channel from France disembark from Border Force vessel 'Typhoon' after it arrived at the Marina in Dover, southeast England, on Feb. 9.
WORLD
Feb 14, 2025

Britain wants to smash the gangs — but what gangs?

Experts say a bill against smuggling gangs and anti-smuggling laws across Europe will not stem migration and often target the wrong people.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (left) and Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi at the U.S. State Department in Washington on Jan. 21
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 14, 2025

Top Japan diplomat to hold first trilateral talks with U.S. and South Korea under Trump

The talks aim to highlight how they will continue to "unite and work together for regional peace and prosperity,” Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance attends a bilateral meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas at the residence of the U.S. Ambassador in Paris on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 14, 2025

Vance warns Russia of possible sanctions if it refuses good peace deal with Ukraine

The U.S. vice president also urged Europe to spend more on defense.
Researchers work around Chang'e-5 lunar return capsule carrying moon samples next to a Chinese national flag, after it landed in northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, on Dec. 17, 2020.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 14, 2025

China builds space alliances in Africa as Trump cuts foreign aid

Beijing has access to data and images collected from the space technology, and Chinese personnel maintain a long-term presence in the facilities it builds in Africa.
As peckish deer chase delighted tourists in Japan's temple-dotted Nara Park, a quiet but dedicated team of litter-pickers patrols the stone paths, collecting plastic waste that threatens the animals' health.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Feb 15, 2025

New street patrol helps Nara's deer clean up their act

Garbage dropped by tourists can pose a serious risk to Nara's famous deer, but a new group is cleaning up the town.
Demonstrators rally to support the Uyghur community in Istanbul in 2022.
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 14, 2025

China rights monitors suspend work and lay off staff amid U.S. aid freeze

The groups are key to documenting a yearslong crackdown by President Xi Jinping on minorities, rights defenders and lawyers.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a session of parliament on Thursday afternoon.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 14, 2025

Budget talks intensify between ruling coalition and opposition parties

The minority government is looking to pass its budget by March 2 to give Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba some breathing room.
China frequently shifts between warming and freezing relations with Japan, driven by its domestic issues, often using softer rhetoric while masking aggressive actions.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 14, 2025

Are China-Japan relations truly 'warming,' or is this just fool’s gold again?

As the trade war between the U.S. and China heats up, Beijing is turning to its familiar playbook, using softer language to court American allies and partners while offering things like greater cooperation and more dialogue — part of its ongoing divide-and-conquer strategy.
U.S. Steel workers rally outside the company's headquarters in Pittsburgh in support of the takeover by Japan's Nippon Steel back in September.
EDITORIALS
Feb 14, 2025

The Nippon Steel deal’s lessons for the world

Former U.S. President Joe Biden’s stiff opposition to the deal may have created space, if not impetus, for President Donald Trump to resurrect the acquisition.

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