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A man is detained after Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot at close range in an assassination attempt, after a government meeting in Handlova, Slovakia, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
May 19, 2024

A would-be assassin stirs Europe’s violent ghosts

Political violence and polarization stalk Europe today, with ominous echoes of the past.
While not the most outspoken politician on the issue, digital minister Taro Kono has a track record of being serious in his commitment to addressing the climate crisis.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / OUR PLANET
May 19, 2024

The politicians moving Japan forward on climate

In the halls of power, climate-friendly voices may be few and far between, but some in politics are pushing for more aggressive action on decarbonization.
Collin Morikawa waves to the crowd after making a putt on the 18th hole during the third round of the PGA Championship in Louisville, Kentucky, on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
May 19, 2024

Xander Schauffele and Collin Morikawa lead at PGA Championship

Xander Schauffele and Collin Morikawa are at the top of the leaderboard at 15-under-par, but six players are within two shots of the lead.
Rapidus' semiconductor foundry construction site in Chitose, Hokkaido, in December
BUSINESS
May 19, 2024

Government to consider more aid to Rapidus, industry minister says

Rapidus plans to start operating a prototype production line at the Chitose plant in April 2025 and launch mass production in 2027.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk and Indonesia's health minister, Budi Gunadi Sadikin, inaugurate the launch of the Starlink internet service in Bali's capital of Denpasar on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 19, 2024

Tycoon Musk launches Starlink in Indonesia

Millions of people in Indonesia, a vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, are not currently hooked up to reliable internet services.
Xander Schauffele poses with the Wanamaker Trophy after winning the PGA Championship in Louisville, Kentucky, on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
May 20, 2024

Triumphant Xander Schauffele wins PGA Championship to claim first major title

Schauffele fired a 6-under-par 65 to finish at 21-under to win the crown.
Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov attends a meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin with commanders of troops of military districts, in Moscow on May 15.
WORLD / Politics
May 20, 2024

The technocrat who’s taking control of Putin’s war effort

While other technocrats in Russian President Vladimir Putin's orbit privately see his geopolitical moves as problematic, the new defense minister is a true believer.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attends a meeting with Russia's president in Riyadh last December.
JAPAN / Politics
May 20, 2024

Saudi crown prince postpones Japan trip over king’s health

Saudi sources said Monday that members of the delegation would still travel to Japan for some talks.
Alexander Zverev poses with the trophy after winning the Italian Open in Rome on Sunday.
TENNIS
May 20, 2024

Alexander Zverev looks ahead to French Open after triumph in Rome

World No. 5 Zverev comfortably won his sixth Masters 1000 title by beating Nicolas Jarry 6-4, 7-5.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Markets
May 20, 2024

Japan’s 10-year bond yield hits decade high amid BOJ policy bets

The yield on 10-year government debt rose to a level last seen when the then newly appointed Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda was starting his radical monetary easing.
People who have experienced becoming lay judges take part in a meeting to exchange views at the Tokyo District Court on March 6. Japan's lay judge system marks its 15th year on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 20, 2024

Number of lay judges falls as Japan marks system's 15th year

While there were more than 10,000 lay judges in the system's first few years, their numbers have fallen to around 6,000 in recent years.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin (left) and then-Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in the Kremlin on May 7. While President Vladimir Putin has no real challengers, powerful actors within his government are vying against each other.
COMMENTARY / World
May 16, 2024

The battle of ministries in Putin’s Russia

Historical parallels suggest that Putin’s top-down approach, like Khrushchev’s de-Stalinization and Gorbachev’s perestroika, risks sparking opposition by causing intra-elite infighting.
Rui Machida in action for Japan against France at the Tokyo Games in Saitama in August 2021
BASKETBALL
May 21, 2024

Japanese basketball star Rui Machida fights for Olympic spot

With many rivals jockeying for a spot on the 12-member roster, her selection is far from certain.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during an interview with Reuters in Kyiv on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
May 21, 2024

Ukraine's Zelenskyy wants allies to step up aid and war involvement

Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the situation on the battlefield was "one of the most difficult" he had known since the start of Russia's invasion.
Supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange protest outside The Royal Courts of Justice, Britain's High Court, in central London on Monday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 21, 2024

WikiLeaks' Julian Assange wins right to appeal extradition from Britain to U.S.

Assange, 52, is wanted in the U.S. on 18 charges, nearly all under the Espionage Act, relating to WikiLeaks' mass release of secret U.S. documents.
Russia's Representative to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia addresses the Security Council during a meeting on the maintenance of International Peace and Security Nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation at U.N. headquarters in New York on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
May 21, 2024

Russia fails in rival U.N. bid on nuclear and other weapons in space

The draft failed to get the minimum nine votes needed: seven members voted in favor and seven against, while one abstained.
Defense Minister Minoru Kihara is expected to hold bilateral talks with  his South Korean counterpart, Shin Won-sik, during the Shangri-La Dialogue to be held in Singapore from May 31.
JAPAN / Politics
May 21, 2024

Tokyo and Seoul to bolster defense ties with deal to prevent radar row repeat

The two neighbors' defense ministers hope to use an agreement to kick-start their defense relationship, which has been in limbo since the incident.
People in Tehran demonstrate in support of Iran's attack on Israel on April 15. After the helicopter crash that killed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the question is whether his successor will take a similar foreign policy path by keeping slivers of communication open and avoiding direct conflict with the United States.
WORLD / Politics
May 21, 2024

Aggression or caution: The choice facing Iran’s next leaders

After the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister it will be possible to maintain communications between Washington and Tehran?
Norinchukin Bank is one of Japan’s largest institutional investors with a ¥55.9 trillion ($357 billion) securities portfolio, and bonds make up more than half of its investments.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 21, 2024

Norinchukin weighs $7.7 billion fundraise to cover bond loss

As a result of restructuring its securities portfolio, the Tokyo-based bank may book about ¥500 billion in losses for the current fiscal year, one source said.
Kim Do-hoon is set to lead South Korea in World Cup qualifiers against Singapore and China in June.
SOCCER
May 21, 2024

South Korea appoints another interim coach for World Cup qualifiers

Jurgen Klinsmann was sacked in February after his team crashed out in the semifinals of the Asian Cup.
Andre Hayato Saito’s latest short, “Amarela,” centers on a 14-year-old Japanese Brazilian girl (Melissa Uehara).
CULTURE / Film
May 21, 2024

Cannes nominee on being 'too Brazilian to be Japanese, too Japanese to be Brazilian’

Andre Hayato Saito's Palme d’Or-nominated short film, “Amarela,” is rooted in the director's own experiences with searching for a sense of belonging.
A member of the National Animal Health and Production Research Institute takes a swab from a duck during surveillance of the poultry section of the Orussey market, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on May 7.
WORLD
May 21, 2024

The disease detectives trying to keep the world safe from bird flu

Front-line work in low-income countries is increasingly vital to a global system to detect viruses that jump between animals and humans, the way COVID-19 did.
The modernization of Japan's defense strategy is not just about military capabilities, it is also about building consensus and fostering public understanding.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 21, 2024

The winding road to Japan's defense modernization

The government's efforts to engage the public on defense issues are crucial for building consensus and ensuring the sustainability of defense reforms.
Japan's Ayumi Fukushima competes in the women's Breaking B-Girls semifinal during an Olympic Qualifier Series ahead of the 2024 Paris Games, in Shanghai on Sunday.
OLYMPICS / Breakdancing
May 22, 2024

Japanese break dancer on cusp of fulfilling Olympic dream

Ayumi Fukushima, 40, has been busting moves for longer than some of her rivals have been alive.
Mourners holds posters of late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi during a funeral ceremony for him and his companions who were killed in a helicopter crash, at Mosalia mosque in Tehran on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
May 22, 2024

Iranian President Raisi's memorial muted amid public discontent

Some insiders see a stark contrast in public grief compared with past commemorations for the deaths of other senior figures in Iran's 45-year history.
Rishi Sunak speaks at a meeting of finance ministers ahead of the 2021 G7 leaders' summit in London on June 4, 2021.
WORLD / Politics
May 22, 2024

G7 finance chiefs seek common line on Russian assets and China

Negotiators have been discussing for weeks how to best exploit some $300 billion worth of seized Russian funds.
Shigeru Omi, then-Japan's top COVID-19 advisor, speaks to reporters at the Prime Minister's Office in April 2022. A study published this month has shown that many experts who spoke to the media about COVID-19 in Japan were harassed by the public.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 22, 2024

Many COVID experts in Japan harassed after speaking to media, survey shows

The research conducted by a professor at Waseda University is Japan’s first comprehensive survey on threats targeting COVID-19 experts.
Water tanks used to cultivate seaweed on land by Three Lines in Uwajima, Ehime Prefecture
JAPAN / Science & Health / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Jun 3, 2024

Poor seaweed harvest prompts Kyushu University team to look toward land

The team has found some success with on-land farming, although increasing production yields for commercialization remains a challenge.
A Chinese military ship northwest of Pengjia Island, off the coast of northern Taiwan, on Thursday
ASIA PACIFIC
May 23, 2024

China's military kicks off large-scale 'punishment' drills around Taiwan

The large-scale joint military exercises come days after the self-ruled island’s new president was sworn into office.
A Soyuz-2.1b rocket booster with a Fregat upper stage, carrying Russian the Meteor-M spacecraft and 18 Russian and foreign additional small satellites, blasts off from a launchpad at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the far eastern Amur region of Russia on Feb. 29.
WORLD
May 23, 2024

Russia launched space weapon in path of U.S. satellite, Pentagon says

Russia and the United States have traded accusations over weaponizing space in recent months, and they have proposed rival nonproliferation resolutions at the U.N.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?