Search - 2022

 
 
A My Number card reader at a pediatric clinic in Tokyo. While the government will stop issuing new health insurance cards on Monday, most people will remain unaffected by the move in the short term as existing health insurance cards can still be used for another year.
JAPAN / Explainer
Dec 1, 2024

Don’t worry, you can still use your Japan health insurance card — for now

While the government will stop issuing new health insurance cards on Monday, there is a one-year grace period for their integration with My Number cards.
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.
In the absence of a long-term revitalization strategy, the historic city of Venice will remain on the path to becoming a cultural mausoleum.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 1, 2024

Venice’s beauty curse

UNESCO’s World Heritage designation for Venice comprises the city in its entirety, rather than select buildings or neighborhoods.
Timeleft uses an algorithm to match its users with five or six strangers in an effort to prompt “human connection” over dinner at a restaurant. It determines the attendees with the help of a simple personality quiz available when you sign up for the service.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Dec 2, 2024

Seven strangers and an algorithm: Can this new dinner app help you make friends?

An app called Timeleft hopes to combat big-city alienation through a simple meal with a diverse group of people.
Hirofumi Yoshimura at a news conference in Kita-ku, Osaka, on Sunday
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 1, 2024

Nippon Ishin elects Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura as new leader

Hirofumi Yoshimura succeeds current Nippon Ishin no Kai leader Nobuyuki Baba, who decided to step down after the Lower House election.
The logo of the Adani Group on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, India, on Nov. 21
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 2, 2024

Bangladesh wants to renegotiate Adani power deal unless court cancels

Adani Group founder Gautam Adani is already facing allegations by U.S. authorities that he was part of a $265 million bribery scheme in India.
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.
Employees at SunSource Energy inspect solar panels installed at a food processing plant in Greater Noida, India, on Nov. 21.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Dec 2, 2024

Glittering dreams: India's big push for solar power

India is building what it boasts will be the world's largest renewable power plant, an emblem of a determined push to boost solar energy.
A Finnish soldier operates a towed 155 mm field gun during the Northern Forest land force exercise in Rovajarvi, Finland, in May 2023.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Dec 2, 2024

Ukraine war reinvigorating Finland’s fighting spirit

Instead of intimidating the Finns, Ukraine's conflict with Russia has had the opposite effect of reigniting their focus on national resilience.
Supporters of homeless individuals protest against their eviction from a former labor welfare center at its premises in the Airin District in the city of Osaka on Sunday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 2, 2024

Osaka eviction of homeless from former welfare center sparks protest

Protesters clashed with police in defense of the homeless individuals, who they say are day laborers who contributed to building the city.
A serviceman with the Ukrainian Army's 24th mechanized brigade fires a machine gun during an exercise, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the country's Donetsk region on Friday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Dec 2, 2024

Europe eyes 'boots on the ground' in Ukraine as possible peace deal option

The troop presence is among security guarantees being considered as the possibility grows of a deal requiring Kyiv to cede territory to Moscow.
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."
Armored vehicles from the Self-Defense Forces parade in formation at the Ground Self-Defense Force's Camp Asaka on Nov. 9.
JAPAN
Dec 2, 2024

Top Japan defense industry firms saw sales boom in 2023

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Fujitsu, NEC and Mitsubishi Electric saw their combined revenues from arms rise by 35% to $10 billion.
Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. attends the ASEAN-U.S. summit in Vientiane, Laos, in October.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 2, 2024

Philippines' Marcos says presence of Russian submarine 'very worrisome'

A Russian Kilo-class submarine was sighted 80 nautical miles (150 kilometers) off the western province of Occidental Mindoro on Thursday.
Under new U.S. rules, chipmaking equipment made in Malaysia, Singapore, Israel, Taiwan and South Korea will be subject to curbs on exports to China, while the Netherlands and Japan will be exempt.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 2, 2024

Latest U.S. strike on China's chips hits semiconductor toolmakers

Equipment made in Malaysia, Singapore, Israel, Taiwan and South Korea will be subject to curbs on exports to China, while the Netherlands and Japan will be exempt.
The Foreign Ministry has said that the next beneficiaries of Japan’s official security assistance framework are likely to be the Philippines, Indonesia, Mongolia and Djibouti.
JAPAN
Dec 2, 2024

Japan to offer ¥5 billion in military aid to four countries

The next beneficiaries of Japan’s official security assistance framework are likely to be the Philippines, Indonesia, Mongolia and Djibouti.
New Leicester City manager Ruud van Nistelrooy (center) and Chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha (left) outside the GTech Community Stadium in London before a game against Brentford on Saturday
SOCCER
Dec 3, 2024

Van Nistelrooy looks to lift Leicester's spirits

The 16th-placed club is hovering just one point above the relegation zone after three straight league defeats.
Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte at the House of Representatives, in Quezon City, Philippines, on Nov. 25
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 3, 2024

Philippine groups seek impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte

The groups are asking Congress to impeach her over complaints, including graft, incompetence and amassing ill-gotten wealth while in office.
Jannik Sinner celebrates with the trophy after Italy won the Davis Cup Finals, in Malaga, Spain, on Nov. 24.
TENNIS
Dec 3, 2024

Italy to host Davis Cup Final 8 from 2025

The 2025 tournament will be staged in Bologna.
A supporter of Donald Trump holds a limited edition beer with an image of Trump and the words "Conservative Dad's Revenge," as he attends the New York Young Republican Club watch party on Nov. 6.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Dec 3, 2024

After Trump's win, his election denial movement marches on

Since winning the 2024 election, President-elect Donald Trump has gone quiet on his false claims of voter fraud. But the election denial movement he spawned isn’t going away — and appears to be strengthening in some areas of the country.
A Ukrainian serviceman holds a Stinger anti-aircraft missile as he takes part in joint military drills near the border with Belarus, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the country's Rivne region in February 2023.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 3, 2024

U.S. to send Ukraine with $725 million weapons package ahead of Trump return

President Joe Biden's outgoing administration is seeking to bolster Kyiv in its war with Russian invaders before leaving office in January.
If Russia insists on its nuclear doctrine, allies must adopt their own and assert that a nonnuclear country attacked by a nuclear power has the right — and duty — to receive nuclear weapons for deterrence.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 1, 2024

Should nuclear weapons for Ukraine be on the table?

The situation in Ukraine is absurd: While Ukraine's missile use is called an escalation, Russia's attacks on civilians are seen as routine.
While Donald Trump’s legacy and the future ideological direction of the country remains uncertain, the U.S. still retains a democratic future and a dynamic character.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 1, 2024

The post-cold war era is finished. Liberalism and democracy will go on.

For now, the weirder, stranger future the U.S. is entering still looks like a democratic future.
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te delivers a speech in the Marshall Islands' parliament in Majuro on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 3, 2024

Taiwan's Lai kicks off Marshall Islands visit as China fumes

The trip follows a stopover in the U.S. during which he discussed "China's military threats" toward Taiwan with former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
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.
A Tokyo couple allegedly used credit cards obtained fraudulently using other people's IDs to buy smartphones, luxury clothing and expensive liquor, according to the police.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 3, 2024

Tokyo couple held for fraud allegedly bought and resold 200 smartphones

Takaaki Saito, 32, and Chiharu Saito, 33, are accused of exploiting multiple stolen identities to obtain credit cards to make the purchases.
Jetstar Japan has been ordered to pay back wages to two cabin crew members for the periods they were suspended.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 3, 2024

Jetstar Japan loses lawsuit over disciplinary action against cabin crew

The Tokyo District Court ruled that the airline's suspension of two cabin crew members in relation to a pay dispute in 2022 was unjustified.
Workers walk through a thermal power plant damaged by Russian missile strikes in an undisclosed location in Ukraine on Nov. 28.
WORLD
Dec 3, 2024

Energy workers battle to keep the lights on in Ukraine

The workers see themselves as on the front line of a crucial battle in the war with Russia — to supply millions of people with power despite Moscow's attacks.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announces measures to counter the spread of "forever chemicals" in drinking water in the Upper House of parliament in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 3, 2024

Japan eyes new PFAS regulations for drinking water by spring

Water suppliers nationwide must upgrade their safety standards to counter the spread of "forever chemicals."
The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission said it recommended that the Financial Services Agency impose a fine on general contractor Yamaura for releasing false financial statements.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 4, 2024

General contractor Yamaura to be fined for false financial statements

A third-party investigation panel found the person in charge of preparing financial statements at Yamaura had illegally withdrawn about ¥2.6 billion.

Longform

Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition