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Chinese tourists buy gold bars and gold accessories at LukFook, a jewelry store, in Hong Kong.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 28, 2023

Gold bars and Tokyo apartments: How money is flowing out of China

The outbound shift of money in part indicates unease inside China about the sputtering recovery after the pandemic as well as deeper problems.
Elon Musk and Benjamin Netanyahu visit Kibbutz Kfar Aza in Israel on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 28, 2023

Amid antisemitism uproar, Elon Musk pitches Starlink in Israel

Musk's satellite internet provider is at the heart of the billionnaire's political clout.
As technology and politics increasingly force society to determine truth from fiction, Merriam-Webster's dictionary has selected the word "authentic" as word of the year.
WORLD / Society
Nov 28, 2023

Merriam-Webster crowns 'authentic' as word of the year

The winner beat "deepfake," "rizz" and "coronation" for honors as the word that most often sent people to the dictionary.
Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrive for a document exchange ceremony and joint news conference after their meeting in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Nov 28, 2023

With eye on China, Japan and Vietnam take ties to ‘new heights’

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong agreed to elevate the relationship to a “comprehensive strategic partnership.”
Palestinians walk among the rubble, as they inspect houses destroyed in Israeli strikes amid the temporary truce between Hamas and Israel on Monday.
WORLD
Nov 28, 2023

Drones show how Israeli bombs turned Gaza into moonscape

Where schools, mosques and apartment blocks once stood are now covered with smoke and rubble.
An advertisement for Lai Ching-te, whose presidential campaign was the target of an audio deepfake, in Taipei on Nov. 14. Ahead of a presidential election in January, Taiwanese fact checkers and watchdogs say they are ready for Beijing. But they are still worried.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 27, 2023

Can Taiwan continue to fight off Chinese disinformation?

Ahead of a presidential election in January, Taiwanese fact checkers and watchdogs say they are ready for Beijing. But they are still worried.
South Korean and U.S. soldiers stand guard next to the United Nations Command Military Armistice Commission building on the South Korean side of the Demilitarized Zone at Panmunjom in July 2017.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 28, 2023

South Korea’s lessons for Ukraine’s reconstruction

Ukraine needs ironclad security guarantees, specifically NATO membership and the collective security that ensures.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 28, 2023

Japan NPO head sentenced for unauthorized organ transplants overseas

The Tokyo District Court handed an eight-month prison sentence to the executive for mediating organ transplants in Belarus without government approval.
Almost two years into the grinding war, Ukrainians are coming to terms with the prospect of a much longer and costlier conflict than they had hoped for, and one that some now acknowledge they're not guaranteed to win.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 28, 2023

Ukraine strains to bolster its army as war fatigue weighs

Ukrainians are coming to terms with the prospect of a much longer conflict than they had hoped for and one they may not win.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Nov 29, 2023

Congenital syphilis cases set new annual record in Japan

Meanwhile, the overall number of syphilis cases in the country in 2023 came to 13,251 as of Nov. 19, topping the 2022 total of 13,228.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after speaking to the United Nations in New York on Sept. 22
WORLD / Politics
Nov 29, 2023

Israel authorizes religious funding amid concern over cost of war

The government’s budget stance has drawn ire, with 300 prominent economists penning a joint letter urging cutbacks.
Yoko Huijs-Watanuki poses in the city of Fukuoka during a visit to Japan in October.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Dec 4, 2023

Oita woman helps Japanese Dutch, born in WWII, trace their roots

During the Pacific War the Japanese military occupied the Dutch East Indies, after taking the land from Dutch forces in 1942.
Dang Dinh Bach ran a law and sustainable development policy research center that provided legal aid before he was arrested for tax evasion in Vietnam in 2021. Bach refused to plead guilty and his wife says he has been assaulted in prison by police officers.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 29, 2023

Why Vietnam jailed the environmentalists it used to secure billions

The government has arrested several prominent environmentalists from organizations that shaped policies that helped secure funding.
Warren Buffett (left), CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, and vice chairman Charlie Munger attend a shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, in May 2019. Munger died on Tuesday at the age of 99, according to U.S. media reports.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 29, 2023

After Munger's death, Berkshire Hathaway succession in focus

Berkshire has had a succession plan since at least 2006 when Buffett, then 75, told shareholders the company would be prepared for his departure.
A visitor to an American college fair at a Marriott Hotel in Beijing poses for a souvenir photo next to an eagle mascot on Sept. 23. Students have been traveling between China and the U.S. for generations, propelled by ambition, curiosity and a belief that their time abroad could help them better their and their countries’ futures.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 29, 2023

Can U.S.-China student exchanges survive geopolitics?

Official rhetoric belies obstacles both governments have continued to erect, driven by the same nationalism and concerns about national security.
University students attend a job fair. If Japanese companies continue hiring people based on the university they graduated from, acquiring extra qualifications or reskilling won't impact candidates' job prospects.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 29, 2023

Kishida’s stimulus package needs rethinking, not reskilling

The government aims to promote reskilling for nonregular workers to boost their job prospects, but this won't matter if hiring practices don't change.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 29, 2023

Despite low approval ratings, Kishida likely to keep top job

While the situation around the government warrants no optimism, experts agree the prime minister has no reason to fret.
Ukrainian servicemen of the 22nd Mechanized Brigade take part in a military training exercise in Ukraine's Donetsk region on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 29, 2023

'Point of no return': Why Kyiv won't sit down with the Kremlin

Pleas for a return to talks are building as concerns grow over the West's commitment to supporting Ukraine, and disruptions to ammunition deliveries.
Rapidus Chairman Tetsuro Higashi says engineers who had left Japan to work abroad are now joining Rapidus to help it revive the domestic chip industry.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 30, 2023

Rapidus hunts for engineers to help Japan regain faded chip glory

Securing engineers in a country with a declining population is among the most pressing issues for the company.
Elon Musk waits backstage before being interviewed at the 2023 New York Times DealBook Summit in New York on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 30, 2023

Elon Musk says advertiser boycott may kill X

Earlier this month, Musk agreed with a post that said Jewish people hold a "dialectical hatred” of white people.
Israeli supporters hold flags hostages arrive at Ofakim army base in southern Israel on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 30, 2023

Israel and Hamas extend their war truce for another day

The agreement was confirmed minutes before the ceasefire was set to expire at 7 a.m. local time.
A newly released prisoner (right) hugs a relative during a welcome ceremony following the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails in exchange for Israeli hostages held in Gaza by Hamas since the Oct. 7 attacks, in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 30, 2023

Mediators race to extend Israel-Hamas truce ahead of expiry

The six-day halt to fighting ends on Thursday morning local time, with a last hostages freed from Gaza overnight in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine's president, speaks during a news conference in Kyiv in Nov. 21.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 30, 2023

Zelenskyy faces manpower dilemma in Ukraine’s stalled offensive

Both sides have recruitment issues almost two years into the war
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets leaders of the Group of 20 countries in New Delhi on Sept. 9.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 30, 2023

India’s G20 presidency is marked by a dawn of new multilateralism

From empowerment to climate change action, India ends an impactful year as the G20 president.
COP28 has kicked off in Dubai amid division, as there is no firm commitment from developed nations to help out less financially secure countries. 
COMMENTARY
Nov 29, 2023

The Global South has lost faith in COP28

The Global South, which bears the brunt of climate change despite contributing minimally to emissions, is frustrated.
Baimagambet Kabenov, 82, one of the oldest residents in Kaynar, poses for a picture with his wife Rymbibi Zhumagazina in the village in the Abai Region of Kazakhstan. The village neighbors the former Semipalatinsk Test Site, one of the main locations for nuclear testing in the former Soviet Union.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 30, 2023

'Let us be a lesson': Kazakhs warn against return to nuclear tests

The effect of radiation from hundreds of tests has had a devastating impact on the environment and health, and continues to affect lives today.
Commuters in Kabul make their way through traffic as construction laborers work on a road on Nov. 21.
WORLD / Society
Nov 30, 2023

The changing face of Kabul: Safer, but more somber

Security threats have eased since the Taliban returned to power, but the harsh restrictions they introduced have made the city less lively.
Rabbits are supposedly easier to get through quarantine, but Japan’s outgoing quarantine rules for our fluffy friends actually take a fair bit of time.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 1, 2023

Hare today, gone tomorrow: Another cautionary tale for expats headed home

In another piece about leaving Japan, our departee learns some hard truths about the country’s quarantine guidelines for animals.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 30, 2023

World leaders react to the death of Henry Kissinger

Here are reactions to the death of Henry Kissinger, a controversial Nobel Peace Prize winner who left an indelible mark on foreign policy:
Real-time strategy game Last Train Home tells an overlooked story of the Czechoslovak Legion’s evacuation across Russia in the embers of the Great War.
LIFE / Digital
Dec 2, 2023

Last Train Home traverses murky morality of a WWI escape

Czech studio Ashborne's first full release follows a legion of soldiers fleeing across revolutionary Russia — and all the dilemmas of war that entails.

Longform

It's back to the classroom for some residents as municipal governments across the country conduct lessons to learn how to use new technologies.
Can aging Japan go digital without leaving anyone behind?