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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said an initial vote on the bill would take place no later than Wednesday, but faces opposition from both sides of the aisle.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 5, 2024

U.S. Senate unveils $118 billion bipartisan border security bill

The measure faces an uncertain future amid opposition by Donald Trump and hard-line Republicans.
Prolonged factory deflation is threatening the survival of smaller Chinese exporters, who are locked in relentless price wars for shrinking business as higher interest rates abroad and rising trade protectionism squeeze demand.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Feb 5, 2024

China's small exporters threatened amid price wars and low demand

Producer prices have been falling for 15 straight months, crushing profit margins to the point where industrial output and jobs are now at risk.
Eisai's Alzheimer's drug Leqembi
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 5, 2024

Eisai sees 'huge' growth potential for Alzheimer's drug in China

The Japanese pharmaceutical firm aims to roll out its groundbreaking Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi to 1,500 people in China later this year.
Military vehicles carrying intercontinental ballistic missiles during a military parade in Beijing in 2019
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 5, 2024

Fear and ambition propel Xi’s nuclear acceleration

As China’s arsenal grows, its military looks to warheads as both defensive shield and potential sword — to intimidate and subjugate adversaries.
According to a proposal from the EU’s executive arm, as much as 450 million tons of CO2 will need to be captured annually by 2050 to achieve net-zero goals, including 100 million tons from generators powered by fossil fuels.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Feb 5, 2024

The $2.6 billion experiment to cover up Europe’s dirty habit

The project could start as early as next year, and pave the way for a new international trade in industrial emissions.
The aftermath of a wildfire in Villa Independencia, Valparaiso region, Chile on Sunday.
WORLD / Society
Feb 5, 2024

Forest fires kill 112 in Chile's worst disaster since 2010 earthquake

Hundreds of people are still missing, authorities say, stoking fears the death toll will keep climbing.
Many young people who feel neglected at home flock to the Toyoko area to find a community where they can fit in.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Feb 5, 2024

Toyoko Kids: The lonely street children of Tokyo

Bound together by shared neglect and marginalization, the group have formed a distinct, social media-linked youth subculture on the streets of Shinjuku.
Giant African snails are unpopular among local residents and are referred to as an alien species that shouldn’t be touched, as they damage crops and sometimes hosts rat lungworms.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 19, 2024

Giant African snails mark 90 years of history in Okinawa

The snails, one of the world’s largest of the kind, are native to East Africa, and their shells can grow to as high as 20 centimeters.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, attends a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington on Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 5, 2024

Zuckerberg’s apology isn’t enough to stop children being harmed

META's CEO apologized to the families of children abused via social media, but real regulation is needed for such harm to be avoided in the first place.
Britain's King Charles leaves the London Clinic with Britain's Queen Camilla after receiving treatment for an enlarged prostate, in London on Jan. 29.
WORLD
Feb 6, 2024

King Charles diagnosed with cancer just 18 months into his reign

Buckingham Palace said that the king would postpone public-facing duties while he undergoes treatment.
Palm trees in strong winds as the second and more powerful of two atmospheric river storms arrives to Santa Barbara, California, on Sunday
WORLD / Society
Feb 6, 2024

Pacific storm batters California with high winds, flooding and mudslides

The storm system, caused by dense moisture from the subtropical waters around Hawaii, is affecting areas that are home to some 35 million people.
Smoke rises over buildings in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip following Israeli bombardment on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 6, 2024

Palestinians hope Blinken visit hastens truce before Rafah strike

Blinken's meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman lasted about two hours.
Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan during an interview at his residence in Lahore on May 18, 2023. His name may not be on the ballot, but Khan will be on the country's mind as Pakistan votes in an election on Feb. 8 that observers say is deeply flawed without his participation. The former international cricket star has been given three lengthy prison sentences in under a week and banned from politics for 10 years — officially excluding him from an election it never looked like he would allowed to contest.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 6, 2024

Days before Pakistan vote, former leader Imran Khan campaigns from jail

Khan's campaign involves use of generative AI technology to create audio footage of him reading speeches conveyed to lawyers from his prison cell.
Wall Street giants are endorsing India as the prime investment destination for the coming decade.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 6, 2024

Wall Street snubs China for India in a historic markets shift

India has vastly expanded infrastructure under Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his bid to lure global capital and supply lines away from Beijing.
Police in riot gear stand guard next to a barricade near a fire outside the European Parliament in Brussels on Feb. 1 during a protest by farmers from Belgium and other EU countries over price pressures, taxes and green regulation.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 6, 2024

Green backlash looms over EU elections

Polls show that while a large majority of Europeans support action to fight climate change, a many are also worried about the cost of doing this.
A Palestinian woman walks with a child at Mar Elias refugee camp in Beirut on Jan. 29.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 6, 2024

UNRWA funding cuts put Lebanon's Palestinian refugees on alert

"It's difficult to imagine that Gazans will survive this crisis without UNRWA"
Flags fly at Union Station in Washington on June 27. With the U.S. presidential election approaching, caution is being urged over the widespread proliferation of propaganda.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Feb 13, 2024

The battle to tackle U.S. election propaganda heats up

The race is set to become more and more intense amid increased political polarization and pluralistic values.
Palestinian Irish plastic surgeon Ahmed El Mokhallalati checks a Palestinian man wounded in an Israeli strike, at the European Hospital, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 7, 2024

Doctors in Gaza must 'prioritize' patients most likely to survive

Staff and equipment are in such short supply in Gaza's European Hospital that medical teams are having to make agonizing decisions.
Israel began its military offensive in Gaza after militants from Hamas-ruled Gaza killed 1,200 people and took 253 hostages in southern Israel on Oct. 7.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 7, 2024

Gaza mediators search for 'final formula' for Israel-Hamas cease-fire

It remains unclear if Israel or Hamas are willing to soften their hard-line positions despite Palestinian group's "positive" response to initial framework.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen holds a welcome ceremony in September 2022 for then-Tuvaluan Prime Minister Kausea Natano in Taipei.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 7, 2024

Tuvalu could recognize China, but how much would it affect Taiwan?

Taipei might benefit from shifting its energy and resources away from competing with Beijing over formal recognition.
Opening up to foreign workers may ultimately be Japan’s best hope for stemming a rapid population decline.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 7, 2024

Record 2 million foreign workers are changing the face of Japan

Opening up to job seekers from abroad may ultimately be the country's best hope of stemming a rapid population decline.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2024

Kishida vows to conclude peace pact with Russia

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday vowed to conclude a peace treaty with Russia after resolving a territorial row over four northwestern Pacific islands, called the Northern Territories in Japan.
Straight-to-video films, locally called “V-Cinema,” were popular in the 1990s and into the 2000s, becoming a training ground and launchpad for Japanese directors and actors.
CULTURE / Film
Feb 8, 2024

Threatened with extinction, V-Cinema hopes for new saviors

Physical deterioration and copyright issues mar the influential film genre that once served as a launchpad for directors and actors in Japan.
Today’s Russia is nothing like the citadel of stability and satisfaction nor the bastion of prosperity that the Kremlin tries to claim it is.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2024

Preparing Russia for permanent war

Today’s Russia is nothing like the citadel of stability and satisfaction nor the bastion of prosperity that the Kremlin claims it to be.
Japanese fans of Taylor Swift take a selfie before entering Tokyo Dome for the pop star's Eras Tour show in Japan on Feb. 7.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Feb 7, 2024

Taylor-mania hits Tokyo as Swift resumes tour before Super Bowl

Excited fans from countries such as Australia, Thailand and China joined the vast crowd at Tokyo Dome ahead of the megastar's Eras Tour show on Wednesday.
Japan is the only country with a law requiring married couples to adopt the same surname. In 95% of cases, it is women who take their husband's name.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 7, 2024

The land where single surnames are the only option

The business lobby recently joined calls for Japan to accept separate surnames after marriage. What, then, is standing in the way of change? Politics.
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2024

How dogs have helped Tokyo police for over a century

The role of police dogs has changed due to the spread of DNA testing, security cameras and other tools of technology.
Star Flyer began allowing owners to bring certain pets into cabins on some routes in 2022.
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2024

Haneda plane collision prompts discussion about pets on flights

Most domestic airlines ban the carrying of pets in airplane cabins, out of consideration for those with allergies.
Displaced Palestinians react near their tents following an Israeli strike on a car in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 8, 2024

Gaza cease-fire hopes alive with more talks planned

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken sees room for negotiation in Hamas' counteroffer despite Israel's rejection of it.
People walk past a billboard promoting Prabowo Subianto, Indonesia's defense minister and a presidential candidate, and his running mate, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, who is the eldest son of Indonesian President Joko Widodo and current Surakarta's mayor, in Jakarta on Jan. 12.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 8, 2024

Generative AI faces major test as Indonesia holds election

Front-runner Prabowo Subianto is using AI tools to create campaign art, track social media sentiment, build interactive chatbots and target voters.

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A man offers prayers at Hebikubo Shrine in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward. The shrine is one of several across the country dedicated to the snake.
Shed your skin and reinvent yourself in the Year of the Snake