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Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a joint news conference with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol (center) and Chinese premier Li Qiang at the Blue House presidential office in Seoul on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 27, 2024

In rare talks, Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing agree to step up cooperation

While Monday's summit didn't result in any breakthroughs, it is seen as an important step to stem the deterioration of Japan and South Korea's ties with China.
Red Square in Moscow on Oct. 17, 2022. Russian military intelligence, the G.R.U., is behind arson attacks aimed at undermining support for Ukraine’s war effort, security officials say.
WORLD / Politics
May 27, 2024

Russia steps up a covert sabotage campaign aimed at Europe

British and other European diplomats have been pressing countries to call out Russian covert operations more aggressively.
A peace rally on Constitution Memorial Day in Tokyo on May 3. Japan’s identity as a pacifist nation is shifting as the government strengthens its military, but many don’t agree with the policy.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 27, 2024

Government and society are at odds on national security

Tokyo posits itself as a mutual defense ally of the U.S., but polls show that while the public wants a stronger military, changes should align with the peace Constitution.
Simon Cheng, a pro-democracy activist from Hong Kong now living in Britain, at the offices of an organization he founded to aid new Hong Kong arrivals, in London on May 20. Hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers have resettled in the United Kingdom since 2021, including prominent pro-democracy activists — and China has not forgotten them.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
May 27, 2024

Spying arrests send chill through Britain’s thriving Hong Kong community

The arrests have cast a spotlight on activists’ concerns about China's surveillance of its critics abroad.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. While some view artificial intelligence’s increasing integration into journalism as necessary, there are concerns about the ethics of such arrangements.
COMMENTARY / World
May 27, 2024

OpenAI is making journalism an offer it can’t refuse

While some view AI’s increasing integration into journalism as necessary, there are concerns about the ethics and transparency of such arrangements.
Palestinians search for food among burnt debris in the aftermath of an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced people, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on Monday.
WORLD
May 28, 2024

Israel's continued attacks on Rafah prompt global outcry

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the latest strike had not been intended to cause civilian casualties, though at least 45 people died.
Japanese Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko attend a World War II memorial service held at the Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN
May 28, 2024

World War II memorial service held in Tokyo without COVID-19 restrictions

The number of people whose remains are placed at Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery now totals 370,700.
Demonstrators outside the Legislative Yuan — Taiwan's parliament — in Taipei on Tuesday
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 28, 2024

Taiwan protesters gather as opposition pushes contentious law

The legislation would give lawmakers greater investigative powers and effectively curb the authority of the island's new president, Lai Ching-te.
People gather to promote the same-sex marriage in Nagoya in May last year.
JAPAN / Society
May 28, 2024

Japanese city recognizes same-sex couple in rare step

Japan is the only Group of Seven nation that does not recognize same-sex unions, and local media said the move was unprecedented.
The wealthy don’t live only in global glamour cities, and family offices are now popping up in places like Perth in Western Australia.
BUSINESS
May 28, 2024

Catering to the ultrarich is a booming business in Western Australia

After an almost two-decades-long mining boom, Perth has 64 centimillionaires, and family offices are now popping up in the city.
A worker installs a barrier to block the sight of Japan's Mount Fuji emerging from behind a convenience store to deter badly behaved tourists, in the town of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture on May 21.
JAPAN
May 28, 2024

Holes poked in Mount Fuji barrier near convenience store, town says

Although a security guard is there between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., the small holes appear to have been created in the morning or evening when no one was watching.
The latest blow to hit the administration of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida came at the weekend when the candidate backed by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party lost to an opposition-backed rival in Shizuoka Prefecture's gubernatorial election.
JAPAN / Politics
May 28, 2024

Early dissolution of Lower House unlikely after another LDP election loss

The view spreading within the Liberal Democratic Party is that it will be difficult for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to call a snap election.
Members of the New Zealand team huddle before the Rugby World Cup 2023 final against South Africa in Saint-Denis, France, on Oct. 28.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
May 28, 2024

New Zealand Rugby set for pivotal vote after breakaway threat

Powerbrokers will vote for one of two proposals about a new leadership structure for the national governing body for rugby.
The health ministry says it will conduct its first survey on how much foreign residents are paying in health insurance and pension premiums.
JAPAN / Society
May 28, 2024

Health ministry to collect data on insurance premium payments by foreign residents

The ministry currently has no data on how much foreign nationals are paying in terms of health insurance payments and pension premiums.
A protester holds a sign reading "Keep Taiwan Free" during a demonstration outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 29, 2024

Taiwan government to reject contested parliament reforms

The legislation, backed by the main opposition Kuomintang, brought tens of thousands onto the streets to protest and accusations of Chinese interference.
A man looks on as Palestinians inspect a tent camp damaged in an Israeli strike during an Israeli military operation, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
May 29, 2024

U.S. says latest Rafah deaths won't change its Israel policy

Recent deaths in Rafah have tested U.S. President Joe Biden's promise to withhold weapons from Israel if it put displaced persons there at risk.
Wanxiang America’s Neapco manufacturing plant in Belleville, Michigan
BUSINESS / Companies
May 29, 2024

Once embraced, Chinese companies now shunned in U.S. on security fears

It doesn’t matter if it’s mining or health care, even Chinese furniture could one day be seen as a national security issue, a lawyer who represents Chinese clients said.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during the National Memorial Day Wreath-Laying and Observance Ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia, on Monday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
May 29, 2024

Biden's blurred red lines under scrutiny after Rafah carnage

Despite global outrage over a recent deadly attack in Rafah, the White House has insisted that it did not believe Israel had launched the major operation.
Mainland Chinese tourists on a converted car ferry in Hong Kong's Victoria Harbor on April 19, 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 29, 2024

Business-first Hong Kong now comes with a catch: Beijing politics

The former British colony is hewing closer to mainland China, blurring distinctions that once cemented the city’s status as mostly free from Chinese politics.
Elon Musk plans to recruit three patients to evaluate the device made by his brain-chip company, Neuralink.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 29, 2024

Musk's Neuralink seeks to enroll three patients in brain implant study

The brain implant is designed to give paralyzed patients the ability to use digital devices by thinking alone, a prospect that could help people with spinal cord injuries.
Foreign private credit funds are focusing on Japanese investors as they move more money into higher-paying assets.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 29, 2024

Private credit chases Japan’s trillions as inflation spurs shift

Private credit funds are betting that inflation will prompt investors to channel more money into riskier overseas investments.
Aphelele Vavi (right), 22, who is studying sound engineering, at lunch with fellow students at SAE Creative Media Institute in Rosebank, South Africa, on March 19
WORLD / Politics
May 29, 2024

South Africa’s young democracy leaves its young voters disillusioned

The nation is heading into a pivotal election, in which voters will determine who will pick the president, but voter turnout has been dropping in recent years.
The European Organization for Nuclear Research's Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest particle accelerator, is depicted as a circle in tactile drawing in the new book, as opposed to the three-dimensional figure in the source material that makes it appear oval, to avoid misunderstanding.
JAPAN / Society
May 29, 2024

Japan translates physics book into braille

The book was produced through cooperation among the authors of the source material, braille experts and researchers with visual impairment.
This handout photo taken on May 28 shows locals digging at the site of a landslide at Yambali village in the region of Maip Mulitaka, in Papua New Guinea's Enga Province.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 29, 2024

'A mountain fell on them,' says rescue worker at PNG landslide site

Rescue officials say chances of finding survivors are slim.
Plaintiffs and lawyers march to the Supreme Court to attend a hearing on lawsuits against the government over forced sterilization carried out under a now-defunct eugenic law, on Wednesday in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 29, 2024

Victims of forced sterilization speak of their suffering at Supreme Court

They are seeking compensation from the government over their forced sterilization due to their disabilities under a now-defunct eugenic law.
Schoolchildren cross a wooden bridge in Zabul province, Afghanistan on Tuesday.
WORLD
May 29, 2024

Mines and unexploded ordnance a daily menace for Afghanistan's children

Nearly 900 people were killed or wounded by leftover munitions from January 2023 to April this year alone, most of them children, according to UN figures.
Rohingya refugees sit in a refugee camp in Bangladesh's southeastern Cox's Bazar district on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 29, 2024

Rohingya forced to fight alongside Myanmar army tormentors

Militant Rohingya groups in Bangladesh have forcibly recruited hundreds of young Rohingya men and boys to battle the Arakan Army.
Israeli armored personnel carriers (APCs) near Israel's border with Gaza in southern Israel on Wednesday
WORLD
May 30, 2024

Israel seizes Gaza's border with Egypt and continues raids into Rafah

The border with Egypt along the southern edge was the Gaza Strip's only land border that Israel had not directly controlled.
Palestinians search for food among burnt debris in the aftermath of an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced people, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
May 30, 2024

Israel sees seven more months of fighting to defeat Hamas

The comments will do little to raise the spirits of mediators like the U.S. and Qatar, who want Israel and Hamas to hammer out a cease-fire deal.
Entrepreneur Lee Hee-tae at his office in Seoul. Lee had planned South Korea's largest sex festival in April, but the two-day event was banned by authorities following a backlash by local rights groups.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
May 30, 2024

Pervert or pioneer? The entrepreneur trying to get South Korea into porn

The South Korean adult content industry produces around 2,000 adult movies a year, compared with Tokyo's 2,000 a day $36.5-billion-dollar behemoth.

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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