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A Palestinian family sits near destroyed houses following a strike in Rafah on the southern Gaza Strip on Monday
WORLD / Society
Nov 7, 2023

Civilians trapped in Gaza are running out of food, fuel and hope

Residents of Gaza are having to make difficult calculations about their safety in a place where supplies of food and water are rapidly dwindling.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 8, 2023

Japanese fraud suspects extradited from Cambodia

Investigators say the suspects made fraudulent phone calls from Cambodia posing as nursing home staff and lawyers, aiming to scam victims in Japan.
The ¥100,000 financial aid comes hand-in-hand with consultation support that encourages expecting mothers to attend meetings in their municipalities throughout their pregnancy where they can ask for advice and information on childbirth.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 9, 2023

Japan's cash handouts for pregnant women to be made permanent in 2025

The plan entails handing out a total of ¥100,000 to all residents of Japan who are pregnant.
By the finale, I had completely bought into Samurai Restaurant Time's spectacle — a neon-lit festival with chants and cheers.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Nov 12, 2023

Samurai Restaurant Time gives kitschy thrills fit for Kabukicho

To replace the defunct Robot Restaurant, the neon-soaked streets of Kabukicho are serving up a kitschy second course.
Humane has officially launched its long-awaited Ai Pin. The device will be available to order starting Nov. 16.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 10, 2023

Humane's Ai Pin launches its campaign to replace phones

The device can magnetically clip onto clothing and will cost $699 with a $24-a-month subscription — which will come with unlimited data and phone calls.
ICBC Financial Services said in a statement a ransomware attack resulted in disruption to certain systems and it was conducting an investigation and "progressing its recovery efforts."
BUSINESS
Nov 10, 2023

China's biggest lender ICBC hit by ransomware attack

The lender said it was investigating the attack that disrupted some of its systems, and making progress toward recovering from it.
As a young man, preserving the 400-year-old Ueda Soko Ryu tea ceremony school, which had survived the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima, was always on Soko Ueda's mind.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Nov 11, 2023

‘Life is for being who I am — not who others expect me to be’

A soon-to-be 17th-generation tea ceremony grandmaster shares the journey he took in embracing his family heritage and preserving a Hiroshima tradition.
Destroyed buildings in Gaza on Thursday amid ongoing battles between Israeli forces and the Hamas militant group.
BUSINESS / Markets
Nov 10, 2023

Why are oil prices falling while war rages in the Middle East?

Intense fighting is underway in a region that holds much of the world’s petroleum resources. Yet, energy markets have been slumping.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 10, 2023

Cabinet approves ¥13.1 trillion extra budget to finance fresh stimulus

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida appears to be eager to regain popularity with the relief package, but voters aren't convinced.
Au Pay offers points for each transaction up to ¥250,000, with users receiving reward points.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 10, 2023

Six arrested in ¥171 million au Pay points scam

The store owner is believed to have been recruiting people on social media to cooperate with him on the fake transactions.
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks with entrepreneur Elon Musk during a chat session on the rewards and risks of artificial intelligence in London, earlier this month.
EDITORIALS
Nov 10, 2023

Can the world harness AI’s fire without getting burned?

Calls are increasing for governance of artificial intelligence, the world-changing tech that bears both major rewards and risks.
An assembly line at Honda Motor's  Performance Manufacturing Center in Marysville, Ohio, in November 2016
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 11, 2023

Honda will give autoworkers 11% raise after UAW’s big wins

While nonunion automakers race to boost pay and keep the union out of its gates, the UAW is trying to organize foreign-owned factories in the U.S.
Alexandra Skochilenko, a 33-year-old artist charged with spreading false information about Russia's armed forces, is escorted during a court hearing in St. Petersburg on Nov. 8.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 13, 2023

Lawyers seek release of Russian artist who staged anti-war protest

Alexandra Skochilenko has spent over 1½ years in prison in St. Petersburg as the Russian legal system deals with her case.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 13, 2023

Woman killed in Chiba was repeatedly hit with blunt object

The suspects — one male about 180 cm tall who was wearing a jacket and a cap, and another man described as fairly thin — remain at large.
An pride flag is seen under a rubber door mat at an entrance to a basement of an office building in Kherson, Ukraine, in 2022.
WORLD / Society
Nov 14, 2023

Can EU talks boost LGBTQ+ rights in Ukraine, Moldova and Bosnia?

Several candidate countries have faced criticism over lack of protecting LGBTQ+ rights.
Patients and internally displaced people at Shifa hospital in Gaza City on Friday amid ongoing battles between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 15, 2023

Israel raids Gaza's Shifa hospital in operation targeting Hamas

Israel has said that Hamas has a command center underneath Shifa hospital, the biggest in Gaza.
Train service on Tokyo’s Yamanote Line will be partially suspended this weekend.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 15, 2023

Yamanote Line set for closures and reduced service Nov. 18 and 19

Train service on Tokyo’s Yamanote Line will be partially suspended this weekend as part of ongoing construction work at Shibuya Station.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 15, 2023

Japan’s Tsuruha weighs sale after proxy battle with Oasis

The company is working with an adviser on the potential transaction and has reached out to some private equity firms to gauge their interest.
Japan’s public bathhouses have been in decline for decades, with the number of such facilities in Tokyo alone dropping by nearly half in the last 15 years.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 14, 2023

Japan seeks digital detox with return to ‘way of the sauna’

Public bathhouses have been in decline for decades, with the number of sentō baths in Tokyo dropping by nearly half in the last 15 years.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 15, 2023

Lawmakers submit proposal to revise law on Unification Church assets

A group of lawmakers has submitted proposals to amend existing laws governing religious organizations, aiming to prevent the outflow of church funds.
U.S. President Joe Biden shakes hands with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at Filoli estate in Woodside, California, on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 16, 2023

Xi and Biden agree to restart high-level military-to-military talks

The leaders of the two superpowers looked to stabilize a relationship that has been in freefall amid fears it could devolve into outright conflict.
The scene after a car crashed into a barricade near the Israeli Embassy in Tokyo on Thursday
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2023

Man arrested after car crashes through barricade near Israel's Tokyo embassy

The driver, a man in his 50s, was arrested for alleged obstruction of official duties. Investigative sources said he is a member of a right-wing group.
Milk Talk members Yuqi Shinohara (left), who goes by the moniker Q.i, and Miles Ungar officially started their electro-boogie project in 2019.
CULTURE / Music
Nov 17, 2023

Milk Talk's deliciously funky mix of sweet and sour

The duo turns bottled-up feelings into electro-boogie delights on their debut album.
Bears doing yoga? If you’re in the city, why not?
PODCAST / deep dive
Nov 16, 2023

Bear goes the neighborhood? Japanese wildlife is on the move.

This week, Alex K.T. Martin joins us to discuss why people are encountering bears, boars and other wildlife in the most unlikely of places.
Mika and Jesse say their landlady prefers a hands-off style of property management, leaving all matters, including maintenence and repairs, to the renting couple.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 18, 2023

Renting akiya: A backdoor into Japan's abandoned homes

“If the choice is between leaving (an akiya) empty or renting it out, please rent it out.”
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, along with his daughter, walks away from an intercontinental ballistic missile in this undated photo released on Nov. 19, 2022
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 17, 2023

Kim Jong Un’s daughter marks a year as country’s propaganda star

The preservation of the family rule is inextricably tied to the country’s weapons program
A Ukrainian soldier during a live fire training exercise in the Donetsk region of Ukraine on Oct. 26. The outbreak of the conflict in the Middle East has raised questions about allies’ ability to remain focused on supporting Ukraine.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 17, 2023

Zelenskyy says artillery to Ukraine slowed by Israel-Hamas war

The outbreak of the conflict in the Middle East has raised questions about allies’ ability to remain focused on supporting Ukraine.
Heavily destroyed buildings at the border between Israel and Gaza on Friday amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 17, 2023

Japanese Red Cross nurse speaks of resilience of colleagues in Gaza

While Sachiko Kawase evacuated to the south of Gaza and eventually to Egypt, several of her colleagues have stayed behind to provide emergency aid.
A woman sits where her apartment once stood in Lahaina, Hawaii, after the city was devastated by a wildfire, on Aug. 11.
ENVIRONMENT
Nov 17, 2023

Nowhere is safe from worsening climate change, new U.S. report warns

The report comes at a time of record-shattering heat, with recent months ranking as the hottest on record across the world.
Petroleum pipelines and fuel storage tanks at a refinery near Manama, Bahrain, in 2017
ENVIRONMENT
Nov 18, 2023

To meet climate goals, Gulf countries will have to overhaul everything

The growing oil-rich region faces myriad challenges as the world pushes to decarbonize.

Longform

Atsuyoshi Koike, the president and CEO of Rapidus, says there is a “sense of urgency” when it comes to Japan’s efforts in manufacturing semiconductors. “We have to make sure we are successful,” he says.
Atsuyoshi Koike’s big game: Fourth down and 2 nanometers to go