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Kiyoshie Saruwaka, 74, a member of Ara Style Senior — Japan's only breakdancing club made up of older citizens — practices a move known as "chair freeze" in Tokyo on April 26.
OLYMPICS / Breakdancing
Jun 30, 2024

Inspired by Olympics debut, Japan's seniors blaze breakdancing trail

Ara Style Senior is Japan's only breaking club made up of older citizens.
Muslim pilgrims pray as sprinklers cool them down amid extremely hot weather during the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mina, Saudi Arabia, on June 16.
WORLD
Jun 24, 2024

Saudi Arabia says 1,301 deaths during Hajj were mostly unregistered pilgrims

Temperatures in Mecca this year climbed as high as 51.8 degrees Celsius, according to Saudi Arabia's national meteorological center.
For Japan, carbon credits are seen as important as the nation waits for its climate technology bets to pay off.
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Jun 24, 2024

Japan makes a late play on under-fire carbon credit trading

The government and Japanese companies see carbon offsets as important as they wait for their climate tech bets to pay off.
In his 14 years as prime minister, Viktor Orban has become expert in playing hardball with Brussels and has repeatedly wielded his veto to get more EU funds.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 24, 2024

Will Hungary hijack the EU during its presidency?

Officials and diplomats fret that one major victim of Hungary's six months in charge will be EU support for Ukraine as it battles Russia's invading forces.
People light a fire during a protest over the death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who died after being arrested by the Islamic republic's "morality police," in Tehran on Sept. 21, 2022.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 24, 2024

For Iran's youth, legacy of 2022 clashes shapes presidential race

Contrasting views of the worth of the election have underscored the division in Iran between supporters and opponents of the 45-year-old Islamic Republic.
On a board for election posters in Tokyo's Edogawa Ward on Monday, duplicates of one featuring a female kickboxer who is not running in the gubernatorial race take up half of all the spots.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 24, 2024

Seeing duplicates of a poster on election boards? It's due to a loophole.

The law only restricts details about other candidates or factually incorrect information from posters on boards set up for elections.
A wind farm in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture. For Japan's future energy roadmap to center on clean sources, the government should reform the institutions overseeing energy policy to avoid vested interests from slowing the transition down.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 24, 2024

It’s time for Japan to set up a climate change agency

The government is currently reviewing Japan's Strategic Energy Plan. But who's shaping this key document for the future? It's mostly older men with vested interests.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen's National Rally party is expected to win snap parliamentary elections called by French President Emmanuel Macron.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 24, 2024

French elites’ silence on Le Pen is deafening

Despite the economically risky promises of the far right (and far left), France's business leaders are not weighing in on the crucial elections only a week away.
Sakana AI, prospected to become the fastest-ever Japanese company to achieve unicorn status, aims to create energy-efficient AI models that tackle long-term national-level issues.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 24, 2024

What a Japanese AI unicorn can teach Silicon Valley

Sakana AI, prospected to become the fastest-ever Japanese company to achieve unicorn status, is taking a long-term approach to the development of AI for good.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has not yet formally announced whether he will seek another three-year term as party president.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 24, 2024

Pressure mounting on Kishida within LDP to give up on reelection

Veterans fear the LDP — under Kishida — will lose control of the government in a general election, while younger members don't want an unpopular president leading them.
The government has a provisional target of keeping PFAS levels in tap water at 50 nanograms or lower per liter.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 24, 2024

Government instigates nationwide survey on PFAS in Japan's tap water

Some 12,000 water providers have been given until the end of September to report on potential water contamination with PFAS.
The fire-damaged lithium battery factory owned by South Korean battery maker Aricell is seen at dusk in Hwaseong on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 25, 2024

Blaze at South Korea lithium battery plant kills 22 workers

Eighteen Chinese workers, two South Koreans and one Laotian were among the dead.
Adidas CEO Bjorn Gulden at Adi-Dassler-Sportplatz in Herzogenaurach, Germany, on June 10.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 25, 2024

Adidas CEO rides Samba craze to revive brand after Ye debacle

Adidas' stocks have more than doubled from when Bjorn Gulden was announced as the new boss 18 months ago.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists that the commitment to the proposed cease-fire and hostage deal does not contradict the position that Israel will not end the war until it eliminates Hamas.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 25, 2024

Netanyahu says he is committed to truce proposal for Gaza Strip

As Israel's military reports advances made against Hamas in southern Gaza's Rafah, the Israeli prime minister reiterates his goal of eliminating the militant group.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock speaks at the Herzliya Conference in Herzliya, Israel, on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 25, 2024

Risk of all-out Middle East war grows daily, German minister warns

Fears are growing that a war that has already killed tens of thousands in Gaza could spill into neighboring countries.
Both Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike (left) and Renho have been the targeted for threats in recent days.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 25, 2024

Koike and Renho targeted by threats

A threatening message warning of an attack using sulfuric acid has been sent via fax to people close to the governor, similar to that sent to the office of rival Renho.
Runners get started in the Tokyo Marathon 2024 in March.
MORE SPORTS
Jun 25, 2024

Nonbinary checkbox to be added to application for Tokyo Marathon

"We aim to create a more inclusive society through Tokyo Marathon 2025," race organizers said.
Seibu's Ginjiro Sumitani (back left) meets with participants in a program to inspire seriously ill children, at the Belluna Dome in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, on May 26.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jun 25, 2024

Lions catcher Sumitani remains committed to inspiring ill children

The sight of happy children "reminds me that I should do my best," says Ginjiro Sumitani.
Travelers in front of a Suntory duty-free shop at Kansai International Airport in December
BUSINESS
Jun 25, 2024

Duty-free sales at Japan's department stores tripled in May

Record sales were achieved with the help of a significant influx of Chinese tourists and the yen’s weakness.
Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov attends a ceremony marking the anniversary of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in World War II by the Kremlin wall in Moscow on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 26, 2024

U.S. and Russia defense chiefs speak as tensions rise over Crimea attack

Russia's Defense Ministry said that Andrei Belousov warned Lloyd Austin of the dangers of continued U.S. arms supplies to Ukraine.
A U.S. Air Force CV-22 Osprey stationed at Yokota Air Base in Tokyo in May
JAPAN
Jun 26, 2024

10 SDF and U.S. Ospreys to take part in drills in Japan after accident

Around eight Marine Corps and two GSDF Ospreys are scheduled to take part in the Resolute Dragon 24 exercise.
A bus stop in Suzhou in China's Jiangsu Province where a Japanese woman and her child was believed to have been attacked
JAPAN
Jun 26, 2024

Suzhou knife attack shocks Japanese firms in China

The site of the attack is in an area where many Japanese live, and is close to a Japanese school.
There were a total of 219 victims of bear attacks in Japan in fiscal 2023, which resulted in six deaths, according to Environment Ministry statistics.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 26, 2024

Aomori woman, 80, killed by bear amid surge of attacks nationwide

She was foraging for bamboo shoots in the mountains when she was attacked by what local officials have determined to be an adult Asian black bear.
China Coast Guard personnel aboard rigid hull inflatable boats (in black) during a confrontation with Philippine Navy personnel near the Second Thomas Shoal in disputed waters of the South China Sea on June 17
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Jun 26, 2024

China’s ax-wielding coast guard tests limits in South China Sea

The Philippines Armed Forces called the June 17 moves by China a "brutal assault" and said the Chinese sailors acted like pirates.
An anti-government protest in Tel Aviv in January. In a TV interview on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the terms of a U.S.-led cease-fire deal and said he was prepared to open a second front against Hezbollah, in Lebanon.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 25, 2024

Netanyahu's strategy is war, war and more war

The Israeli prime minister gave a rare and revealing interview to a domestic TV channel on the weekend that confirmed that he has a plan for Gaza. And that is war.
Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki speaks to reporters on Tuesday at the prefectural government office.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 26, 2024

Foreign Ministry delayed telling Okinawa about U.S. airman's alleged sex crime

The delay in informing the prefectural government could further strain the relationship between Okinawa and Tokyo.
Japan’s Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Ken Saito (left), U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo (center) and South Korea’s Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Ahn Duk-geun in Washington on Wednesday
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 27, 2024

U.S., Japan and South Korea vow strategic cooperation

"We're doubling down our efforts to work together," U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said.
An injured man is brought into the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, following the Israeli bombardment of a residential apartment on June 8.
WORLD
Jun 27, 2024

U.S. health workers describe dire conditions at Gaza's hospitals

A lack of supplies meant many had to make agonizing decisions on who would live and who would die.
The share of stocks and investment trusts in Japanese household assets rose to a record high of 19.7% at the end of March.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 27, 2024

Japan inflation spurs record shift to household assets in stocks

Households have been coping with a surge in inflation over the past two years.
Uncompleted residential buildings in Shenyang, China. The Chinese government is trying to support the real estate sector as a property crisis and other economic ailments drag on.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Jun 27, 2024

What will it take for China to regain market confidence?

Xi came to power promising high-quality development instead of growth at all costs. But first, his government must tackle structural problems embedded in China's economy.

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Visitors to Kyoto walk along a street near Kiyomizu Temple in April. A popular tourist spot, Kyoto has seen what locals feel to be an overwhelming amount of tourists in 2024.
Is Japan ready for 60 million tourists?