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Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in March
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 17, 2024

Four Thai court cases that could unleash political crisis

Four cases before the courts on Tuesday involve the country's most powerful politicians.
Microsoft Japan President Miki Tsusaka
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 17, 2024

Microsoft’s Japan chief sees country accelerating its use of AI

Microsoft Japan President Miki Tsukasa sees AI as an inevitable and revolutionary new part of tech.
A vehicle transports a RS-24 Yars strategic nuclear missile during the main rehearsals of a military parade in Moscow on May 5.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 17, 2024

Nuclear arms more prominent amid geopolitical tensions: researchers

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned in his address to the nation in February there was a "real" risk of nuclear war.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang shakes hands with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the Australian Parliament House in Canberra on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 17, 2024

China says relations with Australia back 'on the right track'

Australia said the two countries had agreed to improve "military-to-military" communications.
Durians at a roadside stand in Chantaburi, Thailand, which is by far the fruit’s biggest exporting country, on April 24. China’s demand for the large and spiky fruit is creating fortunes and reshaping parts of Southeast Asia.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 17, 2024

China’s lust for durian is creating fortunes in Southeast Asia

Last year, the value of durian exports from Southeast Asia to China was $6.7 billion, a twelvefold increase from $550 million in 2017.
Group of Seven leaders and officials look to the sky during a ceremony involving paratroopers at Borgo Egnazia Golf Club San Domenico in Savelletri, Italy, on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics / First person
Jun 17, 2024

In perspective: a firsthand account of this year’s G7

In an increasingly multipolar world, the bloc's relevance comes into question, but any attempt to foster dialogue and ease tensions should be welcomed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visit the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia's far east Amur region on Sept. 13, 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 17, 2024

Putin to visit North Korea from Tuesday for meeting with Kim

The Russian president is expected to ask Kim Jong Un for even more weapons, adding to an influx of arms in the wake of a summit last year.
Philippine Marines fold a Philippine national flag aboard the Sierra Madre, a marooned transport ship in the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, part of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, in March 2014.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 17, 2024

Philippine ship and Chinese vessel collide in South China Sea

The China Coast Guard said that a Philippine resupply ship had "ignored many solemn warnings from the Chinese side" during a mission near the Second Thomas Shoal.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Summit on Peace in Ukraine in Switzerland on Sunday. The gathering brought together over 50 heads of state and government, excluding Russia, to work out a way toward a peace process for Ukraine.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 17, 2024

Why Ukraine isn’t ready for peace talks

It's no exaggeration to say that what happens in Ukraine matters to the world order. A rushed peace would stop the fighting, but by compromising the country's future.
A protest accusing Deutsche Bank of greenwashing. Its subsidiary DWS was fined $25 million last year for misstating its environmental, social and governance activities.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 17, 2024

Too many companies make false claims about their social impact

Exaggerated claims about companies' positive social and environmental impact ruin our chances of achieving a sustainable future. An entirely new system is needed.
While the government aims to supply all public elementary school pupils with an electronic device for learning in school, communication between parents and teachers is still largely paper-based.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 17, 2024

Parents need digital tools to cope with 'first-grade barrier'

More flexibility and efficiency would lighten the load put on the families of public elementary school children, where paper-based communication is still too prevalent.
Buildings in the Shibuya district of Tokyo on May 2
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2024

Ban on nighttime drinking around Shibuya Station passed by ward

The ordinance, an extension of measures at Halloween and New Year, comes into effect Oct. 1 and carries no penalties.
Richard Katz argues in his new book that the key to Japan emerging from decades of economic sluggishness depends on stimulating companies with high energy and dynamism, over the lumbering, older firms.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 20, 2024

Hope for Japan, if the elephants get out of the way

Protecting older companies, the jobs they have produced and the political and financial relationships they have nurtured, starves newer, more innovative businesses.
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun makes a rare public appearance at the Berlin Aviation Summit on June 4. His presentation — swinging between defiance and contrition — might offer clues on how he aims to handle himself during the Washington hearing on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 18, 2024

Boeing faces senate grilling as CEO search gains momentum

How outgoing CEO Dave Calhoun handles the spotlight is important not just for his legacy, but also for the company’s work to shore up confidence.
A courtroom sketch of Nikhil Gupta — whom U.S. federal prosecutors accused of plotting with an Indian government official to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a U.S. resident who advocated for a sovereign Sikh state in northern India —  in federal court after his extradition from the Czech Republic, in New York City on Monday
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jun 18, 2024

Suspect in plot to kill Sikh separatist pleads not guilty in U.S.

The discovery of alleged assassination plots against Sikh separatists in the U.S. and Canada has tested relations with India.
Doctors take part in a rally to protest against government plans to increase medical school admissions, in Seoul on March 3.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 18, 2024

More doctors walk off the job in South Korea in one-day strike

The dispute began in January, when the South Korean government announced a plan to dramatically expand admissions to medical schools.
Japan is shifting its defense strategy to prioritize logistics and supply chain resilience, recognizing them as critical components of its overall defense capability.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 18, 2024

Real defense demands more than just being able to fight

U.S. Gen. Omar Bradley famously warned that “amateurs talk strategy and professionals talk logistics.”
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin walk past children during a welcoming ceremony in Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung Square on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 19, 2024

Putin and Kim sign mutual defense pact in dramatic upgrade of ties

The North Korean and Russian leaders inked a "strategic partnership treaty," upgrading ties to a level that Kim said was on par with a formal alliance.
San Francisco Giants outfielder Willie Mays poses for a portrait at Crosley Field in Cincinnati, Ohio, on April 1, 1967.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jun 19, 2024

Willie Mays, baseball’s do-it-all ‘Say Hey Kid,’ dies at 93

One of Major League Baseball’s first Black stars, Mays was widely considered the greatest all-around player of his era, perhaps ever.
A typhoon hits Hong Kong. Scientists warn that the danger ahead isn’t just from supercharged weather catastrophes. A warmer planet increases the chances of "compound events,” where multiple disasters — natural and manmade — occur at the same time or place.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jun 19, 2024

The era of super-wild weather is already here

Floods, wildfires, droughts and heat waves have become more widespread and volatile than before.
Inmates at the Sirindhorn Vocational Training School in Nakhon Pathom province in Thailand receive training on March 21 using an engine donated by Nissan.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 19, 2024

Japan-aided juvenile training facility in Thailand offers route away from crime

Support provided by Japanese firms to the Sirindhorn Vocational Training School includes the provision of training equipment.
Zhang Yufei during the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, in September of last year
OLYMPICS / Swimming
Jun 19, 2024

Eleven swimmers in doping scandal named to Chinese Olympic team

WADA's decision not to punish the swimmers has provoked intense criticism, particularly from the United States.
Anti-abortion protesters outside the Supreme Court in Washington on June 14.
WORLD / Society
Jun 19, 2024

'Unthinkable' normalized two years after U.S. abortion ruling

From medics to single mothers to abused minors, Americans from all walks of life have been affected.
American Institute in Taiwan Director Sandra Oudkirk looks at a Switchblade 300 drone during the 2023 Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition at the Nangang Exhibition Center in Taipei last September.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 19, 2024

U.S. approves sale of more than 1,000 ‘suicide drones’ to Taiwan

The $360 million arms sale comes as Washington doubles down on helping Taipei counter a potential Chinese attack on the self-ruled island.
While the education ministry recently introduced a new subject called “logic and expression” in its new curriculum guidelines, experts say that many teachers, in practice, are still focusing on grammar acquisition.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 19, 2024

Japan study downplays complex grammar in improving English writing skills

English learners are better off focusing on making good arguments, according to the Kobe University research.
GMO Internet Group is making a foray into the artificial intelligence and robot business to spread the use of such tech products and services in Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 19, 2024

Japan’s GMO takes aim at labor shortage with AI and robotics company

It will focus on matching robot and drone manufacturers and AI developers with businesses.
Two Javan rhinos in Ujung Kulon national park in Indonesia's Banten province. In 2023, a newborn Javan rhino in Indonesia raised hopes for the highly endangered species.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Jun 19, 2024

Javan rhino clings to survival after Indonesia poaching wave

Conservationists fear poachers have killed up to a third of the surviving population, possibly with inside help.
A bill to require facilities for children to check whether workers have criminal records for sex crimes is approved unanimously at a plenary meeting of the Upper House on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 19, 2024

Bill enacted to create sex crime screening system for work involving children

Records that can be checked will include those on nonconsensual sexual intercourse and violations of prefectural ordinances banning molesting and voyeurism.
The European leader to watch in the months and perhaps years ahead is Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose far-right party was among the big winners in the recent European elections.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 19, 2024

EU populists are blind to the real threat to the bloc

The center-right will continue to dominate parliament, the surge in support for the extreme right evokes memories of the ugliest moments of the 20th century.
Balaji Srinivasan addresses the Singapore Fintech Festival in November 2022. A techno-libertarian, Srinivasan, who made his name as an anti-government crusader, tried to attach himself to the U.S. government when he was under consideration for a position in the Donald Trump administration.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 19, 2024

How techno-libertarians fell in love with big government

When faced with the prospect of the government becoming a major client for Silicon Valley techno-libertarians, once-principled opposition to state power dissipates.

Longform

Passengers that were on a morning train attacked by members of the Aum Shinrikyo group wait for medical assistance outside Kasumigaseki Station on March 20,1995.
The day a religious cult brought terror to Tokyo