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Serbia's Novak Djokovic plays a backhand return against Australia's Alexei Popyrin during their third-round match at the U.S. Open in New York on Friday.
TENNIS
Aug 31, 2024

Djokovic admits to 'worst tennis ever' in shock U.S. Open exit

The 37-year-old Djokovic, a four-time champion in New York, lost 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in the third round to 28th-ranked Alexei Popyrin of Australia.
A construction worker in Tokyo's Akasaka district on Aug. 21. With 886 cases, 54 of them fatal, during the period from 2019 to 2023, the construction industry leads Japan’s tally for occupational heatstroke.
BUSINESS / Boiling Point
Sep 1, 2024

Clocking off: Japan’s hotter summers put limit on outdoor work

Climate change is forcing businesses to sacrifice productivity in the name of safety in industries ranging from construction to transportation.
Elon Musk, the owner of X, during an event in November last year. Brazil blocked the social network after Musk refused to comply with a Brazilian judge's orders to suspend certain accounts.
BUSINESS
Sep 1, 2024

Musk’s X goes dark in Brazil after supreme court’s ruling

While the U.S. tends toward strong free-speech protections, many countries are taking aggressive steps to make companies more accountable for their online content.
Makoto Asai (right) works at his restaurant in Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 1, 2024

Reconstruction demand aiding business recovery eight months after Noto quake

There is a long way to go before full-scale postdisaster reconstruction, with many businesses operating for shorter hours or at makeshift facilities.
The Nafoora oil field in Jakharrah, Libya, on Tuesday
BUSINESS
Sep 1, 2024

Libya’s political feud threatens return of oil supply chaos

The North African nation’s crude output was slashed in half last week amid a fight for control of the central bank.
People at bubble tea chain Mixue Bingcheng in Beijing on Thursday. Bubble tea is wildly popular in China, where people sipping through straws from large plastic cups is a common sight across the country.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Sep 1, 2024

Penny-pinching youth transforming China's bubble tea craze

Bubble tea is wildly popular in China and a common sight on high streets and in shopping malls across the country.
Air conditioners are assembled at a unit of Daikin Industries at a plant in Shiga Prefecture in August 2017.
BUSINESS
Sep 1, 2024

Japan air conditioner sales booming amid scorching heat

Households are rushing to buy energy-saving products as replacements to curb soaring electricity bills. Demand in cold regions is also rising.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attends a wreath-laying ceremony for the victims of a knife attack that killed three people last week, in Solingen, Germany, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 2, 2024

Germany's Scholz alliance humbled as populists surge in regional votes

The regional election results highlight the risk Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his deeply unpopular government face ahead of the next national election.
An elevator at the Stade de France commuter train station in Saint-Denis, near Paris, France. Paris built highly accessible accommodation for competitors in the 2024 Paralympic Games, but overall, the city remains difficult to navigate for people with disabilities.
PARALYMPICS
Sep 2, 2024

Paris is utopia for Paralympians until they leave the athletes village

It will be decades before the city's streets, sidewalks and parks achieve even a semblance of the Paralympic Village’s accessibility.
Factory activity in China contracted for a fourth straight month in August, with subindexes showing deepening deflationary pressures.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 2, 2024

China faces calls for stimulus as growth engines stall amid property woes

Factory activity contracted for a fourth month in August, with subindexes showing deflationary pressures and latest sales figures showing a worsening residential slump.
An abandoned house in Urayama, Saitama Prefecture. Buying an <i>akiya</i>, which means empty house in Japanese, can be a rewarding experience that yields a unique space and a livable home, competitively priced. Or it could turn out to be a money pit.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 2, 2024

First lesson of Japan’s akiya gold rush: No such thing as a free house.

Renovations are usually the most expensive part of the journey and the laundry list of what needs to be done is long and tends to get longer after the process starts.
Masanori Murakami poses with a Willie Mays-themed clock during a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo on Monday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Sep 3, 2024

The man who opened MLB's door to Japanese players

Masanori Murakami's time with the San Francisco Giants in the 1960s made him something of an accidental trailblazer.
With so many voters suffering financially and showing an eagerness to throw politicians out of office, delivering higher living standards appears to be a necessary condition for restoring political stability to the world’s democracies.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 1, 2024

Political and economic chaos through 'the looking glass'

America is not alone in experiencing an unanticipated upheaval. Five years ago, it seemed inconceivable that a major ground war would occur on the European continent.
A food delivery worker rides through Shenzhen's Futian district in May 2022.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Sep 3, 2024

China's economic malaise seen accelerating obesity rates

Job stress, long work hours and poor diets are growing high-risk factors in cities, while in rural areas, agriculture work is becoming less physically demanding.
A building emblazoned with a Great Wall graphic in Kitwe, Zambia
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 3, 2024

Xi wants bigger returns and fewer headaches from African debt deals

From Angola to Djibouti, for over a decade, China poured more than $120 billion of government-backed loans through its Belt and Road Initiative.
The logo of German carmaker Volkswagen at the main plant of the group in Wolfsburg, northern Germany, in March 2022. German automotive giant Volkswagen said Monday that it could close production sites in Germany as the auto industry struggles to manage rising costs.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 3, 2024

Volkswagen weighs first-ever German plant closures amid EV transition woes

Profit margins at the carmaker's underperforming passenger car brand are getting squeezed amid the shift to EVs and a consumer spending slowdown.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk in Washington on July 24
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 3, 2024

Musk to celebrate Meloni as Italy eyes space sector investment

The two are also scheduling a closed-door conversation to discuss investment opportunities in Italy’s space and artificial intelligence sectors.
Former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 3, 2024

Anti-nuclear energy stance fades among LDP presidential hopefuls

Candidates' apparent shift in policy stance on nuclear power may be part of a strategy to win the leadership race.
When it comes to trade disputes between the U.S. and China, not even the game of golf is spared.
BUSINESS
Sep 3, 2024

U.S. golf cart industry reveals how China tariffs are a blunt instrument

In factories and shops around the country, finding complaints about cheaper Chinese competitors is easy — but reaching a consensus on how to combat them is harder.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa attends a new conference for the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) Ministerial Meeting in Tokyo on Aug. 25.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 3, 2024

Africa's rising importance for Japan’s Indo-Pacific goals

Africa is becoming an increasingly important element of Japanese FOIP strategy. It is a work in progress, but it is proceeding.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi announces his candidacy in the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 3, 2024

Yoshimasa Hayashi announces candidacy in LDP leadership race

The chief cabinet secretary has proposed a new independent agency to regulate the financing of electoral campaigns.
American Taylor Fritz celebrates after defeating Germany's Alexander Zverev in the U.S. Open quarterfinals on Tuesday.
TENNIS
Sep 4, 2024

Tiafoe, Fritz and Navarro boost American hopes of U.S. Open title sweep

The 12th-seeded Fritz won a big-hitting battle against fourth-seeded 2020 runner-up Alexander Zverev of Germany 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3).
A woman uses her mobile phone while holding a placard reading "STOP 5G" during a protest against 5G technology, in Bucharest, Romania, in 2020.
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 4, 2024

No link between mobile phones and brain cancer, WHO-backed study says

The findings even apply to people who make long phone calls or those who have used mobile phones for more than a decade.
The Maritime Self-Defense Force's US-2 amphibious plane
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2024

Japan to continue production of MSDF US-2 amphibious plane

The Defense Ministry has sought ¥21.9 billion ($150 million) for the acquisition of one US-2 aircraft in its fiscal 2025 budget request.
Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba attends a news conference in Kyiv in April.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 4, 2024

Ukraine foreign minister resigns amid war's biggest reshuffle

The resignation comes amid a major shake-up at a critical juncture for Ukraine and leaves over a third of the cabinet vacant after sackings earlier this year.
Vladimir Putin meets with schoolchildren in Kyzyl, Russia, on Monday, in a photo released by Russian state media.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 4, 2024

Putin is spending big to shape Russia’s youth in his own image

At some universities in Russia, students attend compulsory courses in the "fundamentals of Russian statehood” that were introduced last year to promote patriotism.
Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, speaks on stage in front of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the Desert Diamond Arena, in Glendale, Arizona, on Aug. 23.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 4, 2024

How Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s pact took shape

A near assassination, a couple of phone calls, and six weeks of secret talks, embarrassing missteps and private misgivings, led to the unlikely alliance.
Alimentation Couche-Tard’s bid to acquire Japan’s Seven & I Holdings has sparked discussions about Japan’s approach to foreign investment and whether rejecting or accepting the bid reflects an openness to international business.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 4, 2024

7-Eleven deserves more than shareholder supremacy

While Japan should consider investor interests, it should not forsake the broader social and community benefits that its businesses provide.
One survey revealed that 68% of recruiters admit to appearance-based hiring and 96% say interviews are influenced by visual impressions, which is why many employment experts advise job hunters to invest significantly in their appearance.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 4, 2024

Why do I need a photo on my resume to apply for a job in Japan?

It is time to build a recruitment system in Japan that rewards people’s talents, irrespective of their looks
The future of 133-year-old remains, which lay buried beneath Kitakyushu for a century, is unclear amid the city's redevelopment plans.
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2024

Global conservation body calls on Kitakyushu to halt redevelopment plans

The city said the project will proceed as planned as there are no alternative sites and further delays could threaten the provision of public services.

Longform

Wealthier women in the prewar era had been the targets of various media-related health campaigns that mistakenly encouraged them to avoid everything from riding bicycles to reading novels when their monthly cycles came around.
Menstruation in Japan: Breaking the silence, slowly