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Yoshihiko Noda, head of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, walks past a monitor displaying Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba of the Liberal Democratic Party. Neither party gained a majority in Sunday's general election.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 28, 2024

A general-election postmortem

The LDP is left to pick up the pieces of Ishiba's disastrous decision to call a snap election, putting him at risk of becoming Japan's shortest-lived prime minister.
Equipment for removing nuclear fuel debris is shown during a demonstration held in May. Work to remove debris from the No. 2 reactor of the Fukushima No. 1 plant resumed Monday.
JAPAN
Oct 28, 2024

Tepco resumes attempt to remove nuclear fuel debris from Fukushima plant

Its last attempt had to be suspended due to the need to replace two cameras attached to a debris-removal device that malfunctioned.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a news conference a day after the Lower House election, at the Liberal Democratic Party's headquarters in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Oct 28, 2024

Questions swirl over Ishiba’s future after torrid first month as PM

Ishiba’s gamble on calling an early snap election has exacerbated his already precarious standing within the LDP.
Then-manager Erik ten Hag celebrates with the trophy after Manchester United won the FA Cup on May 25.
SOCCER
Oct 29, 2024

Manchester United sack Erik ten Hag after woeful start to the season

United assistant coach and ex-striker Ruud van Nistelrooy will take over on an interim basis.
Donald Trump and Kamala Harris
WORLD / Politics
Oct 29, 2024

Harris and Trump battle for swing-state votes as Musk draws lawsuit

Trump rallied evangelical voters in Georgia, while Harris highlighted her plans to boost manufacturing during a tour of Michigan.
A woman takes photos of a gate in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Monday. Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, at a Donald Trump event on Sunday, called Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage."
WORLD / Politics
Oct 29, 2024

Trump-allied comedian blasted for calling Puerto Rico 'garbage'

Tony Hinchcliffe, who also employed racist tropes about Black Americans and Jews at a Trump event on Sunday, played down the offensive nature of his comments.
In the run-up to the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election, the yen is again the top performer during periods of extreme market stress, analysts say.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 29, 2024

Embattled yen still popular haven amid U.S. election uncertainty

Japan’s record ¥3.02 trillion current-account surplus, deep yen liquidity and relatively low inflation help make the yen attractive as a store of value.
Parents walk their children to school in Guanghzou, China, on Sept. 4, 2019
BUSINESS
Oct 29, 2024

China's private tutoring firms emerge from the shadows after crackdown

There is now tacit consent from policymakers in China to allow the tutoring industry to grow.
Akira Amari, a former economy minister, championed funneling large sums of public money into building up the country’s semiconductor capacity.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 29, 2024

Japan’s chip push loses key advocate after election defeat

Akira Amari had championed funneling large sums of public money into building up the country’s semiconductor capacity.
Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani in action during the seventh inning in Game 3 of the 2024 World Series against the Yankees in New York on Monday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 29, 2024

Ohtani not in pain but will not rule out surgery after Game 2 injury

"The pain has subsided, so I felt pretty good about it," Ohtani told reporters via a translator.
Hugh Jeffrey, the Australian Department of Defence’s deputy secretary for strategy, policy and industry, says the next 18 to 24 months will see Tokyo and Canberra not only test and share new technologies and capabilities, it will also see increased military deployments to each other’s territories.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 29, 2024

Japan and Australia gear up for boosted defense tie-ups over next two years

In an interview, a senior Australian defense official spoke about cooperation in the industrial and technical fields in addition to military-to-military ties.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba bows to Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers during a news conference at the party's headquarters in Tokyo on Monday, a day after the party recorded disappointing results in the Lower House election.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 29, 2024

A disastrous poll puts Japan politics on shaky path

The Japanese public was crying out for change, but Ishiba entirely failed to offer it, instead using warmed-over catchphrases from Kishida.
North Korean special forces soldiers march and shout slogans during a military parade marking the 105th anniversary of the birth of the country's founding father, Kim Il Sung, in Pyongyang in April 2017.
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Oct 29, 2024

North Korean troops in Russia could have dangerous ramifications for Asia

Kim Jong Un's decision to send soldiers amid the war in Ukraine highlights the gamble he appears to be willing to take in his strategic relationship with Moscow.
Protesters, including supporters of Georgia's opposition parties, hold a rally to dispute the result of a recent parliamentary election won by the ruling Georgian Dream party, in Tbilisi, Georgia on Monday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Oct 29, 2024

Georgia and Moldova votes show challenges of EU enlargement push

The EU has been making a renewed push to bring in new members since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Today's religious thinkers face the challenge of demonstrating that faith offers deeper meaning and understanding in an increasingly secular world.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 30, 2024

Is the world ready for a religious comeback?

Individuals are seeking meaning through alternative avenues, suggesting a readiness for religious discourse.
Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley leaves after attending a press conference hosted by the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors to release its first annual report, at the Vatican on Tuesday.
WORLD / Society
Oct 30, 2024

Church must act faster against abusive priests, papal commission says

The detailed global report from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors was the first since the body was set up by Pope Francis in 2014.
Ringhals nuclear power plant near Varberg, Sweden
BUSINESS
Oct 30, 2024

Sweden’s nuclear revival in question as green hangover spreads

A policy U-turn that would entail a massive build-out of reactors, the first to come online in more than 40 years, now appears more unlikely.
A bridge linking Izushima and the Oshika Peninsula in Miyagi Prefecture is scheduled to open in December.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 30, 2024

Onagawa nuclear plant's restart sparks concerns over evacuation routes

Residents, particularly those of islands close to the newly restarted plant, lament the limited options for escaping a disaster.
Nguyen Thanh Bien gets a massage with medicated oil from his father to help with injuries from being beaten by the Chinese authorities while fishing in the South China Sea, in Quang Ngai, Vietnam, on Oct. 18.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 30, 2024

Bullied by China at sea, with the broken bones to prove it

China’s aggressive policing of disputed territory has produced the latest clash in a long, complex relationship.
Shopify, whose key selling point is lower prices for its suite of e-commerce services, has been cheekily calling out Salesforce’s penchant for wining and dining potential clients.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 30, 2024

Shopify is winning Salesforce clients, stoking e-commerce rivalry

The Canadian company — for years the go-to for mom-and-pop businesses looking to set up shop online — is setting its sights on larger companies in a dramatic shift.
A Google logo at the firm's Bay View campus in Mountain View, California, on Aug. 13
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 30, 2024

Alphabet's AI investments boost cloud sales and lift maturing ad business

Alphabet shares rose nearly 6% in after-market trading on Tuesday.
The Miyagi Prefectural Government Building in Sendai. The prefecture plans to expand the option for a four-day workweek to all prefectural employees from fiscal 2026.
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2024

Miyagi Prefecture to introduce four-day workweek for all employees

The program aims to reduce rising turnover and attract more applicants to government roles in Miyagi, the prefecture said.
The Xiaomi SU7 Ultra on stage during its launch in Beijing on Tuesday. The Chinese tech company made its foray into the EV industry earlier this year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 30, 2024

Xiaomi launches faster version of flagship EV in a challenge to Tesla

Xiaomi entered China's crowded EV market in March with the launch of its hit SU7.
Onosato pushes out Hoshoryu during the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament in Tokyo last month.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Oct 30, 2024

Onosato hogs spotlight, but there are big changes in latest sumo ranks

With his name writ large as ozeki on the latest banzuke, sumo’s hottest ticket took another step toward what looks like a procession to yokozuna.
A U.S. Army specialist peers out from the shadows during a 12-day jungle operations training course near Honolulu on Oct. 10.
WORLD
Oct 30, 2024

The U.S. army prepares for war with China

What the Pentagon calls a Great Power War would put the world’s two strongest militaries in direct conflict,
Democratic presidential nominee and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris along with Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff attend a rally on the National Mall in Washington one week before the Nov. 5 national election.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 30, 2024

The U.S. election is happening too soon

The upcoming U.S. election is unlikely to lead to national renewal or a decisive defeat of MAGA populism.
One shortcoming of the Freelance Act — a new law designed to improve the working conditions of freelancers — is that freelancers and clients don't know much about it.
JAPAN / Explainer
Oct 31, 2024

What is the Freelance Act, Japan’s first-ever law to help freelancers?

The law introduces new measures to help self-employed workers. However, some shortcomings remain, experts say.
A man at a rail station in Seoul watches a news broadcast on Thursday with file footage of a North Korean missile test.
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 31, 2024

North Korea fires off ICBM with longest flight time yet

The missile, which flew for 86 minutes, fell outside Japan's exclusive economic zone, landing in waters some 300 kilometers west of Hokkaido's Okushiri Island.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shakes hands with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the G7 summit in Biarritz, France, on Aug. 25, 2019
WORLD / Politics
Oct 31, 2024

Canada-India tensions could escalate cyber threats and hinder immigration

Canada's deepening dispute with India over its alleged campaign of violence against Sikhs in Canada has so far had no immediate impact on trade.
Appi Geothermal Energy's power plant in Hachimantai, Iwate Prefecture, began commercial operations in March.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Oct 31, 2024

Geothermal power slowly gains steam in Japan

Development of the energy source has long stalled, partly because they tend to lie beneath national parks, which are protected for wildlife conservation.

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