Search - member

 
 
Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting near Moscow on Dec. 12.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 20, 2023

U.S. allies brace for high cost of defeat as Ukraine aid stalls

Russian victory in Ukraine would be felt around the world as U.S. partners and allies questioned Washington’s promises of defense.
Former education minister Kisaburo Tokai, who has been tapped as Liberal Democratic Party policy chief, speaks to reporters Thursday at the Prime Minister's Office.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 21, 2023

Kishida makes more LDP leadership changes in bid to restore trust

The changes come a week after he dismissed four key members of his Cabinet who were also Abe faction members suspected of receiving unreported funds.
A Tokyo Public Prosecutor's Office vehicle exits the building housing the office of a political faction once led by the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Dec. 19.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 25, 2023

LDP's top faction withdrew decision to abolish kickbacks

A special squad suspects that senior faction officials knew of the apparent mechanism of the kickbacks and attempted to correct the situation.
Lower House lawmaker Mito Kakizawa (back right) when he was appointed deputy justice minister in September
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 28, 2023

Japanese lawmaker Kakizawa arrested over vote-buying allegations

The former LDP member allegedly gave bribes to assembly members in Tokyo’s Koto Ward to garner support for a candidate in the Koto mayoral election.
Vishnu Dabad, a Gau Rakshak, or cow protector, and a politician with the regional political party Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), in Chamdhera village, Haryana, India.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 29, 2023

India's far-right cow vigilantes mobilize before high-stakes elections

Some say cow vigilantism has become a way for young men to use popularity built through taking on alleged cattle smugglers to catapult into politics.
Police officers examine a scene where South Korean actor Lee Sun-kyun was found dead at a park in Seoul on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Dec 29, 2023

In South Korea, an unrelenting stance on drugs batters suspected users

Treatment experts say that authorities focus too much on punishment rather than rehabilitation.
Demonstrators march as they protest in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in London on Dec. 9. Huge demonstrations against the Israeli military’s attacks on Gaza have been taking place in the U.K. and elsewhere.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Jan 9, 2024

Europe rattled by Israel-Hamas war

Attempts to establish a peaceful international order after two world wars have been greatly shaken by recent conflicts.
A collapsed building in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Tuesday following Monday's earthquake
JAPAN
Jan 2, 2024

Dozens killed as Japan assesses damage from massive quake

The Monday afternoon quake led to the collapse of multiple buildings, caused landslides and sparked a large-scale fire in a popular tourist area.
Capt. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III, left, the pilot responsible for miraculously soft landing in New York's Hudson River in 2009, celebrates on a ferry in Manhattan on Jan. 15, 2010.
WORLD / Society
Jan 4, 2024

Beyond Haneda: Other 'miracle' air crash evacuations

The collision at Haneda Airport killed 5 aboard the coast guard plane, but all 379 people on the JAL passenger jet survived.
Yasuhiko Ushikubo
ESG CONSORTIUM
Jan 8, 2024

Mizuho aims to hasten renewable energy technology

With global attention being paid to increasing renewable energy to mitigate global warming, Japan should put its technological advancements in offshore wind farms, hydrogen power and carbon recycling to best use to enhance its global competitiveness, Mizuho Financial Group Inc. said in a recent report....
NRA chief Wayne LaPierre speaks at the National Rifle Association annual convention in Indianapolis last April.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jan 6, 2024

Powerful NRA chief Wayne LaPierre resigns ahead of graft trial

LaPierre, 74, chief executive since 1991, steps down just as New York state Attorney General Letitia James brings a corruption trial against the NRA.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump appears during a campaign event in Durham, New Hampshire on Dec. 16.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 7, 2024

How Trump has used fear and favor to win Republican endorsements

The former president keeps careful watch over his endorsements from elected Republicans, aided by a disciplined and methodical behind-the-scenes operation.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference on Dec. 13.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 18, 2024

Kishida aims to disband his faction amid political funds scandals

The move would mark a bid to restore public trust toward politics amid a series of political funds scandals.
The Tsukuba Geo Museum is a hands-on exhibition facility.
ESG CONSORTIUM
Jan 22, 2024

New geopark museum, cycle park showcase Tsukuba’s attractions

The Ibaraki city of Tsukuba in November launched a new facility, Mt. Tsukuba Gate Park, that focuses on promoting the charms of the Mt. Tsukuba Area Geopark and supporting Japan’s cycling culture. City officials stationed there explained what the facility offers and how they aim to nurture the civic...
Smoke billows over the Lebanese village of Odaisseh on Saturday during Israeli bombardment amid cross-border tensions in the Middle East.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 21, 2024

Missile attacks across Middle East raise Gaza escalation risks

Missiles and rockets launched by Iran-backed militants in Iraq hit al-Asad air base, where a number of U.S. personnel were being evaluated for traumatic brain injuries.
Former LDP Policy Research Council head Koichi Hagiuda (right) speaks in Hachioji, Tokyo, late Sunday night after Kazuo Shiyake won the city's mayoral election.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 22, 2024

Ruling bloc-backed candidate wins Hachioji election

The win comes despite the LDP being embroiled in a high-profile slush funds scandal linked to its factions' fundraising parties.
Turkish lawmakers attend a session before voting on a bill regarding Sweden's accession to NATO on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 24, 2024

Turkey approves Sweden NATO bid, leaving Hungary as holdout

Sweden’s entry would bolster defense alliance, reinforcing its northern reach and improving its ability to defend the eastern flank.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen meet in Beijing in April last year.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 25, 2024

With China in mind, EU aims to toughen rules on foreign trade and investment

The package includes requiring member states to potentially prevent foreign direct investments that may pose a risk to the bloc’s security.
Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi (left), Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and the party's vice president, Taro Aso, attend a party reform panel in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 25, 2024

LDP’s reform report appears light on firm actions targeting faction politics

Two weeks of hurried debate is unlikely to eradicate factionalism, which has long been seen as a defining trait of the party, experts say.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Liberal Democratic Party Vice President Taro Aso and LDP Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi attend a party meeting in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 26, 2024

LDP faction shake-up damages prospects of Kishida rivals

Numerous LDP lawmakers have announced they will leave their factions, weakening faction leaders who had been seen as possible Kishida successors.
Given that developing countries’ domestic markets are much smaller than that of the U.S., liberal trade policies play a larger role in driving their economic growth.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 31, 2024

Developing countries should reject American-style protectionism

America’s current industrial policy poses an existential threat to the multilateral trading system it worked so hard to build
Ryu Shionoya, who headed the faction’s leadership committee but was never formally appointed chairman after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated in July 2022, announced that the faction was done on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 1, 2024

Curtain falls on Abe faction's 45-year history but scrutiny to continue

Unanswered questions over members' involvement in the LDP's political funds scandal mean the dissolution may not be the end of the story.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban attends a European Union summit in Brussels on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 2, 2024

EU breaks deadlock on €50 billion for Ukraine after Orban caves

The deal is crucial for Ukraine, which has warned that its coffers are emptying as it grapples with a weapons shortage.
The “myahk,” a community currency implemented on Okinawa Prefecture’s Miyako Island in 2018, is intimately tied to local efforts for environmental preservation.
LIFE / Lifestyle / Longform
Feb 10, 2024

Japanese communities are creating currencies to educate and empower citizens

The yen will do when paying for things throughout the country. In some places, though, you may try paying with a coin that also helps reduce plastic waste.
Israeli history teacher Meir Baruchin
WORLD / Society
Feb 9, 2024

Pressure piled on Israelis who speak up for Palestinians

Israeli schoolteacher Meir Baruchin has paid a high price for denouncing the war in Gaza: being let go from his teaching job and even being detained.
Former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally on Saturday. Many were alarmed by Trump’s comments that he would "encourage” Russia to attack U.S. allies that didn’t pay into NATO, but European leaders were already pondering the prospect of an alliance without the U.S.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 13, 2024

Once-bitten Europe is better prepared for Trump’s NATO tirades

The EU is quietly preparing an impact assessment of the November U.S. election — particularly the scenario in which Trump wins.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida enters his office on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 12, 2024

Japan's LDP concerned about headwinds in Lower House by-elections

The Nagasaki race is designed to fill the vacancy of a former LDP member embroiled in a funds scandal.
Ukrainian soldiers in a trench in the Donetsk region of Ukraine in January
WORLD / Politics
Feb 14, 2024

Short on soldiers, Ukraine debates how to recruit new troops

A potential expansion of the nation’s military draft to replenish the exhausted, battered army has become an emotional, politically charged issue.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida replies to a question from CDP lawmaker Kazunori Yamanoi at a Lower House budget committee session in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 14, 2024

Kishida calls ethics committee hearing 'a matter for parliament to decide'

The prime minister declined to voice support for a political ethics committee investigation into LDP members caught up in a slush-fund scandal.
The decisions by JPMorgan and State Street to quit a global investor coalition will collectively remove trillions of dollars from efforts to coordinate Wall Street action on climate change.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 16, 2024

JPMorgan and State Street quit climate group as BlackRock steps back

Financial firms have faced growing pressure from Republican politicians over their membership in such groups.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?