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Palestinians inspect destruction from an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis, a city in southern Gaza, on Thursday. The Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, in retaliation for a deadly Hamas attack on southern Israel, has brought a new outpouring of support in the Arab world for the Palestinian quest for a state.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 21, 2023

Passion for Palestinian cause had faded, but Gaza violence reignited it

The Israeli bombardment of Gaza brought a new outpouring of support in the Arab world for the Palestinian quest for a state.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a public rally in Mashhad, Iran, in March.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 22, 2023

Iran's quandary: How to stay out of Israel's war on Hamas

Standing on the sidelines in the face of an all-out Israeli invasion of Gaza would significantly set back an Iranian strategy for regional ascendancy.
Iran holds its National Army Day parade in Tehran in April 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 25, 2023

U.S. must press its advantages over Iran or war will spread

The Hamas attack on Israel was a geopolitical earthquake. The aftershocks will reverberate for years to come.
People react as Palestinians search for casualties at the site of an Israeli strike on a residential building in Gaza City, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 26, 2023

Israel increasingly isolated as fury grows over Gaza bombardment

Israelis see the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas in context not of their treatment of Palestinians but as an extension of anti-Semitic assaults over centuries.
Shibuya's local government has mounted a campaign to dissuade revelers from visiting the neighborhood for Halloween celebrations and has banned drinking in the streets.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 30, 2023

Shibuya wants to cancel Halloween. That's a mistake.

This year, Shibuya isn't dressing up for Halloween. The neighborhood is turning revelers away, ignoring its role as a youth culture hub.
Bungie, the Sony-owned game studio behind Destiny 2, has cut an undisclosed number of staffers amid restructuring of Sony's video game operations.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 31, 2023

Sony’s Bungie game unit cuts staff following delayed titles

Sony, which purchased Bungie in early 2022 for $3.6 billion, has been cutting staff across its PlayStation division this year, in part due to delays.
"The Ones Left Behind" documents the successes and struggles of single mothers in Japan.
PODCAST / deep dive
Nov 2, 2023

Why single mothers in Japan have been left behind

Filmmaker Rionne McAvoy joins us to discuss the hidden poverty present in one of the world’s richest nations.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak listens to a question as he holds the closing news conference on the second day of the U.K. Artificial Intelligence Safety Summit at Bletchley Park, near Milton Keynes, England, on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 4, 2023

China quietly took part in leaders' AI meeting in the U.K.

China said it attended a top-level ministerial meeting at the U.K. AI Safety Summit on Thursday, despite not being listed by Britain.
Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla, discusses artificial intelligence in London on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 7, 2023

Elon Musk's X curtails disinformation research, spurring legal fears

Restrictions on critical methods of gathering data on the platform have suppressed the ability to untangle the origin and spread of false information.
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks with entrepreneur Elon Musk during a chat session on the rewards and risks of artificial intelligence in London, earlier this month.
EDITORIALS
Nov 10, 2023

Can the world harness AI’s fire without getting burned?

Calls are increasing for governance of artificial intelligence, the world-changing tech that bears both major rewards and risks.
Police try to control the crowd in the city of Osaka after the Hanshin Tigers won the Japan Series baseball championship on Nov. 5.
JAPAN
Nov 14, 2023

Civil servants face different treatment at Kansai baseball parades

Kobe and Hyogo government workers working at the parades will be treated as being on duty, but those of the Osaka governments will not be.
Rubble left by Israeli air strikes targeting Gaza. The humanitarian crisis there has led U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to call for an immediate cease-fire.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 14, 2023

The rules-based international order is collapsing in Gaza

After decades of missed opportunities, the war in Gaza is testing regional and global actors' commitment to an international rules-based order.
Dutch driver Max Verstappen speaks to the press after the opening ceremony for the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Wednesday.
MORE SPORTS
Nov 16, 2023

Verstappen slams Las Vegas race as '99% show'

The Red Bull three-time world champion criticized the new street course and said Wednesday he had no interest in the razzmatazz around the event.
An official shot for this year’s lineup for NHK’s annual “Kohaku Uta Gassen.”
PODCAST / deep dive
Nov 22, 2023

Things get warmer with Xi; Johnny’s get the cold shoulder

While Japan and China look to ease tensions, NHK makes things tense with a Johnny’s-less “Kohaku” announcement.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan speaks at an event in June.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 26, 2023

London’s mayor tries to unite a city divided by war in Gaza

The fighting between Israel and Hamas is shaking Muslim and Jewish people, who have lived side-by-side in London for generations.
Israeli soldiers walk during a raid at the Balata camp for Palestinian refugees, east of Nablus in the occupied West Bank on Nov. 19.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Nov 27, 2023

The West Bank is being reshaped along with Gaza post-Oct. 7

Hamas' attack has aggravated the long-standing conflict over the land between Israel and the Jordan River that forms the other Palestinian territory.
Akina Shu has visited around 50 countries as a speaker and ambassador on the digital nomad lifestyle since 2020.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Nov 27, 2023

Japan is enticing for digital nomads, but visa hurdles remain

While the country does not offer a digital nomad visa, the government is working on introducing one sometime in 2024.
A man sings for customers touring the Erhai lake on a sightseeing bus in Dali, in China's Yunnan province.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Nov 27, 2023

Chasing a different dream, China's tech nomads head for the hills

In the mountain town of Dali, former city-dwellers in search of a space for open discussion and exchange of ideas in authoritarian China find refuge.
A truck unloads tons of coal inside a warehouse in Tondo, Metro Manila, in 2016. Independent show ample potential for renewables in Japan and Southeast Asia.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Dec 3, 2023

How Japan's renewable underestimates are impacting Asia's energy transition

Contrary to Japan's stance, independent projections paint a picture in which renewables can power the fast developing region.
An aerial view shows the Eiffel tower by the River Seine in Paris. A plan to hold the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics on the river looks set to go ahead, even after a deadly attack in the French capital at the weekend.
OLYMPICS
Dec 5, 2023

'No Plan B': France set on Olympics river opening despite attack

Media reports have indicated grave concern within the security forces that the opening ceremony could be vulnerable to attack.
People walk through Dubai's Expo City during COP28 on Monday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 5, 2023

COP28 crowds: A dangerous distraction or sign of success?

With a record 84,000 registered attendees, this year's COP28 is a far cry from the first in 1995, a low-key affair with fewer than 4,000 delegates.
The judges' tower in Teahupo'o in Tahiti, French Polynesia, during a pro surfing event in August. Residents of Teahupo'o have protested plans by Olympic organizers to build a 14 meter aluminum tower ahead of the 2024 Games.
OLYMPICS
Dec 8, 2023

Safety is top priority, Paris Games boss says amid surfing tower row

Last week, a barge bringing the aluminum tower to the Tahiti site of Teahupo'o damaged the coral reef, bringing work to a halt.
Delegates arrive at Dubai's Expo City during COP28 on Saturday
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 9, 2023

Oil is everywhere at COP28, vexing those seeking its demise

To many of the activists in attendance, the prominence of the oil and gas industry is a travesty.
Split over the leadership of Sam Altman, board members and executives at OpenAI turned on one another. Their brawl exposed the cracks at the heart of the artificial intelligence movement.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 11, 2023

Inside OpenAI’s crisis over the future of artificial intelligence

From the moment it was created in 2015, OpenAI was primed to combust.
The COP28 climate conference is being held at Expo City Dubai for a total of 100,000 attendees, 2,000 of which are from fossil fuel companies.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 11, 2023

COP28 like a trade show? That’s not a bad thing.

Some lament the presence of many fossil fuel representatives among the 100,000 attendees of COP28 in Dubai, failing to recognize their key role.
Surfers wait for waves in Teahupo'o, Tahiti, French Polynesia, on Aug. 9.
OLYMPICS / Surfing
Dec 12, 2023

Olympic surfing to be held in Polynesia despite row, president says

Debate about the suitability of having Tahiti host the competitions has made waves for weeks.
Cybersecurity is a growing concern in Taiwan as the island sits at the center of U.S.-China tensions and has a critical presidential election in January.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 12, 2023

Taiwan taps experts and U.S. to prepare banks for cyberattacks

Officials in Taipei are consulting security experts from the U.S. Treasury Department and American cybersecurity specialists to simulate attacks.
Seihan Mori, chief priest of Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto, writes "zei" (taxes), which was chosen on Tuesday as the kanji of the year.
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2023

Talk of taxes spurs choice for Japan’s kanji of the year

The choice came as tax hikes and cuts were heavily covered in the news and discussed among policymakers.
Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts
WORLD / Politics
Dec 12, 2023

Disunity deepens at Harvard as Israel's war on Gaza charges debate

Rhetoric has reached a fever pitch since testimony in Congress by the university’s first Black president, who has only been in the role since July.
Set allocations to tea houses and other businesses, combined with various presale lotteries — some exclusive to paid fan club members — account for the bulk of sumo’s premium seat purchases.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Dec 13, 2023

Sumo's big ticketing problem

Securing tickets for sumo's biggest matches can be a headache, particularly for sumo's many foreign fans, partially due to outdated information online.

Longform

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