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Bill Belichick on the sideline during his final game as Patriots head coach on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Jan 12, 2024

How Belichick helped the Patriots go from laughingstock to economic powerhouse

The Patriots' dynasty truly came to a close on Thursday when the team parted ways with Belichick, 71, the second-winningest coach in modern NFL history.
A driver for an independent contractor to FedEx delivers packages on Cyber Monday in New York on Nov. 27, 2023.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 31, 2024

Delivery firms struggle to adopt EVs as online sales drive up demand

Many climate pledges have been scaled back as the industry fails to keep pace with climbing emissions.
A soldier participates in a multinational training exercise in the municipality of Hohenfels in Germany.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 15, 2024

Europe's race against time to rebuild militaries in uncertain world

The continent is a decade away from being able to defend itself unaided, officials say, while Russia could target a NATO member in three to five years.
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Thursday.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 11, 2024

Now Biden needs to show his moderate side

President Biden used his State of the Union speech to rebuke Republicans and offer a progressive economic agenda. But will that appeal to moderate voters?
Given Pakistan's internal security challenges and changing geopolitical dynamics, India may opt for a policy of minimal engagement with its neighbor.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 10, 2024

Does Pakistan still matter to India?

New Delhi's approach toward Islamabad is likely to remain unchanged in the foreseeable future.
As of April 4, the bird flu virus had been confirmed in more than a dozen herds across six U.S. states, with Kansas, Idaho, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio and Texas all reporting infected cows.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 17, 2024

Bird flu in cows demands vigilance, not panic

Bird flu had been confirmed in herds across six U.S. states, with Kansas, Idaho, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio and Texas all reporting infected cows.
An activist holds an umbrella during a Fridays for Future movement climate strike on Friday in Stockholm.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Apr 22, 2024

World's largest private firms fail to set climate targets: report

The Net Zero Tracker report compared 200 of the world's largest public and private companies.
Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
CULTURE / Books / Longform
Apr 22, 2024

The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores

Shops without staff, shelves for rent, cafes and meetups are some of the ways the country's dwindling bookstores are trying to survive.
Palestinians crowd a street as smoke billows after Israeli strikes in Rafah on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
May 8, 2024

U.S. paused shipment of bombs to Israel, concerned over Rafah invasion

The U.S. has not made a final decision about how to proceed with the shipment, according to the official.
Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun speaks at the Shangri-la Dialogue security conference in Singapore on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 2, 2024

A tale of two narratives: China and U.S. defense chiefs agree to disagree

Dong Jun, China’s first naval officer to be named defense minister, also took aim at U.S. allies in a speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue.
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike (left) and Renho, a member of the House of Councilors, both candidates in the gubernatorial election, attend a news conference at the Japan National Press Club in the capital on Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 20, 2024

The battle to be Japan’s most powerful woman is on

The race to become governor of Tokyo has officially kicked off, and is set to determine who will control a region that makes up more than 20% of the nation’s economy.
Renho announces her campaign pledges for the Tokyo gubernatorial election, in the capital on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 21, 2024

The campaigners that Tokyo hopeful Renho doesn't want you to know about

The candidate for governor has kept quiet about Japanese Communist Party activities in support of her — ties that could alienate some voters.
Mai Tarumi, who previously volunteered at the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, has a travel budget of ¥1 million for her trip to volunteer at the Paris Games.
OLYMPICS
Jul 14, 2024

She’s paying ¥1 million to help behind the scenes at the Paris Olympics

While news sites have suggested that being a volunteer is a way to attend the Games for “free,” that doesn’t apply to international volunteers like Mai Tarumi.
The 2024 presidential race throws another curveball at the markets with U.S. President Joe Biden dropping out of the race.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 22, 2024

How investors are reacting to Biden dropping reelection bid

Many investors are waiting to see who the new Democratic nominee will be, with some uncomfortable about the uncertainty.
Stuart McDonald, a fifth-generation farmer, searches for freshly planted seeds coated with Loam Bio’s fungal treatment, near Canowindra, Australia, on April 24.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Aug 12, 2024

Australian farmers are betting on fungi to battle climate change

Fungi act as nature’s carbon traders, pulling it from the roots of plants and giving the plant nutrients in return.
As team principal, Kamui Kobayashi's role with Toyota Gazoo Racing goes far beyond his performance behind the wheel.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Sep 15, 2024

Kamui Kobayashi still driven by passion after long career in driver’s seat

Despite turning 38 on Friday, Kobayashi is not ready to pump the brakes on his auto racing career. 
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.
U.S. President Joe Biden announces a preliminary agreement with Intel for a major CHIPS and Science Act award, during a visit to the Intel Ocotillo Campus, in Chandler, Arizona, in March.
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Nov 9, 2024

Trump’s win sets off race to complete chip subsidy deals

The Biden administration is aiming to shore up one of its signature initiatives before President-elect Donald Trump enters the White House.
Advertisements for the Dholera Smart City project, which is in the early stages of development, in Dholera, India, on Aug. 25. India’s government, seizing on the world’s desire to reduce reliance on China, is offering billions to build an entire semiconductor ecosystem on vast empty plots.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 13, 2023

Modi wants to make India a chipmaking superpower. Can he succeed?

The prime minister betting he can lure private companies to a future semiconductor city from not only across India but also the world.
The main targets of a new bill on smartphone software are the app stores provided by Google and Apple, as consumers effectively have only two choices for smartphone operating systems: Apple's iOS or Google’s Android.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 22, 2024

Japan aims to curb Apple and Google's smartphone app duopoly

A new bill would compel dominant platforms to allow third parties to launch their own app markets and to offer more payment options.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks during a news conference following his first Cabinet meeting on Saturday in London.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 7, 2024

Britain’s new leader is about to get a crash course in statecraft

Some experts say the shift to Labour was less about ideology and more about fatigue with the Tories and a distrust of political institutions in general.
Members of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces take part in a military review at Camp Asaka in October 2018. The nation’s public is currently favorable to the SDF, but if scandals aren’t handled correctly, that opinion may change. 
EDITORIALS
Jul 12, 2024

A multitude of scandals threaten Japan’s national defense

Individually, recent scandals are troubling. Together they are reflective of a problematic culture within the defense forces and bureaucracy.
Summer Basho winner Onosato is trying to join Terunofuji as the only wrestlers to win consecutive titles since 2018.
SUMO
Jul 12, 2024

Onosato poised to continue rapid rise at Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament

The 24-year-old former amateur yokozuna has been on fire since turning pro 14 months ago and already stands on the verge of promotion to sumo’s second-highest rank.
Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomes Russian nationals, including Artyom Dultsev, Anna Dultseva, convicted of spying in Slovenia, and their children at 
an airport in Moscow on Thursday following a prisoner exchange with Western countries.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2024

Russia’s prisoner trade says all you need to know about Putin

Among those released to Russia were people convicted by independent courts of cybercrimes, insider trading and breaking sanctions.
Commuters take a subway home at Sungsu station in Seoul on July 15.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 6, 2024

Declaring ‘crisis,’ South Korean firms tell managers to work more

In South Korea, the five-day workweek is only a generation old, introduced by labor laws in 2004.
Officials of the transport ministry speak to a driver suspected of engaging in illegal taxi operations at a tourist spot in Shirakawa, Gifu Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society / Regional voices: Chubu
Aug 12, 2024

Gifu struggles to crack down on illegal cabs at tourist hot spots

Cashless payments make it hard to catch such drivers in the act and some are worried they may be mistaken for a legal ride-hailing service.
By enabling a few wealthy individuals to wield disproportionate influence, today’s global economy increasingly marginalizes and disenfranchises much of the world’s population.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2024

To preserve democracy, tax the rich

What the world needs are progressive tax systems that redistribute income from the rich to the poor without weakening socially beneficial incentives.
An ISIS flag hangs in the bombed-out remains of a palace that militants used as a headquarters in Mosul, Iraq, in 2017.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 26, 2024

Islamic State supporters turn to AI to bolster online support

Digital experts say groups like IS and far-right movements are increasingly using AI online and testing the limits of safety controls on social media platforms.
With projections indicating a population drop in Japan from around 125 million to 63 million by 2100, traditional solutions like immigration and labor reforms are unlikely to be effective in time.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 15, 2024

Japan should master, not resist, its demographic destiny

Japan needs a strategic reorientation toward accepting and mastering its demographic changes rather than resisting them.
Workers picket outside the Boeing Co. manufacturing facility during a strike in Renton, Washington, on Oct. 3.
COMMENTARY
Oct 20, 2024

Time for unions to join the 21st-century economy

Automation stands to make U.S. ports and transportation of goods cheaper and more efficient. And it is easy to see why unions oppose it.

Longform

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