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Ukrainian soldiers patrol a heavily war-damaged area of the town of Orikhiv in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine on May 20.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 4, 2024

Ukraine and its allies need a new strategy. Here’s a start.

With the war in Ukraine, stop talking about ‘liberal’ democracy and the ‘rules-based international order.’
Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki says the city is holding off on inviting Israeli representative to this year's peace ceremony.
JAPAN
Jun 4, 2024

Nagasaki holds off inviting Israel to peace ceremony

Worries that protests could disrupt the memorial for atomic bomb victims are partly behind the decision, according to the mayor.
Demonstrators hold Fatah flags during a protest in support of the people of the Gaza Strip in Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on Oct. 27, 2023.
WORLD
Jun 5, 2024

Hamas signals post-war ambition in talks with Palestinian rival Fatah

The meetings highlight that the Islamist militant group is likely to retain influence in the Gaza Strip after its war with Israel.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin leaves a bilateral meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Dong Jun, on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Friday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 4, 2024

China is winning the communications competition

It's a mistake for the U.S. to take for granted that the world sees it as “the good guy” in its competition with China.
Line, which has evolved into an all-encompassing app used for messaging, payments, job searches and more, is now at the center of a dispute over its ownership.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 5, 2024

Why Line, a superapp, sparked a diplomatic dispute

Line, which has evolved into an all-encompassing app used for messaging, payments, job searches and more, is now at the center of a dispute over its ownership.
Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda bows at a news conference in Tokyo on Monday, the day the automaker said it had suspended domestic shipments of three car models after falling foul of government certification rules.
COMMENTARY
Jun 6, 2024

Why Toyota's so-called safety scandal is a 'nothingburger'

Unlike the Volkswagen Dieselgate scandal, there have been no recalls, and Japanese vehicles have passed retests without issues.
China isn’t worried that Hyundai and other South Korean firms will outcompete locals. However, their presence ensures a continued supply of production factors: equipment, chemicals and labor.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 7, 2024

Why China wants South Korea to stay open

Countries push for free trade when they have an edge. Beijing knows it.
French President Emmanuel Macron awards two U.S. World War II veterans with the Legion of Honour during the International commemorative ceremony at Omaha Beach on Thursday, marking the 80th anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy, France.
COMMENTARY / World
May 27, 2024

Why we commemorate D-Day, 80 years later

This year's D-Day anniversary was marked by a grand commemoration and was especially poignant as only a few survivors are left to share their stories of that fateful day.
Smoke rises above south Lebanon following an Israeli strike amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, last month.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 8, 2024

Risk of all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah limited, experts say

Despite an escalation in cross-border violence, experts see little risk of all-out war.
Takahiro Mori, the key negotiator for the U.S. Steel deal, is attempting to close the deal amid growing regulatory scrutiny and political opposition.
BUSINESS
Jun 8, 2024

Nippon Steel executive sees positive reaction from U.S. Steel workers

Takahiro Mori, the key negotiator for the U.S. Steel deal, is attempting to close the deal amid growing regulatory scrutiny and political opposition.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks to journalists following an election campaign event at Melksham Town F.C. on Friday. Sunak apologized after skipping events to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day in France to return early to the U.K.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 8, 2024

The moment the Tories have long dreaded is finally upon them

With Labour so far ahead in the polls, few Tories expect to stay in power after the election.
A U.K. biannual customer satisfaction index based on a survey of 15,000 consumers fell to its lowest since 2015 in January and has declined for three straight periods.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 9, 2024

Bad service is in the U.K.’s cultural DNA

While the U.K. could treat its customers better, not doing so is a choice. Why? There's a strain of British society that doesn’t accept the idea of service.
Judges from common law jurisdictions are invited to sit as nonpermanent members at Hong Kong's top court, the Court of Final Appeal, which is separate from mainland China's opaque, party-controlled legal system.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 11, 2024

U.K. judge says Hong Kong rule of law in 'danger' as third justice quits

Jonathan Sumption wrote in the Financial Times that it was "no longer realistic" for overseas judges to remain in the city's top court, from which he resigned last week.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang waves as he boards his plane at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, South Korea, on May 27.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 11, 2024

China to send premier to Australia for first time since 2017

But some say the diplomatic milestone could be overshadowed by renewed frictions over investment and military deployments.
Researchers are still years away from understanding the actual impact of AI on addressing human diseases. But given the speed with which the technology is evolving, its increasingly looking like the impact could be vast.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 12, 2024

Inventing medicines is one of the most exciting uses of AI

AlphaFold has advanced significantly since its earlier version, offering static images of protein interactions.
This proliferation of American alliances is not tangential, but central to the foreign policy of U.S. President Joe Biden.
COMMENTARY
Jun 12, 2024

America has many allies. Maybe too many.

This proliferation of American alliances is not tangential, but central to the foreign policy of President Joe Biden.
The rates of unmarried Japanese have been rising across every age group. More than 90% of women age 30-34 were married in 1980, versus 65% now.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 11, 2024

Tokyo government's 'Tinder' is actually a good idea

The rates of unmarried Japanese have been rising across every age group. More than 90% of women aged 30-34 were married in 1980, versus 65% now.
Parasitic paper mills producing fake studies are flourishing by helping scientists cheat to bolster their resumes, snag competitive academic jobs and impress funding agencies.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 13, 2024

Fake scientific studies are a problem that’s getting harder to solve

Publishing house Wiley announced it was dropping 19 journals that they said were infested with fake papers.
Fumio Kishida
JAPAN
Jun 13, 2024

Kishida Cabinet approval hits new low of 16.4%: Jiji poll

The result suggests that the Cabinet's efforts to revise the political funds control law in the wake of a slush fund scandal have not been well received by the public.
Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett attends the opening ceremony of Tungaloy's new plant in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, in  November 2011. Buffett says Tokyo executives are good value for money amid a widening pay gap between local and foreign business leaders.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 14, 2024

The pay gap in Japan’s boardrooms is unacceptable

The job market in Japan is, at all levels, much less liquid and executives are less likely to need incentives to avoid jumping ship to rivals.
A bump stock can be attached to a semiautomatic rifle to increase the firing rate.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jun 15, 2024

U.S. Supreme Court rejects federal ban on gun 'bump stocks'

Bump stocks use a semiautomatic's recoil to allow it to slide back and forth while "bumping" the shooter's trigger finger, resulting in rapid fire.
Palestinians hold Eid al-Adha prayers by the ruins of the Al-Rahma mosque destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 17, 2024

Netanyahu denounces tactical pauses in Gaza fighting to allow in aid

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's reaction underlined political tensions over the issue of aid coming into Gaza.
Members of the Australian swimming team for the 2024 Paris Olympics pose for a group photo after the Australian Swimming Trials in Brisbane on Saturday.
OLYMPICS
Jun 17, 2024

Australia coach calls worrying about Chinese doping scandal 'a waste of energy'

Rohan Taylor said it was not worth wasting time worrying about something they had no control over.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Summit on Peace in Ukraine in Switzerland on Sunday. The gathering brought together over 50 heads of state and government, excluding Russia, to work out a way toward a peace process for Ukraine.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 17, 2024

Why Ukraine isn’t ready for peace talks

It's no exaggeration to say that what happens in Ukraine matters to the world order. A rushed peace would stop the fighting, but by compromising the country's future.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference in Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv, Israel, on June 8.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 18, 2024

Israel's Netanyahu disbands war cabinet as tensions rise over Lebanon

There have been weeks of increasing exchanges of fire across the border between Israel and Lebanon.
More than 2,100 companies, or about 98% of listed firms whose financial year ends in March, are due to hold their AGMs during the coming two weeks, according to the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 18, 2024

Activists’ proposals hit record high for Japan’s AGM season

A total of 45 companies received proposals as of June 7, according to data compiled by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank.
Nigel Farage, leader of Reform U.K., during the launch of the party's 'Our Contract with You' general election manifesto in Merthyr Tydfil, U.K., on Monday
WORLD / Politics
Jun 18, 2024

Taking aim at U.K.'s Sunak, Nigel Farage pledges border control and tax cuts

Reform's policies are designed to suck support from Sunak's Conservatives, focusing on immigration, which has divided the governing party.
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the Amur Oblast region of Far East Russia on Sept. 13 .
COMMENTARY
Jun 18, 2024

Worry more about Putin’s visit than Kim’s dung balloons

Russia and North Korea, heavily sanctioned, have much to gain from each other and little to lose, reducing the leverage that the U.S. and its allies have over them.
An Israeli tank maneuvers inside the Gaza Strip on Thursday. Gaza's environment was already suffering from recurring conflicts, rapid urban growth, and high population density, before the most recent conflict began on Oct. 7.
WORLD / Society
Jun 18, 2024

Gaza conflict has caused major environmental damage, U.N. says

Water, sanitation, and hygiene systems are now almost entirely defunct, the report found, with Gaza's five wastewater treatment plants shut down.
Staff lower the Chinese national flag in the Central Financial District in Hong Kong in March. Hong Kong is an established trading hub for raising capital while Singapore excels in private wealth management.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 19, 2024

Stop comparing Hong Kong to Singapore

Think of it this way: Hong Kong is where the Chinese can grow their wealth while Singapore is where they can preserve 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?