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Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift arrives for the 66th Annual Grammy Awards at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Sunday.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Feb 5, 2024

Taylor Swift makes Grammys history as women rule music's top honors

Winning for her album "Midnights," Taylor Swift has won the best album prize a total of four times, eclipsing Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder.
Women workers demand equal pay during a protest in Melbourne.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2024

Asia is fighting off the diversity backlash

Gender equality is at a crossroads amid a corporate backlash that is threatening progress in in workplace diversity.
Japanese fans of Taylor Swift take a selfie before entering Tokyo Dome for the pop star's Eras Tour show in Japan on Feb. 7.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Feb 7, 2024

Taylor-mania hits Tokyo as Swift resumes tour before Super Bowl

Excited fans from countries such as Australia, Thailand and China joined the vast crowd at Tokyo Dome ahead of the megastar's Eras Tour show on Wednesday.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks during an interview with KBS at the Presidential Office in Seoul on Sunday. The handbag incident has cast a shadow over Yoon as his conservative People Power Party is trying to wrest control of parliament in an April election.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 8, 2024

South Korean president says Dior bag incident was a political move

Yoon Suk-yeol breaks his silence over a video showing his wife receiving a luxury handbag from a Korean-American pastor in September 2022.
The location of the water leak (left) and a close-up of the vent where the water was released at part of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant
JAPAN / Science & Health
Feb 8, 2024

Tepco reports leak at Fukushima but says no contamination detected

The nuclear plant operator plans to remove soil from around the area that may have been contaminated by the 5,500 liters of radioactive water that leaked.
In the quest for immortality, some researchers believe mind uploading will be our ticket to an eternal existence.
PODCAST / deep dive
Feb 8, 2024

Japan’s take on immortality; problems in Palworld

As scientists and technologists attempt to tackle the problem of aging and death, we discuss Japanese ideas about immortality.
A building in Manila where a group of Japanese individuals engaged in fraud
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 8, 2024

Cyber and phone fraud cases in Japan surge, marking 15-year high

National Police Agency officials say that it is premature to conclude that public safety in Japan has deteriorated.
Around 55,000 fans showed up for Taylor Swift's first show on the Tokyo leg of her world tour.
CULTURE / Music
Feb 8, 2024

Fans share love for Taylor Swift at sold-out Tokyo shows

Swifties from all over the world flew into Japan to see the pop superstar perform at The Eras Tour’s only stops in East Asia.
An advertisement for the new Nippon Individual Savings Account in Tokyo in January
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 9, 2024

Revamp of tax-free investments in Japan spurs jump in accounts

The creation of the new savings accounts is one of a slew of measures to lure more buyers to the Japanese market.
Taylor Swift performs at Tokyo Dome as part of her Era's Tour on Wednesday.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 9, 2024

Football fans embrace 'Taylor Swift effect' before Super Bowl

Pop superstar Taylor Swift is no distraction to the upcoming Super Bowl — she's an enhancement, excited fans in Las Vegas said Wednesday.
Kenya's Kelvin Kiptum wins the 2023 London Marathon on April 23, 2023. Kiptum and his coach were killed in a car accident on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Athletics
Feb 12, 2024

World marathon record holder Kelvin Kiptum dies in traffic accident

World marathon record holder Kelvin Kiptum and his coach Gervais Hakizimana died in a traffic accident on Sunday.
Kansas City Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes celebrates with the Vince Lombardi Trophy after winning Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Feb 12, 2024

Chiefs edge 49ers in overtime to win Super Bowl

The win makes Kansas City the first team to win back-to-back Super Bowls since the New England Patriots.
Singer Taylor Swift celebrates with Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce after Kansas City's win in Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Feb 12, 2024

Taylor Swift gets share of spotlight as Chiefs win second straight Super Bowl

The 34-year-old was the brightest in a galaxy of stars attending the game.
Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan, who is currently imprisoned, speaks with foreign journalists at his residence in Islamabad on April 9, 2019.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 12, 2024

The rise, and fall, and rise again of Imran Khan

When Pakistan’s government censored the media, former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party posted campaign videos on TikTok. When the police barred his supporters from holding rallies, they hosted virtual gatherings online.
A Sudanese man looks out his balcony in Cairo as he waits for his displaced family to arrive from war-ridden Khartoum, in April.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 14, 2024

Unable to survive in Egypt, refugees return to war-torn Sudan

Since the fighting began in April between the Sudanese army and paramilitary forces, over 450,000 people have crossed the border into Egypt.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 14, 2024

Biden blasts Trump over NATO remarks, in bid to reassure U.S. allies

Biden’s retort appears to be part of an attempt to reassure not only Kyiv but other allies — including top U.S. partners Japan and South Korea.
Renesas Electronics will buy software firm Altium in the biggest acquisition yet of an Australian-listed company by a Japanese buyer.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 15, 2024

Japan chipmaker Renesas to buy software company Altium for $5.9 billion

The move marks the biggest acquisition yet of an Australia-listed company by a Japanese buyer.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks about the aid package for Ukraine, from the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 15, 2024

Biden pushes Republicans on Ukraine aid bill amid Trump opposition

The bill would also fund U.S. troops in the Middle East, humanitarian aid in Gaza and defense companies and submarine manufacturing in the United States.
Fans of virtual YouTuber Selen Tatsuki and VTubers in general took to social media to express their outrage over major agency Nijisanji terminating Tatsuki’s contract.
LIFE / Digital / Japan Pulse
Feb 16, 2024

High-profile shakeups prompt scrutiny of virtual YouTuber industry

As VTubers enter a new era defined by prestige, Selen Tatsuki and Mikeneko's recent dramas demonstrate how complicated getting famous can be.
Naomi Osaka hits a return against Karolina Pliskova during their quarterfinal match at the Qatar Open in Doha on Thursday.
TENNIS
Feb 16, 2024

Naomi Osaka falls against Karolina Pliskova in Qatar Open quarterfinals

Osaka went down 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-5) after saving three match points.
Residential buildings heavily damaged by  Russian military strikes in the front-line town of Avdiivka, Ukraine, last November.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 17, 2024

Ukraine troops withdraw from front-line city of Avdiivka

Capturing Avdiivka is the most significant territorial gain for Russian forces since they seized the eastern city of Bakhmut last May.
Travelers at Shanghai Hongqiao railway station on Feb. 6. For the Feb. 10-17 period, there were 99.5 million rail trips made in China, a figure 36% higher than the comparable period in 2019.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 19, 2024

China’s new year travel and spending top pre-COVID levels

Some 474 million tourist trips were made around the country during the festival, which began Feb. 10 and concluded Saturday.
Moody’s predicts China's potential economic growth will decline to 3.5% by 2030, with weaker demographics and a graying population being a major driver of the slowdown.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 21, 2024

China’s economic engine is running out of fuel

Moody’s now predicts that China's annual economic growth will fall to 4% in 2024 and 2025, before slowing further, to 3.8%, on average, for the rest of the decade.
A liquefied natural gas processing facility at the Sakhalin 2 project in Sakhalin, Russia. Japan has kept stakes in some energy projects in Russia as a matter of energy security.
BUSINESS
Feb 21, 2024

Japanese companies maintain suspended operations in Russia: survey

Japan has kept stakes in some energy projects as a matter of energy security.
People take photos of electronic screens showing the Nikkei average surging to its highest level ever, outside a brokerage in Tokyo on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Markets / ANALYSIS
Feb 22, 2024

Nikkei tops late '80s peak, but is a bubble forming?

Market watchers say gains experienced by Japanese equities are well backed by earnings this time.
Yasuhiro Otomo and Miku Narisawa during one of Odyssey Nature Japan's educational fishing programs.
PODCAST / deep dive
Feb 22, 2024

A young 3/11 survivor and her vow to protect the ocean

At 12, Miku Narisawa experienced a magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami that destroyed her home. Now she is working to protect it.
Yurii, 53, and Tetiana, 51, attend a rally of families of Ukrainian prisoners of war  in Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, on Jan. 21.
WORLD
Feb 22, 2024

How life in Ukraine has been shattered by two years of war

Even in remote villages, signs are everywhere of the two-year-old war that has irrevocably changed the face of Ukraine.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks during an interview at the Presidential Office in Seoul on Feb. 4. Yoon has been working to cheer domestic retail investors, who have been heavy sellers of Seoul shares.
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
Feb 23, 2024

Seoul hopes Japan stock playbook can narrow 'Korea discount'

Reforms floated last month by South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol may not continue to boost the Seoul bourse, analysts say.
A recent surge in Tokyo share prices has been driven by foreign investors' enthusiasm for rising corporate profits, with Japanese investors still wary after more than three decades of market malaise.
BUSINESS
Feb 23, 2024

Japanese investors raise a glass to Nikkei record at Stock Pickers bar

Excitement among regulars at the intimate bar in Tokyo's Ginza district had been brewing since last week as the Nikkei approached its all-time high.
The climate risks sparked by AI-driven computing are far-reaching — and will worsen without a big shift from fossil fuel-based electricity to clean power.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 27, 2024

AI is exploding data center energy use. A Google-created technique may help.

Data centers and transmission networks collectively contribute up to 3% of global energy consumption, with emissions comparable to the entirety of Brazil.

Longform

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