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July 12, 2026
 

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DRUGS

FIFA President Gianni Infantino speaks during the inauguration of the Colombian Football Federation’s hotel, where he expressed his support for Mexico ahead of the World Cup, in Barranquilla, Colombia, on Tuesday.
SOCCER
Feb 25, 2026
FIFA boss ‘very reassured’ about World Cup in Mexico despite violence
“Very reassured, everything’s good. It’s going to be spectacular,” Infantino said in the Colombian city of Barranquilla.
Soldiers walk past a bus torched by unknown assailants in Acapulco, Mexico, on Sunday after organized crime groups launched attacks in several states following a military operation that killed drug lord Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as "El Mencho," earlier that day.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 25, 2026
Strike on Mexican drug lord tests state power and resolve
The killing of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, a.k.a. “El Mencho,” by Mexico’s armed forces on Sunday unleashed a wave of violence across the country.
Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte attends a rally for his political party PDP-Laban's senatorial candidates ahead of the midterm elections in Manila on Feb. 13, 2025.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 25, 2026
Duterte drew up ‘death lists’ and boasted about murders: ICC prosecutor
Judges will weigh at this week’s “confirmation of charges” hearing whether to move ahead with a trial for the former Philippine president
Police in Tokyo arrested four men for drug possession on Monday, including the producer of the idol group XG.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 23, 2026
Producer of girl group XG arrested in cocaine bust
Police seized four bags of white powder believed to be cocaine and one bag of plant matter believed to be dried cannabis from the room.
Etomidate, a designated drug, concealed in air cargo from India
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 18, 2026
Japan’s customs seized second-highest amount of illegal drugs in 2025
Customs officers seized 3,211 kilograms of illegal drugs last year, the first time since 2019 that annual seizures exceeded 3 metric tons.
Ryoko Yonekura
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 31, 2026
Japanese actress Ryoko Yonekura not indicted over drug case
The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office did not disclose its reasons for deciding not to indict the 50-year-old celebrity.
Hiroshima Prefectural Police have arrested Ryutaro Hatsuki, a 25-year-old infielder for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, for allegedly using etomidate, a designated drug also known as the "zombie cigarette."
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 29, 2026
Hiroshima Carp infielder arrested over ‘zombie cigarette’
Ryutaro Hatsuki, 25, denies the allegation and claims that he has no memory of using the drug, according to Hiroshima Prefectural Police sources.
University of Tokyo Auditorium
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 28, 2026
University of Tokyo Hospital head resigns over recent scandals involving staff
Sakae Tanaka’s resignation on Tuesday follows the arrest of a second member of the hospital’s staff within three months on bribery allegations.
Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte attends a senate probe on the drug war during his administration, in Manila on Oct. 28, 2024.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 26, 2026
Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte fit for pre-trial hearings, ICC judges rule
Rodrigo Duterte’s defense had said the elderly politician, who is being held in The Hague over ‍murders during his war on drugs, could not stand trial due to cognitive decline.
Shinichi Sato (back), a 62-year-old professor at the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Medicine, is transported from the Metropolitan Police Department in Tokyo on Monday. Sato and a former associate professor at the university have been referred to prosecutors.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 26, 2026
Alleged bribes see former associate professor referred to prosecutors
A former specially appointed associate professor at the University of Tokyo is suspecting of receiving entertainment worth about ¥1.9 million.
Two new drug ingredients found in cough and allergy medicines will be added to a list of over-the-counter drug ingredients that may be abused.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jan 25, 2026
Japan to designate eight ingredients for list of drugs with abuse risk
These ingredients will be subject to sales restrictions under the revised pharmaceutical and medical device law, which takes effect in May.
A Liberian-flagged oil tanker sails through Havana Bay on Jan. 9 after departing from Mexico to deliver refined fuel for Cuba.
BUSINESS
Jan 24, 2026
Mexico weighs stopping oil shipments to Cuba amid concerns of Trump retaliation
The policy is under review as anxiety grows within President Claudia Sheinbaum’s cabinet that the shipments could antagonize the U.S.
A blackboard illustrating cannabis strains for sale is displayed inside Shaggy Buds, a cannabis dispensary in Bangkok.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jan 23, 2026
Weed backlash grows in Thailand as kids turn to cannabis
The plant could be criminalized once again after next month’s election, four years after its decriminalization.
Seized cartridges containing etomidate are shown at Kansai International Airport in Osaka Prefecture on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 21, 2026
Thai woman arrested in Japan for smuggling ‘zombie cigarettes’
Tuela Kanwara was arrested and later indicted for allegedly smuggling 1,002 cartridges of the substance on a flight into Kansai International Airport.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 7. The Pentagon used a secret aircraft painted to look like a civilian plane in its first attack on a boat that the Trump administration said was smuggling drugs, killing 11 people last September, according to officials briefed on the matter.
WORLD
Jan 13, 2026
U.S. attacked boat with aircraft that looked like a civilian plane
Even accepting the Trump administration’s claim that there is an armed conflict with suspected drug runners, the laws of war bar “perfidy.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum speaks during her daily morning news conference after U.S. strikes on Venezuela, at the National Palace in Mexico City on Monday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jan 6, 2026
Mexico condemns attack on Venezuela while seeking to avoid its fate
The Mexican government has found itself traversing the most delicate balancing act since U.S. President Donald Trump began his second term.
The so-called Donald Trump Corollary revives a distorted Monroe Doctrine to legitimize bullying in the Western Hemisphere, increasing instability and the risk of wider conflict.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 31, 2025
Turning the Monroe Doctrine into ‘Donroe’ is awful geopolitics
For the Trump administration, as Jay Sexton points out, trolling libs like Kerry is of course another plus for the Donroe Doctrine.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a joint news conference in Palm Beach, Florida, on Dec. 29.
WORLD
Dec 30, 2025
Trump says U.S. hit dock for Venezuela drug boats
The attack could amount to the first land strike of the military campaign against trafficking from Latin America.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro gives a speach marking the anniversary of the death of Simon Bolivar in Caracas on Wednesday. The Trump administration’s escalating campaign against his government relies on legally dubious force and sanctions that echo past U.S. interventions.
EDITORIALS
Dec 19, 2025
Maduro is an autocrat, but that doesn’t justify a U.S. coup
It is not clear whether these actions are legal, whether there is a strategic rationale or if they would enjoy the support of the U.S. public.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth arrives for a classified briefing with senators on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 18, 2025
For Hegseth, there is one boat strike he doesn’t want the public to see
A “second strike” on a boat in September killed two survivors clinging on to the remains of an overturned vessel.
China’s demand for Soviet-style apartments shows limits to revival
Apartments built during a Soviet Union-inspired construction drive in the 1970s and 1980s tend to suffer from poor insulation and outdated plumbing, but they are seeing a revival in interest due to their attractive locations.
Japanese scientists identify neural mechanism that may explain why we dislike people
The aggressive mouse (left) used in the experiment and a mouse defending itself
Japanese payment processor’s collapse hits banks and restaurants
Zentoshin served around 200,000 shops, many of which rely on early payments to maintain cash flow, raising concerns over their financial stability following the disruption.
Over 70% of accommodations in Japan say they are understaffed amid tourism influx
The number of foreign visitors to Japan reached a high of 42.68 million in 2025.
Lenders seek $700 million after Japanese payments firm’s collapse
The financial failure of Osaka-based Zentoshin has left 63 creditors with claims totaling ¥115.16 billion, according to Tokyo Shoko Research.
Japan’s largest exhibition of women photographers rights a wrong in cultural history
Miwa Yanagi’s “Elevator Girl House” series skewers the superficiality of gender roles through staged images.
Over 70% of accommodations in Japan say they are understaffed amid tourism influx
The number of foreign visitors to Japan reached a high of 42.68 million in 2025.
‘Princess Mononoke’ comes alive in Super Kabuki staging
The “Princess Mononoke” adaptation was created under Shochiku’s Super Kabuki initiative, a modern form of kabuki with more technology in staging and open to pop culture collaborations.
The beating heart inside ‘Human Vapor’
Different forms of love and connection form the emotional backbone of Netflix’s “Human Vapor,” says actor Shun Oguri, who plays troubled detective Kenji Okamoto.
Japan bets on character IP to drive global growth
Born on social media platforms in 2022, Opanchu Usagi has become a major hit, especially among Generation Z.

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One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
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