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July 12, 2026
 

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HUMAN RIGHTS

The European Union's diplomatic service said in a report there were indications Israel had breached its human rights obligations under the terms of a pact governing its ties with the bloc.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 24, 2025
European Union divided over response to suspected Israeli rights breaches
The European Union’s top diplomat said her priority was to improve the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip rather than to “punish Israel.”
A person holding U.S. and LGBTQ+ flags stands in front of the Lincoln Memorial, ahead of the presidential inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, in Washington on Jan. 18.
WORLD
Jun 23, 2025
Pride and prejudice: Trump casts shadow on 10 years of gay marriage
At least two sitting Supreme Court justices have indicated they want to revisit Obergefell, which legalized same-sex marriage in the U.S., among other cases.
Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil speaks to reporters after being released from immigration custody in Jena, Louisiana, on Friday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jun 21, 2025
Pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil walks free after U.S. judge orders release
President Donald Trump has called protests against Israel’s Gaza war antisemitic and vowed to deport foreign students who took part. Khalil became the first target of this policy.
A visitor looks into North Korea from South Korea's Odusan Unification Observatory in Paju on June 12.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Jun 20, 2025
Rights abuses continue in North Korea a decade after probe, says U.N.
A U.N official said he is still surprised by the continued prevalence of executions, forced labour and reports of starvation in the authoritarian country.
Social activists and artists remove graffiti from the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles on June 10, after days of protests against federal immigration sweeps.
JAPAN
Jun 19, 2025
Japanese American museum criticizes Trump order
U.S. authorities issued orders to put up notices for exhibitions, movies and others that are deemed to disparage U.S. history.
Foreign nationals applying for U.S. student and exchange visitor visas will now be asked to set their social media profiles to public so that they can be reviewed.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 19, 2025
U.S. orders social media vetting for student visa applicants
The move steps up measures to restrict foreign nationals’ entry to American campuses over national security concerns.
The Tokyo District Court has issued an order to the government to pay ¥1.2 million ($8,300) in damages to two overstayers who got sick while they were held at a detention center.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 18, 2025
Government ordered to compensate overstayers who got sick in detention
The Tokyo District Court held the government responsible over the deterioration of health of the two men — one Iranian, the other Turkish — at an immigration detention facility.
People shop at a covered market in Suva, Fiji, on Sept. 5.
BUSINESS
Jun 17, 2025
Pacific Islands should boost women’s participation in work, says World Bank
Six countries did not have paid parental leave, often forcing women to leave the labor force when they started families, a report said.
A Ukrainian mother sits with her children near a refugee center in Sumy, Ukraine, on June 12.
WORLD
Jun 17, 2025
Stay or go? Ukrainian visa programs in U.K. leave refugees in limbo
Many Ukrainians who came to Britain on special visas from 2022 are running out of time.
A woman weeps as she holds a poster of TikTok star Sana Yousaf during a protest to condemn violence against women, after Yousaf was killed for rejecting a man's proposal in Islamabad.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jun 16, 2025
‘This is a culture’: TikTok murder highlights Pakistan’s unease with women online
TikTok is wildly popular in the nation, and women have found both audience and income. But as views have surged, so have efforts to police the platform.
Hong Kong Island and Victoria Harbor on May 19. New raids show Hong Kong’s clampdown on dissent is still expanding.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 16, 2025
China security office flexes new power with Hong Kong probe
Raids have shown the clampdown on dissent is still expanding, five years after Chinese President Xi Jinping imposed a security law on the city.
A library on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, late last month
WORLD / Society
Jun 13, 2025
Foreign students scrub social media as U.S. expands visa vetting
Digital rights lawyers argue that the level of scrutiny that appears to be under consideration could set a dangerous precedent for digital surveillance in immigration processes.
In an annual gender gap report, Japan recorded its strongest gains in economic participation, where its score climbed to 61.3% from 56.8% in 2024.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 12, 2025
Japan ranks 118th out of 148 countries in gender gap report
Japan’s gender parity ranking was unchanged from a year ago and is still the lowest among Group of Seven countries.
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Friday. Suzuki said preparations for the changes that will focus more on rehabilitation are being actively made at each correctional facility.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Jun 5, 2025
Japan’s prison reform focuses on rehabilitation
Prison labor is no longer mandatory, which allows more time for educational and rehabilitative programs aimed at reducing recidivism.
Security personnel keep watch near the portrait of late Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong displayed on the Tiananmen Gate, in Beijing on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 4, 2025
We will never forget Tiananmen crackdown, Taiwan and U.S. say on 36th anniversary
The events are not publicly discussed in China and the anniversary is not officially marked.
Yasuhiko Morine (left), Esperanza Morine (center left), Lydia Morine (center right) and Naoaki Morine on the island of Linapacan in the western Philippines on May 25
JAPAN
Jun 4, 2025
Some descendants of Japanese in Philippines still without Japan nationality
As this year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the government is strengthening support for those seeking Japanese nationality based on their ancestry.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer meets U.S. President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the Oval Office on Feb. 27. U.S. conservatives may be unlikely defenders of free speech but their criticism of censorship in the U.K. and Europe raises real concerns about vague hate laws and curbs on liberty in the name of harmony. 
COMMENTARY
Jun 2, 2025
European kindness is threatening the foundations of free speech
Right-wing U.S. critics of U.K. and European censorship have a point.
The chief prosecutor of Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal, Mohammad Tajul Islam (center), speaks during a news conference in Dhaka on Sunday, the opening day of fugitive former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's trial for allegedly orchestrating a "systemic attack" to crush an uprising against her government.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 1, 2025
Bangladesh opens fugitive ex-PM’s trial over protest killings
The prosecution of senior figures from Hasina’s government is a key demand of several of the political parties now jostling for power.
A vehicle exits Shek Pik Prison after former leader of the Civil Human Rights Front, Jimmy Sham, served a four-year, three-month sentence for conspiracy to commit subversion in a landmark national security case, in Hong Kong, on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
May 30, 2025
Second group of Hong Kong democrats freed after 4 years in jail
Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ+ activist Jimmy Sham, who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups.
A view of the construction site of BYD's electric vehicle factory at the Industrial Complex in the city of Camacari, in the state of Bahia, Brazil, on Jan. 9
BUSINESS / Companies
May 28, 2025
Brazil sues EV giant BYD over ‘slavery’ conditions at plant
Prosecutors said 220 Chinese workers were found in December in conditions “analogous to slavery” and described them as victims of human trafficking.
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.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

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