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April 28, 2024
 

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Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo on Friday
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 27, 2024
Japan party leaders make final pitches ahead of Sunday by-elections
The outcome of the Shimane by-election is expected to affect Kishida's grip on power and his strategy for a possible dissolution of the Lower House.
Palestinians cover a body that was buried in a mass grave in the northern Gaza Strip.
WORLD / EXPLAINER
Apr 27, 2024
Mass graves in Gaza: what do we know?
The discovery of mass graves at two Gaza hospitals have triggered calls by the U.N. rights chief and others for an international investigation.
Some programmers are gearing up for what they expect to be an era of tighter controls after Russian President Vladimir Putin secured a mandate until at least 2030 with a landslide win at elections last month.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 27, 2024
Russian programmers play 'cat and mouse' game to outsmart censors
Some of them employing techniques learnt from Chinese hackers' efforts to evade the even more stringent 'Great Firewall' there.
A bouquet of flowers and incense is seen Friday at the site where the bodies of Ryutaro Takarajima, and his wife, Sachiko, were dumped in Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 27, 2024
Suspect claims he received over ¥10 million for dumping bodies in Tochigi
Investigators remain cautious, however, since a large sum of money has not been found in the suspect's home or bank account.
A prisoner stands behind the door of a cell of the isolation section at the Villepinte detention center in Villepinte, near Paris.
WORLD / Society
Apr 27, 2024
Ahead of Olympics, a packed Paris prison braces for crowds of inmates
Many of the events are being held in Seine-Saint-Denis, which has the highest ratio of immigrants among France's departments and is also the poorest.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks during a news conference, at the Downing Street Briefing Room in central London on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 27, 2024
‘Operation Save Rishi’ aims to get U.K. leader through key vote
Rishi Sunak has said that he’s putting U.K. defense spending on a "war footing.” He might as well have been talking about his own position.
Sakiyama elementary school in Tamba, Hyogo Prefecture, in March .Over the past decade, the government has directed efforts toward policies designed to give young people incentives to base themselves in rural areas.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Apr 27, 2024
In Japan, regional revitalization fails to halt population decline
Efforts to revitalize rural areas through various incentives has yielded limited results as people continue to gravitate toward urban centers.
An estimated 835,200 people were due to travel through Narita Airport in Chiba Prefecture during the 11-day Golden Week period — about 77% of the number during the same period in 2019, before the eruption of the COVID-19 pandemic.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 27, 2024
Travelers flock to train stations, airports as Golden Week begins
Japan kicked off its Golden Week holidays, which run through May 6, on Saturday, with many people heading to resorts or their home towns.
Birane Mbaye, one of the survivors of a disastrous attempt to reach Spain last year, sits on a wooden fishing boat at the shore of Fass Boye, Senegal.
WORLD / Society
Apr 27, 2024
African migrant disaster survivor haunted by weeks lost at sea
Birane Mbaye's memories of the voyage are hazy, but vivid nightmares about his friend still shock him awake at night, screaming.
A truck rolls off a cargo vessel docked at Esbjerg Port in Ebjerg, Denmark. European Union food imports to the U.K. are about to get more expensive and complicated as the British government implements the Brexit deal.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 27, 2024
Britons finally taste full Brexit as costly border checks begin
From April 30, the U.K. will impose checks on European Union food imports — a stark reversal from the pre-Brexit era of frictionless trade.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken dines at the Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant at the Yu Gardens in Shanghai on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 27, 2024
When U.S. diplomats visit China, meal choices are about more than taste buds
Visits to China by U.S. officials like Secretary of State Antony Blinken can bring fame to local restaurants, as well as scrutiny to the dignitaries.
Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani runs the bases after hitting a home run against the Toronto Blue Jays during the first inning at Rogers Centre in Toronto on Friday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 27, 2024
Ohtani homers as Dodgers trounce Blue Jays for fifth straight win
Superstar Shohei Ohtani hit a solo homer as the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 12-2 Friday night.
Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Shota Imanaga throws a pitch against the Boston Red Sox in the first inning at Fenway Park in Bosto on Friday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 27, 2024
Shota Imanaga improves to 4-0 as Cubs top Red Sox
Imanaga struck out seven — the second-highest total of his young MLB career — and allowed just one run on five hits in 6 1/3 innings.
A monitor shows the yen's sharp decline to ¥158 to the dollar on Saturday morning in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 27, 2024
Yen drops beyond ¥157 per dollar as BOJ keeps key rate unchanged
Japan’s currency weakened as much as 1.4% on the day and touched a session low of ¥157.79 per dollar in afternoon trading in New York.
U.S. soldiers from the Eighth Army participate in a competition at the Rodriguez Live Fire Complex in Pocheon, South Korea, on April 19.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 27, 2024
U.S., South Korea outline visions for cost-sharing on troops
The allies named envoys last month to launch early talks for a new deal to take effect in 2026.
Ukrainian guards patrol a stretch of land on the border with Romania. New guidance carries a clear message to Ukrainian men abroad who may be avoiding the draft: You don’t get the benefit of state services if you don’t join the fight.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 27, 2024
Ukraine is denying consular services to men outside the country
The drive to bring fighting-age men back to Ukraine, or keep them from leaving, is part of a broader effort to enlist new soldiers urgently.
A young patient is evacuated from a hospital in Kyiv after reports that the building may have been targeted by Russian forces on Friday. Russia attacked railway facilities in three different regions across Ukraine on Thursday night and Friday morning, as the Russian defense minister vowed to step up strikes aimed at slowing the flow of critically needed American weapons and equipment to the front.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 27, 2024
Russia targets Ukraine railways as Western aid due to arrive
Kyiv warned that Moscow was looking to disrupt military supplies ahead of a fresh Russian offensive while Ukraine waits for new U.S. weapons deliveries.
Students continue to maintain a protest encampment in support of Palestinians at Columbia University in New York on Friday.
WORLD / Society
Apr 27, 2024
Columbia University leadership rebuked for police crackdown on protesters
The president has faced an outcry for summoning police to dismantle a tent encampment set up by students protesting Israel's offensive in Gaza.
The top leader of Palestinian militant group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, meets with the Iranian president in Tehran on March 27.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 27, 2024
Hamas says it received Israel's response to its cease-fire proposal
After more than six months of war, negotiations remain deadlocked, with Hamas sticking to its demands that any agreement must end the conflict.
Apple and OpenAI have begun discussing terms of a possible agreement on how some artificial intelligence features would be integrated into the next iPhone operating system, sources have said.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 27, 2024
Apple intensifies talks with OpenAI for iPhone generative AI features
The latest development comes about a month and a half before an Apple conference where it's poised to introduce new AI software and services.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is welcomed by Chinese leader Xi Jinping during a ceremony at the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing last October.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 27, 2024
Half of Russia's payments to China made through middlemen
The intermediaries are legal entities from jurisdictions considered "friendly" to Russia, sources said.
Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako attend an event in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN
Apr 27, 2024
Imperial couple to visit Britain in June in first trip to country since '22
The visit will be the first trip to Britain by Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako since they attended the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
Number of homeless in Japan hits record low
Homeless people sleep on the street in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward in August 2021.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
'So hot you can't breathe': Extreme heat hits the Philippines
A pedestrian cools himself with a folding hand fan as he waits for a ride along a road in Manila on Wednesday, as extreme heat hit the Philippines.
Air China to buy 100 locally made C919 jets in $11 billion deal
A Comac C919 during an aerial display at the Singapore Airshow at Changi Exhibition Centre in Singapore in February
Casa del Cibo: A thriving jewel born from Tohoku’s harsh past
When chef Ryohei Ikemi moved to Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and opened Casa del Cibo in 2011, it was the first proper Italian restaurant in the city.
Tokyo's Koto Ward by-election a race unlike any other
Natsumi Sakai, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan’s candidate and one of four female candidates running in the by-election, touts her experience as a cancer survivor and midwife as having prepared her to tackle issues that women currently face.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
Top U.S. and China diplomats talk tough amid warnings of new ‘downward spiral’
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Friday
Kyotographie's strong 12th edition shines light into the margins
Yassine Alaoui Ismaili, who goes by Yoriyas, turned to photography, shooting motion while in motion himself, after an injury forced him to give up his career as a professional breakdancer.

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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.
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