91²Ö¿â

archive

 
Menu
Search
 
April 21, 2026
 

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access
April 2026
SMTWTFS
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
2627282930 
? Mar

JAPAN

The Ground Self-Defense Force's Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade takes part in exercises in Tokunoshima, Kagoshima Prefecture, in November 2023. The Japanese government moved Tuesday to allow the sale of more weapons abroad as it grapples with rising security threats from China and a rapidly changing global order.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 21, 2026
In major policy shift, Japan scraps limits on lethal arms exports
By Gabriel Dominguez and Jesse Johnson
The changes come amid intensifying geopolitical rivalries and 91²Ö¿â growing engagement in international defense-industrial projects.
About 748 kilometers of sewer pipes in Japan, roughly 16% of those inspected, have been found to require countermeasures due to risks such as cave-ins, prompting the infrastructure ministry to call for immediate repairs.
JAPAN
Apr 21, 2026
Hundreds of kilometers of 91²Ö¿â sewers classified as needing action
The infrastructure ministry will ask 383 municipalities and organizations managing the sewer pipes to take immediate measures.
A medical vehicle enters the Ground Self-Defense Force's Hijudai maneuver area in Kusu, Oita Prefecture, on Tuesday after three GSDF members died and one other was seriously injured in an explosion involving a tank during training.
JAPAN
Apr 21, 2026
Three GSDF members die after tank explosion during training in Oita Prefecture
By Kanako Takahara and Jesse Johnson
The incident occurred at the Ground Self-Defense Force's tank unit at the Hijudai maneuver area in Kusu, Oita Prefecture.
Investigators search a rental office in Tokyo's Minato Ward on Monday in connection with a body abandonment case.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 21, 2026
Police search Tokyo rental office over abandonment of body
The suspect, Katsuya Mizuguchi, who was arrested on Friday on suspicion of abandoning a body, virtually lived in the rental office, sources said.
An offering sent by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi for the spring festival at Yasukuni Shrine, in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward, on Tuesday
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 21, 2026
Takaichi risks China's wrath with offering to Yasukuni Shrine
By Sakura Murakami
The prime minister's offering of a sacred tree was made on the first day of a traditional spring festival.
Yuichiro Tamaki (left), leader of the Democratic Party for the People, and Sanseito leader Sohei Kamiya seek voter support during street speeches.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 21, 2026
91²Ö¿â opposition parties gear up for unified local elections
The Democratic Party for the People and Sanseito in particular plan to actively field candidates in the local races.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi enters the Prime Minister's Office on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 21, 2026
Takaichi marks six months in office as prime minister
The leader's administration will now face issues that could cause controversy, such as the criminalizing of acts to damage the national flag.
The new Japan National Stadium is now called MUFG Stadium after Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group bought its naming rights.
JAPAN
Apr 21, 2026
Can Japan stop its National Stadium from becoming a costly white elephant?
Annual maintenance and management costs for the stadium built for 91²Ö¿â 2020 Summer Games are estimated at ?2.4 billion, raising concerns it may turn into a negative legacy.
Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi (right) and his British counterpart, Yvette Cooper, at a strategic dialogue meeting on Monday at the Iikura Guest House in Tokyo
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 21, 2026
Japanese and British officials reaffirm ties and cooperation over Middle East conflict
Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi stressed that the importance of cooperation with Britain is growing at a time when the international order is being shaken.

ASIA PACIFIC

Newly arrived Rohingya refugees are stranded on a boat after the nearby community decided not to allow them to land after giving them water and food in Pineung, Aceh province, Indonesia, on Nov. 16, 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 21, 2026
Scarce food, bleak futures spur Rohingya refugees to gamble with death at sea
By Ruma Paul and Sam Jahan
Hundreds die en route, but the numbers keep growing as dwindling international aid pushes yet more to make the treacherous journey to countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia.

WORLD

An army recruitment center in Lviv, Ukraine. Assaults on military recruiters in the country almost tripled to 341 last year compared with 2024, and more than 100 have been recorded so far this year.
WORLD
Apr 21, 2026
Attacks on Ukraine draft officers soar as war fatigue deepens
By Volodymyr Verbianyi and Olesia Safronova
Assaults on military recruiters in Ukraine almost tripled to 341 last year compared with 2024, and more than 100 have been recorded so far this year.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun delivers a televised address to the Lebanese people from the Baabda Presidential Palace, east of Beirut, on April 17.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 21, 2026
Lebanese president says Israel talks could 'save' country as Hezbollah dissents
Israeli attacks killed more than 2,300 people in Lebanon and displaced more than 1 million, according to Lebanese authorities.
An electoral billboard for former Bulgarian President Rumen Radev is pictured next to a traffic light in Sofia on April 17. Radev won a landslide victory in an election on Sunday that he stepped down from the ceremonial role to run in.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 21, 2026
Rumen Radev, Russia-friendly ex-fighter pilot, sweeps Bulgaria's election
By Edward McAllister
Sunday's election outcome will allow Radev to head Bulgaria's first single-party government in nearly three decades.
A pile of small crucifixes on the day of the Christian Good Friday procession in Jerusalem's Old City on April 10. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that an Israeli soldier's desecration of a crucifix went against Jewish values of tolerance and that he would be punished.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 21, 2026
Israeli soldier's desecration of crucifix in south Lebanon draws condemnation
By Maayan Lubell and Maya Gebeily
A photo posted by Younis Tirawi, a Palestinian reporter, shows an Israeli soldier taking the blunt side of an axe to a fallen sculpture of Jesus on the ?cross.
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis (left) visits the scene after four ambulances belonging to Hatzola, a Jewish community organization, were set on fire in an incident that police say is being treated as an antisemitic hate crime, in northwest London on March 23.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Apr 21, 2026
U.K. police arrest two teens over 'thugs for hire' Jewish site attack
London's police force has been probing whether recent attacks have been instigated by Iranian proxies.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer leaves 10 Downing Street in central London on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 21, 2026
Starmer¡¯s political fate rests with top U.K. official he fired
By Alex Wickham, Lucy White and Joe Mayes
The fate of Prime Minister Keir Starmer's premiership may rest with Olly Robbins, whom Starmer last week fired as the Foreign Office's top civil servant.
FBI Director Kash Patel speaks during a news conference in Ontario, California, on Jan. 23.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 21, 2026
FBI chief sues magazine over reports about drinking and absences
By Jana Winter
The lawsuit, ?filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeks $250 ?million in damages from the Atlantic.
The leaders of Russia, Israel and the United States are seeking to impose a new "predatory" world order while most countries are too cowardly to stop them, rights group Amnesty International said on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 21, 2026
Amnesty International warns that 'predator' leaders seek to impose new 'world order'
By Anna MALPAS
Certain leaders have rejected the global multilateral system in favor of a "vision without moral compass,"?where "war, not diplomacy, rules,"?a report from the group said.
Iranians ride past a large billboard depicting Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei on a street in Tehran on Monday.
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Apr 21, 2026
Gulf worries U.S.-Iran talks may cement Tehran's 'golden' grip on Hormuz
By Samia Nakhoul
Diplomacy appears now centered less on rolling back Iran's missile program and more on enrichment levels and tacitly accepting Tehran's leverage over Hormuz.
People pass a street mural in Tehran on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 21, 2026
Fate of Iran peace talks uncertain as deadline approaches for end of ceasefire
By Parisa Hafezi, Jana Choukeir and Steve Holland
The two-week ceasefire in a conflict that has killed thousands and roiled the global economy, particularly energy markets, is set to expire this week.

BUSINESS

SpaceX founder Elon Musk speaks at a news conference following the first launch of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, in 2018.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 21, 2026
Musk¡¯s SpaceX tries to woo Wall Street with analyst meetings this week, sources say
By Echo Wang
The company is looking to raise $75 billion, in what would be the world's ?biggest-ever initial public offering, with executives targeting a late June trading debut.
Tourists on the beach in Mirissa, Sri Lanka in 2022. Some hotels in South Asia have seen a sharp drop in occupancy.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 21, 2026
The forces of scarcity hitting Asia may soon spread across the world
By Damien Cave
Many countries across the region are experiencing sudden jolts of disruption that they are struggling to manage.
The headquarters of Commerzbank seen from an observation platform in the Main Tower skyscraper in Frankfurt, Germany, in November 2024. The German bank is being targeted in a hostile takeover battle that started almost two years ago, but whose genesis goes back much further.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 21, 2026
UniCredit pursues Commerzbank, eyeing Europe¡¯s biggest banking takeover
By Arno Schuetze
If there had been a sense in March talks that both sides could find common ground, it evaporated quickly.
A Sanrio store in Tokyo's Asakusa district. Sanrio is launching a new gaming brand, with some 10 titles to be released over the next three years.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 21, 2026
Sanrio launches gaming brand, tapping fast-growing global market
By Eru Ishikawa
Sanrio's push into gaming reflects a broader trend among Japanese intellectual property owners to diversify revenue by extending popular franchises into interactive entertainment.
Companies in Japan are working to meet rising demand for quick meal solutions driven by the increase in dual-income households.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 21, 2026
Companies in Japan offer kids' meals to help ease burden of working households
Working parents are ready to spend more money on food that's easy to prepare so they can spend more time with their children, a developer at one food company said.
Attendees at the Canton Fair in Guangzhou, China, take pictures of various service robots on display.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 21, 2026
China flashes new tech swagger to world markets convulsed by war
The world's factory floor is increasingly getting retrofitted for a new era of artificial intelligence and robotics, churning out technological innovation the world craves.
Anthropic was founded in 2021 by several former employees of OpenAI.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 21, 2026
Amazon to invest an additional $5 billion in Anthropic
By Matt Day and Rachel Metz
Amazon said it would provide Anthropic with chips ¡ª for general computing and AI accelerators ¡ª to reach about 5 gigawatts of power.
A TV screen shows the artist database on Nadou Pro, iQIYI's artificial intelligence product for professional film and television production, during the iQIYI World Conference in Beijing on Monday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 21, 2026
Outrage in China after streaming site debuts AI actor ¡®database¡¯
China's entertainment industry has rapidly embraced the use of artificial intelligence, with AI-generated films and shows a common feature on video platforms.
Waterfront residential buildings in Tokyo. New condominium prices in the capital hit a record high in the year that ended in March.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 21, 2026
Tokyo condo prices hit record high in fiscal 2025
Condo prices may climb even further as tensions in the Middle East are making it difficult to procure oil-derived products.
Kevin Warsh, U.S. President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Federal Reserve, faces an uphill confirmation battle as key U.S. senators have called for a pause in proceedings amid investigations into two of the Fed's sitting governors.
BUSINESS
Apr 21, 2026
Trump's Fed chair pick to face lawmakers at key confirmation hearing
By Beiyi Seow and Myriam LEMETAYER
Kevin Warsh is due to face sharp questions from lawmakers on issues ranging from his wealth to past connections to Jeffrey Epstein, alongside his views on economic issues.
Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways aircraft at Haneda Airport. The two airlines will double their fuel surcharges for international flights booked in May and June.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 21, 2026
JAL and ANA to double fuel surcharges in May
The airlines initially planned to raise the surcharges in June but will now move up the increases.
John Ternus, Apple¡¯s vice president of hardware engineering at the time, speaks during the Apple World Wide Developers Conference in San Jose, California, in June 2017. Ternus will take over the top job at Apple after CEO Tim Cook steps down in September.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 21, 2026
Apple's Tim Cook to step down as CEO in September
Cook is credited with expanding Apple's product line and ramping up the company's value to some $4 trillion based on the value of its shares.
U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks on tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington in April last year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 21, 2026
Tariff refund system launches as thousands of companies file claims
Up to $166 billion in tariffs illegally collected tariffs by the U.S. government could be returned to importers.

Sports

West Ham manager Nuno Espirito Santo before the match against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park in London on Monday
SOCCER
Apr 21, 2026
West Ham ekes out point at Palace to extend gap on Spurs
By Martyn Herman
Victory would have put Nuno Espirito Santo's resurgent side four points above third-from-bottom Tottenham Hotspur with five games left, but the stalemate leaves ?it in peril.
Timberwolves guard Donte DiVincenzo (center left) defends against Nuggets forward Cameron Johnson at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado, on Monday.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Apr 21, 2026
Wolves escape 19-point hole to level set versus Nuggets
Julius Randle had 24 points and nine rebounds and hit two free throws ?with 18.8 seconds left to help Minnesota even the Western Conference quarterfinal matchup.
Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (center) reacts after drawing a foul while scoring a basket against the Portland Trail Blazers at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas, on Sunday.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Apr 21, 2026
Wembanyama unanimously named NBA defensive player of the year
France international Victor Wembanyama, a generational talent who has helped transform San Antonio into title contenders, earned a perfect 100 votes in the media ballot.
Haas' Oliver Bearman during the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka, Mie Prefecture, on March 29
MORE SPORTS
Apr 21, 2026
Formula One makes rule changes after drivers' criticism
Four-time world champion Max Verstappen called the new style of racing "a joke" after the Chinese Grand Prix and hinted he would take a break from F1 unless changes were made.

COMMUNITY

Izanami was named after the goddess of creation who gave birth to the Japanese archipelago.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Apr 21, 2026
Black-and-white beauty Izanami is here to chill
This 5-year-old tuxedo cat prefers peace and quiet over games, but gets chatty from time to time.
91²Ö¿â tourism industry begins to feel pain of Iran war
Buildings in the historic area of Takayama, Gifu Prefecture
Japan issues rare special advisory over chance of more powerful quake
An official from the Japan Meteorological Agency speaks about the powerful quake that hit northern Japan at a news conference in Tokyo Monday evening.
Japan seals largest-ever defense contract with frigate sale to Australia
Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles and Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi pose for a photo after the signing of the contract for Japan to deliver the first three Mogami-class warships to Australia, in Melbourne on Saturday.
Japan¡¯s latest tourist destination: hair salons
When the family planned a trip to Japan, Lily Romero was determined to visit a salon in the country well-known for its expertise in straightening treatments.
Tokyo IT firm chief arrested for allegedly abandoning body
Katsuya Mizuguchi, the 49-year-old president of Linux Japan, is taken to Azabu Police Station in Tokyo's Minato Ward after being arrested Friday.
Now on the multilingual margins, can Japanese bookstores be more than just a vibe?
Jimbocho, Tokyo¡¯s book town, has gained popularity online and some travel companies are already selling book-centric tours for foreign visitors.
Counseling and community for foreign cancer patients in Japan
Navigating cancer treatment as a foreign resident of Japan can be an added layer of stress, but nonprofit organizations and community resources are available to support those with a diagnosis.
91²Ö¿â tourism industry begins to feel pain of Iran war
Buildings in the historic area of Takayama, Gifu Prefecture
After years away, BTS and its fans reunite at full volume
BTS kicked off the international leg of its Arirang World Tour at Tokyo Dome on Friday.
Japan¡¯s latest tourist destination: hair salons
When the family planned a trip to Japan, Lily Romero was determined to visit a salon in the country well-known for its expertise in straightening treatments.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo¡¯s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo¡¯s ¡®stadium of desire¡¯

Longform

Projects like the BuddhaBot aim to re-create dialogue once lost to time, raising questions about whether AI can extend the teachings of Buddha or merely simulate them.
Can AI replace a priest? Japan¡¯s temples and shrines are testing the limits.
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER