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June 30, 2026
 

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ENVIRONMENT

Across the Global South, a growing crisis of overheating cities is impacting the health and livelihoods of more than 1 billion people living in informal settlements, a figure expected to increase sevenfold by 2050, a new report said.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 6, 2026
Extreme heat hurts work, health and sleep in Africa slums, report says
A growing crisis of overheating cities is impacting the health and livelihoods of more than 1 billion people living in informal settlements.
Cedar and cypress pollen have been dispersing at a much faster pace in western Tokyo than in an average year.
JAPAN
Mar 6, 2026
Pollen dispersing at higher rate than usual in western Tokyo
The hay fever season could die down earlier than in previous years as a result.
The front page of The Japan Times on March 3, 1976, carries the news of a terrorist attack in Sapporo.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Mar 6, 2026
Japan Times 1976: Bomb explosion in Sapporo claims 2 lives, injures 85
A note left after the terrorist attack at a government building cited “imperialists” as the target.
Japan is hosting a three-day closed-door meeting among working-level officials from around 20 countries to push for progress toward a global treaty on plastic pollution.
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2026
‘Unofficial’ talks on plastic pollution treaty to begin in Japan
Supposedly final talks in South Korea in 2024 toward an agreement failed, and a renewed effort in Geneva last August likewise collapsed in overtime.
Michio Hoshino’s Alaska essays, now translated into English, reflect on fragility, risk and living close to nature.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 24, 2026
‘The Traveling Tree’: Essays from Alaska offer lessons from the edge of the wild
Michio Hoshino’s Alaska essays, now translated into English, reflect on fragility, risk and living close to nature.
A Yamaha sports motorbike at the Bharat Mobility Global Expo in New Delhi, in January 2025. Yamaha aims to have electric motorcycles account for about 30% of its new motorcycles by 2027.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 24, 2026
Motorcycle makers in Japan race to go carbon-neutral
Though motorcycle manufacturer executives believe motorcycles will eventually go electric, challenges — such as a steep price and lack of charging facilities — remain.
Temporary pipes divert sewage into the C&O Canal in order to repair the Potomac Interceptor, a six-foot-wide wastewater pipe that collapsed in January, dumping hundreds of millions of gallons of sewage into the Potomac River, in Cabin John, Maryland, on Wednesday.
WORLD
Feb 19, 2026
Washington mayor asks Trump for disaster declaration over Potomac spill
After part of a sewer line failed in Maryland’s Montgomery County on Jan. 19, some 250 million gallons of untreated sewage flowed into the Potomac over the next several days.
A worker sorts dismantled electronic parts at Ecowork, an e-waste recycling facility in Ghaziabad, India, on Feb. 12.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Feb 18, 2026
Junk to high-tech: India bets on e-waste for critical minerals
Global worries about China’s dominance as a critical minerals producer has galvanized New Delhi to ramp up extracting materials essential for it to become an AI hub.
Pedestrians walk along an overpass as traffic snarls in Beijing on Feb. 11.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Feb 17, 2026
China has slashed air pollution, but the ‘war’ isn’t over
In much of the country, the air remains dangerous to breathe by World Health Organization standards.
Volunteers wade through a flooded street after Storm Leonardo passed by Alcacer do Sal, Portugal, on Feb. 5.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Feb 17, 2026
EU ill-prepared for worsening climate change, advisers say
The EU should urgently step up its investments to protect people and infrastructure from floods, ​wildfires and severe heatwaves, independent advisers said.
Rosie Fordham of Australia competes in the women's 4 x 7.5 kilometer cross-country skiing relay during the Milano Cortina Olympics on Saturday in Lago, Italy.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / OUR PLANET
Feb 15, 2026
Is global warming dooming snow sports and the Winter Olympics?
Since the 1970s, mean snow depth across the Alps has declined by over 8% per decade and the snow season is up to 34 days shorter below 2,000 meters.
Employees work on an electric vehicle production line at a factory in China
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Feb 14, 2026
As Trump shreds climate rules, China’s emissions start to fall
This week’s major climate news played out on a split screen with the world’s two superpowers signaling different paths for the future.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s aggressive moves to roll back emissions regulations and pour funding into the coal-power industry seem unlikely to boost the sector’s long-term prospects.
BUSINESS
Feb 13, 2026
Coal will need more than the army to pull off a U.S. revival
U.S. President Donald Trump is making another major bid to bolster the shrinking U.S. coal-power industry.
The coal industry celebrated the announced U.S. reversal on climate action, saying it would help stave off retirements of aging coal-fired power plants.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Feb 13, 2026
Trump revokes basis of U.S. climate regulation and ends vehicle emission standards
It is the most sweeping climate policy rollback to date, after a string of regulatory cuts and other moves intended to unfetter fossil fuel development.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the signing ceremony for a coal mining executive order in the East Room of the White House on April 8, 2025.
BUSINESS
Feb 11, 2026
Trump to direct Pentagon to buy coal in bid to revive industry
The move is expected to tap special Cold War-era authorities under the 1950 Defense Production Act that gives the White House sweeping power to direct private industry.
Overturning the legal basis for federal greenhouse gas rules, which will lead to the repeal of vehicle emissions rules, marks the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump's ⁠most sweeping climate change policy rollback to date.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Feb 11, 2026
White House says Trump plans to rescind climate change finding key to auto rules
Overturning the legal basis for federal greenhouse gas rules will mark the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump’s ⁠most sweeping climate change policy rollback to date.
People wade through floodwaters brought by Tropical Storm Penha in Iligan, Lanao del Norte province, Philippines, on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 10, 2026
Climate risk threatens credit ratings for dozens of countries
Several countries, including the Bahamas, Jamaica and the Philippines, face among the highest physical risk pressure on credit by 2050, an analysis shows.
Crown Prince Akishino (left) and Prince Hisahito (second from left) attend a presentation event of a national competition for biotopes held at the Tokyo National Museum in Tokyo on Sunday.
JAPAN
Feb 9, 2026
Prince Hisahito attends biotope competition event
The competition showcases schools and others that develop biotopes, or gardens where various organisms live.
Residential towers beyond the Johor Bahru–Singapore Rapid Transit System Link under construction in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, on Sept. 23, 2024. The state of Johor where Johor Bahru is located is Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing data center hub.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 8, 2026
Malaysia draws first data center protest over pollution and water
The country is emblematic of growing social unease with data centers worldwide, despite their crucial role in powering the internet and ChatGPT searches.
An aerial view of a cleared patch of the Shakarparian forest in Islamabad. Trees across Islamabad are being felled for infrastructure and even military monuments, prompting local anger and lawsuits.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Feb 8, 2026
Pakistan’s capital picks concrete over trees, angering residents
Trees are being felled across Islamabad for infrastructure and military monuments.
Uruguay federation reportedly cancels charter flight after World Cup exit
Uruguay's Jose Maria Gimenez reacts after the team's loss against Spain at the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Friday.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
India’s gig workers pay the price for exposure to New Delhi’s hazardous air
Rohit Kushwaha waits for a customer as he delivers his last parcel of the day, in New Delhi in January. His work as a delivery driver has helped pay the family’s bills, but has had a significant impact on his health.
Chinese and Russian bombers and fighter jets stage joint patrol near Japan
A Chinese Air Force H-6 bomber is seen during a joint patrol with Russian military aircraft on Saturday.
U.S. missile moves in Japan send China clear message: A new era has arrived
Soldiers conduct the first Typhon midrange capability live-fire exercise outside of the continental United States, firing an SM-6 missile in July last year in Australia's Northern Territory during Exercise Talisman Sabre.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
A French ship with close ties to Japan combines arts and sciences on the high seas
Romain Troublé, the executive director of Tara Ocean Foundation, speaks to visitors aboard the Tara during a rare port call in Tokyo in April.
In Kyushu’s far south, Senti.U sparks a culinary destination
Chef Yasuhiko Uchida was born in Saga Prefecture but has made his home in Kanoya, Kagoshima Prefecture, since 2012.
‘The colors speak for themselves’: How Japan’s chroma bible went global
“A Dictionary of Color Combinations” is meant to function as a quick-reference guide for artists, designers and anyone with a passing interest in aesthetics as a quantifiable pursuit.

Podcast

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

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

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