A screen displays news footage of Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at parliament in Tokyo on April 7Kazuhiro Nogi—AFP/Getty Images Americans now grappling with COVID-19 may believe Asia’s experience offers hope in the form of a glimpse at a postviral world. After all, this was the region where the virus began–and is therefore the first to recover. Unfortunately, that’s not quite what’s happening.

Sesame Street Says Bert And Ernie 'Don't Have a Sexual Orientation' After Longtime Writer Claims They're Gay Sesame Street Muppets Ernie and Bert pose for photographs during a press conference on the 40th anniversary of the Sesame Street in Hamburg, Germany, 07 January 2013.

(Bloomberg) — Iran’s president warned his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump not to threaten the Persian Gulf nation’s oil exports and called for improved relations with its neighbors, including arch-rival Saudi Arabia. Trump is reimposing sanctions on Iran, which ships most of its oil through the Strait of Hormuz, in an effort to squelch the country’s oil sales. Hormuz, a shipping chokepoint at the mo

(JERUSALEM)—Israel’s parliament approved a controversial piece of legislation on Thursday that defines the country as the nation-state of the Jewish people but which critics warn sidelines minorities. The government says the bill, passed in the early morning hours, will merely enshrine into law Israel’s existing character. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called its passage a “historic moment in

WorldEuropean UnionThe Far-Right Has Capitalized on the West’s Population Problem. These Policies Could Help The Far-Right Has Capitalized on the West’s Population Problem. These Policies Could Help Polish demographers say, that due the child benefit launched in 2016 by the ruling conservative Law and Justice party (PiS) number of births is expected to rise, but the trend will not offset the overa

Moments after he declared the U.S. was pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal, President Trump seemed to abruptly switch topics to announce that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was on his way to North Korea to prepare for Trump’s meeting with the nuclear-armed despot Kim Jong Un. What seemed to be a jarring aside was actually part of Trump’s decision to reimpose U.S. sanctions against Iran. Over the

Shinzo Abe’s confident and dynamic leadership has revived Japan’s economy and prospects since he became Prime Minister in December 2012. As a statesman, he is both resilient and pragmatic, recognizing that the prosperity and security of our region depends on maintaining and developing the rules-based international order. In a world with many strong and dominant leaders, he has certainly been as te

Like adorable turtles, their little limbs poking out from under outsized shells, kids shuffle their ways to school bearing on their shoulders ever-heavier backpacks. Even high schoolers have to bend forward beneath books and binders to cart their cargo to and from school. They’re burdensome (and can be goofy-looking), but are they dangerous? Yes, say many experts. “Since at least 1998, we’ve notic

U.S.climate changeMIT Researchers Say Trump Misunderstood the Research He Used to Justify His Paris Agreement Exit MIT Researchers Say Trump Misunderstood the Research He Used to Justify His Paris Agreement Exit Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have said that President Donald Trump misunderstood their research on climate change when he used it to justify his decisio

Sir Peter Westmacott was the British Ambassador to the U.S. between January 2012 and 2016. He has also served as the British Ambassador to Turkey and France. He is now a Distinguished Ambassadorial Fellow at the Atlantic Council. Shortly before his stunning and largely unexpected victory in the Nov. 8 presidential election, Donald Trump predicted “an amazing day” which would be called “Brexit plus

Former Miss Turkey Merve Buyuksarac speaks to The Associated Press in Istanbul, Turkey on Feb. 26, 2015Emrah Gurel—AP A Turkish court Tuesday convicted a former Miss Turkey of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a satirical poem posted on Instagram in 2014. The court delivered 27-year-old Merve Buyuksarac a 14-month suspended sentence to be served if she offends again in the next five year

Kim Davis, clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky, was remanded to jail by a federal judge on Thursday for her continued refusal to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples. She says to do so would violate her religious beliefs and—as her lawyers put it—“substantially burden” her First Amendment freedom of religion. Either Davis wants to go to jail for her faith, or she should get a new lawyer, becaus

On Sunday morning, the Indian capital New Delhi’s broadest and grandest avenue, Rajpath, will be covered in a sea of yoga mats, with some 35,000 people expected to indulge in mass physical contortions to mark the first International Day of Yoga—a pet initiative of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who pitched the idea to the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) in his maiden speech at the annual diplo

Updated: June 19, 2015 3:35 PM [ET] | Originally published: June 19, 2015 2:11 PM EDT; The transparency advocate site WikiLeaks began publishing leaked documents from the Saudi Arabia Foreign Ministry on Friday afternoon, dumping over 60,000 classified documents into the public domain. A press release on WikiLeaks asserted that the 61,205 documents and cables leaked Friday would be the first publi

People in Tokyo watch news on the Japanese ISIS hostages, Jan. 23, 2015.Nicolas Datiche—Sipa Japanese government officials continued to press for the release of two Japanese citizens being held by Islamist militants in Syria late Friday, even as a presumed deadline for paying the $200 million ransom expired. The hostage drama has dominated the news cycle since ISIS released a video showing two Jap

For the full story, read this week’s TIME magazine. With the unveiling of the Apple Watch Tuesday in Cupertino, California, Apple is attempting to put technology somewhere where it’s never been particularly welcome. Like a pushy date, the Apple Watch wants to get intimate with us in a way we’re not entirely used to or prepared for. This isn’t just a new product, this is technology attempting to co

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announces a 72-hour humanitarian cease-fire beginning Friday between Israel and Hamas, in New Delhi, India, on August 1, 2014.Lucas Jackson—AP The Israeli military believes one of its soldiers was captured as a planned 72-hour cease-fire fell apart just hours into the deal, a spokesman said Friday. The lull in fighting collapsed in an early morning exchange of fi

On a recent state visit to Australia, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe spoke of his plans to lift Japan from its economic doldrums and of the role women will play in that rejuvenation. “Women have the greatest potential,” he told the business publication Nikkei, “and allowing them to demonstrate their full abilities is the core of our growth strategy.” It wasn’t the first time Abe invoked gender equality