Health equity campaigners have called for a fairer system of developing and distributing Covid medications after pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced record second-quarter revenue, more than half of which is attributable to sales of coronavirus vaccines and treatments that remain out of reach for much of the global south.
As military capabilities become more vital in deciding the outcome of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, debates surrounding whether environmental, social, and governance (ESG) funds should be open to weapons investment have increased.
As the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to dominate international headlines, Yemen is mired into one of the worst food crises on the planet.
Henry Johnstone Morland Scott-Stokes, patrician among Japan’s foreign correspondents since 1964, recently died in Tokyo at the age of 83, but not before he did untold damage by performing as a foreign handmaid to Japan’s fascists.
Japan’s decision to exclude most foreigners, including many foreign residents, from entering or reentering the national borders during the Covid pandemic has had a human and reputational cost which the mainstream media has tended to either ignore or to downplay.
Major social media companies are increasingly strangling independent news media with subtle shadow banning practices which threaten free speech and the flow of information vital to maintain democratic systems of government.
Japan has a race problem. As I’ve catalogued for a quarter century, there are “Japanese Only” signs and rules on businesses nationwide. Refusing entry and service to all “foreigners” on sight, they exclude people who don’t “look Japanese.”
Over 140 million people in over ninety countries around the world have already watched Squid Game, making the Hwang Dong-hyuk creation the most-watched series in Netflix history.
Visitors to Japan’s main international hub are still greeted by a sign saying “Down With Narita Airport,” a giant middle finger waved by diehards from a different era.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics are now past. This is a postmortem.
