TOKYO – I had known Arashi to be huge before I moved to Japan in 2016, but not quite how huge they were. I thought they were just another teenybopper sensation and was pleasantly surprised by how the five-member group, which had their debut on Nov 3, 1999, were established mature artists in diverse areas – […]

On Nov. 1, 2018, at 11:10 a.m., some 20,000 Google employees, along with employees of Waymo, Verily and other Alphabet companies, stopped working and walked off the job in cities around the world. A week earlier, The New York Times reported that the company had paid tens of millions of dollars to two executives who […]

To the Editor: Re “I Hate the Mom That Covid Has Made Me” (Op-Ed, Dec. 29): Kristen Howerton does us all a service by monitoring her teens wearing masks in public. She writes about the need for “empathy” for her teenage children. Empathy, however, is not feeling sorry for bored teens temporarily denied. Empathy is […]

I barely even feel the needle. It is over so quickly that I begin to take it all in only afterward, as I claim a seat in the waiting area. There are a handful of us there, each of us newly vaccinated and waiting the designated 15 minutes before we can leave. I watch an […]

Joe Biden becomes US president. Britain enters a post-EU era. China versus the West. Vaccines and Covid-19’s long shadow. PAP’s political transition. Revised PSLE. The Straits Times looks ahead to the new year and new uncertainties. What will Biden’s moves be? Hard choices await Asia in 2021 Asians should have a better sense of where […]

To the Editor: Re “Bullets Ravaged Iraqis. Pardons Renew the Pain” (front page, Dec. 24): I was the F.B.I. case agent who led the investigation of the Blackwater massacre in Baghdad. We originally went to Iraq thinking this shooting was some form of innocent civilians caught in the crossfire between Blackwater guards and insurgents. After […]

To the Editor: Re “Will Pence Do the Right Thing?,” by Neal K. Katyal and John Monsky (Op-Ed, Dec. 30): It is truly sad that Mr. Katyal and Mr. Monsky felt compelled to educate us and to question whether Vice President Mike Pence will do the right thing and simply preside over the counting of […]

Though it’s remarkable that the United States finally is about to have a female vice president, let’s stop calling it an unprecedented achievement. As some recent archaeological studies suggest, women have been leaders, warriors and hunters for thousands of years. This new scholarship is challenging long-held beliefs about so-called natural gender roles in ancient history, […]

MEXICO CITY — A couple of weeks ago my wife and I did something we hadn’t done in a year: We had late-night tacos from our favorite street taco stand, Los Juanes. It’s a small neighborhood-famous stand, run by three young men and an older guy named Juan, on a poorly illuminated corner three blocks […]

To the Editor: Re “Will Trump Force Principled Conservatives to Start Their Own Party? I Hope So,” by Thomas L. Friedman (column, Dec. 23): Your column said it perfectly, Mr. Friedman. I left the Republican Party because of Donald Trump. I wouldn’t vote for any of the Republicans who backed him to the end. But […]