As he pored over old news archives, the painter Chow Chun Fai was trying to work out what could be said about a transformed Hong Kong. His exhibition, “Interview the Interviewer II,” is the second installment in several years of collaboration with Sharon Cheung, a former television journalist, who covered diplomatic news from 1995 to … Read more
A hard-line Hindu group’s call for the removal of the tomb of a 17th-century Mughal ruler has ignited tensions with Muslims in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, leading to communal violence and the imposition of a curfew. The violence, which occurred this week in the city of Nagpur, centered around the tomb of Aurangzeb, … Read more
Nowruz, the Persian New Year, began on Thursday, kicking off a celebration of life, renewal and rebirth that people in Iran and beyond have been observing for many generations. More than 300 million people worldwide celebrate Nowruz, which means “new day” in Persian. Many of them greet one another by saying “Nowruzetan pirooz” or “Wishing … Read more
The Taliban on Thursday released George Glezmann, an American held since 2022 in Afghanistan, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said. A native of Atlanta, Mr. Glezmann was a mechanic for Delta Air Lines who was detained while visiting Afghanistan as a tourist in December 2022. The State Department had officially designated him a wrongful detainee. … Read more
When she spotted the mako shark in the Hauraki Gulf off New Zealand, Rochelle Constantine, a marine ecologist at the University of Auckland, was concerned. The animal had a curious orangey-brown mass perched on top of its head. “At first, I was like, ‘Is it a buoy?’” Dr. Constantine said. “‘Is it entangled in fishing … Read more
Indonesia’s Parliament on Thursday unanimously passed a controversial overhaul of a law that will allocate more civilian posts for military officers, defying student protests and raising fears of the erosion of freedoms in the world’s third-largest democracy. The revisions were proposed by allies of President Prabowo Subianto, a feared former general who served under the … Read more
The visit had been advertised for weeks. Former President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines was going to a rally in Hong Kong during the second weekend in March. But as soon as it began, the trip took on a tantalizing element of intrigue: Was he ever coming back? To many Filipinos, it appeared that Mr. … Read more
China has executed four Canadians over drug-related convictions, Canada’s foreign affairs minister said Wednesday, a development that threatens to worsen an already tense relationship between the countries. Mélanie Joly, the Canadian minister, told reporters that she condemned the executions, and that the government would still seek clemency for others. “We will continue to engage with … Read more
Ukraine agreed to halt strikes on energy sites President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine agreed yesterday to Russia’s offer of a mutual pause in attacks on energy targets for 30 days as a step toward a broader cease-fire. He discussed the pause during a phone call with President Trump, who described the conversation as “very good.” … Read more
Invited onto Tokyo’s jazz circuit, he sat in on “incredibly moving” gigs with John Coltrane’s drummer Elvin Jones in 1979 and ’81. (Shimizu’s bebop phrasings can be heard in “L’Automne à Pékin,” his electronic revamp of the American songbook, from 1983.) He also formed lifelong partnerships with Sakamoto (who died in 2023) and with touring … Read more