Clouds gather over Japan's ambitious Osaka World Expo
Voice of America
This April 2, 2024, photo shows construction of the 'Grand Roof,' one of the world's largest wooden structures, at the site of the 2025 Expo on Yumeshima island, an area of reclaimed land in Osaka, Japan. FILE - This Oct. 12, 2023, photo shows the 'Tower of the Sun' by Japanese artist Taro Okamoto. It was the symbol of the 1970 Osaka Expo and now the location of the Expo Commemoration Park in Suita, Osaka prefecture.
One of the largest wooden structures ever built is taking shape in Osaka but hopes that Expo 2025 will unite the world are being dogged by cost blowouts and a lack of public enthusiasm.
In this photo provided on condition of anonymity, Uyghur detainees who say they are facing deportation back to China, where they fear persecution and even death, sit in an immigration detention center in Bangkok, Thailand, in February 2024. Police stand outside an immigration detention center where Uyghur detainees are held in Bangkok, Thailand, Jan. 11, 2025. This photo, provided on condition of anonymity, shows a letter dated Jan. 10, 2025, pleading for help from the international community by Uyghur detainees who say they are facing deportation back to China.
FILE - Families displaced by RSF advances in Sudan's Gezira and Sennar states shelter in Kassala state, Sudan, July 10, 2024. Sudanese officials said on Jan. 11, 2025, that RSF rebels have been pushed out of Wad Medani, the capital of Gezira.
People arrive to attend Mass for the dedication and inauguration of the Church of the Baptism of the Lord at Al-Maghtas, Jordan, also known as Bethany Beyond the Jordan, on the eastern bank of the Jordan River on Jan. 10, 2025. Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, center, celebrates Mass for the dedication and inauguration of the Church of the Baptism of the Lord at Al-Maghtas, Jordan, also known as Bethany Beyond the Jordan, on Jan. 10, 2025.
FILE - Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and French President Emmanuel Macron leave the Elysee Palace after a lunch in Paris on June 20, 2024. Senegal is one of several African nations that have asked France to withdraw its troops from their territory.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, third from right, rings the bell during the relaunch of the Ethiopian Securities Exchange in Addis Ababa on Jan. 10, 2025.
Ukrainian rescuers inspect damage to a residential building following a drone attack in Kyiv on Jan. 10, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
FILE - People hold placards bearing portraits of Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi, who is arrested in Iran during a rally in support of Iranian women in Istanbul, on November 26, 2024.
FILE - Kwok Kwai, 65, poses for a photo inside his subdivided flat in Hong Kong, Aug. 8, 2024. FILE - Lee Kwan Kun, 60, sits in his 'coffin' home in Hong Kong, Aug. 15, 2024. FILE - Kwok Kwai, 65, poses for a photo inside his subdivided flat in Hong Kong, Aug. 8, 2024.
A handout photo released by the German Central Command for Maritime Emergencies on Jan. 10, 2025, shows the tanker Eventin as a towing connection is established from a tug boat at sea north of the German Baltic Sea island of Ruegen.
FILE - From left, U.S. President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hold a Quad meeting on the sidelines of a G7 summit, in Hiroshima, Japan, May 20, 2023. FILE - White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan speaks during a press briefing in Washington, Feb. 14, 2024. FILE - FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un exchange documents during a signing ceremony for a new partnership in Pyongyang, North Korea, June 19, 2024. FILE - President Donald Trump meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019.
FILE - A doctor treats a Sudanese child suffering from malnutrition are treated at an MSF clinic in Metche Camp, Chad, near the Sudanese border, on April 6, 2024.