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May 06, 2024
 

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Laila Bassam
For Laila Bassam's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, meets with the family of one of the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who were killed in the Israeli airstrike on the Iranian embassy complex in the Syrian capital Damascus, during a funeral ceremony in Tehran on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 5, 2024
Iran embassy strike shows Israel's growing reach and disregard for norms
"In my view, it's without precedent," one analyst said, adding that he could not recall any state targeting another's diplomatic presence in this way.
An Israeli soldier stands by as a mobile artillery unit fires, near the Israel-Lebanon border on Jan. 15.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 13, 2024
France poses Hezbollah withdrawal for Israel-Lebanon truce
The plan aims to end fighting between the Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel at the border.
People gather at the site of an explosion in what security sources say is an Israeli drone strike in the Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, Lebanon, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 3, 2024
Gaza war spreads to Beirut with killing of Hamas deputy leader
Lebanese and Palestinian security sources said Israel was behind the drone strike that killed Saleh al-Arouri.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei meets with Hamas' top leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in June. Both men met again in early November during which the former told the latter that Iran would not intervene directly following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 16, 2023
Iran's 'Axis of Resistance' against Israel faces trial by fire
Iran has built a military alliance over four decades to oppose Israeli and American power in the Middle East.
Palestinian Hamas militants take part in a rally marking the 31st anniversary of Hamas' founding, in Gaza City, in the Gaza Strip, in December 2018.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Nov 4, 2023
How Hamas aims to trap Israel in Gaza quagmire
The militant group has prepared for a drawn-out war and believes it can hold up Israel's advance to force its archenemy to agree to a cease-fire.
The remains of a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel lies on a road where it fell in Ashkelon, southern Israel, on Tuesday.
WORLD
Oct 11, 2023
Who is the secretive Hamas commander behind the attack on Israel?
Mohammed Deif has topped Israel's most wanted list for decades, held responsible for deaths of dozens of Israelis in suicide bombings.
A man stands in front of a damaged shop in Tel Aviv after it was hit by a rocket fired by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Oct 8, 2023
In attack, Hamas strikes Israel and regional security realignment
Saturday's assault coincides with U.S.-backed moves to push Saudi Arabia toward normalizing ties with Israel.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 20, 2023
Carlos Ghosn sues Nissan for $1 billion in Lebanon courts
Ghosn had been awaiting trial in Japan on charges of underreporting earnings, breach of trust and misappropriation of company funds.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Sep 3, 2022
How a 92-year-old cleric silently halted Iraq's slide back into war
Officials and insiders say it was only Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani's stance behind the scenes that halted a meltdown.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 21, 2022
Some Syrian veterans ready for Ukraine fight, commanders say
Syria is Russia's closest ally in the Middle East, and Moscow's intervention in the Syrian war in 2015 proved decisive in helping President Bashar Assad defeat rebel forces.
Japan says Biden's description of nation as xenophobic is 'unfortunate'
The National Diet building in Tokyo
G7 eyes plan on U.S.-led $50 billion aid package for Ukraine
A local resident visits the Lychakiv cemetery in Lviv, Ukraine, on Thursday. The U.S. is in talks with close partners to lead a group of allies that would give as much as $50 billion in aid to Ukraine.
Japan drops to 70th in press freedom rankings
A businessman reads a newspaper outside a train station in Tokyo.
Japan’s record-low children population weighs on growth
The number of children 14 years old or younger fell for the 43rd straight year to around 14.01 million as of April 1.
Biden calls ally Japan ‘xenophobic’ along with rivals China and Russia
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks in Syracuse, New York, on April 25.
'Monster' Inoue ready to tear down Luis Nery in title defense at Tokyo Dome
Naoya Inoue (left) and Luis Nery following a pre-fight news conference in Yokohama on Saturday, two days ahead of their super bantamweight title fight.
Debate on constitutional revision at a standstill despite Kishida's pledges
With less than two months left before the conclusion of the current session of parliament, any possibility that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida can deliver constitutional reform before the end of his term as Liberal Democratic Party president in late September, as he has promised, appears remote.
Sapporo court ruling on Ainu fishing rights presents tough questions
A traditional Ainu preserved food called <i>satchep</i> (dried fish) being made at the government-run National Ainu Museum and Park, nicknamed Upopoy, in the town of Shiraoi, Hokkaido, on Dec. 25. The Sapporo District Court ruled last month that the Raporo Ainu Nation's rights as an Indigenous people did not extend to having an inherent right to fish for commercial reasons.
With eye on China, defense chiefs agree to bolster interoperability
From left: U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Australian defense chief Richard Marles, Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara and Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro hold a joint news conference in Honolulu on Thursday.
Yellow sand allergy: A health issue made worse by climate change
A screenshot of the Meteorological Agency's satellite image of clouds and yellow sand (in pink) on Sunday.

Podcast

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.
[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Longform

Rows of irises resemble a rice field at the Peter Walker-designed Toyota Municipal Museum of Art.
The 'outsiders' creating some of Japan's greenest spaces
By Stephen Mansfield

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Vol. 35: Travel in time — and stay there
Vol. 35: Travel in time — and stay there

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