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Ben Hubbard
For Ben Hubbard's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
A firefighter extinguishes a burning car hit by an Israeli strike in Rafah on Saturday.
WORLD
Feb 11, 2024
Terrified Palestinians await an advance in the city where they fled
Israeli officials have declared that the next phase in their effort to destroy Hamas will be in Rafah.
A member of the Israeli security forces inspects humanitarian aid trucks arriving from Egypt on the Israeli side of the Kerem Shalom border crossing with the southern Gaza Strip on Friday.
WORLD
Dec 24, 2023
Without a truce, U.N. resolution may do little for Gaza, aid groups say
Humanitarian assistance is "impossible" to deploy in an active combat zone, they said.
Local men survey the damage after an Israeli airstrike on Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, on Dec. 1.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 11, 2023
While Palestinians suffer, Hamas reaps the benefits
Gaining prestige among Palestinians while poisoning Israel’s relations with the Arab world, the group has put the Palestinian issue back on the agenda.
Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah appears on a screen as he addresses his supporters during a ceremony to honor fighters killed in the recent fighting with Israel, in Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 4, 2023
In high-stakes speech, Hezbollah leader stops short of call to expand Hamas war
Hassan Nasrallah said his powerful Lebanese militia had bogged down Israeli forces to help Hamas.
Palestinians inspect destruction from an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis, a city in southern Gaza, on Thursday. The Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, in retaliation for a deadly Hamas attack on southern Israel, has brought a new outpouring of support in the Arab world for the Palestinian quest for a state.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 21, 2023
Passion for Palestinian cause had faded, but Gaza violence reignited it
The Israeli bombardment of Gaza brought a new outpouring of support in the Arab world for the Palestinian quest for a state.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 1, 2023
After Erdogan’s attacks, fear spreads among LGBTQ people in Turkey
The rights and freedoms of LGBTQ citizens became a lightning-rod issue during this year’s election campaign in Turkey, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan calling them a threat to society.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Apr 17, 2023
Taking on Erdogan, Turkish opposition leader banks on everyman appeal
Kemal Kilicdaroglu is aiming to attract voters tired of the president’s bombastic rhetoric and tough-guy persona, campaigning not just as an anti-Erdogan but as his polar opposite.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 15, 2023
Britain says it will give Ukraine tanks, breaching a Western restriction
The U.K.'s Challenger 2 will be the first Western-made battle tank to be sent to Ukraine since Russia invaded last February.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 31, 2022
Moscow on the Med: A faraway war transforms a Turkish resort town
Tens of thousands of Russians and Ukrainians have settled in Antalya, on Turkey's southern coast, hoping to avoid the fallout of Russia's war in Ukraine and start new lives.
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 14, 2022
Deadly bombing in Istanbul is being investigated as a terrorist attack
The attack was the deadliest in Turkey in more than five years, and authorities offered few details in the hours afterward.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 25, 2022
Ukraine fights to reclaim territory as Russia holds annexation referendums
The referendums — which are expected to culminate in the annexation of an area larger than Portugal — have raised alarm in Western nations.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 15, 2022
Biden’s Saudi lesson: The only path runs through MBS
As the de facto ruler of the oil-rich monarchy, the 36-year-old prince has cast himself as a reformer. But his rule has also been defined by his institutionalization of force.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 16, 2022
Impunity for war crimes in Syria casts a grim shadow over Ukraine
As the world takes in the grim realities of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, many Syrians have watched with a horrifying sense of deja vu and a deep foreboding about what lies ahead.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 4, 2022
‘Those who remain will die’: Neighbors recall night of fear in Syria raid
The U.S. hailed the rare airborne raid by commandos in a rebel-held patch of Syria as a major success against terrorism, saying it ended the life of the leader of the Islamic State group.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 2, 2022
As the U.S. pulls back from the Middle East, China leans in
States in the Middle East are increasingly looking to China not just to buy their oil, but to invest in their infrastructure and cooperate on technology and security.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 24, 2022
‘Now there is no one’: The lament of one of the last Christians in a Syrian city
Communities across the Middle East and North Africa — some of which trace their roots to Christianity's early days — have been struggling for decades with wars, poverty and persecution.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Aug 14, 2021
For a crime at 14, he faces death in a case casting doubt on Saudi reforms
Rights groups cite the case as an example of Saudi Arabia continuing to execute people for crimes committed as minors, despite legal overhauls aimed at limiting the practice.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 6, 2021
Biden ends military aid for Saudi war in Yemen. Ending the war is harder.
Nearly six years of war have shattered Yemen in a way that could thwart efforts to make peace, regardless of whether American bombs are no longer used.

Longform

High-end tourism is becoming more about the kinds of experiences that Japan's lesser-known places can provide.
Can Japan lure the jet-set class off the beaten path?