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Jerome Powell, chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, has repeatedly declined to say whether he will step down when his four-year term as chair expires in May.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 5, 2025

Powell's silence on his future complicates Trump Fed chair search

The Fed chief has repeatedly declined to say whether he will step down when his four-year term as chair expires in May, or remain on the Fed board.
A sample of gallium (Ga)
BUSINESS
Jul 9, 2025

How U.S. buyers of critical minerals bypass China's export ban

Trade data illustrate a re-routing of U.S. shipments via third countries — an issue Chinese officials have acknowledged.
Former U.S. first lady Michelle Obama says she is stepping back from traditional politics to focus on cultural influence through her podcast, reflecting a broader trend of Black women redefining political engagement.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 9, 2025

Michelle Obama is quitting politics. Or is she?

Her misgivings about politics and the spotlight that she and her husband commanded in the White House as historic figures have only grown in recent years.
U.S. soldiers man a checkpoint on a road outside Tikrit, Iraq, in November 2003. Airstrikes alone won’t truly eliminate Iran’s nuclear program — only a costly ground invasion like the one that took down Saddam Hussein could do that.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 14, 2025

What will it take to end Iran's nuke program? An army.

Trump’s claim that the U.S. “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program was widely disputed, with current estimates saying it was severely damaged and set back by 12 to 24 months.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron hold a news conference in London on July 10 after wrapping up a joint military visit.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 16, 2025

France and U.K. tighten nuclear ties amid questions over U.S. commitment

While France and the U.K. are taking a positive step for European security, the announcement is both more and less than it seems.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a press briefing following phone calls with U.S. President Donald Trump on May 19.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 17, 2025

Zelenskyy aims to woo public and Trump with fresh-faced Ukraine cabinet

Zelenskyy's choice of a young economist well-known in Washington reflects the importance of repairing relations with Trump after a disastrous White House visit in February.
In an era of fierce technological and geopolitical competition, especially in AI, true scale combining size, efficiency and cooperation with allies has become an urgent strategic necessity the U.S. and the West must master to counter China’s growing advantages.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 22, 2025

The AI arms race with China demands scale. The West must think bigger.

The race to create scale is critical amid the sizzling geopolitical competition over leadership in new technologies.
Audrey Strauss, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, speaks during an news conference announcing charges against Ghislaine Maxwell for her role in the sexual exploitation and abuse of minor girls by Jeffrey Epstein.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jul 25, 2025

Amid Epstein furor, Ghislaine Maxwell seeks relief from U.S. Supreme Court

The justices, now on their summer recess, are expected in late September to consider whether to take up an appeal by the jailed British socialite.
David Oscar Markus, an attorney for Ghislaine Maxwell, talks with the media as he leaves the first meeting his client had with Department of Justice officials at the Federal Courthouse in Tallahassee, Florida, on Thursday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jul 26, 2025

Top U.S. Justice Department official questions Epstein accomplice for second day

Todd Blanche, who is also Trump's former personal attorney, has declined to say what he discussed with Ghislaine Maxwell in the highly unusual meetings.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's determination to keep fighting in Ukraine is prompted by his belief that Russia is winning and by skepticism that yet more U.S. sanctions will have much of an impact on his country.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 6, 2025

Putin doubts potency of Trump's ultimatum to end the war, sources say

The Russian leader is unlikely to bow to a sanctions ultimatum expiring this Friday from U.S. President Donald Trump, sources close to the Kremlin said.
Seven & I Holdings says it will open 1,300 new international stores and add 1,000 net new outlets in Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 6, 2025

Seven & I sets expansion targets to win back investor confidence

Stephen Dacus, who took over as chief executive officer earlier this year, is under pressure to deliver on a plan to streamline Seven & I around convenience stores.
Workers inspect brand tags on apparel ready for packaging at a textile factory in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, India, in February 2022. Larger textile manufacturers in the country are grabbing smaller, low-value orders to keep their factories running and avoid shutdowns amid U.S. tariffs.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 8, 2025

Indian exporters weigh options to handle U.S. levy that’s 'worse than COVID’

U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to double tariffs will make India-made apparels to generic drugs prohibitively expensive and can heavily disrupt exports.
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision to cancel funding for mRNA vaccine development dismantles an important public health tool and could weaken America’s ability to respond to future pandemics.
COMMENTARY
Aug 8, 2025

RFK Jr.’s mRNA decision may be his worst yet

U.S. Health Secretary RFK Jr.’s decision to cancel funding for mRNA vaccine development dismantles a public health tool and could weaken the ability to respond to future pandemics.
U.S. President Donald Trump walks from Marine One to Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Aug. 1.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 9, 2025

Trump rattles Latin America by eyeing military force against drug cartels

The approach discards the previous administration's preference for carrots over sticks to coax countries into alignment with U.S. interests.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks next to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the first day of a NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, on June 24.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 11, 2025

Zelenskyy wins EU and NATO backing as he seeks place at Trump-Putin talks

A White House official has said President Donald Trump is open to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attending, but preparations are under way for only a bilateral meeting.
Advertisements for factory rentals at Datang village in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, China
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 12, 2025

China factories cut shifts and workers' pay as U.S. tariffs bite

The increasingly common practice has become a hidden deflationary force in the world's second-largest economy.
The diary of a 13-year-old girl who died in the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima was donated to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in the city in June.
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2025

Hiroshima museum continues to receive artifacts 80 years after atomic bombing

With fewer atomic bomb survivors still alive to share their stories, donated materials are becoming more and more vital for expressing the impact of the bombing.
U.S. President Donald Trump makes an announcement regarding the Golden Dome missile defense shield in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington in May.
WORLD
Aug 15, 2025

Trump’s Golden Dome still shrouded in mystery, even for its builders

Government officials told defense contractors last week they weren’t even allowed to mention the project by name.
A screwworm in Tapachula, Chiapas state, Mexico, on July 4
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 25, 2025

Human screwworm case in U.S. traced to person who traveled from Guatemala

Screwworms can be devastating in cattle and wildlife, and rarely infest humans, though an infestation in either an animal or a person can be fatal.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang addresses the opening ceremony of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on July 26, where he emphasized “the deep integration of AI with the real economy” and its relevance to daily applications.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 27, 2025

Al and our brave new world of ‘weaponized interdependence’

In the U.S.-China race for AI dominance, failure is not an option.
A Tesla robotaxi drives on a street along South Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas, on June 22. CEO Elon Musk has set an ambitious timeline of having "millions of Teslas operating autonomously” by the second half of next year.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 1, 2025

How Tesla and Waymo's radically different robotaxi approaches will shape the industry

The differing strategies have far-reaching implications for the early pecking order in the nascent autonomous-driving space.
Japan has hired energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie to assess a proposed $44 billion Alaska gas pipeline and LNG project backed by U.S. President Donald Trump, sources say.
BUSINESS
Sep 9, 2025

Japan hires Wood Mackenzie to assess Trump-backed Alaska LNG project: sources

The scope and cost of the deal with Wood Mackenzie is unclear, as is whether any resulting report will be made public.
A damaged building, following an Israeli attack on Hamas leaders, in Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday.
WORLD
Sep 11, 2025

Israel vows to kill Hamas leaders next time if they survived Qatar attack

Israel's widely condemned Doha operation was especially sensitive as Qatar has been hosting and mediating in negotiations aimed at securing a ceasefire in the Gaza war.
A man watches a television screen showing a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test, at a railway station in Seoul on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 22, 2023

North Korea fires cruise missiles into Yellow Sea, but remains silent on U.S. soldier's fate

Experts say cruise missiles, which fly far slower than ballistic weapons, present a unique danger in that they can fly low and maneuver, making them potentially very difficult to intercept.
Hou Yu-ih, mayor of New Taipei City, during a protest against the ruling Democratic Progressive Party in Taipei, on July 16. Taiwanese voters are preparing to choose their next president in January, in a vote that will define cross-strait and U.S.-China relations for years to come.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 21, 2023

Popular Taiwan mayor stumbles in bid to lead in U.S.-China hotspot

His failure to articulate a critical policy at the bedrock of Taiwan’s international status drew widespread criticism online.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un walks in front of an intercontinental ballistic missile in this undated photo released in March 2022.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 25, 2023

From 'Young General' to 'Supreme Leader': The evolution of Kim Jong Un

North Korea's thinking on its relations with the U.S. has undergone dramatic changes, and Kim Jong Un's past evolution offers indications of where the country might be headed.
A woman walks on the bottom of a dried pond on a hot day in Mauharia, India, in May 2022.
ENVIRONMENT
Jul 29, 2023

Warming world 'brutalizes' women as heat waves deepen gender divide

The impacts of rising heat are disproportionately dangerous and costly to women — be it at home or on the job — according to a new report.
Bradley Fighting Vehicles on Jan. 25 at the Transportation Core Dock in North Charleston, South Carolina, ahead of shipment as part of a U.S. military aid package to Ukraine.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Aug 8, 2023

Is China going unchecked while the West supports Ukraine?

Some have criticized Washington's efforts to help Kyiv as having a negative impact on its ability to deter a possible contingency from Beijing.
A man poses for pictures at a booth showing off a book by Chinese leader Xi Jinping during the China International Import Expo at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai in November 2018.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 31, 2023

Survey finds historically high negative views of China

In the survey, only about 28% of respondents had a favorable opinion of China despite Beijing’s diplomatic initiatives over the past year.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stands for the U.S. national anthem before a meeting with his Australian counterpart ahead of the Australia-U.S. Ministerial Consultations in Brisbane on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 31, 2023

U.S. defense tieup efforts pay dividends with Australia deals

The agreements will mean not only more U.S. troops in Australia, but also the integration of Japan into more military initiatives between the two.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight