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Russian President Vladimir Putin visits a nuclear-powered submarine in Murmansk, Russia, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 31, 2025

Trump threatens Russia oil penalties, citing anger at Putin

The U.S. president also raised the threat of bombing Iran until it signs a deal that renounces nuclear weapons.
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 31, 2025

A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime

Since 2009, Ken Theriault has been keeping himself busy maintaining Costco's American charm and catering to the needs of the Japanese consumer as the wholesaler's boss in Japan.
The Trump administration moved this week to suspend dozens of federal grants to Princeton University, the fourth Ivy League school that has seen its financial support from Washington reduced or explicitly threatened since March.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 2, 2025

Princeton's U.S. grants frozen, following Trump's moves against other schools

Princeton's president said government agencies including NASA and the defense and energy departments notified the university of the move.
Donald Trump's presidency took third place in a new survey on Southeast Asia's top three geopolitical concerns.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 4, 2025

Trump presidency a key concern for Southeast Asia, survey shows

Trump took third place at 46.9% in top concerns for Southeast Asians, according to a ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute survey published Thursday.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order after delivering remarks on reciprocal tariffs during an event titled "Make America Wealthy Again" at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Apr 4, 2025

‘Liberation Day’ will weigh heavily on the world

While some nations will fight U.S. tariffs, Japan is among those more likely to make a deal.
Containers stacked up at the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port in Phnom Penh on Thursday. Southeast Asian countries with a significant trade surplus with the U.S. came in for harsh treatment from Trump's stinging tariffs.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 4, 2025

Trump tariffs are a ‘disaster’ for world’s poorest countries

Poor nations' labor-intensive export industries face new risk in trade war.
After getting her career started in Japan, Courney Kaplan has become one of Los Angeles' leading sake evangelists from her base at Ototo.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Kanpai Culture
Apr 6, 2025

In Los Angeles, Courtney Kaplan says sake is having a moment

Los Angeles has no shortage of Japanese restaurants, but Ototo makes the country's national drink an easy sip.
The seal of the United States Department of State is seen in Washington. U.S. President Donald Trump is looking to shrink the federal workforce and revamp the diplomatic corps to ensure a dedicated implementation of his "America First" policies.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 6, 2025

Trump administration appoints junior officer to oversee U.S. Foreign Service

The move comes as Trump shrinks the federal workforce and looks to revamp the U.S. diplomatic corps to ensure a dedicated implementation of his "America First" policies.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet (center) walks past honor guards during the inauguration ceremony for the the modernized Ream Naval Base in Cambodia's Preah Sihanouk province on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 6, 2025

Cambodia hails opening of naval base renovated by China

The U.S. has said the base could give Beijing a key strategic position in the Gulf of Thailand near the disputed South China Sea.
Military personnel stand guard at a nuclear facility in the Zardanjan area of Isfahan, Iran, in April 2024 in this screen shot taken from video.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 6, 2025

Iran seeks indirect talks with U.S., warns regional countries over strikes

Although Iran has rejected U.S. President Donald Trump's demand for direct talks, it wants to continue indirect negotiations through Oman.
People walk past the communist-era Palace of Culture and Science in the center of Warsaw on April 2.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 7, 2025

Sex toys and exploding cosmetics: anatomy of a 'hybrid war' on the West

European security chiefs described the parcel fires as part of a "hybrid war" being waged by Russia to destabilize countries that support Ukraine.
Social engineering scams thrive on poorly monitored social media platforms, and while the UK is pushing tougher laws to hold tech companies accountable, the U.S. resists stricter rules, believing individuals should bear responsibility for avoiding fraud.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 9, 2025

The U.K. is trying to fight social scams. The U.S. not so much.

Social engineering is one of the hardest parts of the trillion-dollar online scam industry to block or disrupt.
A man holds a Hezbollah flag in southern Lebanon. The militant group emerged severely weakened from the 2024 conflict with Israel.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 9, 2025

Hezbollah ready to discuss weapons if Israel withdraws, senior official says

U.S.-backed Lebanese President Joseph Aoun intends to open talks with Hezbollah over its arsenal soon, three Lebanese political sources said.
U.S. President Donald Trump looks on after signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House on Wednesday in Washington.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 10, 2025

Tokyo cheers Trump’s tariff U-turn with second-biggest market gain ever

The news of Trump’s 90-day pause on “reciprocal tariffs”was welcomed by Japan and its markets, with the 225-issue Nikkei stock average up more than 9% on Thursday.
First responders near the landing skids of a helicopter after it crashed into the Hudson River, in Newport, New Jersey, on Thursday.
WORLD
Apr 11, 2025

Helicopter crashes into New York's Hudson River, with all six aboard killed

The victims, the pilot and five passengers, were believed to include a family from Spain.
Tokyo stocks tracked Wall Street lower as the United States and China hiked tariffs on imports from each other.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 11, 2025

Nikkei sinks as tariff-fueled selling resumes

An increase in U.S. levies on China to 145% has reignited concerns about the global economy and corporate profits.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks outside the White House in Washington on Wednesday. Bessent appears to have taken a larger role in articulating U.S. President Donald Trump's trade policies to financial markets.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 11, 2025

Amid turmoil over tariffs, Bessent rises in Trump trade world

Multiple sources close to the White House said the former hedge fund manager was giving the U.S. president the best counsel among a team of advisers on trade.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba gives instructions to Economic Revitalization Minister Ryosei Akazawa (third from left) and others at the Prime Minister's Office on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 11, 2025

Japan braces for talks on yen and BOJ in trade negotiations with U.S.

Ryosei Akazawa, who is heading the task force, is reportedly set to meet U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent next week.
Sony and Nintendo might have to raise the prices of their game consoles, which are assembled mainly in China and are shipped to the United States.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 11, 2025

Nintendo Switch 2 and Sony PS5 likely to get price hikes due to tariffs

Pricing could come close to $590 for the soon-to-be-released Nintendo Switch 2 or Sony’s PS5 Astro Bot bundle.
Having had two meetings with U.S. President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is slowly building a personal relationship with him, which matters greatly to the U.S. president and in resolving bilateral issues.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 11, 2025

Can anyone deal with Trump better than Ishiba?

Trump’s shift on Japan tariffs offers relief, but Ishiba’s grip remains shaky amid internal discontent and challenging U.S. demands.
British Defense Secretary John Healey (right) holds a news conference with Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov following a Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 12, 2025

Europe to present Trump with Ukraine force plan within weeks

European leader hope the plan for a postwar "reassurance force” in Ukraine will persuade the U.S. president to commit to security guarantees for Kyiv.
Muslim protestors pray outside the main campus of Columbia University during a demonstration to denounce the immigration arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian activist who helped lead protests against Israel at the university, in New York on March 14.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Apr 12, 2025

U.S. judge rules Palestinian Columbia student can be deported

The judge's decision came after a combative 90-minute hearing held in a court located inside a jail complex for immigrants.
The Bundeswehr booth at the Hannover Messe 2025 trade fair in Hannover, Germany, on March 31.
WORLD / FOCUS
Apr 12, 2025

Germany wants to be a military powerhouse. Can it pull it off?

Achieving this may be easier said than done. Germany’s defense and national security apparatus is fragmented and encumbered by bureaucracy.
Shoppers outside an Apple store in New York on April 7
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 13, 2025

U.S. exempts tech imports in tariff backpedal

President Donald Trump's move offers relief to U.S. tech firms and partially dials down a trade war with China.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi (left) meets with Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi in Muscat, Oman, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 13, 2025

U.S. and Iran hold 'positive' talks in Oman, with more to come this week

The talks were indirect, though Iran's foreign minister said his delegation had a brief encounter with its U.S. counterpart after they exited the talks.
U.S. President Donald Trump leaves after speaking to the media on board Air Force One on the way to Miami on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 13, 2025

On Ukraine talks, Trump says there is a time 'to put up or shut up'

The U.S. president made the comments a day after he showed frustration with Russia and told it to "get moving" on reaching a deal.
People walk through an Apple Store in Hong Kong on Friday.
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Apr 13, 2025

Apple was on brink of crisis before tariff concession from Trump

Donald Trump’s 125% tariffs on goods produced in China threatened to upend its supply chain as seriously as the COVID-19 snarls did five years ago.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping waves as he arrives for a two-day state visit at Hanoi's Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 14, 2025

Xi seeks to win with Southeast Asia trip as Trump pauses some tariffs

Xi arrived in Vietnam on Monday and was due to visit Malaysia and Cambodia later this week, just days after Trump raised tariffs on China but gave everyone else a 90-day pause.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele (not pictured) in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 15, 2025

Trump calls for deporting some citizens to El Salvador, testing U.S. law

The comments are the clearest signal yet that the president is serious about deporting naturalized and U.S.-born citizens, a proposal many legal scholars say is unconstitutional.
Iranian missiles are displayed at the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force Museum in Tehran on Nov. 15, 2024
WORLD / Politics
Apr 16, 2025

Would military strikes kill Iran's nuclear program? Probably not

Rather than destroying the nuclear program, an attack could prompt Iran to kick out United Nations nuclear inspectors and drive their program fully underground.

Longform

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