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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gives a news conference in Kyiv on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 27, 2025

Trump confirms Zelenskyy visit to sign Ukraine minerals deal

The Ukrainian leader said the success of the deal would hinge on talks in Washington on Friday and continued U.S. aid.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s populism and polarization will challenge American democracy, but constitutional limits, congressional dynamics and enduring pluralism will sustain it.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Feb 27, 2025

American democracy will weather the Trumpist storm

Despite Trump’s authoritarian tendencies, his populist nature makes constitutional collapse unlikely so long as pluralism in society endures.
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy either "needs to come to his senses and come back to the table in gratitude, or someone else needs to lead the country to do that."
WORLD / Politics
Mar 3, 2025

Trump allies pressure Zelenskyy to change course or resign

Democrats, meanwhile, have expressed disgust over the tenor of U.S. President Donald Trump's meeting with the Ukrainian leader.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 4, 2025

Trump pauses military aid to Ukraine after clash with Zelenskyy

The pause will last until the U.S. president determines the country’s leaders demonstrate a good-faith commitment to peace, a senior defense official said.
U.S. F-18 Super Hornet fighter jets are seen on the flight deck of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson at a port in Busan, South Korea, on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 4, 2025

North Korea slams U.S. 'provocations' over aircraft carrier visit to Busan

Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korea's leader, hinted that her country could respond with the testing of nuclear-capable missiles or other technology.
U.S. military aid to Ukraine halted at 3:30 a.m., a source with knowledge of the matter said, after U.S. President Donald Trump paused assistance late on Monday following a clash with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 4, 2025

U.S. military aid pause is a blow to Ukraine, but not fatal for now

The U.S. pause could have a real impact on the war within months, undermining Ukraine's air defenses and precision strike capabilities in particular.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukraine plan to sign a minerals deal that fell through on Friday, sources said.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 5, 2025

U.S. and Ukraine now plan to sign minerals deal, sources say

The deal from last week offered Kyiv no explicit security guarantees but gave the U.S. access to Ukraine's natural resources.
A ship sails through the Panama Canal after Hong Kong's CK Hutchison agreed to sell its interests in a key Panama Canal port operator to a BlackRock-backed consortium on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 5, 2025

BlackRock to buy Hong Kong firm's Panama Canal port stake amid pressure

The $22.8 billion deal, coming amid pressure from the White House, will give the BlackRock-backed group control of ports along the strategic waterway and dozens of others.
Oil pipelines in Alaska. Although the Alaska LNG project has been planned for decades, it faces headwinds from its large price tag and mammoth scale.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 6, 2025

Trump touts plans to spur mammoth Alaska gas export project

Japan, South Korea and other countries want to partner with the U.S. and invest in "a gigantic natural gas pipeline in Alaska," the U.S. president said.
England and Wales Cricket Board signage is seen at Lord's Cricket Ground before the second Ashes test in London on June 28, 2023.
ECB signage before the start of the second test Action Images via Reuters/Peter Cziborra
MORE SPORTS / Cricket
Mar 7, 2025

England and Wales Cricket Board apologizes for 'ill-judged' post about pope

"This was an ill-judged post and was swiftly deleted," an ECB spokesman said. "We apologize for any offense."
Former Bank of Canada and Bank of England governor Mark Carney speaks after he won the race to become leader of Canada's ruling Liberal Party and will succeed Justin Trudeau as Prime Minister, in Ottawa on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 10, 2025

Mark Carney wins Canada Liberal contest and will succeed Trudeau in days

Carney takes the reins at a time when the White House is creating upheaval in the global economy — and with U.S. trading partners — with increasingly chaotic tariff announcements.
A demonstration against the Trump administration’s cessation of military aid to Ukraine, attended by Ukrainians and American ex-pats, outside the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv on Saturday
WORLD
Mar 10, 2025

With drones and North Korean troops, Russia pushes back Ukraine’s offensive

Russia has retaken about two-thirds of the territory Ukraine seized last summer in the Kursk region of Russia, but at a fearful cost in lives.
Taiwanese Deputy Foreign Minister Francois Wu told The Japan Times in an interview last week in Taipei that he hopes with the island democracy can strengthen ties with Japan and other like-minded nations “at every level.”
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 12, 2025

Taiwan’s No. 2 diplomat seeks higher-level ‘unofficial’ Japan meetings as ties grow

Taipei has been shifting away from its competition with China over formal recognition, focusing instead on pragmatism to circumvent diplomatic obstacles.
Mahmoud Khalil speaks to members of the media about the Revolt for Rafah encampment at Columbia University during the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in New York on June 1, 2024.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 13, 2025

Judge extends ban on deportation of U.S. student over opposition to war in Gaza

The case that has become a flash point following a pledge by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to deport some pro-Palestinian college activists.
Just like in times of old, with unresolved territorial disputes, regional disunity and economic self-interest prevailing over solidarity, Southeast Asia faces growing instability as tensions escalate.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 13, 2025

Southeast Asia must learn to defend itself

Would any of the region’s governments lift a finger to maintain peace on behalf of a neighbor?
A Voice of America crew make a live report as they stand in a causeway leading to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's estate in Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, last December.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 16, 2025

Trump freezes U.S.-funded media outlets including Voice of America

The abrupt freezing of U.S.-funded outlets will be a blow to efforts at countering Russian and Chinese information offensives.
Debris lies around damaged houses the morning after a tornado touched down in Florissant, Missouri, on Saturday.
WORLD
Mar 16, 2025

At least 33 dead as tornadoes ravage central U.S.

Local news showed roofs torn off homes and large trucks overturned, as forecasters warned of more tornadoes to come this weekend.
Smoke rises while members of the Syrian forces ride on a vehicle as they battle against an insurgency by fighters from ousted leader Bashar Assad's Alawite sect, in Latakia, Syria, on March 7.
WORLD
Mar 17, 2025

'Pray for us. They've arrived': How Syria descended into revenge bloodshed

Just three months after Bashar Assad's ouster, parts of western Syria descended into vengeful bloodletting.
Officials from the state-run Alaska Gasline Development Corporation and development partner Glenfarne Group want to transport natural gas south from Alaska's remote north via a $44 billion 1,300-kilometer pipeline, to be shipped as liquefied natural gas to Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
BUSINESS
Mar 18, 2025

Alaskan officials to seek investors in Japan as Trump touts LNG

Japanese energy firms have yet to commit, with cost being a focal point.
Judge James Boasberg in his chambers at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington in March 2023. Boasberg ordered the Trump administration to cease its use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 as a pretext for the expulsion of migrants.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 18, 2025

Trump’s deportation push tests courts’ ability to check his power

The legal clash, which ultimately could land at the Supreme Court, quickly emerged as a test of the ability of the judiciary to act as a check on Trump’s agenda.
The Voice of America building in Washington on Sunday, a day after more than 1,300 of the employees of the media broadcaster, which operates in almost 50 languages, were placed on leave
WORLD / Politics
Mar 18, 2025

China and Russia eager to fill void as Trump axes U.S.-funded media

Trumps moves come after years of efforts by Beijing and Moscow to promote their own worldview on the global media landscape.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meet in Pyongyang in June 2024. Moscow has ditched its historic hostility to North Korea's nuclear program, a clear sign of Russia's scramble for allies amid its international isolation.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2025

It’s time to flip Russia’s script on North Korean nukes

Countries who want deterrence and stability must stop Russia from influencing perceptions of North Korea's nuclear program — one that, in an about-face, Moscow now supports.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent walks to a television interview outside the White House in Washington on Friday. Bessent had indicated a possible delay in the activation of new reciprocal tariff rates on the United States' trading partners.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 19, 2025

Trump still intends for reciprocal tariffs to kick in on April 2

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had indicated a possible delay but the White House says trading partners would need to negotiate deals in advance to avoid new tariffs.
Gonzalo Gallegos, director of communications for the U.S. Institute of Peace, carries a box out of the building in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 19, 2025

Elon Musk’s team evicts officials at the U.S. Institute of Peace

Officials say that as the institute is a congressionally chartered nonprofit, not part of the executive branch, Trump and Musk do not have authority to gut its operations.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas presents the white paper on the future of European defense, in Brussels on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 20, 2025

EU proposes joint defense push amid Russia fears and U.S. worries

EU countries have already begun boosting their own defenses in response to Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Hino Motors pleaded guilty on Wednesday over a multiyear emissions fraud scheme in the United States and must pay $1.6 billion in penalties.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 20, 2025

Toyota's Hino pleads guilty to U.S. emissions fraud and is fined $1.6 billion

Hino admitted that between 2010 and 2019, it used "illicit short-cuts" and submitted false applications for engine certification approvals.
U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks at a news conference in Washington on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 20, 2025

Powell downplays growing risks, sees tariff impact as transitory

His use of the word "transitory” was surprising because the Fed employed the same word when inflation exploded following the onset of COVID-19.
U.S. President Donald Trump holds up a signed executive order to shut down the Department of Education.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 21, 2025

Trump signs order aimed at dismantling U.S. Department of Education

With a new executive order, Trump weakens federal oversight of education, taking the first step toward shutting down the department.
Baseball legend Jackie Robinson speaks at an Urban League dinner at the Tammy Brook Country Club in Cresskill, New Jersey, on May 21, 1969.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 21, 2025

Jackie Robinson’s legacy vanishes, then reappears on Pentagon site

The brief biography describes Robinson’s childhood in California, his time in a segregated Army unit during World War II and his role in breaking baseball’s color barrier.
The Pentagon's disbandment of the Office of Net Assessment ends a key institution that provided long-term strategic analysis, leaving the U.S. vulnerable to future geopolitical challenges.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 20, 2025

A sad day for U.S. strategic analysis as the Office of Net Assessment is disbanded

While most focused on the military, ONA was the only group to conclude that winning the Cold War relied on economic means, not troop numbers.

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Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji