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U.S. President Donald Trump wears a "Trump Was Right About Everything!" hat during an event in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Friday.
WORLD
Aug 24, 2025

Pentagon reportedly working on plans for military deployment in Chicago

The planning, in the works for weeks, involves several options, including mobilizing at least a few thousand members of the National Guard as soon as September, the report said.
Hours before talks with U.S. President Donald Trump, South Korean leader Lee Jae Myung has signaled that reaching a deal with Washington on its demand to have U.S. forces in South Korea play a larger role in countering China will prove difficult.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 25, 2025

Lee signals resistance to shifting U.S. Forces Korea’s focus to China

President Lee Jae Myung’s remarks come just hours before he meets with U.S. President Donald Trump in talks that are expected to be dominated by defense and security issues.
Filipino soldiers take part in a flag-raising ceremony on Mavulis Island during a visit by the Philippines' Armed Forces chief of staff, in Batanes, the Philippines, in June 2023. Batanes, a group of idyllic islands at the country’s northernmost tip, sits about 160 kilometers from Taiwan.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 25, 2025

Philippines quietly deepening ‘unofficial’ defense ties with Taiwan

The moves come as Manila settles into a view that alliances, geography and economic interests would inevitably pull it into any U.S. conflict with China over the island.
Members of the national guard patrol near diners in Washington on Aug. 23.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 26, 2025

Trump and JD Vance attack 2028 rivals in national guard push

Trump has pushed the boundaries of his powers in trying to rid Democratic-run cities of what he says is rampant crime, drawing accusations he is politicizing the military.
Carlos Alcaraz hits a shot against Mattia Bellucci during their second-round match at the U.S. Open in New York on Wednesday.
TENNIS
Aug 28, 2025

Carlos Alcaraz cruises into second round at U.S. Open

Alcaraz, who could meet Djokovic in the semifinals at Flushing Meadows if the draw follows the seedings.
U.S. military personnel stand guard in front of the New Grand Hotel where Gen. Douglas MacArthur stayed circa September 1945 in Yokohama.
JAPAN / History / Perspectives
Sep 1, 2025

How the Allied Occupation changed Japan: A love story

A wartime GI and a Japanese civilian fell in love during the Occupation, embodying the peace built after Japan’s surrender.
Despite political uncertainty in Japan, investors in the stock market are banking on an economy that is finally gaining momentum after years of stagnation.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 29, 2025

Japanese stocks tipped to extend record rally after trade deal

The Nikkei Stock Average is projected to rise an average of 10% over the next 12 months from its most recent record high of 43,714.31.
Under a notice published Friday, the U.S. Commerce Department said it was revoking waivers for Samsung and SK Hynix to use U.S. technologies in their Chinese operations.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 30, 2025

Samsung and SK Hynix lose U.S. waiver on chip gear for China use

The semiconductor companies had been operating in China under regulations that allow them to import chipmaking equipment without applying for a new license each time.
U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (third from right),  chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, poses for pictures alongside U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer (third from left) and others upon arriving at the Songshan Airport in Taipei on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 30, 2025

Senior U.S. senator expects joint weapons production with Taiwan

A Taiwan official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters that co-production of weapons was "very important."
Russia's Daniil Medvedev breaks his racket after his first-round match against France's Benjamin Bonzi at the U.S. Open in New York on Aug. 25.
TENNIS
Aug 31, 2025

'Lots of drama' becomes the norm at tense U.S. Open

Spats at the net and tears on the bench have appeared more frequent in New York this year, where players are grasping at their last chance to claim a major title in 2025.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson in May. Johnson is preparing for the possibility of Trump sending National Guard troops to his city, as his has already done in both Los Angeles and Washington DC.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 31, 2025

Chicago mayor says police will not aid federal troops or agents

The Democratic mayor is preparing Chicago for any U.S. enforcement operation similar to what Trump has already done in Los Angeles and Washington.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (left) and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker at a news conference in Chicago on Tuesday. Pritzker said he has learned details of U.S. President Donald Trump's plans for troop deployments to Chicago from government sources and reporters, not the Trump administration itself.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 3, 2025

'We're going in': Trump to send national guard troops to Chicago

The U.S. president's extraordinary effort to militarize the country's third-largest city is likely to trigger a legal battle.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meet on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tianjin, China, on Monday. The meeting exposed a central tension in New Delhi’s foreign policy: a desire not to be tied down.
COMMENTARY
Sep 3, 2025

India’s diplomatic dance: Cosmetic rapprochement and an enduring rivalry

India’s moves at the SCO were neither a tilt toward Beijing nor a retreat from the West.
Nippon Steel has dropped a civil lawsuit filed in the United States related to its acquisition of United States Steel after a successful settling of the takeover deal.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 4, 2025

Nippon Steel drops civil lawsuit related to U.S. Steel buyout

The Japanese steelmaker had sued U.S. peer Cleveland-Cliffs, its CEO, and the head of a steel union over what it alleged were illegal acts to prevent the buyout.
Tokito Oda serves against Casey Ratzlaff during the first round of the U.S. Open wheelchair tennis tournament in New York on Wednesday.
TENNIS
Sep 5, 2025

Japanese phenom Tokito Oda off to winning start at U.S. Open

Oda is chasing a career Grand Slam at the U.S. Open — the only thing missing from his resume.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un view a military parade in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on Wednesday, marking the 80th anniversary of victory over Japan and the end of World War II.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 4, 2025

Divide the dictators, President Trump — don’t unite them

Xi's objectives here are clear: first, to elevate China's national prestige; second, to strengthen alliances among authoritarian leaders; and third, to rewrite history.
Italy's Jannik Sinner hugs Spain's Carlos Alcaraz after the Italian won Wimbledon on July 13.
TENNIS
Sep 7, 2025

Machine-like Sinner meets magician Alcaraz for U.S. Open crown

The stakes could hardly be higher in the marquee meeting at the iconic Arthur Ashe Stadium, with the world No. 1 ranking also on the line.
Chiu Chui-cheng, the Cabinet-ranked head of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, takes part in an interview in Taipei in May.
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 13, 2025

In U.S., Taiwan minister warns of 'domino effect' if China takes island

Chiu Chui-cheng, head of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, said Beijing "has been actively preparing for war," pointing to stepped-up Chinese military activity.
Chinese tech stocks have surged in past weeks, driven by a perception that the nation’s industry leaders are making steady progress in developing homegrown AI and chips.
BUSINESS
Sep 18, 2025

Huawei unveils AI chip road map to challenge Nvidia’s lead

Chinese tech stocks have surged in past weeks, driven by a perception that the nation’s industry leaders are making steady progress in developing homegrown AI and chips.
U.S. deputy Middle East envoy Morgan Ortagus raises her hand to veto a draft resolution during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the situation in the Gaza Strip, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 19, 2025

U.S. vetoes U.N. demand for ceasefire and aid access in Gaza

The U.N. resolution would also have demanded the immediate, dignified and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas and other groups.
Then-Taiwanese Vice Foreign Minister Alexander Yui — who is currently the island's de facto ambassador to the U.S. — speaks during a news conference in Taipei in July 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 20, 2025

Trump intelligence advisers met with Taiwanese official

The meeting with Alexander Yui, Taiwan's de facto U.S. ambassador, amounted to one of the higher-level Taiwan-U.S. contacts to date during Trump's second term.
A business class suite of an Airbus SE A350-1000 aircraft operated by Japan Airlines is seen during a media preview at the company's hangar at Tokyo's Haneda Airport in January last year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 20, 2025

Boom in business class travel from Japan fuels airlines profits

As tariffs change trade patterns and roil global supply chains, corporate Japan is dealing with it by getting executives in the air.
James Baker speaks at the funeral service for former U.S. President George Bush in Houston in December 2018. As Treasury secretary in 1985, he was the key U.S. negotiator of the Plaza Accord, the landmark deal to weaken the dollar and realign global currencies.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 22, 2025

Why the Plaza Accord is still the gold standard

Rather than grieve Plaza, salute it. The deal reflected a confluence of national interest, diplomatic nous and a sense that common interests dictated collaboration.
Demonstrators protest at the port of Mutsu-Ogawara in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, in March 1997, as a British freighter arrives with processed nuclear waste, whose fissile elements can be 
fabricated into new nuclear mixed-oxide fuel.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 23, 2025

Could pacifist Japan ever arm itself with nuclear weapons?

It has always been a question of having the will to act and the belief that the U.S. nuclear deterrence commitment to Japan was beyond question.
Soldiers participate in a military exercise in Miaoli County, Taiwan, in July 2022. While China may desire to unify the island, military, geographic, political and economic factors make a successful invasion unlikely.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 23, 2025

Taiwan isn’t as susceptible to invasion as one would think

The island’s coastline is remarkably unsuited for amphibious operations and an invasion would demand a fleet comparable in size to that used by the Allies on D-Day.
French President Emmanuel Macron addresses the 80th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 24, 2025

U.S. allies embracing Palestinian statehood tests Trump's Israel policy

Some analysts see Trump's unwillingness to apply Washington's leverage with Israel as a realization that the conflict is much more complex and intractable than he has acknowledged.
Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya meets with his counterparts from India, Australia and the United States during talks of “the Quad” grouping in Washington in July. The meeting reflected Japan’s strategy of building flexible minilateral partnerships to navigate growing tensions with China and shifting U.S. priorities.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 23, 2025

Japan’s foreign policy faces uncharted waters

Japan's challenge lies in maintaining strategic alignment while accommodating American transactionalism.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a ceremony at the Pentagon in Washington on Sept. 19.
WORLD
Sep 26, 2025

Hegseth orders U.S. military officials from around world to Virginia next week

It was unclear how many officials will actually attend the event, but it is rare to have so many senior officials in the same room at the same time.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas appears on a screen as he addresses the 80th United Nations General Assembly, at U.N. headquarters in New York on Thursday.
WORLD
Sep 26, 2025

Palestinian leader pledges to work with Trump and others on Gaza plan

The U.N. General Assembly has overwhelmingly endorsed a declaration that aims to advance a two-state solution and end the Gaza war.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media as he meets with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Thursday.
WORLD
Sep 26, 2025

Trump suggests he may lift sanctions on Turkey but presses on Russian oil

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's first visit to the White House in about six years started off with a warm welcome from Trump.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes