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Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te has repeatedly said only Taiwan's people can decide their future as the island faces stepped-up military and political pressure from China, including war games.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 24, 2025

China says Taiwan president spreading 'heresy' with sovereignty speech

China's Taiwan Affairs Office said Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te had intentionally distorted history to promote his Taiwan independence agenda.
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's grandson Hassan Khomeini stands next to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during the 36th anniversary of the death of the leader of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, at Khomeini's shrine in southern Tehran on June 4.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 24, 2025

Search for successor to Iran's Khamenei hastens as tensions erupt into conflict

Israel attacked Iran and threatened to assassinate its veteran leader.
A replica of a great white shark is driven around the island of Martha's Vineyard during the "Jaws" 50th Anniversary celebration on Saturday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 22, 2025

Fifty years after 'Jaws,' the water’s not safe ... for sharks

The apex predator has had half a century of bad press.
A Thai police officer talks with people waiting to cross the closed Ban Khlong Luek International Border Checkpoint between Thailand and Cambodia, in the Aranyaprathet district of Thailand's Sa Kaeo province on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 24, 2025

Border confusion as Thailand shuts land crossings with Cambodia

Thailand has closed crossing points in in all seven border provinces to everyone except students and those seeking medical treatment.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the press before boarding Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 25, 2025

Trump baffles with sudden U-turn on China buying Iranian oil

U.S. Treasury and State department officials handling Iranian oil sanctions were surprised by Trump’s statement and uncertain how to immediately interpret it.
Members of the Coastal Surveillance Unit participate in a ceremony commemorating the first anniversary of the Self-Defense Forces' Yonaguni Garrison in Okinawa Prefecture in April 2017.
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2025

Okinawa locals wary as SDF presence grows amid China threat

The SDF buildup has spurred concerns across the political spectrum in Okinawa, and many residents remain deeply worried over its growing presence.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 25, 2025

Foreigners rescued from scam centers still stuck along Thai-Myanmar border

The Karen National Army, a rebel group, said it was currently housing 216 people, including citizens of Vietnam, China, the Philippines, and Indonesia.
Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Itsunori Onodera (right) announces its campaign pledges for the Upper House election at the party's headquarters in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 25, 2025

Over 470 gearing up to run in Japan's Upper House election

Opposition parties are expected to fight over Upper House seats in over half of the 32 constituencies where one seat each is up for grabs.
Taxi drivers wait for fares under a patriotic billboard in Tehran on Tuesday, the day of the ceasefire announcement.
WORLD
Jun 25, 2025

Twelve day Middle East war shows how 'normal' the unthinkable has become

The ructions that have torn through the Middle East aren’t likely to fully reveal their impact for years to come.
People cross a street under the hot sun in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 26, 2025

Last week’s heat wave in Japan not possible without climate change, analysis shows

The heat wave, which came shortly after the rainy season was declared, caused a surge in ambulance calls for heat-related illnesses.
Buildings and roads are half submerged in floodwaters after heavy rainfalls, in Rongjiang county in China's Guizhou province on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 25, 2025

China, reeling from floods, braces for second tropical cyclone in two weeks

The tropical depression could make landfall somewhere between the island province of Hainan and Guangdong on the mainland on Thursday morning.
Bags of food aid are prepared for distribution by the World Food Program, part of the EU- and U.S.-backed "Grain from Ukraine" initiative, at a warehouse in Nouakchott, Mauritania, on Nov. 19, 2024.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 26, 2025

Ukraine turns to Africa in its struggle against Russia

By showing countries in Africa that it is a major alternative to Russian food supplies, Ukraine hopes many will begin to pressure Moscow to end the war in Ukraine.
Apartment rents in the capital climbed 1.3% from a year earlier in April and May for the largest gains since 1994, government data shows.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 26, 2025

Tokyo rents rising at fastest pace in 30 years backs case for BOJ rate hikes

Bigger outlays for accommodation are likely to further fuel a change in inflation expectations and behavior among households of all sizes.
Tokyo Gas is in talks with at least four U.S. liquefied natural gas suppliers to secure a purchase deal, according to sources.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 26, 2025

Tokyo gas in talks to seal long-term U.S. LNG purchase deals

Japan’s largest gas distributor is in talks with at least four companies over supply from projects dotting the U.S. Gulf Coast, according to sources.
The serpentine coastline of Funafuti Atoll, home to nearly half of Tuvalu's entire population of 11,500, on Feb. 19, 2004.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 26, 2025

Nearly one-third of Tuvalu citizens seek to live in Australia on climate visa

The visa program has been hailed as a landmark response to the looming challenge of climate-forced migration.
The United Nations Security Council holds a vote during a meeting on the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine at the bodies headquarters in New York on Feb. 24.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Jun 26, 2025

Democracy shouldn’t be used as an ideological weapon

The democracy-vs-autocracy framing has widened the divide between democratic countries — “us” — and Russia and its allies — “them.”
The U.S. dollar was back at multiyear lows against a basket of other major currencies on Thursday, erasing a brief respite provided by safe-haven flows related to Middle East tensions earlier in the week.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 27, 2025

No love for the dollar as markets fret about Fed independence

Respect for independent institutions such as central banks has long been viewed as a key attraction of major economies, helping anchor economic stability.
The Justice Ministry in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward. Takahiro Shiraishi, who was sentenced to death in 2020 for killing nine people in the space of two months, was executed on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 27, 2025

Japan executes ‘Twitter killer’ in first hanging since 2022

Takahiro Shiraishi was on death row for killing nine people he met on social media in 2017.
Visitors at Shibuya Station, one of the busiest railway stations in the world. Tokyo ranks second only to London and above Paris, which landed third on online travel booking site Kayak’s list of most popular destinations this summer.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 27, 2025

U.S. trips to Japan surpass Paris for hot summer vacation destinations

A multiday stay in Japan has become much more affordable for those in the U.S. thanks to lower airfares and a favorable foreign exchange market.
People demonstrate against Immigration and Customs Enforcement immigration raids and the Los Angeles Dodgers for not offering more support, in Los Angeles on June 21.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 27, 2025

Marine veteran decries father's detention in immigration raid in U.S.

"These are not the standards of the United States government," U.S. Marine veteran Alejandro Barranco said of his father's detention.
A voter takes a photograph of a candidate running for a Tokyo assembly seat, in Tokyo on June 21.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 27, 2025

Lawmaker hints at new social media regulations as misinformation taints elections

Under a new law, social media sites can remove posts defaming political candidates if creators don't respond within two days, but lawmakers say that's too long.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a news conference during the 2025 NATO Summit in The Hague on Wednesday. He expressed anger and threatened to sue over media reports claiming the U.S. strike on Iran delayed its nuclear program by only a few months.
EDITORIALS
Jun 27, 2025

Airstrikes won’t end Iran’s nuclear ambitions — diplomacy might

The consensus of the U.S. intelligence community earlier this year was that Iran was up to three years away from being able to deliver a nuclear weapon to a target of its choosing.
Security personnel keep watch outside the Wuhan Institute of Virology during the visit by the World Health Organization team tasked with investigating the origins of COVID-19, in Wuhan, China, in February 2021.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 28, 2025

WHO says all COVID-19 origin theories still open, after inconclusive study

The global catastrophe killed an estimated 20 million people, according to the WHO, while shredding economies and crippling health systems.
Self-Defense Forces soldiers take part in an evacuation drill, at Nama Hama Beach on Yonaguni island, Japan's westernmost inhabited island in Okinawa Prefecture, in November 2023.
JAPAN
Jun 28, 2025

Japan aims to complete Yonaguni evacuation shelter in 2028

The project was started bearing in mind a possible emergency over Taiwan in the Nansei southwestern island region.
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama looks on during an event for The Assam Tribune and Dainik Asam newspapers in Guwahati, India, in April 2017.
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Jun 28, 2025

Tibetans face up to uncertain future as Dalai Lama turns 90

Tibetans in exile celebrate the birthday of the spiritual leader next week, an occasion overshadowed by uncertainty about the future of the role.
The BayStars' Trevor Bauer pitches during a game at Jingu Stadium in May.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jun 29, 2025

BayStars' Trevor Bauer dejected and searching for answers as slump continues

Bauer has lost four straight decisions and allowed 19 runs in his last 20⅓ innings. 
Coco Gauff takes part in a practice session on Friday ahead of Wimbledon.
TENNIS
Jun 29, 2025

Cautious Gauff targets 'Channel Slam' at Wimbledon

The last woman to win Wimbledon and the French Open in the same year was Serena Williams, who accomplished the feat in 2002 and again in 2015.
In a world rocked by war and shifting power, Pope Leo XIV steps into the global spotlight, seeking unity and moral authority for a diverse and wounded flock — not with force, but through tradition, saints and patience.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 25, 2025

How many saints can Pope Leo add to his army?

When the world goes off kilter, words from the Vatican can seem toothless. But don’t underestimate the power of the Church’s long game.
Japanese seafood in a supermarket in Hong Kong in July 2023
JAPAN
Jun 30, 2025

China partially lifts ban on Japanese seafood imports in bid to ease frictions

Tokyo labeled the move “a major turning point,” though improving the relationship still faces hurdles over China’s military moves near Japan.
Beachgoers wait in an underground bomb shelter after sirens sounded to warn of an incoming Iranian missile attack in Tel Aviv on June 20. Iran has found itself humbled after a ceasefire was declared but retains plenty of capacity to hit back.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 30, 2025

Israel emerges stronger from Iran war but risks blowback

Israel building military positions beyond its borders in Syria and Lebanon opened the country to risks of repercussions from regional partners wary of its assertiveness.

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan