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The $9 billion cut to foreign aid and public media the U.S. House of Representatives passed amounts to roughly one-tenth of 1% of the $6.8 trillion federal budget.
WORLD
Jul 18, 2025

U.S. House Republicans pass Trump plan to cut foreign aid and public broadcasting

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 216 to 213 in favor of the funding cut package, with only two Republicans voting against it.
Once seen as an unlikely prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba has struggled to deliver on promises, mishandled ties with U.S. President Donald Trump and now faces an election where the odds don’t look good for his party to come out victorious.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 18, 2025

A trade deal fumble could be Ishiba’s last mistake

Ishiba already leads a coalition that lacks a majority in the Lower House, and another bad showing Sunday will likely mean Japan is looking for its third leader in as many years.
U.S. President Donald Trump steps on stage to deliver remarks at the Salute to America Celebration at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines on July 3.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 19, 2025

Trump aims tariff double whammy at industries and nations by Aug. 1

In addition to measures on copper, the U.S. has discussed making announcements on lumber, chips, critical minerals and drugs, in that order, though this may change.
Tribal and bedouin fighters cross al-Mazraa village in Syria's Sweida governorate as they mobilize amid clashes with Druze gunmen on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 19, 2025

U.S. announces Syria-Israel truce as new clashes rock Druze heartland

At least 638 people have died since Sunday in violence between the Druze and Bedouins, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who serves concurrently as leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, waves to voters from atop an election campaign van during a rally Friday in Yokohama for Sunday's Upper House election.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 19, 2025

Ishiba's future in balance as polls hint at rout in Upper House election

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba likes the nitty gritty of policy, cigarettes and making models, but his dream job as Japanese leader could go up in smoke this weekend.
Since January, U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly pushed to secure more power for himself, calling for judges to be axed, firing independent watchdogs and sidestepping the legislative process.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jul 19, 2025

'Frightening': Trump's historic power grab worries experts

The Republican leader has spent six months testing the limits of his authority like no other modern U.S. president.
Women and children arrange their containers as they line up at a standpipe, where incomplete water connections caused by USAID funding cuts to the NGO Mercy Corps have led to ongoing water shortages, in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, on June 16.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 20, 2025

Trump's funding cut stalls water projects, increasing risks for millions

The White House's decision to slash nearly all U.S. foreign aid projects has created new hazards for some of the people they were designed to benefit.
Tribal and bedouin fighters cross Walga town as they mobilize amid clashes with Druze gunmen, near the predominantly Druze city of Sweida in southern Syria on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 20, 2025

Syria believed it had green light from U.S. and Israel to deploy troops to Sweida

Israel carried out strikes on Syrian troops and on Damascus on Wednesday in an escalation that took the Islamist-led leadership by surprise.
An internal security forces member stands watch at a checkpoint in the village of al-Mazra'a on Sunday, after days of violence in Syria's Sweida province sparked by clashes between Bedouin fighters and Druze factions.
WORLD
Jul 21, 2025

Calm reported in Syria's Sweida, as Damascus says truce holding

With hundreds reported killed, the bloodshed is a major test for interim leader Ahmad al-Sharaa.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (left) and Donald Trump during their meeting at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, on March 8, 2024
WORLD / Politics
Jul 21, 2025

'Trump before Trump': Orban's illiberal model on show

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been accused of silencing critical voices from the judiciary, academia, media and civil society, and of restricting minority rights.
Shipping containers at Barcelona port
BUSINESS
Jul 21, 2025

EU to prepare retaliation plan as U.S. trade stance hardens

The overwhelming preference is to keep negotiations with Washington on track in a bid for an outcome to the impasse ahead of next month’s deadline.
Members of the Taliban carrying flags participate in a rally to mark the third anniversary of the fall of Kabul, in Kabul on Aug. 14, 2024.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 22, 2025

Trump vowed to save Afghans, but UAE had already sent some evacuees back, cable shows

The United Arab Emirates, a close security partner of the United States, agreed in 2021 to temporarily house several thousand Afghans evacuated from Kabul.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (left) shakes hands with Indonesian Minister for Foreign Affairs Sugiono during the 58th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' meeting and related meetings in Kuala Lumpur on July 10.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 22, 2025

Western aid cuts cede ground in Southeast Asia to China, study suggests

"The center of gravity in Southeast Asia's development finance landscape looks set to drift East, notably to Beijing but also Tokyo and Seoul," according to the study.
The Dragon Bravo Fire burns on the northern rim of the Grand Canyon as seen from Grandeur Point on the southern rim, in Arizona, on July 14.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jul 22, 2025

Trump staff cuts force firefighters to clean toilets, critics say

The U.S. is grappling with decade-high wildfire numbers this year.
Takeshi Ishikawa, commissioner of the Japanese Defense Ministry's Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency, speaks at a briefing for Australian political and business leaders on an upgraded version of a Mogami-class frigate that Tokyo aims to export to Australia, held in Canberra on Monday.
JAPAN
Jul 22, 2025

Japan briefs Australia on frigate for export

Australia plans to build 11 frigates and is expected to choose between the upgraded Mogami-class frigate and a German frigate by year-end.
U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at the entrance to the West Wing of the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 23, 2025

U.S.-Philippines trade talks yield modest tariff shift after Trump-Marcos meeting

U.S. President Donald Trump announced a new 19% tariff rate for goods from the Philippines after what he said was a "beautiful visit" by the Philippine leader.
Elon Musk leaves the stage after addressing a campaign rally for Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 5, 2024.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 23, 2025

SpaceX warns investors Elon Musk could return to U.S. politics

Musk had said in May he would focus on his business empire and pull back his political spending, but after a spat with Trump, he vowed to form a new political party.
Fumiko Takayama speaks in the city of Chiba on May 20 about her experience of escaping two 1945 air raids on the city.
JAPAN / History
Jul 23, 2025

Woman recounts deadly U.S. bombings of Chiba 80 years ago

About 10 years ago, Fumiko Takayama, a former teacher, started to share her experience of having survived two separate war raids, noting that "there's nothing good about war."
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 on May 20.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 23, 2025

Trump's Golden Dome looks for alternatives to Musk's SpaceX

The shift comes amid a deteriorating relationship between the U.S. president and the billionaire entrepreneur.
A Nigerian health official administers an mpox vaccination at Federal Medical Center in Abuja, Nigeria, on Nov. 18.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 24, 2025

800,000 U.S. taxpayer-funded vaccine doses may expire, lawmakers say

A letter said 220,000 doses could be viable if the State Department begins shipping them immediately.
A U.S. flag is reflected in the windows of the shuttered former offices of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Washington on Tuesday. Washington does not want any USAID-branded supplies to be rerouted elsewhere.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 24, 2025

U.S.-funded contraceptives for poor nations to be burned in France: sources

Washington has rejected offers from the United Nations and family planning organizations to buy or ship the supplies.
People detained by U.S. immigration forces are seen behind fences at the Desert View Annex at an ICE detention facility in Adelanto, California, on July 10.
WORLD / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Jul 27, 2025

Most ICE detainees have no criminal history as detention reaches record levels

Private prison corporations are set to benefit from the Trump administration's unprecedented deportation drive.
With tariffs at an 80-year high and the U.S. dollar behaving unpredictably, the Fed should hold off on cutting rates until there’s clear evidence that inflation remains under control.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 27, 2025

The Fed needs to tread carefully with this strange dollar

Given that range of possibilities, it’s prudent to wait for the data to tell the story, exactly as Fed Chair Jerome Powell is currently planning.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen shakes hands with U.S. President Donald Trump in Turnberry, Scotland, on Sunday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 28, 2025

EU reaches broad tariff deal with U.S. to avert painful trade blow

The U.S. and European Union agreed on a hard-fought deal that will see the bloc face 15% tariffs on most of its exports, including automobiles.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim speaks as he takes part in mediation talks on the Thailand-Cambodia border conflict between Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Thai acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai, in Putrajaya, Malaysia, on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 28, 2025

Thai and Cambodian leaders agree to ceasefire after five days of battle

During a meeting hosted by Malaysia, the two sides agreed to halt hostilities and resume direct communications.
Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, attends wreath-laying ceremony at Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi in March 2019.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 28, 2025

North Korea rejects South’s olive branch, saying it has ‘no interest’ in rapprochement

Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korea’s leader, said that “no matter what policy ... is made in Seoul, we have no interest in it.”
Displaced people hold candles as they celebrate Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn's 73rd birthday after the leaders of Cambodia and Thailand agreed to a ceasefire on Monday, effective midnight, in Sisaket province, Thailand, on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 29, 2025

Ceasefire takes effect between Thailand and Cambodia after five-day border battle

The two countries' leaders agreed to end hostilities, resume direct communications and create a mechanism to implement the ceasefire after efforts by Malaysia, the U.S. and China.
A man talks on a phone in front of an Apple Store in Shanghai. For the first time ever, Apple is closing a retail store in China.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 29, 2025

Apple to shutter a retail store in China for the first time ever

The company said it will shut one of two stores in the city of Dalian on Aug. 9, citing a changing landscape at the shopping complex where it is located.
Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar meet with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong in Washington in January.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 30, 2025

As China advances and the U.S. retreats, Japan-India ties grow stronger

Located on two ends of the Indo-Pacific region, India and Japan anchor a stable counterweight to China and a mercurial Trump.
A Magic Bot Z1 by Magiclab is displayed at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference at the Shanghai World Expo and Convention Center on Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 30, 2025

China’s AI strategy relies on frenzy and frenemies

China’s current AI frenzy represents the best and worst of classic capitalism: The competition propels innovation at a rapid clip, but not all of the companies will survive.

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