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July 26, 2025
 

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CONGRESS

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.
Elon Musk looks on during a news conference with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on May 30.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 6, 2025
Elon Musk says he has created a new U.S. political party
It is not clear how much impact the new party would have on the 2026 midterm elections, or on the presidential vote two years after that.
The U.S. Capitol in Washington. U.S. President Donald Trump’s tax bill largely benefits business investors and wealthy Americans.
WORLD / Politics / EXPLAINER
Jul 4, 2025
Who won and lost in Trump’s tax bill
Those hit the hardest by the sweeping package include elite universities and immigrants.
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson (right) poses with U.S. Rep. John Rutherford on the day of a vote on final passage of U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping spending and tax bill, on Capitol Hill in Washington on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 4, 2025
Republicans and Democrats look at how to use Trump's tax-cut bill in 2026 elections
Democrats view the cuts to Medicaid and food assistance in U.S. President Donald Trump's bill as ready ammunition for their future campaign.
U.S. President Donald Trump attends an event hosted by America250 in Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jul 4, 2025
Trump extends his political power with 'big, beautiful' win in U.S. Congress
With its narrow passage of U.S. President Donald Trump's self-styled "big, beautiful bill," Congress has delivered a victory that will further extend his power.
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson (fourth from right, front row) gestures after signing U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping spending and tax bill, on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 4, 2025
U.S. Republicans muscle Trump's tax-cut and spending bill through Congress
The 218-214 vote is a significant victory for U.S. President Donald Trump that will fund his immigration crackdown, make his 2017 tax cuts permanent and deliver new tax breaks.
Rep. Jim McGovern, a Democrat from Massachusetts and ranking member of the House Rules Committee (center left) speaks during a hearing in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 2, 2025
Trump tax bill hits Republican resistance in House ahead of vote
Trump, the GOP’s most forceful whip, quickly turned his attention from the Senate to the House, putting public pressure on Republicans to back the bill.
The U.S. Capitol in Washington on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 29, 2025
Trump's sweeping tax-cut and spending bill clears first U.S. Senate hurdle
The Senate voted Saturday to begin debate on the legislation just hours after party leaders unveiled the latest version of the massive tax and spending package.
U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine arrives for a classified briefing about the American strikes on Iran, on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 28, 2025
U.S. Senate rejects bid to curb Trump's Iran war powers
The Senate vote was 53 to 47 against a war powers resolution that would have required congressional approval for more hostilities against Iran.
Elon Musk watches as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters outside the White House in Washington in March.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 7, 2025
Trump says he has no plans to speak to Musk as feud persists
Trump said a review of Musk's extensive contracts with the federal government was in order. "We'll take look at everything," the president said.
U.S. President Donald Trump smiles before speaking in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Jun 1, 2025
Trump tariffs face threat at top court — over rulings that blocked Biden
The court’s conservative majority ruled that federal agencies can’t decide sweeping political and economic matters without clear congressional authorization.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen meets Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man wrongly deported to El Salvador by the administration of Republican President Donald Trump, in this image released Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 19, 2025
U.S. senator meets wrongly deported Salvadoran man at hotel and calls for release
The case has pitted a defiant White House against the courts, including the Supreme Court, raising the prospect of a constitutional conflict.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, greets supporters after speaking at the "Fighting Oligarchy: Where We Go From Here" rally at Gloria Molina Grand Park in Los Angeles on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 13, 2025
Bernie Sanders fights apathy on American left
The 83-year-old senator is drawing tens of thousands of people to his "fighting oligarchy" rallies around the country.
George Glass, U.S. President Donald Trump's pick to be ambassador to Japan, attends a Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing in Washington on March 13.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 9, 2025
Japan gets a new U.S. ambassador — and he has his work cut out for him
The U.S. Senate has voted to confirm George Glass, whose top agenda items include resolving the tariff row and getting Tokyo to spend more on defense.
U.S. Sen. Mark Warner speaks as others look on during a news conference to unveil legislation that would allow the White House to "ban or prohibit" foreign technology products such as the Chinese-owned video app TikTok during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington in March 2023.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 8, 2025
Top Democratic senator says new Trump TikTok extension may violate law
Sen. Mark Warner also said the reported deal under consideration would not meet legal requirements for eliminating ByteDance’s influence over TikTok’s U.S. operations.
Sen. Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, speaks to reporters after surpassing the record for the longest Senate speech at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD
Apr 2, 2025
Cory Booker condemns Trump’s policies in longest senate speech on record
Cheers broke out in the chamber when the senator passed Strom Thurmond's record for longest speech.
Democratic-backed Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Judge Susan Crawford gestures to supporters after voters elected her to the state Supreme Court, at her election night headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 2, 2025
Liberal wins Wisconsin Supreme Court election in setback for Trump and Musk
The election was widely seen as an early referendum on Trump's presidency, and the campaign easily became the most expensive judicial contest in U.S. history.
Both houses of the U.S. Congress have effectively become a subordinate branch of government, ceding power to the executive, especially when the president's party also controls Capitol Hill.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 27, 2025
U.S. Congress began ceding power to presidents long before Trump
Since the turn of the century, Congress has increasingly functioned as a quasi-parliament rather than as an independent branch of government
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.
Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer takes part in a television interview at the Capitol in Washington on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 15, 2025
Relief as U.S. Congress averts government shutdown
Lawmakers already reeling from President Donald Trump's radical federal spending cuts voted to keep the lights on through September.
Tokyo is the No. 2 choice for international students
The University of Tokyo. International students are increasingly flocking to Asia, with affordability being a particularly important metric.
Junglia, Japan’s newest theme park, opens in northern Okinawa
In Junglia’s Dinosaur Safari attraction during a media preview on Thursday, a casual drive through a habitat for the prehistoric creatures goes haywire when several Tyrannosaurus rexes break out of containment.
Big unanswered questions follow Japan's big, beautiful deal with the U.S.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday in Washington, the day after he agreed to an 11th-hour trade deal with Japan.
Extreme heat grips Japan, even Hokkaido
The city of Obihiro in Hokkaido amid scorching heat on Thursday
‘Demon Slayer’ movie slashes its own box office records
“Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle” is the first installment in a trilogy that's set to wrap the anime adaptation of Koyoharu Gotoke's manga about sword-wielding heroes fighting man-eating demons.
Behind the scenes: Inside Fuji Rock’s strategy for staying on top
In recent years, Fuji Rock has had fewer blockbuster performers and showcased more top-selling Japanese acts and international musicians' first-time performances in Japan.
Hall of Fame always held deeper meaning for Ichiro
Ichiro presents then-Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson with the bat he used to break the single-season hits record in 2004.
Japan leans into homegrown AI amid rising competition
McKinsey’s 2025 Technology Trends Outlook, published Wednesday, says that the use of “sovereign AI” is a trend gaining significant global traction, including in Japan.
JT picks: What not to miss at Fuji Rock 2025
Fuji Rock Festival turns the green slopes of Niigata Prefecture’s Naeba Ski Resort into a summer escape that offers soundtracks for every mood.
Japan’s top brands get tied up in the great sunscreen debate
A coral reef in Okinawa in July 2022. Some jurisdictions around the world have moved to ban certain sunscreens in a bid to protect coral reefs, but some say the impact on reefs is far from clear.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

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
By Alex K.T. Martin

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