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November 15, 2025
 

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DEFENSE

A ground crew member guides a Russian Tu-95 nuclear-capable strategic bomber performing a flight over the Sea of Japan, in this still image taken from a video released on Friday.
JAPAN
Oct 25, 2025
Japan scrambles jets after nuclear-capable Russian bombers fly nearby
The incident took place hours before Japan's new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, pledged in her first speech to parliament since taking office to accelerate a defense buildup.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi delivers her first policy speech in the Lower House in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 24, 2025
Takaichi focuses on economic and security concerns in first policy speech
Over half of the new prime minister's speech was dedicated to economic policies, and she described the fight against inflation as the top priority for her administration.
Leaders from EU countries at a European Council meeting in Brussels on Thursday
WORLD
Oct 24, 2025
EU leaders defer decision on Russian assets as Belgium balks
Ukraine’s European allies increasingly see using frozen Russian central bank assets as the only viable way to keep financing Kyiv in its fight against Moscow’s full-scale invasion.
Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force personnel march during the joint multinational exercise Garuda Shield 2025 at the Baturaja combat training center in Lampung, Indonesia, last month.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 23, 2025
Takaichi to put defense push in spotlight in bid to satiate Trump demands
She is expected to raise Japan’s defense spending to 2% of gross domestic product by the end of this fiscal year, a move that could pave the way for further hikes.
Hamas conducts a public hostage handover ceremony in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, in February.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 23, 2025
The Gaza peace plan will fail without American troops
Trump has been clear that he is not enthusiastic about overseas troop deployments in general — and the use of U.S. boots on the ground in Gaza may be a bridge too far.
Despite enduring nearly four years of war, the Ukrainian people continue to live their lives with resilience, showing strength, endurance and the ability to maintain humanity in the face of ongoing hardship.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 23, 2025
In Ukraine, we’re learning to live with the war within
We live with the symptoms of collective post-traumatic stress: a nation holding its breath, waking from nightmares.
The Taiwanese flag waves on a hilltop facing China's Xiamen city, on Dadan Island, in Kinmen, Taiwan, on Oct. 18.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 23, 2025
Taiwan wary China's new economic plan could include front-line islands
Taiwanese officials fear China could seek to gain de facto jurisdiction over Kinmen islands if it includes them in its economic development plan.
Shinjiro Koizumi — son of a former prime minister and rival to the current one — was appointed defense chief after falling short in his bid for the Liberal Democratic Party presidency earlier this month.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 22, 2025
For three key Cabinet posts, Takaichi turns to an eclectic trio
The prime minister’s picks for Japan’s new defense, foreign and economic security ministers are not your typical stodgy line-up.
Keiichi Ichikawa, who served as assistant chief cabinet secretary in charge of diplomacy under former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, has been appointed as secretary-general of the National Security Secretariat.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 22, 2025
Keiichi Ichikawa named head of Japan's National Security Secretariat
The former assistant chief cabinet secretary replaces Masataka Okano who assumed the post in January.
People watch a TV news report about North Korean short-range ballistic missile launches, at the main railway station in Seoul on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 22, 2025
North Korea fires off ballistic missiles one day after Takaichi named PM
Pyongyang's launch of several short-range ballistic missiles provided new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi with an early test just a day after she took office.
Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi, who was elected prime minister on Tuesday, holds up a policy agreement with Japan Innovation Party leader Hirofumi Yoshimura after signing the deal at parliament in Tokyo a day earlier.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Oct 21, 2025
On defense policy, Japan's new ruling bloc packs a lot of punch
The LDP and Japan Innovation Party aim to revise key security documents while eliminating curbs on exporting lethal defense gear and building up Japan’s defense industrial base.
Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi and other lawmakers prepare to cast their votes for Japan's new prime minister in the Lower House of parliament on Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 21, 2025
Takaichi’s choice: revolution, reform or regression
Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi stands at a crossroads. Her choices will define not only her legacy but the nation’s trajectory.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks with U.S. President Donald Trump during a meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 21, 2025
Trump and Australia's Albanese sign critical minerals deal to counter China
The U.S. president also backed the AUKUS strategic nuclear-powered submarine deal with Australia to bolster security in the Indo-Pacific.
John Healey, the British defense secretary, tours a new military drone production facility in Swindon, U.K., on Sept. 15. Healey is reportedly set to authorize new powers to shoot down drones amid a rise in incursions.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 20, 2025
British troops to be given powers to shoot down drones on sight, Telegraph reports
Drones have increasingly disrupted airspace across Europe in recent times, raising alarm over the repeated incursions of uncrewed aerial vehicles.
Japan has made several exceptions to its arms export rules in recent years as part of a broader retreat from the pacifist stance it adopted after its defeat in World War II.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 17, 2025
Kawasaki Heavy in talks to develop engines for Germany's Taurus missiles
The involvement of a Japanese partner could complicate matters due to Tokyo's ban on transfers of weapons to countries in conflict.
Visitors look at airborne weapons displayed at a booth of Aviation Industry Corporation of China at the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, or Zhuhai Airshow, in Zhuhai, China, in November 2018.
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Oct 16, 2025
Russian training could help Chinese paratroopers play key role in a Taiwan invasion
Leaked documents indicate that Russia is training and equipping Chinese units to potentially airdrop onto the island to clear a path for follow-on forces.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte gives a statement during a meeting of NATO defense ministers at NATO's headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 16, 2025
NATO and EU scramble to boost drone defenses to counter Russia
High-profile incidents in Poland and Estonia have set off a flurry of activity from European officials to plug gaps in the continent's defenses.
A tram carriage displays a recruitment advertisement for the German armed forces in Berlin on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 16, 2025
Conscription row mars Germany's push to beef up deterrence
Disagreements have emerged within Germany's ruling coalition over whether to use a draft lottery or a purely voluntary approach in an effort to boost military recruitment.
The tanker Boracay, part of Russia's "shadow fleet" suspected of involvement in drone flights over Denmark, is escorted by a French naval vessel on Oct. 1 off the coast of Saint-Nazaire, France.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 13, 2025
Putin is taking his hybrid warfare to the sea
Russian President Vladimir Putin intends to contest the Baltic, make no mistake.
A drone detection and defense system is parked in Kottingbrunn, Austria, on Oct. 3
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 12, 2025
How can Europe protect its skies against 'escalating' drone menace?
Concerns are growing that such disruptions are part of Russian hybrid war tactics three-and-a-half years into its invasion of Ukraine.
From France to Mali, a deportee's struggle far from home
Moussa Sacko, a Malian deported from France — where he had lived since he was a young child — stands on a street in Bamako, Mali, in December. Compared with his home in France, Bamako feels like a different planet, Sacko said.
Descendants in Philippines denied Japanese citizenship
China warns of military response if Japan intervenes in Taiwan contingency
Representatives from the Japan Innovation Party hand over a proposal to designate Xue Jian, the Chinese consul-general in Osaka, as persona no grata, to a staff of the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Wednesday.
As attacks surge, who can cull bears in Japan?
Police cars leave the Akita Prefectural Police headquarters to cull bears, in the city of Akita on Thursday.
Japan may triple departure tax to tackle overtourism
A plane takes off from Haneda Airport.
Japan fully enters sports streaming era as fans face new dilemmas
Sports fan Tadashi Yokoyama streams basketball and fencing on three screens.
Tatsuya Nakadai: A masterful leading man and postwar icon
Tatsuya Nakadai had the look of a leading man in his youth, but his large and searching eyes suggested the pain and loneliness of an old soul.
As Japan’s female leader rises, can she cross sumo’s sacred line?
Japan Sumo Association Chairman Hakkaku (front center) delivers a speech on the first day of the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament at the Fukuoka Kokusai Center on Sunday. Centuries of belief and tradition still underpin the all-male association's stance of excluding women.
Takaichi doesn’t mince words on Taiwan, but dramatic policy shift unlikely
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi responds to questions during a House of Representatives Budget Committee session in parliament on Tuesday.
Florist Nicolai Bergmann flourishes outside the box
Florist Nicolai Bergmann shops for fresh flowers at the Ota flower market in Tokyo on Friday.

Podcast

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

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo
By Kathryn Wortley

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