Tag - defense

 
 

DEFENSE

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the press aboard Air Force One before arriving at Palm Beach International Airport in Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 29, 2025
Trump prompts U.S. allies to reopen nuclear weapons debate
Donald Trump's attacks on NATO and the established world order are undermining the confidence of its allies under the U.S. security umbrella.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (left) meets with U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the Malacanang palace in Manila on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 28, 2025
U.S. to deploy more advanced defense capabilities to Philippines
The move comes as Washington seeks to reassure its oldest treaty ally in Asia of its “ironclad” defense commitment amid heightened tensions with China.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi speaks during a news conference on Thursday at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 28, 2025
Japan unveils evacuation plan for Taiwan contingency
Under the plan, Fukuoka Prefecture will host the most evacuees, with 47,400 people.
U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Jack Reed (left) and co-chair Roger Wicker at Capitol Hill in Washington in April 2024.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 28, 2025
U.S. senators from both parties urge formal probe of Signal chat attack plan
The Pentagon was asked to investigate the Trump administration's use of the Signal messaging app to discuss sensitive attack plans.
European leaders pose for a family photo during a meeting on Ukraine at Elysee Palace in Paris on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 28, 2025
Europeans back strong Ukraine army but differ on future 'reassurance force'
Progress on what role Europe might play in providing peacetime security guarantees is proving difficult with the prospect of a ceasefire distant.
A Chinese Navy missile frigate. Beijing has been ramping up efforts to project power in the Indo-Pacific region.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 27, 2025
Xi tests U.S. allies in Indo-Pacific as Trump looks elsewhere
From sending warships off Australia’s coast to putting pressure on Thailand over human rights, Beijing is ramping up efforts to project power.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervises the test of suicide drones with artificial intelligence technology, according to local media, at an unknown location in this photo released on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 27, 2025
North Korea's Kim supervises test of AI suicide drones
Kim said unmanned control and AI capability must be the top priorities in modern arms development, state media reported.
U.S. President Donald Trump's deal-focused approach to diplomacy may prevent a hostile China-Russia-North Korea-Iran alliance, but weakens U.S. global leadership.
COMMENTARY
Mar 27, 2025
The art of the deal meets a four-power axis
Trump's deal-focused approach may prevent a hostile China-Russia-North Korea-Iran alliance but weakens U.S. global leadership.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth addresses American service members assigned to Kane'ohe Bay, Hawaii, on Tuesday. Hegseth’s itinerary during his first visit to Asia in his new role will include visits to the Philippines and Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 27, 2025
Hegseth’s Asia tour won’t fix U.S. credibility crisis
The timing of Hegseth’s first Asian tour couldn’t be more awkward. U.S. President Donald Trump’s "America First” mantra is raising eyebrows.
Gen. Timothy Haugh of U.S. Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency; FBI Director Kash Patel; Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard; CIA Director John Ratcliffe; and Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse depart after testifying at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats, at the Capitol in Washington on Tuesday. The hearing came a day after news of a major security breach roiled the Trump administration.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 26, 2025
Trump team scrambles to handle fallout from Signal chat assailed as 'sloppy, careless'
The administration sought to contain the fallout after a journalist said he had inadvertently been added to a discussion on highly sensitive war plans.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (bottom center) and other Trump administration officials mishandled security by discussing a military strike on a commercially available messaging app, exposing vulnerabilities and raising questions about poor judgment.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 26, 2025
U.S. allies get a Signal chat’s worth of red flags
In the short term, that may have few real consequences. Although insulting, the administration’s assessment of Europe’s weak military capabilities is correct.
European Union nations and Japan fret about a world without the U.S. security umbrella. They could ease their fears by moving closer together.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 26, 2025
Japan-Europe: The security alliance the world needs now
Even before Trump’s return, Europe and Japan both rapidly needed to shift from their peacetime posture to one preparing for war.
A Maritime Self-Defense Force SH-60K "Super Auk" from JS Shiranui prepares to land on HMAS Brisbane during Exercise Malabar 2023 while off the coast of New South Wales, Australia.
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2025
New SDF command will be key for contingency planning, Australian commander says
The framework will enable direct communication with counterparts in partner nations and speed up coordination, the Australian Defence Force's chief of joint operations says.
The head of the Self-Defense Forces' new Joint Operations Command, Gen. Kenichiro Nagumo, inspects an honor guard Monday morning at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Mar 24, 2025
Japan launches new Joint Operations Command to unify SDF branches
The new command will allow for the smoother integration of operations across domains to prepare for and respond to possible emergencies.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks to Royal Navy soldiers outside a BAE Systems factory in Barrow-in-Furness, England, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 23, 2025
Keir Starmer on Putin, Trump and Europe’s challenge: ‘We’ve known this moment was coming’
Behind a whirlwind of diplomacy is Starmer's true goal: Persuading Trump of the value of NATO.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in Washington on Friday
JAPAN
Mar 22, 2025
U.S. defense chief Pete Hegseth to visit Japan next week
Hegseth will visit the Pacific island of Iwo Jima to participate in a joint memorial ceremony as Japan and the U.S. mark 80 years since the end of World War II.
An employee works at a production line of 155 mm artillery shells at the plant of German company Rheinmetall, which produces weapons and ammunition for tanks and artillery.
BUSINESS
Mar 22, 2025
Europe is short of gunpowder and TNT when it needs them most
European governments dug into their munitions stockpiles to arm Ukraine, exposing how shallow their reserves were.
U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, at the White House in Washington on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 22, 2025
Trump rejects idea that Musk should have access to top-secret China war plans
The U.S. president also denied a report that such a briefing had been planned to be held at the Pentagon on Friday.
A Self-Defense Forces officer speaks during a news conference Friday at the Tokyo District Court over a power harassment lawsuit he filed against the state earlier in the day.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 21, 2025
SDF officer sues the state over alleged power harassment
The officer is seeking more than ¥14 million in damages after being transferred to a post completely different from his field of expertise, which led to mental illness.
Despite the high cost of defending Ukraine, voters on both sides of the Atlantic — including Republicans in the United States — remain surprisingly united in their support for the country.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2025
The American and European publics still stand with Ukraine
Public attitudes in the U.S. are even more striking. When it comes to Ukraine, Americans broadly agree with Europeans.

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Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.