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August 29, 2025
 

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DEFENSE

Israel’s rapid military gains in Iran have exposed deep vulnerabilities in Tehran’s defenses, but they also raise urgent questions about how far Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is willing to go and at what cost.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 18, 2025
Success in Iran leaves Israel at a strategic crossroads
In Iran, it’s vital that Netanyahu follow his Hezbollah model if his campaign of military shock and awe doesn’t quickly succeed.
Drone warfare in Ukraine has exposed the obsolescence of traditional military systems, the need for rapid, adaptive innovation and the terrifying potential of AI-driven autonomous weapons in future conflicts.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 18, 2025
The age of AI drone warfare is here and changing the rules
Drone technology, weapons and tactics now evolve at a blinding pace. A new drone will be useful for only two to six months.
A family looks at a model and an introduction video of the first Taiwan domestically made submarine on display at a Panshih-class fast combat support ship in Keelung, Taiwan, in March.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 18, 2025
Taiwan completes first sea trial for domestically made submarine in defense milestone
Taiwan has made the indigenous submarine program a key part of a project to modernize its armed forces as Beijing stages almost daily military exercises.
A GBU-57 or Massive Ordnance Penetrator bomb, known as a "bunker buster," at Whiteman Air Base in Missouri in May 2023.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 18, 2025
Bunker-buster bomb draws focus as Trump weighs Iran options
The U.S. has a wide range of military assets in the Middle East and across the globe to bring to bear in a potential fight against Iran.
A picture of Major Gen. Hossein Salami (left), head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Tehran and a cutout of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a protest in support of Iran, in Baghdad on Monday
WORLD / Politics
Jun 17, 2025
Iraq treads a tightrope to avoid spillover from Israel-Iran conflict
Iraq, which has been for years navigating a delicate balancing act between Tehran and Washington, has long been a fertile ground for proxy battles.
Israeli air defense systems are activated to intercept Iranian ballistic missiles over Tel Aviv amid a fresh barrage from Iranian forces on Monday.
WORLD / FOCUS
Jun 17, 2025
Israel’s defense shield is tested like never before as Iran fires ballistic missiles
In total, Tehran has sent 370 ballistic missiles toward Israel, with around 30 hitting targets in the country, the Israeli government says.
An Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) stand is blocked off with black partitions during the 55th edition of the International Paris Air Show on Monday.
WORLD
Jun 17, 2025
Israel furious as France shuts weapons stands at Paris Air Show
The French government considers it unacceptable for attack weapons to be on show; Israel says the move stymies competition.
Chinese aircraft carrier, the Liaoning. It crossed what is known as the second island chain, which links the Ogasawara Islands and the U.S. territory of Guam, on June 7.
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2025
Japan suspects Chinese aircraft carriers conducted drills against U.S.
The two flattops may have conducted exercises for countering U.S. forces, with one playing the role of a U.S. aircraft carrier and the other practicing intercepting it.
Rocket trails line the sky above Jerusalem on Friday after Iran launched a salvo of missiles at Israel.
WORLD / FOCUS
Jun 16, 2025
What is Israel's multilayered defense against Iranian missiles?
The system has been used to defend Israel amid attacks by Iran, which has fired hundreds of ballistic missiles and suicide drones since Friday.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute says that the world's nuclear powers are "upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions."
WORLD / Politics
Jun 16, 2025
World faces new nuclear arms race, researchers warn
Researchers warned that the trend since the Cold War of there being a decrease in the overall number of warheads was likely to be reversed in the coming years.
Guillaume Ollagnier, director general of strategic, security and disarmament affairs at the French Foreign Ministry, says that the global nonproliferation architecture should be further strengthened — lest a nuclear arms race erupt.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 15, 2025
France doubles down on opposition to new nuclear states, top official says
With Pyongyang and Beijing ramping up their nuclear capabilities, calls are growing louder in Seoul and elsewhere to develop their own nukes.
Anthony Albanese
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 15, 2025
Australia PM Albanese to meet with Trump on G7 sidelines in Canada
Australian leader Anthony Albanese will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump at the G7 summit in Canada for talks on the AUKUS defense pact and tariffs.
The Pentagon is seen from the U.S. Army Golden Knights parachute team plane on June 11, ahead of their performance as part of the Army’s 250th birthday festival in Washington.
WORLD
Jun 14, 2025
Pizza delivery monitor alerts to secret Israel attack
The timing of Israel's plan to attack Iran was top secret. But Washington pizza delivery trackers guessed something was up before the first bombs fell.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a payload of Starlink satellites lifts off from the U.S. Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 14, 2025
White House reviews SpaceX contracts as Trump-Musk feud simmers
The administration ordered the agencies to scrutinize Musk’s contracts to ready possible retaliation against the businessman and his companies, sources said.
China’s expanding military presence and frequent exercises around Taiwan and Japan require Tokyo to strengthen the country’s defenses and diplomatic efforts against Beijing’s aggression.
EDITORIALS
Jun 13, 2025
A belligerent China hones its tools of intimidation
Recent exercises underscore the ability of the People’s Liberation Army to project power ever farther from the country’s shores.
U.S. President Donald Trump makes an announcement regarding the Golden Dome missile defense shield next to U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on May 20.
WORLD
Jun 13, 2025
After Trump feud, role of Musk's SpaceX in Golden Dome missile shield in question
A new framework for the U.S. missile defense system is now being considered that could reduce the role of Elon Musk's SpaceX.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his daughter Ju Ae attend the launching ceremony of a warship that had been damaged upon its first attempt to launch, in Rajin, North Korea on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 13, 2025
North Korea restores damaged warship and plans to build more next year
Analysts said the relatively fast restoration of the damaged warship signals North Korea’s capability to pursue a quick naval build-up.
India’s potential participation in the Japan-U.K.-Italy fighter jet project GCAP makes strategic sense but should be postponed until the core partners solidify the program to avoid delays, conflict and operational risk.
COMMENTARY
Jun 12, 2025
India should join the Global Combat Air Program — but not just yet
GCAP is more than just a weapons platform. It is a statement of strategic autonomy, industrial innovation and trilateral cooperation among democracies.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth meets with Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles at the Pentagon in Washington in February.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 12, 2025
U.S. to review AUKUS as part of Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda
The decision to review the partnership is likely to raise eyebrows among U.S. allies and partners, but was downplayed by Canberra.
A Chinese J-15 fighter jet flies just to the side of a Maritime Self-Defense Force P-3C surveillance plane over the high seas in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday.
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2025
Chinese fighter jets in close encounters with MSDF patrol planes over Pacific
Chinese fighters made “abnormal approaches” to MSDF patrol aircraft over the Pacific Ocean in recent days that risked collisions, the Defense Ministry said.
Philippine bid to acquire used Japanese warships gains steam
Tokyo is looking to transfer Abukuma-class vessels to the Philippines as part of broader efforts to boost the defense capabilities of like-minded neighbors amid growing Chinese military assertiveness in the region.
Koshien’s dark summer forces reckoning for high school baseball
Koryo High School players greet their cheering section after beating Hokkaido’s Asahikawa Shiho in the first round of Summer Koshien on Aug. 7. The school withdrew three days later as a bullying scandal enveloped the team.
Akazawa's trip to Washington for tariff talks abruptly canceled
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator, had been set to fly to Washington on Thursday.
Confusion over Japan’s ‘hometown’ plan overshadows African development event
First Lady Yoshiko Ishiba (center, in white and blue dress) hosts an event on Japanese culture with the first ladies of African leaders on the sidelines of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama on Aug. 21.
Mitsubishi’s wind-power retreat a blow to Japan's alternative-energy goals
Wind turbines in the town of Happo in Akita prefecture. Wind power is a key part of Japan's alternative energy drive.
Koshien’s dark summer forces reckoning for high school baseball
Koryo High School players greet their cheering section after beating Hokkaido’s Asahikawa Shiho in the first round of Summer Koshien on Aug. 7. The school withdrew three days later as a bullying scandal enveloped the team.
Is Kishida plotting a return of the king? Or would he rather stay a kingmaker?
Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida chairs a plenary session at the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama on Aug. 21.
Japanese prefectures break with labor ministry on minimum wage
The ministry of labor has suggested a 6% minimum wage increase, but most prefectures reporting so far are opting to go slightly higher.
Philippines quietly deepening ‘unofficial’ defense ties with Taiwan
Filipino soldiers take part in a flag-raising ceremony on Mavulis Island during a visit by the Philippines' Armed Forces chief of staff, in Batanes, the Philippines, in June 2023. Batanes, a group of idyllic islands at the country’s northernmost tip, sits about 160 kilometers from Taiwan.
Are 'coolcations' the answer for Japan's heat-weary tourists?
Hikers on a trail in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture. As extreme heat continues to grip Japan, a tectonic shift may be underway in the nation’s summer tourism scene as more people gravitate toward cooler destinations.

Podcast

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

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past
By Alex K.T. Martin

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