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August 23, 2025
 

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MIDDLE EAST

Palestinians, mostly children, attempt to receive a hot meal at a charity kitchen in the Mawasi area of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Society
Jul 23, 2025
More than 100 aid groups warn of 'mass starvation' spreading across Gaza
Israel is facing mounting international pressure over the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory.
An Israeli activist holds a bag of flour and a picture of a child suffering from malnutrition during a march toward the Israeli defense ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv on Tuesday.
WORLD
Jul 23, 2025
Gaza hospital says 21 children died from malnutrition and starvation in 72 hours
A World Food Program director who visited Gaza City in early July called the situation "the worst" he had ever seen.
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.
Smoke rises during Israeli strikes in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, on Monday.
WORLD
Jul 22, 2025
Israel sends tanks into Gaza's Deir al-Balah, leaving hostage families concerned
Families of the hostages have expressed concern for their relatives about the move and demanded an explanation on how they will be protected.
Palestinians transport people who were killed or injured while trying to get humanitarian aid, into the Red Cross field hospital in the Mawasi area of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday.
WORLD
Jul 21, 2025
Gaza civil defense says Israeli gunfire kills 93 aid seekers
Israel's military disputed the death toll and said soldiers had fired warning shots as thousands gathered near Gaza City.
Israeli settlers swim in the Ein Samiyah spring near the village of Kafr Malik, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on July 15. The spring, which feeds the pumping station, is the main or backup water source for some 110,000 people, according to the Palestinian company that manages it — making it one of the most vital in the West Bank, where water is in chronic short supply.
WORLD
Jul 21, 2025
'No life without water': settler attacks threaten West Bank communities
Israeli settlers have been accused in several recent incidents of damaging, diverting or seizing control of vital Palestinian water sources.
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.
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.
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.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, on June 26. The Donald Trump-ordered strikes on Iran, said to be an example of the “Trump Doctrine,” ignore decades of failed U.S. attempts to force adversaries to back down through short bursts of military power. 
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 18, 2025
The 'Trump Doctrine' is wishful thinking
The Donald Trump-ordered strikes on Iran, claimed to prove a unique “Trump Doctrine,” ignore decades of failed U.S. attempts to force adversaries to back down.
Members of Syrian security forces stand on a road as vehicles transporting other Syrian security forces make their way out of the predominantly Druze city of Sweida, Syria, on Wednesday.
WORLD
Jul 18, 2025
U.S. does not support Israel's Syria strikes as al-Sharaa vows to protect Druze
Israel launched airstrikes in Damascus on Wednesday, saying it aimed to protect Syrian Druze, a part of a minority that also has followers in Lebanon and Israel.
A man carries a person into Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
WORLD
Jul 17, 2025
Aid point crush in Gaza Strip kills 20 people
For the first time, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, backed by the United States and Israel, acknowledged deaths at one of its distribution sites.
Members of the Syrian security forces assess the destruction inside the heavily damaged Syrian army and Defense Ministry headquarters complex in Damascus, following Israeli strikes Wednesday.
WORLD
Jul 16, 2025
Syria's interim leader vows to protect Druze rights as ceasefire holds
In a statement after powerful Israeli air strikes on Damascus, al-Sharaa addressed Druze citizens saying "we reject any attempt to drag you into hands of an external party."
Palestinian children stand in line for food distributed by a charity kitchen at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
WORLD
Jul 16, 2025
One in 10 children in its clinics are malnourished, U.N. Palestinian refugee agency says
More than 5,800 children have been diagnosed with malnutrition in Gaza, including more than 1,000 children with severe, acute malnutrition.
Members of Syria's security forces drive through the predominantly Druze city of Sweida on Tuesday.
WORLD
Jul 16, 2025
Israel carries out several airstrikes in Syria and Lebanon
Israel’s government said it was acting in defense of the Druze community, a minority group the Jewish state has pledged to protect.
Smoke billows following Israeli strikes in the distance as members of Syria's security forces man rocket launchers in an area between Mazraa and Walga near the predominantly Druze city of Suwayda on Monday.
WORLD
Jul 15, 2025
Israel strikes Syria after clashes involving Druze minority
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz described the strikes as a "clear warning” to the Syrian regime that Israel would not allow the Druze to be harmed.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on April 7. Trump’s unexpected strike on Iran shows how Israel’s influence overcame his reluctance for foreign wars.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 14, 2025
Trump’s Iran attack shows what it takes to win his military support
How did Israel convince Trump? Put simply, why did Trump, unlike previous presidents who considered it but held back, launch a direct strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities?
U.S. soldiers man a checkpoint on a road outside Tikrit, Iraq, in November 2003. Airstrikes alone won’t truly eliminate Iran’s nuclear program — only a costly ground invasion like the one that took down Saddam Hussein could do that.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 14, 2025
What will it take to end Iran's nuke program? An army.
Trump’s claim that the U.S. “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program was widely disputed, with current estimates saying it was severely damaged and set back by 12 to 24 months.
A woman sitting amid debris looks on as Palestinians inspect destroyed tents at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Younis in the northern Gaza strip on Friday.
WORLD
Jul 14, 2025
Israeli plan to move Gazans into closed zone triggers backlash
The plan envisions building from scratch a closed zone in southern Gaza during a potential 60-day ceasefire in Israel's war with Hamas, currently under negotiation in Qatar.
A Palestinian boy looks at the site of an Israeli strike that killed children who had gathered to collect water from a distribution point, according to medics, in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip on Sunday.
WORLD
Jul 14, 2025
Israel blames malfunction for missile killing Gaza children collecting water
The Israeli military said a malfunction had caused the missile to fall "dozens of meters from the target."
Japan to revise romanization rules for first time in 70 years
The Agency for Cultural Affairs is recommending replacing the government’s long-standing Kunrei system with more widely used Hepburn-style spellings.
JR East cancels luxury train run over crew's boozing
East Japan Railway said Thursday that it will cancel one trip of a luxury overnight sleeper service, which was originally scheduled to depart from Ueno Station in Tokyo on Aug. 30, after crew members were found to have been drinking alcohol on duty.
Women-only communities flourish in China
Chen Yani (right), nicknamed "Keke," eats lunch with friends and guests in a female co-living space she founded called "Keke's Imaginative Space" in Hangzhou, in eastern China's Zhejiang province, on July 14.
Demystifying the manufacturing success of China
China’s massive scale, strong education system and competitive local governance have enabled it to reach the technological frontier and dominate high-tech manufacturing despite its low per capita gross domestic product.
Infectious diseases to watch for in Japan this summer amid surge of cases
An illustration of a colony of the Bordetella pertussis bacterium that causes pertussis, or whooping cough. As of Aug. 10, there were 64,467 cases reported this year, according to the latest data from the Japan Institute for Health Security.
Alicia Keys closed Summer Sonic, but J-pop owned it
Summer Sonic’s 2025 lineup demonstrated its strength, showcasing the latest in J-pop, including “new kawaii” act Fruits Zipper.
Is the LDP’s catch-all approach to politics still effective?
Former economic security minister Sanae Takaichi visits Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Aug. 15. Political commentator Toru Hashimoto has suggested that Takaichi ought to lead a group of like-minded hawkish politicians out of the Liberal Democratic Party and form their own party.
Fingers sore from too much phone time? You might have ‘sumaho yubi.’
A catch-all term for tendonitis and arthritis caused by excessive smartphone use, 'sumaho yubi' may be difficult to treat for gadget-crazy Japan.
As farm minister, Koizumi is held ‘hostage’ by Ishiba
Farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi (center) attends a Lower House session on Aug. 1. Locking Koizumi into the Cabinet is Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s way of turning a potential rival into a team player, according to one expert.
Big burgers and bigger ambitions for Japan's Burger King
Kazuhiro Nomura, president of BK Japan Holdings, which operates Burger King in Japan

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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