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August 23, 2025
 

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MIDDLE EAST

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the press before boarding Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 25, 2025
Trump baffles with sudden U-turn on China buying Iranian oil
U.S. Treasury and State department officials handling Iranian oil sanctions were surprised by Trump’s statement and uncertain how to immediately interpret it.
A Palestinian carries a sack of aid supplies from the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on May 29.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 25, 2025
U.S. to give $30 million to Gaza aid operation despite violence concerns
This is the first known U.S. government financial contribution to the group, which uses private U.S. military and logistics firms to bring aid into Gaza.
U.S. President Donald Trump sits in his car, "The Beast," as he arrives for a dinner at the Huis ten Bosch Royal Palace during a NATO leaders summit in The Hague on Tuesday.
WORLD
Jun 25, 2025
Strike set back Iran’s nuclear program by only a few months, U.S. report says
The findings suggest that President Donald Trump’s statement that Iran’s nuclear facilities were obliterated was overstated.
Chinese President Xi Jinping described relations with Iran as "strategic" in a 2023 meeting with then-president Ebrahim Raisi, and backed Tehran in its fight against "bullying."
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 24, 2025
China helpless as Middle East war craters regional leverage
Analysts say Beijing's ties with Tehran are central to its efforts to ensure a regional counterbalance against both the U.S. and Israel.
A security guard in Tehran stands during a ceasefire early Tuesday
WORLD / Politics
Jun 24, 2025
Explosions ring out in Tehran despite Trump's order to Israel to stop strikes
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Israel had carried out no further strikes after Netanyahu spoke to Trump.
A woman wipes away tears as she walks down a row of displays in Tehran on Monday featuring people killed in Israeli strikes.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jun 24, 2025
Big questions loom over Trump's announcement of Israel-Iran ceasefire deal
U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of an Israel-Iran ceasefire suggests he may have bombed Tehran’s rulers back to the negotiating table. But will the deal hold?
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's grandson Hassan Khomeini stands next to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during the 36th anniversary of the death of the leader of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, at Khomeini's shrine in southern Tehran on June 4.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 24, 2025
Search for successor to Iran's Khamenei hastens as tensions erupt into conflict
Israel attacked Iran and threatened to assassinate its veteran leader.
Protesters hold portraits of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei along with Pakistani, Palestinian and Iranian flags during a demonstration against the U.S. and Israel in Karachi, Pakistan, on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 24, 2025
Pakistan condemns U.S. strikes in Iran while embracing Trump
Pakistan’s response to the Iran crisis suggests a calibrated approach as the government seeks closer political and economic ties with the Trump administration.
The European Union's diplomatic service said in a report there were indications Israel had breached its human rights obligations under the terms of a pact governing its ties with the bloc.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 24, 2025
European Union divided over response to suspected Israeli rights breaches
The European Union's top diplomat said her priority was to improve the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip rather than to "punish Israel."
In this frame-grab taken from video, missiles and air-defense interceptors are visible over Doha after Iran launched an attack on U.S. forces at Al Udeid Air Base on Monday.
WORLD
Jun 24, 2025
Trump thanks Iran after attack choreographed to de-escalate
The Qataris knew the missile barrage was coming. So did the Americans. The Iranians had told them.
The Strait of Hormuz separating Iran (top) from the United Arab Emirates and Oman (bottom) as seen from the International Space Station in 2021. More than half of the oil imported by East Asia passes through the Strait, experts estimate.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 24, 2025
Asian countries most vulnerable to Strait of Hormuz blockade
Japanese customs data showed 95% of crude oil imports last year came from the Middle East.
Israeli security forces stand guard at the site of an Iranian strike on a residential neighborhood in the Ramat Aviv area of Tel Aviv on Sunday.
WORLD
Jun 23, 2025
Israel keeps up Iran attacks with debate raging on when to stop
Some experts argue that Israel should seek a mutual pause in hostilities after all its military targets in Iran have been hit.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi shake hands during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on Monday.
WORLD
Jun 23, 2025
Israel hits Iran's Evin prison, says strikes on Tehran are biggest yet
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz made clear that Israel was no longer limiting its attacks and would go after the Tehran government's ability to maintain power.
An Iranian military ship takes part in an annual drill in the coastal area of the Gulf of Oman and near the Strait of Hormuz, Iran, in this picture obtained in December 2022.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 23, 2025
China criticizes attack on Iran as U.S. asks Beijing for trade route help
Beijing "strongly” condemns the attacks on Iran, according to a four-sentence statement from the Foreign Ministry on Sunday.
Japanese companies are rushing to protect their employees and brace operations in the Middle East for the fallout from U.S. strikes on Iran.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 23, 2025
Japan’s banks pull staff from Middle East after U.S. strikes Iran
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group has started to pull staff out of locations including Dubai, and halted unnecessary travel in and out of the region.
People attend a protest following U.S. attacks on Iranian nuclear sites, amid the Iran-Israel conflict, in Tehran on Sunday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 23, 2025
U.S. strikes on Iran come at fragile moment for the global economy
The biggest economic impact from a prolonged conflict in the Middle East would likely be felt via surging oil prices.
An American Airlines plane lands at Reagan National Airport in Virginia on Sunday. The airline suspended flights to Qatar in the days before the U.S. strikes on Iran.
WORLD
Jun 23, 2025
Israel starts 'rescue' flights as airlines reroute across Middle East
With Russian and Ukrainian airspace also closed due to war, the Middle East has become a more important route for flights between Europe and Asia.
Protesters, predominantly Houthi supporters, burn Israeli and U.S. flags as they demonstrate in solidarity with Palestinians and Iran, amid the Iran-Israel conflict, in Sanaa, Yemen, on Friday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 23, 2025
How a cornered Iran could wreak havoc on global oil trade
Iran has over the years threatened multiple times to shut the Strait of Hormuz — a narrow stretch of water through which a fifth of the world’s oil supply flows each day.
Satellite image shows the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, in Bushehr Province, Iran, on May 26.
WORLD
Jun 23, 2025
What are the nuclear contamination risks from attacks on Iran?
President Donald Trump said Iran's main nuclear sites had been "obliterated" in military strikes overnight, including on the deeply buried Fordo facility.
A U.S. Air Force B-2 stealth bomber is flanked by four F-22 fighter jets during a flyover of military aircraft down the Hudson River and New York Harbor past New York City in July 2020.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 23, 2025
Decoy stealth bombers and Tomahawk missiles: How the U.S. hit Iran
As one group of U.S. B-2 bombers flew west across the Pacific Ocean, more B-2s flew east — literally under the radar — to attack Iranian nuclear sites.
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.
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
Tokyo crowned No.1 'workation' spot
Workations were a burgeoning trend in the corporate world for years before the COVID-19 pandemic turbocharged it.

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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