Tag - middle-east

 
Menu
Search
 
May 10, 2024
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

MIDDLE EAST

The rupture of one of the world's busiest shipping routes has exposed the vulnerability of China's export-reliant economy to supply snarls and external demand shocks.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 22, 2024
Red Sea crisis pressures China's exporters as shipping delays mount
Further Red Sea disruptions would pile pressure on a struggling economy already contending with a property crisis and weak consumer demand.
Sudki Mansour is the 40-year-old owner of Bisan, one of Tokyo’s only Palestinian-style restaurants.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jan 22, 2024
From restaurant roots, expat dreams up a Palestine in Yamanashi
Sudki Mansour is the owner of Bisan, one of Tokyo’s only Palestinian-style restaurants, and a Palestinian-influenced campsite in Yamanashi Prefecture.
"Prepare your coffins," a banner warns Iran's adversaries in Tehran, on Jan. 16. After hitting targets in neighboring Pakistan, Iraq and Syria with missiles, Iran has played up not only its military capabilities but its determination to strike enemies at will.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 21, 2024
Attacks in Syria and Iraq ratchet tensions in a region on edge
Some of the attacks had no apparent connection to Gaza but taken together, they underlined how easy a broader conflict could arise.
Military cadets salute during a military funeral procession for Houthi fighters killed in recent U.S.-led strikes on Houthi targets, in Sanaa, Yemen, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 21, 2024
U.S. now pursuing ‘least bad’ option in confronting Houthis
Analysts and the Houthis themselves have said that the airstrikes won’t stop them — especially if the U.S. refuses to target the group’s main backer, Iran.
Smoke billows over the Lebanese village of Odaisseh on Saturday during Israeli bombardment amid cross-border tensions in the Middle East.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 21, 2024
Missile attacks across Middle East raise Gaza escalation risks
Missiles and rockets launched by Iran-backed militants in Iraq hit al-Asad air base, where a number of U.S. personnel were being evaluated for traumatic brain injuries.
People gather near the site struck by a reported Israeli military strike in Damascus, Syria, on Saturday.
WORLD
Jan 20, 2024
Apparent Israeli strike on Damascus kills four Iranian Revolutionary Guards
Syrian state media said a likely Israeli attack had targeted a building in the Mazzeh neighborhood of Damascus, without giving further details.
A man watches the news on television showing the Pakistani foreign ministry's statement about the country's strikes inside Iran targeting separatist militants, in Peshawar, Pakistan on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jan 19, 2024
Iran-Pakistan flare-up rooted in restive borderlands, not Mideast strife
Both had launched attacks on each other's soil, targeting what they described as militants and separatists.
A ship transits the Suez Canal toward the Red Sea on Jan. 10. Insurance costs for ships whose seafarers who do brave the waterway have shot up tenfold, including a large increase since the airstrikes.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 19, 2024
Airstrikes on Yemen bring new level of chaos to Red Sea shipping
After U.S. and U.K. airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, Western navies caution ships to steer clear.
Houthi fighters and tribal supporters hold up firearms during a protest against recent U.S.-led strikes on Houthi targets, near Sanaa, Yemen, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 18, 2024
U.S. lists Houthis as terrorists as group attacks second U.S. ship
The Houthis say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians and have threatened to expand attacks to include U.S. ships in response to strikes on their positions.
A large billboard depicting an Iranian missile with a phrase in Persian that reads "prepare your coffins" on the side of a building in Tehran on Tuesday
WORLD / Politics
Jan 18, 2024
Iran says missile strikes show it will be ‘tough and decisive’
Supporters of Iran’s authoritarian clerical regime have been incensed by recent attacks on Iran that made it appear vulnerable, demanding a powerful response.
A motorcyclist rides past a high school in the Panjgur district of Balochistan province on Wednesday. Pakistan has recalled its ambassador from Iran and blocked Tehran's envoy from returning to Islamabad after an Iranian air strike killed two children in the west of the country on Wednesday. Pakistan's official statement did not specify where the strike took place, but Pakistani media said it was near Panjgur, where the countries share a sparsely populated border of nearly 1,000 kilometers.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 18, 2024
Pakistan recalls envoy after Iran strike on terrorist base kills two
The strikes add to multiple crises across the Middle East, with Israel waging a war against Hamas in Gaza and Houthi rebels in Yemen attacking vessels in the Red Sea.
Islamabad said Wednesday that Tehran launched an airstrike on Pakistan's territory, killing two children.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 17, 2024
Iran launches airstrike on jihadist base in Pakistan, killing two
The strikes add to multiple crises across the Middle East, with Israel waging a war against Hamas in Gaza and Houthi rebels in Yemen attacking vessels in the Red Sea.
A large billboard depicting an Iranian missile with a phrase in Persian that reads "prepare your coffins" on the side of a building in Tehran on Tuesday, after overnight missile attacks by Iran on multiple targets in Syria and in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 17, 2024
Iran strikes targets in Iraq amid growing fears of regional conflict
The missile strike set off an unusual dispute between the neighboring allies, with Baghdad recalling its ambassador from Tehran in protest.
Houthi supporters rally to denounce air strikes launched by the U.S. and Britain, in Sanaa, Yemen on Jan. 12.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 17, 2024
U.S. strikes Houthi missiles as Greek vessel hit in Red Sea
Attacks by the Iran-allied militia on ships in the region since November have affected companies and alarmed major powers.
Palestinians walk past a destroyed building in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in Gaza on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 17, 2024
Deal struck for aid to Gaza and hostages: Qatar mediator
The supplies are to be flown into Egypt on Wednesday by the Qatari air force before entering the Gaza Strip.
A container ship crosses the Gulf of Suez toward the Red Sea before entering the Suez Canal east of Cairo. Vessels have been pausing or diverting from the Red Sea amid the escalating conflict in the region.
WORLD
Jan 16, 2024
Yemen's Houthis threaten to hit U.S. ships as more tankers steer clear
The Iran-allied militant group said British and American vessels had become "legitimate targets" following last week's strikes on its sites by both countries.
Smoke billows above Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 16, 2024
Israel to end war in southern Gaza 'soon' as U.N. demands cease-fire
A day after Israel's prime minister said fighting would continue for months, the Israeli army confirmed one of four divisions in northern Gaza had withdrawn.
Air traffic at the Erbil International Airport in Erbil, Iraq, was suspended in the early morning on Tuesday amid explosions.
WORLD
Jan 16, 2024
Iran attacks Israel's 'espionage centers' in Iraq, state media says
Revolutionary Guards said they also struck in Syria against the Islamic State group.
Israeli soldiers during an escorted tour by the Israeli military for journalists in the central Gaza Strip on Jan. 8. Israel’s vow to eradicate Hamas without a clearly stated political endgame has concerned some observers who highlighted how an ill-defined application of military power could instead inadvertently harm its own strategic, political and moral standing.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Jan 15, 2024
What the Israel-Hamas war means for U.S. grand strategy
Washington had been engaged in a decadelong effort to shift its strategic attention from the broader Middle East.
The Houthis benefit Iran because they command a large country with plenty of remote locations to fire missiles from and are in close proximity to some of the world’s main energy sources.
COMMENTARY
Jan 14, 2024
The Houthis are now Iran’s most potent proxy
For the wider world, responding to the growing Houthi menace will require much more than naval flotillas to the Red Sea.
Tokuryū, a new crime menace in Japan, emerges from the shadows
The National Police Agency coined the term "tokuryū" to classify individuals involved in dark part time jobs and quasi-gangsters, using the words "tokumei" (anonymous) and "ryūdo" (fluid) to reflect their characteristics.
Nearly 6 million elderly people in Japan will have dementia by 2040
The latest figure is significantly less than a previous projection released in 2015 that said more than 8 million people would have dementia by 2040.
Thanks, tourists. Views of Mount Fuji are now blocked.
Tourists pose in front of a convenience store with Mount Fuji on Friday in the town of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture. Local residents are upset over littering, overcrowding and the inconvenience caused by the visitors.
Is Modi’s party heading for a stunning election loss?
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's campaign tactics have escalated, including anti-Muslim rhetoric and fearmongering, reflecting his ruling party's desperation.
Man arrested over fatal stabbing of young woman in Shinjuku
A 51-year-old man was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of stabbing a young woman to death in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward.
Stormy seas ahead as Beijing and Manila trade barbs over secret deal
Philippine Marines wave to Philippine Navy personnel and the media during a resupply mission at their military outpost, the BRP Sierra Madre, a warship run aground in the disputed Second Thomas Shoal in 1999, in the South China Sea, in March 2014.
Unlike 10 years ago, Japan's new security bill sparks little debate
The Lower House starts discussing a security clearance bill on April 19 in Tokyo.
After blockbuster boxing victory, what next for ‘Monster’ Inoue?
Naoya Inoue celebrates his victory over Luis Nery in their IBF-WBA-WBC-WBO super bantamweight title boxing match at Tokyo Dome on Monday.
Xi bristles as Macron and von der Leyen urge China to do more on Ukraine
French President Emmanuel Macron, Chinese leader Xi Jinping and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen walk after their meeting in Paris on Monday.
How a Japanese scientist is turning the climate crisis into music
A screencap of a performance of Hiroto Nagai's “String Quartet No. 1 ‘Polar Energy Budget’” by the PRT Quartet

Podcast

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.
[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Longform

Rows of irises resemble a rice field at the Peter Walker-designed Toyota Municipal Museum of Art.
The 'outsiders' creating some of Japan's greenest spaces
By Stephen Mansfield

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Vol. 35: Travel in time — and stay there
Vol. 35: Travel in time — and stay there

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER