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October 18, 2025
 

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RUSSIA

Then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in August 2021. From Syria to Ukraine, Merkel and former U.S. President Barack Obama’s missteps still haunt the West.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 15, 2024
Putin’s loss in Syria exposes Western failures
The West's indecision and failed liberal internationalist policies allowed Putin to bolster Assad’s regime and secure strategic advantages in Syria.
A damaged poster of Syria's ousted leader, Bashar Assad, in Aleppo on Nov. 30
WORLD / FOCUS
Dec 15, 2024
Assad's final hours in Syria: Deception, despair and flight
Hours before he fled to Moscow, Assad assured army and security chiefs that Russian support was on its way and urged ground forces to hold out.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham fighters gather in Damascus on Saturday.
WORLD
Dec 15, 2024
U.S. says it is in contact with new Syria rulers
Secretary of State Antony Blinken's comment on "direct contact" with the HTS rebels came despite the United States having designated the group as terrorists in 2018.
Girls hold banners urging passersby to stop and pay their respects during a minute of silence honoring the victims of Russia's invasion at 9 a.m. in front of Golden Gates metro station in central Kyiv.
WORLD / Society
Dec 14, 2024
Observing a minute of silence for Ukraine's fallen soldiers
As fewer people stop to pay their respects during a 9:00 am ritual for victims of the war, a small activist group is pushing for a change.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba takes part in an online meeting of Group of Seven leaders at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo early Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 14, 2024
Ishiba urges deeper G7 security cooperation as North Korea gets closer to Russia
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said recent developments have a "direct impact" on security in the Indo-Pacific region.
A satellite image shows an An-124 heavy transport aircraft with its nose cone lifted, at Russia's Khmeimim airbase, near Latakia, Syria, on Friday.
WORLD
Dec 14, 2024
Russian military appears to be packing up equipment in Syria, satellite imagery shows
The moves could be a prelude to Moscow’s military withdrawal from the country in the wake of President Bashar Assad’s fall.
Farhan al-Khouli, a Syrian military conscript who deserted his post on the first day of the rebel offensive, works at a horse stable in Damascus, Syria, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 13, 2024
Demoralized and abandoned by allies: Why Syria’s army failed to fight
Rampant corruption and a heavy reliance on foreign allies hollowed out Bashar Assad's once-feared army.
Boxer Kevin Johnson displays a shirt with an image of Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Nov. 24.
MORE SPORTS / Boxing
Dec 13, 2024
Aging U.S. heavyweight Kevin Johnson fights on to honor Vladimir Putin in Russia
Putin granted Johnson nationality with a decree under an express procedure used for others including U.S. actor Steven Seagal.
People wave the flag of the Syrian National Coalition as they celebrate the fall of the Assad regime in Aleppo, Syria, on Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Dec 13, 2024
The Syrians have a chance to be free. They need our help.
The future of Syria, and the wider Middle East, remains uncertain, however, and the ultimate outcome could be more threatening than that of the Assad era.
Syrian President Bashar Assad's downfall stemmed from his failure to reform the country's corrupt, sectarian regime and an economy ravaged by war, leaving his government unable to withstand the recent rebel offensive.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 13, 2024
Syria’s kleptocratic rule and a house of cards
Like the fictional mafia family, Assad’s regime relied on kickbacks from wealthy business owners and shaking down foreigners.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Russian President Vladimir Putin arrive for a news conference following their meeting in Moscow in July. Both of their countries have pro-government "fact-checking" websites.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 12, 2024
Rise in pro-government 'fact checking' sparks concern in Europe
Fresh initiatives are presenting themselves as genuine fact-checking outfits while pushing their own agenda.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and then-Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visit a defense exhibition in July last year.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 11, 2024
Russia tie-up sparks fears of modernized North Korean defense industry
Experts say the real issue is how deepened North Korean-Russian ties could help revitalize and modernize Pyongyang’s defense industrial base.
Possible new sanctions on Russian oil highlight how Biden’s team is more willing to take risks in confronting Russia as it prepares to depart.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 11, 2024
U.S. mulls new Russia oil sanctions to weaken Putin ahead of Trump
The European Union is planning similar measures on Russia’s shadow fleet before the end of the year.
One of the representatives of 2024 Nobel Peace Prize winner Nihon Hidankyo, Terumi Tanaka, speaks during the Nobel Peace Prize awarding ceremony in Oslo City Hall on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2024
Nobel Peace Prize winner Nihon Hidankyo calls for a world without nukes
The atomic bomb survivors urged countries to abolish the weapons resurging as a threat 80 years after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.
A truck pulls the head of a toppled statue of late Syrian President Hafez Assad, the father of ousted-President Bashar Assad, through the streets of Hama on Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 10, 2024
Assad’s fall shows Russia, Iran and Hamas made a bad bet
That’s not to say the Middle East is entering a bright new era of peace. The collapse of Assad’s regime could cause a revival of the Islamic State.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (left) walks with French President Emmanuel Macron (center) and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump after a meeting at the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 10, 2024
Zelenskyy warns Trump and Macron about risk of frozen conflict
Ukraine can only enter into ceasefire talks with Russia from a position of strength, Ukrainian president says.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Nihon Hidankyo's representative Terumi Tanaka attends a news conference ahead of the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo on Monday.
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2024
Nuclear weapons must never be used, hibakusha tells Putin before Nobel ceremony
Terumi Tanaka was referring to threats made by Putin and others to use nuclear bombs if necessary to counter what they see as a hostile West in the Ukraine war.
Destruction left in the wake of Russia's military invasion of Ukraine in the city of Hulyaipole, in the country's Zaporizhzhia region, in September 2022
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 9, 2024
Does a savage war of partition await Ukraine?
Donald Trump appears bent on striking a “peace” deal with Russia that involves Ukraine’s dismemberment.
A woman waves a Syrian opposition flag as she celebrates at Umayyad Square in Damascus on Sunday as celebrations erupted around Syria after Islamist-led rebels swept into Damascus and declared President Bashar Assad had fled the country.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Dec 9, 2024
Assad’s fall in Syria puts world on watch for more Middle East chaos
Multiple Arab and U.S. officials said that a power vacuum could now be dangerous, with memories of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya and Saddam Hussein in Iraq still fresh.
Supporters of Georgia's opposition parties hold a rally to protest against the government's decision to suspend talks on joining the European Union, in Tbilisi on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 9, 2024
Georgia pro-EU protesters defiant as thousands rally for 11th day
Thousands of people gathered outside the parliament building in the capital Tbilisi on Sunday, waving EU flags and blowing whistles.
Why I chose Japanese citizenship over permanent residency
Jon Heese (second left) takes part in a 2024 New Year's nihonshu barrel opening ceremony.
Doctrine forms the core of Sanseito’s strategy, with some caveats
Crowds attend a Sanseito rally in the city of Saitama during the Upper House election.
Former PM Tomiichi Murayama dies at age 101
Former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama speaks during an interview in Tokyo in March 2007.
LDP and Nippon Ishin fine-tuning deal to form coalition
Liberal Democratic Party head Sanae Takaichi (second from right) and Nippon Ishin no Kai co-leader Fumitake Fujita (second from left) meet in Tokyo on Thursday.
What you need to see at this year's Tokyo film festival
Chloe Zhao’s "Hamnet"
What you need to see at this year's Tokyo film festival
Chloe Zhao’s "Hamnet"
As they wrestle for power, Japan’s political parties must remember their base
Rengo's head Tomoko Yoshino speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Oct. 8.
Sumo is about to hit London and the West with a force previously unseen
Preparations advance on Monday for the Grand Sumo Tournament at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Number of scenarios now on the table for who might be Japan’s next prime minister
Newly-elected leader of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party Sanae Takaichi (right) celebrates with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba after winning the LDP leadership election in Tokyo on October 4.
Pace eyes great strides for Japan’s art market
Pace Japan Vice President Kyoko Hattori, the de facto head of the nation’s business, believes a larger, more lucrative art market will allow Japan to be more attractive for collectors.

Podcast

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

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building
By Patrick St. Michel

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