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Iain Marlow
Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin was in Damascus on Thursday, just days after an Islamist-led rebel push ousted Syrian strongman Bashar Assad.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 14, 2024
Turkey races ahead of U.S. in push for Syria influence
Ankara has sent a top official to Damascus and restarted diplomatic relations with Syria after more than a decade.
Smoke and flames rise after an Israeli strike in the Chiyah district of Beirut's southern suburbs on Monday.
WORLD
Nov 26, 2024
Israel and Hezbollah seen on the cusp of a deal as attacks continue
Israel’s security cabinet is expected to vote on an agreement on Tuesday, and passage is considered likely.
Yahya Sinwar in the southern Gaza Strip in February 2017.
WORLD
Oct 18, 2024
Israel kills Hamas leader Sinwar and vows to keep fighting
Israel's prime minister said they would not stop fighting until all of the hostages taken last year are freed.
U.S. Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris waves as she arrives to speak on the fourth and last day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago on Aug. 22.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 31, 2024
Harris isn’t looking to pick new fights with China, unlike Trump
The U.S. vice president is betting that Americans don’t want an all-out confrontation when they tell pollsters they’d like their leaders to get even tougher on China.
A soldier directs Israeli tanks near a border crossing to southern Gaza.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 6, 2024
U.S. and allies make last-minute push to avert full Middle East war
The U.S. conferred with top officials from Qatar and Egypt — the two countries helping lead Israel-Hamas cease-fire negotiations.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris,  candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, speaks during her first campaign rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 27, 2024
Harris team champions her ‘strong’ foreign policy record in memo
The VP's team sent memo to national security professionals highlighting the new Democratic nominee’s "strong record” on foreign policy.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu  shows his book to Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, the former president's private club and residence in Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 27, 2024
Trump offers Israel's Netanyahu warm words after White House friction
It was as much as Netanyahu could have hoped for in making the trek to Florida after he gave a speech to Congress that was criticized by Democrats.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 23.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 25, 2024
Democrats in overdrive to burnish Harris foreign policy record
The moves seek to boost Harris’s image before she gets her biggest diplomatic test yet, when she’s set to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
U.S. President Joe Biden will get the first test of how much sway he still retains when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives in Washington for a previously planned visit this week.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 23, 2024
Biden looks to project strength abroad despite lame-duck status
Having no electoral pressure may give U.S. President Joe Biden the ability to act more boldly in foreign affairs.
Displaced Palestinian children wait to collect free food at a street kitchen in a camp in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, on May 17.
WORLD
May 22, 2024
Crowds intercept almost all aid sent over U.S.-built pier in Gaza
While 10 aid trucks were able to take goods from a pier to a storage area on Friday, only five of 16 trucks that departed the dock on Saturday made it to the warehouse.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits a tactical missile weapons system facility at an unknown location on Tuesday. North Korea has turned to deploying IT workers overseas for government revenue, in addition to relying on cyberattacks and other online crimes.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 17, 2024
North Koreans worked remotely for U.S. firms to fund missiles
A U.S. national helped three North Korean IT workers obtain "illicit telework employment” with hundreds of firms using the identities of U.S. citizens.
CIA Director William Burns testifies during a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing on worldwide threats on Capitol Hill in Washington in March 11.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
May 11, 2024
U.S. spy chief becomes key envoy as Biden-Netanyahu ties fray
CIA Director William Burns is quietly keeping Washington’s lines of communication open across the Middle East.
Displaced Palestinians construct makeshift shelters in the rubble of destroyed homes after fleeing from Rafah, in central Khan Younis, Gaza, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
May 9, 2024
Biden warns he’d hold back more weapons if Israel invades Rafah
U.S. President Biden's warning does not signify a break with Israel, U.S. officials said, but is rather to exert as much pressure as possible.
World Central Kitchen’s damaged vehicle hit by an Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on Tuesday
WORLD / Politics
Apr 4, 2024
Strikes in Gaza and Iran show limits of Biden’s leverage on Israel
They draw scrutiny to the question of how much leverage the U.S. president has over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and whether he’s willing to exert it.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits the North Korean Ministry of National Defense on the occasion of the 76th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army, in Pyongyang in this picture released on Feb. 9.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 14, 2024
North Korean arms trade is China’s problem too: U.S. official
Jung Pak's comments reflect long-running frustration in Washington over China’s unwillingness to help influence Pyongyang’s behavior.
Houthi tribesmen gather to show defiance after U.S. and U.K. airstrikes on Houthi positions near Sanaa, Yemen, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 5, 2024
U.S. promises more Mideast strikes while trying to avert wider war
Officials framed the U.S. strikes as a necessary and inevitable response to the killing of three U.S. soldiers in a drone strike in Jordan a week ago.
An Israeli mobile artillery unit fires toward Gaza on Thursday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war Cabinet have been under increasing pressure to bring home the hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 2, 2024
Gaza cease-fire negotiations advance as Israel-Hamas war grinds on
While talks are still in the early stages, sources said the proposal had a realistic chance of success and could lead to a longer-term cease-fire.
William Burns
WORLD / Politics
Jan 27, 2024
U.S. aims to use Israel-Hamas deal to open wider peace talks
CIA chief William Burns, who helped reach a previous deal to release Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip, is set to join fresh talks in the coming days.
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.
Iraqi security forces' stationed in Baghdad's Tahrir Square following U.S. air strikes on Tuesday
WORLD
Dec 27, 2023
Houthi attacks and U.S. strikes raise risk of wider Middle East war
The number of nonstate groups and the unpredictability of actions by Israel and Iran makes it difficult to forecast when incidents might escalate.

Longform

Visitors to Kyoto walk along a street near Kiyomizu Temple in April. A popular tourist spot, Kyoto has seen what locals feel to be an overwhelming amount of tourists in 2024.
Is Japan ready for 60 million tourists?