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U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin leaves a bilateral meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Dong Jun, on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Friday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 4, 2024

China is winning the communications competition

It's a mistake for the U.S. to take for granted that the world sees it as “the good guy” in its competition with China.
The United States' Saurabh Nethralvakar celebrates after the team's win over Pakistan at the Twenty20 World Cup in Grand Prairie, Texas, on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS / Cricket
Jun 7, 2024

U.S. stuns cricket world with historic upset of Pakistan at T20 World Cup

The Times in the U.K. called it "one of the biggest upsets in cricket history."
The US economic engine has pulled in an increasing share of global capital.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 17, 2024

How the U.S. mopped up a third of global capital flows since COVID-19

The U.S. also pulled in a fresh wave of foreign direct investment thanks to billions of dollars worth of incentives.
American Institute in Taiwan Director Sandra Oudkirk speaks during a news conference in Taipei on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 17, 2024

As China’s pressure on Taiwan rises, departing U.S. envoy urges steady hand

Worries about Chinese belligerence rose during Sandra Oudkirk’s three years in Taipei. As she leaves, she is seeking to assure Taiwan of continued U.S. support.
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who is in custody on espionage charges, waves behind a glass wall of an enclosure for defendants as he attends a court hearing in Moscow on April 23.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 18, 2024

Russia sets closed espionage trial for U.S. reporter Gershkovich

The White House has called the charges "ridiculous," and President Joe Biden has said the reporter's detention is "totally illegal."
An Israeli tank maneuvers inside the Gaza Strip on Thursday. Gaza's environment was already suffering from recurring conflicts, rapid urban growth, and high population density, before the most recent conflict began on Oct. 7.
WORLD / Society
Jun 18, 2024

Gaza conflict has caused major environmental damage, U.N. says

Water, sanitation, and hygiene systems are now almost entirely defunct, the report found, with Gaza's five wastewater treatment plants shut down.
American Institute in Taiwan Director Sandra Oudkirk looks at a Switchblade 300 drone during the 2023 Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition at the Nangang Exhibition Center in Taipei last September.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 19, 2024

U.S. approves sale of more than 1,000 ‘suicide drones’ to Taiwan

The $360 million arms sale comes as Washington doubles down on helping Taipei counter a potential Chinese attack on the self-ruled island.
The U.S. will no longer view itself through the lens of exceptionalism, regardless of whether Donald Trump or Joe Biden wins the next election.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 24, 2024

American exceptionalism is dead no matter who wins the election

The U.S. will no longer view itself through the lens of exceptionalism regardless of the presidential election's outcome, focusing instead on its narrow self-interests.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers the first speech of his premiership outside No. 10 Downing St. in London on Friday, following his Labour Party's win in the general election.
WORLD
Jul 6, 2024

New U.K. PM Keir Starmer speaks to world leaders and names top team

Starmer named Rachel Reeves the U.K.'s first female finance minister and appointed David Lammy as foreign secretary, among other Cabinet choices.
An unarmed AGM-86B air-launched cruise missile is released from a B-52 bomber over the Utah Test and Training Range during a Nuclear Weapons System Evaluation Program sortie in September 2014.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 6, 2024

Trump advisers call for U.S. nuclear weapons testing if he is elected

A number of nuclear experts reject a resumption as unnecessary and say it would threaten to end a testing moratorium that has been honored for decades.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April. Both leaders face an uphill battle to stay at the helm of their respective parties and countries.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 10, 2024

Japan too is wrestling with a flawed leader

Questions about election prospects plague Biden in the U.S. and Kishida in Japan, with both trying to hang on to their commanding positions despite growing discontent.
Electronic waste — also known as e-waste — from computers in a junk shop in Metro Manila, Philippines
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 11, 2024

U.N. warns digital economy drive is damaging the environment

The U.N. agency called for sustainable strategies to counter the growing environmental toll digitalization creates, particularly in developing countries.
U.S. Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, a U.S. House representative from Texas
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 12, 2024

U.S. lawmakers raise concerns over Microsoft deal with Emirati AI firm

The Republican lawmakers' letter is a sign of growing concern about the lack of regulations around the export of sensitive artificial intelligence models.
Recent events in U.S. politics, including an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, a favorable court ruling and his nomination at the Republican National Convention, have strengthened the perception he may be “untouchable,” yet nothing is set in stone.
EDITORIALS
Jul 19, 2024

Trump’s wild week and a changing U.S. presidential race

Recent events have reinforced the idea of the “Teflon Don,” an extraordinarily lucky man for whom the laws of politics do not apply.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a commemoration ceremony for soldiers killed during the 2014 Gaza war, also known as Operation Protective Edge, at the Memorial Hall on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 21, 2024

Defiant Benjamin Netanyahu to face U.S. Congress amid Gaza tensions

Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving premier, will become the first foreign leader to address a joint meeting of the two chambers four times.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and U.S. President Joe Biden walk through the colonnade on their way to the Oval Office at the White House in Washington in January 2023.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 22, 2024

World leaders praise Biden’s record after U.S. president quits 2024 race

Leaders, including Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, said they would continue to watch the U.S. presidential race closely.
U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks at West Allis Central High School during her first campaign rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 24, 2024

Harris in speech says Trump would create a U.S. of 'fear and hate'

In her speech, Kamala Harris went after Donald Trump's vulnerabilities, comparing her background as a former prosecutor to his record as a convicted felon.
King Charles and Queen Camilla of Britain attend a ceremony on June 25 to welcome Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako on a seven-day state visit to the U.K.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 24, 2024

The imperial visit that crowned Japan-U.K. friendship

Having overcome past tensions, Japanese-British relations are at their peak, as seen during Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako's state visit to the U.K. in June.
The World Anti-Doping Agency has been under fire from U.S. officials over the handling of a case involving Chinese swimmers in the months before the Tokyo Games.
OLYMPICS
Jul 25, 2024

WADA to put U.S. anti-doping agency under compliance review

WADA is taking the step as a result of a dispute with the USADA over its handling of a case involving 23 Chinese swimmers.
Mourners carry coffins, during the funeral of children who were killed at a soccer pitch by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Majdal Shams, a Druze village in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, on Monday.
WORLD
Jul 30, 2024

Don't bomb Beirut: U.S. leads push to rein in Israel's response

Washington is racing to avert a full-blown war between Israel and the Iranian-backed Lebanese movement Hezbollah.
U.S. President Joe Biden escorts Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to their trilateral summit at the White House in Washington in April.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Aug 6, 2024

As U.S. ‘minilateral’ diplomacy grows, Japan emerges as key actor

As geopolitical tensions in the region rise, the breakout of any conflict would put Tokyo on the front lines alongside Washington.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, Defense Minister Minoru Kihara, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin attend the Japan-U.S. Extended Deterrence Dialogue in Tokyo on July 28.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 7, 2024

Japan-U.S. alliance transforms with concrete 'two-plus-two' talks

Despite the long and challenging history of Japan-U.S. two-plus-two meetings, this year's Tokyo meeting was truly groundbreaking.
Researchers have flagged that Elon Musk, who purchased Twitter (now X) in 2022 and is a vocal backer of Donald Trump, appears to be swaying voters by spreading falsehoods on his personal account.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 9, 2024

Musk's misleading election posts viewed 1.2 billion times, study says

Elon Musk, who purchased Twitter (now X) in 2022 for $44 billion, is facing growing scrutiny over his potential influence on voters.
U.S. coach Emma Hayes celebrates with American players after the U.S. defeated Brazil in the gold-medal match of the Olympic women's soccer competition on Saturday in Paris.
OLYMPICS / Soccer
Aug 11, 2024

Emma Hayes 'repays' U.S. by bringing back joy — and Olympic soccer gold

It is a fifth gold for the U.S. but one that many had doubted they were capable of winning after their early exit from last year's women's World Cup.
Flaring at the Cameron LNG export terminal in Hackberry, Louisiana. Flaring, a common sight at LNG plants, is a controlled burning of gas for reasons ranging from depressurizing equipment to disposing of gas that can’t be used. The practice is a "waste of money" and negatively impacts climate change and human health, says the International Energy Agency.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET
Aug 11, 2024

Japan fuels U.S. LNG boom even as climate targets and impacts loom

For over half a century, Japan has been a sizable buyer of LNG, and its government, banks and energy companies have played a key role in continued investment.
Protesters countering the far right gather in London on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 12, 2024

White supremacists turn U.K. riots into online recruiting pitch

Using messaging app Telegram and social media platform X, they promote conspiracy theories and incite violence in their bid to lure new members.
California Assemblymember Dr. Jasmeet Bains, the first Sikh-American politician to be elected in the California State Legislature, poses for a picture with fellow assembly member Sharon Quirk-Silva while attending a luncheon gathering in Artesia, California, on June 8.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 13, 2024

Some U.S. Sikhs fear Modi government is threatening them

Some Sikhs in the U.S. described experiencing online harassment and surveillance at their homes.
France President Emmanuel Macron and International Olympic Committee         President Thomas Bach before the closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics on Sunday.
OLYMPICS
Aug 13, 2024

Paris Olympics average 30.6 million U.S. viewers, a 82% bump from Tokyo

The BBC said the Games were streamed 218 million times on its platforms, more than doubling Tokyo's figures.
Google is appealing an Aug. 5 ruling that it illegally monopolized the markets of online search and search text ads but the presiding judge has ordered the start of plans for the second phase of the case, which will involve the government’s proposals for restoring competition, including a possible breakup request.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 14, 2024

U.S. considers a rare antitrust move: breaking up Google

If the breakup plan proceeds, the most likely units for divestment are the Android operating system and Chrome web browser.
A F-18 jet lands on the runway of the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier during the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) military exercises about 160 kilometers south of Oahu, Hawaii, on July 19.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 15, 2024

U.S. Navy's newest long range missile could shift balance in South China Sea

The AIM-174B can fly several times farther than alternatives, does not require new production lines, and is compatible with Australian aircraft.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?