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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy inspects new fortifications for Ukrainian servicemen, near the Russian border in Ukraine's Sumy region, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 31, 2024

Zelenskyy vows drone strikes on Russia despite U.S. dissent

The drone attacks are in retaliation against Kremlin strikes on Ukraine’s energy grid and part of an effort to compel Moscow to stop them.
The Osprey provides vertical takeoff and landing like a helicopter but is also capable of flying at high speeds over long distances when operating as a conventional plane.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 3, 2024

The Japan-U.S. alliance needs the versatile Osprey

In Japan, there has been an outsized and lingering concern about the aircraft’s safety. That concern is, frankly, misplaced,
An Ariens Company employee works on the assembly line at the company's plant in Brillion, Wisconsin.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 5, 2024

U.S. employment boom leaves factory workers behind

There is a stark contrast between U.S. factory employment and the four-year boom in the wider job market
Mourners gather in Tehran on Friday for the funerals of senior Iranian military and intelligence officials killed in Israel's bombing of the Iranian Embassy building in Damascus, Syria.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 6, 2024

Israel and U.S. are on alert for Iran to strike back at Israel

Analysts say Iran is more likely to strike Israel itself than through Hezbollah, its closest militant ally.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks with the media after meeting with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng at the Guangdong Zhudao Guesthouse in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 7, 2024

China providing geospatial intelligence to Russia, U.S. warns

Beijing’s support also includes optics, propellants to be used in missiles and increased space cooperation, according to sources.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen meets Chinese Premier Li Qiang at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Sunday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 7, 2024

Yellen and Li express hope for U.S.-China cooperation

The U.S.-China relationship can only move forward with direct and open communication, Treasury chief Janet Yellen told Premier Li Qiang.
Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour speaks with the media, accompanied by Yemen's Ambassador to the United Nations Abdullah Ali Fadhel Al-Saadi and Algeria's Representative to the United Nations Amar Bendjama, at U.N. headquarters in New York on March 25.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 9, 2024

Security Council to decide within April on Palestine's U.N. membership bid

Palestinians have lobbied for years to gain full membership, which would amount to recognition of Palestinian statehood.
The U.S. military’s Kawakami Ammunition Depot in Higashihiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture. High levels of PFAS have been detected in well water around the facility.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Apr 15, 2024

U.S.-Japan pact hampers PFAS survey at U.S. facility in Hiroshima

The bilateral Status of Forces Agreement gives exclusive authority to the U.S. forces over the management of their facilities in Japan.
U.S. Steel's Edgar Thomson steel mill in Braddock, Pennsylvania
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 11, 2024

How the U.S. Steel takeover became about Biden and swing states

The turmoil threatens to strain U.S. relations with Japan while underscoring how the politics of winning swing-state voters influences business.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attend an an arrival ceremony as part of a state visit by Kishida, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 11, 2024

Global ambitions? U.S. and Japan eye a boosted partnership, but the hurdles are high.

Can Japan truly be America's "global partner"? Experts are divided over the issue.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reviews soldiers of the German armed forces in Berlin on Thursday.
WORLD / FOCUS
Apr 12, 2024

Between the U.S. and a hard place, Germany's Scholz reheats China ties

With Germany's economy slumping, the nation hopes to gain fairer access to China's markets despite promises to "de-risk" from them.
A funeral procession in Tehran for seven Iranian military commanders killed by an Israeli airstrike in Syria, on April 5. American intelligence analysts and officials said Friday that they expected Iran to strike multiple targets inside Israel within the next few days in retaliation for an Israeli bombing in the Syrian capital on April 1 that killed several senior Iranian commanders.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 13, 2024

U.S. targets unlikely to be on list in possible Iranian attack, officials say

In anticipation of the strikes, several countries have issued new guidelines to their citizens about travel in Israel and the surrounding region.
Protesters step on a caricature of Chinese leader Xi Jinping as they take part in a demonstration to condemn China's recent "aggressive actions" in disputed waters of the South China Sea, in front of the Chinese Consulate in Makati, Metro Manila, on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 13, 2024

China feels boxed in by the U.S. but has few ways to push back

Aside from pointed words and the perfunctory maritime patrol, Beijing's options to push back against U.S. pressure appear limited, analysts say.
Ryoma Shimoseki (90) was playing at Kosei Gakuen High School in Tokyo when he was discovered by NFL Academy coaches.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Apr 17, 2024

Japanese NFL hopeful gets dream chance on football field in U.K.

Ryoma Shimoseki was recently announced as the newest addition to the NFL Academy as he bids to become the first Japanese to make an NFL roster.
The IMF has singled out the U.K. and Italy alongside the U.S. and China as nations that face serious fiscal risks as debt continues to creep upward.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 18, 2024

U.S. and China debts pose risks for global public finances, IMF says

Public debt in China and the U.S. is projected to almost double by 2053, which could "have profound effects on the global economy," the IMF reports.
Josh Rawitch, president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, holds a baseball thrown by former Dodgers pitcher Hideo Nomo during a no-hitter in 1996 while seated next to a Dodgers uniform used by Shohei Ohtani this season during a news conference at the U.S. ambassador's residence in Tokyo
BASEBALL
Apr 19, 2024

Baseball Hall of Fame to highlight history of Japan-U.S. ties in new exhibition

The exhibition, "Yakyu/Baseball: The Transpacific Exchange of the Game between Japan and the United States," is slated to open in July 2025.
Protesters react as a man holds up a sign demanding that soldiers from the United States Army leave Niger without negotiation during a demonstration in the capital, Niamey, on April 13.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 20, 2024

U.S. to withdraw military personnel from Niger

There were a little over 1,000 U.S. troops in Niger as of last year, where the U.S. military operated out of two bases, including a drone base.
The dollar's resurgence has come on the back of a slew of signs that the U.S. economy avoided the slowdown many anticipated.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 23, 2024

U.S. dollar’s extended reign delivers stark wake-up call to markets

Global investors are talking about "U.S. exceptionalism” after a predicted slowdown to the nation's economy didn't transpire.
Everywhere, U.S. allies are taking steps to defend or advance their interests in the event former U.S. President Donald Trump returns to power in November elections, an even chance based on recent opinion polls in swing states.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 25, 2024

How U.S. allies are preparing for a possible second Trump term

They want to avoid Trump's "America First" policies dealt them before, which included trade wars and a shakeup of security alliances.
While some publicly traded bitcoin mining companies release details of their energy use, there is no reliable data on exactly how much electricity the industry as a whole consumes.
BUSINESS / Tech / ANALYSIS
Apr 25, 2024

Bitcoin miner environmental battles heat up in U.S.

As cryptocurrency groups work to shield mines from local regulations, U.S. President Joe Biden proposed an excise tax on bitcoin energy use.
Palestinian women in Gaza sit amid the rubble of a residential building they once lived in, which was destroyed by an Israeli raid earlier this month.
COMMENTARY
Apr 25, 2024

Biden must prove he doesn't have a double standard for Israel

If the U.S. wants to convince the world that it doesn't have a double standard, it should condition military aid to Israel on its use of American weapons.
U.S. President Joe Biden gives a speech after signing into law a bill providing billions of dollars of new military aid to Ukraine at the White House on Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Apr 26, 2024

Passing of U.S. aid package is a win for global peace

The aid for Ukraine is critical: Its military has been running short of ammunition and Russia has been exploiting its advantage to make battlefield gains.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken dines at the Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant at the Yu Gardens in Shanghai on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 27, 2024

When U.S. diplomats visit China, meal choices are about more than taste buds

Visits to China by U.S. officials like Secretary of State Antony Blinken can bring fame to local restaurants, as well as scrutiny to the dignitaries.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks during a news conference, at the Downing Street Briefing Room in central London on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 27, 2024

‘Operation Save Rishi’ aims to get U.K. leader through key vote

Rishi Sunak has said that he’s putting U.K. defense spending on a "war footing.” He might as well have been talking about his own position.
Optica headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday
BUSINESS / Companies
May 3, 2024

Huawei secretly backs U.S. research, awarding millions in prizes

Huawei Technologies is the sole funder of a research competition that has awarded millions of dollars since its inception in 2022.
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.
Soldiers load boxes of relief goods into a U.S. CH53 Sea Stallion aircraft at Lal-lo Airport in Cagayan province, northern Philippines, last August. The Lal-lo Airport is one of the additional sites for the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) between the Philippines and the United States.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 11, 2024

China woos Philippine elites near base U.S. needs to defend Taiwan

The moves come as Washington and Beijing remain locked in a struggle for influence that is still playing out.
Philippine and U.S. Marines watch as a projectile hits a target at sea during a live-fire exercise against an imaginary "invasion" force as part of the annual joint military drills, on a strip of sand dunes in Laoag on Luzon island's northwest coast, on May 6.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 11, 2024

U.S. builds web of arms, ships and bases in the Pacific to deter China

With missiles, submarines and alliances, the Biden administration has built a presence in the region to rein in Beijing’s expansionist goals.
Members of Taiwan's Navy and media onboard a special operation boat navigate near a Kuang Hua VI-class missile boat, during part of a demonstration for the media to show combat readiness ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays, on the waters near a military base in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on Jan. 31.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 14, 2024

U.S. and Taiwan navies quietly held Pacific drills in April

The exercises, which were not publicized and involved "multiple military assets," took place last month in the Western Pacific, according to sources.
North Korea's Ambassador to the United Nations Kim Song speaks during a meeting of the U.N. General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York on June 8, 2022.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
May 15, 2024

U.N. experts: North Korea laundered $147.5 million in stolen crypto

The money was stolen from the HTX cryptocurrency exchange before being laundered in March this year, the experts said.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.