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March 31, 2025
 

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DEFENSE

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a statement on defense spending on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 26, 2025
Trump’s threats push U.K.'s Starmer into a more global, military agenda
U.S. President Donald Trump's apparent refusal for the U.S. to be the final guarantor of security in Europe has prompted the prime minister to act.
The Togolese-registered ship Hongtai in Penghu, Taiwan. Taiwan detained a Chinese-crewed cargo ship after a subsea telecoms cable was severed off the island, the coast guard said.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 25, 2025
Taiwan detains Chinese-crewed ship after subsea cable cut
It is the latest in a series of Taiwanese undersea cable breakages, with previous incidents blamed on natural causes or Chinese ships.
Amid rising global defense spending, U.S. President Donald Trump's push for 5% of GDP on military budgets poses a challenge for American allies, including Japan, which is already struggling to meet its 2% target.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 25, 2025
U.S. defense spending demands could transform global security
The level of spending the U.S. is demanding could spark an arms race as adversaries try to match NATO and America's Asian allies.
U.S. President Donald Trump's approach to ending Russia’s war in Ukraine appears to prioritize re-establishing U.S.-Russia relations over securing a fair settlement for Ukraine.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 25, 2025
Ukraine is just a pawn in a Russian reset
Donald Trump's approach makes U.S. actions more logical, but no less shameful.
Sailors on board the Royal Australian Navy ship HMAS Arunta observe the People's Liberation Army Navy Fuchi-class replenishment vessel and Weishanhu Jiangkai-class frigate Hengyang in the Tasman Sea. Australia's foreign minister voiced concern on Friday over live-fire drills conducted by three Chinese warships sailing off the country's east coast.
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 25, 2025
Chinese navy drill in Tasman Sea forced 49 flights to change paths
Authorities had been alerted to the rare live-fire exercise in international waters by an airline pilot, the head of Australia's air traffic control agency says.
The logo of Rheinmetall is displayed at the Eurosatory international defense and security trade fair in Villepinte, near Paris, in June 2022.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 25, 2025
Rheinmetall to convert German factories to make defense equipment
The move by Europe's top ammunition maker to repurpose two automotive plants highlights the impact of an expected surge in spending in the region.
Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro assists Defense Minister Gen Nakatani as he signs a guest book prior to their bilateral meeting at a hotel in Manila on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 24, 2025
Japan and Philippines to establish high-level defense gear framework
The two sides also agreed to establish a “strategic dialogue” between the Self-Defense Forces and the Philippine Armed Forces to deepen operational collaboration.
Terumi Tanaka, co-chair of the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize-winning Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, urged the country to take the lead in preventing nuclear weapons from being used for a third time.
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2025
Hidankyo leader regrets Japan's dodging of upcoming nuclear ban meet
The meeting of signatories to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is set to be held in New York in March.
As more countries gain global influence, disagreements over the future world order are making cooperation harder, especially between democracies and autocracies.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 23, 2025
The age of multipolarization
The shift to a multipolar world has been accompanied by deepening polarization within and between countries.
Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles listens during an AUKUS meeting in London on Sept. 26, 2024.
WORLD
Feb 23, 2025
New Zealand says China navy held another live-fire drill in international waters
Similar drills a day earlier had forced airlines in the area to divert some flights.
A makeshift memorial for Ukrainian soldiers who died fighting invading Russian forces and the Monument to Independence in Kyiv on Feb. 14
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 23, 2025
Ukraine can survive with the ‘least worst’ peace deal
Clearly the main issue and unfortunately it looks like Trump’s idea of ending the war fast means doing very little for the people who were actually invaded.
U.S. Marines during training in Okinawa last month.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 22, 2025
U.S. Marines start to leave Japan, decades behind schedule
The U.S. base on Okinawa has relocated 105 Marines. But an agreement to move 9,000 in total is colliding with the perceived threat from a rising China.
Ukrainian Ambassador to Japan Sergiy Korsunsky speaks during an interview at the Ukrainian Embassy in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 21, 2025
As Ukraine rift emerges, Kyiv's envoy says Japan must take on bigger global role
The remarks by Ukrainian Ambassador to Japan Sergiy Korsunsky came amid what appears to be a dramatic reversal in years of U.S. support for Ukraine since Russia's invasion.
Polish military vehicles are transported during NATO exercises in Klusy, Poland, in November 2022.
WORLD
Feb 20, 2025
On NATO's eastern flank, U.S. policy shift stokes security fears
Some in Poland fear that Russian President Vladimir Putin will feel emboldened to invade more countries.
Nihon Hidankyo co-chair Toshiyuki Mimaki (left) meets Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito (right) in Kitahiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture, in December.
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2025
Japan not to attend meeting on nuclear ban treaty for third time
The decision may draw criticism from many members of the public and Komeito, with both calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons.
Taiwan worries that Donald Trump’s dealmaking with Vladimir Putin over Ukraine signals uncertainty for its own security, and the island democracy is boosting efforts to strengthen U.S. ties and defense spending.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 19, 2025
Trump’s phone call with Putin is causing a stir in Taiwan
Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te’s government should consider what it can offer Trump to avoid becoming a pawn in the U.S.-China rivalry.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged troops for a Ukraine peacekeeping force, but Britain and its military lack the resources to deliver.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 19, 2025
Starmer offers Ukraine a defense check it can't cash
Under Starmer’s leadership, there has been no sign that the U.K. is ready to expand its armed forces to the numbers that could sustain such a campaign.
A Ukrainian serviceman in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Nov. 29
WORLD / Politics
Feb 19, 2025
European forces would struggle to guarantee Ukraine peace without U.S.
Deterrence in the form of U.S. medium-range missiles and ultimately nuclear weapons will remain crucial, experts say.
French President Emmanuel Macron welcomes British Prime Minister Keir Starmer before an informal summit of European leaders to discuss the situation in Ukraine and European security at the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 18, 2025
Europe talks up more defense spending as Ukraine peacekeeper plan divides
The leaders also said they were ready to provide security guarantees to Kyiv "depending on the level of American support."
Rear Adm. Jacques Mallard (right), commander of the Charles De Gaulle aircraft carrier strike group, speaks during a ceremony aboard the carrier at a naval base in Toulon, France, last September.
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 18, 2025
French carrier group chief draws lessons from first Pacific deployment in 60 years
The deployment helped deepen the French Navy's operational understanding of the region, and learn from and boost interoperability with partner nations, a top commander says.
Japan's biggest beef bowl chain Sukiya to shut nearly 2,000 stores after rat and bug contamination
Zensho Holdings, operator of fast-food chain Sukiya, said it will close all of its stores in Japan, except for a small number in shopping centers, between Monday and Friday following recent contamination incidents.
School-age suicides in Japan hit all-time high
A volunteer handles an incoming call at the Tokyo Befrienders call center, a suicide hotline center in Japan's capital.
Japan considers all possible options as Trump threatens new auto tariffs
Subaru cars awaiting export at a port in Yokohama on Thursday.
In Tokyo, Pentagon chief provides assurances that Japan-U.S. alliance remains robust
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani (left) and U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth review an honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo ahead of their talks Sunday.
Japan, South Korea and China vow to strengthen trade ties amid looming U.S. tariffs
Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yoji Muto (left), South Korean Trade Industry and Energy Minister Ahn Duk-geun (center) and Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao during a trilateral meeting in Seoul on Sunday
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.
Tokyo tech failures lean into misfortune, mistakes and missteps
Tsuyoshi Domoto in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on March 28. As an entrepreneur, Domoto experienced plenty of setbacks but maintains a positive attitude and continues to pursue his dreams.
Who among the opposition would join the ruling coalition?
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba enters his office in Tokyo on Friday.
Traveling the Three-Star Road, the tourist route made from thin air
Scenes like this snow-covered bridge leading to the village of Shirakawa-go are what make the Three-Star Road worth traveling — its name notwithstanding.
Recent spate of wildfires in Japan and South Korea linked to climate change
Smoke and flames rise from a wildfire in Andong, South Korea, on Tuesday.

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