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US

A scientific officer works in the research lab at the University of Cape Town's Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, in Cape Town, South Africa on Feb. 17.
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 28, 2025
Services to millions of people collapse as USAID cuts contracts worldwide
Among those to get termination notices were major U.N. health programs, which might have different sources of funding, and smaller groups that relied mostly on U.S. grants.
The latest "Captain America" movie depicts a conflict between the U.S. and Japan over a newly discovered element, but the premise seems implausible and likely reflects a late-stage decision to replace China with Japan to avoid alienating Chinese audiences.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 28, 2025
A U.S. war with Japan? Only in ‘Captain America.’
It’s clear that Japan must be a stand-in for China — possibly a late-stage replacement in a movie that became notorious for its multiple rewrites and reshoots.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr. by his side, speaks with the media during his first official arrival at the Pentagon to take his new post on Jan. 27.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 28, 2025
Firing top generals makes the U.S. less secure
How should we think about this rare purge at the very top of the uniformed military? Is it unprecedented?
U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 28, 2025
Trump dodges plea from Britain's Starmer for Ukraine security guarantee
Britain's prime minister had argued that there could be no long-term peace in Ukraine without firm U.S. security guarantees.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s brinkmanship puts North America back on the precipice of a trade war, which economists say would hurt U.S. growth, worsen inflation and possibly spark recessions in Mexico and Canada.
BUSINESS
Feb 28, 2025
Trump says Canada and Mexico tariffs to take effect, and adds new China duty
Trump said 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico are on track to go into place on March 4, and said he would impose an additional 10% tax on Chinese imports.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has urged U.S. partners and allied nations to follow his country's example and increase military expenditure and preparedness.
JAPAN
Feb 27, 2025
Poland’s top diplomat calls on U.S. allies to spend more on defense
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski touts the example of Warsaw whose defense spending is set to rise to 4.7% of gross domestic product this year.
Tech mogul Elon Musk speaks during U.S. President Donald Trump’s first Cabinet meeting in the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 27, 2025
Musk’s Cabinet cameo: The elephant in the room wore black
The billionaire tech mogul spoke far more than anyone else, other than the U.S. president, attempting to manage both up and down at the same time.
U.S. President Donald Trump, flanked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio (left) and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, attends a Cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 27, 2025
Trump declines to say if U.S. would protect Taiwan from Chinese invasion
Trump's refusal to comment stood in stark contrast to his predecessor, Joe Biden, who repeatedly hinted that Washington would come to Taipei’s aid.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s populism and polarization will challenge American democracy, but constitutional limits, congressional dynamics and enduring pluralism will sustain it.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Feb 27, 2025
American democracy will weather the Trumpist storm
Despite Trump’s authoritarian tendencies, his populist nature makes constitutional collapse unlikely so long as pluralism in society endures.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a statement on defense spending at Downing Street in London on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 27, 2025
Starmer tries to buy Ukraine time with Trump security pitch
The British prime minister's main objective is to secure an American "backstop” for any truce between Russia and Ukraine.
Elon Musk shows off his t-shirt reading "Tech Support" while speaking at the first cabinet meeting hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump, at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 27, 2025
Trump orders more layoffs as Musk touts cuts at cabinet meeting
The U.S. president let downsizing czar Elon Musk take a star role at his first cabinet meeting and discuss his ambitious budget-cutting targets.
A sign directs people to a measles testing center in Gaines County, Texas, on Tuesday. A measles outbreak in West Texas and New Mexico is sparking fears of worsening public health crisis in the United States. 
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 27, 2025
Texas measles outbreak was entirely avoidable
"It’s more contagious than COVID, more contagious than the flu, more contagious than Ebola,” says Paul Offit, of Philadelphia's Vaccine Education Center.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance and wife Usha stand in front of an iron gate with the slogan "Arbeit macht frei" ("Work will set you free") as they arrive for a tour of the Dachau Concentration Camp memorial site in southern Germany on Feb. 13.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 27, 2025
Without America, ‘the West’ will splinter, wither and die
Trump and his movement do not share similar values, at least not unequivocally, and that is now sinking in across the rest of the West, which the U.S. has led for eight decades.
U.S. President Donald Trump hosts his first cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Feb 27, 2025
Trump sows confusion on timing of tariffs for Canada and Mexico
Trump's comments on the timing of the tariffs prompted jumps in the value of the Canadian dollar and Mexican peso versus the greenback.
U.S. President Donald Trump hosts his first cabinet meeting with Elon Musk in attendance in Washington on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 27, 2025
White House bars reporters from covering Trump cabinet meeting
The White House denied access to an Associated Press photographer and three reporters from Reuters, HuffPost and Der Tagesspiegel, a German newspaper.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gives a news conference in Kyiv on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 27, 2025
Trump confirms Zelenskyy visit to sign Ukraine minerals deal
The Ukrainian leader said the success of the deal would hinge on talks in Washington on Friday and continued U.S. aid.
A sample of a wafer is seen at the Semicon Taiwan 2022 exhibition in Taipei in 2022.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 26, 2025
China says Taiwan seeking to give away chip industry to U.S.
U.S. media has said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has been in talks for a stake in Intel.
A Chinese H-6 bomber flies between Okinawa’s main island and Miyako Island in October 2013. Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe warned that Japan must strengthen its defenses in case of a Taiwan contingency.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 26, 2025
As Ukraine endgame intensifies, don’t forget Taiwan
The scale of China’s air and naval exercises around Taiwan has grown from fewer than a dozen planes and ships a few years ago to over 250 in the December exercise alone.
French President Emmanuel Macron and U.S. President Donald Trump meet at the White House on Monday. The French leader has been forced to appease Trump knowing Europe is unprepared to defend itself without U.S. support.
COMMENTARY
Feb 26, 2025
America is turning its alliances into a protection racket
Trump has no compunction in using his leverage as a global security provider for extortion of allies.
Both Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre have called for placing levies on the U.S. that are similar to those the U.S. places on Canada.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 26, 2025
Something is rotten in Canada
So while Trump is right to say Canada’s trade surplus with the U.S. has grown, he’s wrong about why it has expanded.

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan