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July 03, 2026
 

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Matt Spetalnick
U.S. President Donald Trump looks on as the portrait of former U.S. President Barack Obama can be seen in the background, at the White House in Washington on June 26, 2025.
WORLD / Politics / EXPLAINER
Jun 19, 2026
How Trump’s deal with Iran compares to Obama’s
Trump’s critics say at this point he has gotten much less and given up much more to Tehran.
People walk past a sign with a picture depicting U.S. President Donald Trump in Tehran on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 18, 2026
What challenges could stand in the way of a final U.S.-Iran deal?
Most analysts are skeptical the two sides can forge a final settlement within the 60-day window laid out by both sides.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the White House in Washington on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jun 15, 2026
Trump veers toward exit in Iran war but risks loom
The deal appears short of many of the goals Trump outlined in the early days of the conflict, leaving the U.S. looking strategically worse off than it did before he went to war.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. President Donald Trump listens during a Cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
May 29, 2026
Trump’s room to maneuver narrows as U.S., Iran close in on framework deal
The dilemma became clear during a week of hectic diplomacy marked by word of an emerging framework deal that would extend a current ceasefire and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before boarding Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
May 23, 2026
Three months in, is Trump losing the Iran war?
With Iran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz, its resistance to nuclear concessions and its government largely intact, doubts are growing that Trump can pull out a geopolitical win.
U.S. President Donald Trump attends a dinner event in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on May 11.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
May 16, 2026
Trump’s geopolitical brinkmanship has hit a wall with Iran
The continuing impasse with Iran comes as Trump faces domestic pressure over high U.S. gasoline prices and his own low approval ratings.
U.S. President Donald Trump arrives to speak about the Iran war at the White House last month.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
May 9, 2026
Trump’s feuds and tensions with allies likely to outlast Iran war
Allies from Europe to the Middle East to the Indo-Pacific are once again fearful that the U.S. might be unreliable in a future crisis.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during an event in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
May 2, 2026
Iran standoff could leave Trump worse off than before he went to war
With both sides outwardly confident they hold the upper hand and their positions far apart, there is no obvious off-ramp in sight.
Demonstrators protest against U.S. President Donald Trump's military action in Iran, outside the White House in Washington on April 7.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 26, 2026
Republicans retool midterm strategy: Trump’s policies, but less Trump
The party’s new strategy is to tap Trump’s turnout power without making the midterms a referendum on an increasingly unpopular president.
President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at the White House in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 9, 2026
Trump’s abrupt Iran reversal exposes limits of his leverage
Trump’s claims of victory over Iran overlook questions about the effectiveness of mixing maximalist demands, erratic rhetoric and increasingly extreme threats.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the Future Investment Initiative Summit in Miami on Friday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 29, 2026
One month into Iran war, only hard choices for Trump
The main question is whether Trump will wind down or ramp up a war with Iran, one that has ignited the worst global energy supply shock in history.
An Iranian woman reacts as she takes part in the Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day rally, a commemoration in support of the Palestinian people on the last Friday of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, in Tehran.
WORLD
Mar 14, 2026
With Iran war exit elusive, Trump aides vie to affect outcome
U.S. officials and advisors are debating when and how to declare victory even as the conflict spreads across the Middle East.
U.S. President Donald Trump boards Air Force One as he departs from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Friday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 7, 2026
One week into Iran war, the dangers for the U.S. and Trump multiply
Even after devastating blows against Iranian forces, the crisis has quickly widened into a regional conflict that threatens a more prolonged U.S. military engagement.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles as Secretary of State Marco Rubio listens while monitoring Operation Epic Fury, the military operation against Iran, at an unnamed location on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 1, 2026
Trump’s Iran strikes mark his biggest foreign policy gamble
The U.S. president, who came to office last year promising to avoid “stupid wars,” has also set out a daunting objective of regime change in Tehran.
The USS Gerald aircraft carrier heads through the Strait of Gibraltar on Friday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 22, 2026
Trump pushes U.S. toward war with Iran as advisers urge focus on economy
The president has not laid out in detail to the American public why he might be leading the U.S. into its most aggressive action against Tehran since its 1979 revolution.
U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner (right), and U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 22. Some experts said the two lack the depth of knowledge and experience to go up against veteran negotiators like Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and their Russian interlocutors and that they were in over their heads in such complicated conflicts.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 18, 2026
U.S. envoys juggle two crisis talks, raising questions about prospects for success
The shuttle diplomacy by U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner has raised questions about the likelihood of them resolving either of the crises, experts say.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands during a news conference at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, on Dec. 29. Netanyahu's arrival at the White House on Wednesday was lower-key than usual.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 12, 2026
Trump says no ‘definitive’ agreement with Netanyahu but U.S.-Iran talks will continue
In their seventh meeting since President Donald Trump returned to office, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looked to influence the next ​round of U.S. talks with Iran.
Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello speaks at a rally in Caracas on Dec. 1.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 19, 2026
U.S. talks with hard-line Venezuelan minister Cabello began months before raid
Diosdado Cabello controls the country’s security services and militant ruling-party supporters, and could threaten interim President Delcy Rodriguez’s grip on power.
President Donald Trump has taken a wrecking ball to the rules-based global order that the U.S. helped build from the ashes of World War II.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jan 13, 2026
Trump’s exercise of raw power upends world order, sending friends and foes reeling
Many are unsure of what he will do next and whether the latest changes will be long-lasting or can be undone by a more traditional future U.S. president.
U.S. forces jump down onto an oil tanker seized by the United States off the coast of Venezuela on Wednesday.
WORLD
Dec 12, 2025
U.S. to seize more tankers off Venezuela’s coast after taking one, sources say
The seizure was the first interdiction of an oil cargo or tanker from Venezuela and comes as U.S. President Donald Trump pushes for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s ouster.
Japan triples departure tax in push to combat overtourism
Tourists in Yanaka Ginza, Tokyo, on Wednesday. Japan tripled its International Tourist Tax (departure tax) to ¥3,000 from ¥1,000 on Wednesday for all travelers leaving Japan, regardless of nationality.
‘My dream is broken’: Japan visa rules push out foreign residents
A man orders from a kebab shop in the Okubo district in Tokyo.
More facilities in Japan placing sanitary bins in men’s restrooms
A sanitary bin with an awareness sticker placed in a men's restroom in the Nagasaki Municipal Government building
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
Why is the yen so weak and what can Japan do about it?
Japan spent ¥11.7 trillion ($73 billion) between late April and late May to prop up the weak yen.
Six of the best: rikishi of note in each sumo division
Kazuma (right) faces off against future <i>yokozuna</i> Onosato during the All Japan Amateur Sumo Championships at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in December 2020.
Some startups see opportunity in an aging Japan
Yasmin Baba, CTO of Amilis, wins the Grand Prize at the Pitch2Tokyo Grand Final on Feb. 19.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

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