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June 30, 2026
 

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Samia Nakhoul
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (center, back) looks on as Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter (left), State Department Chief of Staff Daniel Holler (center) and Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S. Nada Hamadeh sign a framework agreement at the U.S. Department of State in Washington on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 30, 2026
Israel-Lebanon deal may entrench stalemate rather than end war, analysts say
The security deal between Israel and Lebanon includes something few see as workable: Hezbollah’s disarmament, which no Lebanese government has the power to enforce.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during an event in Jerusalem on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jun 26, 2026
U.S.-Iran deal may leave Netanyahu as biggest casualty
Isolated abroad, constrained by his ally and vulnerable ahead of an autumn election, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now finds his political future and legacy at risk.
A mural depicting late Iranian supreme leaders Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (left) and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Tehran on Thursday
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Jun 19, 2026
U.S.-Iran deal redraws the Middle East, with Iran’s gains alarming rivals
If the deal holds, Iran will see an end to the war, phased ​sanctions relief, renewed oil exports and the prospect of vast reconstruction funds.
A billboard displaying Iran's national flag at Enghelab Square in Tehran on Sunday. The nation remains a formidable and undefeated force.
WORLD / FOCUS
Jun 16, 2026
Persian Gulf recalibrates as Iran emerges intact from war
The region has emerged from one of its most dangerous crises in decades with Iran politically emboldened and Persian Gulf confidence in U.S. protection deeply shaken.
A street in Tehran on Monday. "Surrender is fundamentally incompatible with Iran's identity," one senior Iranian official said.
WORLD / Politics
May 19, 2026
Growing risk of fresh conflict in Middle East as deadlock and pain deepen
The concern among policymakers is not whether a deal is near, but how long tensions can persist before a miscalculation triggers renewed hostilities.
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri (right) shakes hands with Lebanon's army chief, Joseph Aoun, after he is elected as the country's president at the parliament building in Beirut, in January last year.
WORLD / Politics
May 1, 2026
Lebanon’s internal splits over talks with Israel trip up Saudi mediation efforts
Lebanese leaders remain at odds over the negotiation format and ultimate goal.
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates, attends a meeting with King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of Bahrain.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 30, 2026
UAE oil break exposes deepening Saudi rift as Gulf power shifts
The UAE’ decision to quit OPEC has brought years of tensions with Saudi Arabia into the open, marking a rebalancing of power shaped by the Iran war.
A woman holds a poster depicting Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, during an anti-U.S. and anti-Israel rally in Tehran on March 26.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 29, 2026
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard seizes wartime power, blunts supreme leader’s role
Tehran no longer has a single, undisputed clerical arbiter at the pinnacle of power.
Iranians ride past a large billboard depicting Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei on a street in Tehran on Monday.
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Apr 21, 2026
Gulf worries U.S.-Iran talks may cement Tehran’s ‘golden’ grip on Hormuz
Diplomacy appears now centered less on rolling back Iran’s missile program and more on enrichment levels and tacitly accepting Tehran’s leverage over Hormuz.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the plenum of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, in Jerusalem in January. His approval ratings have slipped and, with legislative elections due by late October, the political risks he faces are rising.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 16, 2026
Despite Israeli firepower, Netanyahu struggles for political gains in Iran war
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is paying ​a political price for a military campaign launched with U.S. President Donald Trump that has not delivered a decisive outcome.
Pro-government supporters react in Tehran on Wednesday after the U.S.-Iran ceasefire was announced on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 9, 2026
As Trump claims victory, Iran emerges bruised but powerful with leverage over Hormuz
Iran has absorbed blows from the U.S. and Israel while retaining — and in some cases strengthening — its core instruments of power.
A man walks along Dubai's Creek Harbor, with the Burj Khalifa visible in the background, on April 3.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 6, 2026
UAE says the use of Hormuz must be guaranteed in any U.S.-Iran deal
About ​a fifth of global oil and liquefied gas supplies normally pass through the Strait of Hormuz per day, but Iran has reduced ​traffic, triggering a ‌global energy crisis.
People attend a funeral ceremony for the Revolutionary Guards Navy Commander Alireza Tangsiri in Tehran on Monday. Regional analysts say the assumption that removing top Iranian leaders would cause the system to fracture ignored the country's record of resilience, with the result not of surrender but radicalization.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 2, 2026
U.S.-Israeli war, intended to break Iran, could leave Tehran stronger
A premature end to the war without security guarantees would leave Gulf states exposed to an Iran that was supposed to surrender but instead has been radicalized.
Smoke rises from Dubai International Airport on March 16 as Iran kept up its Gulf attacks.
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Mar 28, 2026
Gulf states tell U.S. ending war isn’t enough: Iran’s capabilities must be degraded
The big question confronting Gulf policymakers is no longer how the Iran war ends, but what kind of regional order follows.
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli air strike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Dayr Seryan on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 26, 2026
Iran wants Lebanon included in any ceasefire, sources say
A ‌senior Iranian official said that Tehran was still reviewing a U.S. proposal ​to end the regional war, indicating that Tehran had so far stopped short of rejecting it outright.
A mother and son walk near a building destroyed in a strike, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran on March 21.
WORLD
Mar 25, 2026
Gulf warnings and fears of miscalculation preceded Trump’s pause in Iran showdown
Gulf Arab states warned U.S. President Donald Trump that strikes on Iran’s power plants would trigger Iranian retaliation on their own vital energy and desalination facilities.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a joint news conference with U.S. President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, in December last year. For Netanyahu, analysts say, the war has redrawn Israel's political map on his terms.
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Mar 20, 2026
Iran war boosts Netanyahu while bruising Trump and Gulf states
For Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the war has pivoted attention away from Gaza, but it has trapped U.S. President Donald Trump in a conflict with no clear exit.
A map showing the Strait of Hormuz and Iran. Tehran has disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz — the artery that carries about a fifth of global oil.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 17, 2026
Gulf states press U.S. to neutralize Iran for good as Hormuz crisis deepens
They don’t want Tehran to hold the region’s energy lifeline hostage again whenever tensions rise.
A High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) conducts live-fire missions during "Operation Epic Fury" at an undisclosed location earlier this month in this U.S. Army image released on Friday.
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Mar 14, 2026
Iran unleashes oil shock to blunt U.S. firepower
With the Gulf’s main export artery in the crosshairs, Tehran has turned the region’s greatest economic asset into its most powerful deterrent.
Fire and smoke rise in the Fujairah oil industry zone, caused by debris after a drone was intercepted by air defenses, according to the Fujairah media office, in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, on March 4.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 12, 2026
U.S. ignited Iran war but Gulf Arab states paying the price, Gulf sources say
Behind the scenes, resentment is mounting in Gulf Arab capitals at being drawn into a war they neither initiated nor endorsed but are now paying for economically and militarily.
Uruguay federation reportedly cancels charter flight after World Cup exit
Uruguay's Jose Maria Gimenez reacts after the team's loss against Spain at the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Friday.
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.
India’s gig workers pay the price for exposure to New Delhi’s hazardous air
Rohit Kushwaha waits for a customer as he delivers his last parcel of the day, in New Delhi in January. His work as a delivery driver has helped pay the family’s bills, but has had a significant impact on his health.
Chinese and Russian bombers and fighter jets stage joint patrol near Japan
A Chinese Air Force H-6 bomber is seen during a joint patrol with Russian military aircraft on Saturday.
U.S. missile moves in Japan send China clear message: A new era has arrived
Soldiers conduct the first Typhon midrange capability live-fire exercise outside of the continental United States, firing an SM-6 missile in July last year in Australia's Northern Territory during Exercise Talisman Sabre.
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."
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.
A French ship with close ties to Japan combines arts and sciences on the high seas
Romain Troublé, the executive director of Tara Ocean Foundation, speaks to visitors aboard the Tara during a rare port call in Tokyo in April.
In Kyushu’s far south, Senti.U sparks a culinary destination
Chef Yasuhiko Uchida was born in Saga Prefecture but has made his home in Kanoya, Kagoshima Prefecture, since 2012.
‘The colors speak for themselves’: How Japan’s chroma bible went global
“A Dictionary of Color Combinations” is meant to function as a quick-reference guide for artists, designers and anyone with a passing interest in aesthetics as a quantifiable pursuit.

Podcast

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

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What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
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