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July 03, 2026
 

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IRAN

Children watch a tanker at anchor off the coast of Muscat, Oman, on March 18. The Strait of Hormuz is used by roughly a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supply and is currently blocked by Iran, a more formidable adversary than Yemen's Houthis.
WORLD
Mar 25, 2026
Failure to secure Red Sea shipping casts shadow over Strait of Hormuz plan
Absent the strait’s reopening, shortages will become more acute, ‌threatening higher ‌costs for energy, food and numerous other products worldwide.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol pose at the beginning of their meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2026
Takaichi asks IEA chief to prepare additional ‘coordinated release’ of oil
The head of the International Energy Agency has said he is “ready to move forward” with an additional release of oil reserves “if and when necessary.”
An anchored oil tanker in Muscat, Oman. Many vessels have shied away from using the Strait of Hormuz despite Iran saying it would not target friendly nations.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 25, 2026
Iran and Israel trade strikes as diplomats work behind the scenes
Tehran has reportedly assured safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz to “non-hostile vessels.”
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. declared a national energy emergency late Tuesday, saying there is an "imminent danger of a critically low energy supply.”
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 25, 2026
Philippines declares emergency as energy supplies run short
There is an “imminent danger of a critically low energy supply,” Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said in an executive order late Tuesday.
An oil tanker anchors off Muscat, Oman, on March 7, as regional tensions amid the U.S.-Israeli-Iran conflict have virtually closed off the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Mar 25, 2026
War in the Persian Gulf means volatility in the global energy market
Japanese companies have long assumed a stable future energy supply. That assumption is no longer secure.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks with Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama during a plenary session of the House of Councilors in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 25, 2026
Takaichi prepares provisional budget as the nature of debate shifts
The development has provided ammunition for the opposition to accuse the Takaichi administration for political mismanagement.
An employee points at a "sold out" sticker at a used-car export complex in Incheon, South Korea.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 25, 2026
Lamborghinis stranded in Sri Lanka as war disrupts Asia’s used-car trade
Japan and South Korea exported a combined $19 billion worth of used cars last year, with Japan accounting for a little ⁠more than half of that.
The chimneys of the Taean Thermal Power Station, a large coal-fired plant near Seoul. Asian countries are ramping up use of polluting coal to tackle energy shortages and price spikes linked to the Iran war, but the crisis could have an environmental silver lining.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 25, 2026
Back to black: facing energy shock, Asia turns to coal
Much of Asia is heavily exposed to the energy crisis that has unfolded since the U.S.-Israel attack on Iran began last month.
U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on Friday. Trump shared a message posted by Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on social media offering to host talks between the U.S. and Israel in Pakistan, but the U.S. president has made no indication of whether he will accept the offer.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 25, 2026
Pakistan offers to host talks with U.S. and Iran in Islamabad in bid to end war
Trump’s special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, and U.S. Vice President JD Vance, could travel to Islamabad, said one senior Western diplomat.
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.
U.S. President Donald Trump, right, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Feb. 13, 2025.
WORLD
Mar 25, 2026
Trump and Modi discuss Strait of Hormuz as India faces gas shortage
The war in the Middle East has cut off flows of crude oil and liquefied natural gas, driving up prices and sparking volatility in global markets.
The white contrails left by Israeli fighter jets streak across the sky above the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on Tuesday.
WORLD
Mar 25, 2026
Israel’s military to occupy swath of southern Lebanon, defense minister says
More than 1 million people have ‌been displaced by strikes and evacuation orders, though thousands remain in parts of the south.
A person stands next to remnants of a missile stuck in the ground found in Kifl Haris village, near Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on Tuesday.
WORLD
Mar 25, 2026
U.S. expected to send thousands more soldiers to Middle East, sources say
Such an escalation could dramatically raise the stakes in the conflict, which is already in its fourth week and has roiled global markets.
Prices are displayed at a gas station in Nagano last week. Japan's government is making efforts to prevent the prices of petroleum products rising excessively.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 24, 2026
Oil tankers that did not transit the Strait of Hormuz to arrive in Japan soon
One departed from the Red Sea and the other from a port just beyond the strait
The Iran war has exposed the limits of the “protection for sale” system that has defined Gulf geopolitics for decades.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 24, 2026
Iran conflict reveals cracks in U.S.-backed deterrence
No amount of foreign weaponry can substitute for a stable regional order built on cooperation, interdependence and rational economic incentives.
Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks during a news conference at parliament in Tokyo on March 13.
JAPAN
Mar 24, 2026
Japan again denies U.S. official’s claim Takaichi pledged to send MSDF to Mideast
Japan’s defense minister denied the claim by U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi had committed to sending vessels to the region.
Donald Trump's decades-long unchanging foreign policy approach, combined with erratic behavior, has amplified risks and confusion in U.S. dealings with Russia, Iran and the wider world.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 24, 2026
We’re all trapped in Trump’s 1980s worldview
Current events provide a vivid example of how Trump’s failure to evolve distorts policy making.
Fuel price pressures are hitting growers and winemakers at the same time as tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
BUSINESS
Mar 24, 2026
From Indian movies to Italian wine, Trump’s war on Iran to cause pain worldwide
Effects of the conflict are reaching industries that might’ve seemed insulated from the fallout, and that’s unlikely to be reversed quickly.
Pete Hegseth calls on a reporter while answering questions during a news briefing at the Pentagon on March 19. A former Fox News host, he has limited access to his briefings on the Iran war.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 24, 2026
Iran is America’s first war of the social media age. It’s a black box.
Though the hostilities are occurring in an era of information overload, blanket reporting bans make it difficult to ascertain what is going on while AI further muddies reality.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Knesset on the day of Trump's address in Jerusalem last October
WORLD
Mar 24, 2026
Trump OK’d Iran operation after Netanyahu argued for joint killing of Khamenei, sources say
The Israeli leader argued there might never be a better chance to kill the Iranian supreme leader and avenge previous efforts to assassinate Donald Trump.
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.
Japanese-language education is at a turning point
The country is gradually transforming Japanese-language education from a volunteer-driven system into a professional, government-supported network to better serve its growing foreign population. 
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.

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