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July 04, 2026
 

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Julian E. Barnes
U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to his resort in Palm Beach, Florida, in December.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 7, 2026
Pentagon sees growing espionage threat from Israel
Israel and the U.S. have long known that each was spying on the other but recent Israeli efforts to learn about U.S. positions in talks with Iran may have crossed a line.
Iran cannot locate all of the mines it laid in the Strait of Hormuz and lacks the capability to remove them, the U.S. says, one reason Tehran has not been able to quickly comply with the Trump administration’s admonitions to let more traffic pass through the waterway.
WORLD
Apr 11, 2026
Iran unable to find mines in Strait of Hormuz, U.S. says
The development is one reason Iran has not been able to quickly comply with the Trump administration’s admonitions to let more traffic pass through the strait.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 7. The Pentagon used a secret aircraft painted to look like a civilian plane in its first attack on a boat that the Trump administration said was smuggling drugs, killing 11 people last September, according to officials briefed on the matter.
WORLD
Jan 13, 2026
U.S. attacked boat with aircraft that looked like a civilian plane
Even accepting the Trump administration’s claim that there is an armed conflict with suspected drug runners, the laws of war bar “perfidy.”
President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela during a news conference in Caracas on Sept. 15.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 19, 2025
Trump said to authorize CIA plans for covert action in Venezuela
While Trump publicly emphasizes Venezuela’s role in the drug trade and illegal immigration, he has privately discussed the country’s huge oil reserves and access to them.
U.S. President Donald Trump sits in his car, "The Beast," as he arrives for a dinner at the Huis ten Bosch Royal Palace during a NATO leaders summit in The Hague on Tuesday.
WORLD
Jun 25, 2025
Strike set back Iran’s nuclear program by only a few months, U.S. report says
The findings suggest that President Donald Trump’s statement that Iran’s nuclear facilities were obliterated was overstated.
Indian soldiers trek back after a search operation around Baisaran meadow in the aftermath of an attack in Pahalgam, in Indian-held Kashmir, on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 26, 2025
Pakistan official calls for international inquiry into Kashmir terror attack
The defense minister’s remarks appeared to be aimed at defusing tensions with India, after armed militants attacked a tourist group in the disputed territory.
U.S. President Donald Trump with Elon Musk and his son at the White House this month. The Pentagon is scheduled on Friday to brief Musk on the U.S. military’s plan for any war that might break out with China, two U.S. officials said Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 21, 2025
Musk set to get access to top-secret U.S. plan for potential war with China
Providing Musk with access to some of the nation’s most closely guarded military secrets would bring into sharp relief questions about his conflicts of interest.
Ukrainian military vehicles close to the border with Russia’s Kursk region, in Ukraine on Jan. 9.
WORLD
Jan 31, 2025
North Korean troops no longer seen on front lines fighting Ukraine
The North Korean troops, sent to bolster Russian forces trying to push back a Ukrainian offensive inside Russia’s borders, have not been seen at the front line for about two weeks.
The P4 laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China, in April 2020
WORLD
Jan 26, 2025
CIA now favors China lab leak theory to explain COVID’s origins
A new analysis that began under the Biden administration is released by the C.I.A.’s new director, John Ratcliffe, who wants the agency to get “off the sidelines” in the debate.
China’s recent breach of the innermost workings of the U.S. telecommunications system reached far deeper than the White House has described, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said on Thursday.
WORLD
Nov 23, 2024
China’s hacking reached deep into U.S. telecoms
Chinese activity in the past year has taken intrusions to a new level, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Thursday.
A Ukrainian Army vehicle passes through the destroyed Russian border post at the Sudzha crossing with Ukraine in the Kursk region of Russia on Aug. 12.
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 11, 2024
50,000 Russian and North Korean troops mass ahead of attack, U.S. says
Ukrainian officials expect a counteroffensive in western Russia to begin in the coming days as North Korea’s troops train with Russian forces.
Early voters at a polling site during early voting in Queens, New York, on Oct. 27. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia is behind a video that appeared on social media this week falsely claiming that Haitians illegally voted multiple times for Vice President Kamala Harris in Georgia.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 2, 2024
U.S. spy agencies issue new warning on Russia’s election misinformation campaign
Three recent videos have sought to undermine confidence in the security of the vote.
A billboard depicting Hamas' slain leader Yahya Sinwar during a rally in Yemen's Huthi-controlled capital Sanaa
WORLD / Politics
Oct 20, 2024
U.S. ‘fusion cells’ assist in Israel’s hunt for Hamas leaders
Officials have insisted that the U.S. aren’t directly supporting Israel on the ground in Gaza, but the search for Hamas leaders was different.
A banner honoring the late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is displayed on a street in Tehran on Sunday.
WORLD
Sep 29, 2024
As Hezbollah threat loomed, Israel built up its spy agencies
Israel has spent the years since bolstering what was already considered one of the world’s best intelligence-gathering operations.
A girl watches the setting sun over Doha, Qatar’s capital, on July 10. Qatar has used its influence with Hamas to press for a truce with Israel.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 9, 2024
The road to a Gaza cease-fire runs through Qatar
Throughout the war, Qatar has tried to present itself as an international interlocutor capable of narrowing the gaps between the warring parties.
People stand near the scene of a strike on industrial buildings in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on May 17.
WORLD
Jun 29, 2024
Russia sends waves of troops to the front in a brutal style of fighting
Despite huge losses, Russia is recruiting 25,000 to 30,000 new soldiers a month — roughly as many as are exiting the battlefield, U.S. officials have said.
Red Square in Moscow on Oct. 17, 2022. Russian military intelligence, the G.R.U., is behind arson attacks aimed at undermining support for Ukraine’s war effort, security officials say.
WORLD / Politics
May 27, 2024
Russia steps up a covert sabotage campaign aimed at Europe
British and other European diplomats have been pressing countries to call out Russian covert operations more aggressively.
People talk as smoke billows from a nearby strike on industrial buildings in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Friday.
WORLD
May 18, 2024
Ukraine asks U.S. to provide more intelligence on targets in Russia
American officials say they do not want U.S. weapons used in cross-border attacks or intelligence reports used to strike inside Russia.
Leaders of intelligence agencies testify before a congressional committee about worldwide threats in Washington on March 11.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 15, 2024
Campaign puts Trump and the spy agencies on a collision course
Some former officials fear that Trump, if elected again, would try to weaken intelligence agencies or undermine their independence.
An image taken from video of a U.S. Navy F/A-18 jet crew’s encounter with an unexplained anomalous phenomena
WORLD / Politics
Mar 9, 2024
Pentagon review finds no evidence of alien cover-up
But the new report suggests that the public’s belief that the government is hiding what it knows will probably continue.
‘My dream is broken’: Japan visa rules push out foreign residents
A man orders from a kebab shop in the Okubo district in Tokyo.
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.
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. 
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
Japan plans to sharply raise fees for residence permits from October
Foreign tourists walk on the path leading to the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in May.
Iran war exposed, but hasn’t changed, Japan’s reliance on imported oil
Wind turbines generate energy from strong easterly winds on the Shonai Plain in Yamagata Prefecture. Despite the oil crisis caused by conflict near the Strait of Hormuz, and concerns instability in the region could continue to impact supply and the price of imports, the administration of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi does not seem to be drawing on the war as a pretext to hasten progress toward Japan's renewable goals.
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.

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
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