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August 14, 2026
 

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DEMOCRACY

The National Diet building in Tokyo. Democratic capitalism faces challenges, but institutions can adapt and survive if societies resist inequality, concentrated power and political complacency.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 3, 2026
Beyond the language of decline: Hope for democratic renewal
The question is not whether democracy and capitalism should survive unchanged, but whether they can be renewed so they once again serve society rather than narrow interests
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his wife, co-President Rosario Murillo, attend an event to commemorate the 47th anniversary of the Nicaraguan Revolution in Managua, on July 19.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 27, 2026
Nicaragua¡¯s dictatorship should be Marco Rubio¡¯s next problem
A country whose rulers openly reject elections has no place in this neighborhood.
A 20?year?old restaurant worker and Gen?Z protester raises a shovel in defiance in the wake of anti?corruption protests in Kathmandu last September.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 23, 2026
Why Nepal¡¯s Gen Z protestors are back in the streets
Nepal¡¯s Gen Z did not take to the streets last year simply to replace one government with another. It demanded a government that would be more accountable.
Money in politics mostly affirms politicians¡¯ existing beliefs and voter preferences and efforts to restrict it often end up empowering outside groups.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 22, 2026
Money isn¡¯t the root of all political evil
Money from super PACs and 501(c)4s flows to politicians that those entities already agree with and only helps as much as the candidate uses it.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi¡¯s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has strengthened its grip on power by manipulating the electoral process itself.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 3, 2026
Modi is rigging Indian democracy
The result of voter purging is an electoral system increasingly designed to favor India¡¯s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
Hong Kong's chief executive officer, John Lee, speaks at a news conference in Beijing in December.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 19, 2026
The sudden death of judicial reviews in Hong Kong
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee can now certify anything as ¡°endangering national security¡± and thus restrict freedom of expression.
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te attends the opening ceremony of the annual Computex trade show in Taipei on Tuesday. He said he sincerely hopes "China can face up to the June incident of 37 years ago," in a post on his Facebook page on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 4, 2026
Taiwan presses China to confront Tiananmen past
The events on June 4, 1989, when Chinese troops opened fire to end pro-democracy protests, are not publicly discussed in ?China, and the anniversary is not officially marked.
A giant screen shows Chinese leader Xi Jinping meeting U.S. President Donald Trump in Beijing on May 14. China distorts narratives portraying Japan as a military threat while similar dynamics in the U.S. erode truth and accountability.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 3, 2026
Defending democracy from the global war on reality
From Beijing to Washington, the very concept of objective truth feels unattainable
Partisan gerrymandering, now supercharged by technology and protected by court decisions, has escalated into a major democratic problem that is hard to reverse under current political incentives.
COMMENTARY / World
May 26, 2026
Redistricting is making a mockery of American democracy
This history demonstrates something profound about the nature of democracy: The design of an electoral system makes a huge difference in the results it delivers.
Restoring democracy in Russia will require challenging Vladimir Putin¡¯s authoritarian rule by rebuilding locally accountable governments that can deliver public services and foster political accountability.
COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2026
Putin should be challenged to restore local democracy in Russia
Before the 1990 elections, many experts had assumed that the main effect of local democracy would be to deliver more autonomy for regions populated by ethnic minorities.
Amid senseless global suffering and authoritarian threats, recent democratic activism and crises such as U.S. President Donald Trump¡¯s actions and the Iran conflict show that tragedy can spark hope for moral progress and climate action.
COMMENTARY / World
May 4, 2026
From despair to action: Tragedy is reborn as hope.
The crisis of democracy feeds the climate crisis.
U.S. President Donald Trump may try to use war with Iran and escalating crises as a pretext to cancel or overturn elections, invoking emergency powers or even staging a false flag operation to remain in power.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 21, 2026
Trump¡¯s wartime strategy sparks coup concerns
Trump¡¯s chief concern is preserving his own comfort and power, much of which will be lost if the Democrats retake control of the House of Representatives.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (center), flanked by world leaders and attendees of the Global Progressive Mobilization forum, in Barcelona on Friday
WORLD / Politics
Apr 20, 2026
Global leftists rally in Spain hoping to spark resurgence against far right
Spearheaded by Spain¡¯s Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, a critic of U.S. President Donald Trump, the summit was buoyed by hopes that the far-right surge may have peaked.
People write on a banner while attending a "No Kings" protest against U.S. President Donald Trump in Denver on March 28. While Iran¡¯s system is built to survive, America risks weakening its own continuity by concentrating power in one leader.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 7, 2026
Why America, not Iran, has a succession problem
Iran has not collapsed. Nor has it staggered in any decisive way. It was built, from the beginning, to survive exactly this kind of assault.
President Donald Trump takes questions from reporters after signing an executive order in the Oval Office on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 1, 2026
Trump signs order tightening mail-in voting, drawing swift legal threats
The ?order would ?use federal data to help election officials verify voter eligibility and would require absentee ballots to be sent only to voters on each state¡¯s approved list.
U.S. President Donald Trump arrives to deliver his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 26, 2026
Trump¡¯s push for election power raises fears he will ¡®subvert¡¯ midterms
With election deniers in federal posts and Cabinet officials hunting for evidence of voter fraud, U.S. President Donald Trump¡¯s moves have raised fears of potential interference.
Police stand guard outside the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts as twelve pro-democracy activists appeal their convictions and sentences in a landmark national security case, in Hong Kong on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 23, 2026
Court upholds jailing of 12 activists in ¡®Hong Kong 47¡¯ subversion case
The appeal stems from a case where pro-democracy activists and ?politicians were arrested en masse in early 2021.
Traditional Russian wooden nesting dolls depict Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump in a shop in Moscow on Tuesday. Since returning to the White House, Trump has upended domestic and foreign politics while ramping up pressure on institutions ranging from universities to the Federal Reserve.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 11, 2026
Corruption watchdog sees ¡®worrying decline¡¯ in democracies such as U.S.
Transparency International said the United States had slid to the lowest-ever score on its 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index.
A prison van believed to be carrying Jimmy Lai, founder of the now-defunct pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, leaves the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts building following sentencing in a national security collusion trial, in Hong Kong on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 10, 2026
China to deepen Hong Kong security focus as Jimmy Lai case stirs outcry
Beijing¡¯s State Council has outlined plans to strengthen security in the city, naming finance and shipping among areas of focus.
Peter Obi, Nigeria¡¯s Labour Party presidential candidate, speaks to workers in Lagos in 2023.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 10, 2026
Nigerian protesters want election results uploaded in real time
Demonstrators marched to the National Assembly to voice their anger at legislators approving changes to electoral laws, while omitting a key reform demanded by the opposition.
Forty-five meters down, a diver races to record a fleeting moment of WWII history
Kingo Wakasa photographs the kamikaze plane wing section he discovered at the USS Emmons wreck site.
New ¡®Katsu Curry Index¡¯ aims to show how weak the yen really is
A CoCo Ichibanya curry house in Tokyo.
Mexican man arrested over attempt to smuggle some 200 lizards into Japan
Mexican alligator lizards seized by Tokyo Customs from a Mexican man who attempted to smuggle them into Japan on Saturday through Haneda Airport
Gut bacteria may be behind many of Â鶹´«Ã½ colorectal cancer cases
A Japanese research team found that a toxin produced by certain E. coli strains, colibactin, caused genetic mutations in nearly half of colorectal cancer cases studied
She is Russia¡¯s richest woman. Her business empire is going up in flames.
Tatyana Kim, the head and co-founder of Wildberries, speaks about Ukrainian drone attacks on the company's warehouses in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, at an unidentified location, in this still image from a handout video released on July 31.
Forty-five meters down, a diver races to record a fleeting moment of WWII history
Kingo Wakasa photographs the kamikaze plane wing section he discovered at the USS Emmons wreck site.
Ikarigata closer to emulating older brother Fujinokawa than many think
The future Fujinokawa (third from left) and Ikarigata (right) compete against each other at ages 5 and 3, respectively.
Where do foreign residents in Japan want to die?
The Yokohama Foreign General Cemetery is one of the few cemeteries in Japan that allows burials, albeit with conditions for the deceased, including foreign nationality and permanent residency in Kanagawa Prefecture.
¡®Total whiplash¡¯: Foreign residents react to Â鶹´«Ã½ changing permanent residency rules
The entrance to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau in Minato Ward, Tokyo, in March. For some foreign residents of Japan, tightening measures for permanent residency have become one factor in a broader calculation over whether remaining in the country makes financial sense over the long term.
As Â鶹´«Ã½ concrete jungles sizzle, urban forestry offers an all-natural fix
People and birds find relief from the sun in Tokyo's Nakano Ward earlier this month. While experts agree that urban greening is crucial to mitigating the impact of climate change, trees are becoming even more scarce in Japanese cities.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo¡¯s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo¡¯s ¡®stadium of desire¡¯

Longform

Disaster relief workers Taichi Kato (left) and Seiji Yoshimura enter the collapsed living quarters at Kyuganji temple in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture.
What Kumamoto revealed about Â鶹´«Ã½ earthquake readiness
By Alex K.T. Martin

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