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August 14, 2026
 

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MIDDLE EAST

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi spoke with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian for 20 minutes in phone call on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2026
Takaichi opposes Hormuz fees in phone talks with Iran¡¯s president
The prime minister told Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian that it is important to ensure free and safe navigation without additional cost in the key waterway.
Vessels are seen anchored in the Strait of Hormuz, off the port city of Khasab on Oman's northern Musandam Peninsula.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 13, 2026
Iran takes more robust military stance amid frozen U.S. talks
The move is a sign that Tehran is preparing for a protracted era of regional conflict.
A catering truck is parked on the other side of Air Force One, before U.S. President Donald Trump's departure from Ankara en route to Washington after his participation in the NATO leaders' summit, at Ankara Esenboga Airport in Ankara on July 8.
WORLD
Aug 13, 2026
Credible missile threat led to secret aircraft switch for Trump, source says
The threat emerged on the final day ?of U.S. President Donald Trump¡¯s ?visit to Ankara for the NATO summit amid heightened tensions with Iran, a source has said.
Ships anchored in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday
WORLD / Politics
Aug 13, 2026
Trump reverts to economic squeeze of ¡®entrenched¡¯ Iranian regime
It marks a return to familiar playbook with Tehran: a steady increase in economic sanctions and a naval blockade to stifle oil exports.
An Iranian woman holds a portrait of Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei as Shia Muslim devotees take part in a mourning procession marking Arbaeen in Tehran on Aug. 4.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 12, 2026
Iranian factions squabble over war aims as supreme leader maintains low profile
The absence from public life of Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has left a vacuum in which disputes between political factions have seeped into the open.
A U.S. Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet prepares to launch from the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln in support of Operation Epic Fury¡¯s attack on Iran from an undisclosed location on March 14.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 12, 2026
Are we on the verge of World War III?
Still, historians are quick to see parallels to the situation before 1914.
Aviation fuel surcharges are calculated based on the averages of aviation fuel market prices and of foreign exchange rates over the previous two months.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 12, 2026
ANA cuts North America and Europe route surcharges to ?55,000
The move comes as aviation fuel prices have fallen after rising sharply amid turmoil in the Middle East.
Air Force One parked on the tarmac prior to U.S. President Donald Trump's departure from Ankara Esenboga Airport in Ankara, Turkey, on July 8
WORLD / Politics
Aug 12, 2026
Trump¡¯s secret plane swap triggers questions and confusion
To evade an assassination threat, the U.S. president¡¯s security team smuggled him off Air Force One to a different aircraft on July 8 in Turkey.
A member of the former rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham stands guard near an image of Syria's Bashar Assad at the fourth division headquarters in Damascus on Jan. 23, 2025.
WORLD
Aug 12, 2026
Syria sentences Bashar Assad to death in absentia over atrocities
The ruling is the first of its kind under Syria¡¯s transitional leaders, who ousted Assad in 2024, vowing to provide justice and accountability for crimes committed under his rule.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi meets with Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi in Tehran on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 12, 2026
Pakistan says deal is close even as Iran and U.S. harden stances
While Tehran and Oman may be nearing an agreement, it remains unclear how that would affect the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference in Jerusalem on March 19.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 11, 2026
Pleasing no one: Netanyahu puts election first with Gaza decision
Israel will be voting for the first time since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, the deadliest ever against the country.
U.S. President Donald Trump during an American mining industry roundtable at the State Department in Washington on Aug. 7.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 11, 2026
Trump makes sweeping new demands on Iran as deal hopes dim
The new demands from Trump, come after Tehran asked for compensation for the U.S. and Israeli war launched on Feb. 28.
Vessels are seen anchored in the Strait of Hormuz, off the port city of Khasab on Oman's northern Musandam Peninsula, on May 17.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 10, 2026
Iran shakes up security team after saying Oman deal ¡®very close¡¯
Tehran has appointed Mohsen Rezaee, a hard-liner who previously advocated for advancing Iran¡¯s nuclear program, as the new leader of the Supreme National Security Council.
A man waves an Iranian flag before a political billboard at Valiasr Square in central Tehran on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 10, 2026
Iran ties Hormuz reopening to U.S. concessions on several demands
Iran and the U.S. are not engaged ?in direct talks, and Tehran will not start them as long as Washington breaches an interim deal signed in June, the Iranian side has said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif pose after signing a joint defense agreement in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 10, 2026
Turkey says Mecca defense pact could be widened to include Egypt
Several countries are interested in joining the trilateral security agreement that was signed in Mecca on Friday, Turkey¡¯s foreign minister said.
A satellite image shows smoke rising from an oil facility in Jazan province, Saudi Arabia, on July 26. On Sunday Iran-aligned Houthis claimed to have attacked Saudi Aramco's Jazan refinery, two days after the kingdom signed a defense pact with Turkey and Pakistan in response to growing regional instability from the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
WORLD
Aug 10, 2026
Yemen¡¯s Houthis attack Saudi refinery after kingdom signs defense pact
The alliance with Sunni Muslim U.S. allies, Turkey and Pakistan, stipulates that an attack against one would ?be regarded as an attack on all.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (left), Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (center) and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chat after signing a joint defense agreement in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 9, 2026
What to expect from the new Saudi-Turkey-Pakistan deal
The alliance binds three Sunni powers ¡ª all allies of the United States ¡ª with a NATO-style clause that considers any attack on one country as an attack on all.
A woman walks past a mural depicting Iran's late supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, at Valiasr Square in central Tehran on Saturday.
WORLD
Aug 9, 2026
Iran says deal on Strait of Hormuz is close but not enough to open waterway
Agreement between Iran and Oman over the strait, which separates the two countries, is seen as vital to a wider deal to end the war.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (left), Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (center) and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif meet in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on Friday.
WORLD
Aug 8, 2026
Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan sign defense pact amid regional war
Riyadh is looking to strengthen its security ties against the backdrop of war between the U.S. and Iran, which has drawn in surrounding nations and disrupted shipping.
A member of Houthi security forces at the site of an anti-Saudi rally amid an escalation with the kingdom, in Sanaa, Yemen, on July 31
WORLD
Aug 7, 2026
Houthi attack on Saudi Arabia wounds 11 civilians as kingdom warns of wider threat
A Saudi spokesman accused the Iran-aligned Houthis of indiscriminately shelling civilian areas in violation of international humanitarian law.
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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