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Courtney McBride

U.S. President Donald Trump during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington on Wednesday

WORLD / Politics

May 28, 2026

Trump’s Iran bind deepens with Hormuz shut and hawks pushing war

Adding to the challenge are his own comments lambasting his predecessors for deals similar to the one that has the best chance of success.

A SkyFall P1-Sun interceptor drone during trials in Ukraine in March. Through a combination of new technology and tactics, Kyiv’s forces have been able to strike deep into Russian territory, to slow and in some cases even reverse battlefield gains by Moscow’s bigger army and inflict significant damage on oil facilities that help finance the Kremlin’s war machine.

WORLD / Politics

May 20, 2026

U.S. seeking transfer of intellectual property rights in drone deal, Kyiv says

Washington appears interested in getting access to critical technologies and rights that would allow it to replicate the equipment, a source said.

A man holds an Iranian flag near an anti-U.S. billboard depicting U.S. President Donald Trump and the Strait of Hormuz, in Tehran on Saturday.

WORLD

May 5, 2026

U.S. and Iran trade fire in Gulf, shaking four-week ceasefire

The U.S. military fought off attacks from Iranian drones, missiles and armed small boats as it facilitated the passage of two U.S.-flagged vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. Secretary of the Navy John Phelan speaks during an announcement of new ships including a “Trump-class” battleship at the president’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, in December.

WORLD / Politics

Apr 23, 2026

U.S. Navy secretary ousted after infighting with top Pentagon leaders

John Phelan was pushed out after butting heads with Pete Hegseth over President Donald Trump’s focus on what the administration has dubbed a new U.S. “Golden Fleet.”

Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter speaks to members of the media outside the U.S. State Department following working-level peace talks with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S. Nada Hamadeh Moawad on Tuesday.

WORLD / Politics

Apr 15, 2026

Israel hails Lebanon talks despite slim odds of breakthrough

Tuesday’s meeting between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the U.S. was both countries’ first high-level talks in more than 30 years.

U.S. Marines during training in Okinawa last year. The U.S. has ordered thousands of troops to the Middle East, fueling fears that U.S. President Donald Trump is gearing up for exactly the sort of risky ground invasion that he once campaigned against.

WORLD / FOCUS

Mar 27, 2026

U.S. troop moves fan fears of a risky ground attack on Iran

Iran has publicly rejected Trump’s diplomatic outreach and threatened massive retaliation if the U.S. does put boots on the ground in a bid to break Tehran’s will.

U.S. Navy ships sail in the Arabian Sea on Feb. 6. The military buildup in the Middle East suggests U.S. President Donald Trump is giving himself discretion to launch a sustained campaign against Iran lasting many days.

WORLD

Feb 20, 2026

U.S. amasses forces as Trump says Iran has just days for deal

The deployment is unlike anything the U.S. has done since 2003, when it amassed forces ahead of the invasion of Iraq.

The arrival of the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Middle East gives U.S. President Donald Trump a range of offensive options against Iran, but what he hopes to achieve remains unclear.

WORLD / Politics

Jan 30, 2026

Trump’s options for Iran strike grow even with unclear goals

His latest warnings, along with Iran’s threats of response against U.S. installations in the region, have fueled a spike in oil prices.

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly suggested he could order the U.S. military to escalate attacks by hitting cartel infrastructure on land in Venezuela.

WORLD

Oct 24, 2025

Trump says U.S. eyeing land strikes next after drug boat attacks

Trump’s statement was the clearest indication yet that he’s preparing to broaden strikes in his campaign to stop the flow of drugs into the U.S. from Venezuela.

U.S. President Donald Trump departs after addressing senior military officers gathered at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Quantico, Virginia, on Tuesday. His administration has declared a "non-international armed conflict” with Latin American drug cartels.

WORLD

Oct 3, 2025

Trump declares cartels in ‘armed conflict’ with U.S. military

The move offers additional legal justification for recent strikes on alleged drug-runners from Venezuela and opens the door for possible further escalation.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Museum of the Bible in Washington on Sept. 8. Israeli strikes in Qatar and Russian drone incursions into Poland have challenged the U.S. leaders claims of global respect.

WORLD / Politics

Sep 14, 2025

Strikes on Qatar and Poland shake U.S. sway among friend and foe

Trump’s removed attitude contrasts sharply with his repeated claims about his unique ability to solve the world’s intractable conflicts.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, "It won’t stop with just this strike,” after the U.S. targeted a boat in the Caribbean Sea allegedly full of drugs from Venezuela.

WORLD / Politics

Sep 4, 2025

U.S. threatens more strikes on purported drug boats after attack in Caribbean

The move marked a major escalation in U.S. President Donald Trump’s crackdown on narcotics traffickers following deployment of U.S. Navy vessels off the Venezuelan coast.

U.S. President Donald Trump makes an announcement regarding the Golden Dome missile defense shield in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington in May.

WORLD

Aug 15, 2025

Trump’s Golden Dome still shrouded in mystery, even for its builders

Government officials told defense contractors last week they weren’t even allowed to mention the project by name.

A GBU-57 or Massive Ordnance Penetrator bomb, known as a "bunker buster," at Whiteman Air Base in Missouri in May 2023.

WORLD / Politics

Jun 18, 2025

Bunker-buster bomb draws focus as Trump weighs Iran options

The U.S. has a wide range of military assets in the Middle East and across the globe to bring to bear in a potential fight against Iran.

Members of law enforcement detain people as protests against federal immigration sweeps continue, in downtown Los Angeles, on Monday.

WORLD / Politics

Jun 10, 2025

Unrestrained Trump turns to military in second-term power play

Trump’s moves to deploy troops to Los Angeles and hold a parade on the Army’s 250th birthday fulfills his goal of using the military for a show of power.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk arrive for a "Coalition of the Willing" news conference at St. Mary's Palace in Kyiv on May 10.

WORLD / Politics

May 26, 2025

How can Europe maintain a supply of weapons for Ukraine? Buy American

Such a move would force the U.S. president to pick between his desire to avoid antagonizing his Russian counterpart against his wish to bring in more cash.

A Qatari Boeing 747 sits on the tarmac of Palm Beach International airport after U.S. President Donald Trump toured the aircraft on Feb. 15

WORLD / Politics

May 22, 2025

U.S. accepts Qatar luxury jet as Trump’s new Air Force One

Politicians from both parties have questioned the president’s decision, raising ethical and security concerns.

U.S. President Donald Trump (R) the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on March 13, and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 13.

WORLD / Politics

May 20, 2025

Trump hands Putin a win with retreat from Ukraine peace talks

After months of failing to move Putin closer to peace, Europe fears Trump is pulling the plug on his efforts to end the war, leaving Ukraine and its allies on their own.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth attends a meeting of the Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias Task Force, at the Justice Department in Washington on Tuesday.

WORLD / Politics / FOCUS

Apr 23, 2025

Hegseth delivers what Trump wants but with unwanted controversy

Hegseth has done most everything so far that Trump hoped he would — and for now, that’s been enough to keep Trump on Hegseth’s side.

Protesters, mainly Houthi supporters, rally to mark the annual al-Quds Day on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in Sanaa, Yemen, on March 28.

WORLD / ANALYSIS

Apr 6, 2025

U.S. progress against resilient Houthi militants remains murky

Trump’s administration has offered limited evidence of weapons deployed and targets hit to back up his assertion.

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.

What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Restaurant list highlights Japan’s emerging contours

Restaurant list highlights Japan’s emerging contours

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