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Lili Bayer

Ships and boats in the Strait of Hormuz, Musandam, Oman, on April 22

WORLD / Politics

May 20, 2026

NATO not drawing up plans for Hormuz mission, top commander says

Any decision to launch a mission would require the approval of all NATO’s 32 members and several have already signaled opposition.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte walks into the White House, as seen through a fence, in Washington on April 8.

WORLD / Politics

May 5, 2026

Trump’s Germany troop cuts show limits of NATO efforts to keep U.S. on board

European diplomats say they fear Trump may make further moves that could test the alliance before a summit of its 32 national leaders in Ankara in July.

U.S. President Donald Trump leaves a press conference at a NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands on June 25, 2025.

WORLD / Politics

Apr 28, 2026

Bruised by Trump, NATO alliance considers end to annual summits

Trump has engaged repeatedly in scathing criticism of many of NATO members, most recently for not providing more assistance to U.S. military with Iran.

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares called on Tuesday for a discussion on suspending a pact governing the EU's ties with Israel, which came into force in 2000.

WORLD

Apr 22, 2026

EU divided on suspension of Israel pact as Spain pushes for action

A number of ministers called for suspending the pact with Israel over concerns about settlements in ‌the West Bank, ‌the humanitarian situation in Gaza and a new death penalty law.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attend a joint news briefing in Kyiv on July 2, 2024.

WORLD / Politics

Apr 14, 2026

Hungary vote removes Ukraine’s staunchest foe in EU

Viktor Orban — a nationalist who maintained warm ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin — systematically opposed Brussels’ efforts to support Ukraine

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (right) and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte at the Department of State in Washington on Wednesday

WORLD / Politics

Apr 9, 2026

Trump criticizes NATO over Iran in meeting with alliance’s boss

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said he had a “a very frank, very open discussion” with the U.S. president and described the talk as one “between two good friends.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen attend a news conference on the fourth anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in Kyiv, on Feb. 24.

WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS

Mar 3, 2026

European capitals push back as Ukraine seeks fast-track EU membership

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants a 2027 date to join the EU as part of a settlement to end Russia’s war.

A crude oil tanker near the terminal Kozmino in Nakhodka Bay near the port city of Nakhodka, Russia, in 2022. Hungary and Slovakia, still reliant on Russian oil imports, are strongly opposed to any permanent ban.

WORLD / Politics

Feb 25, 2026

EU to propose permanent ban on Russian oil after Hungary election, document shows

The timing was ‌designed to prevent ‌the oil ban from becoming a major factor in Hungary’s election campaign, EU officials said, with the country strongly opposed to any ban.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaks during the spring session of parliament in Budapest on Monday.

WORLD / Politics

Feb 24, 2026

Hungary blocks Russia sanctions and EU cash for Kyiv on eve of war anniversary

Ukraine says the oil flows stopped after a Russian attack on pipeline infrastructure in January and it is fixing the damage as fast as it ⁠can.

Members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps salute during a military parade in Tehran in September 2019. The European Union has designated the Guard a terrorist organization.

WORLD / Politics

Jan 30, 2026

EU designates Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization in policy shift

A brutal crackdown on a nationwide protest movement in Iran earlier this month, killing thousands, increased momentum ‌for the move.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte during a bilateral meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday

WORLD / FOCUS

Jan 23, 2026

‘Trump whisperer’ Rutte steers NATO around Greenland crisis

The NATO chief’s strategy with Donald Trump is not subtle — it is built on lavishing praise on the U.S. president even as other European leaders grow increasingly critical.

A Danish military patrol vessel sails near Nuuk's old harbor in Greenland on Thursday.

WORLD / ANALYSIS

Jan 16, 2026

Trump’s Greenland push prompts NATO scramble for Arctic security ideas — and survival

The U.S. president has insisted nothing less than ownership of Greenland will do, leading many European officials to conclude he is motivated by a desire to expand U.S. territory.

European Union flags flutter outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels on Monday.

WORLD / Politics

Dec 16, 2025

EU imposes sanctions on oil traders with links to Russia’s shipping network

The EU has imposed 19 packages of sanctions so far, but Moscow has managed to adapt to most measures and is still selling millions of barrels of oil to India and China.

The European Union's executive body says to cover Ukraine's military and basic services against Russia's war, it favors a "reparations loan" using Russian state assets immobilized in the EU.

WORLD / Politics

Dec 4, 2025

EU proposes using frozen Russian assets or borrowing to give Ukraine €90 billion

Russia has warned the EU and Belgium against using its assets, which it says would be an act of theft.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia Today editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan attend an event at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow on Friday.

WORLD

Oct 18, 2025

Putin’s Budapest visit makes awkward spectacle for EU and NATO

The planned meeting is a symbolic blow to the EU and NATO, as they have sought to isolate the Russian leader as a war criminal.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (left) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (right) attend a European Union leaders' summit in Brussels in June 2024.

WORLD / Politics

Oct 7, 2025

Ukraine’s obstacles to EU membership extend beyond Hungarian resistance

Senior European Union officials who recently visited Ukraine have delivered a stern message that Kyiv still has a lot more to do.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte speaks during a news conference at the NATO headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday after the alliance held urgent talks about a Russian jet incursion over Estonia last week.

WORLD / Politics

Sep 24, 2025

NATO warns Russia to stop ‘escalatory’ actions after Estonian airspace violation

Estonia said three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets violated its airspace for 12 minutes before NATO Italian fighter jets escorted them out last week.

A woman walks past a heavily damaged residential building following a Russian strike in the town of Bilozerske, Donetsk region on Tuesday.

WORLD / Politics

Aug 13, 2025

Ukraine, sidelined in Trump-Putin summit, fights Russian grab for more territory

Zelenskyy and most of his European counterparts have said a lasting peace cannot be secured without Ukraine at the negotiating table.

A sapper in the Ukrainian Armed Forces blows up an explosive device during a training session in Kharkiv region, Ukraine, on Saturday

WORLD / Politics

Aug 12, 2025

Europe races to try to influence U.S. position ahead of Trump-Putin talks

Kyiv and its EU allies fear that Trump, keen to claim credit for peace and lucrative deals with Moscow, could cut a one-sided deal with Putin.

A serviceman of the 57th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces works with an Mk 19 U.S.-made automatic grenade launcher near the front-line town of Vovchansk in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, on March 13.

WORLD / Politics

Jul 16, 2025

Europeans open to buying U.S. arms for Ukraine under Trump plan but need details

Much of the plan remains undisclosed, including the amounts and precise types of weapons to be provided, how quickly they would be supplied and how they would be paid for.

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

New Logistics Consortium baton to accelerate trucking efficiency

New Logistics Consortium baton to accelerate trucking efficiency

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