Just a few weeks ago in this space I urged President Trump to accept a deal with Iran allowing it to continue pursuing civilian nuclear power while ensuring that it would not pursue nuclear weapons. Iran signaled it was ready to sign such a deal, yet suddenly Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff changed the US position to demand no civilian nuclear enrichment at all.

According to the most recent report on consumer prices, published at the Statistics Bureau of Japan, consumer prices rose 3.4 percent, year over year, in May. That’s down slightly from April’s 12-month increase of 3.6 percent, and it’s up solidly from May 2024’s increase of 2.9 percent.