AP A car bomb exploded outside a mosque Sunday, killing at least 37 people and wounding another 141 in a mostly Shiite Muslim neighborhood in the southern Pakistan city of Karachi — the third mass-casualty attack on the minority sect in the country this ...
It's a dangerous, unpredictable world. Twice in January Chinese warships in the East China Sea challenged Japan's Maritime Self Defense Forces patrols in a manner deemed threatening. And on Feb. 12 came North Korea's nuclear test.
Here's an open secret: Japanese men have a bad international reputation on the romance front.
SELLING WOMEN: Prostitution, Markets and the Household in Early Modern Japan, by Amy Stanley. University of California Press, 2012, 282 pp., $49.95 (hardcover) In the vast cultural landscape, Japan fascinates the mainstream with manga and anime, the martial arts, Zen and kimono. Of course, ...
Kenta Maeda shook off worries about his form with five shutout innings as Japan beat China 5-2 in first-round Pool A of the World Baseball Classic on Sunday at Fukuoka Dome. Japan improved to 2-0 following a tough win over Brazil in Saturday evening’s ...
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Gunmen attack a camp for a construction company in northern Nigeria, killing a guard and kidnapping seven foreign workers from Britain, Greece, Italy, Lebanon and the Philippines, authorities say.
For the first time since the mid-1990s, sales of the 100 biggest arms dealers, excluding China, declined in 2011 as the economic crisis prompted budget cuts, a Stockholm-based think tank says.
A documentary about an elderly man’s struggle and success in rebuilding his home after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami received a special mention Saturday at the 63rd Berlin international film festival. Directed by Kaoru Ikeya, “Senzo ni Naru” (“Becoming an Ancestor”), which has ...
The White House is circulating a draft bill that would create a new visa for illegal immigrants currently in the U.S. and let them become legal permanent residents within eight years.
Despite skepticism from G-20 countries, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may continue his extreme monetary easing until the Upper House election to maintain his approval rating.
More than 17,000 residents evacuate parts of Kobe and the city of Hamamatsu as Ground Self-Defense Force explosives experts prepare to extract wartime artillery shells.
A total of 1.62 million single unemployed people between the ages of 20 and 59 were "isolated" in Japanese society in 2011, according to a new study.
Jerry Givens executed 62 people. His routine and conviction never wavered. He’d shave the person’s head, lay his hand on the bald pate and ask for God’s forgiveness for the condemned. Then, he would strap the person into Virginia’s electric chair. Givens was the ...
Angry over civilian deaths, President Hamid Karzai announced plans Saturday to ban Afghan security forces from requesting international airstrikes on residential areas. If he issues the decree as promised, the move would pose a significant new challenge to government troops who have relied heavily ...
“Are the president’s kids more important than yours?” the deep and dramatic-sounding voice intoned. “Then why is he skeptical about putting armed security in our schools when his kids are protected by armed guards at their school?” When the National Rifle Association aired its ...
A bomb hidden in a water tank ripped through a crowded vegetable market in a mostly Shiite neighborhood of Quetta late Saturday, killing at least 81 people and wounding more than 160, Pakistani officials said. It was the deadliest incident since bombings targeting Shiites ...
Serena Williams beats Maria Sharapova to set up a Qatar Total Open final showdown with Victoria Azarenka.
Forty-two people were injured, two of them seriously, when a tourist bus crashed through guardrails and plunged onto a railway track Sunday in Oita Prefecture, according to police. The bus, carrying 43 passengers, was passing through the town of Kokonoe when it careered off ...
“Child’s Pose,” a mother-son psychodrama set among post-communist Romania’s new ruling class, won the Golden Bear top prize at the 63rd Berlin film festival Saturday. Director Calin Peter Netzer, a member of Romania’s renowned new wave in cinema, tells the story of a wealthy ...
In last month’s column, I looked at the origins of several famous Japanese product brands. Thinking back, perhaps the very first brand I noticed here was a confectioner named 文明堂 (Bunmeido). The company, a 老舗 (shinise, well-established shop), was founded in Nagasaki in 1900, ...
The U.N. Security Council has been here before . . . several times: debating how to punish North Korea for — as Pyongyang would have it — reacting to the last time it got punished. North Korea flagged last Tuesday’s nuclear test three weeks ...
Eight weeks before Danelle Buchman’s baby was due, an artery ruptured in her uterus, which nearly killed her and her child. Delivered by emergency C-section in 2010, her newborn daughter, Avery, spent one month in intensive care. Buchman survived only after an immediate hysterectomy. ...
As part of this year’s Cobra Gold multinational military exercise, a drill to practice the emergency evacuation and transportation of Japanese nationals during humanitarian crises was held Sunday at the beach resort of Pattaya, on Thailand’s coast. Based on this scenario, around 20 Japanese ...
A special Mass was celebrated Sunday at Guam’s main Catholic church for the victims of last week’s attack that killed three Japanese tourists and wounded 11 others. “We, the Catholics, express our condolences to the loved ones” of the victims of Tuesday’s tragedy, Archbishop ...
The big blast from outer space was still reverberating in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk on Saturday as glaziers went to work replacing windows, divers vainly sought meteorite fragments at the bottom of a lake, doctors tended the wounded, residents found new ways to ...
Singapore’s biggest protest in decades shows that the ruling party for over half a century is facing a more vocal electorate and must change or watch its popularity slide further, analysts say. At least 3,000 Singaporeans chanted “we want change” and endured heavy downpours ...
The camera zooms in on a bearded man dragging on a cigarette and blowing out a thick cloud of smoke with what seems to be great satisfaction. It resembles the TV smoking ads of yesteryear, now banned in most of the world, yet this ...
Koji Yamamoto’s hopefuls for Samurai Japan in the upcoming World Baseball Classic got off to a lackluster start Sunday, falling 7-0 in a warmup game against the Hiroshima Carp. Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles right-hander Masahiro Tanaka allowed two runs on three consecutive hits in ...
Grape Brandy warmed up for Dubai World Cup day with victory in the February Stakes on Sunday, Japanese racing’s first Grade One title of the 2013 season. Third choice Grape Brandy took the tape in the 1,600-meter race at Tokyo Racecourse in 1 minute, ...
Coming off a championship game loss to the Ryukyu Golden Kings last spring, the Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix have been on a mission to reclaim the title that was theirs in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons. To do so, the Phoenix must reach the Final ...
Aroldis Chapman was getting ready to start for the Cincinnati Reds last spring when the bullpen got wiped out by injuries, forcing a different approach. The hard-throwing Cuban became one of baseball’s best closers in his first try at it. He’s on the same ...
“A good roast or a really nice steak — fabulous! Burgers are good, too, but the way I really like it is raw, minced and served with a garlicky vinaigrette!” Luc Friedrich is a member of a dwindling but dedicated band of horse-meat lovers, ...
Hundreds of hunters who spent a month combing Florida’s Everglades for Burmese pythons captured and killed 68 of the invasive reptiles, organizers said Saturday. The longest measured 4.35 meters, netting its hunter a $1,000 prize. Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission also announced winners ...
The North Korean nuclear issue will top the agenda when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe holds face-to-face talks with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington this week, a source close to the bilateral relationship said. During their inaugural summit Friday, Abe aims to coordinate with ...
On the sidelines of the Group of 20 financial leaders’ meeting, Finance Minister Taro Aso found himself sought out by many of his counterparts, who expressed a keen interest in Japan’s economic and monetary policies, a government source said. Attending his first G-20 gathering ...
Terrence Ross had to settle his nerves at the start of the All-Star dunk contest. By the end, he was calming down a ball boy he needed as a prop for his winning slam. The Toronto rookie leapfrogged Michael Costolo, the son of Twitter ...
Arsenal’s miserable season reached a new low on Saturday when the team was beaten 1-0 by second-tier Blackburn in the fifth round of the F.A. Cup, leaving manager Arsene Wenger facing an eighth straight season without silverware. Humiliated by fourth-tier Bradford in the League ...
Ben Scrivens refused to take all the credit for a career milestone. Scrivens stopped 34 shots for his first career shutout Saturday, leading the Toronto Maple Leafs past the injury-ravaged Ottawa Senators 3-0. “Yeah, feels good,” Scrivens said. “Mostly, it’s gratitude for the guys ...
As senators opened the immigration reform debate with a hearing Wednesday morning, spectral sentinels last seen in the Hollywood Hills and on Rodeo Drive began appearing on Capitol Hill. They were life-size and two-dimensional, made of cardboard and acrylic paint: A fruit-picker in the ...
South Korea’s Jiyai Shin won the Australian Women’s Golf Open by two shots Sunday, finishing with a 1-under 72 to beat world No. 1 Yani Tseng after being tied for the overnight lead with teenage star Lydia Ko. Shin mixed three birdies with two ...
The internal conflicts that have roiled the Republican Party since its dismal showing in November appear to be deepening as conservative activists and tea party officials have begun to loudly resist an establishment effort to blame them for the GOP’s 2012 troubles. The nation’s ...
An Alabama appeals court has thrown out the 2009 conviction and death sentence of a Vietnamese immigrant tried for killing four small children by tossing them off a coastal bridge, ruling that publicity surrounding the case made it impossible for the suspect to have ...
In 2007, Lee Scott, then Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s chief executive officer, trumpeted plans to open as many as 2,000 in-house medical clinics by mid-2012. He called the strategy “a great opportunity for our business.” Today Wal-Mart has fewer than 130 clinics and is closing ...
FILA named three-time Olympic champion Saori Yoshida as a candidate Sunday to sit on a female committee that will be established as the world wrestling governing body aims to retain the sport for the 2020 Summer Games. In an effort to modernize the sport ...
Almost 1 in 5 of the world’s reptile species are in danger of extinction as their habitats are cleared away for farming and logging, a new report says. An assessment by more than 200 experts of 1,500 randomly selected species of snakes, lizards, crocodiles, ...
An Australian lawmaker deported from Kuala Lumpur said Sunday his expulsion was ordered by the “highest levels” of the Malaysian government over his push to promote free elections in the Southeast Asian nation. Outspoken independent Sen. Nick Xenophon, who was detained and barred from ...
Eu Yan Sang International Ltd., the largest seller of traditional Chinese medicine in Asia outside of China, plans to add its signature herbs to Western health supplements such as vitamins to broaden its customer base. The century-old Singapore-based company, which bought the assets of ...
Thirty-four people were injured when a tourist bus and a Self-Defense Forces truck collided Saturday on a road in Fukuoka Prefecture, police reported. The truck’s two SDF personnel sustained broken bones, while the tour conductor and 31 passengers on the bus received minor injuries ...
Seven retired military officers were sentenced to life in prison for rights abuses committed during Argentina’s 1976-83 military dictatorship, officials said Saturday. The seven were found guilty of kidnapping, torture and homicide in the case of 69 people who were held at navy bases ...
Indian diplomats are “interfering” in the country’s affairs by sheltering former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed at the Indian High Commission in Male, a senior Maldivian government official said Saturday. Nasheed has remained at the facility since Wednesday after taking refuge there to avoid being ...
What would it be like to make a living using foreign language skills as a freelance professional? Missa Takahashi, an interpreter and translator of English, French and Italian, shares how she established her career, expanded her work and deepened her understanding of language and ...
Adrien Broner had little trouble remaining undefeated on Saturday night. The WBC lightweight champion overcame Gavin Rees’ aggressiveness and determination by stopping the Welshman in the fifth round before a roaring crowd of 4,812 at Boardwalk Hall. “I knew he was coming to fight,” ...
Former world silver medalist Yoshimi Ozaki will retire after running in this month’s Tokyo Marathon. The 31-year-old Ozaki, who finished 19th at last year’s London Olympics, said Saturday she has lost her motivation to compete. The Tokyo Marathon on Feb. 24 will be her ...
Sara Takanashi edged closer to the overall women’s ski jumping World Cup title Saturday with her third consecutive victory and seventh of the season. The 16-year-old Takanashi posted the day’s longest jump of 88.5 meters in the first round and followed up with an ...
Oscar Pistorius’ agent has begun calling off races for the Olympic sprinter since he was charged with the shooting death of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius’ agent, Peet van Zyl, tells The Associated Press he canceled the contract on Saturday for a high-profile rematch with ...
A Sri Lankan newspaper vowed Sunday it will not be intimidated after an investigative reporter survived an assassination bid, the latest in a string of attacks against the country’s media. Faraz Shauketaly, 54, from the privately owned Sunday Leader, is in intensive care at ...
It didn’t take ingenuity for Christopher Dorner to elude authorities for six days. He simply opened an unlocked door. As law enforcement swarmed a mountain neighborhood searching for the fugitive ex-cop, Dorner hid in a condominium across the street from a command post and ...
For the first time since the New Deal, a majority of Americans are headed toward a retirement in which they will be financially worse off than their parents, jeopardizing a long era of improved living standards for the nation’s elderly, according to a growing ...
Back-to-back suicide bombings in northern Iraq killed the head of the country’s intelligence academy and two of his guards on Saturday, officials said. No group claimed responsibility, but Sunni militants linked to al-Qaida often target security forces and government officials. The blasts, the deadliest ...
Rep. Dave Camp is chairman of the esteemed House Ways and Means Committee, the oldest of all congressional panels and one with so much influence over the workings of the federal government that its past chairmen were routinely described as the most powerful men ...
A rural patch of north Syria has been shaken by a series of tit-for-tat sectarian kidnappings, activists said Saturday, highlighting how much the country’s civil war has inflamed tensions between different religious groups. Reports of the numbers kidnapped by armed men in neighboring Shiite ...
Move over Al Capone: Chicago has declared Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman the city’s public enemy No. 1. The boss of the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel, whose nickname means “shorty” in Mexican slang, became just the second criminal to be labeled as ...
Ryo Ishikawa shot an even-par 71 on Saturday to head into the final round in a tie for 58th at the Northern Trust Open. The 21-year-old Ishikawa, who made the cut for the first time this season on Friday, had an up-and-down round that ...
Three Italian builders and a technician were found guilty Saturday of multiple manslaughter after a dormitory collapsed during an earthquake in the town of L’Aquila in 2009, killing eight students. Bernardino Pace, Pietro Centofanti and Tancredi Rossicone, who carried out restoration work on the ...
A lost British backpacker who endured three days in Australia’s punishing Outback survived by drinking his contact lens fluid and urine, his mother said Sunday. Samuel Woodhead, 18, was found Friday at the sprawling and remote Upshot Station, about 130 km from the far-flung ...
India’s Supreme Court said on Saturday that it will hear “in due course” an execution appeal that has been filed by four bandits convicted for setting off an explosion that killed 22 policemen a decade ago, a lawyer for the men said. The court ...
The Heart Attack Grill, the Las Vegas restaurant whose slogan proudly boasts that its artery-clogging fare is “worth dying for,” appears to have claimed another victim. Less than two years after its unofficial spokesman, 260-kg Blair River, died of health-related causes, another loyal customer ...
In his first term, President Barack Obama instructed the Pentagon to pivot its forces and reorient its strategy toward fast-growing Asia. Instead, the U.S. military finds itself drawn into a string of messy wars in a much poorer part of the world: Africa. Over ...
Sea Shepherd has obstructed Japan’s whaling fleet for the first time since this season’s hunt started in the Antarctic Ocean in December, the Fisheries Agency reported. Arguing that the hardline antiwhaling group’s actions were in violation of a U.S. court injunction, the agency said ...
