In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court declares unconstitutional the Civil Code clause that denies full inheritance rights to heirs born out of wedlock.

Unstable atmospheric conditions extending across the country, including from the first typhoon to directly hit Kyushu in six years, spawned destructive tornados in the Kanto region Wednesday, two days after a twister wreaked havoc in Saitama, Chiba and Ibaraki prefectures. Typhoon Toraji made landfall ...

Paintings on display in a Saitama gallery are renewing memories of a mineral poisoning case in the Meiji Era and the politician who tackled Japan’s first known major environmental disaster. The paintings by Iri and Toshi Maruki, the husband and wife team known for ...

Rupert Murdoch’s clout in Britain and the United States might have diminished, but in Australia he dominates the media landscape, playing a prominent role in undermining Kevin Rudd’s dream of retaining power, analysts say. While the ruling Labor Party has long trailed the Tony ...

Simon Kamau, 26, has been in almost constant pain since he was a playful 3-year-old and accidentally pierced his eye with a sharp object. Now, though, smartphone technology now offers hope. His family lives in an impoverished part of rural Naivasha in Kenya’s Rift ...

A British property developer said Tuesday it was investigating after sun rays reflected from its half-finished London skyscraper melted parts of several cars, including a luxury Jaguar. Londoners have been shielding their eyes from the blinding glare bouncing off 20 Fenchurch St. — nicknamed ...

More than a year after its much-hyped introduction, a government-led initiative to lure “highly skilled” foreign professionals to Japan is making lackluster progress, with the number of those applying for visas under the new system much smaller than initially envisioned. Dismayed by the poor ...

The metro government opens an English website offering radiation-related information — a last-ditch effort before the 2020 Olympics host is picked — to brush off the negative impact from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant mess.

Cells of engineers are working to exploit vulnerabilities of the weapons system, so far but they have not succeeded, a classified report finds.

An Egypt military court Tuesday sentences Muslim Brotherhood members to prison for attacking soldiers in Suez following Mohmamed Morsi's July ouster.

About 120 million years ago, the supercontinent of Gondwana broke into a jigsaw puzzle of continents and isles in the Southern Hemisphere. One of those was a giant island forming what we now call India. About 55 million years later, an asteroid, perhaps, or ...

Thirty years on from the death of Shuji Terayama, Japanese theater’s most avant-garde provocateur continues his renaissance with a show of his films, photography and, most importantly, theater works at the Watari Museum of Contemporary Art, which follows on from the recent showing of ...

Pianist Ai Kuwabara is waxing nostalgic at the offices of her record label, East Works Entertainment, in Tokyo’s Minato Ward. “I first went to Tokyo Jazz Festival at the International Forum when I was in the fifth or sixth grade of elementary school, and ...

Art often thrives as it wriggles out from under a big heavy rock. This can be said about creativity in Czechoslovakia from the 1960s to ’80s. As the nation broke free of Stalinism, careered toward the Prague Spring and then finally celebrated the end ...

Echoing the choice of Koki Tanaka — a conceptual artist — for the Japanese pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale this year, “Why Not Live For Art? II: 9 collectors reveal their treasures” at Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery suggests that art collecting in ...

Frederik Pohl, who helped shape and popularize science fiction as an influential agent, editor and award-winning author, died Sept. 2 at a hospital near his home in Palatine, Illinois. He was 93. His death was confirmed by a granddaughter, author Emily Pohl-Weary. An entry ...

Kashiwa Reysol are still reeling from the shock resignation of manager Nelsinho last weekend, but with the club competing on four fronts heading into September, there is no time for an extended grieving period. Nelsinho stunned officials, players and fans last Saturday by announcing ...