Consumption tax raise misdirected

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe confirms that the government will raise the sales tax from 5 to 8 percent beginning in April. But will the tax hike lead to an economic downturn

Pirates roar past Reds

Pirates roar past Reds

Francisco Liriano showed up at PNC Park on Tuesday afternoon in a suit with his suitcase packed for a trip St. Louis. The message reverberated through the Pittsburgh Pirates clubhouse. After 21 years away from the playoffs, it was time for the best story ...

September 2013
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'Arab Idol' winner hailed at his debut in Europe

Sep 30, 2013

'Arab Idol' winner hailed at his debut in Europe

Mohammed Assaf, the winner of the “Arab Idol” talent competition held in Beirut in June, brought his thumping Palestinian beats out of the Middle East for the first time Sunday in his electrifying European debut. Assaf, 24, from the Gaza Strip, became a national ...

Sep 30, 2013

Mother identifies Nairobi morgue's last victim from mall

Karen Wambui walked slowly through the Nairobi city morgue’s turquoise and yellow iron gates, still trying to process what she had seen inside. She had just confirmed that the last body still there from the Westgate Mall attack nearly a week earlier was that ...

Uniqlo opens huge Shanghai store

Sep 30, 2013

Uniqlo opens huge Shanghai store

Fast Retailing Co. opened its largest Uniqlo outlet in the world Monday in central Shanghai. The building also houses outlets for four other Fast Retailing brands, including GU, and demonstrates the group’s growing presence in Shanghai, home to many global casual fashion brands. The ...

Sep 30, 2013

Britain to put unemployed to work

Britons who are out of work for several years will be required to work full time on community projects to receive state unemployment payments, the finance minister was to announce Monday. The proposal is the latest attempt by the Conservative-led government to reform the ...

Sep 30, 2013

Abe hosts Mongolia's chief at home

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held a meeting with Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj at his private residence in the Tomigaya district of Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, on Sunday afternoon. Elbegdorj decided to stop by Tokyo on his way home from New York, where he attended the ...

Sep 30, 2013

'Sister House' gets three years for graft

A Chinese court on Sunday sentenced a former banking official who amassed a real estate empire of at least 45 properties under multiple fake identities to three years in prison, state media reported. Gong Ai’ai was a former vice president of a rural bank ...

Sep 30, 2013

Pussy Riot member moved to hospital

Jailed Pussy Riot punk band member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, who is refusing food in a hunger strike over “slave labor conditions,” was moved to a hospital Sunday, an official said. Tolokonnikova began a hunger strike last Monday, releasing an open letter in which she described ...

Sep 30, 2013

Toshiba to halve global TV workers

Toshiba Corp.will halve the number of workers in its television operations outside Japan to 3,000 as it outsources more production. As much as 70 percent of the company’s TV output will come from other manufacturers by business 2014, Toshiba said in a statement Monday. ...

Sep 30, 2013

Chinese held in fatal tanker collision

The Japan Coast Guard has arrested a Chinese crew member over the fatal collision Friday between two cargo ships south of Tokyo. Xia Hongbo, 35, was on duty when the 2,962-ton Jia Hui collided with the 498-ton Eifuku Maru No. 18 and was at ...

Sep 30, 2013

Scores missing after Chinese ships sink

More than 70 people were missing after three Chinese boats sank in a powerful typhoon in the South China Sea, state media said Monday, as Vietnam undertook mass evacuations. So far, 74 people have been confirmed missing as “three fishing boats have sunk since ...

Sep 30, 2013

More Greenpeace crew held in Russia

A Russian court Sunday ordered the detention for two months of eight more crew members of a Greenpeace ship who protested against Arctic oil drilling as part of a probe into alleged piracy. The Lenin District Court in the northern city of Murmansk on ...

Sep 30, 2013

SpaceX launches as Orbital craft docks

Sunday was a busy day for the commercial space industry. First, a new spacecraft built by Orbital Sciences docked at the International Space Station. Hours later, a souped-up rocket built by SpaceX roared off a California launchpad. Orbital and SpaceX have NASA contracts to ...

Sep 30, 2013

Two Rouhani protesters arrested

Two people were arrested following the protests that greeted Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s return from the United States after his landmark phone call with President Barack Obama, media reported Sunday. One protester hurled a shoe at Rouhani as he greeted a larger group of ...

Sep 30, 2013

Ghani enters Afghan presidential race

Former Afghan Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani on Monday launched his bid to become the country’s next president, kick-starting the 2014 election race as the first big name to throw his hat into the ring. Ghani, who is also a former World Bank academic, confirmed ...

Sep 30, 2013

China not planning meeting with Abe

China has no plans to arrange a meeting between President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of a summit of APEC leaders next week in Indonesia, a senior Chinese diplomat said Sunday. “We don’t have such a plan at this ...

Sep 30, 2013

Ex-brokerage exec fined ¥1.5 million

A former executive of SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. was sentenced Monday to 2½ years in prison, suspended for four years, and fined ¥1.5 million for abetting insider trading by leaking undisclosed business information in 2010 and 2011. According to the Yokohama District Court, Hiroyoshi ...

Sep 30, 2013

John Paul to be canonized in April

Popes John Paul II and John XXIII will be declared saints next April 27. Pope Francis announced the date Monday during a meeting with cardinals inside the Apostolic Palace. Francis had announced in July he would canonize two of the 20th century’s most influential ...