20
M/CLOUDY
A sit-in by visa violators and their families entered its second day Tuesday in front of the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau with protesters seeking government good will. The action at the bureau in Minato Ward is being organized by the Asian People’s Friendship Society, ...
Kazuhiro Shiraishi, 66, is a guest-house manager in the Izu-kogen Highlands, a famous resort area on the Izu Peninsula of Shizuoka Prefecture. Looking out onto the Pacific Ocean, and just 90 minutes by train from Tokyo, Izu has a warm climate all year round ...
“I was stopped by two men in a government-registered vehicle, blindfolded and dragged off the street. They took me away to a house in a place I did not know. I was forced into a room with blood all over the walls and floor, ...
Takashi Miike's blood-soaked vengeance tale, one of two Japanese films being shown in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, draws the biggest boos so far, with critics savaging it as overacted and cliched.
Have you ever given your best effort while striving to achieve something but felt like what you were doing was futile? That’s the feeling I’m getting about Tokyo’s bid to host the 2020 Olympics. With just over three months to go until the IOC ...
TV singing contests around the world tend to serve up light, glitzy entertainment with a dash of emotional drama. But in the Middle East’s version of “American Idol,” it’s the region’s troubles that often take center stage. Two contestants are from civil war-ravaged Syria, ...
The United States on Monday denounced what it called a rising tide of both anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish sentiment around the world as it urged all nations to ensure freedom of religion. In a wide-ranging annual report on religious freedom, the State Department voiced alarm ...
The end may be near for a California evangelical radio network used by a preacher to predict — incorrectly — the apocalypse, a newspaper reported. Oakland-based Family Radio has sold its three largest radio stations, and tax records show the nonprofit network saw its ...
Laura Montoya, the first Colombian to be elevated to sainthood by the Roman Catholic Church, was generally considered crazy by the urban society she abandoned in 1914 when she moved to the jungle to minister to indigenous people, a longtime follower says. “It was ...
Bangladeshi police broke up a protest by tens of thousands of religious hardliners and shut down Islamist television stations Monday as 37 people died in some of the fiercest street violence for decades. Hundreds more were injured in running battles as riot police broke ...
In cathedrals around the Philippines, huge black-and-red banners are asking the faithful to choose between “Team Life” and “Team Death,” with priests warning the nation’s soul is at stake. The signs are part of efforts by the Catholic church to assert influence in the ...
Throngs of Orthodox Christians filled Jerusalem’s ancient Church of the Holy Sepulcher and surrounding streets Saturday for the “Holy Fire” ceremony on the eve of Orthodox Easter. In an annual rite dating back to the fourth century symbolizing the resurrection of Christ, believers hold ...
The fugitive leader of a Chilean cult accused of sacrificing a baby to save the world from December’s supposed Maya apocalypse has been found dead in Peru, authorities said Thursday. Ramon Gustavo Castillo Gaete — the dead baby’s father — was found hanged in ...
In a landmark ruling on the struggle over prayer at Judaism’s holiest shrine, an Israeli court ruled Thursday that women can pray at the Western Wall wearing prayer shawls, contrary to Orthodox practice enforced at the site. The ruling came after a string of ...
A late-night bombing at a Baghdad cafe frequented by young men playing billiards and video games killed 32 people Thursday, just days before Iraq’s first elections since U.S. troops were withdrawn from the county. It was single deadliest attack in Iraq in a month ...
More than half of young Pakistanis believe democracy has not been good for their country and nearly 40 percent are in favor of having Islamic Shariah rule, according to a survey published Wednesday. Pakistan goes to the polls in a historic general election May ...
The EU begins an ambitious top-to-toe overhaul Tuesday of Mali’s ragtag army, far from ready to take the place of foreign troops to defend the West African nation against fresh attacks by Islamist insurgents. As France prepares to withdraw its 4,000 troops after routing ...