President Barack Obama, now facing the consequences of automatic spending cuts and the complications they raise for his broader domestic agenda, is taking the most specific steps of his administration in an attempt to ensure the election of a Democratic-controlled Congress in two years. ...
It’s a dangerous, unpredictable world. Twice in January Chugoku no gunkan (中国の軍艦, Chinese warships) in the Higashi Shina Kai (東シナ海, East China Sea) challenged Japan’s Kaijo Jieitai (海上自衛隊, Maritime Self Defense Forces, MSDF) patrols in a manner deemed kyōiteki (脅威的, threatening). And on Feb. ...
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, ...
Manchester United's Shinji Kagawa is back with a bang, becoming the first Asian player to score a hat trick in the English Premier League.
Concerned about Egypt’s political instability and the U.S. budget crunch, a growing number of American lawmakers are challenging the wisdom of providing $1.3 billion a year in military aid to Cairo, arguing that the policy is overdue for a wholesale review. Lawmakers say that ...
In his first interview since losing his 2012 White House bid, Mitt Romney likened his experience as a presidential candidate to an unpredictable ride. “We were on a roller coaster, exciting and thrilling, ups and downs. But the ride ends,” Romney said, according to ...
President Barack Obama has appointed a new coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa and the Persian Gulf, the White House announced Saturday. Philip Gordon, a veteran foreign policy expert, will take up his post on March 11. The appointment came two weeks before ...
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder prepared for a state takeover of Detroit, an epitome of urban decay, by declaring the Motor City in a state of financial emergency Friday. “Detroit can’t wait,” Snyder said at a televised town hall meeting. “We need to solve real ...
The U.S. State Department released a draft environmental impact assessment of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline Friday, suggesting the project will have little impact on climate change. Canada’s oil sands will be developed even if U.S. President Barack Obama denies a permit to the ...
As economic policy goes, experts say, the automatic spending cuts slated to begin Friday won’t leave a deep scar on the U.S. economy, which is otherwise looking pretty good. They are a fiscal speed bump on the road to economic recovery, which is why ...
The United States on Friday won a court appeal in its battle to extradite Internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom from New Zealand. A New Zealand appeals court overturned an earlier ruling that would have allowed Dotcom broad access to evidence in the case against him ...
Former NBA superstar Dennis Rodman hung out with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his improbable visit to Pyongyang, watching the Harlem Globetrotters together and later drinking and dining on sushi with him. “You have a friend for life,” Rodman told Kim before ...
The effects of the $85 billion in U.S. government spending cuts that were to kick in Friday will be felt across oceans and could further hurt recession-hit Europe and burden an economically slowing China, shrinking the market for countries that depend on selling things ...
Competing Democratic and Republican measures to avoid painful government spending cuts failed in the Senate on Thursday, putting the U.S. on course to see $85 billion automatically slashed from government spending.
In a significant policy shift, the Obama administration said Thursday it will for the first time provide nonlethal aid directly to rebels battling to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad, announcing an additional $60 million in assistance to Syria’s political opposition. The modest package of ...
Van Cliburn, the U.S. pianist whose triumph at a 1958 Moscow competition helped thaw the Cold War and launched a spectacular career that made him the rare classical musician to enjoy rock star status, has died at age 78. Cliburn died early Wednesday at ...
