National
NRA makes new reactor safety regimen official
The Nuclear Regulation Authority officially approves new safety requirements for reactors aimed at preventing disasters like the catastrophe at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant.
Politics & Diplomacy Jun 19, 2013
Court ruling saves Greek coalition
The Greek government has avoided collapsing over a dispute stemming from Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’ move to close the state-owned television broadcaster after a high court ruling offered a way out of a weeklong impasse that drew international criticism. Greece is implementing tough spending ...
Business | Focus Jun 14, 2013
State broadcaster's end a blow to Greeks
by Derek Gatopoulos
When Nazi troops marched into Greece’s nearly deserted capital on April 27, 1941, radio announcer Costas Stavropoulos of the Hellenic Broadcasting Corp. announced the grim news. He urged his countrymen not to listen to future Nazi radio transmissions and signed off with the Greek ...
Issues | LABOR PAINS May 21, 2013
Precedent backs (nearly) equal pay for equal work
by Hifumi Okunuki
In 2012, Japan had 51.73 million workers, of which 33.3 million were regular employees, or seishain, according to the latest survey by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. Contingent, or nonpermanent, workers (including part-timers, haken dispatch and shokutaku semiregular employees) numbered 18.43 million, ...
World Apr 9, 2013
Global tributes flow for 'Iron Lady' Thatcher
World leaders pay tribute to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the controversial "Iron Lady," following her death at age 87.
Issues | THE FOREIGN ELEMENT Apr 9, 2013
Whatever happened to the Goldman Sachs union?
by Patrick Budmar
In February 2012, a small band of sacked workers in Japan took on one of the world’s biggest investment banks, Goldman Sachs, unionizing in a bid to keep their jobs and win a better deal from a firm they believed had treated them unfairly. ...
How-tos | LABOR PAINS Mar 19, 2013
Labor law reform raises rather than relieves workers' worries
by Hifumi Okunuki
A new specter hangs over Japan: the specter of insecure employment. The source of this insecurity is the August 2012 reform of the Labor Contract Act related to fixed-term employment.