Economy | ANALYSIS
Households to take hit from tax hike
by Tomoko Otake
The consumption tax increase will hit every household in Japan hard, with many people’s financial future hanging on whether their wages rise enough to offset the hike's impact.
Environment Sep 21, 2013
Arctic sea ice melt temporarily eases
The amount of ice in the Arctic Ocean shrank this summer to the sixth-lowest level on record, but that left much more ice than last year’s all-time low. The ice cap at the North Pole melts in the summer and grows in winter. Its ...
World Sep 17, 2013
Putin pledges to restore Soviet-era naval base in Arctic to protect assets
Russia is to re-establish its military presence in the resource-rich Arctic by reopening a Soviet-era base to patrol the increasingly navigable Northern Sea Route, President Vladimir Putin said Monday. Putin said 10 naval ships had arrived at the New Siberian Islands in the Arctic ...
Global-related Aug 27, 2013
Polar bear's death is a warning
by Kevin Rafferty
Does the death of a single polar bear, which starved on the Arctic tundra, carry a warning for all human beings
World Aug 23, 2013
China's voyage of discovery to cross the less frozen north
by Robin Mckie
For a ship on a mission of worldwide importance, the Yong Sheng is a distinctly unimpressive sight. The gray and green hull of the 19,000-ton cargo vessel, operated by China’s state-owned Cosco Group, is streaked with rust, while its cargo of steel and heavy ...
Environment Jun 25, 2013
Melting ice brings continents closer
The town of Kirkenes in the northernmost portion of Norway used to be further away from Asia than virtually any other European port, but it suddenly seems a lot closer. The reason: global warming. Melting ice has opened up the Northern Sea Route along ...
World May 3, 2013
Arctic melt hit record in a stormy 2012: U.N.
The melting of Arctic sea ice set a new record in 2012, the ninth-hottest year on record, compounding climate change concerns, the U.N. weather agency says.
National Apr 18, 2013
Chilling: Arctic explorer Yamazaki sees climate change impact up close
by Rintaro Sawano
Spending six months of every year in the Arctic, adventurer Tetsuhide Yamazaki sees the impact of global warming firsthand through the region’s thinning sea ice, the expanse of which has roughly halved in the last three decades. The ice is “very thin this year,” ...
Environment Apr 2, 2013
Explosive greening in Arctic Circle predicted
Land within the Arctic Circle is likely to experience explosive greening in the next few decades as grass, shrubs and trees thrive in soil stripped of ice and permafrost by global warming, according to a new study. Wooded areas in the Arctic could increase ...