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.
Asia Pacific Sep 23, 2013
Typhoon kills 25 in China; Hong Kong flights in chaos
Typhoon Usagi killed at least 25 people after crashing ashore in southern China, throwing the region’s transport systems into chaos and leaving tens of thousands of airline passengers stranded in Hong Kong on Monday. Schools and businesses were shut as activity in the normally ...
Environment Aug 19, 2013
Global coastal flooding losses could hit $1 trillion a year by 2050: report
The world's 136 largest coastal cities could risk combined annual losses of $1 trillion from floods by 2050 unless they drastically raise their defenses, a study warns.
National Aug 10, 2013
Four found dead in Akita landslide; torrential rain continues in Tohoku
The bodies of four people who went missing in a landslide amid torrential rain in the Tohoku region are discovered by local police.
National Jul 23, 2013
Thunderstorm in Tokyo area disrupts mass transit
A heavy thunderstorm that struck Tokyo and northern Kanagawa Prefecture on Tuesday afternoon caused a power outage that forced train passengers to walk on a railway track and a bullet-train line to shut down. The outage, possibly caused by a lightning strike at around ...
Environment Jun 24, 2013
Indonesia begins cloud-seeding in attempt to fight haze
Indonesia has begun seeding clouds in an attempt to create rain to extinguish blazes that have choked Singapore and Malaysia with smog, officials said Sunday, while launching investigations into plantation firms suspected of starting the fires. The pollution index dropped to “moderate” in Singapore ...