Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will "inspect and direct" efforts to control a virus outbreak in the central city of Wuhan and promised reinforcements, as provincial authorities faced accusations from the public of a failure to respond in time. Li, clad in a blue protective suit ...

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar believes the European Union has the upper hand in upcoming trade negotiations with Britain after Brexit, he said in an interview broadcast on Monday. Varadkar argued the size of the EU, which will comprise 27 countries once Britain has left ...

Operations have begun to remove a rare type of spent fuel made of plutonium-uranium mixed oxide from a nuclear reactor in central Japan, operator Kansai Electric Power Co. said Monday. The removal of MOX fuel rods from the No. 3 reactor at the Takahama nuclear ...

A former boss of a Japanese crime syndicate on death row was found dead at the Tokyo Detention House on Sunday, Justice Ministry officials have said. Osamu Yano, 71, the death row inmate, apparently committed suicide, sources familiar with the situation said, noting that there ...

Warnings have been issued for lightning and tornadoes.

In a recent U.N. Security Council vote on extending cross-border aid to Syria, Britain aligned with the United States and abstained in a rare split with its European partners that could herald others to come after Brexit. Some diplomats played down the Jan. 10 vote ...

While a North Korean deadline for the United States to soften its stand on denuclearization talks passed uneventfully over the New Year, state media and propaganda efforts have been focusing on the prospect of a long confrontation with the United States. Optimism that two years ...

A high court scrapped on Monday a lower court ruling that had sentenced a man to death for killing five people on Awaji Island in 2015, sentencing him instead to life in prison after reviewing his mental state at the time. The Osaka High Court ...

A former SoftBank Corp. employee arrested on suspicion of illegally obtaining trade secrets of the major Japanese mobile phone carrier was repeatedly wined and dined by a male diplomat stationed at the office of Russia's trade representative in Japan, it was learned Sunday. The former ...

The retail and tourism sectors have been counting on robust spending by Chinese visitors during the Lunar New Year holidays.

U.S. President Donald Trump told a then-top aide in August he wanted to freeze security aid to Ukraine until officials there helped with investigations into Democrats, including former Vice President Joe Biden, the New York Times reported on Sunday. Trump's statement was described in an ...

Measures include compulsory hospitalization of infected people and disinfection of sites where the virus is detected.

Over 1,000 companies are thinking of adopting telecommuting during the Olympics and Paralympics this summer to help ease traffic congestion, according to a survey by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. With the Olympics expected to attract some 10 million spectators from home and abroad, measures to ...

Japanese power producers have been emitting more carbon dioxide since the 2011 nuclear disaster led to an increased reliance on fossil fuels, but a new kind of bond could help them reverse that trend. So-called transition bonds can pay for not-so-green companies to move toward ...

A rapidly spreading viral outbreak is disrupting travel and business in China, which has taken unprecedented steps to lock down cities with a combined 40 million people around the epicenter in Wuhan to try to slow its progress. For global corporations, Wuhan is an important ...

The "Five Eyes" intelligence-sharing alliance of English-speaking nations is working with France, Japan and South Korea in an effort to restrain North Korea's provocations, government sources said Sunday. With the expanded framework, the alliance — which comprises Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K. and the ...

"There are many ways to ask your passengers to fasten their seat belts. The easiest is to say, 'Seat belt please,' but you should never add the word 'take' as it then means you want that to be stolen," an English teacher said in ...

Stocks and crude oil prices tumbled, and havens including the yen, gold and Treasuries jumped, as fears deepened about the rising impact of the deadly coronavirus. With no sign of the disease's containment, traders rushed out of risk assets. Contracts on the S&P 500 index ...

The meeting Thursday is aimed at showing that the deeply troubled alliance with Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors is moving past the Carlos Ghosn era.

Officials from Libya's two rival governments said fighting erupted Sunday as the country's east-based forces advanced toward the strategic western city of Misrata, further eroding a crumbling cease-fire agreement brokered earlier this month. The clashes came just hours after the United Nations decried "continued blatant ...

Beside the prominent entrance to Kansai International Airport's Terminal 2, which serves several budget airlines, is a nondescript door to which a sign saying Premium Gate Tamayura has been affixed. This is the entrance through which the world's rich and famous enter to access a ...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Washington Sunday night vowing to "make history" at a planned meeting with President Donald Trump for the unveiling of the U.S. administration's much-anticipated plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But the high-profile meeting in Washington looks set to ...

The opaque Chinese arms industry has made the Asian nation the world's second-largest producer of munitions, a clear shift from a decade ago when China relied on imports, researchers said in a new report Monday. The report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) ...

How long will the Chinese continue to repeat the same old mistakes that they have made for centuries?

Women in media are discriminated against first by being women, and then in the way they work once they have children.

China's growing economic influence in South Korea has provided a wedge that Beijing has tried to use to separate Seoul from Tokyo and Washington.

No matter who is president, Congress needs to re-establish its role in the use of force.

After the SARS and MERS outbreaks, the U.S. began funding potential treatments.

If Japan's population decline continues at the current pace, a large-scale influx of people from outside the country could take place.

Jin Shirai has mastered each of the traditionally separate roles of Japan's handicraft textile industry — from growing cotton, spinning it and dyeing the yarn, to weaving and designing fabrics.

Solutions for reluctant chefs, office door collisions and the stress of lost pass cases.

Could a PR push of monosodium glutamate, an ingredient dubbed as a "killer condiment" by its detractors, win over the public?

Pondi Two, or Hyotan, as he was nicknamed, was rescued from a hoarder and first featured here in Adopt Me! last August. Since then he's been adopted by Tomomi and Soshi Eto of Kawasaki and rechristened Gigi. Their meeting had come about largely because Tomomi ...

The people living on Shiraishi Island are already recycling, composting and reusing their plastic bags. How do we convince them to take the next step in environmental awareness?

Rafael Nadal left the muttering and the preening, the underarm serving and the 'tweening, to his younger, flashier opponent, Nick Kyrgios. Surely, Nadal was content to collect the win in the latest installment of their rivalry. The No. 1-ranked Nadal kept his thoughts to himself and ...

Kobe Bryant was a hugely popular figure in Asia, no more so than in China where basketball rivals soccer as the most popular sport. However, his death Sunday in a helicopter accident comes at an awkward time between the country and the league. National broadcaster ...

Soccer player Shiho Shimoyamada has been encouraged by the response she has received since she became Japan's first openly gay professional athlete in February last year. Now, with this summer's Tokyo Olympics focusing the world's sporting attention on Japan, she is hoping that attitudes towards ...

Two-time French Open finalist Dominic Thiem is into the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, which is an all-new experience for him. The fifth-seeded Thiem beat No. 10 Gael Monfils 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 on Rod Laver Arena to extend his winning streak to six against the ...

Japanese sports stars paid tribute to NBA legend Kobe Bryant on Monday after he was killed along with his teenage daughter in a helicopter crash. The 41-year-old, who played for the Los Angeles Lakers throughout a glittering career spanning two decades, died after the private ...

What does Kobe Bryant mean to Japan's basketball culture? Simply put, he was the most popular player here since Michael Jordan retired for good in 2003. He was the biggest star of the 21st century, and the player whose presence was missed the most at ...

John McEnroe blasted fellow tennis great Margaret Court's "offensive and homophobic" views on Monday as the Australian Open prepared to mark 50 years since her calendar-year Grand Slam. The American said Court, 77, was Tennis Australia's "crazy aunt" and that marking the golden anniversary of ...

A day after a Cinderella story unfolded at Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan, Tokushoryu spoke about his improbable victory at the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament and the whirlwind of emotions that came with his newfound fame. "This is amazing. What have I done," said the 33-year-old ...

Rocketman has launched — straight to a fourth national title. With stratospheric jumps and the sort of stage presence that even Elton John would appreciate, Nathan Chen won his fourth consecutive U.S. Figure Skating Championships men's gold medal Sunday. Skating to the score from John's ...

Green Bay linebacker Za'Darius Smith hastily organized an homage to Kobe Bryant minutes before the Pro Bowl. Smith and his NFC teammates learned about Bryant's death while they were in the locker room getting ready for the NFL's all-star game Sunday. Smith suggested the best ...

Kobe Bryant inspired a generation of basketball players worldwide with both his sublime skills and his unquenchable competitive fire. He also earned Los Angeles' eternal adoration during his two decades as the fierce soul of the city's beloved Lakers. Less than four years into his retirement ...

Kobe Bryant authored some of his most memorable moments at Madison Square Garden and made himself a centerpiece of the Lakers-Celtics rivalry. Bryant was remembered for that and so much more Sunday after the five-time NBA champion, his teenage daughter and seven others were killed ...