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WORLD
Feb 11, 2015

At least one other American being held hostage in Middle East: White House

At least one other American is being held hostage in the Middle East, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters on Tuesday following confirmation of the death of U.S. aid worker Kayla Mueller.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 11, 2015

Rockets hit military HQ deep in Ukraine-held territory; Minsk truce talks in doubt

Rockets killed civilians and soldiers deep in Ukrainian government-held territory on Tuesday and rebels pushed on with an assault to cut off an army-held rail junction, setbacks that showed Kiev's position worsening on the eve of peace talks.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 10, 2015

SoftBank to delay commercial release of Pepper humanoid robot

SoftBank Corp. said Tuesday it probably won't start selling the Pepper humanoid robot to general consumers until around this summer.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 10, 2015

Why Jordan is the Islamic State's next target

Jordan and the Islamic State group are enmeshed in an extended, dynamic, repeat-play game in which the rules are just now being set.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 10, 2015

A year on, Crimeans prefer Russia

Poll data suggests that a majority of Crimeans see Ukraine as a poor and unstable country where the media are hostile toward them.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 10, 2015

Australia sub deal puts Abe in precarious position

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott survived a leadership challenge on Monday, but his last-minute pledge to allow an open tender on the construction of new submarines poses a challenge to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who must weigh the political risks of becoming more public about his ambition to tap...
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 10, 2015

Obama says has not made a decision on lethal weapons for Ukraine

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Monday his administration is looking at all options in handling the crisis in Ukraine, but he has not yet decided whether the United States will provide lethal arms to Kiev.
EDITORIALS
Feb 9, 2015

The Saudi-U.S. partnership

Despite its longevity and convergence of mutual interests, there are tensions in the Saudi-U.S. relationship that have grown in recent years and will only get larger. Business as usual cannot continue.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 9, 2015

Lowering the bar for economic performance

Regardless of how much progressives try to play up the U.S. economic recovery by lowering the bar for perfornance, the lingering anemia is astonishing, given the plummeting energy prices.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 9, 2015

China executes businessman linked to former security tsar

Chinese authorities on Monday executed a former mining tycoon connected to the eldest son of retired domestic security chief Zhou Yongkang, himself the focus of a high-profile corruption investigation, state media reported.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 9, 2015

SpaceX rocket to launch weather satellite into deep space

A SpaceX rocket is scheduled on Sunday to launch a U.S. satellite from deep storage to deep space, where it will keep tabs on solar storms and image Earth from nearly 1 million miles (1.6 million km) away.
WORLD
Feb 9, 2015

Leaders scramble to avert 'dramatic spiral' in Ukraine; Putin branded 'tyrant'

The leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France agreed to meet in Belarus on Wednesday to try to broker a peace deal for Ukraine amid escalating violence there and signs of cracks in the trans-Atlantic consensus on confronting Vladimir Putin.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 9, 2015

Jordan says it waged 56 strikes in three days against Islamic State targets, degrading 20% of jihadis' capabilities

Jordan's air force chief said on Sunday his country's jet fighters had conducted 56 bombing raids in three days against Islamic State militants in northeast Syria, targeting key bases and arms depots.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 7, 2015

A changing Japan needs to rethink how to safeguard children

On Christmas Day last year, a 17-year-old boy was sent to prison by the Saitama District Court for the murder of his maternal grandparents. Prosecutors demanded an indefinite sentence, but the court gave him 15 years after taking the boy's "environment" into consideration.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 7, 2015

Abe acts quickly to exploit Japan's 'nightmare'

On adjacent televisions at my gym, I watched breaking news on the beheading of journalist Kenji Goto by the Islamic State group next to a "One Piece" anime segment in which fresh-faced youth defended their boat from marauding pirates. The kids routed them in a jiffy and suffered no casualties, a metaphorical...
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 6, 2015

Tokyo, Okinawa stuck in cold war over U.S. base

The central government and the Okinawa Prefectural Government are now in an apparent cold war.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS / TYSON-DOUGLAS SHOCKER REVISITED
Feb 6, 2015

Lampley remembers historic fight in Tokyo

Second in a series
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Feb 6, 2015

Jury selection starts in 'American Sniper' Texas murder trial

The first steps in jury selection began on Thursday in a Texas court for the trial of the man charged with murdering Chris Kyle, the former Navy SEAL whose best-selling autobiography was turned into the hit movie "American Sniper."
WORLD / Politics
Feb 6, 2015

Republicans fail in third challenge to Obama on immigration

Senate Republicans failed for the third time to advance a bill reversing President Barack Obama's immigration orders as they try to wear down Democratic lawmakers who are unified against it.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 5, 2015

Magazine IDs student suspect in Nagoya slaying, breaking legal taboo

A news magazine defies a ban on identifying minors in criminal cases by running a four-page expose on a student accused of killing an elderly woman in Nagoya.
OLYMPICS
Feb 5, 2015

IOC will authorize 2020 Olympic schedule additions next year: Coates

The decision on which and how many new sports will be added to the slate for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics will be determined next year, just before the start of the Rio Games, IOC vice president John Coates said on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS / TYSON-DOUGLAS SHOCKER REVISITED
Feb 5, 2015

Vaccaro was only bookmaker to lay odds on historic fight

Just like Don King, Mike Tyson's inimitable promoter, and Tyson and James "Buster" Douglas themselves, longtime Las Vegas bookmaker Jimmy Vaccaro had a pivotal role in making the Tokyo fight on Feb. 11, 1990, a historic occasion.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 5, 2015

Abe boosts Kuroda reflation effort with BOJ board nomination

The Abe administration has nominated a proponent of reflationary monetary policy for the central bank's board, buttressing Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda's effort to end a two-decade slump in the world's third-biggest economy.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 4, 2015

Sending arms to Kiev would be big gamble for U.S.

By considering giving weapons to Ukraine, the United States is contemplating a risky venture that advocates say would help end the conflict in Ukraine but opponents warn might fan the flames of war.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past