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ENVIRONMENT
Jan 5, 2013

Oil rig owner Transocean to pay $1.4 billion for 2010 BP spill

The owner of the drilling rig that exploded and led to the massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will pay $1.4 billion in criminal and civil penalties, the Justice Department said Thursday.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 5, 2013

Record numbers of women, minorities enter U.S. Congress

Record numbers of women and racial minorities were elected to the 113th Congress, which was sworn in Thursday. Among them were the first Buddhist to join the Senate, the first Hindu and the first openly bisexual woman in the House of Representatives.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 5, 2013

Record numbers of women, minorities enter U.S. Congress

Record numbers of women and racial minorities were elected to the 113th Congress, which was sworn in Thursday. Among them were the first Buddhist to join the Senate, the first Hindu and the first openly bisexual woman in the House of Representatives.
BUSINESS
Jan 3, 2013

Abe hoopla aside, key economic challenges loom

Stocks are up, the yen is easing and there is a new prime minister pledging to splash trillions of yen to breathe life into the country's moribund economy: Last year ended on a high note for Japan Inc., and 2013 looks even more promising for some.
Reader Mail
Jan 3, 2013

Cost of gun 'freedom' too high

Regarding Robert J. Spitzer's Washington Post article that was published in The Japan Times on Dec. 26 under the headline "Five myths about U.S. gun control": Again we are on that old spinning wheel watching the United States convulse over another mass shooting at a school with young, innocent victims....
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 3, 2013

Kingfisher's license to fly expires

Mumbai AFP-JIJI
EDITORIALS
Jan 3, 2013

What's up with Toyama's police?

The Toyama prefectural police on Dec. 22 arrested a 54-year-old assistant police inspector, Mr. Takeshi Kano, on suspicion of murdering an elderly couple who had been his friends for more than 30 years, and of setting their residence afire in April 2010. He allegedly confessed to these heinous crimes....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jan 1, 2013

The year for non-Japanese in '12: a top 10

Back by popular demand, here is JBC's roundup of the top 10 human rights events that most affected non-Japanese (NJ) residents of Japan in 2012, in ascending order.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 31, 2012

2013: Beginning of the U.S. economic recovery?

There is good reason to think that 2013 will finally be the year that the U.S. economic recovery really feels like a recovery: The biggest forces that have been holding the economy back finally seem to be subsiding.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Dec 31, 2012

Supreme copout: twisted justification for guns

Suppose a Seung-Hui Cho, Jared Lee Loughner, James Eagan Holmes or an Adam Lanza shot and killed or seriously wounded any of the families of John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. Would any of them have given different opinions in their 2008 and 2010 decisions?...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 30, 2012

This year's highlights and lowlights

Media figures of the year:
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Dec 30, 2012

Jean Harris, jealous killer of Scarsdale Diet creator, dies at 89

With her regal bearing and patrician accent, Jean Harris seemed to be the very model of the classic girls' school headmistress. She was always the proper lady.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Dec 29, 2012

American couples hurt by Russia's adoption ban

Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to sign a bill that bars Americans from adopting Russian children provoked anguish Thursday among U.S. families that have been waiting months, and in some cases years, to complete the process.
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2012

Nippon Mirai breaks up as Ozawa, allies veer off

The members of Nippon Mirai no To (Tomorrow Party of Japan) agreed Thursday to split the antinuclear party as strife emerged over who should lead it following its meltdown in the Dec. 16 Lower House election.
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2012

Abe Cabinet signals big changes ahead

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet got down to work Thursday dismantling various policies of the previous administration, including the zero-nuclear target, and musing on a review of the 1993 Kono Statement, an apology for the coercion of women into sexual slavery during the war.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2012

Nippon Mirai poised to break apart

Formed only a month ago, Nippon Mirai no To (Tomorrow Party of Japan) may soon be history. Founder Shiga Gov. Yukiko Kada and ally Ichiro Ozawa are at odds over the party's future, while Kada faces intense criticism within her prefecture for ignoring her duties to play national politics.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2012

DPJ test ends as Noda's team quietly bows out

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and his Cabinet resigned en masse Wednesday morning, quietly closing the door on the Democratic Party of Japan's first attempt to lead the nation and making way for the old Liberal Democratic Party's return to power.
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
Dec 27, 2012

'Abenomics' gets off to a flying start

The very idea of big-spender Shinzo Abe's reappointment as prime minister was enough to send the yen falling against the dollar and spurred the Nikkei above the 10,000 mark for the first time in months.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years