China tamps down Middle East-inspired protests before they can gain momentum
Police and security officials display a massive show of force in Beijing, Shanghai and other cities Sunday.
View ArticleGibbon songs have regional accents, says new study
Washingtonians who live close to the National Zoo know all too well about gibbon songs. The small apes begin calling out to one another every morning at dawn and again throughout the day whenever they...
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In rural Afghan village, local security takes root
MARJA, AFGHANISTAN - Surrounded by quiet tribesmen with AK-47s slung over their shoulders, Haji Asaf said he expects the Taliban will kill him if given the chance.
View ArticleMost U.S. aid to Pakistan hasn't gotten there yet
U.S. economic aid to Pakistan, which totals more than $1.5 billion a year, is a key part of the Obama administration's strategy to strengthen the U.S.-Pakistan strategic partnership. But most of the...
View ArticleShahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan's sole Christian minister, is assassinated in...
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN - Pakistan's federal minorities minister, a Christian, was gunned down by suspected Islamist militants in this capital city Wednesday in the second killing this year of a senior...
View ArticleAmputations and genital injuries increase sharply among soldiers in...
Nearly three times as many suffered severe wounds to their genitals.
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Villages set to expand India's consumer market
Market researchers are crisscrossing rural India as companies, domestic and foreign, compete for the country's next, big emerging market.
View ArticleRemains of Bamiyan Buddhas yield additional details about statues' origins
Ten years ago, the Taliban destroyed the great Bamiyan Buddhas of Afghanistan, two giant statues that watched over the Bamiyan Valley for 1,500 years. Extensive studies of the rubble have revealed new...
View ArticleAs food prices soar, Japan braces for pain
IN TOKYO - A cup of coffee costs less than it did 10 years ago. Same goes for a meal of fish and rice -- or even a shot of sake. At Yoshimasa Kaise's 43-year-old tofu shop, a block of tofu costs 150...
View ArticleJapanese foreign minister Maehara resigns amid donation flap
Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara resigned Sunday after receiving an illegal donation from a foreigner, dealing another blow to Prime Minister Naoto Kan's faltering ruling party.
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Gates sees progress in hard-hit Marine unit
SANGIN, AFGHANISTAN - The Marine battalion fighting out of this southern Afghanistan district has suffered more losses than any other in the history of the decade-long Afghan war.
View ArticleU.N. alarmed by surge in civilian casualties in Afghanistan
KABUL - A sharp jump in assassinations and a rise in suicide and roadside bombings in Afghanistan last year led to an increase in civilian casualties, the United Nations said Wednesday.
View ArticleNATO troops kill Karzai's cousin in botched raid, Afghans say
KABUL - The accidental killing of a cousin of President Hamid Karzai by a U.S. Special Forces team became on Thursday the latest in a string of high-profile civilian casualties that have further...
View ArticleDalai Lama says he will relinquish political role to democratically elected...
The Dalai Lama plans to relinquish his political role as head of the Tibetan government-in-exile to a new prime minister who will be chosen in elections March 20.
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NATO endorses plan for Afghan forces to take over several areas
NATO defense ministers endorsed a plan Friday to hand over responsibility for security in three cities, two provinces and much of the capital to Afghan forces over the next several months, commencing...
View ArticleJapan earthquake, tsunami said to kill hundreds; little impact on Hawaii,...
HIROSHIMA, JAPAN - A powerful tsunami triggered by a massive earthquake devastated the northeastern coast of Japan on Friday, leaving hundreds dead and launching waves that triggered warnings from...
View ArticleJapan quake: China sets aside disputes, offers help
BEIJING - The earthquake and tsunami that devastated northern Japan may help temporarily ease Japan's strained relations with China, allowing the two Asian rivals for the moment to look past lingering...
View ArticleKarzai again condemns NATO operations
KABUL - Afghan President Hamid Karzai demanded Saturday that NATO have its troops "stop their operations on our soil" - the bluntest language he has yet used to criticize the way the international...
View ArticleJapan evacuates thousands from vicinity of two nuclear power plants
Japanese authorities declared a state of emergency Saturday for five nuclear reactors at two power plants as officials scrambled to tame rising pressure and radioactivity levels.
View ArticleIn Japan, damaged nuclear plants create fears of radioactive threat
Hyper-modern Japan may be peerless at dealing with earthquakes. But potential radiation has created another layer of alarm unseen in other countries recently ravaged by quakes.
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Japan disaster may mean setback for U.S. nuclear industry
Stymied by concerns about safety and cost, the U.S. nuclear power industry has struggled to make a comeback for decades. Now the revival may have to wait even longer, as earthquake damage to a reactor...
View ArticleAs other authoritarian leaders fall, N. Korea pushes ahead with succession...
TOKYO - Last Sunday, a crowd of young North Koreans marched through a square in their capital city. They brandished red flags and called for a higher standard of living. But they also carried placards...
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Nuclear power industry watches warily as Japan's aging reactor is hit hard
The potential for a full-blown nuclear disaster on top of the quake and tsunami in Japan remains unclear - but what's happening in an aging atomic reactor there has put the nuclear power industry on...
View ArticleJapan begins grim relief mission with towns flooded, thousands reported...
TOKYO - Rescue teams searched through matchstick rubble Saturday for thousands of people missing in flooded areas of northeastern Japan, beginning one of the most complex relief efforts in history.
View ArticleJapanese nuclear plants' operator scrambles to avert meltdowns
TOKYO - Japanese authorities said Sunday that efforts to restart the cooling system at one of the reactors damaged by Friday's earthquake had failed, even as officials struggled to bring several other...
View ArticleHundreds of bodies wash ashore in northeastern Japan after earthquake and...
TAGAJO, Japan - There are just too many bodies.
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In Afghanistan, U.S. shifts strategy on women's rights as it eyes wider...
Changes stem from a desire at the top levels of the Obama administration to triage the war and focus on the overriding goal of ending the conflict, a senior U.S. official said.
View ArticleJapan's explosions cast doubt on nuclear renaissance as Swiss, Germans...
PARIS - Switzerland freezes plans to build new nuclear plants, Germany raises questions about its nuclear future, and opposition to atomic reactor construction mounts from Turkey to South Africa.
View ArticleResidents warned to stay indoors near Japan nuke plant after new,...
SOMA, Japan - Radiation leaked from a crippled nuclear plant in tsunami-ravaged northeastern Japan after a third reactor was rocked by an explosion Tuesday and a fourth caught fire in a dramatic...
View ArticleStore shelves empty even outside disaster zone as panic buying grips Japan
TOKYO - Canned goods, batteries, bread and bottled water have vanished from store shelves and long lines of cars circle gas stations, as Japan grapples with a new risk set off by last week's...
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Japan's prime minister, acting boldly, meets destiny in management of...
TOKYO - There are two Naoto Kans who live within the Japanese imagination.
View ArticleOfficial says rescuers have found 70-year-old woman alive 4 days after Japan...
SOMA, Japan - Rescuers have found a 70-year-old woman alive four days after the disaster struck.
View ArticleKyrgyzstan plans to host U.S.-funded anti-terrorism training center
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan - Kyrgyzstan's president says her Central Asian nation plans to host a U.S.-funded, anti-terrorism training center.
View ArticleNorth Korea 'not opposed' to discussing uranium enrichment if 6-nation...
SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea told a Russian envoy it is willing to discuss a recently disclosed uranium enrichment program if long-stalled nuclear disarmament talks resume, state media reported...
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Kazakhstan homeowners hold large-scale protest calling for government to...
ALMATY, Kazakhstan - Several hundred people rallied Tuesday near Kazakhstan's presidential palace to urge the government to assist homeowners battling repossessions, and a few dozen were detained by...
View ArticleUzbekistan shuts down Human Rights Watch's office amid mounting harassment...
ALMATY, Kazakhstan - Human Rights Watch said Tuesday that it has been forced to close its office in Uzbekistan after facing years of harassment by the Central Asian nation's authorities.
View ArticleChina to pull citizens from NE Japan, other foreigners ponder exit amid...
TOKYO - China became the first government to organize a mass evacuation of its citizens from Japan's northeast on Tuesday, while other foreigners left the country following radiation leaks at an...
View ArticleNASA, Russian astronauts land safely in the snowy steppes of Kazakhstan
ALMATY, Kazakhstan - NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and two Russian cosmonauts landed safely Wednesday in the snowy expanses of central Kazakhstan after spending five months on the International Space...
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U.S. military, aid groups prepare to assist after Japan earthquake
As a highly industrialized nation, earthquake-stricken Japan may not need an outpouring of help, but the U.S. military has redeployed several ships to come to its ally's aid. Search-and-rescue teams,...
View ArticleCIA contractor Raymond Davis freed after 'blood money' payment
A CIA security contractor who fatally shot two Pakistani men in January was released on Wednesday after relatives of the victims received "blood money" as compensation and agreed to pardon him, U.S....
View ArticleJapan crisis revives global nuclear debate
The crisis in Japan has put governments on the defensive and undermined the nuclear power industry's recent renaissance as the clean energy of the future.
View ArticleEmbattled State Department official key part of quake response
Kevin Maher, who was removed from his State Department post for alleged comments he made about Okinawans, is now working 24 hours a day to coordinate U.S. assistance to Japan.
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Japan's slow tsunami response stirs anger
Those suffering in Japan expect their government to work. They can't understand why a country as affluent as theirs can't keep gasoline, the lifeblood of a modern economy, flowing and why towns across...
View ArticleJapan's nuclear crisis will last weeks, U.S. official says
The nuclear power plant crisis in Japan will probably take weeks to resolve, forcing Japanese workers to intensify their risky efforts to bring the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant under...
View ArticleObama set to leave for Central and South America
President Obama opted not to cancel his long-planned trip in the wake of the earthquake in Japan.
View ArticleAs Japan takes steps to cool stricken nuclear reactor, U.S. warns of long...
TOKYO - Japanese officials took a series of early steps Friday to bring the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant under control, but a week into the crisis, it was becoming apparent that they were...
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Pakistanis protest U.S. airstrikes, release of CIA contractor release
A deadly U.S. airstrike Thursday in a northwest tribal village, along with the sudden release Wednesday of a U.S. intelligence contractor accused of murdering two Pakistanis, has raised tensions...
View ArticleOn first trip to India, Palin talks tough on China, other topics
In New Delhi, the former Alaska governor said she is still thinking about running for president, voiced concerns about China's military rise, criticized green investment and vowed to see the Taj Mahal...
View ArticleJapan's catastrophe resonates at economic, regulatory and personal levels
The ripples from Japan's disaster are felt at multiple levels in the U.S.: from layoffs at a GE manufacturing plant and hearings by the NRC to a Richmond family that lost its daughter to the quake.
View ArticleWorld Bank estimates Japan damage up to $235 billion; smoke rises from...
That figure puts it among the most costly natural disasters in modern history, and officials say it could take five years to rebuild a devastated Japan.
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