A strong 6.2-magnitude quake struck off northern Japan on Tuesday, US seismologists said, but there were no immediate reports of damage and no tsunami alert was issued.It hit at 7:21 am (2221 GMT Monday) in waters 96 kilometers (60 miles) east of Miyako on the main island of Honshu at a depth of just 9.7 kilometers, according to the US Geological Survey.The quake was followed by a 5.1-magnitude jo

World News Oct. 2, 2012

South Korea's consumer prices grew at the fastest pace in three months in September mainly due to increased prices of farm products, a report showed Tuesday.The country's consumer price index rose 2 percent from a year earlier in September, quickening from the 1.2 percent gain tallied in the previous month, according to the report by Statistics Korea.The index also advanced 0.7 percent from a mont

Oct. 2, 2012

Chinese ships plied the waters of a disputed island chain Monday, Japan's coastguard said, as a fleet of Taiwanese fishing boats set sail for the area, vowing to stake Taipei's claim.The flotilla, set to arrive Tuesday morning, will further complicate an already high-stakes confrontation between Tokyo and Beijing, in which Japan's prime minister has warned China's behavior could damage its own eco

World News Sept. 24, 2012

Japanese police on Monday arrested a man who posed as a doctor to earn cash, examining 2,300 people with little more than a few hours of self-study to back it up, police and media said.Miyabi Kuroki, 43, had no experience of medical school and passed himself off as a qualified doctor after finding the identity of a legitimate physician on the Internet, Jiji Press reported.He was dispatched by an e

Technology Sept. 24, 2012

Police in Hanoi have arrested a man for stabbing to death two of his father's neighbors in a fight over household waste, local media reported Monday.Nguyen Van Duong, 30, was charged with murder on Sunday, onlinenews site VietnamNet reported.Early Saturday Duong's father, Nguyen Van Lan, 56, told his neighbor Vuong Thi Thao, 41, not to leave rubbish out on their street ahead of the waste collectio

World News Sept. 24, 2012

North Korean farmers who have long been required to turn most of their crops over to the state may instead be allowed to keep their surplus food to sell or barter in what could be the most significant economic change enacted by young leader Kim Jong Un since he came to power nine months ago. The proposed directive appears aimed at boosting productivity at collective farms that have struggled for d

North Korea Sept. 24, 2012

A riot broke out when 3,000 people showed up for a birthday party for a 16-year-old girl who forgot to check “private” on a Facebook invitation, police said.The girl had expected a small gathering in her hometown of Haren when she posted the invitation on Facebook, Euronews reported Saturday.Some of the unexpected party-goers vandalized shops and looted a car before setting it on fire, and 600 pol

World News Sept. 24, 2012

South Korea's Navy fired warning shots against North Korean boats operating south of the western sea border, military officials said, after raising the alert status in response to a number of ships violating the demarcation line over the past week.The North Korean boats retreated to north of the border upon the warning shots, officials said.The latest move comes as a growing number of North Korean

North Korea Sept. 21, 2012

For anyone who's ever been tired of listening to someone drone on and on and on, two Japanese researchers have the answer.The SpeechJammer, a device that disrupts a person's speech by repeating his or her own voice at a delay of a few hundred milliseconds, was named Thursday as a 2012 winner of the Ig Nobel prize _ an award sponsored by the Annals of Improbable Research magazine for weird and humo

Technology Sept. 21, 2012

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda prevailed in a ruling party leadership vote and now faces a decision on whether to call elections as he grapples with a slowing economy and a territorial spat with China. Noda’s win in today’s Democratic Party of Japan contest allows him to remain premier because the DPJ controls the more powerful lower house of parliament. The main opposition Liberal Democra

World News Sept. 21, 2012