Japan lawmakers to approve long-awaited tax hike An unpopular bill to double Japan's sales tax and partially plug its gaping debt hole is set to be passed by lawmakers Friday in a triumph for the prime minister that could also herald the end of his job.
11 August 2012
Olympics: 2012 Games a world away from London 1948The razzmatazz of the London 2012 Olympics is a world away from the last Games held in London in 1948, when athletes had to survive on rations, stitch their own kit and wash it themselves.
11 August 2012
Philippine flood deaths climb to 60 Weary farmers in the Philippines' farming heartland struggled amid their worst floods in decades on Friday, as the death toll from torrential rains that also pounded the capital rose to 60.
Historic US town of two goes on auction block A historic American town with a population of two people will be auctioned off on August 15, the auctioneers Williams & Williams said Thursday.
Australia rescues more than 200 from asylum boat Australia rescued more than 200 asylum-seekers from a boat off Indonesia, officials said Friday, amid reports navy ships are literally cracking under the strain of responding to a flood of boatpeople.
10 August 2012
S. Korean Buddhist monks fined for gambling A South Korean court said Friday it has fined two Buddhist monks for illegal gambling, after video footage of their high-stakes poker game sparked a scandal in religious circles.
10 August 2012
Warning shots, tear gas fired to disperse Tunisia demos Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets late Thursday to disperse a second anti-government protest in the central Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid, birthplace of last year's revolution.
10 August 2012
Swiss algorithm tracks crime, rumours, epidemics to source Scientists in Switzerland said on Friday they had devised software that can swiftly trace terror suspects, computer viruses, rumour-mongering and even infectious diseases back to their source.
10 August 2012
Syria rebels out of Aleppo district, new envoy due Rebels retreated from the key Aleppo district of Salaheddin under a deadly rain of shellfire Thursday, as a veteran Algerian diplomat was set to be named the new international envoy to Syria.
Manchester United slashes price for US IPO Britain's world-renowned football club Manchester United slashed the price of its US share launch, cutting the amount it was raising in Friday's IPO to $233 million from a hoped-for $300 million or more.