TOKYO—Criticism of the Japanese government’s handling of the crisis at a radiation-spewing nuclear power plant is growing after an adviser quit in protest of what he lambasted as unsafe, slipshod measures. University of Tokyo professor Toshiso Kosako announced late Friday he was stepping down. The expert on radiation exposure said in tears he could not [...]
BEIJING—Chinese courts have sentenced 14 people to prison for producing or selling melamine-tainted milk powder, news reports said Saturday, highlighting Beijing’s struggle to stamp out rampant sales of phony or tainted food and medicine. Three years after use of melamine in infant formula killed six babies and prompted a shake-up of China’s dairy industry; authorities [...]
BANGKOK—Laos, one of the world’s last communist nations, is holding parliamentary elections Saturday. But the vote will only preserve the country’s oppressive status quo since most candidates are members of the all-powerful political party that’s ruled the one-party state for 36 years. Analysts say the exercise is mainly expected to help a new, younger generation [...]
WASHINGTON – The death toll from a slew of tornadoes rose to 324 on Friday, making the terrible storms the third-deadliest outbreak of twisters in US history and the worst in nearly 80 years. On Friday, the number of confirmed tornado-related deaths increased to 228 in Alabama; to 34 in Mississippi; and to eight in [...]
TUSCALOOSA – President Barack Obama on Friday joined shocked Americans sifting through wreckage from the worst US tornadoes in nearly 80 years, which claimed at least 324 lives in the US south.x “We’re going to make sure that you’re not forgotten,” Obama said on a visit to Tuscaloosa after meeting victims whose homes were demolished. [...]
TRIPOLI, Libya—A battle between Libyan troops and rebels spilled over the western border into Tunisia Friday, drawing a sharp rebuke of Moammar Gadhafi’s regime from the neighboring government. Clashes along the Tunisian border have escalated since Thursday, posing a new challenge for Gadhafi within the western half of the country where he must consolidate his [...]
TORONTO—Until a few days ago, Monday’s election looked set to give Canada another mandate for the Conservative government. Instead, Prime Minister Stephen Harper could be out of a job if polls are right in predicting a late surge for the left. The unexpected gains for the New Democratic Party have upended previous soundings that predicted [...]
TUSCALOOSA, Albama—Southerners found their emergency safety net shredded Friday as they tried to emerge from the nation’s deadliest tornado disaster since the Great Depression. The death toll from Wednesday’s storms reached 329 across seven states, including 238 in Alabama, making it the deadliest U.S. tornado outbreak since March 1932, when another Alabama storm killed 332 [...]
MEXICO CITY—Estibalis Chavez staged a hunger strike and flew twice to London in her quest to see Prince William and Kate Middleton tie the knot. But there was no fairy tale ending Friday for the Mexican teenager, whose widely publicized desperate quest drew both sympathy and scorn from her countrymen. Chavez, 19, said British immigration [...]
BEIJING—China has released a crusading rights lawyer who disappeared, apparently into police custody, more than two months ago in a massive security crackdown aimed at preventing any Middle East-inspired unrest. Teng Biao returned home Friday afternoon but it was not convenient for him to speak with the media, said his wife, Wang Ling. She declined [...]
WASHINGTON—Japan’s foreign minister said Friday the tornado destruction that devastated parts of the U.S. this week and killed more than 300 people evoked the carnage of the earthquake that recently struck his country. Takeaki Matsumoto was speaking to reporters after holding talks with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who paid tribute to Japan’s [...]
LONDON—From tiny villages to big cities, hundreds of thousands of Britons celebrated the royal wedding with brass bands, baked goods and red, white and blue bunting at traditional neighborhood street parties. There were 5,500 applications for street closures across the country, officials said Friday, with residents taking over usually traffic-filled roads with long tables, picnic [...]
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines —A businessman was kidnapped by unidentified men in Jolo town proper Friday evening, a Philippine National Police official said. Chief Supt. Bienvenido Latag, PNP-ARMM regional director, identified the victim as Nelson Lim, manager of Times Hardware and part owner of Plaza Panciteria. Latag said they have yet to determine other details of [...]
