Shinji Kagawa has given Manchester United another injury worry after missing Japan’s World Cup qualifying victory over Iraq with a back injury.

Thousands of people in southern Japan remained cut off by floods and mudslides triggered by torrential rains that have killed at least 26 people, local authorities said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Iran of being the most irresponsible country in the world and said sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear programme “haven’t worked.”

TAHRIR Square in Cairo, Green Square in Tripoli, Syntagma Square in Athens and now Zuccotti Park in New York — popular anger against entrenching the power elite is spreading around the world.

Former chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano has been named as Japan’s new trade and economy minister.

Japan’s national sport of sumo wrestling is facing new allegations that senior wrestlers used mobile phones to fix matches.

New data about Japan’s economy today offered a sobering reminder of the country’s fragile recovery: the jobless rate rose, deflation deepened, and industrial production fell unexpectedly.

An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 rattled northern Sumatra in Indonesia, the US Geological Survey reported.

Toyota plans to recall about 300,000 Prius hybrids worldwide over a brake problem, a news report said today.

Toyota was preparing today to announce plans to deal with braking problems in its prized Prius hybrid amid reports it had decided to issue a recall for the vehicle in Japan.

TOYOTA said yesterday it will soon announce plans to deal with braking problems in its prized Prius hybrid, amid reports it has decided to issue a recall for the latest model in Japan, a possible new embarrassment for the world’s biggest automaker.

Toyota is to recall its flagship Prius hybrid in Japan, it was reported today.

Japan’s prime minister Taro Aso dissolved the powerful lower house of parliament today, setting the stage for an election next month that could transform the country’s political power structure.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said he is willing to meet North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Il any time if it will help end the North’s nuclear programmes.

A 14-year-old Japanese girl killed herself by mixing soap powder with cleanser, releasing fumes that also made 90 people in her block of flats ill, police said today, as they grappled with a spate of similar suicides.

The blue tracksuit-clad Chinese security guards who have followed the Olympic torch around the world will not be welcome in Japan when the flame arrives here within days, it was reported today.

Japan is dropping its plan to kill humpback whales in the seas off Antarctica, a media report said today.

Police in Japan arrested a man who ran an internet suicide site for allegedly killing a woman who paid him to help her die, an official said today.

Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe was hospitalised today for stress and exhaustion, a day after announcing his resignation, his doctors said.

The chief UN nuclear negotiator was unable to meet North Korea’s top nuclear negotiator today due to scheduling problems.

Japan’s Empress Michiko has symptoms of intestinal bleeding, Kyodo News agency reported in Tokyo today.

International fisheries officials have agreed on unprecedented action to reverse the decline in global tuna stocks, including a plan to track each fish from the ocean to the market, a news report in Japan said today.

Japan Tobacco has agreed to acquire Britain’s Gallaher Group for nearly £10bn (€14.9bn), the largest corporate acquisition by a Japanese company, it is reported today.

The United States and Japan today agreed to speed up deployment of a missile defence system in Japan amid growing concerns about the nuclear weapons and missile technologies of North Korea, Kyodo News agency reported.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has told a Chinese envoy his country has no immediate plans to conduct another nuclear test but that US policy towards Pyongyang will determine the future, a report says.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il told a Chinese envoy that while Pyongyang has no immediate plan to carry out another nuclear test, whether it will do so in the future hinges on US policy toward the country, a news report said today.

SOUTH Korea and China have agreed to cooperate to prevent a possible nuclear test by North Korea amid increasing reports citing suspicious activity in the communist nation.

Russian coastal authorities have seized five fishing boats off the country’s eastern coast, at least one of which is thought to be Japanese, a news report said today.

A Japanese tanker may have spilled more than 4,500 tons (31,500 barrels) of crude oil in the eastern Indian Ocean near the Nicobar islands following a collision with a cargo ship, the tanker’s operator announced today.

The Japanese government will officially approve the resumption of US beef imports from selected meat processing plants tomorrow, a news report said today.

EFFORTS to bring North Korea back to disarmament talks were in tatters last night after Pyongyang stormed out of a meeting with the south and a senior US diplomat left the region after a week of shuttle diplomacy.

North Korea test-launched three missiles today that landed in the Sea of Japan and Tokyo has ”strongly protested” the move, Japan’s chief government spokesman said.

Japan and the United States have agreed to deploy advanced Patriot interceptor missiles on US bases in Japan for the first time, amid concerns North Korea may test-fire a long-range ballistic missile.

The United States has activated its missile defence system to deal with a possible North Korean missile test, Kyodo News agency reported today, citing a report.

North Korea declared today it is free to conduct missile tests, saying it is not bound by prior agreements to refrain from testing and that outsiders do not have right to interfere, a news report said.

Japan’s ruling coalition today submitted a bill to parliament to impose sanctions on North Korea over its past abductions of Japanese citizens, Kyodo News agency reported.

A surgeon is suspected of causing the deaths of seven patients at a Japanese hospital by removing their respirators, it was reported today.

Tokyo police arrested a 16-year-old high school student today on suspicion of stabbing his female classmate nearly 50 times, leaving her dead on her apartment floor, news reports said.

Negotiators at talks aimed at persuading North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions set to work today on the contentious details of how the North will disarm and what it will get in exchange.

Okinawa’s governor today told Japan’s central government that he rejects a plan to build a US heliport on the southern island as part of a realignment of the American military presence there.

The chief US envoy to talks on ending North Korea’s atomic weapons programme met today with his North Korean counterpart seeking to break a stalemate, and said afterward that the negotiations are still “in business".

A powerful typhoon lashed southern Japan, killing one person, injuring 15 others and forcing tens of thousands to evacuate as gale-driven waves hurtled against coastline defences and storm surges flooded seaside towns.

A powerful magnitude-7.2 earthquake struck north-eastern Japan today, injuring 27 people, triggering small tsunamis and shaking skyscrapers as far away as Tokyo, 190 miles to the south.

A 71-year-old Japanese yachtsman became the oldest person to successfully finish a solo, non-stop, around-the-world voyage when he arrived at a port in central Japan.