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Jordan's King Abdullah and Obama meet

Tom PeterApril 12, 2010 17:29

Ahead of the meeting between President Barack Obama and Jordan's King Abdullah II, it looked as though the Arab leader might issue some stern warnings to the president about the urgency required in the Arab-Israeli peace process. Whether or not he did, the White House statement recapping the meeting issues a far less dramatic message:

Can Jordan's King Abdullah and Obama save the peace process?

Tom PeterApril 10, 2010 16:33

As part of his continuing efforts to reinvigorate peace talks between the Arabs and Israelis, Jordan's King Abdullah II left Amman on Saturday for a meeting with President Barack Obama in Washington. Since becoming the first Arab leader to meet with Obama after he took office last year, King Abdullah has been working to position himself as a key player in any future peace talks.

Whaling in Japan

Justin McCurryApril 7, 2010 18:09Updated May 30, 2010 13:28

Japan's whale meat obsession

Justin McCurryApril 8, 2010 06:09Updated May 30, 2010 13:28

War of the worlds?

Tom PeterApril 6, 2010 12:01

There's a bit of awkward collar tugging going on in the small, desert town of Jafr this week after residents fell victim to an April Fool's Day joke last week. A local newspaper ran a front page story on Apr. 1 about a UFO landing in the desert near Jafr, about 180 miles outside of Amman. The space shuttle brought down communications in the area and sent residents fleeing, reported Al Ghad newspaper.

The DPJ stumbles on

Gavin BlairMarch 31, 2010 11:36Updated March 31, 2010 11:36

Top News: The new Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) administration, which took power last September after half a century of almost uninterrupted rule by the conservative LDP, continues to stumble like an unsteady toddler from one mishandled incident to the next.

Jordan honor killings draw tough response. Finally

Tom A. PeterApril 7, 2010 06:16Updated May 30, 2010 13:26

AMMAN, Jordan — For the first time after more than a decade of activism trying to stop so-called honor crimes, Rana Husseini says she doesn’t have a lot to complain about in Jordan. In the past, most men served less than a year for killing a woman who had “dishonored” her family. Now, more than seven months after the government restructured the legal system to deal with honor crimes as normal criminal cases, Jordan has seen at least 10 cases result in prison sentences of seven to 15 years.

The China currency flap: reading between the lines

Thomas MuchaMarch 19, 2010 07:13Updated May 30, 2010 13:26

BOSTON — The problem is so severe, so potentially explosive, and so threatens the world's largest economy that U.S. lawmakers — Democrats and Republicans alike — this week worked together furiously to solve it. No, it's not health care reform. It's the so-called manipulation of the Chinese currency. First, a bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation that would compel the Obama administration to crack down on Beijing for its "manipulation" of the yuan (in English: keeping its currency low so Chinese exports remain relatively cheap).

A secret U.S.-Japan pact

Gavin BlairMarch 18, 2010 10:11Updated March 18, 2010 10:11

Top News: An investigation by Ministry of Finance (MOF) officials, at the instigation of the DPJ government, has found that the Japanese government deposited $103 million into an account at the U.S.

Wacky Japan: The jazzy robot

Jonathan AdamsMarch 18, 2010 09:35

Toyota's taken a lot of flak recently. But you wouldn't know it from listening to the "Toyota Partner Robot" playing jazz standards on the trumpet. It's one of the more bizarre highlights at Toyota's Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology in Nagoya.