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Secrets deciphered as ancient Maya script meets the modern Internet
WASHINGTON - Researchers began decoding the glyphic language of the ancient Maya long ago, but the Internet is helping them finish the job and write the history of the enigmatic Mesoamerican civilization. For centuries, scholars understood little about Maya script beyond its elegant astronomical calculations and calendar. The Maya dominated much of Central America and southern Mexico for 1,000 ...
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American killed in 2011 drone strike was jailed by Pakistan
PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN - An American citizen killed in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan in 2011 was arrested by Pakistani authorities three years earlier but escaped after being released on bail, officials said Thursday. The Obama administration revealed Wednesday that Jude Kenan Mohammad died in a drone strike in Pakistan’s tribal region, making him the fourth American citizen killed by ...
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Obama’s Gitmo plan still faces huge hurdles
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama’s renewed effort to close the military detention center at Guantanamo Bay faces the same steep political climb as in his first term: To make Thursday’s announcement work, Congress would have to accept a plan to move some detainees from Cuba to the United States. Obama did signal in his speech that he would restart the process of sending home or ...
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Days of Swedish riots raise issues over inequality
Claude Regy says the team at the Shizuoka Performing Arts Center (SPAC) threw him the ';best birthday party ever'; when he arrived in Japan just days after the actual May 1 occasion. The 90-year-old French director is hoping for an even better birthday gift, ...
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Indian heat wave sparks power outages protests
Indian cinema is being feted in Cannes on its 100th birthday, but amid the celebrations, the ';B-word'; — Bollywood — remains controversial. The French film festival has rolled out the red carpet for Indian cinema this year, with events including a gala dinner and ...
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Giant fuel depot blaze on northern outskirts of Rio de Janeiro kills one
RIO DE JANEIRO - One person was killed in a spectacular fire that broke out in a fuel depot on the northern edge of Rio de Janeiro and spread to nearby homes Thursday. Six giant fuel containers at the storage site caught fire, sending giant flames up to 50 meters high leaping into the air and columns of thick smoke far into the sky that could be seen kilometers away. The victim was a ...
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Questions the president dodged in his address on U.S. antiterrorism drive
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama set out Thursday to redefine the U.S. fight against global terrorism, but despite calling for a more targeted rather than ';boundless'; theater of global operations, he left out the specifics and timelines for action, by which his success or failure could be measured. Here are some critical questions Obama did not raise or answer in his address at ...
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Hashimoto in unprecedented crisis
OSAKA - The list of those in and out of Japan, but especially in the United States, who scorn and deride Osaka Mayor and Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) coleader Toru Hashimoto for his justification for the wartime ';comfort women'; is growing daily, presenting a unprecedented crisis for the once-popular politician. Hashimoto’s remarks that the sexual slavery ...
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ECB’s Draghi says new European agency ‘imperative’
Throughout most of Japan, June is the rainy season. While all that rainfall is great for rice paddies so that we can have delicious new harvest rice in the fall, it makes it a rather dull month for seasonal produce: The summer’s bounty of ...
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Kuroda vows to avoid rate volatility confident deflation can be beaten
By tightening procedures to receive livelihood assistance, a bill just submitted to the Diet could end up raising the suicide rate and the number of deaths by ...
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Abe adviser called for deadline to resolve abductions during North trip
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s adviser, when visiting North Korea last week, called for setting a ';deadline'; in bilateral talks aimed at resolving the thorny issue of the abductions of Japanese, sources said Friday. The new details shed more light on the meetings between the adviser, Isao Iijima, and senior North Korean officials that took place during his four-day unannounced ...
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Angelina Jolie a brave woman and a role model
Humanitarian mission: Angelina Jolie (left) and Brad Pitt visit refugees in Bosnia on April 5, 2010, to highlight the plight of 117,000 people who have not been able to return to their homes even though the Bosnian war ended 15 years earlier. | ...
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Ex-sex slaves won’t meet Hashimoto
OSAKA - Two former South Korean ';comfort women'; canceled their planned Friday meeting with Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) coleader Toru Hashimoto, saying through a representative that they did not want to become his political pawns. Kim Bok Dong, 87, and Kil Won Ok, 85, are currently traveling around Japan and speaking about their experiences as sex slaves for the ...
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Science sponsors abetted Miura’s Everest success
Mission accomplished: Yuichiro Miura (left) and his son, Gota, pose for a photo with a flag after reaching the summit of Mount Everest on Thursday. | MIURA DOLPHINES ...
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‘Abenomics’ still has long way to go
Economy Despite smooth talk, getting firms to raise pay and boost individual spending tall order for Abe ‘Abenomics’ still has long way to ...
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Driverless cars pilotless planes … will there be jobs left for us
LONDON - Suddenly a robotized, automated economic reality is moving off the science fiction pages and into daily life. The growing use of unmanned battlefield drones is encouraging the growth of pilotless commercial aircraft — the first ever flew in British airspace last month. Google’s driverless car is completing ever more trials ever more successfully: the world’s major car ...
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LeBron Kobe earn All-NBA honors
NEW YORK - LeBron James was a unanimous pick for the All-NBA team and Kobe Bryant earned his record-tying 11th first-team selection. James received all 119 votes for the first team from a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the U.S. and Canada. Joining the league’s MVP and Bryant on the first team Thursday were Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant, San Antonio center Tim ...
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Indians pound Red Sox in Francona’s return to Fenway
Indian cinema is being feted in Cannes on its 100th birthday, but amid the celebrations, the ';B-word'; — Bollywood — remains controversial. The French film festival has rolled out the red carpet for Indian cinema this year, with events including a gala dinner and ...
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Griffin striving to be ready for season opener
ASHBURN, VIRGINIA - Robert Griffin III’s rehab started with a ';cry festival.'; Then came a special new passcode for his cellphone and a chance to hash things out with coach Mike Shanahan. There’s also been a Twitter rant about political correctness, some flak about all the wedding gifts he’s received and, most recently, a suggestion from his father that the ...
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Coach K stays on Team USA
Claude Regy says the team at the Shizuoka Performing Arts Center (SPAC) threw him the ';best birthday party ever'; when he arrived in Japan just days after the actual May 1 occasion. The 90-year-old French director is hoping for an even better birthday gift, ...
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FILA changes impress IOC’s Rogge
LONDON - Wrestling’s governing body has ';reacted well'; and made the necessary changes to give the sport a chance of saving its place in the Olympics, IOC President Jacques Rogge said. Rogge said FILA has dealt with the issues that led the IOC executive board in February to remove wrestling from the list of core sports for the 2020 Games. ';I think they had the good ...
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Kitajima claims victory in 100-meter breaststroke at Japan Open
Throughout most of Japan, June is the rainy season. While all that rainfall is great for rice paddies so that we can have delicious new harvest rice in the fall, it makes it a rather dull month for seasonal produce: The summer’s bounty of ...
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Cole not fit for England captaincy
LONDON - He is seen as the type of player who gives footballers a bad name. Someone who typifies all the perceived negatives about the modern-day player. Ashley Cole is the snarling face of the beautiful game, someone who disputes every decision made by a referee or an assistant, someone who seems to thrive on his unpopularity. Greedy, unfaithful, ungrateful with a grudge against the media to ...
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Detroit moves out to 3-1 lead
DETROIT - Jimmy Howard kept Jonathan Toews in his misery, making three saves against the struggling star to help the Detroit Red Wings beat the Chicago Blackhawks 2-0 on Thursday night in Game 4 of the second round series to put the NHL’s best team during the regular season on the brink of elimination. When Howard wasn’t using his glove or pads to deny Toews, Detroit’s skaters ...
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Geary’s vision drive keyed Yokohama’s title run
There was something refreshing, interesting and fun about the Yokohama B-Corsairs from the beginning. It wasn’t always the easiest thing to explain in a few short words. Sure, there were the carefully orchestrated parts — the Xs and Os, in-game adjustments — but the bj-league team just seemed to know what it was doing from the get-go. Head coach Reggie Geary walked onto the ...
Osaka Digest
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Osaka sees first InterContinental hotel built
Osaka is a major travel destination within Japan and the wider Asian region for business travelers and leisure tourists alike. The city is an economic powerhouse and part of the backbone of the Japanese economy. It makes sense for InterContinental to finally open a hotel here then.
Osaka is the second command center of the Japanese economy after Tokyo, with a daytime and nighttime population that reflects the massive draw of the city as an economic powerhouse. Read more
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