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This article examines the accident at a uranium-processing plant north of Tokyo that occurred in Japan in Oct 1999. Relevant points include a description of how the accident is believed to have happened and whether US nuclear facilities are liable to a similar accident.

Small cars are attracting much attention in Japan. Suzuki's 1998 Wagon R. sales outperformed Toyota Corolla, Japan's top-selling car. Although these cars find little interest in the US markets, producers are preparing to market them in Europe and Asia. The sticker price for these cars run as low as $6,000 and have a gas efficiency of 70 miles per gallon.

South Korean President Dae Jung has abandoned Asian values in favor of global capitalism and has introduced a new form of Western-style economics that is aimed at boosting the country's economy. The South Korean economy sank into crisis in 1997, requiring a $58 bil bailout by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Withe the help of IMF, the country is moving towards economic recovery faster than Japan and other Asian countries.

The Indonesian middle-class such as doctors, lawyers, and professors are rising against the government of President Suharto. They realize that the Asian crisis has made millions of people desperate for simple necessities such as food, water, and shelter. They have organized a circle of women who buy milk each week and sell it for half price to poor families. Some contend that Indonesia could lose a generation because of malnutrition.

AS THE HOLLYWOOD establishment spearheads a broad new campaign against China's iron-handed rule, an inside look at the mountain kingdom turns up some surprising results: widespread freedom of worship, resurgent [...]

Japan's new prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, is a lively, unconventional figure who has won strong popular support and changed the face of Japanese politics. However, he faces tough economic and political challenges.

Japanese government in late Nov 1998 called on consumers to spend their money to get the country out of the recession. However, many consumers refused despite great savings available in every shop. Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi has introduced his new $189 bil economic-stimulus plan that allocates $69 bil for computerized highways and social infrastructure, $49 bil in new loans for enterprises, a one time $50 bil tax cut set to take effect in 1999, and $6 bil in vouchers for the elderly and households with children.

Chung Ju Yung in Nov 1998 sent 501 cattle to North Korea as a gift to famine-ravaged country. His gift earned him a visit from North Koran leader, Kim Jong II, who told him he was ready to begin a cooperative new era between North and South. South Korea's President Kim Dae has also stated that his government would support religious, journalistic, and other exchanges with the North.

China's new leadership and Bill Clinton's impending 1998 visit to China has allowed democracy debates to flourish in Beijing. The change differs from the 1989 predominantly student led protests, in that the urban middle class, the intellectuals and peasants are all participating.

Zhu Rongi, China's new Prime Minister, is expected to implement a radical restructuring plan that will dismantle and streamline many of China's state owned industries. The former economic czar must stimulate growth, rebuild China's state banking system, create millions of jobs and protect China from Asia's economic turmoil.

Last week's summit, dominated by the debate on human rights, demonstrates just how far apart Washington and Beijing remain on key issues IT BEGAN, AS POSTSUMMIT PRESS conferences are apt [...]

At next week's summit, the Chinese president is determined to make America love him JIANG ZEMIN IS CURSED BY HIS cue cards. Under their spell he sounds like the Soviet-trained [...]

Clinton is eager to negotiate a major strategic understanding with China. But Beijing seems intent on bulling its way into the club of elite nations. WASHINGTON SERETLY offered China a [...]

Reports on obstacles faced by relief efforts in Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries affected by the Christmas Indian ocean tsunami. Political problems that plagued the affected areas before the tsunami and related obstacles plaguing relief efforts, including a low-grade civil war over Indonesia's Aceh province, a terrorist organization in Sri Lanka, government corruption and smuggling of relief goods; Hopes that the United States' relief effort will improve its image among Muslims, among fears that United States involvement in Indonesian affairs could complicate the war against Al Qaeda.

Reports on the Southeast Asia tsunami disaster. Explanation of the seismic mechanics behind the earthquake that caused the tsunami; Various stories of survival, loss, and heroics; Detection of the earthquake by Stuart Weinstein of Hawaii's Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, declaring it posed no threat; Lack of sea-level wave monitors in the Indian ocean, making it impossible for tsunami watchers in Hawaii to know there was a tsunami in the Indian ocean; Chronology of the tsunami's destruction, from Sumatra to Thailand to Sri Lanka and India and finally to Africa. INSET: HOW TO HELP THE VICTIMS.

Reports on the release of Sony's PlayStation 2 (PS2) which is equipped to play DVD movies, play audio compact discs, and has capability to hook into the Internet. Emotion Engine, a fast, high-powered chip set that is fine-tuned to generate the building blocks for 3 dimensional graphics; Role of Nobuyuki Idei, president of Sony; Popularity of the machine even before its release.

Byline: George Wehrfritz At face value, China's latest GDP numbers look impressive. Official figures released last week show that the world's fastest-growing major economy expanded 6.8 percent last quarter and [...]

Byline: George Wehrfritz Setting a minimum wage for Asia's poorest workers could help speed the world out of recession. Henry Ford, that lion of industrial innovation, was also a champion [...]

Byline: Solenn Honorine and George Wehrfritz Indonesia is managing the global recession better than most, thanks to its tough finance minister. Last month a financial tidal wave washed over Indonesia, [...]

Byline: George Wehrfritz and Jaimie Seaton The public siege of its airports may be over, but the country's political crisis is just heating up. Last week, after Thailand's high court [...]

Byline: Jason Overdorf and George Wehrfritz Terrorism hasn't yet derailed India's growth story. You couldn't strike a blow closer to the heart of Indian finance. Mumbai's downtown waterfront--the setting of [...]

Byline: George Wehrfritz As the factory to the world, China may be the nation most vulnerable to collapsing global demand. Workers are losing factory jobs at the fastest rate in [...]

Byline: George Wehrfritz An interview with Jim Walker, who predicted China's slump long before the crisis hit. Apocalyptic forecasts are a dime a dozen these days. Yet Jim Walker--former chief [...]

Byline: George Wehrfritz And Akiko Kashiwagi Japanese firms flush with cash are acquiring rivals all over the world. On Nov. 11, Japan's Mitsubishi Rayon Co. announced that it would pay [...]

Byline: George Wehrfritz and Adam B. Kushner; With Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop in Singapore and Jason Overdorf in New Delhi Corporate big spenders may have to fold as the credit crisis exposes [...]

Byline: George Wehrfritz The fallout from China's housing slump is now spreading fast, to makers of car, steel and more. Shanghai and Hangzhou are a long way from Detroit and [...]

Byline: George Wehrfritz China's crisis is the opposite of America's. The subprime-mortgage crisis laid bare America's decadence. The world's largest economy is rife with overconsumption of everything from McMansions to [...]

Byline: George Wehrfritz; With Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop In SingaporeWith In Singapore Asian economies--and the once booming sectors that drove them--face a spate of new challenges. Asia's budget-airline king, Tony Fernandes, is [...]

Byline: Jaimie Seaton AND GEORGE Wehrfritz The real enemy of demonstrators threatening to shut down the country is globalization. Among the thousands of protesters who have occupied Thai government offices [...]

Byline: George Wehrfritz Two efforts to redraw the poverty line in Asia find that millions more are barely getting by. It's hard to imagine a balance sheet where the accounting [...]

Byline: George Wehrfritz; With Jaimie Seaton in BangkokWith in Bangkok The pundits laughed at Thaksin, but his economic populism is spreading in Asia, even as he leaves. In political terms, [...]

Byline: George Wehrfritz and Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop Four directors discuss the evolving role of theater in exploring sensitive issues like sex, race and politics. From their digs in a row house [...]

Byline: George Wehrfritz; With Ko Shu-Ling in Taipei Factories are closing in the Pearl River Delta, just as Beijing planned. The next step is even harder. It hasn't been determined [...]

Byline: GEORGE WEHRFRITZ IS CHINA THE FINANCIAL EQUIVALENT OF THE scariest celestial body in the universe? In a new report that crunches Beijing's opaque numbers, analysts at Standard Chartered Bank [...]

Byline: George Wehrfritz To stretch their battered food dollars, Americans are turning to a much-maligned staple: Spam. Sales of the canned meat product rose 10 percent over the previous three [...]

Byline: George Wehrfritz And Stefan Theil; With Rod Nordland In Rome, Akiko Kashiwagi In Tokyo And Chris Yabes In Negros The world's poor are paying the price for years of [...]

Byline: Barrett Sheridan and George Wehrfritz; With William Underhill, B.J. Lee, Stefan Theil and Melinda Liu The eco-movement is turning governance upside down. Who's winning this brand-new game? With less [...]

Byline: George Wehrfritz and Jason Overdorf; With Christopher Flavelle, Ana Elena Azpurua and John Sparks in New York The world could be one crop failure away from an actual food [...]

Byline: George Wehrfritz and Jonathan Adams; With Jaimie Seaton in Bangkok and B. J. Lee in Seoul Asians are rallying to new leaders promising something the region once took for [...]

Byline: George Wehrfritz, Erika Kinetz and Jonathan Kent; With Joe Cochrane In Indonesia And Sudip Mazumdar In New Delhi Millions of Asian workers producing goods sold here are trapped in [...]

Byline: Lorien Holland and George Wehrfritz Purged, jailed and humiliated in the late 1990s, Anwar Ibrahim has staged a remarkable comeback at the helm of an opposition insurgency. Anwar Ibrahim [...]

Byline: George Wehrfritz Plug-and-play electric cars for urban drivers are pushing the envelope on green. Just don't try gunning them--yet. For Linda and Michael Pearce, the barrier to totally green [...]