Tag - weapons

 
 

WEAPONS

WORLD
Dec 4, 2014
In Syria, U.S.-trained rebels await more weapons, training
Syrian rebel commander Abdulaziz says U.S. military training helped his men kill at least 15 Islamic State fighters in a recent battle near Aleppo. Three months earlier, a similar engagement had gone the other way, with two of his men slain.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 3, 2014
Rattled by Chinese subs, India joins other nations in rebuilding fleet
India is speeding up a navy modernization program and leaning on its neighbors to curb Chinese submarine activity in the Indian Ocean, as nations in the region become increasingly jittery over Beijing's growing undersea prowess.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 2, 2014
Japan gains traction as builder of new Australia subs
Australia will not hold an open tender to replace its aging Collins-class submarines, government officials say, a decision that bolsters Japan's position as the likely builder of the new multibillion-dollar fleet.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 27, 2014
Merkel hits diplomatic dead end with Putin
After nine months of non-stop German diplomacy to defuse the crisis in Ukraine, Chancellor Angela Merkel decided in mid-November that a change of tack was needed.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 26, 2014
Aussie official backpedals on foreign subs
Australia's defense minister apologized on Wednesday after saying he would not trust the government-owned submarine firm "to build a canoe," comments that fueled expectations that most work in a program costing 40 billion Australian dollars ($34 billion) will go offshore.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Nov 24, 2014
Iran has no easy 'Plan B' if nuclear talks with major powers collapse
Iranian officials say they can turn to Beijing and Moscow if talks in Vienna fail to end Western sanctions, but with oil prices falling, China's economy slowing and Russia in its own sanctions-induced slump, Tehran's "Plan B" hardly looks ideal.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Nov 22, 2014
U.S., Iranian officials discussing new ideas to break nuclear impasse
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif are discussing new ideas aimed at breaking the deadlock in nuclear talks between Tehran and six world powers, sources close to the talks said Friday.
WORLD
Nov 21, 2014
Iran nuclear talks stuck, deadline may be extended: officials
A deadline for resolving a 12-year-old dispute over Iran's nuclear program may be extended from Monday until March because of sharp disagreements between Tehran and world powers, officials close to the talks said on Thursday.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 11, 2014
Rebooting nuclear security
In these days of economic woe, potential pandemic disease and widespread civil unrest, it may come as a surprise that so many people around the world still view nuclear conflict as the greatest threat facing humanity. And for good reason.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Nov 4, 2014
Qatar cuts its help for Islamists carefully
Qatar has joined the American-led coalition to fight Islamic State, yet the emirate is a haven for anti-Western groups and foreign diplomats have reported seeing cars with Islamic State logos in an affluent bay district.
Japan Times
WORLD / FOCUS
Oct 29, 2014
Imminent U.S. revamp of nuclear weapons, subs and planes is too costly, some say
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel grabbed a ladder extending through the sleek black hull of the USS Tennessee at a U.S. Navy submarine base in Kings Bay and disappeared down the hatch for a close look at one of the Pentagon's most daunting budget issues.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 27, 2014
Taiwan eyes homegrown submarines after 13-year wait on U.S. deal
Taiwan is moving ahead with plans to build its own submarines, with an initial design to be completed by year-end, after lengthy delays in getting eight vessels under a 2001 U.S. defense deal and as China's navy expands rapidly.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 26, 2014
Iraqi Army, Shiite militias push Islamic State out of key southern towns; Kurds make gains in north
Iraqi government forces and Shiite militias seized control of the strategic town of Jurf al-Sakhar near Baghdad from the Islamic State group Saturday and Kurdish fighters made gains in the north after heavy coalition airstrikes against the Sunni militants.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Oct 20, 2014
U.S. airdrops arms to Kurds fighting in Syrian town of Kobani
The U.S. military said it had air-dropped arms to Syrian rebels fighting Islamic State militants near Kobani on Sunday in what appeared to be the Pentagon's first public acknowledgment it has delivered lethal aid to the rebels.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 18, 2014
If you'd nuked a city, you'd feel guilty too
The author T.C. Boyle in the preface to his book "Stories II" published last year made a convincing argument that runs counter to the conventional wisdom to "write what you know." Boyle said: "A story is an exercise of imagination — or, as Flannery O'Connor has it, an act of discovery."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Oct 11, 2014
Black Rain
Masuji Ibuse's classic 1965 novel "Black Rain" takes readers into the everyday lives of a family poisoned by radiation sickness. The narrative structure carefully balances between the present time of the novel and journal entries from the bombings of Hiroshima to craft a carefully wrought masterpiece...

Longform

An ongoing shortage of rice has resulted in rising prices for Japan's main food staple.
Why Japan is running out of rice — and farmers to grow it