TOKYO (AFP) ― Japan’s current account surplus tumbled 43.9% to a 15-year low in 2011 as the nation logged a trade deficit due to lower exports and higher energy costs, government data showed Wednesday.The surplus in the current account, the broadest measure of trade with the rest of the world, stood at 9.63 trillion yen ($125 billion) in 2011, the lowest level since 1996, the finance ministry said.The figure was down 43.9% from 2010, the sharpest year-on-year decline since 1985.The surplus in re

TOKYO (AFP) ― Three of Japan’s biggest electronics companies are to join forces in a chip-making venture, reports said Wednesday, days after a swathe of dire results from a sector struggling to compete globally.Panasonic, which earlier said it expected to lose more than $10 billion this year, is set to hook up with Renesas Electronics and Fujitsu as they look for economies of scale in an increasingly difficult marketplace.The three companies will spin off their system chip design and development

BEIJING (AP) -- Police in eastern China are hunting for a knife-wielding man who broke into a middle school Wednesday and stabbed two students before fleeing, local officials said.The victims were not seriously wounded and no motive was given for the attack, which echoes a string of such assaults ag

Jesse Jackson Jr. says ticket purchase for girlfriend was not an ethics violationRep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., said Monday that he did not violate House ethics rules when he had a longtime friend and fundraiser buy a plane ticket for a woman who had a secret relationship with the congressman, the

When students return to the school where two teachers were jailed last week for alleged lewdness, they’ll have new teachers in their classrooms, a new principal in the front office and new workers serving lunch.In a move that experts said was unprecedented, the entire 120-member staff at Miramonte E

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The United States on Monday said it has bowed to demands from the European Union and Japan to end its controversial “zeroing” antidumping practice.U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said in a statement that Washington had signed agreements in Geneva with the EU and Japan “that will bring to an end longstanding disputes with these important trade partners over ‘zeroing.’”So-called “zeroing” is a practice of calculating the price of imports compared to the normal value in the U.

CAIRO (AP) ― Egypt’s military leader told electoral officials Monday to speed preparations for presidential elections after a new eruption of street protests demanding that the ruling generals move more quickly to hand power to an elected government.The military rulers had previously promised to hold presidential elections for their successor by the end of June. But Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the head of the ruling military council, asked election commission officials “to quickly finish lega

SAO PAULO (AP) ― Soldiers clashed with supporters of striking police in Brazil’s third-largest city on Monday, firing tear gas and rubber bullets at the feet of people trying to join officers occupying the Bahia state legislature building.The murder rate in Salvador, Bahia has more than doubled since the strike began a week ago ― but violence has quickly diminished since troops were sent in over the weekend.About one-third of the state’s 30,000 police are on strike, authorities say. The U.S. Emb

Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed resigned Tuesday following weeks of public protests over his controversial order to arrest a senior judge, the military said.Brig. Ahmed Shiyam told reporters that Nasheed has agreed to step down and hand over the presidency to his Vice President Mohammed Waheed Ha

JERUSALEM (AFP) ― Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned his officials to stop “blabbing” about the possibility of an attack targeting Iran’s nuclear program, the newspaper Maariv reported on Monday.Netanyahu is said to have directed the instruction at a number of military officials and government ministers who he believes have been speaking too freely about a potential Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.The newspaper, citing unnamed senior officials, said Netanyahu deliv

PARIS (AFP) ― German Chancellor Angela Merkel threw her weight behind French President Nicolas Sarkozy in his tough re-election battle Monday, saying the two right-wingers were from the same “political family.”Despite accusations in both countries of interference, Merkel used a visit to Paris for a joint Franco-German cabinet session to make clear her support for Sarkozy, who has increasingly cited Germany as a model for France.“We belong to the same political family. He supported me and it is n