About 1,000 citizens and other people from trade unions and peace organizations held a rally in Yokosuka on September 13 demanding that the U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier George Washington leave Yokosuka Port.

The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), which has won the Aug. 30 general election by landslide, has vowed to construct a more "equal" Japan-US relations. On the other front, it said it will promote diplomacy with Asian countries, including China. But what exact challenges and opportunities are the two Asian powerhouses facing under the brand-new DPJ administration?

All candidates siding with advocates of the plan to build a new U.S. military base in Okinawa lost in all four Okinawa’s single-seat constituencies, and Japanese Communist Party Akamine Seiken calling for a retraction of the plan was re-elected from the proportional representation Kyushu-Okinawa bloc.

The main opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) leader Yukio Hatoyama speaks during a news conference after his party won the lower house election in Tokyo August 31, 2009. The DPJ is set to win Sunday's general election by landslide, sweeping the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) out of almost unbroken power since 1955.

About 7,800 people taking part in the 2009 World Conference against A & H Bombs-Nagasaki pledged to increase grassroots efforts to pave the way for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

In the Australian Senate last Thursday the Rudd government unsuccessfully attempted to pass legislation to introduce a greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme, and to develop the renewable energy industry so that 20 percent of Australia’s electricity can be produced from renewable technology sources by 2020.

The Rudd Labor government has embarked on a massive transformation of the health system in Australia that will turn Medicare on its head and firmly embed the private health insurers as managers of a US-style health system.

Yesterday, former US President Bill Clinton flew back to the US with two American journalists who had been detained in North Korea for four months and were granted a “special pardon” after Clinton had a rare meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

No strains of A/H1N1 have been found resistant to Tamiflu in Viet Nam, director of the National Institute of Infectious and Tropical Diseases Nguyen Van Kinh said yesterday.

The US-Australian Talisman Saber 09 (TS09) military exercise started as The Guardian went to press. TS09 which began on July 6 at the Shoalwater Bay Training Area near Rockhampton will conclude on July 26. Military of both countries will be met by peace campaigners calling for the war games to be canceled.

Four former administrative vice foreign ministers in early June acknowledged the existence of a secret Japan-US agreement allowing US nuclear weapons to be brought into Japan.

Scientists, sociologists, environmentalists, and representatives of international organizations explored measures to ensure sustainable development of the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta at a meeting held in Can Tho.

The three-year Korean War, which started June 25, 1950, left serious casualties, deepened the Cold War that lasted four decades, and prolonged hostility between the East and the West.

Following UN Security Council Resolution 1874 condemning North Korea's nuclear test, a project team of the ruling parties is calling for a special measures law to allow the Maritime Self-Defense Force to inspect cargo on North Korean ships on the high seas.

A cloud of war seems to be shadowing the Korean Peninsula. Amid the escalating threatening rhetoric and military alerts of the parties involved, the US has promised South Korea a nuclear umbrella.

What is at stake in opposing the Macapagal-Arroyo-sponsored Constituent Assembly is our right and responsibility to defend the people's democratic rights. While the current constitution is not perfect, it is only through the democratic exercise of our freedoms can we determine the changes needed for the rule of law to serve the people.

Vietnam’s Vaccine and Biomedical Product Company No. 1 (VaBiotech) has developed a new cholera vaccine that is superior to others currently in use. “The new vaccine offers 90 to 100 percent protection after two oral doses in comparison with 60 to 70 percent with the current vaccine,” said Dr. Nguyen Tran Hien, Director of Vietnam’s National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology.

There is little agreement amongst politicians, economists, business leaders and media commentators on the likely speed of economic recovery.

The mass media abroad are watching Japan because they think that such things as karoshi (death from overwork), unpaid overtime and the growth of the working poor are unimaginable in Europe.

The Communist Party USA is shocked and appalled at North Korea's recent nuclear test, as well as its subsequent test firing of at least two missiles. We see these acts as incredibly provocative and irresponsible.