Former Japanese Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa, who resigned from his post after appearing intoxicated at a news conference earlier this year, was found dead in his home Sunday, police told CNN. Tokyo police found Nakagawa, 56, lying face down on a bed on the second-floor of his home, Kyodo reported. Nakagawa submitted his resignation February 17, just three days after he appeared intoxicated at the G7 news conference in Rome, Italy. Japan's prime minister quickly appointed Kaoru Yosano, the economics ...

On February 12, 2009, Christopher Savoie received an e-mail from his ex-wife that he had feared would come. About a month after their bitter divorce, in which Noriko Savoie promised as part of the agreement she wouldn't return to Japan with their children to live, she threatened to do just that. "It's very difficult to watch kids becoming American and losing Japanese identity,'' Noriko Savoie wrote her ex-husband in the e-mail, according to Tennessee court documents. "I am at the ...

The man charged with forming a government in Lebanon said Thursday he would not do so after the opposition rejected his proposed Cabinet. Saad Hariri, the head of the pro-Western "March 14 coalition," declared Thursday he was stepping down as prime minister-designate, a role he got after his party won the largest share of the vote in elections in June. He presented a slate of proposed ministers earlier in the week, but Hezbollah and the group led by Maronite Christian ...

A North Korean delegation arrived in Seoul, South Korea, on Friday to mourn former South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung, best remembered for trying to foster better relations between the two neighbors, the South's media reported. "Mourning the passing of the late president Kim Dae-jung ..." said the great white wreath adorned with a black ribbon delivered on behalf of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. The six-members of the delegation bowed their heads in front of the altar set ...

Insurgents' use of roadside bombs has increased dramatically in Afghanistan this year, according to Pentagon statistics, and the United States' top military official is calling them the "No. 1 threat" to troops there. In June there were 736 incidents in Afghanistan involving roadside bombs, called improvised explosive devices or IEDs, and 82 "effective attacks," ones that caused casualties among coalition forces, the figures show. That was up from 263 incidents and 25 effective attacks in February, with the numbers increasing ...

The Russian supreme court on Thursday overturned a not guilty verdict and ordered a retrial for three suspects in the killing of a journalist, a defense attorney said. The ruling overturns the February acquittal of three men in the October 2006 killing of journalist Anna Politkovskaya. After a nearly year-long trial, jurors decided there was not enough evidence against brothers Ibragim and Djabrail Makhmudovs and former interior officer Sergei Khadjikurbanov, who were accused as accomplices. That case was seen as ...

Denny's, one of the many casual dining chains whose sales are suffering in the recession, needs a few thousand customers like Cory McGrath. On Apr. 7 McGrath, 20, saw a television ad for a Denny's promotion that was taking place the next day. The deal: buy one of it famous $5.99 "Grand Slam"breakfasts, and get a free "Grand Slamwich," a tasty heart attack consisting of scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, shaved ham, mayonnaise and American cheese on potato bread, for a pal . Sold. The following ...

Chinese exports plunged 25.7 percent, to $64.90 billion, in February compared with the previous year, the government reported Wednesday, as the once-white hot economy fell victim to the international economic downturn.

The U.S. Navy could hand over seven suspected pirates held aboard a U.S. ship to Kenyan authorities for prosecution as early as this week, according to U.S. military officials. Pentagon officials said the transfer of the pirates to Kenyan authority was close. The suspects had been moved to a smaller U.S. ship that would move them to a Kenyan port to be handed over, they said. The handover would be the first since the United States and Kenya struck an ...

Days after being chosen to form the next Israeli government, Benjamin Netanyahu met with moderate party leaders in an attempt to lure them into a government under his leadership. Netanyahu, who heads the conservative Likud movement, made no real progress in his separate talks with Kadima party leader, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Labor party leader Defense Minister Ehud Barak. "I am not going to give up on this," Netanyahu said Monday. "I want to try and make every possible ...