EARTHQUAKE

The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, in a in a 4-1 vote, has allowed on Thursday new reactors to be built in the country since 1978.

On the snowy fringes of Japan's Fukushima city, now notorious as a byword for nuclear crisis, Zen monk Koyu Abe offers prayers for the souls of thousands left dead or missing after the earthquake and tsunami nearly one year ago.

CNN analyst Roland Martin has been suspended indefinitely after posting several homophobic tweets during the Super Bowl. Martin has agreed to meet with GLAAD, a gay rights group, and CNN has condemned them as regrettable and offensive. But compared to other Twitter controversies, Martin got off easy: for seven other celebrities, their tweets got them fired.

The Beatles seemed to arrive from another planet – their looks, their music and their infectious personalities had a charm and appeal that America had never witnessed before.

Toyota Motor Corp. will add 400 jobs at its Indiana plant to produce the hybrid version of its Highlander sport-utility vehicle, shifting production of the SUV from Japan to the United States.

Officials are gravely concerned about the final death toll, considering the unknown number of people missing

Toyota Motor Corp. raised its full-year net income forecast Tuesday by more than a third, as the Japanese automaker has cut costs and spending and as newer vehicles have bumped up sales.

Rescuers in the Philippines are searching for survivors by digging debris with their bare hands after a 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck in the central Philippines which killed dozens of people.

Dozens of people are missing and at least 43 dead after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck central Philippines on Monday.

The shock to the U.S. economy after the housing bubble burst in 2008 was like an earthquake which has left one part of the land higher than another part, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said, in a somewhat critical note on the actions of the U.S. central bank.

A magnitude 6.7 earthquake off the central Philippines island of Negros killed at least seven people on Monday, including two children, with government offices and schools ordered to close after at least 40 aftershocks.

A 6.8-magnitude earthquake that shook the central Philippines province of Negros Oriental on Monday, killed at least 44 people, buried dozens and has left many missing, officials told the media.

The Philippines was shaken by a 5.6 magnitude earthquake early in 2012, as a quake struck off the island of Samar on Saturday.

A powerful earthquake struck the Pacific Ocean near the island nation of Vanuatu on Thursday, seismologists said, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

Faced with international political tensions, disruptive weather and natural disasters and global economic woes, oil companies in the U.S. and Europe reported overall declining earnings for the fourth quarter, even as they earned. The good news is that the U.S. became a net energy exporter for the first time since 1949.

Ailing Japanese electronics giant Sony Corp warned it was heading for a bigger-than-expected $2.9 billion annual loss, presenting a daunting task for incoming CEO Kazuo Hirai, who vowed to move quickly to turn things around.

The risk to public health from a severe nuclear power plant accident in the United States is very small because reactor operators should have time to prevent core damage and reduce the release of radioactive materials, U.S. nuclear regulators said in a study on Wednesday.

Japan's ailing electronics giant, Sony Corp (6758.T), warned investors on Thursday it was heading for a worse-than-expected $2.9 billion annual loss, revealing the daunting task ahead for its incoming chief executive, Kazuo Hirai.

The incoming new chief of Japan's Sony Corp will confront the enormity of his task to turn around the business on Thursday, when the humbled electronics icon is expected to show it is headed for its fourth straight annual loss.

At least 52 people are dead and nearly 600 injured after a massive snowstorm battered Japan, dumping some 10 feet of snow on its western coast. The storm, said to be the worst snowstorm in six years, caused at least one steel bridge to collapse and forced school closures in towns and cities across the region.

The health impact of last year's Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan appears relatively small thanks partly to prompt evacuations, the chairman of a U.N. scientific body investigating the effects of radiation said on Tuesday.