EARTHQUAKE

Not every Haitian immigrant to the United States completes the dangerous journey to get there, but those who do can have a surprising effect on the quality of life upon the island of their birth.

Though rents went down, grocery bills shrank and companies trimmed their workforce after the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami, Tokyo edged past Angolan capital Luanda to become the world?s most expensive city for expatriates in Mercer?s 2012 survey.

Two earthquakes rocked Afghanistan Monday, killing up to as many as 100 people and causing a landslide that destroyed 20 houses.

Political and economic decisions over the next week have serious consequences for the country's future.

Computer-generated imagery may have enhanced New Zealand's already otherworldly peaks and valleys, but what you see in The Lord of the Rings films is the real deal and is certain to fill you with the giddiness of a hobbit.

A powerful earthquake of magnitude 5.8 hit Greece's island of Rhodes and southwestern Turkey Sunday, injuring six people who were trying to jump from balconies and windows in panic, observatories and local media reported.

A 5.9 magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia's West Java province at 6:18 p.m. local time Monday, sending shock waves through the capital of Jakarta, about 100 miles from the epicenter.

The Internet has been on high alert for zombies since last Saturday, when a 31-year-old homeless man from Miami named Rudy Eugene was discovered chomping on another homeless man's face and neck before he was shot and killed by police.

U.S. car sales soared 47.6 percent for the American Honda unit of Honda Motor Co. Ltd. (NYSE: HMC) in May, as the Japanese automaker consummated its recovery from last year's triple disaster (earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdowns), with strong sales of its flagship Civic and Accord cars.

Japan's industrial production gained in April from the previous month but remained below expectation, raising concerns about the country's faltering economic growth momentum.

Japanese industrial output rose in April at a slower pace than expected, in a discouraging sign that China's slowing economy and Europe's sovereign debt crisis will weigh on Japan's recovery.

The most recent earthquake to hit northern Italy occurred on Tuesday, May 29, in the morning. The 5.8 magnitude quake struck the Modena Province, which is about 11 miles away from the epicenter of a previous earthquake that hit just nine days earlier.

Rescue teams will construct makeshift shelters and tents for displaced people and those who are too afraid to return home. However, the region's emergency resources are reportedly low because of the last disaster.

Japan?s unemployment rate rose in April compared to previous month increasing concerns of the country?s faltering economic growth momentum.

The Golden Gate Bridge -- across the Golden Gate Strait between San Francisco and Marin County -- was a larger-than-life engineering project undertaken against dangerous odds, and it opened 75 years ago on Sunday against vehement protest, at the cost of 11 lives.

Do host cities make money?

Japan reported Wednesday a rise in trade deficit in April compared to a year earlier as the nuclear energy crisis has resulted in the increase of oil and gas imports.

The 2,080-foot Tokyo Skytree, the world's tallest freestanding tower, opened to the public on Tuesday.

Yousuf Raza Gilani and Recep Tayyip Erdogan also vowed to significantly increase the volume of trade between Turkey and Pakistan.

The United States and Japan are leading a fragile economic recovery among developed countries that could yet be blown off course if the euro zone fails to contain the damage from its problem debtor states, the OECD said on Tuesday.

The Italian government will call a state of emergency on Tuesday in the areas affected by Sunday's 5.9 magnitude earthquake.