JAPAN

With YouTube fame reaching Bieber and Gaga levels, K-Pop groups are beginning to pick up in the US.

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.

Sony Corp named Vice President Kazuo Hirai as president and CEO, replacing Howard Stringer who will step down from day-to-day management in a long-expected change for a company struggling to regain its driving force in consumer electronics.

Resident Evil 6, which has been developed and published by Osaka, Japan-based company Capcom, is scheduled for a Nov. 20 release.

Japanese electronics maker Sharp said Wednesday it expected a full year net loss of $3.8 billion as it was confronting a slump in the sales of LCD color televisions and solar batteries.

ExxonMobil vice president of investor relations David Rosenthal said his company's lower than expected earning figures are largely due to lingering global economic weakness in Europe which hurt the U.S. economic recovery and prompted declines in industry and chemical refining.

The Burmese python is wrecking the Florida Everglades ecosystem and have devastated small mammal populations in the area, but its not the only species that is causing harm to the ecosystem.

Although plenty of early-adopters worldwide have already pre-ordered the Play Station Vita (http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/289809/20120130/ps-vita-games-price-release-date-playstation.htm) for $349.99, optimistic penny-pinchers may want to hold their breath, in the hopes that Sony or its retailers will drop the price in the weeks following the PS Vita's global release on February 22nd.

Samsung Electronics lost a bid to overturn a ruling barring its local unit from selling its Galaxy 10.1 tablets in Germany, handing a symbolic legal victory to Apple Inc in efforts to keep its lead spot in the tablet computer market.

Toshiba Corp., Japan's biggest chip maker, booked a 72 percent fall in quarterly operating profit on Tuesday and slashed its annual profit forecast as a strong yen and the Eurozone debt crisis hit profits.

Toshiba Corp., Japan's biggest chip maker, booked a 72 percent fall in quarterly operating profit on Tuesday and slashed its annual profit forecast as a strong yen and the Eurozone debt crisis hit profits.

Japan's Nikkei share average ended nearly flat on Tuesday, but logged its best January performance in 13 years as investors remained optimistic that the U.S. economic recovery could offset disappointing domestic corporate earnings.

JPMorgan on Tuesday said its global co-head of emerging markets and head of fixed income for Asia would be leaving the company.

Asian shares and the euro rose on Tuesday after Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos raised hopes that a deal would be reached this week to avoid a potentially chaotic debt default, but worries over Portugal's refinancing ability capped gains.

Japan's Nikkei share average was on track to snap a three-day losing run Tuesday and headed for its best January performance since 1999, as investors took cues from optimism about the U.S. economy and shrugged off weaker corporate earnings results.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's warned Monday that it may downgrade "a number of highly rated" Group of 20 countries in 2015 if their governments fail to enact reforms to curb rising health-care spending and other costs related to aging populations.

Rescue efforts are underway to save abandoned pets in Japan's Fukushima prefecture, and the future isn't looking too bright for all of them, especially those that may be left behind.

China lost an appeal at the World Trade Organization on Monday in a case about its export restrictions on raw materials, a ruling that could make it harder for major commodity exporters to withhold supplies on the global market.

Japan’s population may shrink by one-third over the next fifty years.

Japan's second-biggest refiner, TonenGeneral Sekiyu KK, said on Monday its $4-billion purchase of a controlling stake in itself from U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil Corp would help speed business decisions.