TSUNAMI

Canadian commercial lending rose in the second quarter, PayNet Inc said on Wednesday, in a report that showed smaller businesses we're expanding even as economic storm clouds gather in Europe and the United States.

Typhoon Roke, the second typhoon to hit Japan this month, has left more than 250,000 households without power. Three people have been confirmed dead, while more are considered missing.

The storm made landfall near the city of Hamamatsu, about 125 miles west of Tokyo, and it is expected to move toward the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant

Six thousand troops have been deployed to the India-Nepal border, where a 6.9 magnitude earthquake hit Sunday night. The current death toll has risen to 90 people, about 50 from the Indian state of Sikkim, along with others in Nepal and Tibet.

Royal wedding and winning (as in Charlie Sheen's catch-phrase) were the two most used phrases on television in 2011, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

Sales jumped 2.7 percent in the month to C$46.7 billion ($46.7 billion) following three straight months of declines and beating estimates of a 1.3 percent gain, Statistics Canada said on Thursday.

There were at least four earthquake with magnitudes of 3.0 or higher on Thursday. Is that something the world needs to worry about?

Japanese manufacturing confidence improved for a fifth straight month in September but the pace of recovery slowed to a crawl, with a strong yen and faltering global growth starting to take a toll on the world's No.3 economy, a Reuters poll showed.

Lastel corpse hotel in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, offers rooms for the dead while the bereaved families wait their turn in the queue for one of the city's overworked crematoriums.

Big Japanese manufacturers turned optimistic in the third quarter following a rapid recovery in output after the deadly March 11 earthquake and tsunami, but scaled back forecasts for the months ahead on the yen's strength and as global slowdown looms.

A magnitude 6.4 earthquake that rattled Vancouver Island Friday afternoon was followed by dozens of aftershocks, and more is expected.

Weak jobs and housing starts data for August doused any hopes for robust growth after a bleak second quarter, underscoring its vulnerability to a struggling U.S. economy and the widening European debt crisis.

McDonald's Corp (MCD.N) reported a lower-than-expected rise in worldwide August sales at established restaurants on a steep drop in Japan and a lull in new product launches in the United States.

Ahead of the six month anniversary since the massive earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan on March 11, 2011, the country’s efforts to clear up debris are much in spotlight.

Delhi is considered to be in Zone 4 of the Earthquake Hazard Map of India and is therefore designated as being in the High Damage Risk Zone. There hasn't been a significant earthquake in the city's recent history, although it has experienced minor vibrations from quakes elsewhere in the country and in Pakistan.

A 6.6 magnitude earthquake hit Indonesia Tuesday morning, killing at least two people on the island of Sumatra.

Honda Motor Co. is recalling 962,000 Fit, CR-V Crossover and Fit Aria vehicles worldwide because of defects in power windows and computer systems.

Typhoon Talas has killed 29 people in Western Japan as it unleashed record rainfall that triggered landslides and flooding. The typhoon, which is now downgraded to a tropical storm, was the worst to hit the country in seven years. As many as 56 people are missing as the typhoon caused widespread damage.

A powerful typhoon hit western Japan's Kinki and Shikoku regions on Sunday, leaving at least 20 people dead and 55 missing in six prefectures after swollen rivers washed away buildings and landslides crushed houses.

As many as 21 people were killed when a military airplane crashed into the Pacific Ocean off Chile’s Juan Fernández Island, Chile’s government said on Saturday.

Noda, the former finance minister and a fiscal conservative, also vowed to rebuild Japan’s stagnant economy.