Japan will start using the traditional order for Japanese names in English in official documents, with family names first, a switch from the Westernized custom the country adopted more than a century ago, government officials said Friday.
The idea has been floated for years and but some ministers in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ultra-conservative Cabinet recently started pushing for it again.
The Cabinet agreed Friday to begin making the change with government documents, though no timeline was given for its start.
"It is important for all of us in the world to recognize language and cultural diversity as we live in an increasingly globalized society," said Education Minister Masahiko Shibayama, a vocal supporter of the move.
"It is significant to make a change per Japanese tradition and write family name before the first name."
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said usage guidelines and other details still need to be discussed further. Suga said he looked forward to going by Suga .

Japan to put surname first for Japanese names in English

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New Zealand authorities say they found more than a half ton of methamphetamine hidden inside a shipment of 60 electric motors from Thailand.
Customs Investigations Manager Bruce Berry told The Associated Press on Friday they believe a sophisticated Canadian drug cartel is behind the shipment.
He said they have been tracking two Canadians for several months who they believe were sent separately to New Zealand to receive and sell the drugs.
Two Canadian men in their mid-20s and one New Zealand man have been arrested and charged with importing and possessing methamphetamine. They each face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment if convicted.
Berry said international criminal organizations are looking for new markets and New Zealand has proved attractive to them.

New Zealand officials find half ton of meth hidden in motors

Fighting between their allies in southern Yemen has opened a gaping wound in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates' coalition against the country's rebels. If they can't fix it, it threatens to tear the country apart into even smaller warring pieces.
Last week saw a stunning escalation in the turmoil in the south, as Emirati warplanes blasted fighters loyal to Yemen's internationally recognized president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi  the man the coalition is supposed to be trying to restore to power.
Dozens were killed, and the UAE rubbed salt in the wound by calling Hadi's forces "terrorists." Hadi's loyalists call the strike a "turning point" and accuse the UAE of fomenting a coup by its allied militias to topple his government and seek secession in the south.
In August, the militias overran Aden and other southern cities, driving out Hadi's forces in bloody fighting. When they tried to expand into oil-rich Shabwa province, the Saudis rushed supplies to Hadi's forces to drive them ..

Cracks in Saudi-UAE coalition risk new war in Yemen

Pope Francis is wrapping up his visit to Mozambique by meeting with HIV-infected mothers and children at a Catholic Church-run hospital in one of the countries hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic.
The Zimpeto Hospital is the latest to be opened by the Sant'Egidio community, a Rome-based charity that helped broker Mozambique's 1992 peace accord and then launched a comprehensive AIDS initiative to provide antiretroviral therapy to infected Mozambicans. Since its 2002 launch, the project has treated some 200,000 people.
Many of them are pregnant women who receive therapy to prevent transmission to their unborn children. According to UNAIDS, sub-Saharan Africa remains the most severely affected region, with 1 in 25 adults living with HIV.
Francis is visiting the Zimpeto hospital Friday before celebrating Mass and flying to Madagascar.

Pope highlights HIV-AIDS in visit to Mozambique hospital

An Afghan official says the Taliban have attacked a third provincial capital in less than a week, with an overnight assault on the western city of Farah.
Provincial Governor Mohammad Shoaib Sabet says there's no immediate word of casualties early Friday and that airstrikes have been carried out against the militant group.
The growing violence comes as a U.S. envoy says he and the militant group have reached a deal "in principle" on ending America's longest war.
Resident Shams Noorzai says the Taliban seized an army recruitment center close to Farah's main police headquarters and set it on fire. He says all shops have closed and some people are trying to flee.
The Taliban over the weekend also launched deadly attacks on the capitals of Kunduz and Baghlan provinces.

Taliban attack third Afghan provincial capital in a week

Students and alumni from at least five Hong Kong schools formed human chains Friday to raise awareness for the remaining four demands of protesters involved in months of demonstrations in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.
The continuing act of defiance came two days after Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam announced that her government will be formally withdrawing an extradition bill that sparked the demonstrations. The proposed legislation would have allowed Hong Kong residents to be sent to mainland China to stand trial.
Despite the hard-fought concession, some protesters have said they will continue their resistance because the government has committed to fulfilling only one of their five demands, which include electoral reforms and an independent inquiry into alleged police brutality.
Hong Kong is a former British colony that was returned to China in 1997 under the so-called "one country, two systems" framework, which promised the territory certain democratic rights not afforded to .

Hong Kong students form human chains in continuing protests

Robert Mugabe, the longtime leader of Zimbabwe who was forced to resign in 2017 after a military takeover, has died.
His successor Emmerson Mnangagwa confirmed Mugabe's death in a tweet Friday, mourning him as an "icon of liberation".
Mugabe was a former guerrilla chief who took power after the end of white minority rule in 1980 and presided over a country whose early promise was eroded by economic turmoil and human rights violations.
While Mugabe blamed Zimbabwe's economic problems on Western sanctions and once said he wanted to rule for life, growing discontent about the country's leadership prompted a military intervention, impeachment proceedings and large street demonstrations.
On February 21, 2018, Mugabe marked his first birthday since his resignation in near solitude, far from the lavish affair of past years.

Robert Mugabe, longtime Zimbabwe leader, dies at 95

The United States has blocked the UN Security Council from issuing a statement following the recent exchange of cross-border fire between the militant group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and Israeli forces in Israel, diplomats said Thursday.
The initial draft of the French-proposed council statement, obtained by The Associated Press, would have condemned "all violations of the Blue Line," which is the UN-drawn dividing line between the two countries.
Hezbollah militants on Sunday fired a barrage of anti-tank missiles into Israel, prompting a reprisal of heavy Israeli artillery fire in a rare burst of fighting between the bitter enemies who fought a month-long war in 2006.
The shooting quickly subsided without casualties on either side, but the situation remains volatile.
The proposed council statement urged all parties "to exercise maximum calm and restraint" and refrain from rhetoric that could jeopardize the cessation of hostilities agreed to by Israel and Lebanon after the 2006 ...

Diplomats: US blocks UN statement on Israel-Hezbollah fire

North Korea says it wants the UN international staff in the country reduced by the end of the year "due to the politicization of UN assistance by hostile forces", but the UN says its current "light footprint" is vital.
Kim Chang Min is secretary general of North Korea's National Coordinating Committee and says in a letter to the UN resident coordinator there that in recent years "UN supported programs failed to bring the results as desired due to the politicization of UN assistance by hostile forces."
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Thursday that "we're in dialogue at this point on the issue of cutting international aid staff."
He said UN and international organisations reached over 2 million people with humanitarian aid in 2018, including food, nutrition and health projects.

North Korea wants UN staff cut, but UN says they're vital

Black entrepreneurs who say people of colour are being shut out of the lucrative marijuana trade are joining forces to close the gap.
Real Action for Cannabis Equity, or RACE, launched Thursday in Boston, and its founders said the coalition will work to create more opportunities in the industry for minority owners.
Organisers said they're frustrated that all but two of Massachusetts' 184 marijuana business licenses have been issued to white operators. Voters in the state approved recreational marijuana use and sales in a 2016 referendum.
Across the US, black people have had difficulty entering the marijuana trade, often because they historically were targeted by anti-drug crackdowns that left them with criminal records.
In Massachusetts, black people were 3.3 times more likely than white people to be arrested for marijuana possession in 2014 -- two years before legalisation -- despite using the drug at similar rates, RACE said in a statement.
Many communities are using those ...

New push for racial equality in marijuana trade

James Atlas, an acclaimed author and editor of biographies, has died.
Fellow biographer Anne C. Heller says that Atlas had been ill and died on Wednesday at age 70. Additional details were not immediately available.
Atlas established himself in his late 20s with a biography of the poet Delmore Schwartz.
He later oversaw the highly regarded "Penguin Lives" series, for which prominent authors wrote brief works about historical figures.
Pairings included Edna O'Brien on James Joyce and Sherwin Nuland on Leonardo Da Vinci.
Atlas also wrote the memoir "My Life in the Middle Ages" and a biography of Nobel laureate Saul Bellow, criticized by some for being overly harsh.
The book strained his relationship with a mutual friend, Philip Roth, about whom Atlas released an audiobook in February.

James Atlas, author and editor of biographies, dies at 70

The Education Department said Thursday it was fining Michigan State University a record USD 4.5 million for failing to respond appropriately to sexual assault complaints against Larry Nassar, a former sports doctor at the school who also worked at USA Gymnastics.
"Too many people in power knew about the behaviors and the complaints and yet the predators continued on the payroll and abused even more students," Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said.
The fine is the largest ever levied under the Clery Act , which requires universities to report crimes on campus.
"What transpired at Michigan State was abhorrent, inexcusable, and a total and complete failure to follow the law and protect students," DeVos said.
Nassar is serving effective life sentences for possessing child pornography and molesting young athletes.
DeVos said the school also has agreed to take corrective action , including better reporting. "Never again should incidents of sexual misconduct on campuses_or anywhere_be swept ..

Michigan State University fined USD 4.5 million in Nassar case

Pakistani police say two bombs exploded minutes apart near a police vehicle at a bus terminal in the southwestern city of Quetta, killing one person and wounding 10 others.
City police chief Abdur Razzaq Cheema said a passer-by was killed and two others were wounded Thursday in the first bombing.
He said the second bomb wounded eight people, including policemen and a local TV journalist, when they reached the bus terminal responding to the first explosion. Cheema said some of the wounded persons were listed in critical condition at a government hospital.
No one immediately claimed responsibility, but the bombings came less than a week before Ashoura, the holiest day on the Shiite Muslim calendar, which mourns the 7th-century death of Imam Hussein, the grandson of Islam's Prophet Muhammad.

1 dead, 10 wounded in 2 bombings at bus station in Pakistan

Iran was poised Thursday to begin work on advanced centrifuges that will enrich uranium faster as the 2015 nuclear deal unravels further and a last-minute French proposal offering a USD 15-billion line of credit to compensate Iran for not being able to sell its crude oil abroad because of US sanctions looked increasingly unlikely.
Meanwhile, Iran released seven crew members from a detained British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero in a goodwill gesture and the mariners flew out of Iran, the ship's owner said.
Iran has yet to say officially what exact steps it will take as a deadline it gave Europeans to salvage the deal is to expire on Friday. However, centrifuges that speed enrichment would further shorten the time Tehran would need to have enough material available to build a nuclear weapon  if it chose to do so.
Under the deal, which has steadily unraveled after President Donald Trump's unilateral withdrawal of the U.S. from the accord last year, experts thought Iran would need about 

Iran poised for faster centrifuges as nuclear deal collapses

South Africa has closed its diplomatic missions in Nigeria, underscoring the growing strain between Africa's two largest economies after the latest wave of xenophobic violence in South Africa., the Department of International Relations and Cooperation said Thursday.
The department said while there had been "no direct physical threat" to any diplomats or staff, the situation remained "somewhat unpredictable" and there were sufficient safety concerns to close the offices in Lagos and Abuja on Tuesday.
On Sunday, violent mobs began looting and setting fire to foreign-owned businesses in several areas of Johannesburg and the South African capitol Pretoria.
The unrest lasted for four days, with at least five people killed and more than 250 people arrested.
Outbreaks of violence against Nigerians and citizens of other African nations have regularly erupted in South Africa in recent years, with some South Africans accusing foreigners of peddling illegal drugs or taking jobs when official ...

South Africa shuts embassies in Nigeria amid violence

The Trump administration official tasked with developing a plan to bring peace between Israel and the Palestinians is preparing to leave the White House.
Jason Greenblatt, Trump's special representative for international negotiations, will depart the administration in the coming weeks, the White House said Thursday.
The former Trump Organization lawyer had been leading the effort to devise the oft-delayed peace plan, and his departure casts further doubt on the proposal's future.
The White House says the peace plan is complete but will not be released until at least after this month's Israeli elections. The plan already is facing rejection by Palestinian officials, who object to strengthening ties between the U.S. and Israel.
In a tweet, President Donald Trump thanked Greenblatt for his service and said that Greenblatt's "dedication to Israel and to seeking peace between Israel and the Palestinians won't be forgotten."
He said Greenblatt is pursuing work in the private ...

Trump's Mideast peace envoy set to leave the White House

Black entrepreneurs who say people of colour are being shut out of the lucrative marijuana trade are joining forces to close the gap.
Real Action for Cannabis Equity launched Thursday in Boston, and its founders say the coalition will work to create more opportunities in the industry for minority owners nationwide.
Organisers say they're frustrated that all but two of Massachusetts' 184 marijuana business licenses have been issued to white operators.
Voters in the state approved recreational marijuana use and sales in a 2016 referendum.
Coalition co-founder Richard Harding says many communities are deliberately excluding people of colour as they license marijuana businesses.
Across the US, black people have had difficulty entering the marijuana trade, often because they historically were targeted by anti-drug crackdowns that left them with criminal records.

New push for racial equality in the marijuana trade

German prosecutors say they're investigating allegations that a company in Bavaria supplied Turkey with software that could be used to spy on Turkish dissidents.
Munich prosecutors said Thursday that they had opened the investigation into FinFisher after receiving complaints from a group of NGOs, including Reporters Without Borders Germany and the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights.
The NGOs allege the Munich-based company violated export laws by supplying the software to Turkey without permission from the German government, and that its product, FinSpy, was used in 2017 to target anti-government protesters by providing access to data on their phones.
Prosecutors are obliged to open an investigation when allegations of a crime are leveled.
FinFisher did not immediately respond to an email request for comment.

Germany investigating whether Turkey supplied with spyware

It started as a light-hearted challenge between a Florida couple, can a Smart car fit into their kitchen? The answer: Yes it can.
Patrick Eldridge parked his smart car in his kitchen to protect it from Hurricane Dorian because he didn't want it to "blow away" and to prove that he can park his car there.
Jessica Eldridge said her car was already parked in the garage. To avoid cleaning their garage out, her husband proposed to park it in the house.
"I said there was no way he could. He said he could," Jessica said.
"So he opened the double doors and had it in. I was amazed that it could fit. He had it in with no problems."
Dorian was skirting Florida's coast Wednesday, narrowly missing Jacksonville as it heads northward along the Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina coastlines.
The Category 2 storm has devastated the Bahamas, where rescue crews have only begun taking the full measure of the damage.
With the car in the middle of the kitchen, Jessica Eldridge had to move around it ..

Florida man parks Smart car in kitchen so it won't blow away

Hurricane Dorian, back to a Category 3 storm, began raking the Southeast US seaboard early Thursday and left tens of thousands without power as it threatened to inundate low-lying coasts from Georgia to Virginia with a life-threatening storm surge after its deadly mauling of the Bahamas.
Dorian squatted over the island nation as its strongest hurricane on record, leaving widespread devastation and at least 20 people dead.
But it weakened substantially in the days since, dropping from a Category 5 to a Category 2 storm before increasing again late Wednesday.
Dorian could maintain this intensity for several days before gradually weakening through Saturday, according to the National Hurricane Center.
As of early Thursday more than 68,700 customers in Charleston County and over 15,200 in Beaufort County were without power, according to Dominion Energy.
Berkeley Electric Cooperative reports another 12,600 lost electricity in Charleston County.
Duke Energy in a news release Wednesday said ..

Dorian, back to a Category 3 hurricane, creeps up US coast

Iran's government spokesman is warning that Tehran will "take a strong step" away from its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers if Europe doesn't offer the country new terms by a deadline this week.
Ali Rabiei made the comments on Monday to journalists in Tehran.
Iran previously set a Friday deadline for Europe to help Tehran sell its oil on the global market despite US sanctions.
Already, Iran has gone over the stockpile and enrichment limitations placed on it by the 2015 deal.
However, Tehran says those steps are quickly reversible.
Rabiei's comments came as Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is in Moscow and his deputy will travel to Paris with a team of economists for last-minute diplomacy before the deadline.

AP

AP

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