CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Four astronauts are back on Earth after a 200-day space station mission. They rode home Monday in a SpaceX capsule, parachuting into the Gulf of Mexico near Pensacola, Florida, in darkness. The astronauts from the U.S., France and Japan departed the International Space Station eight hours earlier. The toilet in…
TOKYO (AP) — Simone Biles will not defend her Olympic title. The American gymnastics superstar has withdrawn the all-around competition to focus on her mental well-being. The decision comes a day after Biles removed herself from the team final following one rotation because she felt she wasn’t mentally ready. Jade Carey, who finished ninth in…
TOKYO (AP) — The Tokyo Olympics will allow some local fans to attend when the games open in just over a month. This goes against the country’s top medical adviser who has recommended the safest way during the COVID-19 pandemic is without any fans. Fans from abroad were banned several months ago. Japanese organizers have…
TOKYO (AP) — Tokyo is denying that a U.S. warning for Americans to avoid traveling to Japan will have an impact on Olympians. Japan is determined to hold the Tokyo Games that start July 23. The U.S. cited a surge in coronavirus cases in Japan caused by virus variants that may even pose a risk…
TOKYO (AP) — A full-page newspaper ad in Japan has condemned the government for forcing people to endure the pandemic without vaccines. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, meanwhile, is vowing to hold a safe Tokyo Olympics, even as hospitals struggle to find beds for the sick and dying in parts of Japan and many Japanese desperately…
By MARI YAMAGUCHI , Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was re-elected as head of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party in a landslide Thursday, paving the way for up to three more years as the nation’s leader. The decisive victory may embolden Abe to pursue his long-sought revision to Japan’s U.S.-drafted pacifist…
By EUGENE HOSHIKO, HARUKA NUGA and MARI YAMAGUCHI , Associated Press SAPPORO, Japan (AP) — A powerful earthquake Thursday on Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido triggered dozens of landslides that crushed houses under torrents of dirt, rocks and timber, prompting frantic efforts to unearth any survivors. At least nine people were killed, Prime Minister…
TOKYO (AP) — A strong earthquake knocked over walls and set off scattered fires around metropolitan Osaka in western Japan on Monday, killing at least three people and injuring more than 300. A 9-year-old girl was killed by a falling concrete wall at her school, and the two other fatalities were men in their 80s.…