Plutonium cache to be sent to US

Japan will send a huge cache of plutonium - enough to produce 50 nuclear bombs - to the United States as part of a deal to return the material that was used for research, reports and officials said on Tuesday.

Probe looks into sexual abuse of military kids

The children of US military members are victims in hundreds of incidents of sexual abuse each year, according to data the US Defense Department provided exclusively to The Associated Press.

IN BRIEF (Page 12)

Cutting edge of a cosmetic craze

Lying on an operating table in northern Teheran, Nazanine said she wanted it all: a third nose job, her eyebrows tattooed and liposuction on her thighs to "fix" her figure.

Govt calls for return of multiplication tables for young pupils

Generations of older people in England were drilled almost daily in their math lessons to learn by heart their 'times' tables'. Computers, calculators and changes in teaching methods saw an end to the tradition.

Quake strikes India, neighboring countries

A powerful earthquake struck South Asia before dawn on Monday, killing at least nine people and injuring nearly 200, with efforts to rescue those trapped in rubble hampered by severed power supplies and telecommunication links.

New York State communities told to get homeless off streets

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Sunday signed an order requiring communities statewide to take homeless people from the streets to shelters when temperatures reach freezing, saying he was ready for a legal challenge from anyone who believes "people have a civil right to sleep on the street and freeze to death".

Abe declares summit with Putin needed to resolve territorial row

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday that summit talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin must take place in order for the countries to forge a peace treaty.

Troops fight gunmen near Indian consulate

Afghan special forces fought with insurgents barricaded in a house near the Indian consulate in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif on Monday after an overnight attack that coincided with an assault on an Indian air base near the border with Pakistan.

Price of postage stamp rises

Australians will be required to pay around 40 percent more for a postage stamp as new costs for mail services rolled out on Monday.

Facebook's Zuckerberg unveils plan to build artificially intelligent butler

Mark Zuckerberg wants to build an artificially intelligent assistant in 2016 to help run his home and assist him at work, the Facebook Inc founder and chief executive said on Sunday.

Obama starts 2016 with a fight over gun control

US President Barack Obama is slated on Monday to finalize a set of new executive actions tightening US gun laws, kicking off his last year in office with a clear signal that he intends to prioritize one of the country's most intractable issues.