Elaine Kurtenbach

Read the latest stories and analysis from Elaine Kurtenbach.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivers a speech during his lecture at the University of the Sacred Heart in Tokyo, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2014. Modi is currently on a five-day visit to Japan. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

Modi promises red carpet for Japan firms in India

Elaine Kurtenbach · September 2, 2014 10:01 am

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, right, watches Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi drink a bowl of green tea during a tea ceremony at a tea hut of the Omotesenke, one of the main schools of Japanese tea ceremony, in Tokyo Monday, Sept. 1, 2014. Modi was on his official visit to Japan. (AP Photo/Yuya Shino, Pool)

Modi visit draws pledges of support from Japan

Elaine Kurtenbach · September 1, 2014 4:31 pm

Indian and Japanese students walk together near a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi at Global Indian International School in Tokyo Friday, Aug. 29, 2014. Japan and India both have much to gain from a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and more than a dozen Indian steel, energy and IT tycoons that begins Saturday in the ancient capital of Kyoto. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

India, Japan each seek deals during Modi’s visit

Elaine Kurtenbach · August 29, 2014 9:42 am

Pedestrians wait to cross a street at Shibuya shopping district in Tokyo, Friday, Aug. 29, 2014. Japan's vital signs remained weak in July as wages fell further and household spending dropped, signaling continued weakness in the world's third-largest economy. Data released Friday showed the inflation rate was unchanged from the previous month. The core price consumer index that excludes volatile fresh food prices rose 3.3 percent in July, the same as a month earlier. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

Japan economy stalls as incomes, spending languish

Elaine Kurtenbach · August 29, 2014 7:58 am

Riken Center for Development Biology director Ryoji Noyori speaks to the media after submitting the government-affiliated research center's organizational overhaul plan to Japanese education, culture, sports and science minister at the ministry in Tokyo Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2014. Riken, the Japanese laboratory that retracted a paper reporting a potentially major breakthrough in stem cell research, said Wednesday its researchers have not managed to replicate the results. Riken scientists said they are still trying to match results reported in two papers published by the journal Nature in January and then retracted in July. But they refused to say whether or not they expected to succeed in doing so. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT

Japan lab unable to replicate stem cell results

Elaine Kurtenbach · August 27, 2014 2:11 pm

In this aerial image, rescuers search for the people still missing in the mud-covered residential area after the Aug. 20 landslides in Hiroshima, western Japan Monday, Aug. 25, 2014. The death toll from the landslides in the western city of Hiroshima climbed to at least 50 as local officials revised the number missing to 28 people. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT

Energy and Environment

Japan PM visits landslide site as complaints swirl

Elaine Kurtenbach · August 25, 2014 12:15 pm

In this aerial photo, a rescue helicopter hovers over an area devastated by a massive landslide in Hiroshima, western Japan, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2014. A several people died and at least a dozen are missing after rain-sodden hills in the outskirts of Hiroshima gave way early Wednesday in several landslides. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT

36 dead, 7 missing in Hiroshima landslide

Elaine Kurtenbach · August 20, 2014 1:46 pm

A cargo is unloaded from a truck to load onto a freight vessel at the pier of a container terminal in Tokyo, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2014. Japan's trade deficit rose in July from the month before to a wider than expected 964 billion yen ($9.4 billion), though exports were higher for the first time in three months, the government said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Japan trade deficit widens, exports up slightly

Elaine Kurtenbach · August 20, 2014 8:49 am

In this Wednesday, July 23, 2014 photo, U.N. Development Program Administrator Helen Clark of New Zealand speaks during an interview at a hotel in Tokyo. The U.N. Development Program reached similar conclusions in a report issued in July that urged governments to make providing employment and countering rising inequality top priorities.
The inequality debate is raging, says UNDP head Clark, because people are questioning the longstanding premise that in societies like the United States, opportunities are equal for all. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

UN human development report faults inequality

Elaine Kurtenbach · July 24, 2014 5:28 am

Japan trade deficit at record $75B in first half

Elaine Kurtenbach · July 24, 2014 2:37 am

Japan wary as US, Europe up sanctions on Russia

Elaine Kurtenbach · July 17, 2014 8:15 am

FILE - In Jan. 26, 2012 file photo, shoppers ride on escalators at an electronics retailer in Tokyo. Japan's industrial output has recovered slightly in May from a decline following an April sales tax, stabilizing as factories produced more machinery, vehicles and electronic devices. Factory output in the world's third-largest economy climbed 0.8 percent in May from a year earlier, and was up 0.5 percent from the month before, the economy ministry reported Monday, June 30, 2014. Output fell 2.8 percent in April. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara, File)

Japan May data show economy slowing but resilient

Elaine Kurtenbach · July 1, 2014 3:01 am