JAPAN

The U.S. lost its AAA credit rating from Standard and Poor's for the first time in history, dealing a symbolic blow to the world's economic superpower. The impact of this downgrade is a matter of speculation.

The United States wouldn't enjoy "risk-free" top AAA credit rating any longer. Standard & Poor's decision, being questioned by many including the White House, to downgrade AAA rating to AA+ was based on an analysis which blew up U.S. deficits by $2 trillion.

For more than a century, mysterious crop circles have baffled scientists and farmers with its complex patterns and sophisticated shapes.

Researchers in Japan used embryonic stem cells to grow healthy mouse sperm on laboratory dishes, a development which could help treat human infertility, they said Friday.

The attacks ? the only time nuclear weapons have ever been used in world history to date ? killed tens of thousands of people and shocked the planet with the scale of their destruction.

U.S. President Barack Obama hailed a positive jobs report on Friday but said more job growth is needed and predicted the situation will improve over time.

One of the world's leading economists says don't get giddy over the July jobs report, which indicated the U.S. economy created a better-than-expected 117,000 jobs. NYU Professor Nouriel "Dr. Doom" Roubini, who accurately predicted the housing crisis four years ago, says U.S. GDP will be sub-par in 2011 and the risk of a recession is real.

Honda Motor Co Ltd will recall 2.49 million cars, small SUVs and minivans worldwide, including its popular Accord sedan, to repair a software problem that could damage the automatic transmission.

Parts of China?s eastern coast have been placed on alert as severe typhoon Muifa approaches the Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces, close to Shanghai.

The crumbling of mega-merger talks between Japanese industrial behemoths Hitachi <6501.T> and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries <7011.T> threatens a rare opportunity for Japan to improve its global competitiveness by consolidating century-old companies.

Overseas stocks are plunging following the devastating sell-off in the U.S. Thursday, ahead of a crucial July jobs report out of Washington.

In one of the world's biggest lawsuits, Apple Inc has sued Samsung Electronics for slavishly copying the 'look and feel' and 'design' of its products iPad tablet and iPhone smartphone. Both Samsung and Apple entered into a legal battle over patent infringement in the month of April 2011. Samsung counter sued Apple in 4 countries in 3 different continents.

World stocks sank for an eighth straight session of losses on Friday, with investors racked by worries about the slowing global economy and the dangerous spread of euro zone debt anguish into Italy and Spain.

Oil tumbled as much as 6 percent on Thursday, with U.S. crude crashing through technical support to its lowest since February as mounting fears of a stalled economy set off a global race from riskier assets.

Japanese stocks on Friday tumbled to their lowest since the post-quake rout in March as investors ran for exits after the worsening financial crisis in Europe compounded anxiety over a weak U.S. economy that has come close to stalling.

After the terrible rout in markets on Thursday investors spoke of holding fast and even poking around for buying opportunities, but that's hard when the market is likely facing another weak U.S. jobs report on Friday.

Investors fled U.S. stocks and dumped commodities on Thursday, rushing to the safety of government bonds on growing fears the global economy was weakening.

World stock markets fell for the eighth straight session on Friday to the lowest since late 2010, with more losses feared if policymakers do not come to the rescue soon to stabilize the euro zone's debt crisis and prevent the U.S. economy from sliding back into recession.

Vibrations from the devastating earthquake that hit Japan in March 2011, triggering a massive tsunami, had almost reached the outer space, a new study has revealed.

Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Friday repeated that he was closely watching yen moves, signalling Tokyo's readiness to continue with its yen-weakening intervention that media said reached a record 4 trillion yen ($50.6 billion).

Investors fled Wall Street in the worst stock-market selloff since the middle of the financial crisis in early 2009 in what has turned into a full-fledged correction.The Dow and the S&P tumbled more than 4 percent on Thursday and the Nasdaq lost 5 percent on fear the United States is staring at another recession and that Europe's sovereign debt crisis is swallowing two of its largest economies.