The Ministry of Justice announced on Thursday that it hanged two death-row inmates including a man found guilty of multiple murders in the 1990s, who had filed a retrial plea. The other inmate was convicted of killing a female colleague in 2011.

A giant panda gave birth to a cub at Ueno Zoo on Monday for the first time in five years, raising hopes of a tourism boost in the Tokyo metropolitan area. The economic impact of the baby panda is estimated at a staggering 26.7 billion yen.

A certified private nursery in western Japan was found to be secretly accepting children beyond its approved capacity and serving smaller lunches for toddlers to cut costs.

The Japanese government reached a three-way agreement on Friday with business and labor leaders to limit monthly overtime work to less than 100 hours during busy periods.

US actress Meryl Streep blamed President-elect Donald Trump, without naming him, for mocking a disabled reporter in her acceptance speech at the Golden Globe Awards on January 8th.

Fidel Castro, who led the Cuban revolution in the late 1950s that made his Caribbean island a communist state, died on Friday at the age of 90.

The National Police Agency is advising drivers 65 and older to consider returning their license voluntarily following a series of recent traffic accidents caused by elderly drivers.

Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in cities across the United States to protest against President-elect Donald Trump since the stunning election result on Tuesday.