Akita is on top and Osaka and Kochi are slumping once again, according to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, following the announcement of the results of the National Assessment of Academic Ability.

Japan's national baseball team, which had gone to the Olympics determined to bring home a gold medal, finished in fourth place.

A large collection of photos of the aftermath of the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 in Yokohama have been found in the home of a Tokyo resident.

KDDI Corp., the operator of au brand cell phones, has announced the release of the Sharp Urbano, a mobile phone targeting middle-aged and elderly customers that is due to go on sale mid-September.

The Oita Prefectural Board of Education has decided to sack 21 teachers confirmed to have illicitly passed the employment exam for the 2008 academic year, following an investigation into a recruitment scandal.

When University of Michigan professor Scott Page was in charge of admissions for the university he did not look only at test scores, but also focused on students' personal backgrounds and experiences.

The U.S.

The Social Insurance Agency has announced that nearly 1.19 billion yen in pension benefits went unpaid between April 1999 and July 2008 due to a mistake in calculating pension amounts for people receiving an elderly workers' salary supplement under an employment insurance scheme.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- A man under arrest in Afghanistan in connection with the abduction of a Japanese man who was later murdered said that the Taliban ordered the kidnapping, it has been learned.

FUKUSHIMA -- Prosecutors have dropped an appeal against the acquittal of a doctor who was charged over the death of a 29-yer-old woman during a Caesarean section operation.

What would you do if mistaken for a molester on a packed commuter train and arrested? Kenzo Akiyama, 67, is a former judge-turned-lawyer who comes to the aid of defendants in these kinds of cases of false charges.

KOBE -- A baby panda that was born through artificial insemination at a local zoo died only three days after birth, zoo officials said.

Ajinomoto Co.

Japan Rugby Football Union (JRFU) executives held an emergency meeting Friday after it emerged that police had obtained an arrest warrant for an Australian rugby player with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' Sagamihara team on suspicion of illegal drug use.

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology released the results of nationwide academic tests for sixth-year elementary school students and third-year junior high school students on Friday, highlighting gaps in academic ability among schools across the nation.

As the Bush administration nears the end of its term, it will have to deal with another thorny issue.

The body of Kazuya Ito, a staff member of the nongovernmental organization Peshawar-kai, was recovered Wednesday.

Torrential rain lashed the Kanto and Tokai regions overnight and in the predawn hours of Friday, leaving one person in Aichi Prefecture dead and three missing, while about 500,000 households were advised to take shelter.

Denny's family restaurant chain is going to reduce its food prices in an attempt to attract thrifty consumers amid a spate of price hikes affecting food and other daily goods.

Agriculture Minister Seiichi Ota failed Friday to provide a clear-cut explanation over about 23 million yen in office expenses that his support group claimed in 2005 and 2006 even though it registered his government-paid secretary's Tokyo home as its office.