Robert Fortune was a scientist, a botanist and, in some ways, an industrial spy. But he is best known as the man who stole tea from deep within China and took it to India in the mid-1800s, changing history.

Japan will back UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who has announced his bid for a second five-year term, top government official said on Tuesday.

Japan has frozen $4.4 billion in assets belonging to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his entourage under the terms of a UN Security Council resolution, a report said on Saturday.

The assets include

Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Thursday offered to step down once the country has recovered from the March 11 quake and tsunami in a concession to his enemies ahead of a no-confidence vote.

The

Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Thursday survived a no-confidence vote after pledging to step down once the country is firmly on the road to recovery from the March 11 quake and nuclear disaster.

Japan's centre-left premier, struggling with the quake, tsunami and nuclear disaster recovery and a flagging economy, had a no-confidence motion tabled against him by his opponents on Wednesday.

Alth

Tokyo Electric Power has restored the cooling system of the nuclear reactor and fuel pool at the No. 5 unit of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant in northeastern Japan, an official of the plan

A team of foreign inspectors due to visit Japan's stricken Fukushima plant began questioning officials today as part of a fact-finding mission on the world's worst atomic crisis since Chernobyl.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) has confirmed fuel meltdown in three reactors at its crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the Kyodo news agency said on Tuesday.

Japan is considering a plan that would make it compulsory for all new buildings and houses to come fitted with solar panels by 2030, a business daily said on Sunday.

The plan, expected to be unveiled