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President Barack Obama speaks at the White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism, Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015, in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House Complex in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

White House says economy improving but wages stagnant

By Dave Boyer - The Washington Times

In this Thursday, Feb. 12, 2015 photo, Japanese animated film director Isao Takahata speaks about his latest film &quot;The Tale of The Princess Kaguya&quot; with its poster during an interview at his office, Studio Ghibli, in suburban Tokyo. The princess laughs and floats in sumie-brush sketches of faint pastel, a lush landscape that animated film director Isao Takahata has painstakingly depicted to relay his gentle message of faith in this world. But his Oscar-nominated work stands as a stylistic challenge to Hollywood’s computer-graphics cartoons, where 3D and other digital finesse dominate. Takahata says those terms with a little sarcastic cough. The 79-year-old co-founder of Japan’s prestigious animator, Studio Ghibli, instead stuck to a hand-drawn look. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

Hand-drawn ‘Princess’ stands apart from other Oscar nominees

By YURI KAGEYAMA - Associated Press

In this Jan. 28, 2015 photo, a man walks by a screen showing TV news reports of a YouTube posted by a militant group on Jan. 27, purportedly showing a still photo of Japanese hostage Kenji Goto holding what appears to be a photo of Jordanian pilot Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, in Tokyo. Images or mentions of knives, ransom or blood - or anything else that can be seen alluding to the hostage crisis involving two Japanese in Syria - have been cut out. Some anime and other entertainment programs are altering, canceling or postponing episodes violating those sensitivities - typical of the kind of self-restraint shown here to avoid controversy. The fates of a Japanese journalist and Jordanian military pilot were still unknown Saturday, Jan. 31 after the latest purported deadline for a possible prisoner swap lapsed with no further messages from the Islamic State group holding them captive. A second Japanese hostage has reportedly been killed. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Kenji Goto purportedly beheaded by Islamic State group

By Maggie Ybarra and Kellan Howell - The Washington Times

This file image taken from an online video released by the Islamic State group's al-Furqan media arm on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2015, purports to show the group threatening to kill two Japanese hostages that the militants identify as Kenji&#160;Goto Jogo, left, and Haruna Yukawa, right, unless a $200 million ransom is paid within 72 hours. (AP Photo, File)

Denis McDonough repeats U.S. refusal to negotiate hostages with Islamic State

By Tom Howell Jr. - The Washington Times

This file image taken from an online video released by the Islamic State group's al-Furqan media arm on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2015, purports to show the group threatening to kill two Japanese hostages that the militants identify as Kenji&#160;Goto Jogo, left, and Haruna Yukawa, right, unless a $200 million ransom is paid within 72 hours. (AP Photo, File)

Video shows beheaded Haruna Yukawa; U.S. rejects ransom

The Washington Times

In this Aug. 6, 1945 file photo, the Enola Gay Boeing B-29 Superfortress lands at Tinian, Northern Mariana Islands after the U.S. atomic bombing mission against the Japanese city of Hiroshima. (AP Photo/Max Desfor)

Restoring Enola Gay, Tuskegee, other bombers at aviation museum

By WAYNE CRENSHAW - Associated Press

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, center, and his cabinet ministers, escorted by a Shinto priest, arrive at the Grand Shrine of Ise, central Japan, for offering a new year's prayer Monday, Jan. 5, 2015. Japanese Prime Minister Abe said Monday that his government would express remorse for World War II on the 70th anniversary of its end in August. (AP Photo/Kyodo News)

Shinzo Abe, Japanese prime minister, to ‘show remorse’ for WWII

By Jessica Chasmar - The Washington Times

BOOK REVIEW: ‘America in Retreat: The New Isolationism and the Coming Global Disorder’

By Robert McFarlane

FILE - In this Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2014, file photo, a man walks by a sign advertising currencies of an exchange office in Moscow. Russia has been badly affected by the slide in oil prices in 2014, and the ruble has plunged despite big increases in interest rates as much of Russia's economy is based on energy. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File )

Global oil impact: Who’s hurting, happy, hopeful

By Jonathan Fahey - Associated Press

In this April 20, 2013, file photo, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, third right, strikes a pose with members of Japan's girls pop unit "Momoiro Clover Z" during his cherry blossoms viewing garden party at Shinjuku-gyoen garden park in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Junji Kurokawa, File)

Shinzo Abe emerging as a rare strong leader in Japan

By Ken Moritsugu and Mari Yamaguchi - Associated Press

BOOK REVIEW: ‘Mao’s Revolution and America’s Fateful Choice’

By John M. Taylor

In this image released by Universal Pictures, Jack O'Connell portrays Olympian and war hero Louis "Louie" Zamperini in a scene from "Unbroken." The film, directed by Angelina Jolie, did not receive any Golden Globe nominations on Thursday. (AP Photo/Universal Pictures)

Angelina Jolie’s ‘Unbroken’ sparks Japanese boycott calls due to WWII torture claims

By Douglas Ernst - The Washington Times

A secret North Korean document obtained by Western intelligence states the late dictator Kim Jong-Il conceived and directed a program to kidnap foreigners and bring them back to his communist country to force them to become spies against their home countries, The Washington Times has learned. (Associated Press/Korea News Service)

Kim Jong-il of North Korea ordered foreign kidnappings to create spies: secret document

By Bill Gertz - The Washington Times

Tiger Woods holds himself up on the first tee during the third round of the Hero World Challenge golf tournament on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2014, in Windermere, Fla. Woods lost his voice overnight and was nauseated before and during the third round at Isleworth. (AP Photo/Willie J. Allen Jr.)

Jordan Spieth rolls, Tiger Woods gets sick at Hero World Challenge

By Doug Ferguson - Associated Press

FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke displays tag with the name USA during the FIFA Women's World Cup draw in Gatineau, Quebec,. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Fred Chartrand)

Women’s World Cup draw leaves U.S. in tough group

By Anne M. Peterson - Associated Press

Peru's Minister of the Environment and new President of COP20, Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, talks during the opening ceremony of the Climate Change Conference in Lima, Peru, Monday, Dec. 1, 2014. Delegates from more than 190 countries will meet in Lima for the next two weeks to work on drafts for a global climate deal that is supposed to be adopted next year in Paris. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

Climate change impacts heat up UN talks in Lima

By Karl Ritter and Frank Bajak - Associated Press

FILE - In this Jan. 7, 2013 file photo, a Japan Airlines Boeing 787 jet aircraft is surrounded by emergency vehicles while parked at a terminal E gate at Logan International Airport in Boston as a fire chief looks into the cargo hold. A report by federal accident investigators points to a manufacturing defect as the likely cause of an internal short circuit that led to a battery fire in a Boeing 787 airliner parked at Boston's airport last year. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report released Monday says an inspection of the manufacturing plant in Japan where the battery was made found that flaws and debris in lithium-ion aircraft batteries were going undetected. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia, File)

NTSB points to battery defect in Boeing 787 fire

By Joan Lowy - Associated Press

In this Oct. 17, 2014 photo, a worker walks at power plant area in Cirebon. The sprawling power station that hums and coughs along this coast in Indonesia is labeled as a Japanese contribution to the global fight against climate change. The plants promote new coal technology from Japanese companies, which is cleaner than old coal technology but still pollutes far more than solar, wind or natural gas. Villagers nearby also complain that the coal plant is damaging the local environment, and that stocks of fish, shrimp and green mussels have dwindled. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

Climate funds for coal highlight lack of UN rules

By Karl Ritter and Margie Mason - Associated Press

AP News in Brief at 5:58 a.m. EST

Associated Press

Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, talks with guests during the Tusk Conservation awards at an hotel in central London, Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2014. (AP Photo /Ian Gavan, Pool)

Prince William to visit China, Japan next year

Associated Press