Asia

Radioactive material released into the sea in the Fukushima nuclear power plant crisis is more than triple the amount estimated by plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co, Japanese researchers say.
Japan's biggest utility estimated around 4,720 trillion becquerels of cesium-137 and iodine-131 was released into the Pacific Ocean between March 21 and April 30, but researchers at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) put the amount 15,000 trillion becquerels, or terabecquerels.

Government regulations ban shipment of foodstuff containing over 500 becquerels of radioactive material per kg.

(Reuters) - China appears on track to build a modern, regionally-focused military by 2020, but often-touted advances like its stealth fighter jet are years away from being operational, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.

The front page headlines summed up the mood of cricket lovers after India was decimated for the second time in a row by England at Nottingham on Monday.
Not since 2008 have India lost two Tests in a series. The margins of defeat at Lords and Nottingham - 196 and 319 runs - have been downright embarrassing. Its star-studded batting line-up managed a mere 992 runs in four innings compared with England's more than 1,500 runs.
"India annihilated," reported The Hindustan Times, adding that India had "lost match and face". Pathetic, screamed Mail Today. "England Two Good," said a more benign headline in The Pioneer.

Toyota has increased its forecast for full-year sales.
Toyota Motor has reported a 99% drop in quarterly profits because of the impact of March's earthquake and tsunami.
Net profit for the three months to the end of June fell to 1.1bn yen ($14.2m; £8.7m) from 190.4bn yen last year.
Toyota was hit by a shortage of parts around the world due to the damage caused to Japan's supply chain by the natural disasters.
Despite falling first quarter sales, Toyota increased its forecast for full-year sales and profits.
It said it was recovering from the tsunami faster than expected, and raised its full-year forecast for net profit from 280bn yen to 390bn yen.

Toyota Motor Corp raised its annual profit forecast to a level well below market estimates, warning the stronger yen was hobbling it in the battle against South Korean rivals as it races to restore quake-hit production.
Toyota slumped to a first-quarter loss in April-June after the March 11 earthquake and subsequent tsunami all but halted production, crippling sales both at home and abroad.
But the loss was smaller than investors feared and the world's largest automaker said supply chains were recovering quickly, enabling it to raise its full-year operating profit forecast by half, to 450 billion yen ($5.9 billion).

Today at Robotech 2011, Professor Sawada from Kagawa University in Japan demonstrates its talking robot, a robot capable to mimic and reproduce the natural human speech. Thanks to a clever set of different elements that duplicate human organs with the Lung/Trachea, Vocal Cords, Vocal Tract/Nasal Cavity, Professor Sawada and his team came up with a unique robot offering a natural speech reproduction.
The elements responsible for this achievement includes a regular Airflow, with Pressure and Control Valve, as well as a Resonance Tube (the Pink Fake mouth) with 8 Resonance Control Motors (Vocal Cord), a Nasal Cavity and a silicon tongue.