Japan's economy grew by a faster-than-expected 1.0 percent in the three months to March, official figures showed Thursday, as rising domestic demand and a boost in exports kept it on the recovery path.

(Reuters) - Veteran Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich, a liberal stalwart who lost his primary race after redistricting forced him to run against another Democratic incumbent, said on Wednesday he had ruled out a congressional bid in Washington state. Kucinich, 65, had said after he was defeated in March by Marcy Kaptur, the longest-serving woman in the U.S. House of Representatives, that he was considering the possibility of relocating to Washington state to run for Congress anew. ...

(Reuters) - Veteran Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich, a liberal stalwart who lost his primary race after redistricting forced him to run against another Democratic incumbent, said on Wednesday he had ruled out a congressional bid in Washington state. Kucinich, 65, had said after he was defeated in March by Marcy Kaptur, the longest-serving woman in the U.S. House of Representatives, that he was considering the possibility of relocating to Washington state to run for Congress anew. ...

Japan's economy grew an at annual rate of 4.1 percent in the first quarter amid a gradual recovery from last year's catastrophic earthquake and tsunami.

Singapore on Thursday stuck to its economic growth projections of 1.0-3.0 percent for 2012 but warned there was a chance of a "disorderly sovereign debt default" in the eurozone that could hit exports.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's economy bounced back in the first quarter from a year-end lull, powering ahead of other major industrial nations thanks to rebuilding of the tsunami-battered northeast, solid private spending and some improvement in exports. The world's third-largest economy grew 1.0 percent in the January-March quarter, just above a median forecast of 0.9 percent. A 0.2 percent contraction in the economy reported for the final three months of 2011 was revised up to flat in the government data released on Thursday. ...

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (Reuters) - The Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Wednesday named Rafael Reif, an electrical engineer born in Venezuela who has been the university's provost since 2005, as its 17th president. Reif, 61, replaces Susan Hockfield, the first female president of MIT, who announced in mid-February that she was stepping down after almost eight years leading one of the most prestigious universities in the United States. Reif will take up his post at the Cambridge, Massachusetts, university on July 2, the first MIT president not to be a native English speaker. ...

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (Reuters) - The Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Wednesday named Rafael Reif, an electrical engineer born in Venezuela who has been the university's provost since 2005, as its 17th president. Reif, 61, replaces Susan Hockfield, the first female president of MIT, who announced in mid-February that she was stepping down after almost eight years leading one of the most prestigious universities in the United States. Reif will take up his post at the Cambridge, Massachusetts, university on July 2, the first MIT president not to be a native English speaker. ...

What only weeks ago was seen as a serious threat to the economic recovery could now turn into a stimulus everyone can love.

Japan's economy grew by a faster-than-expected 1.0 percent in the latest quarter, figures showed on Thursday, as rising domestic demand and a boost in exports kept it on the recovery path.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Players and coaches with the New York Giants football team gathered at Tiffany & Co.'s flagship store in New York City on Wednesday evening to receive newly designed rings commemorating their Super Bowl victory earlier this year. The white-gold rings feature the Giants' logo in diamonds set in blue enamel and encircled by 37 blue sapphires, and is engraved with the years of the Giants' four Super Bowl victories, the first in 1986. "It's every boy's dream to come to Tiffany's and get a ring. ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The November 6 elections are less than six months away, but lawmakers and Washington insiders are already trying to figure out what Congress will do in a post-election session to avoid what is being described as a January 1 "fiscal cliff." That refers to a series of decisions on budget and tax matters President Barack Obama and Congress will have to negotiate in November and December. If handled poorly, the economic recovery could be threatened, economists fear. Here is what confronts Washington if nothing is done: At year's end, tax cuts enacted under President George ...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mary Kennedy, the estranged wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr, was found dead on Wednesday at her home in a New York City suburb, an officer at the Westchester County Medical Examiner's Office said. She was 52. Mary Kennedy had four children with Kennedy, the son of the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of President John F. Kennedy. He is a prominent New York environmentalist. ...

PHOENIX (Reuters) - Workers digging the foundations for a new office of an Arizona sheriff accused of discriminating against Latinos have unearthed the graves of early city founders, some of whom could have been immigrants from Mexico, officials said. Construction workers for Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's new office came across lines or depressions in the dirt last week that officials believed were a "minicemetery." "When we found the lines of depressions in the ground ... ...