Tokyo  - A freight plane crashed Monday morning

Washington - Astronauts began work installing a crucial new solar panel on the International Space Station during a spacewalk on Thursday.

The panel is part of a truss segment that will complete the backbone of the station and boost its energy capacity, allowing the resident crew size to double to six astronauts.

US astronauts Steve Swanson and Richard Arnold left the safety of the ISS at 1714 GMT for the planned six-and-a-half hour spacewalk.

Washington  - Astronauts began work installing a crucial new solar panel on the International Space Station during a spacewalk on Thursday.

The panel is part of a truss segment that will complete the backbone of the station and boost its energy capacity, allowing the resident crew size to double to six astronauts.

US astronauts Steve Swanson and Richard Arnold left the safety of the ISS at 1714 GMT for the planned six-and-a-half hour spacewalk. They were to attach the segment to the backbone of the ISS with the help of ISS's motorized robotic arm.

Tokyo  - A young woman in a railway compartment curls her eyelashes while a young cuddling couple does not bother to make room for a man with a leg in a plaster cast. A young man sprawled straddle-legged across two seats leafs through a book.

You can see such displays of rudeness in Japan, at least on posters that are part of a campaign by Japanese railway companies to promote good behaviour among passengers. Many foreign travellers are surprised at the admonitions because Japan, of all countries, seems positively steeped in politeness.

Nevertheless, Japanese railway passengers are peppered with both visual and acoustic reminders of "manaa" or proper conduct, a term that comes from the English word "manners."

Tokyo  - Tokyo stocks rose upon opening Thursday after the Federal Reserve said it would buy more than 1 trillion dollars in bonds, but they ended the morning session lower as the US central bank's move caused the dollar to fall against the yen, hitting exporters' shares.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average temporarily rose above 8,000 before falling 49.28 points, or 0.62 per cent, to 7,922.89.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues also dropped 0.9 points, or 0.12 per cent, to 763.77.

Washington - Astronauts were steering a new solar panel into place using robotic arms on Wednesday ahead of a spacewalk to install the segment aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

The panel is part of a truss segment that will complete the backbone of the station and boost its energy capacity, allowing the crew size to double to six astronauts.