CHINA & JAPAN: 9 chats with top true-crime authors

A con man extraordinaire who fell for an epic Big Con. A killing – along with a blimp crash, race riot and transit strike – that turned Chicago upside down. The brutal murders of beautiful young British women in 2000 Japan and 1937 China. And the legacies of the worst school massacre in American history (not Newtown) and of that horrific day at Columbine High. The pointless and immensely tragic assassination of a now-forgotten president. The eternal fascination of Alcatraz. Plus a man named Roosevelt who tried, in vain, to turn back the violence and vice of New York City in the 1880s and 1890s. Over the past year, I interviewed authors who have tackled each one of these topics. With a couple exceptions, their books were published in 2012. And with no exceptions, all are great – if sometimes harrowing – reads. Here are excerpts from our chats. Click on the links to read the full interviews.

JAPAN & US: The anatomy of an alliance | Video

As Japan's new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe prepares for his first meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, Reuters looks at the current state of ties ...

TRAVEL: Cuts a ‘calamity’ for air travel

The Obama administration is heightening its warnings about looming budget cuts by emphasizing an area the traveling public already dreads: gridlock in the skies.

The White House rolled out Republican Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on Friday to warn that sequestration would bring “calamity” to air travel by forcing the FAA to close dozens of control towers and eliminate overnight shifts at others, in turn prompting airlines to cancel or delay flights. Delays would be as much as 90 minutes, he said.