Can a hybrid engine be shrunk small enough to fit within the very narrow confines of a motorcycle? Honda thinks it can do it and if I was going to bet $700 billion of taxpayers’ money on that gamble, I would place the bet on Honda.

The US military is to court-martial four marines accused of the gang rape of a Japanese woman last year, in an apparent attempt to defuse anger over a series of alleged crimes by American servicemen. Local prosecutors dropped the charges against the...