TMCnet News
Kyodo news summary -2-+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)TOKYO, April 17_(Kyodo) _ ---------- Weather satellite Himawari 6 fails to send images due to glitch TOKYO - Japan's weather satellite, Himawari 6, has been unable to send weather observation images to the ground due to glitches in its computer system to control its position, the Japan Meteorological Agency said Monday. The problem, which occurred at around 1 a.m. Monday, is "the most serious trouble since the satellite started its operations in June last year," the agency said. ---------- Japan, U.S. agree to move flight drill site off Iwojima TOKYO - Japan and the United States have agreed to relocate the site for flight drills by U.S. carrier-borne aircraft from Iwojima Island in the Pacific to a permanent site in Japan in fiscal 2009 at the earliest, Tokyo sources said Monday. Tokyo and Washington will include the agreement on the transfer of the site used for night landing practice in a set of accords on the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan, they said. ---------- Man sentenced to life in prison for murder, other charges TOKYO - The Tokyo District Court on Monday sentenced a man to life in prison for murdering a restaurant manager in Yokohama in 2004 and other charges. Tokuhisa Kumagai, 65, shot Fumio Shimizu, a 77-year-old Chinese restaurant owner, in the face at his house in Yokohama on May 29, 2004, and stole 430,000 yen, according to the ruling. Shimizu died the next day. ---------- Nepal's political parties ask donors to halt aid for royal gov't KATHMANDU - Nepal's major political parties opposing King Gyanendra's direct rule have called on friendly countries and donors to stop offering aid for the royal regime as anti-king protests and rallies have continued to rock the Himalayan kingdom. "We appeal to friendly countries, donor agencies and international financial institutions not to provide any loans, grants or economic assistance for the unconstitutional government," the coordination committee of the seven-party alliance that is spearheading the protests said in an appeal issued Sunday. ---------- Police start questioning Kimura Construction chief TOKYO - Police on Monday started questioning Moriyoshi Kimura, president of Kimura Construction Co., in connection with a scandal involving fabricated quake resistance data, investigative sources said. The company built more than half of the buildings using falsified quake-resistance data supplied by now-disqualified architect Hidetsugu Aneha, 48. Kimura Construction is undergoing bankruptcy proceedings. ---------- Ex-Imperial Japanese Army soldier found alive in Ukraine TOKYO - It has been confirmed that a former Imperial Japanese Army soldier is living in Ukraine, officials at the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said Monday. Ishinosuke Uwano, 83, from Iwate Prefecture, was in Sakhalin, Russia, at the end of World War II, and is now living in Ukraine with his family, according to the officials. |