TMCnet News
Kyodo news summary -2-+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)TOKYO, April 20_(Kyodo) _ ---------- S. Korea summons Japan envoy to protest maritime survey SEOUL - South Korea's Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Ban Ki Moon summoned Japanese Ambassador to Seoul Shotaro Oshima on Thursday to reaffirm that South Korea will take "stern responses" if Japan conducts a maritime survey near a group of disputed islets, Ban's ministry said. Ban demanded that the Japanese government immediately abandon its plan to conduct the survey near the islets, which are known as Dokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan. ---------- Japan proposal on maritime survey unacceptable: S. Korean official SEOUL - South Korea would not accept a Japanese proposal that Japan would drop its maritime survey plan if South Korea would not try to propose its naming for the seafloor topography of disputed isles during an international conference, a high-ranking South Korean government official said Thursday. Song Min Soon, chief secretary for foreign and national security policies for the president, made the remarks on KBS radio. The international conference related to the appellation of seafloor topography will be held in Germany in June. ---------- Chinese leader arrives in Washington for talks with Bush WASHINGTON - Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived Wednesday in Washington, making his first trip to the U.S. capital for talks with U.S. President George W. Bush amid increasing friction over trade and currency issues. Bush will meet Hu at the White House on Thursday, with trade and currency issues expected to top the agenda along with the issues of political, religious and human rights, and the nuclear standoffs with Iran and North Korea. ---------- Violence continues as Australian, N.Z. troops enter Solomons SYDNEY - The Solomon Islands remain tense despite Australian and New Zealand troops rushing to the strife-torn South Pacific nation, Justice Minister Chris Ellison said Thursday. Australia has sent 110 troops and more than 70 police officers to help quell riots that erupted in the capital Honiara after Snyder Rini, a former deputy prime minister, was elected prime minister Tuesday. ---------- U.S. resumes issuance of nonimmigrant visa in Sapporo TOKYO - The United States resumed on Thursday the issuance of nonimmigrant visas at its Consulate General in Sapporo on Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido, the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo said. Applicants for nonimmigrant visas for work, study or research can make an appointment through the consulate general, and interviews will be conducted two to four days a month, the embassy said. ---------- Winny found in 166 computers used privately by police TOKYO - The file-sharing program Winny has been found in a total of 166 computers privately owned by police officers and police employees despite the risk of information leaks from the computers, the National Police Agency said Thursday. An NPA survey that covered 237,000 such computers across Japan also said police information was saved on seven of the 166 units and, aside from the 166, two units which were privately owned but used for work had the software. ---------- Site of Peru hostage crisis, ex-Japan envoy's residence, on sale MEXICO CITY - Japan has tried for several years to sell the land of a former residence of Japan's ambassador to Peru, the site of a four-month hostage crisis in 1996-1997, officials of the Japanese Embassy in Lima said Wednesday. The embassy has found no buyer for the some 6,223 square meters of land, which is empty as the building was demolished after the hostage crisis, they said. ---------- Koizumi to express apology, reflection over Minamata Disease TOKYO - Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi plans to reflect on and apologize for Minamata disease in a statement to be issued on the 50th anniversary of the disease's official recognition on May 1, government sources said Thursday. A draft of the statement on one of Japan's worst cases of pollution-related illnesses, caused by mercury-laced wastewater from a chemical plant, reads, "Sincerely reflecting on having allowed the spread of the suffering from Minamata disease, I offer an apology, once again, representing the government." ---------- Canada calls for transparency in selection of new U.N. leader NEW YORK - Canada called Wednesday for increased transparency in the process to select the next U.N. secretary general, calling the traditional process " ill-defined" and "opaque." Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations Allan Rock was speaking at the General Assembly on the selection process for a successor to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, who term ends this year. ---------- Security standards to be set for Japanese residential buildings TOKYO - The Japan Crime Prevention Association, an organization associated with the National Policy Agency, on Thursday unveiled certification standards for residential buildings that meet a set of crime prevention designs, including the installation of security cameras and improved security design. The buildings that meet the certification standards will receive a certification of excellence, which the government hopes would help the public choose apartments. ---------- Cancer deaths linked to Chernobyl likely to reach 16,000 by 2065 WASHINGTON - The number of people who will have died of cancer caused by radiation from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster may reach 16,000 by 2065 in 40 countries in the former Soviet Union and Europe, an agency under the World Health Organization said Wednesday. The International Agency for Research on Cancer tallied the figure, which was larger than similar projections by other organs, by widening survey areas and factoring in the health damage to more people who were exposed to low-level radiation after the accident. ---------- Over 20,000 people on death row across the world: Amnesty LONDON - More than 20,000 people are estimated to be on death row across the world, Amnesty International said in a report released Thursday. The human rights group said 5,186 people were sentenced to death in 53 countries last year and at least 2,148 people were executed in 22 countries, with 94 percent of the executions carried out in just four countries: China, Saudi Arabia, Iran and the United States. |