TMCnet News
Kyodo news summary -3-+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)TOKYO, April 23_(Kyodo) _ ---------- Sri Lanka asks int'l community to exert pressure on Tamil rebels COLOMBO - The Sri Lanka government called on the European Union on Sunday to exert maximum pressure on the Tamil Tiger rebels to desist from escalating violence in the country's northeast claimed as a Tamil homeland and engage in peace talks. The government said the listing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam as a terrorist organization by the European Union is a sanction that may be applied as fresh violence involving rebels has claimed eight lives, including five soldiers in 24 hours. ---------- 70 oil producers, consumers begin 2-day energy forum in Doha DOHA - About 70 oil-producing and consuming nations began a two-day energy forum in Doha on Sunday to explore ways to arrest record-breaking crude oil prices. The participants in the International Energy Forum are expected to take up issues such as larger investment to raise crude output and refinery capacities, promotion of energy-saving steps and enhancing transparency of the oil market through data sharing, officials said. ---------- Issue of Yokota's husband brought up at inter-Korean talks SEOUL - South Korea and North Korea on Sunday exchanged opinions on Kim Young Nam, a South Korean man believed to be the husband of Megumi Yokota, a Japanese abductee to North Korea, at inter-Korean talks in Pyongyang, according to a pool of South Korean reporters. The two sides exchanged views on the issue without reserve in the 18th inter-Korean ministerial talks, the press pool quoted a South Korean official as saying. ---------- Yachi proposes Japan, S. Korea discuss Takeshima issue at May meet TOKYO - Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi said Sunday Japan will propose that Tokyo and Seoul comprehensively deal with the ownership of disputed islets in the Sea of Japan in an expected meeting in May on demarcating their sea boundaries. Yachi made the proposal after arriving back in Japan from Seoul where he and his South Korean counterpart averted a maritime confrontation the previous day over Japan's plan to conduct a survey near the disputed islets. |