[March 16, 2006]

Kyodo news summary -5-+

(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)TOKYO, March 16_(Kyodo) _ ---------- U.S. envoy visits place where N. Korea abducted Megumi Yokota

NIIGATA, Japan - U.S. Ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer on Thursday visited the site in Niigata city where North Korean agents abducted 13-year-old Megumi Yokota in 1977 and promised to her family he will raise the abduction issue with U.S. President George W. Bush.

Megumi was kidnapped on her way home from her nearby junior high school on Nov. 15, 1977, after participating in an extracurricular activity. According to a former North Korean agent, she was taken to North Korea aboard a ship that had been waiting at a beach near her home.

---------- Plaintiffs appeal decision dismissing damages suit over forced labor

NAGANO, Japan - A group of former Chinese laborers and family members of those already deceased appealed Thursday last week's court decision that rejected their demand for 140 million yen in damages from the Japanese government and four major construction contractors for being forced to work under harsh conditions at a construction site in central Japan during World War II.

The plaintiffs -- three former laborers and the family members of four deceased laborers -- filed the appeal with the Tokyo High Court.

---------- Iwakuni mayor urges withdrawal of U.S. base plan after 'no' vote

TOKYO - Iwakuni Mayor Katsusuke Ihara urged Tokyo again Thursday to withdraw the planned relocation of U.S. carrier-borne aircraft to his city after a majority of residents voted "no" on the move in a plebiscite Sunday.

"I've come to tell (the government) to seriously take to heart the plebiscite results as they reflect the residents' will," Ihara said, calling the plan "unacceptable" and "burdensome" to the local community.

---------- Militants kill 5 in attack in southern Thailand

BANGKOK - A group of militants opened fire on a local administrative office in southern Thailand on Thursday, killing five people and seriously injuring one, the local police said.

Around 11:20 a.m., four gunmen on motorcycles drove up to the Pado subdistrict office of Pattani Province, opened fire and then sped off. Killed were the administrative chief and four employees.

---------- Ex-AUM member appeals high court's upholding of death sentence

TOKYO - A former senior member of the cult formerly called AUM Shinrikyo appealed Thursday a high court's decision that upheld the death sentence handed down against him for his involvement in a series of crimes including the deadly sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system in 1995, his defense lawyers said.

The lawyers claim that capital punishment is too heavy for Tomomitsu Niimi, 42, saying he was the most loyal apprentice to AUM founder Shoko Asahara and had no option but to follow his instructions.

---------- 3 policemen killed, 19 seriously injured in clash over U.S. mine

JAKARTA - At least three policemen were killed and 19 others seriously injured in Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua during a clash Thursday with native people and university students, who have been demanding closure of a gold mine run by a U.S. company.

National Police Spokesman Anton Bachrul Alam told reporters protesters threw stones at the policemen and slashed them with machetes in front of the Cendrawasih University in Jayapura, the provincial capital.

---------- Dalai Lama to visit Japan from Oct. 30 to Nov. 10

TOKYO - Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, will arrive in Japan on Oct. 30 for a 12-day visit through Nov. 10 at the invitation of a Japanese religious group in Hiroshima Prefecture, political sources said Thursday.

During the stay, the Dalai Lama will deliver speeches and engage in religious activities in the cities of Hiroshima and Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima Prefecture, the sources said.

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