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Kyodo news summary -6-+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)TOKYO, April 19_(Kyodo) _ ---------- Effective H5N1 vaccine to be available after pandemic: scientist HONG KONG - A Hong Kong scientist said Wednesday that despite promising developments in human bird flu vaccines, an effective vaccine could emerge only months following a bird flu pandemic. "The most crucial development worldwide regarding the battle against H5N1 human infection is the timely emergence of a new vaccine," Ronald Lam, principal medical and health officer of Hong Kong's Center for Health Protection, said in an address at a business luncheon. ---------- Thais vote to elect new Senate, check-and-balance concerns raised BANGKOK - Thai voters went to the polls Wednesday to elect a new Senate amid the speculation the both houses of parliament will be dominated by backers of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's ruling Thai Rak Thai party, which won a landslide victory in the April 2 lower house election that was boycotted by main opposition parties. While the Senate is supposed to be a nonpartisan body serving as a check-and-balance on the government, nearly half of the 1,477 candidates are reported to be closely associated with Thai Rak Thai party members. Some of them are spouses, family members or cronies of Thai Rak Thai members. ---------- Ex-Philippine President Estrada testifies again, attends party MANILA - Deposed Philippine President Joseph Estrada on Wednesday rejected claims by the prosecution's star witness that he stashed away up to $77 million while in office. Testifying for the fourth time at the anti-graft court where he is being tried for plunder and other crimes, Estrada rebuked claims of his erstwhile drinking buddy, Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson of Ilocos Sur Province, that he asked Singson to issue a check worth 1.2 million pesos (about $23,400), allegedly part of gambling payoffs to buy necklaces as a birthday present for one of Estrada's mistresses. ---------- Seoul demands Tokyo immediately drop maritime survey plan SEOUL - South Korea on Wednesday demanded that Japan immediately drop its plan to conduct a maritime survey near a group of disputed islets in the Sea of Japan, while leaving the door open for bilateral negotiations if the plan is scrapped. "If Japan goes ahead with the survey in South Korea's exclusive economic zone, the government will sternly deal (with the matter) in accordance with international law and domestic laws," Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Ban Ki Moon said after a security policy meeting convened by President Roh Moo Hyun. ---------- Indonesia's bird flu death toll rises to 25 JAKARTA - An Indonesian man who died on April 8 has been confirmed as a bird flu victim by a World Health Organization-affiliated laboratory, a senior Health Ministry official said Wednesday. Hariadi Wibisono said the 24-year-old man from Tangerang, on the outskirts of Jakarta, was infected with the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, but the source of the infection remains undetermined. ---------- Koizumi to stress commitment to Africa during April 29-May 5 trip TOKYO - Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will emphasize Japan's commitment to Africa in a policy speech in Ethiopia as part of a seven-day trip from April 29 that will also take him to Ghana and Sweden, government officials said Wednesday. Koizumi will deliver the speech May 1 in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital where the African Union is headquartered, after summit talks with AU Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare earlier that day, the officials said. ---------- S. Korea eyes economic aid, not sanctions, to resolve abduction TOKYO - South Korea's top envoy to Japan said Wednesday he sees forging trust with North Korea and providing economic aid to the North as key to resolving the abduction issue, dismissing views that sanctions should be imposed on Pyongyang as a form of pressure. "What is important is to build trust and goodwill with North Korea...Imposing sanctions on North Korea will not be of help to the abductees and their families," South Korean Ambassador to Japan Ra Jong Yil told a news conference at the Japan National Press Club. ---------- 519 people left nursing-care facilities in Japan over bigger burden TOKYO - A total of 519 people left three types of nursing-care facilities in 17 prefectures in Japan between October and December last year because of cost increases resulting from a law revision, a group promoting medical care said Wednesday. The Japanese Medical and Dental Practitioners for Improvement of Medical Care, or Hodanren, said it found in a survey of 267 facilities covered by nursing-care insurance that the reason given for the patients' departure was the "increased burden." ---------- Japan confirms 25th cow tested positive for mad cow disease TOKYO - An expert panel of Japan's health ministry confirmed Wednesday that a dairy cow raised in western Japan has tested positive for mad cow disease, making it the 25th case of BSE in Japan, ministry officials said. The carcass of the 5-year and 11-month-old female Holstein, born in Hokkaido in northern Japan and raised on a farm in Nagi, Okayama Prefecture, will be incinerated and not enter the human food chain, they said. ---------- English proficiency declining in Philippines: survey MANILA - More and more Filipinos can neither converse nor understand English, the language widely seen as a ticket to a better life in the Philippines, despite a national policy requiring public schools to use English as the medium of instruction, according to a nationwide survey. English proficiency in the Philippines has dropped significantly in more than a decade with only 32 percent of respondents saying they speak English, down from 54 percent in 2000 and 56 percent in 1993, pollster Social Weather Stations said Tuesday. |