TMCnet News
Kyodo news summary -2-+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)TOKYO, Feb. 24_(Kyodo) _ ---------- Tottori gov't to halt implementation of human rights ordinance TOTTORI, Japan - The Tottori prefectural government submitted a bill to the prefectural assembly on Friday to indefinitely suspend the enforcement of an ordinance aimed at protecting people from racial discrimination and other human rights violations, citing lack of support from legal circles. The bill is likely to be approved on March 24, the final day of the current assembly session, and the scheduled implementation of the ordinance on June 1 will be postponed indefinitely, prefectural officials said. ---------- Foreign Ministry to scrap ODA bureau, make new one, Aso says TOKYO - Foreign Minister Taro Aso said Friday that the Foreign Ministry will abolish an existing bureau handling official development assistance and create a new entity to take charge of it. Aso said at a press conference that the ministry will abolish its Economic Cooperation Bureau and replace it with an international cooperation bureau. ---------- Nihon Keizai managing director to quit over employee insider trading TOKYO - Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc. said Friday its managing director in charge of advertising, Takashi Kageyama, will step down from his post to take responsibility for alleged insider trading by an employee at the business daily's advertising bureau. President Ryoki Sugita will also take a pay cut for three months over the incident, the newspaper said after conducting an internal investigation into the allegation. ---------- Japan picks Miyamoto as new envoy to China TOKYO - The government on Friday appointed Yuji Miyamoto, a China expert and career diplomat, as Japan's new ambassador to China, officials said. Miyamoto, 59, once served as a minister at the Japanese Embassy in Beijing and is a former ambassador to Myanmar. He is currently ambassador in charge of Okinawa issues. ---------- Abductee's sister files complaint against hijackers' wives TOKYO - Fumiyo Saito, 60, the elder sister of a Japanese man who was abducted to North Korea, filed a criminal complaint with the Tokyo police on Friday against the wives of two Japanese citizens who hijacked a Japan Airlines plane to North Korea in 1970, alleging they were involved in the abduction. Saito's brother, Kaoru Matsuki from Kumamoto Prefecture, disappeared in 1980 at the age of 26 when he was studying in Europe. North Korea has said Matsuki later died in the country. ---------- Princess Kiko 3 months pregnant, to give birth in late Sept.: agency TOKYO - Princess Kiko, the wife of Emperor Akihito's second son Prince Akishino, is three months pregnant and is expected to give birth in late September, the Imperial Household Agency said Friday. The agency also said the princess, 39, is in a stable condition. The agency said on Feb. 7 that the princess had "shown signs of pregnancy." ---------- WFP eyes $102 mil. aid for N. Korea NEW YORK - The World Food Program's governing board has approved a $102 million, two-year food aid program for North Korea, moving the U.N. body a step closer to resuming operations in the country, the United Nations said Thursday. But the implementation of the plan will depend on whether the WFP and North Korea can reach an agreement over conditions for supplying the aid, such as the number of international staff and monitoring visits to be allowed in the North, U.N. headquarters said. ---------- Philippine President Arroyo declares state of emergency MANILA - Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared a state of emergency on Friday amid reports of a coup plot to unseat her. |