TMCnet News
Kyodo Top12 News (13:10)(Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) ---------- Indian PM eyes Japanese visit at end of August NEW DELHI - Arrangements are being made for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Japan at the end of August for a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe soon afterward, possibly on Sept. 1, an Indian government official said Sunday. Modi, who became prime minister in late May, had planned to visit Japan in early July but postponed the trip so his newly formed government could compile its first budget. During the envisioned summit, the two leaders are expected to discuss the proposed export of Japan's US-2 amphibian search-and-rescue aircraft and shinkansen high-speed rail technology, as well as negotiations over a nuclear power agreement that would enable Japan to export nuclear reactors to energy-hungry India. ---------- N. Korea preparing large-scale military drills: Yonhap SEOUL - North Korea is preparing for large-scale landing exercises near its western city of Nampo in an apparent response to a South Korean-U.S. military drill set to be held in August, Yonhap News Agency reported Monday, citing a South Korean government source. "Signs have been detected from about three weeks ago that North Korea has been preparing for a large-scale landing exercise," the source was quoted as saying. The source said, "It appears to be a national-level consolidated drill bringing together its ground, naval and air force troops." A South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman said North Korea conducted exercises in Nampo in March last year and that it is not yet known when this year's drills will be held. ---------- S. Korea, U.S., Japan begin search-and-rescue exercise off peninsula SEOUL - South Korea, the United States and Japan began a two-day search-and-rescue exercise in waters south of the southern island of Jeju on Monday, according to South Korea's Defense Ministry. The exercise, known as SAREX, has been held once or twice a year for humanitarian purposes, and involves the South Korean and U.S. navies and the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force. The last such trilateral drills took place in South Korea's southern waters in October. The U.S. aircraft carrier George Washington, which arrived in South Korea on July 11 for a joint exercise with South Korea, also participated in the latest trilateral drills. ---------- Ex-Fukushima town mayor dies at 74 FUKUSHIMA, Japan - Katsuya Endo, the former mayor of Tomioka in northeastern Japan who was forced to evacuate the town along with his fellow residents following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, died of gum cancer on Sunday, his family said. He was 74. Endo served as mayor of the Fukushima Prefecture town for a total of 16 years over four four-year terms between 1997 and 2013. He lost his re-election bid last year. After a powerful earthquake and tsunami crippled Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima Daiichi power plant north of the town, all Tomioka residents were forced to evacuate their seaside town. Town hall operations were also moved. ---------- Gov't plans to deploy SDF Osprey aircraft in Saga in FY 2015 TOKYO - Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said Sunday the Self-Defense Forces plan to deploy Osprey transport aircraft at Saga airport in southwestern Japan when the U.S. tilt-rotor planes are introduced in fiscal 2015. Onodera told reporters he recently informed Saga Gov. Yasushi Furukawa of the plan, in the first mention of an expected deployment site for SDF-operated Osprey aircraft. The Defense Ministry will send a senior official to Saga Prefecture on Tuesday to start talks with local officials. The ministry plans to purchase 17 Osprey aircraft under its medium-term defense program through fiscal 2018. ---------- Part of Okinawa base relocation plan "hidden from public": U.S. paper TOKYO - The Japanese government has "hidden from public" that a controversial U.S. military base relocation within Okinawa Island is planned in an area larger than publicly disclosed, a U.S. briefing document obtained by Kyodo News showed Saturday. Japan is moving to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station from a crowded residential area in Ginowan to less populated Henoko in Nago. But it was recently revealed facilities would be built not only in the coastal area as publicized, but inland as well. A document compiled by the U.S. military in February 2010 as a briefing paper for key U.S. lawmakers lists the "political challenges" involved, and cites the planned construction of facilities in the inland area of Henoko as among the "sensitivities" for the Japanese government. It also says development of the inland area -- referred to as the "area west of Route 329" -- is "hidden from public." ---------- Abe eyes replacing more than half of ministers in Cabinet reshuffle TOKYO - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe envisions replacing more than half of his 18 ministers in a Cabinet reshuffle expected in early September, ruling coalition officials said Sunday. Abe plans to retain key Cabinet members including Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga as well as Akira Amari, minister in charge of the ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, while keeping one Cabinet position for his Liberal Democratic Party's coalition ally the New Komeito party, they said. The prime minister is expected to appoint many new ministers when he reshuffles his current Cabinet formed in December 2012, partly to address the ambitions of LDP colleagues hoping to serve in Cabinet posts, they said. Abe will also consider personnel posts for the LDP as the terms of senior party executives will expire in September, they said. ---------- Japan to miss FY 2020 gov't budget surplus goal despite tax hikes TOKYO - Japan is unlikely to meet its international commitment to achieve a government budget surplus by fiscal 2020, even if it proceeds with another consumption tax increase, sources familiar with the matter said Saturday. There is likely to be an 11 trillion yen deficit in the primary balance in fiscal 2020 even if the consumption tax rate, raised last April from 5 percent to 8 percent, is increased to 10 percent in October 2015 as planned, the sources said. That figure is expected to be set for fiscal 2020 in a mid- to long-term estimate to be released this month, the sources said. The forecast deficit is down from a January estimate of 11.9 trillion yen, but still means Japan is unlikely to achieve its goal to turn the balance into a surplus by fiscal 2020. ---------- Panasonic to sell mobile phone base station business to Nokia OSAKA - Panasonic Corp. will sell its mobile phone base station business to Finland's Nokia as it redirects resources to other growing operations, sources close to the matter said Sunday. The Osaka-based electronics manufacturer is expected to sell the business for several billion yen, closing the deal by the end of March 2015, they said. Panasonic provides wireless control systems and related equipment to mobile communication carriers such as NTT Docomo Inc. through a subsidiary, Panasonic System Networks Co. Competition has been intensifying with domestic and overseas providers of base station equipment, including NEC Corp. and Fujitsu Ltd. The expected deal with Nokia would lead to a further scaling down of the mobile communication business for Panasonic, which has withdrawn from production of consumer-use smartphones. ---------- Missing girl in Okayama found safe, man arrested for imprisonment OKAYAMA, Japan - An 11-year-old schoolgirl who went missing on July 14 in the western Japan city of Kurashiki was found safe by police late Saturday. The local police arrested Takeshi Fujiwara, 49, for imprisoning her at his house in the neighboring city of Okayama, around 8 kilometers from the girl's home. The Okayama prefectural police said they found the girl watching television when they searched the suspect's house around 10:20 p.m. Saturday. Her mother remembered the license plate number of a car repeatedly seen following the girl in her neighborhood earlier this year. The vehicle belonged to Fujiwara. The girl went missing on July 14 after calling her mother on her way home from school. ---------- 5 Japanese students win awards in Physics Olympiad TOKYO - Four Japanese high school students have won silver medals and another a bronze at this year's International Physics Olympiad in Kazakhstan, the education ministry said Sunday. All five Japanese teenagers who competed in the annual physics competition for high school students received medals, according to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The Japanese silver medal winners are Koichi Oyakawa, 18, from Osaka Seiko Gakuin High School, Yasuhito Sugiura, 17, from Kaisei High School, Tatsuya Hayashi, 17, from Gifu Kita High School and Yoshiki Maruyama, 17, from Miyazaki Nishi High School. The bronze medal winner is Kazuki Hamada, 16, of Nada High School. In the competition up to five students from a country or territory solved problems during theoretical and practical sessions lasting five hours each. ---------- Weather forecast for key cities in Japan TOKYO - Forecast for Tuesday: Tokyo=fair, occasionally cloudy; Osaka=fair, occasionally cloudy; Nagoya=fair, occasionally cloudy; Sapporo=cloudy, occasionally rain; Sendai=fair, occasionally cloudy; Niigata=fair, occasionally cloudy; Hiroshima=fair; Takamatsu=fair, occasionally cloudy; Fukuoka=fair; Naha=fair, occasionally rain. (c) 2014 Kyodo News |