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Kyodo Top12 News (13:00)
[August 01, 2014]

Kyodo Top12 News (13:00)


(Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) ---------- Suspected gas explosion in southern Taiwan kills 24 TAIPEI - A series of powerful gas explosions ripped through a port city in southern Taiwan midnight Thursday, killing at least 24 people and injuring 271 others, Taiwan's National Fire Agency said Friday. Describing the disaster as the most devastating in the city's history, Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu said investigation of the cause of the disaster is under way. Kaohsiung City officials said they suspect the explosions were caused by leaks from oil or gas pipelines that exploded and then caught fire. The city's fire bureau said Kaohsiung has asked local oil and gas companies -- Chinese Petroleum Corp. (Taiwan) and Hsin-Kao Gas Co. -- to cut off supplies to the Cianjhen District where 2 kilometers of roads and homes were destroyed.



---------- WTO agreement on facilitating trade blocked by India GENEVA - The World Trade Organization failed to implement a deal on streamlining customs procedures and other reforms by a midnight Thursday deadline, after India blocked the accord due to its discontent on the issue of food security. If ratified as proposed by the end of July, the agreement would have been a major trade reform in nearly two decades under the long-stalled Doha Round of global market-opening talks, and would have bolstered the world economy by $1 trillion, according to some estimates. "We have not been able to find a solution that would allow us to bridge the gap" on the adoption of the deal on so-called "trade facilitation" struck in Bali last December, WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo told WTO ambassadors Thursday in Geneva.

---------- Japan, Chile agree to enhance cooperation in resources development SANTIAGO - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet agreed during their meeting Thursday to cooperate on resources development and confirmed expanding cooperation in disaster mitigation efforts between the two quake-prone countries. "Chile is an important partner who shares basic values such as freedom, democracy, human rights and rule of law," Abe told a joint press conference after the talks. "We will strengthen exchanges in the areas of disaster reduction, science and technology, not just in economic affairs." The Japanese leader said he and Bachelet have also reached an agreement on collaborating in disarmament issues and seeking an early conclusion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations.


---------- IMF to cooperate with BRICS in new currency swap deal WASHINGTON - The International Monetary Fund is ready to cooperate with a group of five key emerging economies in an emergency currency swap deal, according to IMF head Christine Lagarde. Speaking to a group of reporters earlier in the week, Lagarde welcomed the Contingency Reserve Agreement that Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- collectively known as BRICS -- recently agreed to establish, saying the bloc "is planning on cooperating with the IMF." "There has to be cooperation" between various players when a new mechanism is established, Lagarde said, referring to the importance of strengthening the international safety net for a further stabilized financial system.

---------- U.S. lawmakers urge Japan to further open farm market WASHINGTON - A bipartisan group of 140 U.S. House of Representatives members recently asked President Barack Obama to urge Japan to open its agricultural industry wider through negotiations of a Pacific Rim free trade pact. Describing the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership as a "high-standard" free trade agreement, the 140 lawmakers, nearly one-third of the lower chamber, urged Obama's administration to hold Japan to the same high norms as other TPP partners. "Otherwise, congressional support for a final TPP agreement will be jeopardized," the lawmakers said in a letter dated Wednesday that was sent to Obama.

---------- Family of U.S. man jailed in N. Korea pleads U.S. for help NEW YORK - The family of Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American missionary detained in North Korea since 2012, made a "desperate plea" Thursday to the U.S. government for help after learning of an interview in a pro-Pyongyang paper that reveals he feels "abandoned" by Washington. "Although we acknowledge and appreciate all the efforts the U.S. State Department has been making behind the scenes to secure Kenneth's release, the fact remains that after almost two years, Kenneth still remains imprisoned in North Korea," the family said in a press release. "Please do whatever it takes to bring Kenneth home. It is long past time." ---------- Japan to supply 6 ships to Vietnam, intended for patrolling HANOI - The Japanese government decided Thursday to provide Vietnam with six vessels as part of a grant aid package, expecting them to be converted for use in maritime security patrol by Hanoi, which is in a territorial standoff with China in the South China Sea, Japanese government sources said. Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, who arrived in the Southeast Asian country Thursday, is expected to announce the plan during his talks with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh on Friday, the sources said. Of the six, two are fishery patrol boats of the Fisheries Agency, while four are commercial fishing boats, the sources said. All are previously owned and are 600 to 800 ton-class ships. Lifeboats and other equipment will also be offered. The grant aid totals 500 million yen.

---------- French telecom makes $15 billion bid for T-Mobile US NEW YORK - French telecommunications service provider Iliad S.A. said Thursday it has offered T-Mobile US Inc. $15 billion in cash to obtain a majority share of the U.S. wireless company. "T-Mobile US has successfully established a disruptive position, which in many ways, is similar to the one Iliad has built in France," the company said in a press release announcing the bid for the fourth largest carrier in the United States, which Iliad said has a "large and attractive" market. The move to acquire 56.6 percent of the U.S. carrier for $33 per share seemingly pits the French company against Japan's SoftBank Corp., which is planning to buy T-Mobile through its U.S. wireless company Sprint Corp. that it bought last year.

---------- 4 Univ. of Tokyo researchers involved in cover-up of dubious papers TOKYO - The University of Tokyo said Friday it has discovered that four researchers it previously employed were involved in the cover-up of phony data in a number of theses found to contain falsifications. Releasing the findings of an in-house probe, the university said it could not verify whether Shigeaki Kato, a former professor of its bioscience laboratory, and three others themselves tampered with data in the papers supervised by Kato. But it concluded that they took part in concealing the falsification of image data in five of the 51 papers in question released between 1996 and 2011. Kato, a leading Japanese expert on molecular biology found to have masterminded the cover-up, denied his alleged role, telling Kyodo News, "I am responsible for creating an environment which gave way to problems but I neither ordered nor tolerated such misconduct." ---------- Japanese Americans tell teens of wartime internment WASHINGTON - Two elderly Japanese Americans told Japanese teenagers on Thursday of the hardships they experienced during and after World War II, and discussed the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. During an event in Washington, Mary Murakami, 87, and Terry Shima, 91, told a group of 20 students about the internment and discrimination U.S. citizens of Japanese descent suffered and asked them to share what they learned with their friends at home. Murakami from California told the students that she and her family were forced to move from their home in San Francisco to a camp in Utah in February 1942, when she was 14, under an executive order of the president. Her family had to stay in what had been a horse barn and could not go to school during their internment, Murakami told the junior high and senior high school students.

---------- Tokyo stocks fall, dollar stays firm in upper 102 yen range TOKYO - Tokyo stocks fell Friday morning as investor sentiment was dented by big losses on Wall Street overnight. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average shed 52.26 points, or 0.33 percent, from Thursday to 15,568.51. At 1 p.m., the Nikkei index was down 38.05 points, or 0.24 percent, at 15,582.72. The broader Topix index was down 3.96 points, or 0.31 percent, at 1,285.46. On the currency market, the U.S. dollar stayed firm in the upper 102 yen range. At 1 p.m., the dollar fetched 102.90-93 yen compared with 102.75-85 yen in New York late Thursday afternoon. The euro was quoted at 137.76-80 yen against 137.60-70 yen in New York.

---------- Weather forecast for key cities in Japan TOKYO - Weather forecast for Saturday: Tokyo=cloudy, then fair; Osaka=cloudy; Nagoya=cloudy, then fair; Sapporo=fair, occasionally cloudy; Sendai=fair, occasionally cloudy; Niigata=fair, occasionally cloudy; Hiroshima=cloudy; Takamatsu=cloudy; Fukuoka=cloudy; Naha=cloudy, occasionally rain.

(c) 2014 Kyodo News

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