Japan, N. Korea set for talks, may agree on negotiation format
December 22, 2005Japan and North Korea will start a two-day meeting Saturday that may produce an agreement on the format of future negotiations for solving thorny issues preventing them from normalizing diplomatic ties. But the Beijing talks are unlikely to produce much in the way of progress over the problems, ranging from North Korea's abductions of Japanese nationals to its calls for Japan to compensate it for its 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula, pundits say.
U.S. Defense Sec'y Rumsfeld makes surprise visit to Iraq: AP
December 22, 2005U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld made an unannounced visit to Iraq on Thursday to meet with U.S. battlefield commanders and soldiers, the Associated Press reported. The surprise visit comes amid increasing signs the administration of President George W. Bush is planning new troop cuts, the report said.
U.S. Defense Sec'y Rumsfeld makes surprise visit to Iraq: AP
December 22, 2005U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld made an unannounced visit to Iraq on Thursday to meet with U.S. battlefield commanders and soldiers, the Associated Press reported. ==Kyodo
No. of data-falsified buildings comes to 85
December 22, 2005The number of buildings, whose quake-resistance data were falsified by a disgraced architect Hidetsugu Aneha, came to 85 in a total of 17 prefectures, infrastructure ministry said Thursday. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said it has newly added three condominiums in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, to the list of the data-falsified buildings, bringing the total number to 85.
Nepal rebels announce plans to disrupt Feb. municipal elections
December 22, 2005Nepal's warring Maoist rebels on Thursday announced plans to disrupt the government's planned municipal elections in February, including by holding a weeklong general strike then. Chief rebel leader Prachanda said the general strike is called for Feb. 5-11,, while other nationwide protest programs will include ''physically attacking'' of candidates seeking to contest the Feb. 8 elections.
IC passports to be issued from March 20 to curb fake passports
December 22, 2005In a bid to counter passport forgery, Japan will start issuing on March 20 a new type of passport, which uses an integrated circuit chip containing the holder's facial data, Foreign Minister Taro Aso said Thursday. The introduction will be in line with a revision of the passport law that goes into effect on the day.
WHO lab confirms 2 human bird flu deaths in Indonesia
December 22, 2005A World Health Organization reference laboratory in the United States has confirmed two more deaths in Indonesia caused by the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus, a Health Ministry official said Thursday. Hariadi Wibisono, director for animal-related diseases control at the ministry, told Kyodo News that the two victims are an 8-year-old boy from East Jakarta who died on Dec. 15 and a 39-year-old man from South Jakarta who died on Dec. 13.
Japan's population sees 1st decline in 2005: gov't estimate
December 22, 2005Japan's population started shrinking in 2005 for the first time on record, government data showed Thursday, presenting the government with pressing social economic challenges, including how to sustain its social security system and secure the labor force. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's annual survey shows that the balance of domestic births of Japanese minus deaths in the year is estimated to be minus 10,000, marking the first ''natural decline'' since the data were first compiled in 1899. But there are no reliable demographic data available during the 1944-1946 period because of confusion at the end of World War II, officials said.
BOJ chief renews resolve to end ultra-loose monetary policy
December 22, 2005Bank of Japan Governor Toshihiko Fukui on Thursday renewed his resolve to lift Japan's ultra-loose monetary policy in the first half of next year, using a slightly stronger choice of words regarding the timing of a policy change. ''The chance of changing the exceptional framework of the quantitative easing policy is rising toward next fiscal year,'' Fukui said in a speech delivered at a business forum in Tokyo.