Horie to face fresh arrest warrant over Livedoor accounting fraud
February 2, 2006Prosecutors have apparently decided to serve fresh arrest warrants soon on former Livedoor Co. executives, including former President Takafumi Horie and former Chief Financial Officer Ryoji Miyauchi, on suspicion of falsifying the company's 2004 financial figures, investigative sources said Friday. The prosecutors are planning to rearrest the executives in mid-February, the sources said.
Japan, N. Korea to hold 3-track talks in Beijing from Saturday
February 2, 2006Japan and North Korea are set to hold bilateral talks under a new three-track format in Beijing beginning Saturday to try to solve sticky problems preventing them from normalizing diplomatic relations. In the talks, expected to last about five days, three panels will separately address diplomatic normalization, North Korea's past abductions of Japanese nationals and Pyongyang's nuclear and missile development.
USDA auditors unsure of mad cow safeguard compliance
February 2, 2006U.S. Department of Agriculture auditors were unable to determine whether slaughterhouses and meat packers complied with rules to safeguard consumers from mad cow disease, the USDA inspector general said in a report Thursday. The report comes at a sensitive time, as Japan again banned U.S. beef imports Jan. 20 after a spinal column, banned under a bilateral agreement as a specified risk material, or SRM, was found in a veal shipment at Narita airport.
Panel to propose stock exchange reforms by mid-February: Yosano
February 2, 2006Financial Services Minister Kaoru Yosano indicated Friday that his advisory panel will come up with recommendations on reforms for Japan's stock exchanges by mid-February. The newly launched panel of academics, business executives and heads of the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the Osaka Securities Exchange will hold its first meeting Monday, Yosano told a news conference.
U.S., S. Korea announce plan to start FTA talks
February 2, 2006South Korea and the United States have announced their intention to start talks for a free trade agreement with the goal of removing tariffs and non-tariff barriers and expanding trade between the two countries. U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman and South Korean Trade Minister Kim Hyun Chong made the announcement in a joint news conference Thursday in Washington.
U.S. intelligence chief sees N. Korea as 'highest' concern
February 2, 2006National Intelligence Director John Negroponte identified North Korea and Iran on Thursday as states of ''highest concern'' for their nuclear ambitions and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Negroponte said the United States knows no conditions under which Pyongyang would fully relinquish its nuclear weapons and programs, and sees no sign of organized opposition to the current regime among North Korea's political or military elite.
U.S. Navy cruiser enters Hokkaido port despite local opposition
February 2, 2006An aegis-equipped U.S. Navy cruiser deployed at Kanagawa Prefecture's Yokosuka Naval base entered Hokkaido's Muroran port Friday morning despite opposition from some locals following a murder-robbery case in Yokosuka involving a U.S. sailor in January. About 50 people demonstrated near the port as the Chancellorsville arrived.
IAEA meeting begins, to refer Iranian nuclear issue to UNSC
February 2, 2006An extraordinary meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency began Thursday in Vienna to discuss a proposal to refer the Iranian nuclear issue to the U.N. Security Council. The meeting of the U.N. nuclear watchdog was taking place in a ''critical phase'' but not in a crisis situation, IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei told reporters.
Abductee Yokota's husband might be S. Korean named Kim Yong Nam
February 2, 2006The Japanese government believes one of the five South Koreans abducted by North Korea in the late 1970s might be the husband of Japanese abductee Megumi Yokota and the North identifies him as Kim Chol Jun, a senior government official said Thursday. The South Korean, whose real name is Kim Yong Nam, ''is one of the most probable men'' as Yokota's husband, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Iwakuni city to hold plebiscite on relocation of U.S. fighters
February 2, 2006The city of Iwakuni in western Japan will hold a plebiscite to ask citizens whether they would accept a plan to relocate U.S. carrier-borne airplanes from Atsugi base near Tokyo, city government sources said Thursday. Mayor Katsusuke Ihara will announce the decision soon, the sources said.
Police file case over lawmaker Kimata's alleged assault on woman
February 2, 2006Opposition lawmaker Yoshitake Kimata has admitted to allegations he assaulted and injured a female worker at a bar in Aichi Prefecture last year and police on Thursday sent papers on the case to prosecutors, the police said. Yukio Hatoyama, secretary general of the Democratic Party of Japan to which Kimata belongs, told reporters in Tokyo the party will consider penalties for the 40-year-old House of Councillors member next week, such as suspending him from party posts.
Ex-Livedoor chief withdraws as co-owner of racehorse
February 2, 2006Takafumi Horie, the former Livedoor Co. president, has withdrawn from co-ownership of a racehorse named after him, the National Association of Racing said Thursday. The horse, which belongs to a horseracing union in Kochi Prefecture, will keep its name, Horiemon. An association rule prohibits a name change.
Soccer: Japan striker Kubo feared career was over
February 2, 2006Japan and Yokohama F Marinos striker Tatsuhiko Kubo has admitted he thought a long-term back problem and a succession of other injuries might end his career. Kubo, who has not pulled on a national team shirt since September 2004, is set to mark his international comeback in Japan's friendly away to the United States on Feb. 10.