Olympics: Harada's Olympics over after missing place in team event
February 19, 2006Veteran ski jumper Masahiko Harada saw his fifth trip to an Olympic Games end in misery Sunday after failing to make the lineup for Japan for the team event. Harada will now head home even without putting his name on the official standings of any of the three ski jumping events at the Turin Games after being disqualified from the normal hill and left out of the large hill.
Olympics: Arakawa plays down concern, Ando ready for quad
February 19, 2006Former world champion Shizuka Arakawa said Sunday the recent changes of tunes for her programs will not affect her performance at the Turin Olympics, while fellow Japanese figure skater Miki Ando has grown confident about landing a quadruple jump. Arakawa said she did not make a major change to the program components despite taking the risk of switching music in both her short and long programs in the run-up for the Olympic Games.
Olympics: Japan's hopes in curling alive after win over Britain
February 19, 2006Japan beat defending Olympic champion Britain 10-5 in the Turin Olympic women's curling tournament Sunday, keeping alive its hopes of reaching the semifinals. Britain conceded the match after nine ends after skip Ayumi Onodera made no mistake in converting a chance to earn three points and helped improve Japan's record to 3-4 with two matches left in the 10-team round-robin preliminaries.
Olympics: Yoshii's 15th top for Japan in women's 1,000
February 19, 2006Japan's Sayuri Yoshii made a strong effort but finished in 15th for the best showing among Japanese speed skaters in the women's 1,000 meters at the Turin Olympics on Sunday. Yoshii, making her Olympic debut, worked the corners effectively with a fast pace of 46.09 seconds in the first 600 meters but lost speed in the final lap en route to clocking a time of 1 minute, 17.58 seconds at the Oval Lingotto Olympic rink.
Olympics: Japan's hopes in curling alive with win over Britain
February 19, 2006Japan beat defending Olympic champion Britain 10-5 in the Turin Olympic women's curling tournament Sunday, keeping alive its hopes of reaching the semifinals. Britain conceded the match after nine ends after skip Ayumi Onodera made no mistake in converting a chance to earn three points and helped improve Japan's record to 3-4 with two matches left in the 10-team round-robin preliminaries.
Shimizu Corp. got defense facilities contract without tenders
February 19, 2006Shimizu Corp., a major construction company linked to bid rigging involving the Defense Facilities Administration Agency, won contracts worth nearly 9 billion yen from the agency without undergoing public tenders, documents related to the deals obtained by Kyodo News showed Sunday. An agency official admitted to the deals, but defended them saying the agency had given the contracts to Shimizu or Shimizu-led joint ventures in consideration of the confidentiality of the work and the contractor's expertise.
Aso hints Japan's ties with China, S. Korea may not improve soon
February 19, 2006Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso suggested Sunday that Japan's soured ties with China and South Korea may not be improved for some time, saying neighboring countries should not be expected to be friendly all the time. ''We should be prepared to a certain degree and not expect too much that neighbors should always be on good terms,'' Aso said on an NHK program in light of the fact that Japan has not been able to hold summit talks with China and South Korea due to the strained relations.
N. Korean envoy warns of 'physical response' to Japanese sanctions
February 19, 2006North Korea's envoy for normalization talks with Japan said in bilateral discussions earlier this month that his country will counter with a ''strong physical response'' in the event that Tokyo imposes economic sanctions against it, negotiation sources said Sunday. North Korean Ambassador Song Il Ho gave the warning to his Japanese counterpart Koichi Haraguchi during informal contacts in the course of the Feb. 4-8 meetings between the two countries' delegations in Beijing, the sources said.
Poultry farm owner dies of suspected bird flu in India
February 19, 2006A 27-year-old poultry farm owner from India's western state of Maharashtra has died of suspected bird flu, Press Trust of India reported Sunday. The man died in a hospital in Surat district in neighboring Gujarat state on Friday, PIT reported.
Abductees' kin, supporters to boost calls for int'l cooperation
February 19, 2006The relatives of Japanese abducted to North Korea and their supporters said they agreed Sunday in Tokyo to reinforce their calls to the international community for cooperation in seeking the return of any abductees remaining in the North. They also said the relatives of abductee Kaoru Matsuki, who North Korea says died in the country, are planning to file a complaint Friday with the Tokyo police against two people who are the wives of Japanese who hijacked a Japan Airlines plane to North Korea in 1970.
Olympics: Women's Alpine skiing super-G postponed
February 19, 2006The women's Alpine skiing super-G was postponed at the Turin Winter Olympics on Sunday because of falling snow and fog. Heavy snow and fog limited visibility after descending on the slopes in San Sicario and the event will be rescheduled for another day.