Africa told ODA to double by 2012

Thursday, Jan. 13, 2011

Kyodo News

Japan intends to boost its relationship with African nations this year by implementing its 2008 pledge to double their official development assistance by 2012 and supporting Japanese private-sector investment in the continent, Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara said Wednesday.

"Africa, in the process of recovering from the global economic crisis, is attracting increasing attention from Japanese companies," Maehara told representatives from 37 African nations that have diplomatic missions in Tokyo.

Specifically, the minister said Tokyo is set to extend cooperation for development of energy resources, construction of regionwide infrastructure and liberalization and expansion of trade and investment in the continent.

Maehara said he will host a ministerial meeting in Africa this year to follow up on the fourth session of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development, a forum to discuss Japan's commitment to African development held in May 2008.

Kan not a quitter, wife assures

Thursday, Jan. 13, 2011

By NATSUKO FUKUE

Staff writer

Prime Minister Naoto Kan will not step down despite his low public support rate, his wife and "adviser," Nobuko, said Wednesday.

Stands by her man: Nobuko Kan, whose husband, Naoto, is the prime minister, speaks at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo on Wednesday. YOSHIAKI MIURA PHOTO

"The public opinion poll is a kind of bullying. So quitting because he was criticized? I don't want that to happen," Nobuko Kan said at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo.

"The support rate won't go below zero anyway," said the 65-year-old, who is known for her witty, blunt way of speech.

But she added that if there is any specific policy goal the prime minister would risk his life for, it would be revitalizing the social welfare system.

"It's already broken. It cannot be maintained without debt," she said, adding her husband is very keen on making the system sustainable.

Raised by her politician mother, Nobuko Kan is known for being a harsh critic of the prime minister, who is also her cousin. She recently published the book "Anata ga Sori ni Natte nani ga Kawaru no?" ("What on Earth will Change in Japan now that you have become Prime Minister?"), which questioned his ability to lead the country.

Born in 1945 in Okayama Prefecture, she grew up in a small town and lived there until she turned 18. She then moved to Tokyo to attend university, and later moved into the home of her future spouse. The two married after graduation in 1970.

Since her husband decided to run for the Lower House in 1976, she has been supporting him by knocking on the doors of voters in his electoral district and directly listening to their concerns.

She said she has been unable to do so since she moved into the Prime Minister's Official Residence, but vowed to again do so starting in February for nationwide gubernatorial, mayoral and assembly elections scheduled for April.

A tough year awaits the prime minister, with a "twisted" Diet after the Democratic Party of Japan-led ruling bloc lost its Upper House majority in the July election.

In the previous extraordinary Diet session last year, the prime minister was bombarded with tough comments from opposition forces. His wife said he needs to learn how to take the harsh criticism.

Kan to reveal new Cabinet lineup Friday

Thursday, Jan. 13, 2011

DPJ leadership hit over Ozawa sideshow

By KANAKO TAKAHARA and JUN HONGO

Staff writers

Prime Minister Naoto Kan is preparing to reshuffle his Cabinet and the ruling Democratic Party of Japan's executive lineup Friday, DPJ sources said Wednesday.

Kan hopes to have the Diet convene an ordinary session on Jan. 24, but it remains uncertain if the opposition camp, which outnumbers the DPJ-led bloc in the Upper House, will accept the plan.

The focus of the Cabinet reshuffle is on Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku, who has played a key role in coordinating major policy issues since Kan became prime minister in June. He and transport minister Sumio Mabuchi were dealt nonbinding censure motions in the opposition-controlled Upper House last year, and the opposition has threatened to boycott Diet deliberations on the budget if the two are still in the administration.

The shakeup comes on the heels of mounting discontent among DPJ ranks toward the party leadership. At a DPJ gathering Wednesday of lawmakers of both chambers in Tokyo, party members blasted Kan and party executives for engaging in a power struggle over scandal-tainted DPJ don Ichiro Ozawa instead offocusing on policy objectives.

The criticism came ahead of Thursday's party convention in Makuhari, Chiba Prefecture, but Wednesday's gathering ended without major dispute, to Kan's relief.

"At a time when we are facing tough steering in the divided Diet, who do you think is the enemy here?" asked DPJ lawmaker Harunobu Yonenaga, a close aide to Ozawa, who faces indictment over a funds scandal. "Do you consider Ichiro Ozawa a friend or foe?"

Yonenaga was referring to Kan and DPJ executives pressuring Ozawa to testify at the Lower House Political Ethics Council over his political funds scandal. Kan and party executives have said he should consider resigning as a lawmaker once he is charged.

"If the DPJ really wants to increase its momentum through local elections in April, why aren't we united?" asked Hiroshi Kawaguchi, whose electoral district includes Ibaraki Prefecture, where the party lost in the prefectural assembly poll last month.

Although Kan said he will create a "412-member-Cabinet" after he won the DPJ presidential race against Ozawa in September, meaning he will call for party unity, Kawaguchi said, "Not one of the party members feels that way."

Even rookie lawmakers who voted for Kan in September voiced discontent.

"Nobody wants the party to be riddled with internal strife," said Katsuhito Yokokume, a lawmaker from Kanagawa Prefecture. "What the DPJ needs is to achieve its policy goals."

Kan meanwhile said he will continue to pursue clean and transparent politics. "I am one of those who is craving for party unity," he said.

Ozawa allies remained dissatisfied after the gathering.

"(DPJ executives) are saying Ozawa bears political responsibility while dealing with the censure motions at their convenience," Upper House member Yuko Mori said.

Ozawa and his supporters want Sengoku and Mabuchi ousted in Friday's reshuffle.

"What Kan should do is reshuffle the Cabinet with the best members," said the DPJ's Makiko Tanaka, who was ousted as foreign minister in the once-ruling Liberal Democratic Party, apparently advocating the removal of Sengoku and Mabuchi.

With Jan. 24 confirmed, also by Sengoku on Wednesday, as the date of the Diet session start, Kan hopes to convene the Lower House Political Ethics Council on Jan. 25.

Ozawa's attendance before the panel became questionable after the daily Asahi Shimbun reported Wednesday that he had decided not to give unsworn testimony before the panel, an about-face from his earlier pledge to appear.

Ozawa wants to avoid having his testimony before the panel used against him in an upcoming trial after he is indicted later this month. His lawyer has advised against it.

Party executives agreed last month on a resolution urging Ozawa to attend the ethics panel if he fails to offer his testimony on a voluntary basis. Days after the decision, he said he would stand before the panel either after the budget clears the Diet or at the beginning of the Diet session.

The Jan. 25 date implies Kan has compromised with Ozawa to prod him to testify.

Information from Kyodo added

Bus Bomber 'Looked Nervous' Before Blast

12:36am UK, Thursday January 13, 2011

Rob Cole, Sky News Online

London bus bomber Hasib Hussain was sweating profusely and looked "nervous and exhausted" shortly before he blew himself up.

Witness Anita Dybek-Echtermeyer told the inquest into the 7/7 attacks she was struck by the 18-year-old's "bad manners".

Hussain killed 13 people when he detonated a rucksack packed with homemade explosives on the No30 bus in Tavistock Square.

He had planned to join his three fellow bombers in attacking a Tube train but was forced to take the bus at King's Cross station when the Underground was closed due to the blasts.

Tucson Shooting: Funeral For Nine-Year-Old

12:37am UK, Thursday January 13, 2011

Lulu Sinclair, Sky News Online

The funeral is taking place of Christina-Taylor Green, the nine-year-old who was one of six people who died in the Tucson shooting on Saturday.

The nine-year-old was born on 9/11, the day the twin towers were attacked

The little girl was born on September 11, 2001, the day of the attack on the Twin Towers in New York.

"It does say something about our society that my daughter was born on a tragic day, and she went out on a tragic day," her father John said earlier, fighting back tears.

The dark-haired, brown-eyed third-grader was one of 50 babies born on that date featured in a book called "Faces of Hope."

She had gone to the Tucson shopping mall with a neighbour to meet congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who remains in a critical condition after being shot in the head.

We made breakfast and said goodbye, saying: 'I love you daddy.' So beautiful - we had nine beautiful years with her.

John Green, father

Christina-Taylor was recently elected to the Mesa Verde Elementary School student council and had been interested in politics from a young age, said her father, who works as a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team.

"She was a good speaker. I could have easily seen her as a politician," he told his local newspaper.

Christina-Taylor, her mother Roxanna said, also enjoyed singing in a church choir and earlier last year received her first Holy Communion as a Roman Catholic.

"She was all about helping people, and being involved. It's so tragic. She went to learn and then someone with so much hatred in their heart took the lives of innocent people."

Christina-Taylor had an 11-year-old brother named Dallas, with whom she loved to go swimming, the mother added.

Her father John Green talked of the last time he saw his daughter on Saturday morning, just before she left for the political event.

Christina-Taylor with her parents and older brother Dallas

"We made breakfast and said goodbye, saying: 'I love you daddy.' So beautiful - we had nine beautiful years with her."

Politicians in Arizona have approved an emergency law to stop members of a fundamentalist Kansas church from picketing the funeral service.

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church had declared their plan to picket the service because ''God sent the shooter to deal with idolatrous America''.

But a spokesman said church members would not protest at the funeral in exchange for airtime on two radio stations.

The church founder, Fred Phelps, had declared "God hates Catholics." Christina-Taylor's family are Catholic.

Voting To Begin In Oldham East By-Election

12:25am UK, Thursday January 13, 2011

Ruth Barnett, Sky News Online

Voters will go to the polls today in a hotly contested by-election in Oldham East and Saddleworth.

The result is expected in the early hours of Friday morning

The seat became vacant when an election court ruled the then-Labour MP Phil Woolas had lied about Liberal Democrat candidate Elwyn Watkins during the General Election campaign.

Two judges declared the result void, triggering the by-election.

Based on figures from the General Election, the constituency is considered a three-way marginal between Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives.

All three leaders visited to lend support to their candidates.

China's peacekeepers mark Haiti quake anniversary

01-13-2011 08:59 BJT

China's peacekeeping police in Haiti on Wednesday paid tribute to fallen colleagues and other victims of the devastating earthquake that hit the Caribbean nation one year ago.

On the first anniversary of the earthquake that killed 220,000 people in Haiti, a solemn ceremony was held by the Chinese peacekeeping force on the rubbles of Hotel Christope, where eight Chinese police officers died in the earthquake of January 12, 2010.

"Today we are in the headquarters of the MINUSTAH where four peacekeepers and four officers died from the Police Ministry, which means that was a great lost in once of our police in their work aboard," China's permanent representative of the commercial development office of China, Wang Shupin, said at the ceremony.

A Chinese peacekeeper places photos of colleagues killed in Haiti earthquake on the debris of the headquarters of United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti(MINUSTAH) at a memorial in Port au Prince, Jan 12, 2010.(Xinhua Photo)

"We are going to keep in our memory for every their names, and we are going to take them as an example to continue their work to protect the peace," Wang said.

Following Wang's speech, the Chinese peacekeepers sang the Chinese national anthem and several officers placed wreaths in the place as a sign to honor and remember their colleagues.

A long black poster was also presented at the scene: "Remember our peacekeepers with our deepest sympathies."

Diplomats and members of the Chinese community in Haiti also attended the ceremony.

Officer Gao Song, who was visibly moved, told Xinhua that the ceremony was "sad" because of the biggest loss in the history of this contingent, "but at the same time, it makes me feel proud to be here."