Two armed men stormed a private bank in Malabe at around 11.30 a.m.
yesterday and robbed Rs. 14.8 million from the cashiers at gunpoint.
According to Police spokesman SP Ajith Rohana, the two men who arrived
at the bank premises in a motorcycle wearing full face helmets had first
told the security guards at the entrance to kneel down.
“One man then entered the bank and collected the money from the
cashiers while the other was at the entrance. They fled with the money,”
he said. The Police spokesman said a special operation is in place in
and around Malabe to nab the robbers.
Friday, December 27, 2013
Friday, December 20, 2013
Anna Umemiya victim of pickpocket in New York
“Talent” and model Anna Umemiya, 41, who has been living in New York
since last month, wrote on her blog this week that she was the victim of
a pickpocket.
Umemiya wrote that last Saturday, she finished lunch and paid for it with her credit card and then was walking to Carnegie Hall when she stopped at a traffic lights. “That’s where it must have happened,” she wrote. “Someone reached into my handbag and took my wallet.”
Umemiya said she noticed her wallet was missing about 10 minutes later and rushed back to her hotel to cancel her credit card. But within a period of 30 minutes, the pickpocket used her card to buy goods, metro cards and withdrew cash for a total take of about $1,000.
Umemiya said she was amazed at how smooth the pickpocket was. “He took my wallet out of my bag when he was standing right behind me. He must be a real pro.”
She said that when she told her American friends, they weren’t surprised. “Most of them said that at one time or another, they had experienced the same thing,” she wrote
Umemiya wrote that last Saturday, she finished lunch and paid for it with her credit card and then was walking to Carnegie Hall when she stopped at a traffic lights. “That’s where it must have happened,” she wrote. “Someone reached into my handbag and took my wallet.”
Umemiya said she noticed her wallet was missing about 10 minutes later and rushed back to her hotel to cancel her credit card. But within a period of 30 minutes, the pickpocket used her card to buy goods, metro cards and withdrew cash for a total take of about $1,000.
Umemiya said she was amazed at how smooth the pickpocket was. “He took my wallet out of my bag when he was standing right behind me. He must be a real pro.”
She said that when she told her American friends, they weren’t surprised. “Most of them said that at one time or another, they had experienced the same thing,” she wrote
Monday, December 16, 2013
Sri Lankan President's visit to Kenya opens up collaborative economic opportunities
Dec 16, Colombo: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa returned to the island early this morning following a successful state visit to Kenya, the first by a Sri Lankan head of state to that country.
In addition to attending Kenya's 50th Independence Day celebrations, the visit aimed to enhance bilateral relations and open up new collaborative economic opportunities for the two countries and their business communities, a media release from President's Media Unit said.
"I believe there is much potential to strengthen trade and economic relations between our two countries," President Rajapaksa told his Kenyan counterpart President Uhuru Kenyatta during the bilateral discussions.
During the bilateral discussions the two leaders reiterated their commitment to the continued expansion of bilateral ties and to build a fresh momentum for cooperation in all areas of mutual interest.
Towards this end the two countries signed eight Memoranda of Understanding on Bilateral Relations, Bilateral Trade, Economic and Technical Cooperation, Visa exemption for holders of Diplomatic and Official passports, Cooperation in the field of Tourism, Cultural Cooperation and Cooperation in the field of Sports.
Currently, there are approximately 200 Sri Lankans living in Kenya with a number of them engaged in large projects in a variety of sectors from apparel and horticulture to motor vehicle trade. One other area Sri Lankan businesses have already identified as having large investment opportunities (not only in Kenya, but throughout Africa) is the power and energy sector.
"Sri Lankan private companies have invested in the power and energy sector in African states, and they have the capacity and desire to extend their business and services in the region," President Rajapaksa said.
One of those projects is the "Nanyuki Transmission Project," built by Sri Lanka's LTL Holdings (Pvt) Ltd. It was handed over to the Kenyan Government during this state visit in the presence of the two leaders.
The tea and coconut industries are two other areas that Sri Lankan and Kenyan investors can explore for mutual benefit. According the Tea Board of Kenya, the country had produced an average of about 360 million kilograms of tea annually during the past five years. This year, so far, it has produced a total of 365 million kilograms.
During the bilateral discussions, the Kenyan delegation noted that it would be beneficial for tea producing countries to collectively approach tea markets. They also indicated keen interest in learning best practices from Sri Lanka on value addition for tea and noted that Kenya would benefit from exchange visits to share knowledge and experiences. President Kenyatta also highlighted Kenya's desire to learn from Sri Lanka's experiences in the coconut industry.
Investment opportunities between the two countries are likely to be better facilitated following the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed between the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
Both President Rajapaksa and President Kenyatta acknowledged that connectivity is the key in enhancing all forms of relations between the two countries, be it economic, cultural or social. Towards this end, President Rajapaksa and President Kenyatta agreed to work towards two specific objectives: Establishing direct air links between the two capitals and enhancing links between the Ports of Mombasa, Colombo and Hambantota.
Both leaders acknowledged that acts of terrorism in any form cannot be condoned and agreed to enhance cooperation and the sharing of experiences especially in the areas of counterterrorism and defence.
Following discussions President Kenyatta accepted an invitation extended by Sri Lankan President to pay a state visit to Sri Lanka at a time to be mutually agreed.
Sunday, December 8, 2013
China's parliament: Japan has no right to criticize air defense zone
BEIJING —
China’s parliament has declared that Japan has no right to criticize
the establishment of a Chinese air defense zone which it said was in
accordance with international law, state media reported on Sunday.Japan, South Korea and their ally the United States have all protested at China’s decision last month to declare an air defense identification zone in an area that includes islands at the heart of a territorial dispute between Beijing and Tokyo.
China’s National People’s Congress firmly opposes the so-called resolution passed by Japan’s lower house of parliament, said Xinhua, citing a statement by the congress.
Japanese lawmakers had adopted a resolution protesting China’s “reckless and risky measures” and said they would never accept Beijing’s “unilateral attempts to change the status quo”.
The Chinese parliament’s statement also reiterated China’s stance that the Diaoyu Islands, or Senkakus as they are known in Japan, are part of Chinese sovereign territory which Japan has tried to encroach upon with its own air defense zone.
The Chinese assembly blamed Japan for the tension over the East China Sea, and called on Japan to stop its “provocative” words and actions in order to repair relations, Xinhua reported.
Earlier in the day visiting Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop played down discord over the air defense zone after meeting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Wang had said on Friday that Australia’s position on the issue had damaged bilateral trust.
On Tuesday U.S. Vice President Joe Biden urged Japan and China to find ways to reduce tension, while reiterating his country’s concern at Beijing’s gambit.
The United States has made clear it will stand by treaty obligations that require it to defend the Japanese-controlled islands, but it is also reluctant to get dragged into any military clash between the Asian rivals.
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
He's back
Arnold Schwarzenegger is back in Japan this week to promote his latest
film, “Escape Plan, in which he stars with Sylvester Stallone.
Schwarznegger, 66, attended the Japan premiere at Roppongi Hills on
Tuesday night. He said he intends to keep making movies until the day he
dies. Next year, he will be seen in three films, including the
star-studded “Expendables 3,” in which he again co-stars with Stallone.
“Escape Plan” opens in Japan on Jan 10.
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Emperor in India
Japan’s Emperor Akihito, third from right, waits for Empress Michiko
right, during their visit to Lodhi garden, home to 15th and 16th century
tombs of Mughal emperors, in New Delhi, India, on Sunday.
Friday, November 22, 2013
SDF troops get warm welcome in typhoon-hit Philippines
More than 1,000 Japanese troops were offered a warm welcome in the
Philippines on Friday as they prepared to launch relief operations
across the typhoon-devastated islands, which Japan brutally occupied
seven decades ago.
The troops were aboard three vessels that arrived at the central Philippine port of Cebu, an official at the Japanese embassy said, in what is the biggest overseas deployment of Japan’s military since its defeat in World War II.
They will join a huge international relief effort to help survivors of Super Typhoon Haiyan, which flattened dozens of towns through the central Philippines on Nov 8, leaving at least 5,500 dead or missing.
“We have already delivered small amounts of aid but the main effort will begin after a meeting with Philippine forces today,” Takashi Inoue, deputy director of public affairs with the Japanese embassy in Manila, told AFP.
Japan’s contribution to the humanitarian effort comes as a newly-confident Tokyo looks to make its mark again on the world order, after decades in which the idea of its troops on foreign soil was complete anathema.
In many parts of Asia, memories linger of the brutality of invading Japanese soldiers prosecuting an expansionist romp through the region in the name of the emperor.
In a twist of historic irony, the Japanese troops are returning to areas of the Philippines that saw Japan lose one of history’s biggest naval battles to the US-led Allies.
Eulalia Macaya, 74, who survived World War II and the typhoon, said she remembered being terrified by Japanese troops as a little girl.
“We were hiding in holes dug under the floor of our homes,” she recalled. “The Japanese soldiers were patrolling but we couldn’t see much of them. We could only see their boots. We were so afraid.”
But Macaya, who was waiting for treatment at a temporary field clinic set up by the Japanese government in Tacloban, the typhoon-ruined capital of Leyte, said she was very pleased the former occupier was back.
“I don’t hold any grudges anymore. There’s no more bad blood between us,” she said.
Tente Quintero, 72, a former vice mayor of Tacloban, said that at a time of dispute with an increasingly emboldened China over the ownership of South China Sea islands, Filipinos now saw the Japanese as friends and allies.
He declared himself “happy” there were Japanese boots back on Philippines soil.
“There’s nothing like two allies living in harmony with each other,” he said.
Beatrice Bisquera, 91, said the devastation and hardships Haiyan had brought were worse than anything Filipinos suffered under Japanese military rule.
“During the Japanese occupation we just hid in the mountains. Now, there’s nowhere to hide,” she told AFP.
Lieutenant Jim Alagao, a spokesman for Philippine armed forces Central Command, said the Philippines was thankful for the Japanese typhoon support, and World War II was no longer a concern for his generation.
“World War II was so long ago. If we still harbor bad feelings against the Japanese, it is question for our grandfathers to answer,” he told AFP. “We are very grateful for all the help that other nations can give.”
For some Japanese relief workers already on the ground in Leyte, their country’s participation in the international relief effort alongside the United States is an indication of Japan’s very different relationship with the outside world.
“Nearly 70 years ago, we were enemies. Now we’re friends,” said Joji Tomioka, a doctor helping to co-ordinate a civilian medical team. “We cannot forget the past, but we must learn from history so that we will not do the same thing again.”
The troops were aboard three vessels that arrived at the central Philippine port of Cebu, an official at the Japanese embassy said, in what is the biggest overseas deployment of Japan’s military since its defeat in World War II.
They will join a huge international relief effort to help survivors of Super Typhoon Haiyan, which flattened dozens of towns through the central Philippines on Nov 8, leaving at least 5,500 dead or missing.
“We have already delivered small amounts of aid but the main effort will begin after a meeting with Philippine forces today,” Takashi Inoue, deputy director of public affairs with the Japanese embassy in Manila, told AFP.
Japan’s contribution to the humanitarian effort comes as a newly-confident Tokyo looks to make its mark again on the world order, after decades in which the idea of its troops on foreign soil was complete anathema.
In many parts of Asia, memories linger of the brutality of invading Japanese soldiers prosecuting an expansionist romp through the region in the name of the emperor.
In a twist of historic irony, the Japanese troops are returning to areas of the Philippines that saw Japan lose one of history’s biggest naval battles to the US-led Allies.
Eulalia Macaya, 74, who survived World War II and the typhoon, said she remembered being terrified by Japanese troops as a little girl.
“We were hiding in holes dug under the floor of our homes,” she recalled. “The Japanese soldiers were patrolling but we couldn’t see much of them. We could only see their boots. We were so afraid.”
But Macaya, who was waiting for treatment at a temporary field clinic set up by the Japanese government in Tacloban, the typhoon-ruined capital of Leyte, said she was very pleased the former occupier was back.
“I don’t hold any grudges anymore. There’s no more bad blood between us,” she said.
Tente Quintero, 72, a former vice mayor of Tacloban, said that at a time of dispute with an increasingly emboldened China over the ownership of South China Sea islands, Filipinos now saw the Japanese as friends and allies.
He declared himself “happy” there were Japanese boots back on Philippines soil.
“There’s nothing like two allies living in harmony with each other,” he said.
Beatrice Bisquera, 91, said the devastation and hardships Haiyan had brought were worse than anything Filipinos suffered under Japanese military rule.
“During the Japanese occupation we just hid in the mountains. Now, there’s nowhere to hide,” she told AFP.
Lieutenant Jim Alagao, a spokesman for Philippine armed forces Central Command, said the Philippines was thankful for the Japanese typhoon support, and World War II was no longer a concern for his generation.
“World War II was so long ago. If we still harbor bad feelings against the Japanese, it is question for our grandfathers to answer,” he told AFP. “We are very grateful for all the help that other nations can give.”
For some Japanese relief workers already on the ground in Leyte, their country’s participation in the international relief effort alongside the United States is an indication of Japan’s very different relationship with the outside world.
“Nearly 70 years ago, we were enemies. Now we’re friends,” said Joji Tomioka, a doctor helping to co-ordinate a civilian medical team. “We cannot forget the past, but we must learn from history so that we will not do the same thing again.”
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Kamakura Museum of Modern Art at risk of demolition
The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama is facing possible
demolition as the prefecture has decided not to renew the land lease
with the landowner (the nearby Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu shrine). The
prefecture’s difficult financial situation has meant that they cannot
continue to operate the museum and it is scheduled to close at the end
of March 2016.
The Japan Institute of Architects have submitted a request to the prefecture to urge them to protect the historic building. Under the terms of the land lease, the prefecture agreed that any structures would be demolished before the land was returned. There are hopes that the prefecture and shrine can come to an agreement on conserving the modern building.
The main building of the museum is Kamakura Hall. It was designed by Junzo Sakakura and completed in 1951. Sakakura studied under the world renowned modern architect Le Corbusier and went on to design numerous buildings across Japan.
The hall is oldest public modern art museum in Japan, and is a highly valuable example of modern architecture. In 1999, it was selected as one of the DOCOMOMO Japan 100.
The Japan Institute of Architects have submitted a request to the prefecture to urge them to protect the historic building. Under the terms of the land lease, the prefecture agreed that any structures would be demolished before the land was returned. There are hopes that the prefecture and shrine can come to an agreement on conserving the modern building.
The main building of the museum is Kamakura Hall. It was designed by Junzo Sakakura and completed in 1951. Sakakura studied under the world renowned modern architect Le Corbusier and went on to design numerous buildings across Japan.
The hall is oldest public modern art museum in Japan, and is a highly valuable example of modern architecture. In 1999, it was selected as one of the DOCOMOMO Japan 100.
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Stocks close up 2.23%
Tokyo stocks jumped 2.23% by the close Tuesday with the dollar’s rise
against the yen boosting exporters’ shares as Japanese earnings season
winds down.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 318.84 points to 14,588.68, while the Topix index of all first-section issues was up 1.67%, or 19.76 points, to 1,205.41.
The dollar rose to 99.59 yen from 99.20 yen in New York Monday as recent upbeat U.S. data sparked speculation that the Federal Reserve could start reeling in its aggressive stimulus program as soon as next month.
“Expectations, well-founded or not, that the Fed will opt for near-term tapering of its bond-purchase program are nudging the dollar speculatively higher,” an equity trading director at a foreign brokerage said.
A weaker yen is a plus for Japanese exporters as it makes them more competitive overseas and inflates repatriated foreign income.
Weak Japanese consumer sentiment figures did little to curtail the strong forex-led rally in Tokyo.
The government’s consumer confidence index for October fell the most since April 2011, a month after a Japan’s quake-tsunami disaster.
The reading came as the government gets set to hike sales taxes next year, a rise expected to weigh on consumer spending.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 318.84 points to 14,588.68, while the Topix index of all first-section issues was up 1.67%, or 19.76 points, to 1,205.41.
The dollar rose to 99.59 yen from 99.20 yen in New York Monday as recent upbeat U.S. data sparked speculation that the Federal Reserve could start reeling in its aggressive stimulus program as soon as next month.
“Expectations, well-founded or not, that the Fed will opt for near-term tapering of its bond-purchase program are nudging the dollar speculatively higher,” an equity trading director at a foreign brokerage said.
A weaker yen is a plus for Japanese exporters as it makes them more competitive overseas and inflates repatriated foreign income.
Weak Japanese consumer sentiment figures did little to curtail the strong forex-led rally in Tokyo.
The government’s consumer confidence index for October fell the most since April 2011, a month after a Japan’s quake-tsunami disaster.
The reading came as the government gets set to hike sales taxes next year, a rise expected to weigh on consumer spending.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Punishing the diligent?
Inspector General of Police, N.K. Illangakoon, transferred all the 23 officers other than the Director of the Organized Crime and Corruption Prevention Division of the Police Headquarters in less that 24 hours following their raid of a gaming centre at the Salaka building in Union Place, Colombo.
The police officers, who raided the gaming centre which was run with the blessings of the politicos and officers, have been transferred out of the Western Province.
Police rounded up the casino in the wee hours of 4 November and took into custody 45 persons including the manager. Some politicians and several police chiefs called the senior officers of the Police Unit and ordered them to move out of the Salaka Club and Restaurant. An official linked to the National Police Commission and a former Deputy Inspector General of Police, who is now a lawyer, were among those who influenced the police to release the suspects. However, the police had possessed a warrant issued by Maligakanda Court.
The owner of the gaming centre is a woman who is said to be very close to politicians. It is suspected that the reason behind these swift transfers was this association. The transfer orders were issued suddenly at midnight on 6 November.
The police team rounded up the casino for the second time. On 1 July, 83 persons were arrested. The police were thereafter warned to keep away from this club but the officers said they saw no reason to grant impunity for this club as they were continuing raids in other similar places.
Removed
The Organized Crime and Corruption Prevention Division was first established in Chaithya Road, Colombo Fort, in 2001, when T.E. Anandarajah was the Police Chief. It was attached to the Vilasitha Nivasa office under the direct purview of the Inspector General of Police on 5 September 2010.
At the outset, the Division was after the underworld, and several leading gangsters saw the end of their lives in the hands of these officers. The present Inspector General of Police removed it from underworld operations but they continued their work in the prevention of organized crime and corruption.
Police Media Spokesman, SSP Ajith Rohana, said the transfers have no connection with the raid of the casino and have been made by the IGP at the request of the Deputy Inspector General of Police, I.M. Karunaratna.
DIG Karunaratna has said that there is no proper supervision and the officers are up to bribery. Within a week the request was made, the IGP decided to transfer all the officers without further investigations.
SSP Ajith Rohana said, the two police inspectors, two sub inspectors, three sergeants, 15 constables and one woman constable transferred have been substituted by others.
Ajith Rohana said that two officers of the Division were arrested on 9 September as they were soliciting a bribe from a Muslim businessman. However, sources said the two suspected officers were in the service of the Crime Investigation Division located at the Police Headquarters under the direct purview of the IGP.
Transferred
They were transferred from the Organized Crime and Corruption Prevention Division on 22 January together with five more police officers. DIG-in-Charge of Crime Division, Jayantha Kulatilake, issued the relevant order.
IP Rohan Mahesh, Sergeants Nimal and Jayaweera, Constables Kamalasiri, Liyanage, Jayasinghe and Sameera were thus transferred but Kamalasiri got his transfer cancelled. The other six were transferred with their fire arms to the Crime Investigation Division.
Liyanage and Jayasinghe were arrested by the Mirihana Police as they were attempting to obtain a ransom. But, they were not in the service of the Organized Crime and Corruption Prevention Division.
None of the officers of the Crime Investigation Division have been transferred yet. An inspector who was with the police officers that solicited ransom was given a promotion as the Officer-in-Charge of the Manipai Police Station. The Police Spokesman said, the transfers were made at the request of DIG Karunaratna to transfer the police officers that worked in the Division for more than a year. However, some of the transferred officers have less than one year of service there. For example, PCs Karunaratna (3907) and Nandana (46522) assumed duties on 16 January and 10 April 2013, respectively. Police has a transfer scheme for officers who are in service for more than three years in one station. It is not for those with one year of service. But, still there are officers who have worked in the same station more than six years.
Therefore, all the police arguments on these transfers fail and it is clear that the 23 police officers have been transferred because they acted against the powerful illegal casino.
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Fukushima plant prepares for dangerous fuel rod removal
Nuclear engineers in Japan are readying to move uranium and plutonium
fuel rods at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in their most
difficult and dangerous task since the plant’s runaway reactors were
brought under control two years ago.
Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) will this month begin taking out fuel rods from a pool inside a reactor building at the tsunami-hit plant, in a technically challenging operation that will test the utility’s abilities after months of setbacks and glitches.
Experts say the operation is a tricky but essential step in the decades-long decommissioning process after the worst atomic accident in a generation.
More than 1,500 nuclear fuel assemblies, the bulk of them used, but including 200 new ones, need to be pulled out of the pool where they were being stored when the tsunami smashed into Fukushima in March 2011.
Reactor No. 4 was not in operation at the time but hydrogen from Reactor No. 3 escaped into the building and exploded, tearing the roof off and leaving it at the mercy of natural hazards like earthquakes, storms or another tsunami.
TEPCO says it has not yet found any damage to the assemblies at No. 4, which contain an mixture of uranium and plutonium, but will be monitoring for abnormalities.
The removal of fuel is part of regular work at any nuclear power plant, but “conditions are different from normal because of the disaster,” said company spokeswoman Mayumi Yoshida.
“It is crucial. It is a first big step toward decommissioning the reactors,” she said. “Being fully aware of risks, we are determined to go ahead with operations cautiously and securely.”
Chunks of debris that were sent flying into the pool as reactor buildings exploded have largely been removed and a crane has been installed. A protective hood has been erected over the building’s skeleton in a bid to prevent radioactive leaks.
A remotely-controlled grabber will sink into the pool and hook onto a fuel assembly, which it will pull up and place inside a fully immersed cask.
The 4.5-meter bundles weighing 300 kilograms have to be kept in water throughout the operation to keep them cool, the spokeswoman said.
The 91-ton cask will then be hauled from the pool—containing as many as 22 fuel assemblies and a lot of water—to be loaded onto a trailer and taken to a different storage pool where the operation will be reversed.
Experts warn that any slip-ups could quickly snowball and even minor mishaps will create considerable delays to the already long and complicated decommissioning.
“This is the first practical milestone for the project,” said Hiroshi Miyano, a nuclear systems expert and visiting professor at Hosei University in Tokyo. “Any trouble in this operation will considerably affect the timetable for the entire project. This is an operation TEPCO cannot afford to bungle.”
Miyano’s comments reflect an increasingly widespread view that the giant utility is not capable of dealing with the mess its nuclear plant has created.
Months of setbacks have included multiple leaks from tanks storing the water used to keep reactors cool, and a power outage caused when a rat electrocuted itself on a circuit board.
TEPCO’s management of the problems has been criticized as haphazard and uncoordinated, with one government minister saying it was like watching someone playing “whack-a-mole.”
The full decommissioning of Fukushima is likely to take decades and include tasks that have never been attempted anywhere in the world, such as the removal of reactor cores that have probably melted beyond recognition.
Meanwhile, villages and towns nearby remain largely empty, their residents unable or unwilling to return to live in the shadow of the leaking plant because of the fear of radiation.
Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) will this month begin taking out fuel rods from a pool inside a reactor building at the tsunami-hit plant, in a technically challenging operation that will test the utility’s abilities after months of setbacks and glitches.
Experts say the operation is a tricky but essential step in the decades-long decommissioning process after the worst atomic accident in a generation.
More than 1,500 nuclear fuel assemblies, the bulk of them used, but including 200 new ones, need to be pulled out of the pool where they were being stored when the tsunami smashed into Fukushima in March 2011.
Reactor No. 4 was not in operation at the time but hydrogen from Reactor No. 3 escaped into the building and exploded, tearing the roof off and leaving it at the mercy of natural hazards like earthquakes, storms or another tsunami.
TEPCO says it has not yet found any damage to the assemblies at No. 4, which contain an mixture of uranium and plutonium, but will be monitoring for abnormalities.
The removal of fuel is part of regular work at any nuclear power plant, but “conditions are different from normal because of the disaster,” said company spokeswoman Mayumi Yoshida.
“It is crucial. It is a first big step toward decommissioning the reactors,” she said. “Being fully aware of risks, we are determined to go ahead with operations cautiously and securely.”
Chunks of debris that were sent flying into the pool as reactor buildings exploded have largely been removed and a crane has been installed. A protective hood has been erected over the building’s skeleton in a bid to prevent radioactive leaks.
A remotely-controlled grabber will sink into the pool and hook onto a fuel assembly, which it will pull up and place inside a fully immersed cask.
The 4.5-meter bundles weighing 300 kilograms have to be kept in water throughout the operation to keep them cool, the spokeswoman said.
The 91-ton cask will then be hauled from the pool—containing as many as 22 fuel assemblies and a lot of water—to be loaded onto a trailer and taken to a different storage pool where the operation will be reversed.
Experts warn that any slip-ups could quickly snowball and even minor mishaps will create considerable delays to the already long and complicated decommissioning.
“This is the first practical milestone for the project,” said Hiroshi Miyano, a nuclear systems expert and visiting professor at Hosei University in Tokyo. “Any trouble in this operation will considerably affect the timetable for the entire project. This is an operation TEPCO cannot afford to bungle.”
Miyano’s comments reflect an increasingly widespread view that the giant utility is not capable of dealing with the mess its nuclear plant has created.
Months of setbacks have included multiple leaks from tanks storing the water used to keep reactors cool, and a power outage caused when a rat electrocuted itself on a circuit board.
TEPCO’s management of the problems has been criticized as haphazard and uncoordinated, with one government minister saying it was like watching someone playing “whack-a-mole.”
The full decommissioning of Fukushima is likely to take decades and include tasks that have never been attempted anywhere in the world, such as the removal of reactor cores that have probably melted beyond recognition.
Meanwhile, villages and towns nearby remain largely empty, their residents unable or unwilling to return to live in the shadow of the leaking plant because of the fear of radiation.
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
1st shipment of Beaujolais Nouveau arrives in Japan
This year’s first shipment of 15,000 bottles of Beaujolais Nouveau
wine arrived from France at Haneda airport on Tuesday morning. Further
shipments will arrive at Narita, Haneda, Kansai, Chubu, Fukuoka and
Shin-Chitose airports through Nov 17.
Japan will uncork the first Beaujolais Nouveau of the season on Nov 21 at a price of 2,400 yen per bottle. The third Thursday in November traditionally marks the official debut of the new season’s Beaujolais around the world, and the Japanese are the first to get a taste of the light red wine because of their time zone.
A spokesman for importer Suntory Wine International said that Japan will import about 8.5 million 750-mililiter bottles of the wine this year, NHK reported. The record for Japan was 12.5 million bottles sold in 2004.
Japan will uncork the first Beaujolais Nouveau of the season on Nov 21 at a price of 2,400 yen per bottle. The third Thursday in November traditionally marks the official debut of the new season’s Beaujolais around the world, and the Japanese are the first to get a taste of the light red wine because of their time zone.
A spokesman for importer Suntory Wine International said that Japan will import about 8.5 million 750-mililiter bottles of the wine this year, NHK reported. The record for Japan was 12.5 million bottles sold in 2004.
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Canada to extradite Chinese man to Japan in 1995 triple murder probe
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department said Sunday that a Chinese
man, who lives in Canada, will be extradited to Japan to be questioned
about a triple murder in Tokyo’s Hachioji in 1995.
The 43-year-old man is wanted in Japan for using a forged passport to leave the country in 2002. He obtained Canadian citizenship in 2006.
A police spokesman said that a Canadian appeals court had finalized the extradition request that was approved in September this year, upholding a lower court decision, Fuji TV reported. The police will send investigators to Canada this month to escort the suspect back to Japan.
Japan’s National Police Agency first filed an extradition request with Canadian authorities in 2010 with the Ontario High Court. However, the suspect filed an appeal, claiming that he should not be extradited over a passport violation if the objective is to question him about a murder case.
The NPA has offered a 3 million yen reward for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible for the murders of three women workers at a supermarket in Hachioji on July 30, 1995.
The three women, two of whom were 17-year-old students working part-time, were shot to death during a robbery at the supermarket. The killer got away without stealing money and jewellery from the victims or the locked safe in the office, a fact which has puzzled police and given rise to speculation that the shooting was motivated by a personal grudge.
Police were unable to achieve a breakthrough in the case until 2009, when a Japanese man on death row in China for drug trafficking made a statement to Japanese police that a Chinese man in Canada was involved in the murder.
The Japanese man, who was executed in 2010, told Japanese investigators that the suspect in Canada was part of a gang of Japanese and Chinese who carried out a series of robberies in Japan in the 1990s.
The 43-year-old man is wanted in Japan for using a forged passport to leave the country in 2002. He obtained Canadian citizenship in 2006.
A police spokesman said that a Canadian appeals court had finalized the extradition request that was approved in September this year, upholding a lower court decision, Fuji TV reported. The police will send investigators to Canada this month to escort the suspect back to Japan.
Japan’s National Police Agency first filed an extradition request with Canadian authorities in 2010 with the Ontario High Court. However, the suspect filed an appeal, claiming that he should not be extradited over a passport violation if the objective is to question him about a murder case.
The NPA has offered a 3 million yen reward for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible for the murders of three women workers at a supermarket in Hachioji on July 30, 1995.
The three women, two of whom were 17-year-old students working part-time, were shot to death during a robbery at the supermarket. The killer got away without stealing money and jewellery from the victims or the locked safe in the office, a fact which has puzzled police and given rise to speculation that the shooting was motivated by a personal grudge.
Police were unable to achieve a breakthrough in the case until 2009, when a Japanese man on death row in China for drug trafficking made a statement to Japanese police that a Chinese man in Canada was involved in the murder.
The Japanese man, who was executed in 2010, told Japanese investigators that the suspect in Canada was part of a gang of Japanese and Chinese who carried out a series of robberies in Japan in the 1990s.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Niigata governor says TEPCO can't be trusted to restart another nuclear plant
Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) must give a fuller account of the
Fukushima disaster and address its “institutionalised lying” before it
can expect to restart another nuclear station, the world’s largest, said
a local government official who holds an effective veto over the
utility’s revival plan.
“If they don’t do what needs to be done, if they keep skimping on costs and manipulating information, they can never be trusted,” Niigata Gov Hirohiko Izumida told Reuters in an interview.
Izumida must approve the embattled utility’s plans to restart the reactors at Kashiwazaki Kariwa, the world’s biggest nuclear complex on the Japan Sea coast.
A former economy and trade ministry bureaucrat who has emerged as a leading critic of TEPCO, Izumida said he would launch his own commission to investigate the causes and handling of the Fukushima crisis and whether strengthened regulatory safeguards were sufficient to prevent a similar disaster.
Izumida, 51, declined to provide a timetable for completing that review - a process that could force the utility to scrap or abandon one of the key assumptions behind its turnaround plan.
“If Tokyo Electric doesn’t cooperate closely with the prefecture nothing will be solved,” he said.
“Unless we start we won’t know,” he added when asked how long his review could take. “If they cooperate with us, we will be able to proceed smoothly. If not, we won’t.”
Even if Japan’s nuclear safety regulators approve TEPCO’s restart plans for its Niigata reactors, Izumida can effectively block it because of the utility’s need to win backing from local officials. That gives Izumida, a political independent, a platform for calling for a wider reform of Asia’s largest listed electricity utility, which provides power to 29 million homes and businesses in and around Tokyo.
Izumida urged Japan’s government to strip TEPCO of responsibility for decommissioning the wrecked Fukushima reactors, and consider putting it through a taxpayer-funded bankruptcy similar to the process used to restructure Japan Airlines.
Without that kind of sweeping restructuring, Izumida said, TEPCO could be left without the resources needed to ensure the safety of its remaining nuclear plants.
In its current form, the utility threatens to be distracted by how to fund the dismantling of the Fukushima reactors over the next 30 years and the more immediate problem of containing contaminated water at the Fukushima site, Izumida said.
“Unless we create a situation where 80-90% of their thinking is devoted to nuclear safety, I don’t think we can say they have prioritized safety,” he said.
Izumida also called on the government to make more than 6,000 workers involved in decommissioning at Fukushima public employees. A Reuters investigation of working conditions at the plant found widespread abuses, including skimmed wages and the involvement of illegal brokers.
“The workers at the plant are risking their health and giving it their all. They are out in the rain. They are out at night,” Izumida said. “The government needs to respect their efforts and address the situation.”
A TEPCO spokesman said the utility would cooperate with Izumida’s investigation. “Safety is our utmost priority and we are not acting on an assumption of nuclear restarts,” said Yoshimi Hitotsugi. “We want to work on this issue while gaining the understanding of the local population and related parties.”
TEPCO has posted more than 2.7 trillion yen in losses since a massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 crippled the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. The disaster knocked out cooling systems, triggered meltdowns in three reactors and a radiation release that forced more than 150,000 people from nearby towns to evacuate.
It is behind schedule on its initial business turnaround plan, which had called for firing up at least one reactor at Kashiwazaki Kariwa by April.
The utility says it can return to profitability in the business year to March without restarting the sprawling complex. But if all seven of the Niigata reactors were operational, TEPCO says it would save $1 billion in monthly fuel costs.
The utility’s admission in July - following months of denials - that the Fukushima plant was leaking radioactive substances into the Pacific Ocean was evidence that TEPCO has not changed, Izumida said, adding the utility developed a culture of “institutionalized lying.”
He said that unless the utility changes its corporate culture he won’t be able to trust it to run the nuclear plant in the prefecture.
“There are three things required of a company that runs nuclear power plants: don’t lie, keep your promises and fulfill your social responsibility,” Izumida said.
“If they don’t do what needs to be done, if they keep skimping on costs and manipulating information, they can never be trusted,” Niigata Gov Hirohiko Izumida told Reuters in an interview.
Izumida must approve the embattled utility’s plans to restart the reactors at Kashiwazaki Kariwa, the world’s biggest nuclear complex on the Japan Sea coast.
A former economy and trade ministry bureaucrat who has emerged as a leading critic of TEPCO, Izumida said he would launch his own commission to investigate the causes and handling of the Fukushima crisis and whether strengthened regulatory safeguards were sufficient to prevent a similar disaster.
Izumida, 51, declined to provide a timetable for completing that review - a process that could force the utility to scrap or abandon one of the key assumptions behind its turnaround plan.
“If Tokyo Electric doesn’t cooperate closely with the prefecture nothing will be solved,” he said.
“Unless we start we won’t know,” he added when asked how long his review could take. “If they cooperate with us, we will be able to proceed smoothly. If not, we won’t.”
Even if Japan’s nuclear safety regulators approve TEPCO’s restart plans for its Niigata reactors, Izumida can effectively block it because of the utility’s need to win backing from local officials. That gives Izumida, a political independent, a platform for calling for a wider reform of Asia’s largest listed electricity utility, which provides power to 29 million homes and businesses in and around Tokyo.
Izumida urged Japan’s government to strip TEPCO of responsibility for decommissioning the wrecked Fukushima reactors, and consider putting it through a taxpayer-funded bankruptcy similar to the process used to restructure Japan Airlines.
Without that kind of sweeping restructuring, Izumida said, TEPCO could be left without the resources needed to ensure the safety of its remaining nuclear plants.
In its current form, the utility threatens to be distracted by how to fund the dismantling of the Fukushima reactors over the next 30 years and the more immediate problem of containing contaminated water at the Fukushima site, Izumida said.
“Unless we create a situation where 80-90% of their thinking is devoted to nuclear safety, I don’t think we can say they have prioritized safety,” he said.
Izumida also called on the government to make more than 6,000 workers involved in decommissioning at Fukushima public employees. A Reuters investigation of working conditions at the plant found widespread abuses, including skimmed wages and the involvement of illegal brokers.
“The workers at the plant are risking their health and giving it their all. They are out in the rain. They are out at night,” Izumida said. “The government needs to respect their efforts and address the situation.”
A TEPCO spokesman said the utility would cooperate with Izumida’s investigation. “Safety is our utmost priority and we are not acting on an assumption of nuclear restarts,” said Yoshimi Hitotsugi. “We want to work on this issue while gaining the understanding of the local population and related parties.”
TEPCO has posted more than 2.7 trillion yen in losses since a massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 crippled the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. The disaster knocked out cooling systems, triggered meltdowns in three reactors and a radiation release that forced more than 150,000 people from nearby towns to evacuate.
It is behind schedule on its initial business turnaround plan, which had called for firing up at least one reactor at Kashiwazaki Kariwa by April.
The utility says it can return to profitability in the business year to March without restarting the sprawling complex. But if all seven of the Niigata reactors were operational, TEPCO says it would save $1 billion in monthly fuel costs.
The utility’s admission in July - following months of denials - that the Fukushima plant was leaking radioactive substances into the Pacific Ocean was evidence that TEPCO has not changed, Izumida said, adding the utility developed a culture of “institutionalized lying.”
He said that unless the utility changes its corporate culture he won’t be able to trust it to run the nuclear plant in the prefecture.
“There are three things required of a company that runs nuclear power plants: don’t lie, keep your promises and fulfill your social responsibility,” Izumida said.
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Prince Charles regards role of king as 'prison', aide claims
Prince of Wales is in no hurry to become king because he regards the role of monarch as a form of 'prison', one of his aides claims
The Prince
of Wales is in no hurry to become king because he regards the role
of monarch as a form of “prison”, one of his aides has said.
The Prince is often caricatured as a man who is desperate to take over from
the Queen, having already become the longest-serving heir in history, but
the truth is quite the opposite, according to staff who spoke to Time
magazine.
One member of his household told the US-based weekly that the Prince was
worried he would not achieve enough with his various interests before “the
prison shades” close.
Time’s editor-at-large Catherine Mayer was given unrivalled access to the
Prince and more than 50 of his friends and staff for a profile ahead of his
65th birthday, which falls next month.
After interviewing the Prince at Birkhall, his holiday home on the Balmoral
estate, she concluded that: “Far from itching to assume the crown, he is
already feeling its weight and worrying about the impact on the job he has
been doing.”
The Prince told her: “I’ve had this extraordinary feeling, for years and
years, ever since I can remember really, of wanting to heal and make things
better.
“I feel more than anything else it’s my duty to worry about everybody and their lives in this country, to try to find a way of improving things if I possibly can.”
Prince George was visiting at the time of the interview, and the Prince said his grandson “is what this is all about”, referring to his campaigns to save rainforests and work towards an environmentally sustainable future.
Last week the Prince warned pension fund managers that their grandchildren faced “an exceptionally miserable future” if they continued to pursue short-term gains rather than investing in long-term projects, and he told Time: “It’s everybody else’s grandchildren I’ve been bothering about, but the trouble is if you take that long a view people don’t always know what you’re on about.”
Ms Mayer said the Prince was “joylessly” taking on more duties from the Queen as he prepared one day to succeed her, and was gradually handing over the running of his charities to other people so that they would be autonomous when he took the full-time role as monarch.
She told The Telegraph: “He is really passionate about the work he is doing, and has been doing, for decades. It is his life’s work, and he just won’t have as much time for those other interests when he becomes king.
“He regards it very much with a dull sense of duty, and one member of his household talked about the prison shades closing, but it was a sentiment which came across from lots of people.
“One of the things that became really obvious is quite how much is going on behind the scenes to prepare for the moment he becomes king. There were day-long meetings with heads of his charities discussing how they could make themselves fit for a future without him, and they have been rationalised and restructured.
“But there is no sense of excitement about that, it’s all done with a leaden sort of duty.”
Ms Mayer said that when she arrived at Birkhall on Sep 26, the Prince was late for his interview with her because he was teaching the Duke of Cambridge how to “dub” knights with a sword when he carried out his first investiture ceremony.
She said: “I didn’t see him doing it, but they told me a sword had been sent up from London specially.”
She realised Prince George was visiting when she saw his Silver Cross pram in the hallway.
During the interview, the Prince defended himself against accusations of meddling in town planning and environmental policy, saying: “I couldn’t bear the physical aspect of destroying town centres and historical places, digging up all the hedgerows, cutting down trees, making terrifying prairies covered in chemicals, all that stuff. I thought this was insanity.”
Turning to his insistence on patching up old clothes rather than throwing them away, he said: “If you chuck away too many things, you end up discovering there was value in them.”
Ms Mayer was invited to a dinner at Dumfries House, the 18th century Scottish mansion the Prince has saved for the nation, where she joined wealthy benefactors, affectionately known as “Bond villains” by his staff, for dinner.
The 22 guests ate risotto, sea bass and plum crumble, accompanied by Puligny-Montrachet, Sarget de Gruaud Larose and pink Champagne, and after dinner “a piper in full ceremonial uniform marches twice around the table, playing a medley of traditional Scottish music”.
Ms Mayer also discovered that the Prince, who suffers from a bad back, gets up early every morning to carry out a “rigorous set of exercises” to alleviate his condition.
Julia Cleverdon, special adviser to the Prince’s charities, told her: “Occasionally in the Royal Train you hear a frightful bump,” as he did his stretching.
“I feel more than anything else it’s my duty to worry about everybody and their lives in this country, to try to find a way of improving things if I possibly can.”
Prince George was visiting at the time of the interview, and the Prince said his grandson “is what this is all about”, referring to his campaigns to save rainforests and work towards an environmentally sustainable future.
Last week the Prince warned pension fund managers that their grandchildren faced “an exceptionally miserable future” if they continued to pursue short-term gains rather than investing in long-term projects, and he told Time: “It’s everybody else’s grandchildren I’ve been bothering about, but the trouble is if you take that long a view people don’t always know what you’re on about.”
Ms Mayer said the Prince was “joylessly” taking on more duties from the Queen as he prepared one day to succeed her, and was gradually handing over the running of his charities to other people so that they would be autonomous when he took the full-time role as monarch.
She told The Telegraph: “He is really passionate about the work he is doing, and has been doing, for decades. It is his life’s work, and he just won’t have as much time for those other interests when he becomes king.
“He regards it very much with a dull sense of duty, and one member of his household talked about the prison shades closing, but it was a sentiment which came across from lots of people.
“One of the things that became really obvious is quite how much is going on behind the scenes to prepare for the moment he becomes king. There were day-long meetings with heads of his charities discussing how they could make themselves fit for a future without him, and they have been rationalised and restructured.
“But there is no sense of excitement about that, it’s all done with a leaden sort of duty.”
Ms Mayer said that when she arrived at Birkhall on Sep 26, the Prince was late for his interview with her because he was teaching the Duke of Cambridge how to “dub” knights with a sword when he carried out his first investiture ceremony.
She said: “I didn’t see him doing it, but they told me a sword had been sent up from London specially.”
She realised Prince George was visiting when she saw his Silver Cross pram in the hallway.
During the interview, the Prince defended himself against accusations of meddling in town planning and environmental policy, saying: “I couldn’t bear the physical aspect of destroying town centres and historical places, digging up all the hedgerows, cutting down trees, making terrifying prairies covered in chemicals, all that stuff. I thought this was insanity.”
Turning to his insistence on patching up old clothes rather than throwing them away, he said: “If you chuck away too many things, you end up discovering there was value in them.”
Ms Mayer was invited to a dinner at Dumfries House, the 18th century Scottish mansion the Prince has saved for the nation, where she joined wealthy benefactors, affectionately known as “Bond villains” by his staff, for dinner.
The 22 guests ate risotto, sea bass and plum crumble, accompanied by Puligny-Montrachet, Sarget de Gruaud Larose and pink Champagne, and after dinner “a piper in full ceremonial uniform marches twice around the table, playing a medley of traditional Scottish music”.
Ms Mayer also discovered that the Prince, who suffers from a bad back, gets up early every morning to carry out a “rigorous set of exercises” to alleviate his condition.
Julia Cleverdon, special adviser to the Prince’s charities, told her: “Occasionally in the Royal Train you hear a frightful bump,” as he did his stretching.
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Bank acknowledges 'contactless' card problems by changing rules
First Direct has told customers who want to pay with contactless cards that they must remove them from their wallets - in an apparent admission that the technology can go wrong.
The introduction of controversial "contactless" payment cards -
where customers make payments of up to £20 by briefly touching their card to
a reader and do not enter a Pin number - has caused at least one bank to
alter its customers' terms and conditions.
First Direct, the offshoot of HSBC, has written to its customers saying "we
have made changes to clarify that if you have a contactless debit card you
must remove it from your wallet or purse before using it to make a
contactless payment."
This change seems a response to the reported cases of mistaken payments, where
money has been taken from peoples' accounts without their knowledge but
where they think they brushed against a reader by accident.
First Direct offered no further written explanation to customers. But a
spokeswoman for the bank admitted the change was being brought in to prevent
payments being made accidentally. She said: "If you don't remove cards
from your wallet there is a danger the payment may be taken from the wrong
card. It could be a bit of a nightmare if it came from a card where there
wasn't enough money."
The banking industry has previously downplayed such fears. Around 40million
contactless cards are in issue and an estimated 100million payments will be
made using them this year. Almost all banks are rolling the technology out
automatically, as and when customers' cards are renewed. Cards with the "wave"
logo pictured above are enabled for these types of "one-touch"
transactions.
Fears of the safety of the technology surfaced in May this year when customers
of Marks
& Spencer claimed payments were taken without their knowledge. M&S
was one of the first large chains to deploy the technology en masse at its
checkouts. Many others have followed suit including sandwich chains and
restaurants.
There were also fears the cards were vulnerable to fraudsters carrying readers which, if placed near enough to the cardholder's wallet or pocket, could capture data.
UK Cards Association, the trade body for the payments industry, said: "Problems are exceptionally rare, with only a handful of cases reported where the wrong card has been debited when accidentally placed very close to a contactless card reader."
The spokesman added: "The technology is extremely robust, has been thoroughly tested and is working as expected. Payments can only take place where the card is placed within 5 cm (2 inches) of the terminal.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
U.S. Visa Information
US Immigration
The USA remains one of the most popular countries in the world as an immigration destination. Let us help you on the road to getting your USA visa.The USA remains one of the most popular countries in the world as an immigration destination. Let us help you on the road to getting your USA visa.
U.S. Visa
U.S. visas for foreign citizens to travel to the U.S. Before traveling to the U.S., a citizen of a foreign country must generally obtain a nonimmigrant visa for temporary stay or an immigrant visa for permanent residence. The type of visa you will need is based on the purpose of your travel. United States citizens don’t need a U.S. visa for travel, but when planning travel abroad may need a visa issued by the embassy of the country they wish to visit.
USA Welcome millions of foreign visitors and immigrants who come to the U.S. each year. They add greatly to US nation's cultural, educational, and economic life. In addition to open doors, we also believe in secure borders to keep us all safe.
Visitor Visas
The visitor visa is a type of nonimmigrant visa for persons desiring to enter the United States temporarily for business (B-1) or for pleasure, tourism or medical treatment (B-2). International travelers with visitor visas comprise a large portion of temporary visitor travel to the United States every year
Students, temporary workers, journalists and persons planning to travel to the U.S. for a purpose other than that permitted on a visitor visa, must apply for a different visa in the appropriate category.
Student Visas
The United States welcomes foreign citizens who come to the U.S. to study or participate in an exchange program. Before applying for a visa, all student and exchange visitor applicants are required to be accepted and approved for their program. When accepted, educational institutions and program sponsors will provide each applicant the necessary approval documentation, to be submitted when applying for a visa.
Work Visas
If you want to work in the U.S. temporarily as a nonimmigrant, under U.S. immigration law, you need a specific visa based on the type of work you will be doing. Most temporary worker categories require that the applicant's prospective employer or agent to file a petition which must be approved by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) before you can apply for a visa.
Immigrants to the United States
mmigrating to the United States to live here permanently is an important and complex decision. In general, to apply for an immigrant visa, a foreign citizen must be sponsored by a U.S. citizen relative(s), U.S. lawful permanent resident, or by a prospective employer, and be the beneficiary of an approved petition. Therefore, a first step is filing a petition with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
The USA remains one of the most popular countries in the world as an immigration destination. Let us help you on the road to getting your USA visa.The USA remains one of the most popular countries in the world as an immigration destination. Let us help you on the road to getting your USA visa.
U.S. Visa
U.S. visas for foreign citizens to travel to the U.S. Before traveling to the U.S., a citizen of a foreign country must generally obtain a nonimmigrant visa for temporary stay or an immigrant visa for permanent residence. The type of visa you will need is based on the purpose of your travel. United States citizens don’t need a U.S. visa for travel, but when planning travel abroad may need a visa issued by the embassy of the country they wish to visit.
USA Welcome millions of foreign visitors and immigrants who come to the U.S. each year. They add greatly to US nation's cultural, educational, and economic life. In addition to open doors, we also believe in secure borders to keep us all safe.
Visitor Visas
The visitor visa is a type of nonimmigrant visa for persons desiring to enter the United States temporarily for business (B-1) or for pleasure, tourism or medical treatment (B-2). International travelers with visitor visas comprise a large portion of temporary visitor travel to the United States every year
Students, temporary workers, journalists and persons planning to travel to the U.S. for a purpose other than that permitted on a visitor visa, must apply for a different visa in the appropriate category.
Student Visas
The United States welcomes foreign citizens who come to the U.S. to study or participate in an exchange program. Before applying for a visa, all student and exchange visitor applicants are required to be accepted and approved for their program. When accepted, educational institutions and program sponsors will provide each applicant the necessary approval documentation, to be submitted when applying for a visa.
Work Visas
If you want to work in the U.S. temporarily as a nonimmigrant, under U.S. immigration law, you need a specific visa based on the type of work you will be doing. Most temporary worker categories require that the applicant's prospective employer or agent to file a petition which must be approved by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) before you can apply for a visa.
Immigrants to the United States
mmigrating to the United States to live here permanently is an important and complex decision. In general, to apply for an immigrant visa, a foreign citizen must be sponsored by a U.S. citizen relative(s), U.S. lawful permanent resident, or by a prospective employer, and be the beneficiary of an approved petition. Therefore, a first step is filing a petition with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
Monday, October 21, 2013
new series
A new series captures what life is like at frozen food retailer Iceland, but are some of us a little bit snooty in our attitude to frozen food?
Google it and you'll see there have been dozens of attempts to establish whether fresh or frozen vegetables are better for you.
Many cite a US Food and Drug Administration report from 1998 that established frozen was better than fresh. Advocates of frozen say the process prevents nutrient loss occurring in transport. Even those who plump for fresh admit that frozen vegetables are still a healthy option.
And yet there's a marked degree of antipathy towards frozen food.
"Iceland is a classic British institution that half the country loves and half the country hates. Half of the population absolutely hate it without ever having, in most cases, been in a shop or bought a product," says Keith Hann, PR consultant for Iceland Foods. "In a word, snobbery."
For some, frozen food conjures up images of Mike Leigh's 1977 drama Abigail's Party, with kitsch dishes such as defrosted prawn cocktail, vol-au-vents and black forest gateau, not forgetting the staple of any 70s dinner party - the Arctic roll.
Continue reading the main story
Find out more
Iceland Foods: Life in the Freezer Cabinet was first broadcast on Monday 21 October at 21:00 BST on BBC Two
Catch up later on BBC iPlayer
Brian Young, director general of the British Frozen Food Federation (BFFF), says he senses a chill in the air when it comes to the British public's opinion of
Google it and you'll see there have been dozens of attempts to establish whether fresh or frozen vegetables are better for you.
Many cite a US Food and Drug Administration report from 1998 that established frozen was better than fresh. Advocates of frozen say the process prevents nutrient loss occurring in transport. Even those who plump for fresh admit that frozen vegetables are still a healthy option.
And yet there's a marked degree of antipathy towards frozen food.
"Iceland is a classic British institution that half the country loves and half the country hates. Half of the population absolutely hate it without ever having, in most cases, been in a shop or bought a product," says Keith Hann, PR consultant for Iceland Foods. "In a word, snobbery."
For some, frozen food conjures up images of Mike Leigh's 1977 drama Abigail's Party, with kitsch dishes such as defrosted prawn cocktail, vol-au-vents and black forest gateau, not forgetting the staple of any 70s dinner party - the Arctic roll.
Continue reading the main story
Find out more
Iceland Foods: Life in the Freezer Cabinet was first broadcast on Monday 21 October at 21:00 BST on BBC Two
Catch up later on BBC iPlayer
Brian Young, director general of the British Frozen Food Federation (BFFF), says he senses a chill in the air when it comes to the British public's opinion of
Venezuela shoots down two 'hostile' planes
Venezuela says two light aircraft have been shot down after entering the country's airspace over the weekend.
These were the first mid-air attacks by fighter jets since a bill authorising such action against illegal planes was approved earlier this month, the Bolivarian Armed Forces said.
The aircraft were allegedly smuggling drugs from Central America and refused to follow the military pilots' orders.
Another 11 unauthorised planes have been disabled on the ground this year.
Venezuelan security forces say more than 35 tonnes of drugs have been found this year.
The head of Venezuela's Strategic Operational Centre, General Vladimir Padrino Lopez, told the country's state television that a plane had been targeted after "all other means of persuasion had been exhausted" in the early hours of Saturday.
"This was the first plane shot mid-air in the country since the approval of the Law and Control Regulation for the Integral Defence of the National Airspace, following the orders of our commander-in-chief, President Nicolas Maduro," Gen Padrino said.
'Narco-traffickers'
Another plane allegedly tried to evade the authorities by trying to land on an illegal airstrip in the jungle and was also shot down.
"These are drug trafficking mafias which intend to use our country as a platform for drug distribution, trespassing our airspace," the head of the National Anti-Drugs Agency, Alejandro Keleris Bucarito said, after posting a photo of the destroyed plane on Twitter.
The two incidents suggest the Venezuelan government is stepping up its efforts to prevent drug-trafficking flights over its airspace, particularly since President Maduro issued a public warning to drug smugglers, the BBC's Will Grant says.
After the approval of the airspace bill, earlier in October, Mr Maduro threatened "international narco-traffickers".
"Any plane entering Venezuela is going to be obliged to land in peace. If not, it will be brought down by our Sukhoi jets, our F-16s and by all of the Venezuelan military aviation," he said.
During the late President Hugo Chavez's period in power, the US Drug Enforcement Administration was expelled from the country provoking criticism from Washington that the Venezuelan authorities weren't doing enough to tackle drug cartels operating in the country.
More on This Story
These were the first mid-air attacks by fighter jets since a bill authorising such action against illegal planes was approved earlier this month, the Bolivarian Armed Forces said.
The aircraft were allegedly smuggling drugs from Central America and refused to follow the military pilots' orders.
Another 11 unauthorised planes have been disabled on the ground this year.
Venezuelan security forces say more than 35 tonnes of drugs have been found this year.
The head of Venezuela's Strategic Operational Centre, General Vladimir Padrino Lopez, told the country's state television that a plane had been targeted after "all other means of persuasion had been exhausted" in the early hours of Saturday.
"This was the first plane shot mid-air in the country since the approval of the Law and Control Regulation for the Integral Defence of the National Airspace, following the orders of our commander-in-chief, President Nicolas Maduro," Gen Padrino said.
'Narco-traffickers'
Another plane allegedly tried to evade the authorities by trying to land on an illegal airstrip in the jungle and was also shot down.
"These are drug trafficking mafias which intend to use our country as a platform for drug distribution, trespassing our airspace," the head of the National Anti-Drugs Agency, Alejandro Keleris Bucarito said, after posting a photo of the destroyed plane on Twitter.
The two incidents suggest the Venezuelan government is stepping up its efforts to prevent drug-trafficking flights over its airspace, particularly since President Maduro issued a public warning to drug smugglers, the BBC's Will Grant says.
After the approval of the airspace bill, earlier in October, Mr Maduro threatened "international narco-traffickers".
"Any plane entering Venezuela is going to be obliged to land in peace. If not, it will be brought down by our Sukhoi jets, our F-16s and by all of the Venezuelan military aviation," he said.
During the late President Hugo Chavez's period in power, the US Drug Enforcement Administration was expelled from the country provoking criticism from Washington that the Venezuelan authorities weren't doing enough to tackle drug cartels operating in the country.
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