NHK chief apologizes in Diet for 'comfort women' comments

The head of Japan’s public broadcaster told lawmakers Friday he was sorry for saying the Japanese Imperial Army’s system of wartime sex slavery was commonplace, and pledged he would safeguard the network’s neutrality.
Katsuto Momii apologized for “causing trouble” when he said last weekend that the practice of forcibly drafting women into military brothels during World War II was “common in any country at war”.
Momii, who was recently appointed to head one of the world’s biggest broadcasters, blamed his inexperience for the gaffe at his inaugural press conference.
“I was not familiar with that kind of opportunity… from now on I will do my job based on the Broadcast Act,” he said.
“NHK will broadcast programs based on the principles of political neutrality, fairness and freedom of expression that are written in the Broadcast Act. My personal view will not be reflected in programs,” he said.
Momii, 70, was reportedly Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s choice for the influential role. Critics say his apparent willingness to cleave to the government’s position is worrying for Japan’s democracy at a time of rising nationalism.
In comments he later tried to retract, he told reporters last week that NHK’s international programs should follow the official state line.
“We can’t say it is left if the government says it is right,” he said, adding he had the final say on the network’s output.
Momii’s appearance before a Diet committee came as NHK fended off accusations of interference after it told an academic not to talk about nuclear power in the run-up to the election for the post of Tokyo governor next month.
The election is seen as a contest between a candidate backed by the pro-nuclear government, and a former premier who wants all of Japan’s reactors permanently shuttered.
Toru Nakakita, a Cambridge-educated economist and professor at Toyo University, who regularly provides commentary on an NHK radio program, told local media he had resigned after a producer warned him to avoid the issue.
The academic said he had been planning to comment on the costs of nuclear if the risk of accidents is included, during the Thursday morning slot.
But after reviewing a draft of his script, the producer asked him to steer clear of the topic for the duration of the election campaign.
The broadcaster said Friday it had only done so because it was not able to book a pro-nuclear guest as a balance to his views.
“We asked the professor to drop the nuclear issue because we have to ensure fairness during the election campaign where nuclear power is one of the issues,” a spokeswoman for NHK told AFP.
“It’s theoretically possible for us to introduce both an anti-nuclear opinion and the opposite opinion during the campaign period, but in this case it was not possible to book an expert with the opposite view for the same program,” she said.
Nakakita told Jiji Press and other media that he had explained he was not supporting a particular candidate, but NHK rejected his script, saying it could affect voting behavior.

Sri Lanka confirms Bangladesh tour

Sri Lanka is ready to tour Bangladesh later this month, a cricket official said yesterday.
The series involving two Test matches, three ODIs and two Twenty20s was in jeopardy as a result of volatile security in Bangladesh.


Sri Lanka Cricket Secretary Nishantha Ranatunga said the tour is almost on and it will be announced officially tomorrow.
"For us the tour is on as we are happy with the security there. We'll go through the security assessment report on Monday and confirm it," Ranatunga said.


However, Sri Lanka Cricket officials have asked the Bangladesh cricket board to drop Sylhet in the north-east of the country as a venue, following the visit of a security appraisal team headed by its Vice President Mohan de Silva.

The Japan Cricket Association wishes to appoint a

"Community Cricket Manager & National Coach"

・Exciting challenge in an overseas market taking cricket beyond its traditional boundaries
・Game development and national team coaching responsibilities, including taking teams to ICC tournaments and the Asian Games

・Full-time, two-year contract starting in March 2014

 

The Japan Cricket Association (JCA) is the national governing body for cricket in Japan. It is an Associate Member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and its head office is based in Sano, Tochigi – 80km north of Tokyo.

 

The Community Cricket Manager & National Coach joins a full-time team of 7 staff and reports directly to the CEO. You have responsibility for working with regional associations to develop and expand youth and adult community competitions around the country, build a skilled volunteer workforce to deliver the game, whilst also developing appropriate high performance structures to produce strong national teams.

As a small JCA team, you will also play a strong role in supporting other aspects of the business such as school programs, teacher education and national championships. This includes acting as technical director for national championships.

 

We are looking for an energetic self-starter who:

・ Has a proven ability to work in a completely different cultural environment

・ Has strong experience at grassroots / community cricket level with an understanding and involvement in pathway development and education systems (coach, official, volunteer).

・Has a minimum CA/NZC Level 2 or ECB Level 3 (or equivalent) cricket coaching qualification, has a proven ability in coaching representative teams and a strong understanding of high performance principles in order to manage and implement a national high performance program

・ Shows initiative, has the ability to develop strong relationships with a varied group of stakeholders and has a proven ability in leading and managing programs

・ Has excellent verbal and written communication skills and sound general administration and computer skills

 

The position provides a rare and exciting opportunity to play a pivotal role in developing cricket in Japan, where cricket is relatively unknown but has large potential. It provides a challenging opportunity to expand ability, knowledge, experience, language and character.

 

Applications should be emailed to jobs@cricket.or.jp and should include a short covering letter highlighting how you meet the required skill set of the role outlined above.

 

Closing date for applications is Sunday 5th January 2014.

'Do or Die' situation for Krrish

Minister of Investment Promotion Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena said the Indian property developer, Krrish Group, has less than 36 months to complete the whole project, if not the government would cancel the agreement. The BoI agreement was signed on 30 August, 2012 and the MoU was signed with the UDA on 30 July, 2012. According to the minister it's a 'Do or Die' situation for the Indian investor, who has paid nearly Rs 4.4 billion, an estimated 84%, to the Urban Development Authority of the Rs 5 billion lease on the Transwork Tower Land in Colombo Fort.


"The company has informed the UDA that it is not agreeable to pay the Land Lease Tax of 15%, amounting to Rs. 749.25 million, as this regulation was effected after the signing of the Agreement with the UDA. It has requested that the Land Lease Tax be waived," sources said. The UDA issued the land on a 99-year lease to Krrish.


Krrish Transworks Colombo has informed the UDA, that, the balance payment of Rs. 639.5 million, due in respect of the land cost, will be made only after the land lease tax issue is sorted out.
Abeywardena was speechless when the Ceylon Today asked whether the Krrish Group lied to the Minister, on the previous occasions, that the company would pay the balance before the deadlines given to them.


The UDA is in agreement with this proposition, and is in the process of accommodating the KTCPL request. This is expected to be finalized within a period of one month.
Krrish entered Sri Lanka in late 2012 with a US$ 460 million mixed development project, the company was given four acres in Colombo. However, the company had delayed the payment since May 2013, after the initial land matter was resolved.
The company is charged 12% interest on the balance payment to the Urban Development Authority.


The Board of Investment, since last May, granted four extensions to make the balance payment of which the forth extension was with no deadline.


Krrish withheld the balance payment due to a land issue involving the project. The BOI granted the Krrish Transwork Project time till last May 31, to make the balance payment, after the land matter was resolved and the ownership transferred. The company was also granted the second extension up to July 15 and on a request by the company the third had been granted. The fourth extension had been given to the group with no deadline since the company agreed to pay 12% interest for the delay.


The Krrish Group entered Sri Lanka in 2012 to develop a hotel, apartment complexes, shopping and dining areas and many other facilities to support tourism growth. The company has heavily advertised the mixed development project.

Sea Shepherd catches up with Japan fleet; 4 whales dead so far

Anti-whaling activists Sea Shepherd said they had zeroed in on a Japanese fleet Monday and captured evidence that four whales had been slaughtered, alleging the ships were found inside a Southern Ocean sanctuary.
Sea Shepherd said it had located all five Japanese vessels and was now in pursuit, forcing the harpooners to cut short their operation and retreat.
The group released footage and photographs showing three minke whales dead on the deck of the factory ship Nisshin Maru and said a fourth, also believed to be a minke, was being slaughtered when Sea Shepherd’s helicopter flew overhead.
“There’s three carcasses on the ship, a fourth carcass has been cut up. There’s blood all over the place, meat being carted around on this factory ship deck, offal and innards being dumped in the ocean,” said Sea Shepherd Australia chairman Bob Brown. “That’s just a gruesome, bloody, medieval scene which has no place in this modern world.”
When the Nisshin Maru was first spotted from the air, Brown said it was in Antarctica’s Ross Dependency, within New Zealand’s territorial waters and the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, which he described as a “gross breach of international law”.
The commercial hunting of whales is prohibited in the sanctuary, which was designated by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 1994, but Japan catches the animals there under a “scientific research” loophole in the moratorium on whaling.
New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully denied whaling was taking place within his country’s maritime jurisdiction, saying the site was considered international waters, as he condemned the “pointless and offensive” practice.
“The New Zealand government has repeatedly called on Japan to end its whaling program. We reiterate this message today,” he said.
Japan’s fisheries agency said its program was being conducted “in line with a research plan submitted to the IWC”.
“We are not aware of the existence of a whaling sanctuary, so we don’t want to comment on their arguments,” an agency spokesman said of Brown’s claims.
The Japanese foreign ministry said research whaling was “not a violation or an abuse of a loophole in the international convention”.
“Quite the contrary, this is a legitimate right of the contracting party under Article VIII of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling,” it said.
Brown described “massive violence” against the whales, using grenade-tipped harpoons to catch them, and said Sea Shepherd would do “all it peaceably can to prevent this grotesque and cruel destruction”, also urging Australia and New Zealand to take action.
“There is nothing scientific about this, it is butchery,” Brown said. “The one thing that’s missing here is gumption—a bit of spine in Canberra and in Wellington to put an end to it.”
Australia has taken Japan to the International Court of Justice seeking to have its research whaling program declared illegal, with a ruling due this year.
Australia’s Environment Minister Greg Hunt said the government’s opposition to whaling was “well known” and it “continues to remain hopeful that the International Court of Justice will soon make its ruling.”
In the meantime, he said Canberra would dispatch a government jet to fly over the whaling zone and monitor confrontations between Sea Shepherd and the Japanese.
“The aircraft will be able to monitor activities over a large area. It sends a clear message that the Australian government expects all parties to abide by the laws of the sea,” said Hunt.
Sea Shepherd left Australia for their 10th annual harassment campaign of the Japanese fleet last month, sending three ships to tail and run interference against the harpooners.
High-seas clashes between the two groups are common, resulting in the 2010 sinking of the Sea Shepherd vessel Ady Gil.

Sri Lankan motorists to use 92 Octane gasoline from today

Colombo: Sri Lanka's petroleum authority Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) will introduce the consumers to 92 Octane gasoline from today replacing the usage of 90 Octane gasoline.
Addressing a function held to introduce the high quality fuel to the Sri Lankan motorists Minister of Petroleum Resources Anura Priyadarshana Yapa said the government has taken measures to provide high quality petrol at no extra cos to the consumers.
The Minister said under this initiative 92 Octane fuel is introduced to the market. Although the government has to spend an additional expenditure of 60 cents per liter, the government will not pass the extra expenditure to the consumers, the Minister assured.
He said the next objective of the government is to introduce high standard diesel to the market.
Announcing future plans, the Minister said all filling stations will be provided with necessary equipment to issue bills for every sale and a programme will also be launched to modernize all the filling stations in the country

Rs. 14.8 m stolen from Malabe bank

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.

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

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.

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. 

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. 

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.

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.”

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.