Daily English News: September
September 30, 2010 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Hiroko Kitadai and Mr. Robert Jefferson
1. Authorities in China have released three of four Japanese company workers detained on suspicion of entering a restricted military zone.
2. Negotiators from China and the U.S. agree to restore military ties which have been severed since early this year, when the U.S. decided to sell arms to Taiwan.
3. North Korean officials react sharply to a joint U.S.-South Korean military drill by threatening to boost their nation’s nuclear deterrence as long as the U.S. remains offshore.
4. Labor unions across the European Union hold large-scale demonstrations to protest their governments’ austerity budgets.
September 29, 2010 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Hiroko Kitadai and Mr. Robert Jefferson
1. North Korea’s state-run media indicate that Kim Jong Un has officially been chosen as his father’s successor, and will become the country’s third-generation hereditary ruler.
2. Japanese government officials will increase efforts to win international support for its position on the diplomatic and territorial impasse with China.
3. Israeli naval forces intercept a yacht with nine Jewish peace activists on board carrying relief supplies to the Gaza Strip.
4. The average annual salary of workers in the Japanese private sector marks the largest ever drop from the previous year.
September 28, 2010 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Hiroko Kitadai and Mr. Robert Jefferson
1. North Korea’s state media publicly introduces Kim Jong Un in preparation for the official anointment of him as the successor to his father Kim Jong Il.
2. Japan’s prime minister plans to seek understanding of leaders attending next week the Asia-Europe meeting regarding the incident in the East China Sea that caused a severe disruption of diplomatic relations between Japan and China.
3. Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev is reportedly planning a visit to the Russian-held islands north of Hokkaido that are claimed by Japan.
4. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will decide whether to end peace talks with Israel after discussing the resumption of illegal settlement building with Arab leaders next week.
September 27, 2010 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Hiroko Kitadai and Mr. Robert Jefferson
1. The Israeli government declares an end to a 10-month ban on settlements building in the Palestinian territory of the occupied West Bank.
2. Japan’s government plans to carefully analyze how China’s government intends to work toward improving relations between the two countries after a diplomatic row continues to cause tensions.
3. Japanese officials have asked China’s government to release four detained Japanese citizens as soon as possible on humanitarian grounds.
4. About 500 researchers and experts from 100 countries are attending an international conference on renewable energy in oil rich Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates.
September 26, 2010 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Mark Robinson
1. Prime Minister Naoto Kan says he has no intention to offer an apology or compensation over the collision of a Chinese fishing boat with Japanese patrol vessels in Japanese territorial waters.
2. Japan is asking China to ensure humanitarian treatment and appropriate procedures based on law. Four Japanese nationals are now under investigation in China. The four men were detained for allegedly videotaping military facilities without authorization.
3. The government is planning to compile a supplementary budget worth up to 47 billion dollars to help prop up Japan’s economy.
September 25, 2010 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Hiroko Kitadai
1. Japanese prosecutors have released a Chinese fishing boat captain, whose arrest raised tensions between Japan and China.
2. China is demanding an apology and compensation from Japan , for the arrest and detention of the fishing boat captain.
3. Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan delivering a speech at the United Nations General Assembly expressed his resolve to take the lead in efforts toward a world without nuclear weapons.
September 24, 2010 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Kaori Nimura and Mr. Robert Jefferson
1. Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and U.S. President Barack Obama agree to cooperate closely in dealing with rising tensions between Japan and China.
2. The foreign ministers of Japan and the U.S. confirm that the disputed Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture are included in the existing security pact between the two countries.
3. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has told the U.N. General Assembly that his country will not yield or compromise on sovereignty and territorial integrity.
4. Delegates at a U.N. Security Council summit have called for a more comprehensive and concerted approach to achieve global peace and security.
September 23, 2010 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Kaori Nimura and Mr. Robert Jefferson
1. Chinese officials say they cannot hold high-level talks with their Japanese counterparts while the country continues to detain the captain of a Chinese fishing boat.
2. Speaking at the U.N. in New York, Japan’s prime minister pledges 8.5 billion dollars over the next five years for health and education projects to help reduce poverty around the world.
3. Senior diplomats from Japan and South Korea agree to assess attitudes in North Korea’s government before seeking an early resumption of the six-party talks on the North’s nuclear program.
4. Russian authorities ban the export of missiles and other weapons to Iran for its continued enrichment of uranium in defiance of U.N. resolutions.
September 22, 2010 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Kaori Nimura and Mr. Robert Jefferson
1. Japan’s government is at a loss over how to break a diplomatic impasse with China over the recent collisions between a Chinese fishing boat and Japanese patrol vessels in the East China Sea.
2. A prosecutor in western Japan has been arrested on suspicion of tampering with data seized during an investigation into a postal system abuse case, involving two welfare ministry officials.
3. Prime Minister Naoto Kan is on his way to New York at this hour to address the U.N. General Assembly and will also hold talks with U.S. President Barack Obama.
4. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency appeals to the world to do more to treat cancer victims in developing countries.
September 21, 2010 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Kaori Nimura and Mr. Robert Jefferson
1. North Korean leaders prepare to hold a key meeting of its ruling Workers’ Party on Tuesday next week amid speculation about who will succeed leader Kim Jong Il.
2. Repercussions are mounting in a row between Japan and China over the arrest and extended detention of a Chinese fishing boat captain.
3. Prime Minister Naoto Kan and U.S. President Barack Obama will meet this week in New York to discuss economic and security issues as well as assistance to developing countries.
4. At an IAEA conference in Vienna, Japan’s new science and technology minister urges Iranian leaders to dispel all concerns over the country’s nuclear development.
September 20, 2010 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Robert Jefferson
1. Japan’s government calls on China’s leaders to act calmly after officials in Beijing halt all high-level exchanges after a Chinese fishing boat captain’s period of detention in Japan is extended by a court order.
2. The leaders of about 140 nations will gather at the U.N. headquarters in New York on Monday for discussions on how to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
3. South Korean government officials propose holding working-level military talks with their counterparts in North Korea on September 30th.
4. Iran’s president says his nation is ready to discuss the country’s nuclear program with the United States if certain conditions are met.
September 19, 2010 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Mark Robinson
1. Japan’s foreign minister says the government will not bring forward its agreement with the United States to relocate a U.S. base in Okinawa in time for the planned visit of President Barack Obama in November.
2. The Japanese Embassy in Beijing is calling on Japanese nationals to remain on the alert, following anti-Japanese demonstrations held across China.
September 18, 2010 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Hiroko Kitadai
1. Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan says his top policy priority is to implement effective monetary and financial measures to boost economic growth and create jobs.
2. Japan’s new Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara says Japan will take action if China unilaterally starts to extract natural gas resources from a disputed field in the East China Sea.
3. People in Afghanistan are going to the polls in a parliamentary election amid a Taliban campaign to disrupt the vote.
September 17, 2010 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Hiroko Kitadai and Mr. Robert Jefferson
1. Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan prepares to launch his new Cabinet after accepting the resignations of all cabinet-level ministers at a meeting on Friday morning.
2. The prime minister of Luxemburg criticizes Japan’s government and central bank for unilaterally intervening in the currency market to stem the rise of the yen’s value.
3. The U.N. secretary general is urging Japan’s government to help improve the health of infants and pregnant women in developing nations.
4. A senior U.S. official says the United States, Japan and South Korea must prepare for a change in North Korea amid speculation that the country is preparing to have a new leader.
September 16, 2010 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Hiroko Kitadai and Mr. Robert Jefferson
1. Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan is hinting at further currency intervention if the yen surges again, but at least one U.S. lawmaker calls the move “deeply disturbing”.
2. Israeli and Palestinian negotiators try to break an impasse over illegal Jewish settlement construction in an occupied Palestinian territory.
3. U.S. and Russian defense ministers have confirmed closer bilateral cooperation in resolving international issues, such as fighting terrorism.
4. Iran’s government sharply condemns the U.N. nuclear oversight agency over its report that the country is hampering its work by banning its experienced inspectors.
September 15, 2010 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Hiroko Kitadai and Mr. Robert Jefferson
1. Japanese authorities intervene in the foreign exchange market for the first time in six and a half years to try to halt the yen’s rise against the dollar.
2. Japanese officials are urging China’s government to ratchet down the tension over the detention of a Chinese fishing trawler and its crew and resume bilateral talks on joint gas field development in the East China Sea.
3. A day after his comfortable re-election as Democratic Party President, Prime Minister Naoto Kan works on a new cabinet line up and filling of key party posts.
4. The U.N. says the number of people facing hunger in the world has fallen for the first time in 15 years. It would start rising again if the recent rise in grain prices continue.
September 14, 2010 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Hiroko Kitadai and Mr. Robert Jefferson
1. Lawmakers of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan are voting on this Tuesday for a new party president, who will also remain or become the nation’s next prime minister.
2. Tensions are rising between the governments of Japan, China and Taiwan, each of which have claimed the disputed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.
3. The Obama administration reportedly plans to ask the Congress to approve the sale of a record 60 billion dollars worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia.
4. The governments of North and South Korea agree to hold working-level talks on Friday for a reunion of families separated in the 1950 – 1953 Korean War.
September 13, 2010 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Hiroko Kitadai and Mr. Robert Jefferson
1. The two candidates vying to become the leader of Japan’s governing Democratic Party make last-minute efforts to win the support of the party’s undecided lawmakers a day before voting begins.
2. An assembly election in Okinawa’s Nago City highlights difficulties regarding where to relocate a U.S. Marine Coprs air base in the prefecture.
3. Doctors in the Gaza Strip say Israeli troops shot dead three Palestinian farmers, including a man in his 90s and his teenage grandson along the border on Sunday.
4. In the Afghan capital of Kabul on Sunday, at least one person was killed and five others were injured in clashes with security forces during anti-American demonstrations need a U.S. base.
September 12, 2010 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Mark Robinson
1. Following the September 11th memorial ceremony in New York, thousands of people demonstrated over a controversial plan to build an Islamic cultural center in a mosque near the site of the World Trade Center.
2. China summoned the Japanese ambassador in Beijing before dawn on Sunday in a stepped up protest over the arrest of the captain of a Chinese trawler in Japan’s waters.
September 11, 2010 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Hiroko Kitadai
1. Former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev have shared the view that the territorial dispute between the two countries should be resolved by holding summit meetings frequently.
2. China has decided to postpone bilateral talks with Japan on joint gas field development in the East China Sea, apparently a protest against Japan’s arrest of the captain of a Chinese trawler.
3. Saturday is the 9th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. At Ground Zero in Manhattan, there will be memorial services for more than 2,700 people who died.
September 10, 2010 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Hiroko Kitadai and Mr. Robert Jefferson
1. Japan’s cabinet approves an additional economic stimulus package to boost the nation’s economy amid the yen’s continued sharp rise and growing concerns about an economic slowdown.
2. Having signed an economic partnership agreement with India, Japan now plans to quickly pursue trade deals with other countries, including Peru and Australia.
3. The U.N. marks the fist International Day against Nuclear Tests at its headquarters in New York.
4. Trade negotiators from Japan and the United States have agreed to resume talks on Japan’s restrictions of U.S. beef imports three years after they went into effect.
September 9, 2010 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Hiroko Kitadai and Mr. Robert Jefferson
1. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton vows the U.S. will continue urging North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions, regardless of who becomes the nation’s next leader.
2. China’s president expresses his confidence in Myanmar’s first general election in 20 years during talks in Beijing with the leader of its military government.
3. With less than a week to go before next Tuesday’s party presidential election, many lawmakers with Democratic Party of Japan remain undecided.
4. The number of protesters increases in Muslim nations against a plan by a church leader in the U.S. state of Florida to have its congregation burn copies of the Islamic holy book Koran.
September 8, 2010 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Hiroko Kitadai and Mr. Robert Jefferson
1. Japan’s Coast Guard arrested the captain of a Chinese fishing boat on suspicion of attempting to obstruct an inspection of the vessel in Japanese territorial waters.
2. The Japanese and German foreign ministers meet in Berlin and agree to increase their cooperation in promoting nuclear disarmament.
3. India’s government reacts sharply to warnings of European medical experts against undergoing medical treatment in India amid a spread of a new antibiotic resistant bacterium.
4. Amid efforts to restart the stalled six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear program, the U.S. government is sending its special envoy on North Korean issues to the South Korean, Japanese and Chinese capitals next week.
September 7, 2010 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Hiroko Kitadai and Mr. Robert Jefferson
1. The two contenders for the leadership of Japan’s governing Democratic Party are vying for support of the party’s new legislators as the September 14th election approaches.
2. Infectious disease experts call for the appropriate use of antibiotics after the first discovery of a superbug here in Japan that is resistant to most anti-bacterial drugs.
3. Officials at the International Atomic Energy Agency say Iranian scientists have enriched 22 kilograms of uranium to 20 percent purity at a nuclear facility in Natanza..
4. North Korea’s government requests rice aid from South Korea to help its people survive the devastation after a severe flooding last month.
September 6, 2010 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Hiroko Kitadai and Mr. Robert Jefferson
1. With the approach of a rare meeting of North Korea’s ruling Workers Party, speculations are spiralling about the transfer of power from Kim Jong Il to one of his sons.
2. Violence continues in the Middle East in the form of Israel’s air raid in the Gaza Strip over the weekend that killed at lest two people and left three others missing.
3. As the leadership contest for Japan’s governing Democratic Party enters the middle stage, the two contenders increase their efforts to win supporters.
4. Japanese inspectors have begun health checks of livestock in Miyazaki Prefecture before applying for international certification that the country is free from foot-and-mouth disease.
September 5, 2010 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Mr. Mark Robinson
1. North Korean leader Kim Jung Il’s third son has been apparently making the preparations for his father’s inspection tours over the last two years.
2. Japan’s Defense Ministry plans to increase its presence on the Nansei Islands in southwestern Japan, following China’s increased naval activities in nearby waters.
3. A group of scientists has determined that highly contagious H5N1 bird flu virus has infected pigs in Indonesia. The scientists believe that some varients of the virus may infect humans.
September 4, 2010 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Hiroko Kitadai
1. The International Atomic Energy Agency says it will urge Israel to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Israel is suspected of having nuclear weapons.
2. A suspected suicide bombing and shootings in western Pakistan have left 54 dead and more than 150 wounded.
3. The central city on the South Island of New Zealand has declared a state of emergency after a massive earthquake caused heavy damage to infrastructure.
September 3, 2010 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Kaori Nimura and Mr. Robert Jefferson
1. Japan joins the United States and European nations in imposing additional sanctions on Iran for ignoring international demands to halt its nuclear development.
2. Israeli and Palestinian authority negotiators have begun their first direct peace talks in 20 months, agreeing to seek a framework for a permanent peace deal within a year.
3. Russia’s federal fishery agency chief visits one of four Russian-held islands claimed
by Japan in an apparent attempt to emphasize Russian ownership of the islands.
4. A survey by Japan’s labor ministry shows that less than one-third of part-time and contract workers under 34 earn enough money to support themselves.
September 2, 2010 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Kaori Nimura and Mr. Robert Jefferson
1. On the eve of direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, U.S. President Barack Obama met separately in Washington with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Palestinian President Abbas.
2. A two-week leadership race within Japan’s Democratic Party is underway between Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his challenger, Ichiro Ozawa, the party’s former secretary general.
3. China’s special envoy to the six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear disarmament has asked for U.S. cooperation to get the talks going again.
4. Three successive bombs blast a Shia Muslim procession in eastern Pakistan, killing at least 20 people and wounding 150 others.
September 1, 2010 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Kaori Nimura and Mr. Robert Jefferson
1. Japan’s ruling Democratic Party launches the official campaign for its presidential election on September 14 in what is seen as a contest that could split the party.
2. The Japanese government continues to face a number of difficulties over the issue of where to relocate a U.S. Marine Corps air station within Okinawa Prefecture.
3. The mayor of the atomic-bombed city of Hiroshima receives a prestigious award from the Philippines government for his leadership in the global campaign to abolish nuclear weapons.
4. U.S. President Barack Obama declares an end to the 7-year U.S. combat mission in Iraq, even though thousands of American troops remain in the country.