2017年11月2日木曜日

at 20:00 (JST), November 02


The Japanese government is compiling a supplementary budget for the current fiscal year.


North Korean defector says North leader is convinced the US would pull its troops out of South Korea if his country will develop a strong nuclear capabilty.

US prosecutors say the driver of a truck that mowed down people in New York told them he targeted Halloween crowds.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/upld/medias/en/radio/news/20171102200000_english_1.mp3
Key words : government supplementary budget
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20171102_23/
The Japanese government is compiling a supplementary budget for the current fiscal year to build more day care centers for children, and support small and medium-sized businesses.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe instructed Finance Minister Taro Aso to draw up a supplementary budget for the period through March 2018. Abe launched his new Cabinet on Wednesday.
The Finance Ministry plans to incorporate spending for boosting the capacity of child care facilities to shorten waiting lists.
It also plans to provide subsidies to smaller firms that are investing in IT to increase productivity.
The budget will include measures to support producers of cheese and wood products. They are likely facing tougher competition due to the economic partnership agreement between Japan and the EU in which they reached a broad consensus in July.
The ministry also plans to set aside budgets for reconstruction in northern Kyushu devastated by torrential rains, and areas hit by a typhoon last month.
The government does not plan to issue deficit-covering bonds, because of the massive debts it already has. Instead, it plans to use surplus funds from last year's budgets, and the balance from lower-than expected interest payments for government bonds.
The ministry plans to draft the supplementary budget by the end of this year, together with a new budget for next fiscal year, and submit them to the regular session of the Diet, which is expected to convene in January.

Key words : defector convinced
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20171102_17/
A high-ranking North Korean defector says North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is convinced the United States would pull its troops out of South Korea if his country becomes capable of a nuclear strike on the US mainland.
Thae Yong Ho was a minister at the North Korean Embassy in London when he defected to South Korea in August last year.
On Wednesday, he testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee in Washington.
Thae revealed that North Korea has been studying how the withdrawal of US troops ended up with the collapse of the South Vietnamese regime. He said Kim believes the same could happen with South Korea.
Thae urged the US to send a strong message to Kim that all military options will be on the table if he continues his current ways.
He also warned that an attack on North Korea would invite an automatic response, because North Korean officers are trained to press the button immediately without instruction from their superiors.
Thae called on the US to urge China to protect North Korean defectors. He pointed out that if China stops cracking down on defectors, there would be mass exodus from the North and an eventual collapse of the regime.

Key words : Insight African politics
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Key words : prosecutor truck target
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20171102_31/
US prosecutors say the driver of a truck that mowed down people in New York told them he chose Tuesday for the attack to target Halloween crowds.
Federal prosecutors on Wednesday filed terrorism charges against the suspect, Sayfullo Saipov.
They say the 29-year-old Uzbek immigrant drove down a bike lane in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday, killing 8 people and injuring 12.
They say he had prepared carefully.
The prosecutors quote Saipov as saying he was inspired by videos of Islamic State militants and began planning the attack about a year ago.
He told prosecutors that he decided 2 months ago to use a vehicle for the attack.
Saipov reportedly practiced for the attack a week before by renting a truck from the store he would use for that purpose on Tuesday.
The prosecutors say he initially planned to continue driving on the Brooklyn Bridge to run over more people.
US President Donald Trump tweeted "NYC terrorist...killed 8 people, badly injured 12. SHOULD GET DEATH PENALTY!"

Key words : police suspect serial murder
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20171102_35/
Police in Tokyo say a suspect in a serial murder case has told them he did not know the names of any of 9 victims.
Investigators say Takahiro Shiraishi likely attacked young women as soon as he lured them into meeting him with the intention of killing them.
Police arrested the 27-year-old man after discovering dismembered body parts of 9 people in his apartment in Zama near Tokyo. Eight of them are believed to be women. The arrest warrant was served on suspicion that he disposed of one body.
Most of the 9 victims are said to have posted their wishes to commit suicide in their Twitter accounts.
Police believe the suspect sent a message that read "let's die together" to lure them into meeting him.
Shiraishi is quoted as telling police he killed all of them without getting their consent. He reportedly said none of them asked to be killed.
Police say Shiraishi initially gave specific accounts of his deeds, but his statements have since become ambiguous.
He initially told police 4 of the 9 were in their late teens. He put the age of 4 others, including one man, at around 20, and the remaining one around the late 20s.
He had also told investigators he killed one person in August, 4 in September and another 4 in October.
But he now tells police he doesn't remember. Tokyo police are asking other police nationwide about people reported missing, who could be among the victims.

Key words : business leader NAFTA
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20171102_29/
A Japanese business leader has told an American lawmaker that the United States should maintain the basic framework of the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA.
Sadayuki Sakakibara, chairman of the Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, met with Dave Reichert, co-chair of the US-Japan Congressional Caucus, in Washington on Wednesday.
The Trump administration hopes to overhaul NAFTA, the free trade pact between the US, Canada and Mexico.
Many Japanese manufacturers produce in Mexico, taking advantage of its cheap labor, then export those products to the US. They are worried about any potential changes to the agreement.
In the meeting, Sakakibara said investments in the NAFTA region from countries around the world, including Japan, bring great profits to the three countries.
Sakakibara told reporters after the meeting that many Japanese firms are worried about the renegotiations, but that he was reassured that the basic rules of the pact would be maintained.

Key words : ice wall
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20171102_13/
The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has almost completed work on an ice wall around the reactor buildings to prevent groundwater from flowing into the facilities and becoming contaminated.
This comes one year and 7 months after Tokyo Electric Power Company began the procedure to freeze the 1.5 kilometer-long underground wall.
The last section of the wall on the mountain side of the facility had been purposely left unfrozen as it was thought freezing it could cause a sudden drop in groundwater levels around the buildings, and contaminated water inside the facility could leak out.
In August, workers at the utility started to freeze the remaining 7-meter section by circulating minus 30-degree-Celsius coolant inside underground pipes.
TEPCO officials say underground temperatures went subzero in late October, and the section where work started in August appears to be stably frozen, except for the ground surface.
It is thought some sections where underground equipment and pipes are located are unlikely to be frozen.
TEPCO officials say the ice wall, along with other measures, will reduce the groundwater volume flowing into the facilities to less than 100 tons a day. The volume was 140 tons as of July.
The officials plan to assess how effective the ice wall is in preventing the inflow of groundwater.

Key words : gender
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20171102_25/
A Swiss research institute has downgraded Japan by 3 notches to 114th place in a world gender equality ranking. The institute cited big gaps between men and women in politics and economics as the reason.
On Wednesday, the World Economic Forum, which hosts an annual meeting of the world's political and economic leaders in Davos, published this year's report on gender equality.
The institute analyzes gender gaps every year based on data in the areas of politics, economics, education, and health.
The report put Japan in 114th place among the 144 countries surveyed. It is the lowest ranking Japan has ever earned. Japan was also the lowest listed G7 industrialized nation.
Japan received a high mark in the area of health. But it was given low scores in politics and economics, given the low representation of women in politics and the wide wage gap between men and women.
Iceland retained the title of the world's most gender-equal society for the 9th straight year. It was followed by Nordic countries, such as Norway and Finland.
Among the major economies, France ranked 11th, Germany 12th, Britain 15th, the US 49th, and China 100th.
The World Economic Forum said gaps in education are shrinking, but those in politics and economics remain wide across the world. It warned that, at the current rate of change, it will take 217 years to close the economic gap. The Forum called on nations to do more to address the problems.

Key words : Japanese wearable
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20171102_27/
Japanese manufacturers are showcasing high-tech gadgets and services for visually impaired people.
More than 40 firms and groups are taking part in the event in Tokyo.
Optical glass maker Hoya is displaying a wearable device to assist people that have difficulty seeing in the dark.
It has an OLED display that shows images taken by a high-sensitivity camera.
Panasonic is demonstrating a shopping assistance service.
A person can send images of items they are planning to buy to an operator using a smartphone. The operator will explain details such as price and description.
The leader of the event's organizer, Akihiro Arakawa, says technology is dramatically changing the lifestyles of the visually impaired.
He says he hopes many will experience the cutting-edge technology and find something new.

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