at 20:00 (JST), July 26 AS

Japan's Justice Minister has confirmed the execution of 6 jailed members of Aum Shinrikyo the doomsday cult.

North Korean Authorities are asking Japanese medical aid for atomic bomb survivors living in the country.

US President and European Commission President have agreed to work together to avert a trade dispute.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/upld/medias/en/radio/news/20180726200000_english_1.mp3


Key words : justice minister confirmed execution
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180726_24/

The main culprits behind a series of attacks that terrorized Japan in the 1990s are dead. Japanese Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa has confirmed the execution of 6 jailed members of the doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo.

They were the last remaining members on death row. This comes after the cult's former leader and 6 other members were put to death in early July.

Aum members were involved in a series of crimes that left 29 people dead.

That includes the release of sarin gas on the Tokyo subway system in March of 1995. The attack killed 13 people and injured more than 6,000.

Kazuaki Okazaki was one of the group's earliest members and helped expand its membership.

He was involved in the murders of a lawyer and his family, as well as a fellow cult member.

Masato Yokoyama was involved in the illegal manufacturing of automatic rifles.
He was one of the members who released sarin gas on the subway trains.

Satoru Hashimoto was held responsible for 10 killings... including the murder of a lawyer and his family, as well as a sarin gas attack in central Japan.

Yasuo Hayashi had a hand in both of the cult's deadly sarin gas attacks in Tokyo and central Japan.

Toru Toyoda was involved in researching and producing weapons and chemicals. He was one of the members who released sarin on Tokyo subway cars.
Kenichi Hirose was involved in building up an arsenal of weapons, including a plan to mass produce automatic rifles. He was one of the followers who released the nerve agent on subway cars.

Court cases for the men and other accomplices ran on for years -- the last of which was finalized this past January, paving the way for their executions.

Key words : journalist Shoko
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180726_27/

Journalist Shoko Egawa says the curtains should not be drawn on the problem of the Aum Shinrikyo cult even after the executions of all 13 former cultists on death row.

Egawa has been covering the cult since its activities were first called into question.

She said on Thursday that she feels the day has finally arrived. She said the convicts were eyewitnesses to the heinous crimes committed by the cult. She said experts should have interviewed them and got to the bottom of what happened so that lessons could be learned.

Egawa said many of those involved in the crimes had originally been sincere, hard-working young people who were seriously interested in discovering the meaning of life and their place in society.

She said they eventually found themselves trapped in a situation they could not escape from and ended up dying early.

She said their plight reveals the horror of this cult, and they can be counted among its victims.

She said it is true that the latest executions are a major milestone, but she doesn't think this is the end because a great number of people are still suffering and there is still a lot to learn.

Key words : human rights condemned
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180726_28/

An international human rights organization has condemned Japan for executing 6 more convicted inmates of the Aum Shinrikyo cult.

Amnesty International released a statement after the remaining 6 cult members on death row were hanged on Thursday morning. The cult's former leader and 6 other members were put to death on July 6th.

The statement says, "This unprecedented execution spree, which has seen 13 people killed in a matter of weeks, does not leave Japanese society any safer." It says," The hangings fail to address why people were drawn to a charismatic guru with dangerous ideas."

The statement also says, "It is high time for the Japanese authorities to establish an immediate moratorium on all executions and promote an informed debate on the death penalty as first steps towards its abolition."

Key words : north asking
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180726_38/

North Korea is asking Japan to pay medical aid to atomic bomb survivors, or hibakusha, living in the country.

The North delivered a report on a survey of hibakusha to a Japanese anti-nuclear group earlier this month.

The survey estimates that some 2,000 survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki later moved to North Korea. The survey found just 60 still alive in the country.

The North's authorities are concerned that aging survivors will die without receiving support from the Japanese government.

In some cases, families of hibakusha are also believed to have been affected by radiation.

Japan's health ministry says that only 2 survivors in the North have Japanese certificates showing they are eligible for government support.

At a news conference in Hiroshima on Thursday, members of the Hiroshima Congress against A-and-H bombs said North Korean authorities wanted to discuss as soon as possible with the Japanese government on medical aid for the survivors.

One of the survivors reportedly told the authorities that her daughter died of liver cancer after trying every possible treatment.

A senior member of the Hiroshima group, Tetsuo Kaneko, said the issue must be resolved before all hibakusha in the North die. He said resolving the issue will help progress in other bilateral issues as well.

Kaneko said the North Korean report will be submitted to the Japanese health ministry as early as next month.

Key words : US European agreed
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180726_08/

US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker have agreed on a deal to avert an escalation of trade friction.

Trump and Juncker held talks in Washington on Wednesday.

The 2 sides agreed to accelerate talks to increase EU imports of soybeans from the United States and lower tariffs on US industrial products.

Trump told reporters that they had agreed in their talks to "work together toward zero tariffs, zero non-tariff barriers, and zero subsidies on non-auto industrial goods."

Key words : detained hand-made
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180726_39/

Police in Beijing say they have detained a man for allegedly setting off a hand-made explosive device near the US Embassy in the Chinese capital.

The blast was heard on Thursday afternoon in a district of central Beijing where many foreign embassies are located.

Police say the 26-year-old man ignited the explosive device made from firecrackers at an intersection just outside the US Embassy.

They say the man injured his hand in the explosion, but the injury is not life-threatening. They are looking into his motives.

Roads near the site were temporarily closed, but were reopened about an hour later.

Key words : Insight Amazon river
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Key words : Japanese prosecutor
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180726_37/

Japanese prosecutors arrested another senior education ministry official on Thursday on suspicion of bribery.

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors' Office suspects that Kazuaki Kawabata, the Director-General for International Affairs, was treated to meals worth 12,600 dollars from August 2015 to March 2017 in return for providing a favor to a medical consulting firm in Tokyo. Kawabata was on loan to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, during the period.

An executive of the consulting firm, Koji Taniguchi, was served a fresh arrest warrant on suspicion of bribery.

Taniguchi was indicted on Tuesday on a bribery charge in a separate case that also involved a senior ministry official. He allegedly acted as an intermediary between an education ministry bureau chief, Futoshi Sano, and officials of Tokyo Medical University.

Sano allegedly gave the university favorable treatment for a subsidy program in return for his son's enrollment.

Sano was arrested by prosecutors earlier this month and indicted on Tuesday.

Prosecutors visited the education ministry on Thursday to look for evidence.

Key words : sharing economy
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180726_29/

The Japanese government says the country's so-called "sharing economy" is worth about 4.5 billion dollars.

The rapidly growing "sharing" activities involve people and businesses exchanging goods and services directly through online platforms.

The Cabinet Office says the market size of private lodging and other space-sharing services was between 1.3 billion and 1.6 billion dollars in 2016.

The exchange of merchandize is estimated to be around 2.7 billion dollars.

Some of these activities are not included in gross domestic product. The Cabinet Office plans to study ways of including them in the official statistics.

Key words : football association
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180726_33/

The Japan Football Association has appointed Hajime Moriyasu as the new coach of the men's national team, with an eye to the World Cup in 2022.

The association's executive committee endorsed his appointment on Thursday.

Current coach Akira Nishino will step down at the end of July, after leading Japan into the last 16 in the recent World Cup finals in Russia. Moriyasu assisted Nishino at the finals.

Moriyasu will stay on as the coach of the under-21 national team preparing for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The 49-year-old played professional soccer as a midfielder in the J1 League, mainly for Sanfrecce Hiroshima.

After his playing days, he managed Sanfrecce and led them to the J-League title 3 times.