Japan's ruling coalition has pushed a controversial bill through the Diet with just a few days left before the current session ends. It will allow more foreign workers into the country.
Japanese immunologist Tasuku Honjo, the co-winner of this year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, said that cancer will no longer be a life-threatening disease around the year 2030.
A Canadian prosecutor has accused a top executive of Chinese IT giant Huawei Technologies of defrauding several financial institutions.
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/upld/medias/en/radio/news/20181208200000_english_1.mp3
Key words : ruling pushed
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20181208_09/
Japan's ruling coalition has pushed a controversial bill through the Diet with just a few days left before the current session ends. It will allow more foreign workers into the country.
The bill to change the immigration control law was enacted early on Saturday morning after fierce resistance from the opposition camp. It has dominated the current Diet session.
The bill is designed to address Japan's massive labor shortage due to an aging and shrinking population. It will allow foreigners to stay in Japan and work in blue collar industries.
Right now, only highly-skilled professionals, such as lawyers and researchers are eligible for work visas.
The new visa status comprises 2 categories. One allows foreigners with vocational skills in designated fields to stay in Japan for up to 5 years but will not let them bring family members.
The other will allow more skilled workers to bring their families and extend their 5-year stay indefinitely.
Officials estimate up to 340,000 foreign workers will be able to obtain the new visa over a period of 5 years.
They say over a dozen sectors are in urgent need of foreign workers, including construction, agricultural, fisheries and restaurant industries.
But opposition lawmakers say there are still a lot of questions about how exactly the new system will work.
They pointed out that foreign trainees currently working in Japan are facing problems concerning wages and working conditions.
In an attempt to block the bill's passage, the opposition camp submitted separate censure motions against the prime minister and the justice minister, who oversees the bill. But the motions were defeated.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has promised to give a clear picture of the new system before April when the law is set to take effect.
Key words : people in Myanmar
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20181208_04/
People in Myanmar have reacted positively to the enactment of a revised immigration law in Japan on Saturday.
The legislation paves the way for hundreds of thousands of foreigners to work in the country amid a severe labor shortage.
An increasing number of people in Myanmar are seeking to work in Japan.
A Japanese-language class was newly set up at a university in anticipation of the law's enactment.
A 27-year-old Japanese-language teacher said she believes young people in Myanmar will be able to get good jobs in Japan if they can speak Japanese.
A 20-year-old man who is taking the class said Japan is a very developed country. He added that learning from Japan will help the development of Myanmar.
Key words : vietnamese employee
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20181208_03/
A Vietnamese organization that sends technical trainees to Japan has welcomed the enactment of a revised immigration law on Saturday.
The legislation paves the way for hundreds of thousands of foreigners to work in Japan amid a severe labor shortage.
An employee of a Hanoi-based organization said some of the young Vietnamese who previously worked in Japan under the government-backed internship program want to go back to work.
At the same time, he expressed concern about the technical trainee program. He said trainees are burdened with large fees, and that young people will continue to suffer from heavy loans unless the system is changed.
He called for a fundamental review of the program by the 2 countries.
He added that the law revision may be good news for them.
Key words : Honjo no longer
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20181208_12/
The co-winner of this year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Japanese immunologist Tasuku Honjo, has said that cancer will no longer be a life-threatening disease around the year 2030.
Honjo made the comment in his Nobel Lecture on Friday. He is sharing this year's prize with Professor James Allison of the University of Texas.
More than 1,000 people attended Honjo's lecture at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.
He talked about the various people who had inspired him to conduct research on the immune system.
Honjo won the award for his discovery of a protein that functions as a brake on the immune system. The finding has been crucial in the development of immunotherapy, which is considered the 4th generation of cancer care, following surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy.
The Nobel Lecture is a tradition that's been in place since 1901.
Key words : canadian prosecutor accused
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20181208_20/
A Canadian prosecutor accused a top executive of Chinese IT giant Huawei Technologies of defrauding several financial institutions in a court hearing in Vancouver on Friday.
Huawei's Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou was arrested at Vancouver International Airport on December 1st at the request of the United States.
In Friday's hearing, the prosecutor representing the United States said Meng is suspected of involving the financial institutions in illegal transactions with Iran through a Huawei subsidiary in Hong Kong.
Meng allegedly told the financial institutions Huawei and the subsidiary Skycom were unrelated when Skycom sold equipment to Iran between 2009 and 2014, despite US and European Union sanctions.
The prosecutor said Meng, who is the daughter of Huawei's founder, poses a flight risk, and should not get bail but be held until her extradition to the United States.
Meng's lawyer told the court she would not breach its order because doing so would put China's credibility at risk.
The court did not decide whether to grant bail, and the hearing will continue on Monday.
The case threatens to drive a wedge between the US and China, which are already involved in a trade war.
Key words : UN security
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20181208_18/
The UN Security Council is giving up on holding an annual meeting on human rights in North Korea by the end of the year, as it failed to get enough support.
Support from at least 9 Security Council member countries is needed for such a meeting.
Diplomatic sources say the US got support from only 8 countries, including Britain, France and Peru.
China and Russia oppose discussing human rights in North Korea at the Security Council.
Bolivia and Kazakhstan also opposed the meeting. Three African countries appeared set to oppose or abstain.
The meeting has been held every December since 2014 in response to a proposal by the United States.
This year's meeting was scheduled for Monday next week.
Past meetings have taken up the issue of North Korea's abductions of Japanese citizens.
Observers say the US and Japan are likely to have trouble getting support to deal with human rights in North Korea.
Key words : NASA
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20181208_13/
NASA says its InSight Mars lander has captured "sounds" of winds on the planet for the first time.
The agency says a seismometer on the spacecraft and an air pressure sensor inside it recorded air vibrations. Scientists were then able to use data to recreate the vibrations as sounds.
The winds around the lander are blowing at an estimated speed of 5 to 7 meters per second.
The sounds they make are not audible to human ears because of their low frequency, a result of the thin atmosphere on Mars. The density is about 1 percent that of the atmosphere on Earth.
A NASA official described the noise as like a rumbling sound in the distance.
The InSight spacecraft is measuring quakes on Mars and observing its interior heat as part of a mission to find out what lies beneath the surface of the planet.
A NASA official says capturing the audio was an "unplanned treat."
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