Japan to buy disputed islands, angering Crockery

Japan's government said Monday it has definite to get various disputed islands, China to angrily monish of “serious consequences" if it proceeds with the organization.

Principal Compartment Confidant Osamu Fujimura said Nihon gift buy the tierce uninhabited islands in the Eastbound Crockery Sea from a personal Japanese fellowship it recognizes as the human. China and China also request the islands, which are conception of what Nihon calls the Senkakus and Prc the Diaoyu gather.

Fujimura said the resolve to change the islands reflects Nippon's desire to create a "stalls and close" environment, not to angriness China.

"We outlook there faculty be no misunderstandings," he said.

China's Foreign Ministry responded swiftly, expression Beijing would not "sit confirm and check its jurisdictional sovereignty desecrated.

The conflict has longer been a criticality in Japan-China relations, and has been utility up in past months.

Early this month, the city of Yedo conveyed a aggroup of experts to actress around the islands to look fishing field and realistic sites for exercise, a act that was strongly criticized by Crockery. Activists from Nippon and Hong Kong shortly set measure on the islands measure month, and hundreds of Asian get held street protests in varied cities in past weeks.

China, Japan and South Korea agree to launch a free trade area (FTA

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Sunday that China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) agreed to launch the talks for a free trade area (FTA) within this year.

South Korea, China and Japan will likely announce an agreement to start negotiations on a trilateral free trade agreement this year when their leaders hold summit talks on Sunday, Seoul’s trade chief said on Tuesday.

Wen made the remarks at a press briefing after a trilateral leaders' meeting which was attended by Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and ROK President Lee Myung-bak.

Meeting with business editors of print and electronic media in Seoul, Trade Minister Bark Tae-ho said, “Our side agreed on the proposal.”

Calling the agreement as "an important strategic decision", Wen said the three nations should make concerted efforts for the early establishment of the FTA.

The idea for a three-nation free trade pact was raised about 10 years ago and has been studied by academics.

But it is widely viewed that the negotiations will be tough, as the three have to overcome a number of sensitive issues such as the opening of their farming sectors.

The three nations Sunday morning also clinched a deal to promote, facilitate and protect investment. Wen said it will serve as the first important legal document on trilateral cooperation in economic field.

Minister Bark also said the leaders of the three countries are expected to discuss the launch of negotiations among ASEAN and six countries, namely South Korea, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and India, for a regional free trade pact.

Senior officials from the six countries were invited to an ASEAN meeting scheduled for May 17 and 18 to discuss the expansion of the FTA scope, he added.

The issue of the regional FTA will likely be a topic for the ASEAN Plus Three summit in November, he said.

The move by South Korea, China and Japan comes after South Korea and China announced a plan to start official negotiations to conclude a bilateral FTA, stunning Japan, which is reportedly struggling to gain momentum in its push for FTAs with other countries.

He said the three nations promised to seriously implement the deal, so as to "create stable, fair and transparent environment for expanding mutual investment among the three countries, and further deepen economic integration."

The minister also said the nation’s fisheries industry, among other fields, would likely suffer the most in the wake of the free trade agreement while China’s automobile and petrochemical industries will be hit hard by the pact.

The first round of FTA talks between South Korea and China is scheduled to be held on May 14 in Beijing.

Trade experts in Seoul expect that an FTA with China, Seoul’s largest trading partner, would boost the Korean economy through increased trade.

Trade Minister Bark also introduced his Chinese counterpart Chen Deming’s prediction that the FTA with Korea was likely to be concluded within two years.

Bark said he expects concluding the free trade pact to take more than a year.

Japan quake and Tsunami victims memorable 2011

Members in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha observed silence as a mark of respect to those killed in the catastrophe which struck the northern pacific coast of Japan on March 11.

 Parliament today paid homage to thousands of people killed in the devastating earthquake and Tsunami in Japan, observing that it was a “tragedy of incalculable magnitude”.

Japan: With a minute of silence, tolling bells and prayers, Japan will today mark the first anniversary of an earthquake and tsunami that killed thousands and set off a nuclear crisis that shattered public trust in atomic power and the nation's leaders.

A year after the magnitude 9.0 earthquake unleashed a wall of water that hit Japan's northeastern coast, killing nearly 16,000 and leaving nearly 3,300 unaccounted for, the country is still grappling with the human, economic and political costs.

Parliament today paid homage to thousands of people

killed in the devastating earthquake and Tsunami in

Japan, observing that it was a “tragedy of incalculable ...

One year after a devastating earthquake and tsunami struck northeast Japan, killing nearly 16,000 people and sparking the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years, the country will pause Sunday to remember the exact moment the earth shook.

At exactly 2:46 p.m. local time (12:46 a.m. ET), a moment of silence will be held to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the 9.0-magnitude quake -- a tremor so great, it literally shifted the earth's axis.

 Pakistanis rally in memory of Japanese earthquake victims - Islamabad ...

Observances will be held across the country, with a main ceremony at the New National Theatre in Tokyo. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is expected to attend that event and offer remarks.

Radiation fears across Fukushima and beyond were expected to swell the number of those taking part in the protests.

Setsuko Kuroda, an organiser of a two-day anti-nuclear protest in Koriyama, said 20,000 people were expected on Sunday.

"We demand all children are evacuated from Fukushima now," she told AFP.

"Some experts say one third of children in Fukushima were affected by radiation.

"Leaving the situation like this is like they are committing a murder every day."

A summary of a government meeting held about four hours after a giant earthquake sent a wall of water crashing into the atomic power station showed that one unidentified participant had cautioned of the risk of a meltdown

"On the anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake, we remember that today we face a challenge of similar proportions."

The Japanese people earned the world's admiration for their composure, discipline and resilience in the face of the disaster while its companies impressed with the speed with which they bounced back, mending torn supply chains.

Japan is model nation, For Breivik

Japan is model nation, For Breivik

Japan as a model country in a document he distributed on the Internet, praising it for shying away from multiculturalism, Kyodo news agency reported that the mass killer in Norway.

Rambling 1,500-page manifesto posted online shortly the massacre, Anders Behring Breivik said, self-appointed mission to save Europe, saw as the threats of Islam, immigration and multi-culturalism. In document, he commended Japan for not allowing many Muslims to immigrate, although the country has no ban on specific ethnic or religious groups.

Clinton pushes India.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

pushes India on nuclear law, market access

Urged India to open markets faster and resolve questions on a civilian nuclear accord that US companies hope could mean billions of dollars in new business that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

US-Indian talks with a polite Clinton opened high-level firm push New Delhi to get moving on key economic issues promised and delivered.

Clinton said in her opening remarks at the meeting, the latest in a series of talks aimed at deepening political and economic ties between the United States and the world's second most populous country.

The global economic slowdown has driven US and European companies to look for sales in emerging markets like India.

Clinton's visit will cover a range of bilateral issues including counter-terrorism cooperation, an issue thrown into stark relief by last week's deadly triple bomb attack on India's financial capital Mumbai.

She will brief Indian leaders on US plans to draw down troops in Afghanistan -- which New Delhi fears may mean a hasty US exit. 

Clinton did not mention Pakistan in her opening statements, but did underscore that Washington and New Delhi have a common challenge in confronting the threat of militant violence.

On top of the list is civilian nuclear cooperation, which despite a landmark 2008 accord has yet to overcome Indian legal and regulatory obstacles which could open the doors to US nuclear energy companies such as General Electric and Westinghouse, the US-based arm of Japan's Toshiba.

The United States was disappointed when India rejected US bids for an $11 billion fighter aircraft contract in April, but still hopes US companies can benefit as New Delhi forges ahead with one of the world's biggest arms purchase programs.

"The United States expects to continue developing and selling the world's most competitive products," Clinton said.