India Elects First Woman to Be President

Article title: India Elects First Woman to Be President
Source: The New York Times
Published: Sunday, July 22, 2007
Downloaded from: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/22/world/asia/22india.html?_r=1 on Sunday, July 22 at 17:46

India selected its first female president on Saturday, winning a vote seen as a symbolic victory for women contending with widespread discrimination. Pratibha Patil, 72-year-old woman, won almost two-thirds of the votes cast by national lawmakers and state legislators. The election of a woman to the office, which is mostly ceremonial, continues an Indian tradition of using the presidency to give a high-profile voice to disadvantaged groups. She said “This is a victory of the principles of which our Indian people uphold.” She will be sworn in as India’s 13th president on Wednesday. While India has had several women in positions of power, women still face discrimination. Many Indian families regard daughters as a liability due to a tradition requiring a bride’s family to pay a large dowry of cash and gifts. As a result, their education and health is often neglected. International groups estimate that 10 million female fetuses have been aborted in the last two decades.

Brazil Demands Solution to Aviation Crisis

Article title: Brazil Demands Solution to Aviation Crisis
Source: The New York Times
Published: Thursday, July 19, 2007
Downloaded from: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/19/world/americas/19brazil.html?_r=1&oref=slogin on Thursday, July 19 at 16:20

In Sao Paulo, Brazil, July 18th, the plane skidded off the runway and then became the fiery crash. More than 176 people are confirmed dead in the accident, the worst in Brazil’s history and the second in less than 10 months. Brazilian news organizations were speculating that the pilot of the plane that crashed may have touched down beyond the limit of the zone designated for landings. The Congonhas Airport where the accident occurred is Brazil’s busiest, handling more than 600 landings and takeoffs on an average day. The weather has been quite rainy, and the Congonhas’ runway is known to be chronically slippery when wet and have led to several incidents of skidding and shutdowns that have caused nationwide air traffic snarls. Repairs were ordered, but the runway was put back in use last month before the crucial last stage, known as “roving”, aviation officials acknowledged Wednesday. “Grooving” provides drainage and lets tires get a better grip when a plane lands. Brazilians responded Wednesday with anger and renewed calls for the government to act immediately to end the deepening aviation crisis. But even as Brazilians mourned, the focus of their discussion was shifting to how to prevent yet another disaster. Though President created an emergency cabinet group to deal with Tuesday night’s disaster, it is not clear who is dealing with the larger array of problems.

Ancient horse trappings dug up at burial mound

Article title: Ancient horse trappings dug up at burial mound

Source: The Daily Yomiuri

Published: Sunday, July 15, 2007

downloaded from: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/culture/20070715TDY03001.htm on Thursday, July 19 at 14:15

A set of ornamental horse trappings which had been used in the early 6th century was excavated at a burial mound in Ota Ward, Tokyo. It marked the second discovery of a set of ancient horse articles in Tokyo, following that at Kamezuka burial mound in Komae in the 1950s. The trappings were discovered in a four-meter-long wooden coffin. It is precious materials for researchers to learn about burial mounds built in the southern part of Musashi Province, which straddles Tokyo, Saitama and Kanagawa prefectures. And it probably proves the trappings were used for decorating a horse to make its appearance good.

40% of parents fear kids will visit bad Web sites

Article title: 40% of parents fear kids will visit bad Web sites

Source: The Daily Yomiuri

Published: Sunday, July 8, 2007

Downloaded from: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20070708TDY03002.htm on Sunday, June 8 at 19:15

40 percent of parents worry about their children accessing Web sites contain violent or sexual content. What most worried the parents about their children’s use of the Internet is accessing harmful Web sites. And they also worry about children becoming involved in crimes. Only 23.7 percent of parents know the existence of filtering services to block harmful sites. Moreover, 7.3 percent actually filtered content. In fact, the reason why children (middle and high school students) use the Internet is to browse homepages and blogs. So, it is important to promote measures to keep children from browsing harmful sites.

Rain in Kyushu brings landslides

Article title: Rain in Kyushu brings landslides

Source: The Daily Yomiuri

Published: Saturday, July 7, 2007

Downloaded from: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20070707TDY02010.htm on Sunday, July 7 at 17:31

Heavy rain hit Kumamoto and Nagasaki prefectures. It caused landslides and prompted evacuations Friday. In Kumamoto, 192 households were isolated after roads were blocked by the landslides. 10 people were rescued by a helicopter from an area from where landslides were expected. 15 buildings were flooded above the floor. 1173 people from 391 households were instructed to evacuate, and 91 people from 45 households did voluntarily. On Saturday at 11:35 a.m., Kumamoto Government Yoshiko Shiotani requested that members of the Ground Self-Defense Force’s Eighth Division in Kumamoto be dispatched to provide support, based on the Basic Law on Natural Disasters.

Second boy left in Kumamoto hospital's baby hatch

Article title: Second boy left in Kumamoto hospital's baby hatch
Source: The Japan Times Online
Published: Sunday, June 17, 2007
Downloaded from: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070617a2.html on Sunday, June 10 at 14:18 p.m.

A two-month-old baby was left in the baby hatch for unwanted babies at Jikei Hospital of Kumamoto Tuesday night. He is the second child left at the hospital since it opened in early May. The baby hatch is designed to enable people to leave babies anonymously. It is controversial and public opinion over the system is divided. Some people say it offers a last means to save the lives of unwanted babies. Others say it encourages people to leave their children and people who think it is not bad to abandon babies become more and more increased.

Lee raps China and South Korea over Yasukuni

Article title: Lee raps China, South Korea over Yasukuni
Source: The Japan Times Online
Published: Sunday, June 10, 2007
Downloaded from: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070610a2.html on Sunday, June 10 at 18:24 p.m.

Former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui said China and South Korea lash out at Japanese leaders over Yasukuni Shrine because they can not handle their own domestic problem. According to him, they often use Japanese-related issues as a pretext to attack domestic political rivals or as a means to distract public attention from other issues. He also said Japan should not let other countries intervene in honoring its war dead. He went to the shrine Thursday to pray for his dead older brother who fought for Japan when Taiwan was under Japanese colonial rule. He described 11-day stay in Japan was successful.

Birth Control Crackdown Sparks Riots In Rural China Ⅱ

Article title: Birth Control Crackdown Sparks Riots In Rural China
Source: The Washington Post
Published: Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Downloaded from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/22/AR2007052201496.html on Thursday, May 24 at 0.42am

Bobai authorities traditionally have been tolerant of collecting the money. In consequence, many Bobai area families, especially in tradition-bound farming villages, have three or more children. For them, the new enforcement of the rules means financial stress and impossibility. In the one-child policy, families whose first child is a daughter can try again for a son. But they have to pay a $375 fine for their second offspring. If they have third and forth children, they have to pay progressively higher fines. But families think it is worth because they need a son to be taken care of them when they are old. So, some families pay $375 or more.

Birth Control Crackdown Sparks Riots In Rural China Ⅰ

Article title: Birth Control Crackdown Sparks Riots In Rural China
Source: The Washington Post
Published: Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Downloaded from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/22/AR2007052201496.html on Thursday, May 24 at 0.42am

Birth control bureaucrats threatened to knock holes in the homes of people who had failed to pay fines imposed for having more than one child and confiscated everything from sacks of rice to color televisions. The brutal fine-collection drive was launched last week around Bobai, China. China’s leadership says that is vital to maintaining swift economic growth and spreading its benefits more evenly among a population already at 1.3 billion people. The problem in the Bobai area was that lax enforcement of the policy over the years led to a high number of families with several children, and suddenly the local family planning bureau wanted to collect its fines or else. But the farmers of Bobai have been known rulers were highhanded. They stoned riot police brought in to quell the unrest and trashed local offices. The townspeople were unwilling to accept authorities’ demands for payment because they believed that local officials were generally corrupt and that the money for fines would go to their pockets rather than into government coffers. The disorder caused a number of injuries to police and protesters. Authorities imposed an overnight curfew. Similar outbreaks of violence were reported in the other towns where offices were ransacked and police cars were burned.

Man held for riding on "mikoshi"

Article title: Man held for riding on "mikoshi"

Source: The Japan Times Online

Published: Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Downloaded from: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070522a9.html on Wednesday, may 23 at 0:10 am

A 56-year-old man was arrested for getting on a “mikoshi” portable shrine and causing a disturbance during the Sanja Matsuri festival in Tokyo. That festival which is the annual event is one of Japan’s biggest festivals. Asakusa shrine that is the organizer of that festival proposed cancelling this year’s festival following an incident last year in which carrying bars broke after some people got on a mikoshi. But it decided to hold the festival as usual as participants submitted a pledge not to ride on mikoshi. Depite the pledge, 25 people rode on a mikoshi during Sunday’s event. Two other men were arrested on charges of insisting with police officers who tried to get people off mikoshi.

Many amusement parks lax on safety rules

Article title: Many amusement parks lax on safety rules
Source: The Japan Times Online
Published: Sunday, May 13, 2007
Downloaded from: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070513a2.html on May 13, 2007

One-third of the nation’s major amusement parks have not been aware of government standards for safety checks and the inspection norms under the Japanese Industrial Standards. The standards oblige park operators to conduct one or more safety checks every year to find defects in the parts used in their attractions. 51 amusement parks with roller coasters responded to the survey. 17 of the 51 amusement parks didn’t know the JIS norms existed. Even if some parks knew the JIS norms, they didn’t think they had an obligation to follow them. Some parks use their own standards. Actually, Expoland in Suita, Osaka, where killed a woman and injured about 20 people didn’t conduct a checkup for 15 months.

Cool Biz returns to fight global warming

Article title: Cool Biz returns to fight global warming

Source: The Japan Times online

Published: Saturday, May 12, 2007

Downloaded from: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070512a5.html on May 12, 2007

[Article]
The Cool Biz campaign to combat global warming will start again on June 1 and run through the end of September. Japanese workers are urged to ditch their neckties and dress lightly in open-collar short-sleeve shirts. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has urged all of his Cabinet ministers to Okinawan shirts. The energy conservation campaign was introduced in summer 2005 to help Japan meet its obligations under the Kyoto Protocol on global warming and is going strong. In 2006, the Cool Biz campaign cut carbon dioxide emissions by 1.14 million tons.

[Opinion]
I didn’t know that last summer Cool Biz campaign cut much carbon dioxide emissions. The Cool Biz campaign became the peg to consider global warming seriously. But we shouldn’t be satisfied with that outcome. We should go on striving to resolve global warming.

Nation's child population declines to new postwar low

Japan’s child population has decreased since the end of World WarⅡ. It is the 26th straight year of decline in the child population. Children formed 13.6 percent of Japan’s total population of 127.8 million. Japan’s child population ratio is the lowest in the world and it ranked below Italy and Germany. Japan’s birthrate declines too. On the other hand, the population of people age 65 or older has increased as 21.2 percent. Japan’s total population is anticipated becoming one-third by 2055. So, Japan fears for tax revenue shortfalls and labor shortages.