Global Briefs
December 31, 2004
Japan’s Military Exercise Shows Shift From Pacifism
SYDNEY, Australia — Japan’s shift away from post-World War II pacifism could see its troops training with the Australian military in proposed war games in Australia, the Weekend Australian newspaper reported.
The newspaper said that although the discussions were only in the early stages, the military-training talks, which have not reached the ministerial level, could divide war veterans and others in the community.
It also said Japanese troops training in Australia could pose problems for Canberra’s relationship with China — including the pursuit of a free-trade deal — considering ongoing tensions between Beijing and Tokyo.
Monk Warned of Self-immolation
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Buddhist monks did not set themselves on fire in protest of a Dec. 11 concert of Indian film stars that coincided with the anniversary of a cleric’s death.
Bollywood heartthrob Sharhrukh Khan said the concert would observe a moment of silence for the cleric.
The concert came a day before the first anniversary of the death of Gangodawila Soma, who campaigned against Christian conversions of Buddhists.
Buddhist monks said the weekend should be reserved for religious observances and had vowed to stop the show.
“This may include self-immolation,” Rathmalana Seelawansa, a monk who supports the clergy-backed National Heritage Party, had told reporters as dozens of his saffron-robed colleagues marched to the venue in the capital, Colombo.
Japan’s Student Performance Plummets
TOKYO — Japan’s education minister promised to come up with new educational guidelines after the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a Paris-based group of industrialized countries, said the country’s reading and math test scores were no longer the world’s best.
Japanese students scored sixth in math literacy and 14th in reading among their peers from 38 other nations in 2003. In the previous survey in 2000, they had ranked first in math and eighth in reading.
Alarmed by the results, Education Minister Nariaki Nakayama instructed officials to take action to bring Japan’s students to the “top level of academic skills.”
Princess Kikuko, Granddaughter of Tokugawa Shogun, Dies at 92
TOKYO — Japan’s Princess Kikuko, the emperor’s aunt and an outspoken advocate of allowing women to assume the throne, has died at St. Luke’s Hospital in Tokyo at the age of 92.
Kikuko, also known as Princess Takamatsu, was the widow of the late Emperor Hirohito’s younger brother Takamatsu and the granddaughter of Yoshinobu Tokugawa, Japan’s last shogun, or feudal lord.
Kikuko was seen as one of the most progressive members of Japan’s tradition-bound royal family, the world’s oldest hereditary monarchy. She had been a champion of cancer research in Japan since the 1930s.
She had no children. Her husband — a philanthropist and an adviser to Hirohito in the 1940s — died in 1987 of lung cancer.
200,000 Indonesian Pilgrims Leaving for Hajj
JAKARTA, Indonesia — The first batch of some 200,000 pilgrims from the world’s most populous Muslim nation departed for Mecca to perform the hajj; they were told by the president to “pray for the nation” when they get there.
The hajj pilgrimage to Mecca is required of able-bodied Muslims at least once in a lifetime, if they can afford it. The season, which started on Dec.19, will climax in January 2005.
For many Indonesians, traveling on the hajj is the only foreign trip of their lifetimes. On their return home, they enjoy a higher social standing and are often referred to with the honorific “Haji” before their names.
Judge Reprimands Witness in 14 Muslim Burnings
BOMBAY, India — A judge severely reprimanded a key Muslim witness for unexpectedly reversing her testimony, which crippled the prosecution’s case in India’s high-profile trial against 17 Hindus accused of burning to death 14 Muslims in the western state of Gujarat in 2002.
Zaheera Sheikh, 19, is the main prosecution witness. Her sister was among the victims.
In initial statements to the police, she identified the 17 accused as the attackers, but she testified in court this week that she did not see who torched her family home and bakery.
Her changed testimony has raised speculation that she was either afraid of retribution by Hindu fundamentalists or has been bribed by them to keep quiet. Sheikh has in turn claimed that a human rights activist has threatened her with death if she does not testify against the Hindus.
Thousands Mourn Politician-Movie Star Poe
MANILA, Philippines — A horse-drawn hearse carried the coffin of Fernando Poe Jr. through Manila’s streets, as tens of thousands of Filipinos turned out for the funeral of the actor-turned-presidential-candidate who refused to concede the May election.
Poe, 65, died of a stroke on Dec. 14.
Poe, better known as “Da King” or simply FPJ, was a hero to millions of poor Filipinos who embraced the fast-punching, straight-shooting underdog hero he typically played in more than 200 action films. He also played true-to-life heroes, including decorated policemen, and he appeared in several World War II movies as a soldier or guerrilla fighting Japanese invaders.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo called Poe “a worthy adversary in politics and a great Filipino.”
Poe is survived by his wife, actress Susan Roces, and two children.
Song Banned About Infatuated Buddhist Monk
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Government officials have pulled the plug on a pop song, titled “Wrongly Quitting Monkhood for Love,” saying it tarnishes the reputation of Cambodian Buddhism.
Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said the song “affects the dignity of other monks who are striving to sacrifice their physical and mental strength to devote themselves to Buddhist teaching.”
The song was released as a video CD, which shows scenes of a monk hugging and kissing a girl while bathing in a pond near a pagoda.
Iep Chimeng, a studio executive, said the ban would have little impact on the sales of the 4,000 copies already out in the market.
Some 90% of Cambodia’s 13 million people adhere to Buddhism. About 60,000 monks live at more than 4,000 temples across the country.
China to Hold Jury Trials
BEIJING — China will start holding jury trials next year as part of court reforms that also will increase the number of judges by 10%, state media reported.
Jurors are to be elected to five-year terms and must have at least two years of a university education. Under the current system, judges are the sole arbiters in court cases.
Elections are not unheard of in China. The communist government has used nonpartisan “village elections” in recent years to pick its lowest-level officials and members of local legislatures.
Singapore Airport Exceeds 100,000 Passengers in One Day
SINGAPORE — Daily passenger traffic at Singapore’s international airport exceeded 100,000 in November for the first time.
“This milestone was crossed three days in the month of November,” said the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore in a report on Changi Airport, a major regional hub.
The traditional peak season for air travel is in December; the last two highest daily figures were 98,213 passengers in December 2003 and 98,421 passengers in December 2002, according to the governmental body.
Changi Airport handled 27.4 million passengers in the first 11 months of 2004, a 24.7% improvement over the same period last year.
Hong Kong Celebrates Centennial of Film
HONG KONG — The Hong Kong Film Awards in 2005 will celebrate the past 100 years of Chinese cinema, and acclaimed Taiwanese directors Ang Lee and Hou Hsiao-hsien have been invited to attend.
When the ceremony is held March 27, 2005, judges won’t be picking just the best new movies but also the best 100 Chinese movies since the first one was made: The Battle of Dingjunshan in 1905, according to the South China Morning Post.
“We are planning to invite Hollywood stars and some rarely seen big names,” said Manfred Wong of the Hong Kong Film Awards Association. “But we are still waiting for their answers.”
North Korean Abductees in Comic Books
TOKYO — Photos of Megumi Yokota have appeared on television, in newspapers and on the front pages of magazines because she was one of Japan’s citizens who were kidnapped by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s.
Now, she is appearing in a comic book.
Manga Action magazine had “Megumi” as its cover feature in the latest issue, detailing the girl’s kidnapping as a 13-year-old in 1977.
“Abduction could have happened to any of us,” said Katsushi Minoura, chief editor at publisher Futabasha Publishers Ltd. “We’re hoping that readers try to imagine what it was like.”
Yokota is one of 13 Japanese citizens whom North Korea has admitted to kidnapping to train spies. Five were returned, but Pyongyang claims the eight others — Yokota among them — died in the communist state.
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