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[March 02, 2006]

Kyodo news summary -2-+

(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)TOKYO, March 3_(Kyodo) _ ---------- Japan says India's nuclear issue different from N. Korea's

TOKYO - Japan on Friday said India's nuclear program is a separate issue from North Korea's following a landmark pact announced the day before on U.S.-Indian civilian nuclear cooperation.

"It would be wrong to discuss India's nuclear issue on the same basis as North Korea's," Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said at a press conference.

---------- Toxic insecticides 'never used in Japan' found nevertheless

TOKYO - Highly toxic insecticides that are banned in Japan and have never been used in the country have been detected in various parts of Japan, the Environment Ministry said Friday.

The insecticides -- mirex and toxaphene -- are believed to have come to Japan in the atmosphere or via sea from abroad, the ministry said.

---------- Pentagon says ready to sell advanced weapons to India

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Defense Department issued a statement Thursday expressing readiness to sell F-18 fighters and other advanced arms to India.

The statement came after the two nations signed a landmark civilian nuclear cooperation agreement earlier in the day during U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to India.

---------- 14 Hokkaido high school students held after drinking, smoking

SAPPORO - Fourteen senior students at Komadai Tomakomai high school, widely known for having won two consecutive titles at the national high school baseball championship, have been taken into custody by police after drinking and smoking at a restaurant in Hokkaido, police said Thursday.


The students included 10 baseball club members, five of whom were on the bench at the national championship last summer, the police said. The remaining four belonged to the school's basketball club, the police said.

---------- Japan to provide emergency aid for Philippine landslide

TOKYO - Japan decided Friday to provide $535,715 in emergency aid to the Philippines to help build temporary housing for victims of the massive, deadly landslide that hit Southern Leyte in the central Philippines last month, the Foreign Ministry said.

The aid comes in response to a request from the Philippine government for provision of construction materials and tools after many lost their homes and were forced to evacuate, the ministry said.

---------- Japanese family certified as sharing same birthday over 4 generations

LONDON - A Japanese family has been certified by Guinness World Records as having a record four generations sharing the same birthday, a feat it shares with three other families around the world.

The record was achieved following the birth in the Yokohama family of Mion Masuda on March 26 last year. Mion shares the same birthday as her father, Hiroshi Masuda, a company executive, born in 1963, as well as her grandfather, Minao, born in 1933, and grand-grandfather Kanamori, who was born in 1899 and passed away in 1972.

---------- Agency to ban 178 firms from bidding on defense facilities contracts

TOKYO - Defense Agency chief Fukushiro Nukaga said Friday that 178 companies will be barred from bidding for or signing contracts for defense facilities projects, following a series of bid-rigging scandals.

Nukaga, the agency's director general, told a news conference that the measure concerns yet-to-be ordered contracts by the Defense Facilities Administration Agency funded by the budget of fiscal 2005, which ends this March 31.

---------- Iraq to inform Japan about 2004 murder of Japanese hostage Fri.

TOKYO - The Iraqi Interior Ministry plans to provide information about the 2004 murder of Japanese hostage Shosei Koda on Friday morning Iraqi time, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso told a news conference.

"Iraq's Interior Ministry has informed (us) that they would like to give an explanation this morning local time," Aso said.

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