TALIBAN KIDNAP 10 CAMPAIGNERS, 8 OTHERS HERAT, Afghanistan: The Taliban on Thursday night kidnapped eight election workers and 10 campaigners of a candidate running for Afghanistan’s second parliamentary election in northwestern Badghis province, the district chief said on Friday.


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world The ˜Manila Times SATURDAY S eptember 18, 2010 OKYO: Japan’s Prime Minister


Naoto Kan, who survived a bruising leadership challenge this week, named a new cabinet on Friday, including a new foreign minister to handle an escalating row with China.


The shake-up in ministerial and party posts also aims to stamp Kan’s authority on his year-old center-left government and effectively sidelines his vanquished rival, Ichiro Ozawa, in the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ).


On the economic front, where the


Kan government on Wednesday launched a massive currency inter- vention to stem the damaging rise


of the yen, Kan bet on continuity and kept in place his Finance Min- ister Yoshihiko Noda. “I have to create a good team,”


Kan told reporters before a cabinet meeting where his ministers re- signed en masse. In a sweeping change, the premier appointed new ministers in a range of portfolios—including justice, trade, education, health, agriculture,


■ Naoto Kan


tourism and consumer affairs. The changes come after a turbu- lent first year in power following the DPJ’s ouster of the conservative Lib- eral Democrats in a landslide elec- tion, ending their more than half a century of almost unbroken rule.


Its first premier resigned for mishan- dling a dispute with Washington over a controversial US airbase, political funds scandals have plagued key mem- bers, and the DPJ suffered heavy losses in July upper house elections. Kan replaced outgoing Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada with former Transport Minister Seiji Maehara, who is considered an expert on se- curity matters and a hawk on China and its military rise of recent years. Maehara, a telegenic and ambitious


young politician, takes over the post at a tricky time as Japan and its tradi- tional Asian rival China are embroiled in a heated diplomatic row over the arrest of a Chinese fishing captain. Beijing has launched a series of diplomatic protests and cancelled official visits to Tokyo over the inci-


BRAZIL AIMS TO BECOME MILITARY POWER BRASILIA: Brazil’s signing of a new strategic


cooperation accord with Britain—adding to a pile of similar deals with other European countries and the


United States—has underlined its ambition to become Latin America’s pre-eminent military power. AFP


Japanese Prime Minister Kan reshuffles Cabinet T


dent, which took place last week near an East China Sea island chain that is claimed by both sides. Maehara will also have to work with the United States, Japan’s key security ally of the post-war era, to settle the details of how to build a new US airbase on Okinawa Island, where many locals vehemently oppose it. The premier’s right-hand man, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku, stayed on, as did Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa, Financial Services Minister Shozaburo Jimi and Admin- istrative Reform Minister Renho. In the reshuffle of senior party posts in the DPJ, outgoing Foreign Minister Okada took over the pow- erful post of party secretary general. Kan’s rival Ozawa, a veteran powerbroker and leading faction boss


Myanmar excludes select minority areas from polls worldinbrief


BANGKOK: Myanmar media on Thurs- day said a number of areas in five insurgency-plagued ethnic-minority states would not participate in upcoming elections as conditions are not in place for a “free and fair” vote. State radio and television listed around 300 villages across Kachin, Kayah, Kayin, Mon and Shan states that would be excluded from the poll. In Shan state, four townships will now not take part in the country’s


first election for 20 years. “The multiparty general election


on November 7, 2010 will not be held in the following places as there is no condition to hold a free and fair election,” state media announced before listing the areas involved. While there was no specific men- tion of security concerns, the states involved are home to rebel groups, including the Kachin Independence Organization, Shan State Army and


the Karen National Union. Myanmar’s military, which has ruled the impoverished country since 1962, has long fought to bring minority groups under its control. Civil war has wracked the coun- try since independence in 1948 and, while most rebel groups have reached ceasefire deals with the junta, observers have said the state’s determination to crush them has increased as elections loomed.


The regime launched offensives against ethnic Chinese Kokang rebels in the northeast in August 2009 and the Christian Karen insur- gents in June last year. Authorities are believed to be try-


ing to avoid confrontation with the public ahead of the country’s first election since 1990, which has been criticized by activists and the West as a charade to put a civilian face on junta rule.


Storm the size of Australia strikes New Zealand


WELLINGTON: A storm that meteorolo- gists described as being the size of Australia buffeted New Zealand on Friday, prompting severe weather alerts across most of the country and warnings of localized tornadoes. The official MetService said gale-


force winds of up to 130 kilometers per hour were lashing some areas, including the capital Wellington, accompanied by heavy rain, lightning


and icy temperatures. “Winds of this strength have the


potential to lift roofs, topple trees and powerlines and make driving condi- tions hazardous,” it said. MetService also said there was a chance


of tornadoes in “very localized” areas. “There might be a few small


tornadoes turn up,” a spokesman told Radio New Zealand. Authorities said there were more


than 100 lightning strikes in the Wellington region, temporarily cutting power to 3,600 homes. Privately owned forecaster


weatherwatch.co.nz said the storm in the Southern Ocean was one of the largest currently on the planet, with a size roughly equivalent to Australia. Weatherwatch analyst Philip Duncan


said that while the storm’s center was likely to remain about 1,000km west of New


Zealand, the country would experience extreme weather for three or four days. Duncan said the winds were likely to come in unpredictable squalls, advising: “These Southern Ocean storms tend to fire up a number of aggressive but fairly short-lived fronts.” He said Christchurch, which was hit by a 7.0-magnitude earthquake two weeks ago, could expect high winds but the city should escape the worst of the weather.


AFP AFP


who lost in his bid to oust Kan as party president and premier on Tuesday, has not been named to any senior posts, and neither have his allies. Kan only offered the scandal- tainted backroom fixer the lesser post of acting president of the DPJ, which he has declined. Prosecutors were set to question


Ozawa on Saturday for a fourth time over financial reporting irregularities by his political funds management body, Kyodo News agency reported, quoting unnamed sources. Political observers have warned there is a risk that a disgruntled Ozawa, who has earned the nick- name “the Destroyer” for his record of making and breaking alliances over the years, may bolt from the DPJ and split the party.


AFP


ACTIVITIES IN DISPUTED GAS FIELDS ‘LEGAL’ BEIJING: China said Friday its activities in a disputed gas field in the East China Sea, also claimed by Japan, are “completely reasonable and legal.”


TWO KOREAS FAIL TO AGREE ON REUNION TALKS SEOUL: North and South Korea failed to reach agreement on Friday in talks about restarting reunions for separated families, Seoul officials said.


PAKISTANI POLITICAN IN EXILE MURDERED LONDON: A leading Pakistani politician living in exile in Britain has been murdered outside his London suburban home, sparking a major police investigation, party leaders said on Friday.


ISRAEL SAYS NO TO MORATORIUM EXTENSION JERUSALEM: Israel does not plan to extend curbs on settlement building which expire this month, a senior government official said on Friday despite Palestinian threats to walk out of peace talks over the issue.


MEDIA SAY POPE’S APPEAL IS ‘MISSION IMPROBABLE’ LONDON: Pope Benedict XVI’s appeal to Britons not to forget their Christian heritage was a “mission improbable,” a British daily commented on Friday as others highlighted the predator priest scandal rocking the Catholic Church.


AFP


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