|
REGIONAL NEWS & SPECIAL REPORTS
|
|
Written by Administrator
|
|
Tuesday, 21 December 2010 06:12 |
AsiaViews, Edition: 14/III/April/2006
Toshiba Corp. acknowledged Tuesday that two employees faked equipment test data at yet another nuclear power plant and said it had taken disciplinary action.
It was the third time the company had confirmed fabrications of flow meter data, a sign the practice was likely widespread within Toshiba.
The electronics maker said it had confirmed faked test data was listed for flow meters at the No. 1 reactor of the Higashidori plant operated by Tohoku Electric Power Co.
It said safety was not compromised.
Two workers admitted they faked the data in December 2001 "to meet the delivery deadline," officials said.
Toshiba on Tuesday suspended or reprimanded four workers and disciplined six of their superiors, including three who have retired.
President Atsutoshi Nishida and three other executives were to return 20 percent of their salaries for three months as a gesture of responsibility.
Chairman Tadashi Okamura volunteered to do the same, the company said.
Toshiba began checking all its flow meter data at nuclear power plants after data faking was revealed at two other nuclear facilities in January and February.
The two plants were the Fukushima No. 1 plant (No. 6 reactor) in Fukushima Prefecture operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co. and the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant (No. 7 reactor) in Niigata Prefecture, also operated by TEPCO.
Flow meters measure feed water, circulation and other flows. The devices are vital in monitoring output and control operations.
The officials said the investigation also found suggestions that test data had been altered at five other reactors.
The five reactors are the No. 3 reactor at the Fukushima No. 2 plant; the No. 1, 2 and 3 reactors at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa; and the No. 2 reactor at Tohoku Electric's Onagawa plant in Miyagi Prefecture.
The Asahi Shimbun April 12, 2006
|
|
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 21 December 2010 06:12 )
|
|
REGIONAL NEWS & SPECIAL REPORTS
|
|
Written by Administrator
|
|
Tuesday, 21 December 2010 06:12 |
AsiaViews, Edition: 14/III/April/2006
LONG MIE, China--In the mid-1990s, this remote, impoverished community in Yunnan province became known as "baby trafficking village."
The fields lay fallow as people gave up farming to dedicate themselves to the more lucrative illegal trade in unwanted infants. They bought or snatched newborns and sold the babies to dealers, who then offloaded them to buyers in coastal cities.
Under Beijing's one-child policy, the babies had become an unbearable burden for their rural mothers, but in the ever-richer cities, they had become a status symbol.
People from neighboring towns began to shun Long Mie. The tiny village, with just 340 people, became so notorious as a trafficking hub that it attracted the scrutiny of the Save the Children international welfare group, which has since urged Chinese authorities to stamp out the practice.
At the community center near the entrance to the mountain village, residents gathered recently to participate in a study session held each Wednesday and Saturday at 7 p.m.
The villagers were getting a crash course in the laws on the Criminal Code, the Minors Protection Law and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The workshops are led by Zhang Guohua, 39, a villager and reformed trafficker who now teaches people to avoid her mistakes. Zhang's teaching style is unique. To help the 40 or so homemakers and children understand difficult legal words, she created a song so they can memorize the main points easily.
Their voices echoed through the village during the two-hour session. "Baby trafficking is an illegal act," the villagers sang. "If you get caught, you will be put on trial."
Zhang knows all too well about the consequences of trafficking.
One summer day in 1996, she boarded a long-distance bus, holding a newborn baby she had just bought. At the time, Zhang and her 39-year-old husband made a living cultivating small rice terraces and corn fields. Their yearly income was just 2,000 yuan (about 28,000 yen). That had to also support their three children and Zhang's husband's parents. They were so poor they could afford to eat meat only once a year.
Through friends, Zhang was introduced to another poor family with a newborn baby. She went to the family's home in a village of the Miao ethnic minority and picked up the 10-day old baby.
Since 1979, when the population control policy was introduced, families have been punished with crippling fines if they have more children than permitted--in most cases just one. Children who exceed a family's designated baby "quota" are called chao sheng (excessive birth).
Exceptions are made for members of minority ethnic groups and for people in some rural areas. Yet elsewhere, the rules are strictly enforced. The fine varies, but it usually amounts to three- to six-times the annual income of a violator.
Many blame the fines for the baby trafficking industry. They say people are forced to sell their babies because they can't pay the penalty. Meanwhile, rich families in cities are willing to pay the fines to have more children. Having more than one child has even come to be regarded as a sign of wealth.
The baby Zhang picked up was a chao sheng. The parents had no money to pay the fine nor even to raise the baby. They were wavering over whether to find foster parents for their child.
The baby's mother cried and pleaded with Zhang, "Please find a family who can raise my baby to be a fine person."
Zhang said she felt guilty about what she was doing, but she couldn't resist the lure of money. She kept thinking of the delicious food she could buy her own children with her cut of the sale.
"I will find a good foster parent for the baby," she promised the baby's mother. Zhang handed the woman 700 yuan (about 10,000 yen) and took the baby.
Zhang traveled for four days by bus and train to reach Fujian province. There, a man was waiting who paid her 2,000 yuan for the baby.
It was a much easier way to make money than farming, Zhang said. She bought another newborn and made another sale. Her husband gave his consent to his wife's new line of work. "This is a chance for us to become rich," he said.
At the same time, Zhang and her family lived in fear of the police. At night, when the family were eating dinner together, they would sometimes hear the sounds of cars. They would immediately flee to the mountains behind their house and hide.
In July 1997, the police caught up with her. She was on a bus, taking a third baby to a rendezvous with a buyer when she was arrested.
Despite its isolation, Long Mie has strong connections to China's eastern coast, which makes it an ideal base for the baby trade.
The village is near the border with Vietnam, and a national road leading to the coastal regions runs nearby. During the war between the communist neighbors in 1979, Chinese soldiers dispatched from Guangdong and Fujian provinces married women from the village, furthering Long Mie's ties to the coast.
According to local government authorities, baby trafficking between Long Mie and the coast was started in the early 1990s by villagers who had migrated east.
Almost everyone in the village was involved. Research by the local government showed that nearly 70 percent of villagers took part between 1993 and 1996. At least 104 babies were sold during that period.
The mark-up could be stupendous. In one case, a baby first bought for 200 yuan was ultimately sold for 20,000 yuan (about 280,000 yen).
According to local police, villagers would scour neighboring villages for people who were willing to sell their babies. If that failed, they would abduct infants. In January 1998, police arrested 45 villagers on suspicion of abducting babies. But the arrests didn't seem to put a dent in the trade.
Ma Zhonglu, 47, was a village chief at the time. He told the villagers to stop trafficking babies. A group of them faced off with him, saying, "You're scared of being arrested. You're a coward."
The social fabric of the village started to break down. Theft and gambling became rife, and people got into fights over money. Farming fields were deserted. People living in the neighboring villages and visitors from other provinces started to keep away.
In December 2000, Save the Children urged the local government to take action and a campaign to eradicate human trafficking was started in the village.
He Ye from Save the Children was sent to the village, but she got a frosty welcome. None of the villagers would cooperate.
One day, the NGO worker met Zhang, who had just been released by police after paying a fine. Zhang had spent all the money she earned from selling babies to pay the debt, but, she said, "I feel good now."
The NGO worker persuaded Zhang and several other villagers to cooperate, and started teaching them about law and ethics. As a way to make up for her crimes, Zhang passed on what she learned to others.
The local government started offering interest-free loans for keeping cattle and lectures on better cultivation techniques for rice and fruit. They provided running water and electricity. The lives of the villagers improved. The annual per capita income increased to 700 yuan in 2004 from 280 yuan in 2000.
In 2003, Save the Children turned over their activities to local residents and left the village. Now, none of the villagers works as a trafficker.
According to China's public security authorities, police arrested suspects in a total of 1,975 cases of child trafficking and abduction in 2004. Police rescued 3,488 victims.
But an unknown number of children have been trafficked without the knowledge of the authorities. In Yunnan and other provinces along the national border, an increasing number of children are sold to traffickers overseas.
In China, the gap between the rural poor and the newly rich city-dwellers is growing.
The average annual income in Shanghai in 2004 was 17,000 yuan, the highest in the country. In urban areas of Fujian province it was 11,000 yuan, but in rural areas it was 4,000 yuan, and just 1,800 yuan in rural Yunnan province.
"As long as economic disparities exist, more villages like Long Mie will continue to emerge," said a police officer from the village.
Save the Children and local governments are now working together to stop trafficking in 38 other villages in Yunnan province. Zhang and Ma tour the villages, trying to prod people into cooperating.
"Poverty discloses the worst aspects of human nature," said He, the NGO worker. "No matter how long it takes, we would like to spread the example of the Long Mie village to other villages."
By: Kazuto Tsukamoto
The Asahi Shimbun April 12, 2006
|
|
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 21 December 2010 06:12 )
|
|
REGIONAL NEWS & SPECIAL REPORTS
|
|
Written by Administrator
|
|
Tuesday, 21 December 2010 06:12 |
AsiaViews, Edition: 14/III/April/2006
The Kachin Independence Organization on Tuesday opened a three-day emergency meeting in response to rumors that Burma?s military government is preparing to seize its territory.
The meeting opened at KIO headquarters in Laiza, Kachin State, near the Burma-China border and aims ?to evaluate the current political state and to elect new central committee members, as well as to lay down future policy,? according to KIO Vice Chairman Manam Tu Ja.
Local residents said government troops from light infantry battalions 141, 260 and 29, stationed in the area of N?jang Yang, near Laiza, have poured into the region. They have been reinforced in recent weeks.
The dramatic increase in junta soldiers in the region has sparked fear within the KIO and among local villages that the rumors of an aggressive campaign by the government to wrest control of the area?particularly Laiza, Maija Yang and N?ba Pa?from the KIO will prove true. These cities are vital to the KIO and generate considerable revenue for the ethnic opposition organization from logging concessions agreed to with the ruling junta.
Manam Tu Ja dismissed the speculation of a government take-over of KIO territory, saying the group ?has been in healthy relations with the (junta?s) Northern Commander.? He added that the KIO recently received a message from Maj-Gen Ohn Myint, commander of the Northern Command, assuring them that the government will maintain the peace accord with the group, which is one of the largest armed ceasefire groups participating in the government-sponsored National Convention, tasked with drafting a new constitution.
Meanwhile, a high ranking KIO official told The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity that the meeting is quite unusual and will look into the rumors.
Early this year, government troops attacked a KIO office in Nam Hkam Township, northern Shan State, leaving five KIO soldiers dead. The government claimed the incident took place because KIO soldiers were outside of ?the agreed designated place,? where ceasefire groups are required to stay. The government, however, did not explain why it took control of the area, which KIO has overseen since 1997.
?Unlike other ceasefire groups, the KIO has a self-sufficient position,? said Aung Kyaw Zaw, a Burmese military analyst based along the China-Burma border. ?The government aims to reduce that position.?
In recent years, the presence of government troops has increased with the arrival of new infantry and artillery battalions in Kachin State.
London-based environmental group Global Witness stated in January that the government appeared to undermine Kachin ceasefire groups? position by limiting revenue generated from timber taxes.
By: Khun Sam
The Irrawaddy April 12, 2006
|
|
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 21 December 2010 06:12 )
|
|
REGIONAL NEWS & SPECIAL REPORTS
|
|
Written by Administrator
|
|
Tuesday, 21 December 2010 06:12 |
AsiaViews, Edition: 14/III/April/2006
Security authorities suspect "outside elements" may have been involved in Monday's deadly attack on a military post in Papua, with the hunt continuing for the killers.
The government said in Jakarta that it would not send reinforcements to Papua, but would intensify intelligence operations to arrest armed civilians blamed for the incident in which four people, including two soldiers, died in Wembi village, Keerom regency.
"We haven't decided to deploy more troops to Papua because, for now, we will step up intelligence operations to find the mastermind of the attack," Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Widodo AS said Tuesday after chairing a meeting on the issue.
Widodo said security forces identified the separatist Free Papuan Movement (OPM) as being behind the incident. He added, however, that "outside elements probably could have supported the act".
He did not identify the latter, but noted last month's violent rally near the Cendrawasih University campus in Abepura, as well as the recent awarding of visas by the Australian administration to 42 asylum seekers from Papua.
Also at the meeting were Indonesian Military commander Air Chief Marshall Djoko Suyanto, chief of the State Intelligence Agency Maj. Gen. (ret) Sjamsir Siregar, secretary-general of the Defense Ministry Lt. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin and Papua acting governor Sodjuangan Situmorang.
Worried health-care students from Jayapura had their work experience program cut short Tuesday after witnessing the attack.
A representative of Jayapura polytechnic administration, Chrisman Silitonga, said the decision to pull hundreds of students from the area came at the request of parents and students following the violence in Wembi.
"The students have been traumatized by the experience of the violent clash. Initially, we planned to only halt the program in Wembi village, but due to security fears, we decided to bring all 190 students back to Jayapura from across Keerom regency," Silitonga told reporters on Tuesday.
The three-week-long health service program provided for locals in Keerom regency was scheduled to end April 30.
Keerom Police chief Sr. Comr. Robert Kennedy said people were going about their daily activities and the situation was back to normal.
Monday's violence began when a group of about 30 armed men attacked soldiers monitoring a health program in Wembi.
Denaweng Diaz Allocmabin, among the group of 22 students helping out at the health center, said the incident happened at midday as the students ate lunch.
"Suddenly I heard the sound of gunfire, followed by a horrible scene. It was a soldier, with wounds all across his body, running through the military post, while some men wielding machetes chased after him. The soldier fell to the ground.
"Soon after that, another soldier whose arm had been cut off ran across the post. In trying to save his life, he attempted to reach a bathroom, but he died before he got there," Diaz said.
The military post is located about 15 meters from the local health center.
"I saw the attackers of about 20 armed men brandishing axes, arrows, machetes and other sharp weapons," Diaz added. "Just as soon as they attacked the military post, they fled and disappeared."
The bodies of First Sgt. Achmad Basori and First Pvt. Sukarno from the 509th battalion of the Army's Strategic Reserves Command were flown to Lampung and Jombang respectively to be laid to rest.
The clash also claimed the lives of two of the attackers. They were identified as Tinus Wenda and Edi Pagawak. Their bodies were buried at Arso public cemetery.
Meanwhile, another soldier, Second Corporal Sugihardjo, and a student, Joseph Timisela, suffered serious wounds. They are undergoing treatment at local hospitals.
By: Tiarma Siboro and Nethy Dharma Somba
The Jakarta Post April 12, 2006
|
|
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 21 December 2010 06:12 )
|
|
|
