Tag: InternationalNews

{{Japan’s exports are forecast to have grown in July at the fastest pace in almost three years, according to a Reuters poll, suggesting the benefits of a weak yen are finally starting to take hold.}}

However, the trade balance is forecast to be in deficit for the 13th consecutive month in July, as the weak yen makes Japan surging energy imports even more expensive.

An improvement in exports would help offset some disappointment over data released last week which showed economic growth slowed in the second quarter, and raised questions over how well Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s reflationary policies were working.

“One concern is that oil prices are rising again, which will push up energy imports,” said Shuji Tonouchi, senior fixed income strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.

“Still, I expect a recovery in both the value and volume of exports to take hold. I think the trade deficit will improve.”

Exports in the year to July rose a median 13.1 percent from a year ago, which would be the fastest increase since September 2010. The finance ministry will release the data on Monday.

Economists will also closely scrutinize Japan’s exports to the United States to see if improvements in the world’s largest economy continue to help demand for Japanese goods.

Japan’s exports to China could also provide clues as to the extent of a recent economic slowdown in the world’s second largest economy.

China is Japan’s largest trading partner, though the United States was the biggest buyer of Japanese exports in the first half of this year.

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{{Christchurch’s cardboard cathedral officially opens on Thursday, replacing the neo Gothic structure destroyed in a 2011 earthquake that killed 185 people in New Zealand’s second largest city.}}

Completion of the innovative structure, designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, marks a major milestone in the city’s recovery from the devastating 6.3-magnitude quake that levelled much of the downtown area, acting dean Lynda Patterson said.

“The old cathedral symbolised the city in many ways and we think this cathedral is a symbol that Christchurch is regrouping and rebuilding,” she told media.

“The community has a cathedral again. It’s a place where people can come for quiet contemplation in the city centre and somewhere we can hold concerts and art exhibitions.”

Built from 600 millimetre (24 inch) diameter cardboard tubes coated with waterproof polyurethane and flame retardants, the cathedral is a simple A frame structure that can hold 700 people.

Despite the unusual building material, it has a design life of 50 years, with the Anglican Church planning to use it as a cathedral for at least a decade while it builds a permanent replacement for the late 19th century building lost in the quake.

It has a concrete base, with the cardboard tubes forming two sides of the A frame and containers helping brace the walls.

One end of the cathedral will be filled with stained glass and a polycarbon roof will help protect it from the elements.

It is the most ambitious piece of “emergency architecture” attempted by Ban, who has forged a reputation for using low cost, easily available materials to build structures in disaster zones from Rwanda to his native Japan.

In an interview with AFP last year, Ban said cardboard was a surprisingly strong building material and described projects such as the cathedral as part of the “social responsibility” of being an architect.

The project has not been without setbacks. It was originally slated for completion in November last year and the budget has reportedly increased from NZ$4.5 million ($3.6 million) to around NZ$7.0 million.

Last month, some sections of cardboard tubing became sodden and wrinkly when a torrential downpour hit before the roof was completed, although they were swiftly cut out and replaced.

Patterson said it was a relief to finally stage the building’s dedication service on Thursday evening.

“I still keep having dreams that the ground has shifted and I’ll go there and it’s a building site again,” she said.

She added that reaction to the cathedral from parishioners and the public had been “overwhelmingly positive”.

“From time to time we wondered if we’d ever get there,” she said.

“None of us can believe how good it’s turned out.”

Plans for a permanent replacement of the original cathedral have not been completed, with many in Christchurch pushing for any new structure to include a recreation of the imposing spire that dominated the city’s skyline before it toppled in the quake.

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{{Hackers have attacked Dalai Lama’s Chinese-language website, installing an unidentified piece of malware which could have compromised visitors’ computers, a spokesperson said.}}

The brief attack targeted the Tibet.net, which is the official site of the Tibetan government-in-exile, providing information about the parliament, cabinet, administrative departments and public offices.

“We are a prominent target for attacks by Chinese hackers,” Tashi Phuntsok, a spokesperson for the exiled government based in the northern Indian town of Dharamshala, told media.

“I assume they do it to steal our documents, disable our communication systems or spy on people who visit our sites,” he added.

Later on Tuesday, the website was functioning again and the virus had been removed.

Kurt Baumgartner, a researcher at Kaspersky Lab, a global manufacturer of antivirus software based in Moscow, detected the attack late on Monday and said the website had been “strategically compromised” as a result.

The attack involved the installation of a type of malware called a “backdoor” on users’ computers, Baumgartner wrote on a blog maintained by the cyber-security firm.

{wirestory}

UN says weapons inspectors are to depart shortly for Syria to investigate the alleged use of chemical weapons.

Under an agreement reached with Damascus, the UN team is to visit three sites over two weeks, including a northern town at the centre of allegations of chemical weapons use.

Some 26 people were killed in the attacks in Khan al-Assal in March.

The UN mission had been delayed over differences with the Syrian government over the scope of the investigation.

However, on 31 July the Syrian government agreed to allow UN inspectors to visit the sites. On Wednesday the UN said its team had completed their trip preparations.

“The government of Syria has formally accepted the modalities essential for co-operation to ensure the proper, safe and efficient conduct of the mission,” a spokesman for UN chief Ban Ki-moon, Eduardo del Buey, said.

“The departure of the team is now imminent,” he added.

The mandate of the 10-man investigating team, led by Swedish arms expert Ake Sellstroem, is limited to reporting on whether chemical weapons were actually used and which ones, but it will not determine responsibility for any attacks.

After the initial two weeks, the UN said, the trip was “extendable upon mutual consent”.

Two of the locations to be investigated have not been identified so far.

What started out as anti-government protests inspired by the Arab Spring quickly descended into a full-scale civil war in Syria, with more than 100,000 people killed during the 28-month conflict.

The possibility of President Bashar al-Assad using Syria’s chemical weapons stock or rebels obtaining some of the stockpiles is one of the factors that has most worried Western observers of the conflict.

The UN says it has received up to 13 reports of chemical weapons use in Syria – one from the Damascus government about the events at Khan al-Assal, with the rest mainly from the UK, France and USA.

Both sides of the conflict – the rebels and the government – have denied using chemical weapons.

Syria is one of seven countries that have not joined the 1997 convention banning chemical weapons.

Syria is widely believed to possess large undeclared stockpiles of mustard gas and sarin nerve agent.

BBC

US soldier Bradley Manning has apologised to a military court for giving war logs and diplomatic secrets to the WikiLeaks website three years ago, the biggest breach of classified data in the nation’s history.

“I am sorry that my actions hurt people. I’m sorry that they hurt the United States,” the 25-year-old US Army Private First Class told the sentencing phase of his court-martial in a Fort Meade military court on Wednesday.

“I am sorry for the unintended consequences of my actions… The last few years have been a learning experience.”

Manning spoke quietly and non-defiantly in his first extensive public comments since February.

Manning faces up to 90 years in prison for providing more than 700,000 documents, battle videos and diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks, hurling the pro-transparency website and its founder, Julian Assange, into the world spotlight.

Defence lawyers seeking a milder sentence rested their case on Wednesday after Manning’s statement.

With about a dozen witnesses including Army superiors, mental health professionals and Manning’s own sister, they sought to show Judge Colonel Denise Lind that commanders ignored signs of mental stress.

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{{Israel on Tuesday began releasing 26 Palestinian political prisoners, on the eve of renewed Mideast peace talks that have faced challenges even before they started.}}

Buses carrying the prisoners and bound for the Palestinian territories left the Ayalon
jail in central Israel late Tuesday, according to the Israeli prison service.

The prisoners were expected to receive a hero’s welcome in the West Bank and Gaza.

The release of the prisoners, most of whom were jailed in connection to deadly attacks, has been painful for some Israelis. They were freed late at night to prevent a media spectacle.

The move was part of an agreement brokered by US Secretary of State John Kerry to get Israel and the Palestinians back to the peace table after a five-year freeze in negotiations.

In all, 104 Palestinian convicts are to be released in four batches, although their freedom is contingent on progress of the talks that get underway in Jerusalem on Wednesday.

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