World

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Three members of a Japanese climbing expedition aiming to traverse Himalayan peaks in China’s Tibet Autonomous Region were killed in an avalanche Oct. 1, the group’s headquarters in Tokyo said Oct. 2.

The three had lost contact with the other climbers and were found dead at an altitude of around 6,000 meters on Mt. Kula Kangri by expedition leader Kazuhiro Takahashi and two other members of the party, the headquarters said.

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Sadako Ogata, head of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, said Oct. 2 that the aid body is preparing to open a field office in northern Iraq by next spring to implement projects such as water and electricity infrastructure construction.

“The security in Iraq was such that we could not really send our own staff into the country. But there is considerable improvement and we are going to open our field office in Irbil’’ in the winter or next spring, Ogata told a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan.

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Prime Minister Taro Aso may decide to delay the date of a general election from Nov. 2 as previously expected as he is likely to carefully assess the economic situation amid the global financial turmoil, political sources said Sept. 30.

SAIPAN (Kyodo) — Japanese businessman Kazuyoshi Miura's defense team withdrew a
habeas corpus request Sept. 29 and a judge at a U.S. district court consented to the move, paving the way for his extradition from Saipan to Los Angeles in connection with the fatal shooting of his wife there in 1981.

The development follows a Los Angeles county court's ruling on Sept. 26 that validated an arrest warrant for the 61-year-old suspect on a conspiracy charge in connection with the slaying.

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Former Russian sumo wrestler Wakanoho, recently banned for life after he was arrested on suspicion of possessing marijuana, dealt the sumo world a fresh body blow Sept. 29 when he claimed he was forced to accept bribes to lose matches.

The allegations by the wrestler, whose real name is Gagloev Soslan Aleksandrovich, plunged the sumo world into more turmoil at a time when the Japan Sumo Association is already in court battling claims of match-fixing by weekly tabloid-style magazine Shukan Gendai.

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Tokyo stocks plunged Sept. 30, with the key Nikkei index dropping to its lowest level in more than three years, as investors were unnerved by a historic Wall Street sell-off overnight after Congress unexpectedly rejected the U.S. administration’s financial bail-out package intended to stabilize the financial sector.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average lost 483.75 points, or 4.12 percent, from Sept. 29 to 11,259.86, its lowest closing level since June 2005.

TOKYO (Kyodo) — New Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso left Tokyo for New York on Sept. 25 to address the U.N. General Assembly and hold bilateral talks with his Australian and Iraqi counterparts.

Addressing the U.N. session is the first major job for Aso, who became premier on Sept. 24 following his predecessor Yasuo Fukuda’s abrupt resignation.

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Mongolian grand champion Hakuho took sole possession of the lead on Sept. 24 to move into pole position in the hunt for his eighth career Emperor’s Cup, beating rank-and-filer Goeido at the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament.

In a battle of wrestlers sharing the lead on 9-1, Hakuho gave Goeido a sumo clinic by quickly pulling down the No. 5 maegashira by the arm immediately after the face-off to move in front with four days remaining at Ryogoku Kokugikan.

BERLIN (Kyodo) — Japan ranked 18th out of 180 countries and territories in the global corruption perception index in 2008, down one notch from the previous year, the Berlin-based non-governmental organization Transparency International said Sept. 23.

Denmark, Sweden and New Zealand shared top spot as the countries seen as the least corrupt, the NGO said in its annual report on its Corruption Perceptions Index for 2008.

Four participants of the inaugural Nikkei Youth Cultural Heritage Program (NYCHP) departed for Japan on July 3 to attend Japanese language classes, stay with two host families, tour Kobe, Himeji and Nara, practice the art of karate and the tea ceremony, and enjoy the savory taste of Kobe beef.

After they became quite comfortable living and studying abroad, they returned to the Bay Area on Aug. 5. They recently shared their thoughts on the trip.