■ JAPAN
UN chief begins tour
UN chief Ban Ki-moon arrived yesterday, an airport official said, in the first leg of a two-week Asian tour that will take him to China, South Korea and the G8 summit in Hokkaido. The secretary-general is expected to stay in Japan until Tuesday, meeting Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura and Emperor Akihito. With climate change the main topic on his agenda, Ban was expected yesterday to head the ancient capital of Kyoto, home of the Kyoto Protocol, where he is scheduled to meet government officials and business leaders. He is expected to deliver a speech on climate change at Kyoto University today.
■ JAPAN
PM gives pre-G8 pep talk
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda yesterday urged all major greenhouse gas emitters to tackle climate change as he sought to galvanize efforts ahead of next month’s G8 summit. “It is necessary for all major emitters to participate in efforts” to fight climate change, he said, speaking in front of lawmakers from the world’s eight most industrialized nations as well as five major emerging economies. Climate change “is a borderless problem. It will remain unresolved if only some countries participate, even if they do their best,” he added at a forum on climate change, ahead of the July 7 to July 9 G8 summit.
■ CHINA
Three die in coke plant blast
Three workers died and three others were injured by an explosion at a coke plant in Yunnan Province, the Xinhua news agency said yesterday. The explosion occurred on Friday morning at a workshop at the Yunnan Dawei Coke Co in Qujing, blowing off the cover of a storage tank. Strong prices for coke have kept many small and dangerous coking plants open, despite repeated government pledges to crack down on polluting plants or those that don’t meet minimum capacity standards.
■ SINGAPORE
‘Organsellers’ charged
Two Indonesians have been charged with putting their kidneys up for sale, in what reports say is the first prosecution against organ trade in the country. The health ministry said in a statement two Indonesian men had been arrested and charged for organ trading and lying to a hospital ethics committee. Both men have pleaded guilty. One of the potential recipients was Tang Wee Sung, the head of CK Tang, a well-known retailer. The Straits Times said yesterday one of the men had agreed to sell his kidney to Tang for 150 million rupiah (US$16,290), but the deal was scuppered when the health ministry intervened. The other sold his organ to an Indonesian woman for 186 million rupiah after convincing an ethics panel his buyer was his adopted mother. The transplant took place in a Singapore hospital in March.
■ BANGLADESH
Major party to enter polls
A major political party has said it will take part in local council polls in a big boost to the army-backed government’s plans for the country’s smooth transition to democracy. The Awami League said it would participate in polls for city and town councils on Aug. 4 in a dramatic U-turn on its earlier stand to boycott all polls except the parliamentary elections. “It is a unanimous decision of the party’s working committee. We are taking part in these polls for the greater interest of democracy in the country,” said Zillur Rahman, acting president of the party. The military-backed emergency government announced the local council polls schedule last week, only to be fiercely opposed by top parties.
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