news20090805JT1

[TODAY'S TOP STORIES] from [The Japan Times]

[BUSINESS NEWS]
Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009
Prius helps trim Toyota's losses
Stimulus steps lift sales but firm logs 78 billion net loss

(Kyodo News) Toyota Motor Corp. trimmed its full-year loss forecasts Tuesday for the current business year because domestic sales began to pick up on booming demand for the Prius on the back of government stimulus measures for fuel-efficient cars.

But in contrast with Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co., Toyota in April-June stayed in the red for the third consecutive quarter with a group operating loss of 194.86 billion as demand continued to fall sharply in overseas markets.

For all of fiscal 2009 through next March, Toyota now anticipates an operating loss of 750 billion on sales of 16.8 trillion. It had earlier projected an operating loss of 850 billion on sales of 16.5 trillion.

Toyota is expecting a group net loss of 450 billion in the fiscal year, smaller than the 550 billion loss projected in May, thanks to aggressive cost-cutting efforts and inventory reductions.

The automaker, which has Daihatsu Motor Co. and Hino Motors Ltd. under its wing, said it expects to sell 6.6 million units globally, slightly up from an earlier forecast of 6.5 million units, as it raised its full-year sales projection in Japan.

For the April-June quarter, Toyota logged a group net loss of 77.82 billion, a drastic improvement over the loss of 765.8 billion booked during the January-March quarter. It logged a profit of 353.66 billion a year earlier.

Group sales fell 38.3 percent to 3.84 trillion as global auto sales during the three-month period fell 35.9 percent to 1.40 million units.

But Toyota has received about 250,000 orders for the Prius hybrid since it went on sale in Japan in May. A new hybrid-only Lexus luxury sedan has also seen strong preorders on the back of recent government tax breaks and subsidies.

Toyota, which logged its first group operating loss in 71 years in fiscal 2008, has reduced its temporary workforce and cut production levels as it scrambles to reduce 460 billion in fixed costs during the current business year.

Toyota President Akio Toyoda has said he wants to return the automaker to profitability by March 2011.

Last week, Honda revised upward its full-year profit forecasts and remained in the black with a group net profit of 7.56 billion for the April-June quarter on the back of strong sales of the Insight hybrid.

Nissan meanwhile saw a better than expected group operating profit of 11.60 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2009, due partly to brisk sales in China. But it maintained its full-year earnings forecasts of a net loss of 170 billion and an operating loss of 100 billion.

25,000 Prius sold KYODO Sales of both old and new models of the Toyota Prius topped 25,000 units in July, up from the 22,292 sold in June, industry sources said.

At this pace, yearly sales of the hybrid are expected to total about 180,000 units and top the list of Japan's annual best-selling vehicles excluding minivehicles, the sources said Monday.

The Prius became Japan's best-selling vehicle in a ranking including minivehicles in June for the first time on the back of recent tax breaks and subsidies for buyers of environmentally friendly cars.

Data on best-selling vehicles in July will be released Thursday and the Prius is likely to top the list for the second straight month.

Toyota has received about 250,000 orders for the hybrid in the two months since the latest model went on sale in May.

Toyota is now operating its Prius plant at near capacity, and an executive said the automaker can produce up to about 25,000 a month for the domestic market.


[NATIONAL NEWS]
Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009
Defense-only posture needs reviewing: panel
By JUN HONGO
Staff writer

Japan should consider dropping its ban on engaging in collective self-defense and overhaul its defense-only posture, a panel reviewing government strategy said Tuesday.

"We do not advocate pre-emptive strikes, but policies exclusively restricted to defense are insufficient. There needs to be debate about when Japan can use force, and not only after (it has been attacked)," a government official working with the panel said.

Taking into consideration the panel's recommendations, contained in a 52-page report, the government plans to revise the National Defense Program Guidelines by the end of the year, but the outcome of the Aug. 30 election could dilute the recommendations. The new guidelines are to be in effect through 2014.

While the Constitution does not allow collective self-defense, the panel's report suggests Japan should be allowed to assist should U.S. forces come under attack at sea or America is targeted by ballistic missiles.

The panel, headed by Tokyo Electric Power Co. Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata, proposed that the government add a "proactive deterrent factor" to its passive defense policy.

Its report also proposes creation of a permanent law enabling the dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces overseas for international peace-building.

The report urges easing the restrictions on weapons exports and on joining international military-related research, because such curbs have been to Japan's detriment and increased its procurement and development costs.

On regional security, the report highlights the North Korean nuclear and missile threats. In reviewing the April launch of a long-distance ballistic missile by Pyongyang, it says the government should consider developing sensor-equipped spy satellites that can detect missile launches.


[NATIONAL NEWS]
Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009
Yokohama adopts nationalistic junior high history textbook

YOKOHAMA (Kyodo) The Yokohama board of education on Tuesday adopted a disputed history textbook with a nationalist bent for use in many of the city's public junior high schools, municipal officials said.

The textbook was mainly authored by a group of nationalistic scholars called the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform, popularly known as Tsukurukai.

It is published by Tokyo publishing house Jiyusha.

The book has drawn international criticism chiefly from China and South Korea for allegedly playing down Japan's militarist past and justifying its wartime role.

The Yokohama board of education decided to use the textbook in schools in eight of the city's 18 wards for two academic years starting next April, the officials said.

Jiyusha said Yokohama, with a population of 3.67 million, is the first large city to adopt its history book. It cleared the education ministry's fiscal 2008 textbook screening.

The Yokoyama board's six members on Tuesday discussed history textbooks from seven publishing houses, including Jiyusha.

The panel failed to reach a consensus on the selection of Jiyusha's history text. Some members said they appreciated the way the book makes it is easy for students to grasp the flow of history, but others criticized it as glorifying Japan's participation in a series of wars.

[NATIONAL NEWS]
Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009
Suit eyed over sumo assault

(Kyodo News) A former hairdresser, or "tokoyama," for sumo wrestlers is considering bringing a lawsuit against stable master Oitekaze for allegedly assaulting him in March, sources said Tuesday.

Oitekaze has reported this to a special directive committee of the Japan Sumo Association in the latest case tarnishing the image of the ancient sport.

"I have taken on a lawyer and intend to deal with this action seriously," said Oitekaze. The former hairdresser left his job with the sumo association in April.

According to sources, the hairdresser, formerly a wrestler, had himself allegedly physically abused young wrestlers of the stable but denied such charges in a statement sent to the stable master at the end of July.

He also suggested in the statement he was considering taking legal action against Oitekaze.

Oitekaze reportedly assaulted the hairdresser over his abuse of wrestlers.

Oitekaze is scheduled to meet with his lawyer as early as Wednesday. He said the hairdresser has been unwilling to discuss the case with him.

The sumo association last summer implemented measures to prevent acts of violence following the hazing death of a 17-year-old wrestler at the Tokitsukaze stable in 2007.

news20090805LAT

[Today's Newspaper] from [Los Angeles Times]

[World News]
Bill Clinton brings back journalists
North Korea pardons Laura Ling and Euna Lee, the two U.S. reporters it sentenced to prison for illegal entry, during the former president's visit. American officials hope it's an opening.
By John M. Glionna and Paul Richter
August 5, 2009

Reporting from Washington and Seoul -- North Korea's surprise "special pardon" of two American television journalists today may have reopened the channels of communication between the Obama administration and the secretive regime that for years has defied the world with its nuclear tests and political bombast.

After a whirlwind 24-hour visit that capped months of quiet diplomatic negotiations, former President Bill Clinton left Pyongyang on a private jet with the reporters after his talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, according to a spokesman for Clinton.

"President Clinton has safely left North Korea with Laura Ling and Euna Lee," Matt McKenna said in a statement. "They are en route to Los Angeles, where Laura and Euna will be reunited with their families."

Early today, television video showed the journalists, dressed in short-sleeved shirts, jeans and sneakers, shaking hands with Clinton as they climbed aboard the plane.

The two women were "enormously relieved and seemingly in very good health," a senior administration official said in a briefing.


The North's Central Korean News Agency reported that Clinton "expressed thanks [for the pardon] and delivered an oral message from Barack Obama on improving relations between the two countries."

It added that Clinton "delivered a sincere request from the U.S. government for a pardon and return [of the two journalists] from a humanitarian aspect."

In Washington, reaction from conservatives was generally muted. Democratic lawmakers heaped praise on the White House, even as administration officials said that Clinton made the trip as a private citizen.

Ling and Lee were on assignment for San Francisco-based Current TV in March when they were arrested by North Korean border guards. They later were sentenced to 12 years in prison for illegally entering the repressive state.

Reached at her home in Los Angeles, Ling's sister Lisa Ling said the extended families of both reporters were together Tuesday and were keeping in close contact with U.S. State Department officials regarding Clinton's progress.

"We are beside ourselves," Lisa Ling said of the release. "We are beyond thrilled and so excited that we will finally be able to hold them in our arms."

She called the long weeks since her sister's arrest in North Korea "the most unpredictable challenging 4 1/2 months of our lives."

U.S. officials said Clinton's trip was a high-stakes move. The North Koreans, eager to have their importance acknowledged, were pleased by the idea of a visit from the former leader of the free world.

The plan was to give them, with the visit, "a gesture of respect -- but that's all. No money, no flowery words," said a person familiar with the negotiations, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the diplomacy.

He said the administration also intends to continue trying to ratchet up pressure on North Korea in response to recent nuclear tests and missile launchings that the United States and allies consider illegal.

U.S. officials have tried to enlist other nations, especially in Asia, to close down North Korea's nuclear and missile trade, and to try to cut the nation off from international financing to support that trade.

Clinton's mission risked domestic criticism that the administration was rewarding one of the world's worst weapons proliferators, a country that has repeatedly broken promises to the United States and its allies.

Some congressional Republican aides said it was difficult to judge the mission until it was clear what promises, if any, Clinton had made to Kim, and what the administration might give the North Koreans to try to resume talks.

Reaction to Clinton's trip seemed to run along partisan lines.

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) applauded North Korea's gesture and praised President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and her husband, Bill Clinton, "for their quiet but persistent diplomacy, which made this day a reality."

However, John R. Bolton, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the Bush administration, condemned the "significant propaganda victory for North Korea, whether or not he carried an official message from Obama.

"Despite decades of bipartisan U.S. rhetoric about not negotiating with terrorists for the release of hostages, it seems that the Obama administration not only chose to negotiate, but to send a former president to do so," he wrote in a Washington Post column.

Other U.S. experts said the mission may not greatly improve the chances of North Korean cooperation on disarmament, but didn't cost the administration much, either.

Charles L. Pritchard, a former U.S. negotiator with North Korea, said it made sense for the United States to try to use direct talks with the North Koreans to nudge them back to group talks.

"It's always worth trying, until you receive irrefutable information that it's not going to work," said Pritchard, who is now president of the Washington-based Korea Economic Institute. "If the answer is 'no' from the North Koreans, then you don't proceed."

The American gesture is likely to please the Chinese, who are the administration's most important partner on the North Korea issue because they have more leverage than any other country with the regime in Pyongyang. Chinese officials have repeatedly urged the administration to try to restart the talks.

Bill Clinton is the highest-profile U.S. official to visit North Korea in nearly a decade.

The former president's trip thrust him into intense publicity that temporarily overshadowed his wife. The secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, who has been trying to raise her public profile after being sidelined for a month by a broken elbow, was in Africa on Tuesday beginning an 11-day trip.

In South Korea, analysts said they hoped Bill Clinton's visit was a first diplomatic domino whose fall would lead to a break in the tensions that have risen on the Korean peninsula in recent months with Pyongyang's testing of missiles and a nuclear warhead.

"Now, there's a green light for changing from a phase of confrontation to that of communication," said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

Others said that in lieu of a high-ranking Obama administration official, Clinton was the perfect emissary for the task.

"Clinton's perception or prestige in North Korea is remarkably higher than other names. Clinton is the U.S. president that North Korea thinks made the biggest achievement in a history of U.S.-North Korea relations," said Paik Hak-soon, director of the Center for North Korean Studies at the Sejong Institute on the outskirts of Seoul.

And while the details of the discussions between Clinton and Kim remained unclear, Paik said he thought that the talks would lead to more diplomatic breakthroughs.

"If it was simply a matter of freeing two journalists, it would not have been successful," he said. "Both countries have agreed that this visit would be a place to discuss big changes in relations and to solve nuclear issues."

Lisa Ling said the families had no immediate plans for the two journalists. "My guess is that they are going to be pretty traumatized and culture shocked," she said. "We want to let them decompress and get re-acclimated to being home."

news20090805NYT

[Today's Newspaper] from [The New York Times]

[Asia Pacific]
In Release of Journalists, Both Clintons Had Key Roles
By MARK LANDLER and PETER BAKER
Published: August 4, 2009

WASHINGTON — Former President Bill Clinton left North Korea on Wednesday morning after a dramatic 20-hour visit, in which he won the freedom of two American journalists, opened a diplomatic channel to North Korea’s reclusive government and dined with the North’s ailing leader, Kim Jong-il.

Mr. Clinton departed from Pyongyang, the capital, around 8:30 a.m. local time, along with the journalists, Laura Ling, 32, and Euna Lee, 36, on a private jet bound for Los Angeles, according to a statement from the former president’s office.

The North Korean government, which in June sentenced the women to 12 years of hard labor for illegally entering North Korean territory, announced hours earlier that it had pardoned the women after Mr. Clinton apologized to Mr. Kim for their actions, according to the North Korean state media.

President Obama contacted the families of the women on Tuesday evening, according to administration officials, but the White House said it would withhold public comment until the former president landed on American soil.

Mr. Clinton’s mission to Pyongyang was the most visible by an American in nearly a decade. It came at a time when the United States’ relationship with North Korea had become especially chilled, after North Korea’s test of its second nuclear device in May and a series of missile launchings.

It ended a harrowing ordeal for the two women, who were stopped on March 17 by soldiers near North Korea’s border with China while researching a report about women and human trafficking. They faced years of imprisonment in the gulaglike confines of a North Korean prison camp.

And it catapulted Mr. Clinton back on to the global stage, on behalf of a president who defeated his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, in a bitter primary campaign last year, and who later asked her to be his secretary of state.

Mrs. Clinton was deeply involved in the case, too. She proposed sending various people to Pyongyang — including Mr. Clinton’s vice president, Al Gore — to lobby for the release of the women, before Mr. Clinton emerged as the preferred choice of the North Koreans, people briefed on the talks said.

About 10 days ago, these people said, Mr. Gore, who co-founded Current TV, the San Francisco-based media company that employs Ms. Ling and Ms. Lee, called Mr. Clinton to ask him to undertake the trip. Mr. Clinton agreed, as long as the Obama administration did not object.

The riveting tableau of a former president, jetting into a diplomatic crisis while his wife was embarking on a tour of Africa in her role as the nation’s chief diplomat, underscored the unique and enduring role of the Clintons, even in the Obama era.

The trip came just two weeks after North Korea issued a harsh personal attack on Mrs. Clinton, in response to comments she made comparing its nuclear test and missile launchings to the behavior of an attention-seeking teenager.

The North Korean Foreign Ministry objected to her “vulgar remarks” and called her “a funny lady” who was neither intelligent nor diplomatic. “Sometimes she looks like a primary-school girl and sometimes a pensioner going shopping,” a spokesman said.

The episode evidently did not stop consideration of sending her husband as an envoy. But the initiative was cloaked in secrecy and came after weeks of back-channel talks between the United States and North Korea through its United Nations mission. In addition to Mr. Gore, the White House’s list of potential candidates included Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico.

North Korea signaled its desire to have Mr. Clinton act as a special envoy in conversations with Ms. Ling and Ms. Lee, who relayed that message to their families in the middle of July, according to a senior administration official. The message was passed to Mr. Gore, who contacted the White House, which then explored whether such a mission would be successful.

Mr. Obama did not speak directly with Mr. Clinton before the mission. But his national security adviser, Gen. James L. Jones, contacted the former president to sound him out. The senior official said the administration did “due diligence” with the North Koreans to ensure that if Mr. Clinton went, he would return with the journalists. He also denied that Mr. Clinton apologized as a condition of obtaining the pardons from the government.

As president, Mr. Clinton had sent Mr. Kim a letter of condolence on the death of his father, Kim Il-sung, according to a former official. For Mr. Kim, the former official said, freeing the women was a “reciprocal humanitarian gesture.”

Mr. Kim is believed to have suffered a stroke last year. American officials said they thought his declining health had set off a succession struggle, complicating the Obama administration’s dealings with the North.

The families of the American journalists issued a statement saying they were “overjoyed” by news of the pardon and thanked Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton. “We especially want to thank President Bill Clinton for taking on such an arduous mission and Vice President Al Gore for his tireless efforts to bring Laura and Euna home,” the statement said.

Current TV said in a statement that it too was “overjoyed” and that the hearts of its employees went out to Ms. Ling and Ms. Lee for “persevering through this horrible experience.”

The Obama administration said Ms. Ling and Ms. Lee were in good health.

Administration officials said Mr. Clinton went to North Korea as a private citizen, did not carry a message from Mr. Obama for Mr. Kim and had the authority to negotiate only for the women’s release.

“This was 100 percent about the journalists,” said a senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the matter. “We knew Kim Jong-il would probably seek a meeting with Clinton. But that’s not what this visit was about.”

Still, North Korea, clearly seeing a propaganda opportunity at home and a rare chance for a measure of favorable publicity abroad, welcomed Mr. Clinton with the fanfare of a state visit. It broadcast a group portrait, as well as photos of Mr. Kim gesturing and talking to Mr. Clinton; of the former president accepting flowers from a North Korean girl; and of Mr. Clinton, seated across a negotiating table from Mr. Kim, each flanked by their aides. Among those greeting Mr. Clinton at the airport was Kim Kye-gwan, North Korea’s chief nuclear negotiator.

Among those accompanying Mr. Clinton was David Straub, a former director of the Korea desk at the State Department, who had held talks with the North Koreans through what is known as the “New York connection.”

Also on hand was John Podesta, an informal adviser to the Obama administration who served as Mr. Clinton’s chief of staff in the final years of his presidency, when the former president yearned to travel to North Korea to clinch a deal that would have curbed its nuclear program.

That visit never happened — partly because the White House concluded that a deal was not assured — and President George W. Bush put the brakes on direct talks with North Korea, setting the stage for eight years of largely fruitless efforts to stop the North’s nuclear ambitions.

Given Mr. Clinton’s stature and his long interest in the North Korean nuclear issue, experts said it was likely that his discussions in North Korea ranged well beyond obtaining the release of Ms. Ling and Ms. Lee.

“It would be someplace between surprising and shocking if there wasn’t some substantive discussion between the former president, who is deeply knowledgeable about the nuclear issue, and Kim Jong-il,” said Robert L. Gallucci, who negotiated with North Korea in the Clinton administration.

Mr. Clinton has sought to find the right place in the Obama era, eager to play a role without stepping on the toes of the new president or certainly of his secretary of state.

The last time the two spoke, said the White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, was in March, when Mr. Obama invited Mr. Clinton to a ceremony in Washington for signing legislation expanding the AmeriCorps program created by Mr. Clinton.

In interviews last spring, Mr. Clinton said that he would be happy to do anything Mr. Obama asked him to do, but that “I try to stay out of their way.”

Mr. Clinton’s mission may be less of an issue for Mr. Obama than for Mrs. Clinton. The same day he landed in North Korea, she arrived in Kenya, kicking off an 11-day journey through Africa — a visit now largely eclipsed by her husband’s travels.

news20090805WP

[Today's Newspaper] fom [The Washington Post]

[Asia/Pacific]
N. Korea Releases U.S. Journalists
Pardon Issued After Bill Clinton Meets With Kim Jong Il
By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 5, 2009

North Korea pardoned and released two detained American journalists after former president Bill Clinton met in Pyongyang on Tuesday with the country's ailing dictator, a transaction that gives Kim Jong Il a thin slice of the international legitimacy that has long eluded him.

Although the White House and the State Department steadfastly insisted that the former president -- the husband of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton -- was on a "private humanitarian mission," the trip came about only after weeks of back-channel conversations involving academics, congressional figures, and senior White House and State Department officials, said sources involved in the planning.

North Korea rejected the administration's first choice for the trip -- former vice president Al Gore, who co-founded the television channel that employs the journalists -- and Bill Clinton left the United States only after North Korea provided assurances that the reporters would be released, the sources said.

U.S. officials said they hoped Clinton's trip would give Kim a face-saving way to end North Korea's provocative actions, such as recent missile launches and a second nuclear test, and begin the process of returning to the negotiating table on its nuclear programs. The American effort also appears to have been aided by South Korea's government, which in recent weeks has sought to ease tensions with its neighbor.

In Pyongyang, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that the release of Laura Ling, 32, and Euna Lee, 36, was ordered after Kim issued a "special pardon." The two had been sentenced to 12 years of hard labor after they were captured in March near the Chinese border while making a documentary about the trafficking of North Korean women to China.

The journalists and Clinton left North Korea on a plane en route to Los Angeles, where the women were to be reunited with their families.

"Clinton expressed words of sincere apology to Kim Jong Il for the hostile acts committed by the two American journalists," KCNA reported. "Clinton courteously conveyed to Kim Jong Il an earnest request of the U.S. government to leniently pardon them."

U.S. officials denied late Tuesday night that any apology was offered.

During the visit, Kim hosted a banquet in Clinton's honor, and U.S. officials said the men held talks that lasted more than three hours. State media broadcast images showing a dour-looking Clinton and a smiling Kim. And the KCNA report summarizing the trip was remarkably positive, speaking of "building the bilateral confidence" and "improving the relations between the two countries."

Ling and Lee were in many ways pawns in a test of wills between North Korea and the United States. After their sentencing in June, North Korea reportedly kept them in a guesthouse near Pyongyang, allowing them to make occasional phone calls to relatives in the United States. The sentence to hard labor was not carried out.

North Korea had long made it clear that it expected a high-profile visit on behalf of the journalists, but Gore may not have been acceptable because he was viewed as their boss and thus not an appropriate symbol of the United States. Other potential envoys considered by the administration included Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) and a former ambassador to South Korea, Donald Gregg.

The discreet discussions to secure the women's release continued even as Hillary Clinton slammed North Korea last month, saying it had "no friends" and was acting like an unruly child. But in critical ways, she also moderated her tone with regard to the case, moving from declaring in June that the charges were "absolutely without merit or foundation" to saying last month that the journalists "are deeply regretful, and we are very sorry it's happened."

Some officials said the success of former president Clinton's trip could result in the first U.S.-North Korea bilateral meeting of the Obama administration. They also think the United States will have a somewhat stronger hand because China for the first time has backed tougher sanctions in the wake of North Korea's May nuclear test.

No government officials appeared to be aboard Clinton's plane, but the nature of the delegation gave the mission a quasi-official status. It included John Podesta, Clinton's White House chief of staff, who served as chief of Obama's transition team and is president of the Center for American Progress. Also seen in photos released by the Korean media were David Straub, a former head of the Korea desk at the State Department who is now at Stanford University; longtime Clinton aide Douglas J. Band; and Justin Cooper, who has worked with the William J. Clinton Foundation.

It is not clear who funded the trip. News of Podesta's role came as a surprise to staffers at the Center for American Progress; he was thought to be on vacation in Truckee, Calif. Colleagues of Straub's at Stanford were also surprised.

Clinton and his party were greeted early Tuesday at an airport in Pyongyang, the capital, by Yang Hyong Sop, vice president of the presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, and by Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan, according to KCNA. Kim is the chief nuclear negotiator for North Korea, suggesting that Pyongyang hoped to use the visit to make progress on the impasse over its nuclear weapons program.

The visit offered the United States its first direct look at the increasingly frail-looking Kim Jong Il, 67, who is thought to have suffered a stroke a year ago and whose health has triggered speculation that he has picked his third son to take over Asia's only communist dynasty.

"One of the most beneficial things that could come of this is that smart American observers can describe how sharp he is, how lucid he sounds," said Robert Carlin, a former U.S. intelligence analyst who has made nearly 30 visits to North Korea and is dubious about reports of a succession crisis. "It might put to rest a lot of garbage rumors."

The most senior U.S. official previously to have met Kim was then-Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright in 2000, who traveled to Pyongyang aiming to arrange a presidential visit by Clinton. That visit did not take place as he turned his concentration to faltering Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in the waning days of his presidency. "The visit that never happened has now happened," said a source involved in the talks with North Korea, noting that the meeting could help fill a gap in Kim's perceived legacy.

news20090805WSJ

[Today's Paper] from [The Wall Street Journal]

ASIA NEWS
AUGUST 5, 2009
North Korea Frees Americans
By EVAN RAMSTAD and JAY SOLOMON

Former President Bill Clinton won the release of two U.S. journalists held by North Korea in a diplomatic stroke fraught with promise and potential pitfalls for the Obama administration's drive to halt the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

The announcement followed a face-to-face meeting between Mr. Clinton and North Korea's often irascible dictator Kim Jong Il -- the first such high-profile U.S. mission to the so-called "hermit kingdom" since Mr. Clinton's secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, visited the country in 2000.

Euna Lee and Laura Ling of Current TV LLC left North Korea with Mr. Clinton Wednesday morning local time and were en route to Los Angeles to meet their families, according to a spokesman for Mr. Clinton. The former president and a small entourage arrived in Pyongyang unexpectedly on Tuesday morning local time.

The mission took root in early July after one of the the reporters told relatives in a phone call that North Korea would grant them amnesty in exchange for a visit from Mr. Clinton, according to a senior Obama administration official. A North Korean court convicted the pair in June of illegally entering the country when they filmed a report on the border region with China on March 17.

The trip and its diplomatic theatrics represent a sudden moment of goodwill and compromise between two countries with nearly 60 years of fractious relations that grew even more antagonistic over the past year.

Mr. Clinton's discussions could place the Obama administration in a difficult position as it seeks to keep humanitarian and strategic issues separate. Former U.S. officials note that no matter what parameters the White House sought to set for Mr. Clinton's mission, the discussions appeared to have moved beyond the issue of the journalists.

In a statement, North Korea's Korean Central News Agency said the meeting "featured candid and in-depth discussions on the pending issues between the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] and the U.S. in a sincere atmosphere."

"It's already clear they're discussing broader issues," said Selig Harrison, a Washington-based academic who's made numerous trips to North Korea to discuss the nuclear issue, including one this January.

The senior administration official said that the North Korean government had agreed in advance that the two jailed American journalists would be released to Mr. Clinton, and that the visit wouldn't involve any broader issues.

Mr. Clinton spent about three hours and 15 minutes with Mr. Kim, the administration official said, including a two-hour dinner and a meeting that lasted for an hour and 15 minutes. Mr. Clinton spoke briefly with the White House on his return flight but didn't provide details of his talks with Mr. Kim, the official said.

No one in an official capacity in the U.S. government accompanied Mr. Clinton, but Mr. Clinton's former chief of staff, John Podesta, was one member of the delegation. Mr. Podesta served as President Barack Obama's transition chief after the November election.

The trip, however, carried the risk that Pyongyang would see it as an official diplomatic outreach from the Obama administration. North Korea is likely to portray it that way to its own people, describing it as a sign of U.S. respect for Mr. Kim that someone of Mr. Clinton's stature would visit. Mr. Clinton's status as the husband of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton could also obscure the line between official and nonofficial in the eyes of North Korean officials.

North Korea has long preferred direct talks with the U.S. because it views such one-on-one interaction as more prestigious. Since 2003, nearly all the interaction between the two countries has taken place in a diplomatic process known as the six-party talks that also involved China, Japan, Russia and South Korea. North Korea chafed at the process, which was designed by Washington to put more pressure on the North, and it declared after being penalized for undertaking a missile test in April that it would no longer participate in them.

Yet analysts watched for signs that the potential goodwill generated by Mr. Clinton's visit and the release of the reporters may improve relations between U.S. and North Korea. "This invitation of Clinton can possibly serve as a bridge to the place where the U.S. and North Korea can successfully launch bilateral conversations that are more significant," said Park Chan-bong, a former South Korean official who has been involved in many talks with North Koreans.

Indeed, analysts noted that North Korea's vice foreign minister, Kang Sok Joo, a key architect of the initial nuclear-disarmament agreement reached between the Clinton administration and Pyongyang in 1994, attended a banquet for Mr. Clinton Tuesday night. Another participant, Kim Yang Gun, oversees intra-Korean relations as well as the issue of U.S. forces on the Korean Peninsula.

Tensions escalated after North Korea tested missiles and a nuclear explosive this year. In response to those tests, Mr. Obama took a harder line on Pyongyang. In recent weeks, the U.S. and United Nations have enacted sanctions on a wide range of North Korean arms companies, as well as senior North Korean officials involved in its nuclear program.

Mr. Clinton's trip to Pyongyang followed months of deliberations in the State Department on how to secure the journalists' release. The Obama administration had initially discussed sending former Vice President Al Gore, a co-founder of Current TV, to Pyongyang, according to officials briefed on the deliberations. In a statement, Mr. Gore and Current TV co-founder Joel Hyatt thanked the Obama administration and Mr. Clinton.

The U.S. and North Korea gave no advance notice of Mr. Clinton's visit. The first word of it came from South Korean officials, who were notified that Mr. Clinton was on the way, and China's official news agency, which was among the group of reporters who were present for the arrival of the Clinton entourage at the Pyongyang airport.

Mr. Kim's willingness to greet Mr. Clinton shows the North Korean leader's health might not be as dire as it seemed from images of his recent public appearances and speculative news reporting in Asia. Mr. Kim is widely believed to have suffered a stroke last August. But senior U.S. officials have said in recent weeks that they didn't believe he suffered from pancreatic cancer, as some have speculated, and appeared to be in control of North Korea's leadership decisions. Mr. Kim smiled and appeared more robust in the photos with Mr. Clinton than he has in other photos taken in recent months.

The Korean Central News Agency said Mr. Clinton "expressed sincere words of apology to Kim Jong Il for the hostile acts committed by the two American journalists."

After Mr. Kim pardoned the reporters, Mr. Clinton conveyed a message from Mr. Obama "expressing profound thanks for this and reflecting views on ways of improving the relations between the two countries," the North Korean news agency said.

Relatives of the reporters issued a statement thanking Mr. Clinton and U.S. officials for their work. "We are counting the seconds to hold Laura and Euna in our arms," the relatives said.

news20090805usat

[Today's Paper] from [USA TODAY]

[Top News]
Clinton, two pardoned journalists return to U.S.
By Ken Dilanian, USA TODAY

After a face-to-face meeting with dictator Kim Jong Il, former president Bill Clinton returned to the U.S. early Wednesday with two American journalists who had been held for months by the communist government.
Clinton arrived at Burbank, California's Bob Hope Airport via jet with Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who were arrested March 17 along the Chinese-North Korean border and sentenced in June to 12 years of hard labor for illegal entry and "hostile acts."

The flight out of Pyongyang followed a whirlwind trip for Clinton who arrived in North Korea on Tuesday. But the genesis of the trip began weeks ago. A White House senior administration official said the journalists were told by their captors in mid-July that they would be released if Clinton came to get them.

The official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to talk on the record, said the journalists told their families of the offer in a phone call and they in turn informed the State Department.

The reclusive regime pardoned and ordered the release of Ling and Lee.

Some foreign policy analysts hoped that the surprise visit by Clinton could lower tensions in what has been an increasingly tumultuous relationship between the U.S. and North Korea over its nuclear program.

"I think we're certainly going to shift in a better direction than where we've been the past five months," said Joel Wit, a former State Department official under Clinton who worked on nuclear issues with the North.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said freeing the reporters reflected North Korea's "humanitarian and peace-loving policy."

Lee, 36, and Ling, 32, worked for former vice president Al Gore's Current TV. They have been held in a guesthouse, according to University of Georgia political scientist Han Park.

HILLARY CLINTON: Iran should "help determine whereabouts" of American hikers

In a statement, their families said they were "counting the seconds" until the women return.

KCNA said Clinton offered Kim "words of sincere apology" for the women's transgressions, and "courteously" conveyed President Obama's gratitude for North Korea's leniency. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs denied that Clinton carried a message from Obama to Kim.

Clinton's visit is only the second time a former president went to North Korea. Jimmy Carter traveled there for talks with Kim's father, Kim Il Sung, in 1994. Clinton is the highest-level American to meet with Kim since then-secretary of State Madeleine Albright in October 2000. The two nations do not have diplomatic relations.

news20090805SLT

[Today's Paper: A summary of what's in the major U.S. newspapers] from [Slate Magazine]

Journalists Are Free at Last
By Daniel Politi
Posted Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009, at 6:45 AM ET

All the papers give top billing to North Korea pardoning the two detained American journalists after former President Bill Clinton met with dictator Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang. Euna Lee and Laura Ling of Current TV, who had been sentenced to 12 years of hard labor, left North Korea this morning with Clinton on a private jet. USA Today (USAT) and the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report that the two journalists were told in July that they would be set free if Clinton visited North Korea. The journalists told their families, who then got in touch with the administration. The New York Times (NYT) says it was Clinton's vice president, Al Gore, co-founder of Current TV, who asked the former president to take the trip 10 days ago. The Washington Post (WP) says the administration's first choice for the trip was Gore, but North Korea rejected that suggestion.

Although White House officials took pains to emphasize that Clinton traveled to North Korea as a private citizen, everyone notes that the administration did make sure that the journalists would be released if the former president made the trip. The Los Angeles Times (LAT) declares that the pardon "may have reopened the channels of communication between the Obama administration and the secretive regime." North Korean state media reported that Clinton "expressed words of sincere apology to Kim Jong Il for the hostile acts committed by the two American journalists" and also conveyed a message from President Obama about the need to improve relations between the two countries. Administration officials denied that Clinton apologized and insisted he didn't relay a message from Obama.

The NYT reports that while Obama didn't talk directly to Clinton before the North Korea trip, Gen. James Jones, his national security adviser, "contacted the former president to sound him out." The WP notes that while there were no government officials traveling with Clinton, "the nature of the delegation gave the mission a quasi-official status." John Podesta, Clinton's White House chief of staff who was head of Obama's transition team, was on the plane, as was David Straub, who used to head the Korea desk at the State Department. North Korea pumped the visit for all it was worth, portraying the encounter in state media as a sign of respect for Kim, who hosted a two-hour banquet in Clinton's honor and met with the former president for an hour and 15 minutes.

Although officials said the administration was clear with North Korea that Clinton would only discuss the journalists, no one believes wider issues weren't raised. "It would be someplace between surprising and shocking if there wasn't some substantive discussion between" the two men, one expert tells the NYT. Indeed, the LAT notes that in South Korea, analysts were hopeful that this could mark the first step in improved relations between the two countries. "If it was simply a matter of freeing two journalists, it would not have been successful," one analyst said. "Both countries have agreed that this visit would be a place to discuss big changes in relations and to solve nuclear issues."

In a separate front-page piece that describes how White House officials had been negotiating with North Korea for months, the LAT says many in the administration believed that if they gave the isolationist regime a way to release the journalists without looking weak it could mark the opening salvo in resuming talks about the country's nuclear program. The WP points out that a side benefit of the meeting is that it gave the United States a first-hand look at Kim, who is thought to have suffered a stroke last year. But the WSJ notes that Kim's apparent eagerness to meet face-to-face with Clinton suggests he may be in better health than many believed.

The NYT fronts new court documents that shine a light on the influence of the pharmaceutical industry on medical literature. Wyeth, a pharmaceutical company that sold nearly $2 billion of its hormone drugs in 2001, paid ghostwriters to produce 26 scientific papers that advocated the use of hormone replacement therapy in women. The articles were published in medical journals between 1998 and 2005 and all made a point of emphasizing benefits of taking hormones. The articles, which were signed by top physicians who often did little or no actual writing, failed to reveal Wyeth's involvement in the process. Of course, the question now is how common is this practice. "It's almost like steroids and baseball," said a doctor who has conducted research on ghostwriting. "You don't know who was using and who wasn't; you don't know which articles are tainted and which aren't."

The WP fronts a look at how $52 million has been spent on advertising campaigns related to the debate over health care reform this year. And that number is set to grow into what some say could end up being the biggest advertising campaign related to a piece of legislation. Until now groups have mostly focused on national cable news and the Washington market, but as lawmakers head home for August recess, "advertising money will follow them," as the Post puts it. Much of the advertising so far has been by groups broadly in favor of reform that don't mention a specific plan. But that's likely to change as plans take shape.

Along with the advertising, the massive lobbying campaign will also be following lawmakers, notes the WSJ. The health care legislation would affect so many people that all types of groups are lobbying for their interests. And they see the next few weeks as a key time to get their views heard.

The NYT fronts a look at the challenges the chief lobbyist for the insurance industry, Karen Ignagni, is facing as she tries to keep her coalition together at a time when many in Washington have seized on insurers as the prime villains. Ignagni, who earned $1.6 million in 2007, claims to be surprised by the turn of events, particularly considering she has made a point of telling Obama the industry is ready to accept reform. Ignagni got the industry's big players to agree on concessions in the hope that she could work from the inside to prevent too much government interference. But some insurers might decide to walk away if they don't think there's anything to gain. That means the industry could end up "being thrust in the same role it played 15 years ago when it helped derail reform," notes the paper.

The NYT and WSJ go inside with news that two Russian attack submarines were detected patrolling the waters off the East Coast recently. One has come as close as 200 miles off the coast of the United States. The Pentagon said it doesn't consider the submarines threatening, but the discovery is certainly surprising, considering that the Russian navy is a shadow of its former self and hasn't conducted this type of mission for years.

The NYT fronts a dispatch from Congo, where there has been a sharp increase in the number of men who have been raped in the last few months. Joint Congo-Rwanda military operations against rebels that started at the beginning of the year and were supposed to bring a semblance of normality to the area, which has been mired in conflict for more than a decade, instead have given rise to horrifying revenge attacks against civilians. Aid organizations don't quite know how to explain the increase in male rape, except to say it's "yet another way for armed groups to humiliate and demoralize Congolese communities into submission." Of course, the number of men raped is small when compared to the hundreds of thousands of women who have suffered the fate. But aid workers say it's harder for men to recover because, assuming they do come forward in the first place, they're often ridiculed and ostracized in their villages and often have no one to turn to for support.

The LAT's Patrick Goldstein takes a look at how top actors and filmmakers aren't getting the same kind of money they used to from studios. Actors, writers, and filmmakers once had set quotes that went up with every hit and studios pretty much always met without asking too many questions. But that's yesterday. Today, for "basically everyone except Will Smith, salary quotes have evaporated" along with the cherished "first-dollar gross deals," which gave top talent a slice of revenue from a movie. Now it's all about "cash break zero," meaning they only get a share of the profits after all costs have been paid. Hollywood players are being forced to adapt to this new system, where the studios have all the power, and, suddenly, most stars aren't able to get whatever they want.

The LAT and WP report word that Paula Abdul announced on Twitter that she'll be leaving American Idol. Abdul had been in contract negotiations to increase her salary, which was reportedly between $2 million and $4 million a year.

news20090805GCU

[Environment] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Vendanta Resources]
India threatens Vedanta with prosecution over sacred mountain
Mining company told it will face legal action if it goes ahead with bauxite mine in Niyamgiri without permission
Kathryn Hopkins
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 5 August 2009 19.49 BST
Article history

India's environment and forests minister today warned the British mining company Vedanta Resources that it would be prosecuted if it went ahead with plans to open a bauxite mine in a sacred part of India without full permission from the Indian government.

"They have got environmental approval in principle. They have not got full forest clearance. If mining is taking place in Niyamgiri, then it is illegal," said Jairam Ramesh, the environment minister, speaking in India's upper house. "They can be prosecuted."

Meredith Alexander, of ActionAid, said: "Ramesh is rattling their cage. He is reminding them that he is watching them and if they go ahead without full permissions there will be consequences.

"They have already started work on a conveyor belt to take ore from the mine to the refinery, so Vedanta is behaving as if they have permission and it is fantastic that the minister for the environment and forests is reminding them that all the Is need to be dotted and the Ts need to be crossed before they can start digging."

Vedanta plans to open the mine on Niyamgiri mountain in the state of Orissa, eastern India, in September. Activists believe it will have catastrophic effects on the region's ecosystem and threaten the future of the 8,000-strong Dongria Kondh tribe.

Stephen Corry, a director of charity Survival International, said: "Minister Ramesh's statement is welcome news to the Dongria Kondh and their supporters. It has long been obvious that Vedanta's project flouts both national and international law. The Dongria have made their views clear through months of protests and road blocks: they don't want this mine. The only real beneficiary is Vedanta's owner, who will become even richer while the Dongria are reduced to destitution."

Ramesh has said that all applications for mining in forest areas now requires not only the forestry clearances, but also evidence that the rules of the Tribal Rights Act have been followed. "Had the Tribal Acts been in place, the chances are that this project [of Vedanta] would not have been cleared in the first place," he added.

Last week, the inspector general of forests wrote to all the state governments in India insisting that all diversions of forest land for projects like mines must have the written permission of all the affected village councils.

"Had this been in place when Vedanta first applied for forest clearance for the Niyamgiri project, it would have stopped the mine in its tracks, due to local opposition," said Jo Woodman at Survival.

A statement from Vedanta said: "Vedanta Resources has always made clear that we would not commence mining until we had all the relevant permissions. We are working within the law and we will commence work only when all environmental clearances have been granted."


[Carbon Emissions]
Ministers accused of backsliding on carbon targets
Renewables use and recycling drop in government departments as MPs warn taxpayer may face cost of meeting targets
Andrew Sparrow
The Guardian, Wednesday 5 August 2009
Article history

MPs accused ministers today of "backsliding" on the government's commitment to cut its own carbon emissions, noting that departments have reduced the amount of energy they get from renewable sources.

The environmental audit committee (EAC) also warned that the taxpayer may end up having to foot the bill for purchasing carbon credits from the private sector if it fails to meet its own target of a 12.5% reduction in carbon emissions by 2012. It also criticised Whitehall for reducing the amount of waste it recycles, and suggested that the government could end up having to buy carbon credits from the private sector because of its slow progress in tackling its own emissions.

The EAC report, Greening Government, looked at the environmental aspects of how departments manage their buildings and run their operations in the year 2007-8. Departments have carbon targets but the committee's report said these needed to be more ambitious.

In a separate report, the government advisory body, the Sustainable Development Commission said the government made "good progress" in relation to renewable energy and recycling in 2007-8.

But the MPs said the phrase "good progress" was misleading because Whitehall was going backwards on renewable energy and recycling.

Around 22% of electricity used by government departments was produced from renewable sources in 2007-08. But the year before it was 28%.

And Whitehall departments achieved a recycling rate of 35% in 2007-08. But the previous year it was over 38%.

MPs were particularly critical of the revelation that Whitehall is not on track to hit its target for the reduction of carbon emissions from offices.

There were improvements in some areas, such as on government road vehicles, where emissions have been cut by 10.3%. But carbon dioxide emissions from offices — by far the largest source of emissions on the government estate — have only been reduced by 6.3% since the baseline year of 1999-2000. The proportion of renewable energy used by Government dropped from 28.3% in 2006-2007 to 22% in 2007-2008. And recycling rates dipped from 38.5% in 2006-2007 to 35% in 2007-2008.

Whitehall departments have signed up to the carbon reduction commitment (CRC), an emissions trading scheme involving large public and private sector organisations that will come into force in April 2010.

Organisations that do not hit their carbon targets will have to buy carbon credits and the MPs said there was a risk that the taxpayer could end up paying because of the failure of government departments to meet their obligations.

The MPs also said they "deplored" the failure of many executive agencies to publish annual information about their green performance, even though this was a requirement.

Tim Yeo, the Tory MP who chairs the committee, said last night: "Unless the government gets its house in order, taxpayers could end up paying a heavy price to buy carbon credits from the private sector.

"In too many areas, like emissions of carbon dioxide from offices, it has made little or no progress, and in others it is backsliding.

"Cutting government energy bills with better insulation, solar panels and new heat and power boilers could save us lots of money in the long run. But ministers have so far lacked the vision to invest for the future."

A spokesman from the Office of Goverment Commerce, which is responsible for the government's estate, said: "There is no evidence to suggest the taxpayer will incur additional tax burdens through departmental involvement in the CRC programme. Departments continue to perform well against their sustainability targets and have the potential to perform well in the CRC programme and achieve financial benefits from the scheme."