news20090820nn3

[naturenews] from [nature.com]

[naturenews]
Published online 19 August 2009 | Nature 460, 938 (2009) | doi:10.1038/460938a
News
Japan election sparks science pledges
Both parties make vague promises about research, but differ in their climate targets.
David Cyranoski

Japan's upcoming elections, on 30 August, could see the party that has ruled almost continuously for more than half a century lose its grip on power. As Nature went to press, polls suggested that the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) would take a majority in the lower house of parliament, giving it the right to appoint a prime minister to replace Taro Aso of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

Some researchers have expressed concern that the DPJ, with its emphasis on the responsible use of taxes, might cut basic-research budgets. Last week at a press conference, DPJ president Yukio Hatoyama tried to dispel such rumours. "Japan should be a leading country in basic science," he said in response to a question from Nature. "If anything, I think overall scientific funding should be expanded."

The DPJ has been throwing out similar promises to voters concerned about Japan's struggling economy. For example, the party's manifesto includes a new annual allowance of \312,000 (US$3,300) for every child until they finish junior high school. The party says that it can pay for this and other big programmes by reducing spending elsewhere, such as on road and dam projects, and shifting decision-making power towards elected officials and away from government bureaucrats.

But Japan last week officially pulled out of recession, and many scientists have been happy with the way bureaucrats have fought to maintain or even increase the science budget during slow economic growth (see chart) when most other sectors of government were seeing budgets cut. Major projects include the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex in Tokaimura and the X-ray free-electron laser scheduled to be completed next year at the SPring-8 synchrotron in western Japan.

Biophysicist Akiyoshi Wada, former director of RIKEN's Genomic Sciences Center in Yokohama, speculates that the DPJ's declared drive to get rid of waste might affect research. "They say they want to stop listening to the bureaucrats, but how much will they be able to do without?" Wada asks. "Large-scale 'challenging' projects might get drastically cut." Indeed, the party's manifesto promises to re-evaluate the "independent administrative organizations" that include many of Japan's largest research bodies, among them RIKEN.

In response to a Nature questionnaire, Hatoyama's office pledged support for big projects: "Japan is already a top runner in some fields that require huge budgets, like particle physics," it said, "and we will actively aim to maintain that position by building world-class research bases and deepening research ties with Europe, the United States and Asian countries." The statement also said that the DPJ would take (unspecified) measures to increase the science budget. It noted that although Japan overall invests a high percentage of its gross domestic product (GDP) in research — 3.67% in 2007 — the percentage of government investment is low compared with investment by industry. "Cultivating researchers needs to be part of our central policies," the statement said.

Hatoyama received a doctorate in engineering from Stanford University in California and was a professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. He plays down his scientific background, saying "what matters for politicians is having principles and convictions, and a broad perspective". Naoto Kan, the former DPJ head and one of its two acting presidents, got a doctorate in applied physics before becoming a patent lawyer; some say he might bring more attention to issues that have plagued Japanese patent law, such as the need for broader patents to compete with the United States and streamlining the lengthy patent application procedure.

Hatoyama says that the DPJ will create a 'science and technology strategy office' to replace the Council for Science and Technology Policy (CSTP), the country's highest science-policy body. Like the CSTP, the new office would coordinate science-related budget requests, but it would also, in ways unspecified, take a more active role in "promoting basic and applied sciences in a unified manner".

If the DPJ does create a top-level scientific body, this might find itself in the thick of an ongoing debate over the role of big science projects. Tadamitsu Kishimoto, an immunologist at Osaka University and a former CSTP member, says money has been wasted on big biology projects, and he complains that the \270 billion earmarked for 30 new projects by the CSTP could be more of the same. "Right now young PIs don't get enough to work with," he says, "and using that money to give \10-million grants to many young researchers would produce a lot more good science."

The LDP platform acknowledges the many Nobel prizes garnered by Japanese scientists, and vows to "educate and send out into the world more researchers than ever before", and to create 30 "world-class research facilities".

On climate change, the DPJ calls for a cut in greenhouse-gas emissions to more than 25% below 1990 levels by 2020. The LDP's proposal of an 8% target has been criticized by developing countries and environmental groups as not going far enough. But Japan has consistently missed targets for its original Kyoto Protocol pledge to cut emissions to 6% below 1990 levels during 2008–12, and many in the business community in particular are sceptical about the DPJ's emissions targets.

"If we follow the DPJ's targets, we will end up with a 3.2% drop in the GDP" based on government estimates, LDP secretary-general Hiroyuki Hosoda said last week. "The party that presents the more dramatic figure is more attractive, but it is not feasible," he said.

news20090820bn

[One-Minute World News] from [BBC NEWS]

[Asia Pacific]
Page last updated at 11:36 GMT, Thursday, 20 August 2009 12:36 UK
North Korea to lift border curbs
North Korea has said it will ease curbs on cross-border traffic imposed last December, South Korean media report.

The restrictions were placed on workers and cargo travelling to the joint factory zone in Kaesong, in the North.

The North also said it would restore an official communication channel as a team prepares to head to Seoul for ex-president Kim Dae-jung's funeral.

The moves are the latest in a series of what are being seen as conciliatory gestures from North Korea.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency and YTN television quoted a South Korean official as saying the North had informed Seoul of the decision to lift the traffic restrictions imposed last December.

South Korea earlier approved the visit of a delegation from Pyongyang for the funeral of Kim Dae-jung.

It will be the highest level delegation from the North to visit the South in at least two years.

The late Kim Dae-jung was renowned for his efforts at dialogue with the North. His funeral is being held in Seoul on Sunday.

North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il sent condolences to Kim Dae-jung's family after the former president's death on Tuesday.

Relations between the two Koreas thrived under Kim Dae-jung's presidency, but took a turn for the worse when conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office last year.

The delegation will be led by senior Workers' Party official Kim Ki-nam and will include the country's spy chief, Kim Yang-gon. The two are considered senior aides to the North's leader Kim Jong-il.

Ready to talk?

The lifting of the border traffic restrictions, to begin Friday, follows earlier conciliatory moves from Pyongyang.

After a recent offer by the North to restart family reunion programmes, the South Korean office of the Red Cross proposed fresh talks on the issue for next week.

"Our proposal will be sent to North Korea today, calling for three-day Red Cross talks between the two sides from August 26," said a spokesman for the Red Cross, which runs the reunion programme along with its northern counterpart.

Tens of thousands of family members have been separated since the 1950-53 war and in many cases do not even know if loved ones are still alive.

The latest moves come after US politician Bill Richardson held rare talks with North Korean envoys in his state of New Mexico.

Mr Richardson, New Mexico's governor, said he had detected a "lessening of tension" since former US President Bill Clinton's recent visit to Pyongyang.

But he said North Korea still refused to return to multilateral talks.

He said the recent visit by Mr Clinton to North Korea, to secure to the release of two US journalists, had "helped thaw relations".

Pyongyang had "obviously used the journalists as a bargaining chip" and was now seeking a "gesture" in return, Mr Richardson said.

"The North Koreans are sending good signals, that they're ready to talk directly to the United States," he said.

Mr Richardson has a history with North Korea: on two occasions in the 1990s he visited Pyongyang to secure the release of Americans being held there.

The BBC's Charles Scanlon said North Korea's diplomacy is following a familiar pattern - first belligerence: the walkouts and flaunting of military muscle, followed by a return to diplomacy and demands for further concessions.


[Asia Pacific]
Page last updated at 09:46 GMT, Thursday, 20 August 2009 10:46 UK
'Hundreds ill' near China smelter
Authorities in China have closed a second metal smelter after more than 1,300 children fell sick with lead poisoning, state media have reported.

The children were living near a manganese plant near Wugang, in Hunan province, Xinhua news agency said.

Two executives of the plant have been detained over the poisoning.

It follows the closure of another smelter in northern Shaanxi province, where more than 600 children were found to have lead poisoning.

In both cases, the smelters were closed after angry parents confronted authorities over their children's illnesses.

Lead poisoning can cause a range of health problems, from learning disabilities to seizures. Children under six are most at risk.

Air, soil and water pollution is common in China, which has seen rapid economic growth over the past few decades.

Protests

An official in Wenping, part of Wugang city in Hunan, said that 1,354 children living in four villages near the Wugang Manganese Smeltering Plant had excessive levels of lead in their blood, Xinhua said.

All the children are under 14 years old.

Adults in the area began to suspect the smelter as the cause of a rash of illnesses among their children and on 8 August blocked a road in protest.

One man told the China Daily newspaper that his 10-month-old daughter became sick and started losing her hair.

The smelter, which had been operating since May last year without approval from the local environmental protection bureau, was closed on 13 August.

On Monday, angry parents in Shaanxi province broke into the Dongling Lead and Zinc Smelting Company, near the city of Baoji.

More than 600 children were found to have lead poisoning, with at least 150 of them treated in hospital.


[Asia Pacific]
Page last updated at 08:25 GMT, Thursday, 20 August 2009 09:25 UK
Australia-China tie 'challenging'
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has said ties with China are challenging, as Australia's ambassador to China flies to Australia for talks.

Mr Rudd played down media reports that the ambassador, Geoff Raby, had been called back emergency talks.

China's state press has been running damning commentary about Australia.

Australia is disturbed by China's detention of an Australian executive; China is angry that Australia allowed a Uighur leader, Rebiya Kadeer, to visit.

But Mr Rudd stressed the ambassador's trip home was routine, and that tensions were inevitable between nations with different values.

Challenging

"The China-Australia relationship is always full of challenges and can I say it always has been thus and it will be thus for quite a long time to come," Mr Rudd said.

"Our challenge in managing this relationship is simply to negotiate those bumps in the road as they occur," he said.

Australia sells huge amounts of natural resources to China and, despite hitches in the relationship, signed a new gas deal this week with PetroChina.

"China has significant interests in Australia. China's interests in Australia go to its long-term needs for its resource security," Mr Rudd said.

"Obviously, it's a good time to take stock of the relationship and how we move forward," he said of the ambassador's trip.

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said it was business as usual for the two nations, two days after highlighting that China had cancelled a ministerial visit due to Australia's granting of a visa to Ms Kadeer.

Chinese media meanwhile, has called Australia "sino-phobic".

The China Daily, the Communist Party's official English-language paper, carried an editorial on Wednesday saying Australia's "sino-phobic politicians" were leading the world's "anti-China chorus" and siding with Mrs Kadeer, who it calls a "terrorist".

"The cancellation of a visit to Australia by Chinese vice-foreign minister is a restrained and reasonable response on the part of Beijing when that country has challenged China's core national interests," it said.

"By providing Kadeer a platform for anti-Chinese separatist activities, Canberra chose to side with a terrorist and severely hurt China's national interests," the editorial said.

"Lets not get all very excitable about what's occurring. We have a long-term, positive, constructive economic relationship with China," Australia's Mr Smith said.