The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- China police fire on Tibetans, nun burns to death -group
- FACTBOX - Compensation for Fukushima crisis victims
- U.S., North Korea in Bangkok for talks on war remains
| China police fire on Tibetans, nun burns to death -group Posted: 17 Oct 2011 09:02 PM PDT BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese police shot and injured two Tibetan protesters in southwestern China last Sunday, and a Tibetan nun burned herself to death the following day, a group advocating self-determination for Tibet said, the latest in months of protests. The self-immolation and the protests signal that anger is swelling in Aba county, a mainly ethnic Tibetan part of Sichuan province that has been the centre of defiance against Chinese control. Rights groups say the unrest could provoke Beijing to stage a renewed crackdown in Aba, which erupted in violence in March 2008 when Buddhist monks and other Tibetan people loyal to the exiled Dalai Lama, their traditional religious leader, confronted police and troops. The condition and whereabouts of the two casualties, Dawa and Druklo, are unknown, the London-based Free Tibet group said. Elsewhere in Sichuan, a 20-year-old nun, Tenzin Wangmo, set fire to herself on Monday afternoon outside a nunnery, three km (1.8 miles) from Aba county, the ninth self-immolation this year in the Tibetan parts of China, Free Tibet said. She had called for religious freedom in Tibet and for the return of the Dalai Lama as she set herself alight, the group said. Her death comes seven months after a Tibetan Buddhist monk, Phuntsog, 21, from the restive Kirti monastery, burned himself to death. That prompted a crackdown, with security forces detaining about 300 Tibetan monks for a month. A Sichuan government propaganda official surnamed Yuan told Reuters that she knew "nothing about the two cases so far". Free Tibet said that it was not known why security personnel opened fire on Dawa and Druklo, adding that one was shot in the leg and the other, in the torso. It did not specify who suffered what injury. "Information from Tibet suggests there are more who are willing to give their lives, determined to draw global attention to the persistent and brutal violations Tibetans suffer under Chinese occupation," Free Tibet Director Stephanie Brigden said in a statement sent late on Monday. "The acts of self-immolation are not taking place in isolation, protests have been reported in the surrounding region and calls for wider protests are growing." Brigden said that the group has "grave concerns that greater force may be deployed if protests spread". Nine ethnic Tibetans, eight of them from Aba prefecture, have burned themselves since March to protest against religious controls by the Chinese government, which labels the Dalai Lama a violent separatist, charges he strongly denies. However, the protests have yet to spread to what China calls the Tibet Autonomous Region, which Beijing has controlled since Communist troops marched in 1950. It says its rule has bought much needed development to a poor and backward region. (Reporting by Sui-Lee Wee, Additional reporting by Huang Yan, Editing by Jonathan Thatcher) Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS. | ||
| FACTBOX - Compensation for Fukushima crisis victims Posted: 17 Oct 2011 08:31 PM PDT REUTERS - Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco), the owner of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, last month began accepting victims' applications for compensation, but the complex procedures have for many become a source of more grief. Here are some facts about how victims of the nuclear disaster will be compensated.
PROCEDURES To receive compensation over the nuclear disaster, victims can apply to Tepco directly or seek mediation by a third-party group. They can sue the utility, though there have been only a handful of cases so far. It is now accepting compensation application forms from evacuees and businesses for the five months to end-August. After this, Tepco plans to accept claims at an interval of every three months. It is unclear until when this will last. Nuclear compensation claims against it for the year to next March are likely to be about 3.6 trillion yen ($46.5 billion) according to a government panel calculation. Some analysts estimate payments could be as high as $130 billion. The troubled utility is seeking help from a taxpayer-funded bailout body to foot the cost. It must submit a business restructuring plan and win government approval by the end of this month in order to recieve funds from this body. INDIVIDUALS Those forced to evacuate are eligible for compensation covering lost income, psychological suffering and costs for transportation and lodging. It is unclear whether and how individuals who left voluntarily would be compensated. In the case of those forced to flee, individuals would be paid 5,000 yen per person for transportation within the same prefecture. They would receive up to 8,000 yen per day for hotel expenses and 5,000 yen to cover decontamination efforts to deal with radiation exposure. A typical family of four where the husband was the sole breadwinner making 270,000 yen a month would be paid about 4.5 million yen, including 2.8 million yen for psychological suffering, Tepco said. Property damage and other claims that will take longer to assess will be dealt with at a later date, which some experts say is problematic as this is often the biggest asset for individuals. Prior to the first round of compensation, the utility has handed out about 52 billion yen in temporary payments to 56,400 households and an additional 43 billion to individuals for fees they had paid to be evacuated. It sent out application forms to some 80,000 individuals but have only received 7,100 requests for compensation as of Oct.7. BUSINESSES Businesses can be compensated for lost profits and any additional costs occuring from the nuclear disaster. Such businesses include stores, staffing services, forestries, manufacturers and tourism businesses. Most businesses will be compensated for lost profits, which will be calculated by comparing the profits for the five months after the nuclear accident to end-August and what they have made in the same period in the recent years. Businesses will also be reimbursed for extra costs related to the disaster such as radiation tests. Damage to property and other assets will be dealt with later. Tepco has paid about 8.2 billion yen to small and mid-sized companies as temporary compensation. The utility sent out about 10,000 application forms to businesses in and near Fukushima. Only 300 have been returned so far. Because of the extent of the impact of the disaster across Japan, about 300,000 businesses are expected to make claims. FARMERS AND FISHERMEN Farmers and fishermen will be compensated for lost profits and any additional fees they had to pay. For those who were operating within 30 kilometres from the plant, where people were forced to or advised to evacuate, representative groups are negotiating with Tepco on compensation. Tepco has paid about 21.8 billion yen to farmers and 3.6 billion yen to fishermen in temporary compensation. ($1 = 77.365 Japanese Yen) (Reporting by Yoko Kubota, Editing by Jonathan Thatcher) Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS. | ||
| U.S., North Korea in Bangkok for talks on war remains Posted: 17 Oct 2011 08:31 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. and North Korean officials hold talks in Thailand on Tuesday on resuming recovery of the remains of American soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War, the Pentagon said in a statement. The talks in Bangkok come amid a renewed push to revive negotiations with regional powers on disabling secretive North Korea's nuclear weapons program. The U.S. delegation will be headed by Assistant Secretary of Defense Robert Newberry and include officials from the State Department and Pentagon agencies responsible missing personnel, the Pentagon said on Monday. "Accounting for Americans missing in action is a stand-alone humanitarian matter, not tied to any other issue between the two countries," said the statement. The Bangkok meeting had only remains on the agenda, it said. But there is growing speculation U.S. President Barack Obama, approaching the final year of his current four-year term, may initiate talks with North Korea on curbing its nuclear ambitions. The decision to hold talks on resuming recovery of the remains of American soldiers from the Korean War could be a hint at U.S. willingness to engage. Other signals may include whether the United States offers North Korea food aid -- a decision U.S. officials say is not affected by political factors -- and whether U.S. envoy Stephen Bosworth may hold a new round of talks with North Korea. In July, Bosworth held two days of talks with a veteran North Korean nuclear negotiator, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan, in New York -- their first such contact since 2009. More than 7,900 U.S. soldiers are listed as missing from the Korean War, with some 5,500 estimated to be buried in the reclusive North. Joint recovery efforts were halted in May 2005 over concerns about the uncertain environment created by North Korea's nuclear programs. The North has long sought to sign a peace treaty with Washington to formally end decades of enmity since the war, which ended in a ceasefire, not a peace treaty. (Reporting by Paul Eckert and Arshad Mohammed; Editing by John O'Callaghan) Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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