Saturday, April 17, 2010
Kyodo News
The government on Friday adopted the redress measures for unrecognized Minamata disease sufferers at a Cabinet meeting, including a ¥2.1 million lump-sum payment and ¥12,900 to ¥17,700 in monthly medical allowances per person.
Under the scheme, the sufferers, expected to total more than 35,000, are relieved of medical expenses for treatment, including acupuncture and moxibustion therapy.
The government plans to start accepting applications as early as May 1, the anniversary of the official recognition of Minamata mercury-poisoning disease in 1956, when a memorial service for the victims is held each year in Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture.
It will be the largest settlement since a rescue package was compiled in 1995 by the government for unrecognized sufferers of the nation's worst industrial pollution case.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama told reporters: "I feel pain when I think about the hardships of those who have suffered for a long time. As a state, I apologize for that."
The neurological illness caused by mercury-tainted water that was released into the sea by chemical maker Chisso Corp. has affected coastal residents in Kumamoto and Kagoshima prefectures. It was also confirmed in Niigata Prefecture in 1965, which was found to be caused by wastewater from a Showa Denko K.K. plant.
Redress applicants are required to submit medical certificates.
The move came after the Kumamoto District Court presented settlement terms, including the lump-sum payment and medical allowances, in a damages suit filed by unrecognized sufferers against the central and Kumamoto Prefectural governments, as well as Chisso.
Both sides have basically agreed to accept the court-brokered settlement plan.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Analysts lift GDP estimate for 2009
The Phnom Penh Post
Thursday, 08 April 2010 15:01 Ellie Dye
THE World Bank has readjusted upwards estimates for Cambodia’s GDP performance in 2009 after unexpected signs of improvement emerged in the economy late last year.
Economists who drew up the biannual economic update on East Asia and the Pacific, released by the World Bank Wednesday, estimated that the Kingdom’s GDP contracted by 2 percent in 2009, 0.2 percent less than an estimate five months ago.
This contrasts with the government’s official assessment that GDP expanded 0.1 percent last year. The government has previously rejected estimates of recession in the Kingdom. Other international analysts including the International Monetary Fund and the Economist Intelligence Unit have estimated contractions in GDP last year.
The World Bank report released Wednesday forecast GDP growth of 4.4 percent in 2010, up from a 4.2 percent prediction in November. Garment exports – Cambodia’s main earner – are expected to expand 2 percent this year, after contracting 16 percent in 2009.
Huot Chea, the World Bank’s country economist, told the Post via email Wednesday the adjustments were made after aspects of the economy “improved unexpectedly in the last quarter of 2009”.
A doubling of agribusiness exports, a halt in the decline in tourists arriving by air, and signs that domestic credit and inflows of foreign domestic investment had “begun rebounding” were indicators of change, he said.
“The other crucial point was that garment exports were previously expected to drop by a 20 to 25 percent range, but ended up by declining less than 20 percent,” he wrote.
The World Bank report said Cambodia’s economy suffered “a serious setback” after the global economic downturn, but “signs emerged [in] late 2009 that the winds were shifting”.
The adjustments also reflect feelings among World Bank economists that the region has weathered the credit crunch.
“East Asia has recovered from the economic and financial crisis, largely thanks to China,” the report said, a viewpoint reiterated by leading economists Wednesday.
Speaking via video from Tokyo, the World Bank’s chief economist for East Asia and the Pacific, Vikram Nehru, congratulated ASEAN leaders in advance of the 16th annual summit, to begin in Hanoi today, on their handling of the economic crisis.
Nehru advised leaders to stay on top of regional development through better trade facilitation and managed migration and likened the economy to a bicycle.
“You have to continue reforming or else you fall off,” he said.
He also advised developing economies like Cambodia to look towards middle-term economic goals in the year ahead.
The report likens Cambodia’s situation to that of Vietnam a decade ago, when Vietnam chose to open its economy to foreign investment and began ambitious structural changes that boosted fixed investment to 32 percent of its GDP.
The World Bank estimates Cambodia’s foreign direct investment will grow to US$725 million in 2010, up from $515 million in 2009 and nearly rebounding to 2008 levels, when investments came in at $795 million.
The report’s principle author, Ivailo Izvorski, said through videolink Wednesday that developing nations should continue to make structural changes and increase capacity to make the most of prospective growth.
“Now developing countries have to get used to slower growth of their exports,” he said. “Before the economic crisis we were in a bubble.”
In its report, the World Bank also warned Cambodia of potential challenges in the year ahead.
Cambodia’s growth forecast could be put at risk by “the fragility of the global recovery, the uncertain capacity of the economy to diversify and the limited scope for a stronger recovery in credit”.
Huot Chea said after Wednesday’s conference that Cambodia could further protect itself from external shocks by diversifying its export markets, especially in garments, which are currently concentrated in the United States, which was hit especially hard by the economic crisis.
Cambodia managed to significantly raise exports to markets including Japan and Laos last year. However, trade rose from a small base in most cases.
Thursday, 08 April 2010 15:01 Ellie Dye
THE World Bank has readjusted upwards estimates for Cambodia’s GDP performance in 2009 after unexpected signs of improvement emerged in the economy late last year.
Economists who drew up the biannual economic update on East Asia and the Pacific, released by the World Bank Wednesday, estimated that the Kingdom’s GDP contracted by 2 percent in 2009, 0.2 percent less than an estimate five months ago.
This contrasts with the government’s official assessment that GDP expanded 0.1 percent last year. The government has previously rejected estimates of recession in the Kingdom. Other international analysts including the International Monetary Fund and the Economist Intelligence Unit have estimated contractions in GDP last year.
The World Bank report released Wednesday forecast GDP growth of 4.4 percent in 2010, up from a 4.2 percent prediction in November. Garment exports – Cambodia’s main earner – are expected to expand 2 percent this year, after contracting 16 percent in 2009.
Huot Chea, the World Bank’s country economist, told the Post via email Wednesday the adjustments were made after aspects of the economy “improved unexpectedly in the last quarter of 2009”.
A doubling of agribusiness exports, a halt in the decline in tourists arriving by air, and signs that domestic credit and inflows of foreign domestic investment had “begun rebounding” were indicators of change, he said.
“The other crucial point was that garment exports were previously expected to drop by a 20 to 25 percent range, but ended up by declining less than 20 percent,” he wrote.
The World Bank report said Cambodia’s economy suffered “a serious setback” after the global economic downturn, but “signs emerged [in] late 2009 that the winds were shifting”.
The adjustments also reflect feelings among World Bank economists that the region has weathered the credit crunch.
“East Asia has recovered from the economic and financial crisis, largely thanks to China,” the report said, a viewpoint reiterated by leading economists Wednesday.
Speaking via video from Tokyo, the World Bank’s chief economist for East Asia and the Pacific, Vikram Nehru, congratulated ASEAN leaders in advance of the 16th annual summit, to begin in Hanoi today, on their handling of the economic crisis.
Nehru advised leaders to stay on top of regional development through better trade facilitation and managed migration and likened the economy to a bicycle.
“You have to continue reforming or else you fall off,” he said.
He also advised developing economies like Cambodia to look towards middle-term economic goals in the year ahead.
The report likens Cambodia’s situation to that of Vietnam a decade ago, when Vietnam chose to open its economy to foreign investment and began ambitious structural changes that boosted fixed investment to 32 percent of its GDP.
The World Bank estimates Cambodia’s foreign direct investment will grow to US$725 million in 2010, up from $515 million in 2009 and nearly rebounding to 2008 levels, when investments came in at $795 million.
The report’s principle author, Ivailo Izvorski, said through videolink Wednesday that developing nations should continue to make structural changes and increase capacity to make the most of prospective growth.
“Now developing countries have to get used to slower growth of their exports,” he said. “Before the economic crisis we were in a bubble.”
In its report, the World Bank also warned Cambodia of potential challenges in the year ahead.
Cambodia’s growth forecast could be put at risk by “the fragility of the global recovery, the uncertain capacity of the economy to diversify and the limited scope for a stronger recovery in credit”.
Huot Chea said after Wednesday’s conference that Cambodia could further protect itself from external shocks by diversifying its export markets, especially in garments, which are currently concentrated in the United States, which was hit especially hard by the economic crisis.
Cambodia managed to significantly raise exports to markets including Japan and Laos last year. However, trade rose from a small base in most cases.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Civil servant who handed out JCP paper cleared
Kyodo News
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
A former government agency employee was acquitted Monday of civil service law violations for passing out copies of the Japanese Communist Party newspaper in 2003.
Akio Horikoshi, 56, who worked at the Social Insurance Agency, received a rare suspended fine by the Tokyo District Court in 2006, but Monday's ruling by the Tokyo High Court reversed that decision, saying his actions did not undermine the administrative neutrality of a public servant.
"The defendant's actions were sporadic and unrelated to his work, and it is difficult to recognize that there were risks of hurting the neutrality of administrative management and public trust," said presiding Judge Takao Nakayama, adding it would be an "excessive restriction" of freedom to punish Horikoshi.
Nakayama also made a rare note that the freedom of public servants to engage in political activities has grown and "it is time to re-examine" what actions should be subject to punishment.
Horikoshi was arrested and indicted in March 2004 for distributing extra editions of the Akahata Shimbun in neighbors' mailboxes in October and November 2003, shortly before a Lower House election.
It was the first time a government official was accused of violating Article 102 of the civil service law since the Supreme Court found a postal worker guilty in 1974 of involvement in an election campaign for a Japan Socialist Party candidate.
Article 102 of the law bans civil servants from engaging in political activities.
Horikoshi argued in court that passing out the newspaper was a private action because it was done on a weekend and away from his workplace.
The district court sentenced Horikoshi in June 2006 to a ¥100,000 fine, suspended for two years, after ruling his actions violated the National Civil Service Law but did not immediately undermine the neutrality of a public servant.
"It is my greatest joy that the judge recognized my actions did not constitute a crime at all," Horikoshi said after the high court ruling.
Saying he was relieved to hear the decision, he added, "Although Japan has been left behind in the field of democracy, I think Japanese history changed" with the ruling.
The ruling was welcomed by Horikoshi's supporters and others related to the JCP.
"Looking at it from the standpoint of freedom of expression ensured under the Constitution, it is a righteous ruling," said Tadayoshi Ichida, secretary general of the JCP, adding the prosecutors should not appeal.
Horikoshi lost his public servant status after he was employed at the Japan Pension Service, which in January succeeded the Social Insurance Agency.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
A former government agency employee was acquitted Monday of civil service law violations for passing out copies of the Japanese Communist Party newspaper in 2003.
Akio Horikoshi, 56, who worked at the Social Insurance Agency, received a rare suspended fine by the Tokyo District Court in 2006, but Monday's ruling by the Tokyo High Court reversed that decision, saying his actions did not undermine the administrative neutrality of a public servant.
"The defendant's actions were sporadic and unrelated to his work, and it is difficult to recognize that there were risks of hurting the neutrality of administrative management and public trust," said presiding Judge Takao Nakayama, adding it would be an "excessive restriction" of freedom to punish Horikoshi.
Nakayama also made a rare note that the freedom of public servants to engage in political activities has grown and "it is time to re-examine" what actions should be subject to punishment.
Horikoshi was arrested and indicted in March 2004 for distributing extra editions of the Akahata Shimbun in neighbors' mailboxes in October and November 2003, shortly before a Lower House election.
It was the first time a government official was accused of violating Article 102 of the civil service law since the Supreme Court found a postal worker guilty in 1974 of involvement in an election campaign for a Japan Socialist Party candidate.
Article 102 of the law bans civil servants from engaging in political activities.
Horikoshi argued in court that passing out the newspaper was a private action because it was done on a weekend and away from his workplace.
The district court sentenced Horikoshi in June 2006 to a ¥100,000 fine, suspended for two years, after ruling his actions violated the National Civil Service Law but did not immediately undermine the neutrality of a public servant.
"It is my greatest joy that the judge recognized my actions did not constitute a crime at all," Horikoshi said after the high court ruling.
Saying he was relieved to hear the decision, he added, "Although Japan has been left behind in the field of democracy, I think Japanese history changed" with the ruling.
The ruling was welcomed by Horikoshi's supporters and others related to the JCP.
"Looking at it from the standpoint of freedom of expression ensured under the Constitution, it is a righteous ruling," said Tadayoshi Ichida, secretary general of the JCP, adding the prosecutors should not appeal.
Horikoshi lost his public servant status after he was employed at the Japan Pension Service, which in January succeeded the Social Insurance Agency.
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