UN atomic watchdog green lights Japan's reactor tests

TOKYO, January 31, 2012 (AFP) - The UN's nuclear watchdog on Tuesday gave its seal of approval to Japan's reactor safety checks, but said Tokyo had to step up efforts to regain public confidence in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.

A delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is in the country at the government's invitation as officials look for ways to convince a deeply sceptical population that idled nuclear plants are safe to restart.

With just a handful of Japan's 54 reactors still operational, officials are nervously eyeing possible electricity shortfalls unless reactors are brought back online -- something that can only be done if local communities consent.

The government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) called on the IAEA to assess the stringency of the so-called stress tests to which all reactors are subjected before being given the green light to resume operations.

"The conclusion of the team is that NISA's instructions and review process for the comprehensive safety assessments are generally consistent with IAEA safety standards," the delegation said in a statement.

But the mission urged Tokyo to engage with people living in the shadow of nuclear plants as it tries to convince them the technology is safe.
"NISA should conduct meetings with interested parties near the nuclear facilities," it said.

The stress tests were introduced as a way of determining how reactors would cope with the impact of large-scale natural disasters after meltdowns and explosions at Fukushima Daiichi caused by last March's earthquake and tsunami.

Radiation was scattered over a large area and made its way into the oceans, air and food chain in the weeks and months after the disaster, reversing the mood among Japan's once nuclear-friendly public.

The energy-hungry nation has virtually no natural resources of its own and had relied on atomic power for around a third of its electricity before March 11.

Since the disaster the vast bulk of nuclear plants have been shuttered as local authorities blocked their being restarted following routine safety checks or maintenance.

Japan has instead had to massively ramp up imports of fossil fuels and curb power useage as it tries to make up the shortfall in power generation.

More than 19,000 people died in the natural disaster, but the nuclear emergency -- the world's worst since Chernobyl a quarter of a century ago -- has not directly claimed any lives.

However, tens of thousands of people were forced from their homes around the plant as radiation levels rocketed, with many not knowing when -- or even if -- they will be allowed to return.

Myanmar youth make their voices heard

YANGON, January 31, 2012 (AFP) - Myanmar's youth, no strangers to the country's long struggle for democracy, are increasingly daring to emerge from the political shadows as the regime promises a new era of openness.

Their enthusiasm offers much-needed new blood for Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party, whose top ranks are filled with elderly men in their 80s and 90s known as the "uncles".

With the opposition gearing up for April 1 by-elections expected to propel Suu Kyi and possibly dozens more party members into parliament for the first time, many young people are heeding the call to battle.

"I want to fight for the truth," 25-year-old NLD member Thuzar Lwin told AFP at the party's ramshackle Yangon headquarters, where she was helping to re-register recently freed dissidents on the membership list.

"I believe in my leader Aung San Suu Kyi."

Young Burmese have often been at the vanguard of their country's decades-old resistance to oppression and military rule, but in the past they often waged their campaign on the street or in the shadows.

Now they feel more able to make their voices heard.

"They always suspected us, the government. Not now. Now we are free again," said 21-year-old student Zar Yar Phyo.

In 1988 students were at the forefront of the biggest ever uprising against the military regime, which cracked down brutally on protesters, resulting in up to 3,000 deaths and leaving students under the close watch of the authorities.

Almost two decades later in 2007, the same activists again took to the streets to join monk-led protests dubbed the "Saffron Revolution" that were crushed by the regime.

Many were handed long prison sentences for their roles in the unrest and some were only recently released by the new military-backed government as part of prisoner amnesties long demanded by the international community.

Now in their 40s, they are making way for a new generation.

"We're not as young as we were, the former students of the 1988 movement. So we're trying to work with members of the young generation and in another month or so we expect to stand united," said NLD youth spokesman Myo Nyunt.

"Now many, many young people want to join our NLD party."

Not all youth activists, however, are choosing to sign up to the NLD in their struggle.

Bo Bo, 23, quit university in 2008 and joined the Generation Wave underground movement, which uses music, poetry and other forms of peaceful expression.

The group has now started to organise more open activities to campaign for political and human rights.

"I wanted to do something for the country," he said.

"In the 2007 Saffron Revolution I saw many bad things such as they attacked the monks who protested on the road very peacefully. It made me really angry and also it encouraged me to do politics and to do more for the country."

Some 30 members of the group were thrown in prison. They were released as part of the sweeping changes that are also being felt on the streets.

"We are not going to form a political party. We would like to be an activist organisation, that's all," Bo Bo said.

Many young voters in the constituencies involved in the April by-election, where 48 seats will be at stake, will be casting ballots for the second time.

The new government has promised that this time the vote will be free and fair, unlike a 2010 nationwide election that was marred by widespread complaints of cheating and swept the army's political allies to power.

The regime has since surprised observers with a series of reforms, including welcoming the NLD back into the political mainstream, inking ceasefire deals with ethnic minority rebels and releasing hundreds of political prisoners.

Tens of thousands of jubilant supporters greeted Suu Kyi on the campaign trail at the weekend, and there is a new sense of optimism in the air.

"I think it is changing now more than ever," said student Zar Yar Phyo. "Everything can happen today in Myanmar."

US using 'latest tools' for cybersecurity: Napolitano

WASHINGTON, January 31, 2012 (AFP) - US officials are deploying "the latest tools" to keep cyberspace safe for commerce and protect the US information infrastructure, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Monday.

Napolitano, speaking at the National Press Club, emphasized that homeland security and US economic security "go hand in hand."

"Cyberspace is an increasingly busy area for all of us," said Napolitano in her annual speech on the state of US homeland security.

In today's "high-tech security and commercial environments, we must also focus beyond just the physical movement of goods and people across our borders."

Homeland Security officials aim to create "a secure environment for the flow of cyber commerce" and help support "a secure marketplace for the exchange of goods and ideas," she said.

"We are deploying the latest tools across the federal government to protect critical systems," while also sharing security information with the private sector "to help them protect their own operations," Napolitano said.

Homeland Security experts are also working to protect "the systems and networks that support the financial services industry, the electric power industry, and the telecommunications industry."

In 2011, the office's Computer Emergency Readiness Team "responded to more than 100,000 incident reports, and released more than 5,000 actionable cybersecurity alerts to our federal, state, and private sector partners."

US officials are also sharing information with foreign security officials "to combat electronic crimes such as identity and intellectual property theft, network intrusions, and a range of financial crimes."

According to Napolitano, the US Secret Service last year prevented $5.6 billion in potential losses through financial crime investigations and $1.5 billion through cyber crime investigations.

'Socialist' Obama has US conservatives seeing red

TAMPA, January 30, 2012 (AFP) - A casual observer on the Republican campaign trail could be forgiven for thinking President Barack Obama has traded in his American flag lapel pin for one with a hammer and sickle.

To some rightwing Republicans the US leader is a rabid socialist, to others, he's a card-carrying Marxist. But to most, mention the name "Obama" and they see red.

On the eve of Tuesday's primary elections, one of the loudest battle cries is that the incumbent Democratic president will bring America to ruin -- unless a conservative Republican is elected to replace him in November.

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich tried to convince voters late Saturday that he was just such a man, telling supporters at a rally in Palm Beach that unlike Obama he would run an "American campaign" for the presidency.

"I am for the Declaration of Independence," Gingrich proudly proclaimed. "I am for the Constitution."

Obama, by contrast, "is for European Socialism," the Georgia lawmaker said.

Frontrunner Mitt Romney also has been fond of telling his supporters here that Obama is a modern-day Red Menace, warning in a speech this weekend that the president "wants us to turn into a European-style welfare state."

That fate, Romney said, would "poison the very spirit of America."

Even former White House hopeful Michele Bachmann -- who earlier this month abandoned her White House campaign -- took to the airways this weekend to predict the imminent demise of what she described as a radical Obama administration.

"Obama will be a one-termer, because all he has been about is redistribution of wealth and the rise of socialist principles," said Bachmann said in an appearance Sunday on US television.

Florida is a key battleground in the November election, as Republicans vie for their party's presidential nomination amid the hope of turning Obama into a one-term president.

Fears of a Communist scourge are deeply rooted in the American psyche, dating back to the "red scare" at start of the Cold War over half a century ago -- when thousands of Americans were accused of being Communist sympathizers, and many were persecuted, banned from working and in some cases forced to move abroad.

And little distinction is drawn in the United States between the ideological positions of Socialism and Communism.

Now in a time of economic uncertainty and political upheaval, such sentiments are finding some breathing room again.

A recent poll by the Pew Research Center found 60 percent of Americans respond negatively to the term "socialism."

In a Republican debate in New Hampshire earlier this month, Texas Governor Rick Perry was adamant that Obama is a socialist. "I make a very proud statement and a fact that we have a president that's a socialist," he said.

"I disagree with (the) premise that somehow or another President Obama reflects our founding fathers. He doesn't. He talks about having a more powerful, more centralized, more consuming and costly federal government," he said.

Back in Florida, at a campaign event at the Aloma Baptist Church in Winter Park, Niels Lobo said he appreciated the marked anti-socialist tenor of Gingrich's remarks.

Lobo, a professor of computer sciences at the University of Central Florida, said he is eager to see Obama voted out "because he is a Marxist."

"We really want him out," he said. "He is slowly driving the country towards Marxism."

Lobo added he takes particular exception to the president's landmark healthcare reform plan which comes a bit too close for his taste to socialized medicine. "'Obamacare' needs to be killed," he argued.

Tina Altic, another Gingrich supporter said she was backing the Georgia lawmaker because he was best able to turn back Obama, whom she accused of "running this country into the ground."

Obama has also run foul of many conservatives for being too deferential toward foreign leaders, they say.

"At least he won't apologize for the country and he will stop the spending," the 66-year-old retiree said of Gingrich at an Orlando rally.

Another Gingrich supporter, John, who only gave his first name, said he was convinced Obama's upbringing overseas -- he spent part of his childhood in Indonesia -- explains his alleged estrangement from centrist American values.

"Mom, baseball and apple pie," he said, citing what many think are the holy trio of American values -- something missing from Obama's world view. "He doesn't understand us," said John.

Google, Microsoft, Yahoo! to fight email spam

WASHINGTON, January 30, 2012 (AFP) - Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, AOL and Facebook are setting aside their online rivalry to fight a common enemy: email spam and "phishing" attacks.

The Web giants said Monday they have teamed up with Bank of America, PayPal and others to combat spam and phishing, where emails seeking to obtain passwords or other information are sent to unsuspecting recipients.

Following 18 months of private collaboration, they announced the formation of a technical working group known as DMARC.org, drawn from the acronym for Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance.

"Email phishing defrauds millions of people and companies every year, resulting in a loss of consumer confidence in email and the Internet as a whole," Brett McDowell, the chair of DMARC.org, said in a statement.

"Industry cooperation -- combined with technology and consumer education -- is crucial to fight phishing," said McDowell, the senior manager of customer security initiatives at PayPal.

The members of DMARC are proposing email authentication standards for email senders and receivers designed to make impersonation more difficult for the fraudsters behind phishing attacks.

Currently, email providers must rely on "complex and imperfect measurements to separate legitimate unauthenticated messages sent by the domain owner from fraudulent phishing messages sent by a scammer," DMARC said.

"By introducing a standards-based framework, DMARC has defined a more comprehensive and integrated way for email senders to introduce email authentication technologies into their infrastructure," it said.

AOL, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo!, the leading email providers, are members of DMARC.org along with Bank of America, Fidelity Investments, PayPal, American Greetings, Facebook, LinkedIn and email security providers Agari, Cloudmark, eCert, Return Path and Trusted Domain Project.

Myanmar president vows 'healthy democracy'

SINGAPORE, January 30, 2012 (AFP) - Myanmar's president Monday pledged to establish a "healthy democracy" after nearly half a century of iron-fisted military rule as he sought Singapore's help to modernise the creaking economy.

President Thein Sein, in Singapore for a four-day state visit, also appealed to the global community to continue encouraging Myanmar on its reform path, saying the transition period was fraught with challenges.

"The international community should render its support and encouragement to our effort to meet our objectives because a young democratic nation has emerged on this planet," Thein Sein told a lavish state dinner held in his honour.

"We have turned a new page in our country in order to create better conditions in Myanmar. We want to give a brighter future for our people.

"We want our people to take part in the democratic reform process and we want democracy to thrive in Myanmar. I wish to assure you that I shall endeavour to establish a healthy democracy in Myanmar."

The ex-general and former member of Myanmar's feared junta added that "since we are on the right track to democracy we shall overcome these challenges with great care and proceed ahead till we reach our goals".

Thein Sein was appointed president in February last year after November 2010 elections that have ushered in reforms in Myanmar that have surprised international observers, though the West is demanding more still be done.

Earlier Monday, Thein Sein met Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and the pair witnessed the signing by their foreign ministers of an agreement under which Singapore will provide training for reforms in the legal, banking and financial sectors.

The pact also calls on Singapore to share its best practices in trade, tourism and urban planning. Resource-rich but largely untapped Myanmar in return offers attractive opportunities for Singapore businesses.

Thein Sein was accompanied by a top-level delegation which included business leaders and top ministers in charge of economic portfolios, underlining the importance of the trip to Myanmar's nominally civilian government.

Singapore President Tony Tan said the wealthy city-state would strengthen economic cooperation and business links with Myanmar, as the country emerges from decades of political and economic isolation.

"We have every confidence that Myanmar's progress in developing economic infrastructure and legal framework will further encourage investments into the country," Tan told the dinner.

He said Singapore had provided technical assistance to over 7,500 Myanmar officials in various fields since 1992.

With the West looking at easing sanctions and businesses closely watching the reforms, Myanmar needs to prepare for an anticipated increase in investments and tourism, analysts said.

Myanmar has rich natural resources, including gold, gas, teak, oil, jade and gems and a large pool of low-cost labour.

The country also boasts an array of tourism attractions with its appealing colonial architecture, picturesque temples and golden beaches.

"If all goes well, Burma certainly looks forward to being welcomed from the political wilderness," said Song Seng Wun, a regional economist with Malaysian bank CIMB, using Myanmar's former name.

"It looks like the Burmese are in a hurry to catch up in the shortest possible time," he told AFP.

"After so many years of isolation, their capacity to handle the expected inflow of investments and set up the much-needed regulatory frameworks have to be brought up to scratch as quickly as possible."

Tan also pledged to "work closely" with Myanmar as it assumes chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2014.

Under military rule, Myanmar had long been a thorn in the side of ASEAN, hobbling the bloc's relations with Western powers because of the jailing of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and allegations of widespread rights abuses.

Suu Kyi has been released from detention as part of the reforms and is now campaigning for a parliamentary seat in elections scheduled in April.

Signs of thaw on Russian state TV ahead of elections

MOSCOW, January 30, 2012 (AFP) - Russia's tightly-controlled television gave the microphone to opposition leaders at the weekend for the first time in years, after the protests against Vladimir Putin's return to the Kremlin.

But observers saw the move as one orchestrated from above, an attempt to let off steam and create a semblance of debate in a campaign where Putin is not likely to directly respond to his critics.

"If Not Putin, Who?" was the aptly titled talk show on the NTV channel, owned by state gas giant Gazprom, which featured anti-Kremlin politician Boris Nemtsov and several opposition activists facing off with Putin's supporters.

"Putin or not Putin? Six months ago, you could not even imagine this question, it was merely rhetorical," host Anton Khrekov said before a passionate debate weighed Putin's merits.

"Something is clearly going on in the country," Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister, said on the programme. "I have not been on this channel for five years."

State-controlled Channel One's prime-time talk show hosted by veteran presenter Alexander Gordon allowed opposition politician Vladimir Ryzhkov to call Putin's party United Russia a "party of crooks and thieves".

"Citizen Gordon" even aired clips of people stuffing ballot boxes with fake ballots during the December 4 parliamentary polls which sparked the mass protests against Putin's rule ahead of his candidacy in March 4 presidential elections.

National television in Russia has been tightly controlled since the early years of the last decade, and most channels are owned either by the state or by state-controlled companies like Gazprom.

But the channels, including NTV, began to let the voice of the opposition into their coverage last month, showing the mass rallies that drew tens of thousands in Moscow to protest unfair elections and Putin's monopoly on power.

"A miracle happened on Sunday night on official television," former economy minister Andrei Nechayev commented on his blog Monday.

"The main question is, has free speech descended upon us for one evening, until March 4, or for a longer period of time?"

Analysts speculated that the show of glasnost (openness) had been sanctioned as part of the orchestrated campaign season and is not an act of bravery by network management.

"The channels are carrying out an order from the authorities that want to show that there is no censorship in Russia. It's Putin's response to the tens of thousands of demonstrators that protest against censorship and challenge the vote's results," said media expert Irina Petrovskaya.

While airing the talk-shows, the channels' news programmes ignored an auto rally Sunday, where thousands of car owners drove through Moscow in cars decorated with protest insignia, said analyst Anna Kachkayeva.

Despite their brief time in the spotlight, many participants said Monday that the channels deleted their most important remarks.

"Issues that are most important for the public were removed from the programme," Nemtsov wrote on his blog.

"My statement was censored, just like the previous time," wrote businessman Yevgeny Chichvarkin, currently self-exiled in Britain.

Two found guilty of 'terrorist plot' in Prophet cartoon case

OSLO, January 30, 2012 (AFP) - An Oslo court on Monday found two men guilty of plotting "a terrorist act" for a planned attack on the Danish newspaper that published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

Norwegian national Mikael Davud, a member of China's Uighur minority considered the mastermind behind the plot against the Jyllands-Posten daily, was sentenced to seven years behind bars, while Shawan Sadek Saeed Bujak, an Iraqi Kurd residing in Norway, received a three-and-a-half-year prison term.

The two men had in liaison with Al-Qaeda planned to use explosives against the offices of the Danish newspaper and to murder Kurt Westergaard, the cartoonist behind the most controversial of the 12 drawings of the Muslim Prophet published in September 2005, according to the prosecution.

Westergaard's drawing, which has earned him numerous death threats and an assassination attempt, showed Mohammed wearing a turban shaped like a bomb with a lit fuse.

The prosecution had demanded prison sentences of 11 and five years respectively.

David Jakobsen, an Uzbek arrested at the same time as Davud and Bujak in July 2010, was acquitted of the most serious charges but was sentenced to four months behind bars for helping the two others to procure the materials needed to create the explosives.

The three men had all pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Davud however did confess to planning an attack, but said it was directed at Chinese interests in Norway and not at Jyllands-Posten.

The member of the oppressed Uighur minority in China said he had been acting out of purely personal motives and that he had manipulated the two others so they would help him get hold of chemicals, including hydrogen peroxide, that he needed to build a bomb.

Bujak meanwhile admitted that he had spoken with Davud about the possibility of punishing Jyllands-Posten and Westergaard for the cartoons, but insisted the comments were vague and did not constitute a terrorist plot.

As for Jakobsen, who contacted police voluntarily in November 2009 and was the only one of the three to have been released from custody until the verdict, he categorically denied any intention to participate in the plot.

China says currency reform to boost Shanghai

SHANGHAI, January 30, 2012 (AFP) - China on Monday pledged to increase the use of the yuan in international trade and encourage foreign investment in Shanghai markets, as it seeks to build the city into a major global financial centre.

The government has previously vowed to make Shanghai, home to China's major stock and interbank markets, into its vision of an international financial centre by 2020.

But analysts say leaders must permit free capital flows by taking steps to make the yuan fully convertible to achieve the cherished goal.

The country's powerful state planner, the National Development and Reform Commission, said raising the international status of the yuan was a key goal of a plan on Shanghai's development unveiled Monday.

In the blueprint for the 2011 to 2015 period, China will increase the use of the yuan for cross-border transactions and introduce more financial products denominated in the currency, the economic planning agency said.

"Following China's increasing economic power, the degree of convertibility for the renminbi is continuously increasing," said the plan, which was posted on the commission's website and referring to the yuan by its other name.

"The renminbi is gradually moving towards becoming an international currency," it said.

China tightly controls the yuan to prevent sudden large inflows and outflows of the currency that could potentially destabilise financial markets and the economy.

The United States and other countries have long accused China of keeping its currency artificially low to boost exports. But Beijing defends its exchange rate regime, saying it is moving gradually to make the yuan more flexible.

Under the new plan, Shanghai will also encourage foreign investors to put more funds into the city's markets, including stocks.

Top government officials, including Premier Wen Jiabao, in early January hinted at measures to boost the country's stock markets which neared three-year lows late last year.

The commercial hub would also promote the introduction of an "international board" that would allow foreign companies to list on the Shanghai stock exchange.

Several foreign companies, including British banking giant HSBC and General Electric of the United States, have voiced intentions to list in Shanghai since the idea was floated in 2009.

But Shanghai's mayor, Han Zheng, said earlier this month that the time was not ripe to launch the international board. "At the moment, this is not a good time," he told reporters.

Thailand welcomes Twitter censorship tool

BANGKOK, January 30, 2012 (AFP) - Thailand, which regularly cracks down on Internet content deemed critical of its revered monarchy, on Monday welcomed social media giant Twitter's controversial new censorship policy.

The San Francisco-based networking website announced last week that it can now block tweets on a country-by-country basis if legally required, enraging many users, but Thailand said it supported the move.

"It's a good idea that Twitter has this policy to take care and prevent its users from violating the law, because freedom of expression must not violate other people's rights or the laws in each country," Thai Information and Communication Technology Minister Anudith Nakornthap told AFP.

"The ICT ministry will continue to ensure no person or group uses social networks to violate the law. I agree with Twitter's new policy but we will not be involved with Twitter's censorship."

The Thai government has removed tens of thousands of web pages in recent years because they were considered insulting to the royal family, an extremely sensitive subject in the politically-divided country.

A boom in online discussion on social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter is fuelling political debate and challenging Thailand's long-standing taboo against openly discussing the royal family.

In November Thailand asked Facebook to delete more than 10,000 pages of content containing images or text deemed offensive to the monarchy.

Anyone convicted in Thailand of insulting the king, queen, heir or regent can been jailed for up to 15 years for each offence, and rights groups have expressed concern about a series of convictions under the tough rules.

Asian stars woo Western record market

CANNES, January 30, 2012 (AFP) - Asian stars flew into the French Riviera resort of Cannes at the weekend for the global music industry's annual MIDEM pow-wow, in a state-backed bid to woo Western markets.

Chinese authorities have sent one of the country's biggest rising stars, Ruhan, to MIDEM to promote her debut album, "Time to Grow", which features tracks sung in both Chinese and English.

It is the first time that Beijing has brought an artist to the MIDEM fair.

Taiwan also came to town with one of Asia's biggest rock bands, Mayday, which played Sunday night to a sold-out crowd of Chinese-speaking fans who travelled from all over Europe to attend the gig.

Ruhan was catapulted into the international spotlight when she sung the theme song for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Her album, for which she told AFP she helped write some of the lyrics, is the first to be released as part of a Chinese government drive to build up the country's entertainment sector.

"Asia is really opening up to the world. They are confident, bold  and exporting their music," Anne de Kerckhove, director for entertainment for the show organisers Reed MIDEM told AFP.

Bill Zang, vice president of the Shanghai Synergy Culture & Entertainment Group which is piloting the government scheme, told a press conference Sunday that there is interest in Chinese music outside of the region.

But Keith Ferreira, the head of Silva Screen records which is distributing Ruhan's record in Europe, told AFP that Asian artists will take time to penetrate the international market.

"It's going to be a long road," he said.

Japan's population to shrink two thirds by 2110 - Lead

TOKYO, January 30, 2012 (AFP) - Japan's population is expected to shrink to a third of its current size over the next century, with the average woman living to over 90 within 50 years, a government report said Monday.

The population is forecast to decline from the current 127.7 million to 86.7 million by 2060 and to tumble again to 42.9 million by 2110 "if conditions remain unchanged", the health and welfare ministry said in the report.

The projections by the ministry's National Institute of Population and Social Security Research forecast that Japanese women would on average have just 1.35 babies, well below the replacement rate, within 50 years.

The report said that last year's earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan, which left more than 19,000 people dead or missing, hit average life expectancy but that the figure was expected to continue its upward trend.

Japan's life expectancy -- one of the highest in the world -- is expected to rise from 86.39 years in 2010 to 90.93 years in 2060 for women and from 79.64 years to 84.19 years for men.

In September the government announced that the number of people aged 100 or older hit a record high for the 41st consecutive year.

The health ministry said 37 out of every 100,000 people in the country are now centenarians -- a total of more than 47,700, with 87 percent of them women. The figure was more than 3,300 higher than in 2010.

More than 20 percent of Japan's population are aged 65 or over, one of the highest proportions in the world.

Japan's population has been declining as many young people have put off starting families, seeing it as a burden on their lifestyles and careers. A slow economy has also discouraged young people from having babies.

Analysts say having a smaller population is not in itself a problem, as demonstrated by the economic and diplomatic successes of many European nations with far fewer people than Japan.

But an ageing population causes all manner of difficulties, most notably for Japan's government finances, already hard pressed by two decades of economic stagnation.

More retirees inevitably means more spending on social security when Japan's public debt, at twice GDP, is already one of the industrialised world's worst.

Myanmar taps Singapore expertise to modernise economy

SINGAPORE, January 30, 2012 (AFP) - Myanmar Monday signed an agreement with Singapore seeking the financial centre's help as the country emerges from political and economic isolation after decades of military rule.

President Thein Sein arrived Sunday for a four-day state visit to the city-state accompanied by a top-level delegation which included business leaders and top ministers in charge of economic portfolios.

Thein Sein Monday met with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and the leaders witnessed the signing by their foreign ministers of an agreement under which Singapore will provide training for reforms in the legal, banking and financial sectors.

The pact also calls on Singapore to share its best practices in trade, tourism and urban planning.

With the West looking at easing sanctions and businesses closely watching sweeping democratic reforms in the formerly military-run country, Myanmar needs to prepare for an anticipated increase in investments and tourism, analysts said.

Weakened by half a century of military rule and economic mismanagement, Myanmar nevertheless has rich natural resources, including gold, gas, teak, oil, jade and gems and a large pool of low-cost labour.

The Southeast Asian state also boasts of a host of tourism attractions with its appealing colonial architecture, picturesque temples and golden beaches.

"If all goes well, Burma certainly looks forward to being welcomed from the political wilderness," said Song Seng Wun a regional economist with Malaysian bank CIMB, using Myanmar's former name.

"It looks like the Burmese are in a hurry to catch up in the shortest possible time," he told AFP.

Myanmar will likely tap Singapore's expertise in financial services, Song said.

"After so many years of isolation, their capacity to handle the expected inflow of investments and set up the much-needed regulatory frameworks have to be brought up to scratch as quickly as possible."

A Southeast Asian diplomat also told AFP that Myanmar needs to train accountants, bankers and other people with technical skills as well as in corporate governance.

"Singapore is the logical place where it can seek help," said the diplomat, who asked not to be named.

Singapore, a regional financial centre and a favourite hub for global companies, is often seen as a model by its neighbours.

After nearly five decades of outright army rule in Myanmar, a nominally civilian government took power last year and has since surprised outside observers with its apparent scope and pace of reforms.

Thein Sein, a former prime minister and an ex-general who was a member of the junta, was appointed president in February last year after the November 2010 elections.

Myanmar and Singapore are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which also includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

Under military rule, Myanmar had long been a thorn on the side of ASEAN, hobbling the bloc's relations with Western powers because of the jailing of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and allegations of widespread human rights abuses.

Aekapol Chongvilaivan, an analyst with the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, said regional economies must help Myanmar push ahead with democratic reforms.

"Singapore really needs to push Myanmar because Myanmar needs to play a more important role in ASEAN... The financial area is one major avenue that Singapore can contribute to," Aekapol told AFP.

"I think now Myanmar has already set the stage for economic and political transformation."

An orchid will be named after Thein Sein's wife, Khin Khin Win. Thein Sein already has an orchid name after him when he visited Singapore in 2009 as prime minister.

Thousands greet Suu Kyi on Myanmar campaign trail

DAWEI, January 29, 2012 (AFP) - Huge crowds lined the streets to greet Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi as she hit the campaign trail Sunday ahead of by-elections seen as a key test of the regime's commitment to reform.

Thousands flocked to hear the Nobel Peace Prize winner speak in the coastal district of Dawei, as she made her first political trip outside Yangon since declaring she would stand for office in the April 1 polls.

"If we move in the right direction our country will have many opportunities. We are eager to seize them," she told a jubilant crowd that filled the southern town soon after her arrival.

Suu Kyi's decision to stand for a seat in parliament is the latest sign of dramatic change sweeping through the country formerly known as Burma after the end of nearly half a century of outright military rule.

A new government dominated by former generals came to power last year following November 2010 elections that were marred by cheating and the absence of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

The regime has since surprised observers with a series of reforms, including dialogue with the opposition, welcoming the NLD back into the political mainstream and the release of hundreds of political prisoners.

Western nations are now considering easing sanctions, further raising hopes of an end to decades of isolation and poverty, but controversy surrounding the 2010 vote means the upcoming by-elections will be scrutinised by the international community.

The NLD is running for all 48 seats up for grabs in the polls and Suu Kyi is standing in a rural constituency near Yangon. Sunday's one-day visit was in support of the party's candidate Aung Soe, who is standing in a local township.

"We have requested many times for Daw Suu to campaign for our region... She hasn't been here for 23 years," he told AFP. Daw is a term of respect in Myanmar.

Traffic clogged the roads in Dawei as local people thronged to get a glimpse of the NLD leader, who spent much of the past two decades in detention.

"You are our heart," proclaimed banners held up in the crowds, with many people sporting NLD t-shirts and trying to give flowers and gifts to the opposition campaigner.

Suu Kyi's convoy was trailed by a large number of cars and motorbikes as she travelled out of Dawei town through a series of villages, where she was cheered by hundreds of enthusiastic locals and schoolchildren in uniform.

At Aung Soe's constituency the 66-year-old Suu Kyi, known here as "The Lady", was met by many more supporters, with crowds reminiscent of the night she was released from seven years of house arrest days after the 2010 election.

Suu Kyi's outing will later take her to the area where a huge industrial site, the Dawei Development Project, is set to transform a sleepy strip of coastline with a strategic deep sea port.

The Thai-led, multi-billion-dollar development has sparked fears of a potential influx of "dirty" industry and the displacement of thousands of people.

But in another sign of burgeoning reform, Myanmar's government cancelled a proposed coal-fired power plant at the site this month citing "environmental problems".

The April polls are to fill places vacated by those elected in 2010 who have since become ministers and deputy ministers in the government.
Although the seats available are not enough to threaten the resounding majority held by the army-backed ruling party, Suu Kyi's participation will be a boost to the legislature's credibility.

Her first political trip was last year to the Bago region north of Yangon, which passed off peacefully.

Security had been a concern as Suu Kyi's convoy was attacked in 2003, in an ambush apparently organised by a junta frightened by her popularity.

The NLD won an election in 1990 by a landslide while Suu Kyi remained under house arrest, but the ruling generals ignored the result.

The party was stripped of its status as a legal political party after boycotting a national election in 2010, saying the rules were unfair.

Sudan rebels say they captured 29 Chinese workers

KHARTOUM, January 29, 2012 (AFP) - Rebels in Sudan's South Kordofan state have captured 29 Chinese workers after a battle with government forces, a spokesman for the insurgents said on Sunday.

Nine members of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) were also being held, Arnu Ngutulu Lodi of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), told AFP.

"Yes, we have captured them," he said. "I want to assure you right now they are in safe hands."

He said the Chinese have not been kidnapped and none was wounded.

They, along with the Sudanese, were captured on Saturday when the rebels destroyed a Sudanese military convoy between Rashad town and Al-Abbasiya in the northeast of the province, which has been at war since June.

Lodi said the Chinese were working mainly on road construction in the area.

They are being held in the Nuba mountains "until further notice" because of the security situation.

"Today is a little bit calm but we are expecting at any time SAF may launch an attack on us," he said.

Spokesmen for the Sudanese army and the Chinese embassy could not be immediately reached for comment by AFP.

But the embassy told China's official Xinhua news agency that more than 20 Chinese nationals were missing after a rebel attack on the camp of a Chinese company.

Xinhua quoted an official as saying the embassy "has started implementation of the emergency mechanism to follow up the issue" and contact Sudanese authorities.

China is a major military supplier to the regime in Khartoum, and the largest buyer of Sudanese oil.

There is growing international concern over the situation in South Kordofan and nearby Blue Nile state, where a similar conflict broke out in September. The government is fighting ethnic minority insurgents once allied to the former rebels who now rule South Sudan.

The South gained independence from Khartoum last July after decades of civil war.

Food shortages would become critical without substantial aid deliveries into South Kordofan and Blue Nile by March, the US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, has said.

Khartoum has severely restricted the work of foreign relief agencies in the war zones.

It cited security concerns and also accused aid workers of using United Nations flights to deliver arms and ammunition to the rebels -- a claim for which the UN's top humanitarian official said there was "no evidence."

Princeton Lyman, the US administration's special envoy for Sudan, told reporters last week the situation is so dire Washington has warned Khartoum it would consider ways for aid to be sent in without Sudanese government approval.