Japan PM "suspends' royal plans

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has reportedly suspended his plan to introduce a bill to allow women to succeed to the Imperial throne. The decision follows Tuesday's news that Princess Kiko is pregnant, raising hopes that a male heir may yet be born. Princess Kiko and Prince Akishino currently have two daughters.

A government-appointed panel recently recommended changing the rules of succession, as no boys had been born into the imperial family for 40 years. Under existing rules only men are allowed to become emperors. The bill gained wide public support, but many conservatives were against it. Before the news of Princess Kiko's pregnancy, Mr Koizumi had pledged to propose the bill to parliament before it ended its session in June. But he now wants to wait until there is broad parliamentary support for the idea, Kyodo news agency said, quoting an unnamed government source. It said the prime minister's decision followed a meeting with top ruling party leaders late on Thursday.

On Friday, Mr Koizumi denied he had given up on the bill. "We should make a decision after having a clearer grasp of the situation," he told reporters. "I don't think the issue should trigger political conflict". Analysts said Mr Koizumi faced growing opposition to the plan within his own party and Cabinet. There have also been calls to wait until the sex of Princess Kiko's baby is known. Opinion polls in Japan suggest a majority of people think that women should be allowed on the throne.

CNN NEWS, 20.01.06.

Iran "moves assets out of Europe'

Iran has started moving its foreign exchange reserves out of Europe in a bid to shield the country from the threat of sanctions, reports suggest. Iran's central bank governor said the country had begun withdrawing assets from European banks. Iran is embroiled in a row with the US and European Union over allegations it is attempting to build nuclear weapons.

The UN's atomic agency is due to meet on 2 February to discuss the crisis. A possible solution to the growing dispute may have emerged, after Russia said Iran has expressed interest in a proposal to enrich uranium on Russian territory. The highly sensitive process of enriching uranium is what lies at the heart of the dispute between the West and Iran. Low level enriched uranium is used as fuel in nuclear power stations, but uranium enriched to higher levels can be used in nuclear weapons. Western countries are afraid that oil-rich Iran is secretly pursuing nuclear weapons and that allowing it to master the enrichment process will inevitably lead to weapons acquisition. Iran denies the allegations, claiming it wants the technology for energy purposes alone. Moscow's offer to carry out enrichment for Teheran, but supervised on Russian soil was first made last year, but rejected.

Now the head of Russia's atomic energy agency, Sergei Kirienko, has told President Vladimir Putin that Iran is ready for detailed discussions about the proposal. Mr Kirienko added that Iranian officials may come to Moscow for talks in the near future. The plan could be the best hope of defusing the escalating tensions over Iran's nuclear programme.

Western nations have been pressing for the issue to be referred to the United Nations Security Council, which could impose sanctions on Iran. The UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), will hold an emergency meeting to discuss whether to refer Iran to the Security Council. The council has the power to impose international trade or diplomatic sanctions against Iran.

But Iran had begun the process of shifting its assets from Europe." Iran has started withdrawing money from European banks and transferring it to other banks abroad, " a senior Iranian official told the Reuters agency. It was not immediately clear where the assets were being moved to, although reports have suggested that Iranian funds could be heading out of Europe to Asia. Iran's assets in the US were frozen after the revolution of 1979, which saw the pro-Western Shah toppled and a clerical regime installed in Tehran. It is difficult to estimate the amount of assets that Iran has abroad, but the Arabic daily said that about $8bn had already been moved, mainly to Asian markets. Other sources have put the total value of Iran's foreign assets at somewhere between $30bn and $50bn.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 1028