Hundreds held in anti-Wall Street protest  

Witnesses describe chaotic scenes on New York’s Brooklyn Bridge as police officers surround and handcuff demonstrators.

Last Modified: 02 Oct 2011

New York City police said about 700 protesters have been arrested after they swarmed the Brooklyn Bridge and shut down a lane of traffic for several hours.

Police said some demonstrators spilled onto the roadway Saturday night after being told to stay on the pedestrian pathway.

“Over 700 summonses and desk appearance tickets have been issued in connection with a demonstration on the Brooklyn Bridge late this afternoon after multiple warnings by police were given to protesters to stay on the pedestrian walkway, and that if they took roadway they would be arrested,” said a police spokesman.

“Some complied and took the walkway without being arrested. Others proceeded on the Brooklyn-bound vehicular roadway and were.”

GOOD LOVIN’ GONE BAD

A 42-year-old man in Italy was charged with killing his 24-year-old girlfriend after binding her to her friend with rope after a night of clubbing. The trio was apparently “performing a Japanese sado-masochist technique known as shibari” when things went wrong and one of the girls suffocated.

A jeweler in Otsu put 14 small 0.01-carat diamonds on sale for ¥100 each to try to bring people into his store. It worked-over 20 people lined up in front of the shop before it opened.

A soccer game in the Belgian League was stopped when Japanese goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima took exception to opposing fans chanting “Kawashima, Fukushima.” An enraged Kawashima left the field in tears and later called the chants “unforgiveable.”

The lone surviving pine tree out of thousands on tsunami-hit Takata Matsubara beach in Iwate Prefecture is in failing health with dead buds, discolored pine cones, and brown leaves. Damaged roots are thought to be the cause and a hotter-than-hell summer didn’t help.

A small wooden boat with nine people on board was stopped by the Coast Guard in the Sea of Japan near the Noto Peninsula. One passenger told officers that the boat was from North Korea and they were trying to get to South Korea.

A capsule house designed in the 1960s by famed “Metabolist” architect Kisho Kurokawa was put on display in Roppongi.

Japanese teen actors Shota Sometani and Fumi Nikaido won the Marcello Mastroianni Award for best young actor and actress at the Venice International Film Festival for their work in a movie called Himizu.

Another Japanese film, Kotoko, took home the festival’s Orizzonti award for “full-length feature films that reflect new trends in international film.”

The 13-year-old son of a Japanese banker killed in the World Trade Center attacks in 2001 gave an emotional speech at the Ground Zero ceremony in New York honoring the victims on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

Two Russian bombers buzzed Japanese airspace, prompting Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura to send a protest to Moscow through diplomatic channels.

A 24-year-old Chiba man was arrested for stealing money from the bank account of a female university student and killing her by suffocating her with a plastic bag.

Americans’ divide over global warming getting deeper

Despite onslaught of science, resistance to the idea seems to be hardening

By CHARLES J. HANLEY

Tucked between treatises on algae and prehistoric turquoise beads, the study on page 460 of a long-ago issue of the U.S. journal Science drew little attention.

“I don’t think there were any newspaper articles about it or anything like that,” the author recalls.

But the headline on the 1975 report was bold: “Are We on the Brink of a Pronounced Global Warming?” And this article that coined the term may have marked the last time a mention of “global warming” didn’t set off an instant outcry of angry denial.

YEAH, THANKS FOR THAT…

At a ceremony in Boston, the president of the Japan-America Society of New Hampshire was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette. The honor was in recognition of the man’s efforts to promote “friendly Japan-US relations by raising awareness of the 1905 Treaty of Portsmouth,” whatever that is.

Reassuring absolutely no one, newly installed Defense Minister Yasuo Ichikawa labeled himself an “amateur” when it comes to national security issues.

Meanwhile, the new justice minister “expressed reluctance” about enforcing the death penalty.

An advisory council reporting to the culture minister recommended that Japan nominate Mt Fuji and the city of Kamakura as UNESCO World Heritage sites.

One year after the Akatsuki planetary probe failed in its attempt to enter the orbit of Venus, JAXA says the spacecraft may be capable of making another try in 2015.

Tumult of Arab Spring Prompts Worries in Washington



By STEVEN LEE MYERS

Published: September 17, 2011

WASHINGTON – While the popular uprisings of the Arab Spring created new opportunities for American diplomacy, the tumult has also presented the United States with challenges – and worst-case scenarios – that would have once been almost unimaginable.

What if the Palestinians’ quest for recognition of a state at the United Nations, despite American pleas otherwise, lands Israel in the International Criminal Court, fuels deeper resentment of the United States, or touches off a new convulsion of violence in the West Bank and Gaza?

AND THE WINNER IS…

A Japanese director named Takahisa Zeze won an Innovation Award at the Montreal World Film Festival and captivated the crowd when he started his acceptance speech with the words, “I am Japanese. Are you doing good?”

Another attending Japanese filmmaker in Montreal, Masato Harada, was doing pretty well as his movie Chronicle of My Mother took the Special Grand Prix.

In the wake of entertainer Shinsuke Shimada’s abrupt retirement from his TV career over ties to the yakuza, one top police official noted in The Yomiuri Shimbun, “It seems many showbiz types’ first interaction with crime groups comes when they ask the gangs to solve problems for them, such as collecting unpaid appearance fees or breaking off relationships with members of the opposite sex.”

Former Japan soccer coach Zico has a new gig after the Brazilian legend was named coach of Iraq’s national team.

Meanwhile, the unfortunately named Dunga, another former Brazilian soccer star who, like Zico, once played in the J. League, was also reported to be getting a new job.

Dunga was set to take the helm of a club team in Qatar.

9/11 anniversary: US marks 10 years since attacks

The US has started to mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

The BBC 11 September 2011

Security is tight following warnings of a possible al-Qaeda attack.

The US embassy in Afghanistan has begun the ceremonies, with events due later in the sites where four hijacked planes struck, killing nearly 3,000 people.

An official memorial to those who died is to be unveiled at the site of the World Trade Center, whose twin towers were destroyed in the attacks.

Metal barriers have been erected on roads near the World Trade Center, while police in New York and Washington are stopping and searching large vehicles entering bridges and tunnels.

YEAH, THAT’LL HAPPEN

The former director of the US government’s Japan Affairs Office demanded that Kyodo News retract an article that quoted him as saying the Japanese are “masters of manipulation and extortion.”

The agriculture ministry said Japan will seek UNESCO World Heritage status for kaiseki cuisine.

The government is considering an across-the-board pay cut of 5-10 percent for nationally elected politicians. The scheme would net ¥290 billion, to be used for disaster relief.

Headline of the Week: “Mosses and Sea Slugs Offer Comfort in Difficult Times” (via The Asahi Shimbun)

U.S. Appeals to Palestinians to Stall U.N. Vote on Statehood

 

By STEVEN LEE MYERS and MARK LANDLER  

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration has initiated a last-ditch diplomatic campaign to avert a confrontation this month over a plan by Palestinians to seek recognition as a state at the United Nations, but it may already be too late, according to senior American officials and foreign diplomats.

The administration has circulated a proposal for renewed peace talks with the Israelis in the hopes of persuading the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, to abandon the bid for recognition at the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly beginning Sept. 20.

U.S. Appeals to Palestinians to Stall U.N. Vote on Statehood

 

By STEVEN LEE MYERS and MARK LANDLER  

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration has initiated a last-ditch diplomatic campaign to avert a confrontation this month over a plan by Palestinians to seek recognition as a state at the United Nations, but it may already be too late, according to senior American officials and foreign diplomats.

The administration has circulated a proposal for renewed peace talks with the Israelis in the hopes of persuading the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, to abandon the bid for recognition at the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly beginning Sept. 20.