BAD MEDICINE

An investigation was launched after it came to light that a man who claimed to be a doctor from a Canadian hospital treated some 250 people in quake-ravaged Miyagi Prefecture without a proper license.

A drug used to treat blood clots killed five people in Japan after causing some nasty side-effects in over 80 patients since March, the Health Ministry said.

Ryohei Yamanaka, 23, a flyhalf for Japan’s national rugby team, accepted a two-year doping ban from the sport’s governing body while continuing to claim his positive test was a result of a cream he used to try to grow a mustache. Yeah right, likely story …

It took 21 reprints, but a million copies were finally printed of an inspirational book by Japan soccer captain Makoto Hasebe called Kokoro o Totonoeru (Maintaining Peace of Mind).

Now this really is amazing. A transparent maze has been set up by Yoko Ono at Yokohama Triennale 2011, an international exhibition of modern art. At the center of the maze is a telephone, which sometimes rings. Lucky visitors who pick up the phone get to hear the voice of Yoko Ono. Hmmm … would that be considered reward or punishment?

A two-year-old boy escaped with a few minor scrapes after falling between a train platform and a stopped Nozomi bullet train onto the tracks at Nagoya Station. A quick-thinker hit the emergency switch and cut power before the train could leave.

Visually impaired people in Japan are apparently “suffering damage to their white canes … due to collisions with cyclists.”

10 dead as Hurricane Irene churns up Atlantic

 Winds begin to blast Northeast; storm downs trees, leaves millions without power

NBC, msnbc.com and news services  

A weakened but still dangerous Hurricane Irene shut down New York and menaced other cities more accustomed to snowstorms than tropical storms as it steamed up the East Coast, unloading a foot of rain on North Carolina and Virginia and knocking out power to 2 million homes and businesses. At least 10 people were dead early Sunday.

By early Sunday, the storm had sustained winds of 80 mph, down from 100 mph on Friday. That made it a Category 1, the least threatening on a 1-to-5 scale, and barely stronger than a tropical storm.

Nevertheless, it was still considered highly dangerous, capable of causing ruinous flooding across much of the East Coast with a combination of storm surge, high tides and six inches to a foot of rain.

Operation Mermaid: ‘Rebels in Tripoli have risen up’

Fighting reported in capital; Gadhafi’s former No. 2 urges government troops to join the opposition

 NBC, msnbc.com and news services

TRIPOLI, Libya – Explosions and gunfire rocked Tripoli through the night as opponents of Moammar Gadhafi rose up in the capital, declaring a final push to topple the Libyan leader after a six-month war reached the city’s outskirts.

“The zero hour has started,” said Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, vice-chairman of the rebel leadership council. “The rebels in Tripoli have risen up.”

However, a defiant Gadhafi said an assault by “rats” had been repelled.

“Those rats … were attacked by the masses tonight and we eliminated them,” Gadhafi said in an audio message broadcast over state television early Sunday.

Intense gunfire erupted after nightfall. Reuters journalists in the center of the capital, a metropolis of 2 million people, said it subsided somewhat after several hours. Fighting was reported early Sunday in several neighborhoods.

NATO aircraft made heavy bombing runs after nightfall, The Associated Press reported.

SIC TRANSIT

ANA unveiled a passenger jet festooned with images of the Pokemon character Pikachu at Sendai Airport. The aircraft, dubbed the “Peace Jet,” is intended as a pick-me-up to the victims of the March 11 disaster.

Authorities in Thailand deported a Japanese man who is accused of bilking an insurance company out of ¥11 million in an arson scheme in Sapporo.

JR West was ordered to pay ¥6.2 million in compensation to 61 employees for “psychological distress” caused during a disciplinary program. The staff were forced to “clean toilets and cut weeds” as punishment for bad behavior.

A visually impaired man from Yokohama was killed after being hit by a Den-en-toshi line train at Tsukushino station in Machida. The man, who was seen “walking unsteadily” before the accident, fell onto the tracks and was trying to climb back up when he was pinned between the train and the platform.

Police from Hokkaido raided the offices of an aviation school in Miyazaki in connection with the crash of a light plane that killed two people and injured a third during a training session in Obihiro.

Aung San Suu Kyi in first political trip beyond Rangoon

Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has made her first political trip outside Rangoon since her release from house arrest last November.  

The BBC 14 August 2011  

She called for national unity as she visited Bago, about 80km (50 miles) north of Burma’s main city.

Hundreds of people lined the streets as her convoy made its way to Bago.

The Burmese authorities had earlier warned that such a trip could trigger unrest and security agents were monitoring the convoy.

However, the BBC’s South-east Asia correspondent, Rachel Harvey, says recent moves have suggested a thaw in relations could be under way.

Brown blames US and Europe for ‘throwing away’ recovery  

Former prime minister mounts an extraordinary attack on world leaders for mishandling economic crisis and risking ‘a decade of joblessness’  

By Matt Chorley, Jane Merrick, Stephen Foley and Margareta Pagano Sunday, 7 August 2011

Gordon Brown today launches an extraordinary attack on the leaders of America, France and Germany, accusing them of being “wrong” on the big economic decisions and failing to heed his warnings over the EU debt crisis.

The former British prime minister breaks his silence to claim wrong-headed EU leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, had “thrown away” another chance of economic recovery. They ignored his warnings about their banks’ debt levels and are exacerbating the financial crisis which, in turn, risks condemning millions of people to a decade of joblessness.

CAN’T SAY WE BLAME THEM

Barbecued beef restaurants in Japan found sales were down after reports surfaced that caesium-laced beef had been distributed across the country.

Bombastic Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara said a new power plant will be built in Tokyo “with the electricity generation capacity of at least 1 million kilowatts,” but he refused to provide any details.

PM Naoto Kan came under fire from members of his own Cabinet for “advocating a society free of nuclear power in the aftermath of the crisis in Fukushima.” That’s news to us, claimed members of his cabinet.

South Korea voiced “strong regret and disappointment” over Japan’s month-long ban on its diplomats flying Korean Air. The ban was put in effect to protest a special flight by the airline above some disputed islets.

Yukari Miyamae, a 61-year-old Japanese-American female, has achieved a cult-like following after being arrested for grabbing the boob of an airport security agent in Phoenix and, according to the police report, “squeezing and twisting it with both hands without the victim’s permission.”

Meanwhile, a Facebook page dedicated to acquitting Miyamae of the sexual abuse charges apparently drew over 1,000 supporters, “with some calling her a hero.”

Syrian unrest: ‘Many deaths’ as army attacks Hama

The Syrian army has begun an assault on the city of Hama in northern Syria, with residents saying that dozens of people have been killed.

The BBC  31 July 2011

Hama has been in a state of revolt and virtually besieged for the past month.

Locals said more than 20 people were killed in “intense gunfire” after forces moved in from several sides.

The army is signalling that it will not tolerate large-scale unrest ahead of the month of Ramadan, when protests are expected to grow, correspondents say.

Syria has seen more than four months of protests against the authoritarian four-decade rule of President Bashar al-Assad’s Baath party.

BREAKTHROUGHS

Tohoku University Hospital will begin testing a drug that may delay the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

Researchers from three Japanese universities published a paper in the British journal Nature that “revealed the three-dimensional structure of the central part of human chromosomes.” The finding could help scientists better understand Down’s syndrome and cancer.

It was announced that a 4,300-year-old pottery shard unearthed in Aomori in 1993 may contain the “oldest depiction of a shaman on an artifact uncovered in Japan.”

The University of Tokyo asked the education ministry if it would be OK to begin the academic year in the fall, just like schools overseas.

Leading Japanese e-tailer Rakuten announced that it will open an online shop for electronic books early next month. Panasonic will provide the tablet device for the service.

Cops: Norway gunman claims he acted alone

92 died in Friday attacks by anti-immigration zealot

msnbc.com staff and news service reports

A right-wing zealot who admitted to bomb and gun attacks in Norway that killed 92 people on Friday claims he acted alone, Norway’s police said on Sunday.

“He has admitted to the facts of both the bombing and the shooting, although he’s not admitting criminal guilt,” acting police chief Sveinung Sponheim told a news conference about detained suspect Anders Behring Breivik.

“He says that he was alone but the police must verify everything that he said. Some of the witness statements from the island (shootings) have made us unsure of whether there was one or more shooters.”