20110504

Japan says no limits to Tepco liability from nuclear disaster

by Reuters

Tokyo Electric Power should face unlimited liability for damages stemming from its crippled nuclear power plant, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said on Monday, indicating Japan's government will take a hard line against the utility in its rescue plan. Officials from the government, Tokyo Electric (9501.T), and creditor banks have been scrambling to craft a scheme that would allow the utility to cope with the massive bill of compensating displaced residents while staying in business as a private firm. (Reuters)

Matsumoto vows to double Japan's ODA target for Africa as pledged

by Mainichi

Japanese Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto said Sunday his country will steadily implement its pledges to increase aid to Africa despite a cut in overall foreign aid to help finance reconstruction from the March 11 quake-tsunami disaster. At a ministerial meeting to follow up on the Tokyo International Conference on African Development that opened in the Senegalese capital Dakar, which became the first major international conference Japan organizes after the disaster, Matsumoto also explained the ongoing efforts to stabilize the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant. (Mainichi)