2003.12.04

Japan's business optimism returns.  [BBC News ] Japan's business is optimistic about the economic outlook for the first time in almost three years, a report shows.   2003.12.04

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Korean War-Dog Tag Mystery (Stars & Stripes) It might be one of the eerier items dropped off at the U.S. military headquarters in Seoul: powdered bones and bone fragments no larger than paint chips wrapped in paper, along with a photo of a U.S. Army dog tag.   2003.12.04

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Diplomats' bodies flown to Japan.  [BBC News ] The bodies of two Japanese diplomats killed in the Iraqi town of Tikrit have been flown back to Japan.   2003.12.04

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NTT-FTTH (Kyodo) Japan's toothless Fair Trade Commission has told NTT East to knock it off and abide by anti-monopoly regulations when it comes to competitors fiber-to-the-home services.   2003.12.04

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Japan-Iraq SDF (Mainichi) ASDF units will be the first into Iraq, will be followed by GSDF troops in February.   2003.12.04

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ROK-Parliament (Yonhap) South Korea's National Assembly votes to override President Roh's veto of a special counsel bill with full support from rival parties.   2003.12.04

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Japan-Markets Nikkei rises 103 points. Euro dives against dollar after setting record highs amid EU intervention talk.   2003.12.04

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DPRK Six-Way Talks (VOA) Talks will be held later today in Washington among the United States, Japan and South Korea concerning the planned secound round of six-way discussions about the DPRK's nuclear weapons programs.   2003.12.04

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Report: Japan to Introduce Missile Defense System (Reuters). Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi intends to introduce a missile defense system to protect Japan from the threat posed by North Korea's ballistic missiles, Mainichi Shimbun reports today. Japan has conducted joint research with the United States on developing a missile defense system since North Korea fired a ballistic missile that flew over Japan in 1998.   2003.12.04

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Flat Screen TVs (Reuters) Nihon Keizai Shimbun reporting that Canon, Toshiba will link up to build next-generation flat screen televisions.   2003.12.04

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Fake 500 Yen Coins (Mainichi) A Garuda Airlines stewardess has been busted in Japan for using fake 500 yen coins.   2003.12.04

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Japan to Approve Troops for Iraq Next Week -Media (Reuters). Japan is likely to approve next week a plan allowing the dispatch of some 1,000 military personnel to help rebuild Iraq, domestic media said today as the bodies of two slain diplomats were set to arrive home.   2003.12.04

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'Set-back for DPRK talks'. [BBC News ] Officials are to discuss North Korea in Washington amid fears the next round of talks on the nuclear crisis might be delayed.   2003.12.04

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Let your fingers do the talking. [ITU Strategy & Policy Unit Newslog] The BBC has an interesting article on the latest in mobile phones from Japan.  NTT DoCoMo has created a wristwatch phone that uses its owner's finger as an earpiece. The gadget, dubbed Finger Whisper, uses a wristband to convert the sounds of conversation to vibrations that can be heard when the finger is placed in the ear. Such new services and gadgets will be featured in the ITU Japan case study on the Future Mobile Information Society to be released next month.   2003.12.04

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Powell Optimistic on DPRK Talks, Sees No Deadlock (Reuters). U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says he's optimistic six-way talks to defuse the North Korean nuclear crisis will take place soon and denied the process was deadlocked.   2003.12.04

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U.N.: North Korea's Experiment Failing (AP). About one million urban workers have fallen victim as once centrally controlled industries have to cut costs and jobs amid free-market pressures, said Masood Hyder, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in North Korea.   2003.12.04

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NTT DoCoMo, NEC plan dual 3G/WLAN handset. [ITU Strategy & Policy Unit Newslog] InfoWorld reports that NTT DoCoMo Inc. and NEC Corp. have developed a mobile handset that marries third-generation cellular telephony with wireless LAN. The handset is compatible with both W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) and the IEEE802.11b wireless LAN standard and is expected to be launched as a commercial product around the beginning of the new Japanese fiscal year.  In wireless LAN mode, the telephone supports both data transmission and, when linked to a corporate IP telephony server, voice transmission. This enables the telephone to double as both a regular cellular telephone and, within a company wireless network, as a cordless handset and data modem.   2003.12.04

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