Obama urges Iran to stop crackdown on protesters
US President Barack Obama has called on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjustactions against its own people.
Obama issued a statement on Saturday, as Iranian security forces cracked down on protesters disputing the presidential election results.
Obama said the Iranian government must understand that the world is watching and mournseach and every innocent life that is lost.
He said that the universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights.
Obama had been cautious in his reaction to Iran's situation following the election. This was an apparent effort to avoid the impression that he was meddlingin the country's internal affairs.
However in view of the severe crackdown, Obama appears to have decided to underscore his stance of placing importance on human rights.
Major firms to enter plant-grown veggie business
More Japanese manufacturers are moving to enter an innovative business of growing vegetables indoorswith advanced technology to control optimumlighting conditions.
In a vegetable growth facility, light and temperature are fully controlled to stabilize harvest regardless of seasonal climate changes and daily weather conditions.
Showa Denko has developed new LED chips that emit only red light that facilitates the photosynthesisprocess.
These chips emit 3 times as much light as conventional chips while using one-third to one-fourth the electricity of conventional ones.
Mitsubishi Plastics is planning to market a set of equipment to turn an agricultural greenhouse into a vegetable plant. The equipment combines sunlight and artificial lighting and halves the cost of building such a plant.
Major manufacturers foresee an increase in demand for such plant-grown vegetables in the future.
Survey: only 10% think living conditions improving
A government survey shows that only one in every 10 Japanese people think their society is becoming a better place to live in.
The Cabinet Office conducted a triennialsurvey earlier this year. A total of 4,480 people from across Japan responded.
Asked if they think that Japanese society is becoming a more comfortable place to live in, only 10 percent of the respondents said "yes." 90 percent replied "no."
The percentage of people who answered "yes" decreased by half from the figure in the previous survey in 2006, and was the lowest figure since the survey started in 1978.
As for life after retirement, only 12 percent of the respondents said that they have bright prospects. This is also the lowest figure on record.
The Cabinet Office says the results apparently reflect people's growing anxiety over the global economic downturn and Japan's pension program and other social security systems.
最終更新：2009年06月22日 09:26
