MANILA: The Philippines’ energy minister intends to resign after failing to keep a promise to restore electricity to all typhoon-ravaged areas by Christmas Eve, a presidential spokesman said yesterday.
Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla plans to file his resignation today, President Benigno Aquino’s spokesman Edwin Lacierda said on ABS-CBN television. Petilla had earlier promised to restore electricity to all towns hit by Super Typhoon Haiyan by Christmas Eve but had failed to reconnect the supply to three towns, the spokesman said.
Lacierda said Petilla had done an “admirable job” considering the scale of the disaster.
While power has been restored in a few selected areas of the affected towns, many districts still have no electricity after the storm tore down power lines across a wide area.
Tokyo to elect new governor on Feb 9
TOKYO: Millions of voters in Tokyo will elect their new governor in February, the mega-city said yesterday, after the resignation of the previous incumbent over a money scandal.
The gubernatorial election is set for February 9, a Sunday, with ballots to be counted on the same day, the city’s election board said. Candidates must formally declare themselves on January 23 during business hours. No-one has put their hat in the ring yet, but possible candidates being mentioned in the media include Hideo Higashikokubaru, a comedian-turned-politician who resigned as a lower house member this month, and education minister Hakubun Shimomura.
Okinawa US base may be moved
TOKYO: The long-stalled move of a US military base in Okinawa looked set to overcome a huge hurdle this week after a meeting yesterday between the island’s pugnacious governor and Japan’s prime minister.
Premier Shinzo Abe pledged an unheralded cash bonanza for the archipelago, in the form of stimulus spending that commentators say could help persuade governor Hirokazu Nakaima to drop his longstanding opposition to construction of a new airbase.
“You presented surprisingly impressive proposals. I express my heartfelt appreciation as the representative of Okinawa’s 1.4 million people,” the governor told Abe.
Fukushima evacuees to return home
TOKYO: Some Fukushima residents who fled their homes near the crippled Japanese nuclear plant are temporarily returning home during the New Year season, officials said yesterday.
But fewer than 10 percent of more than 27,000 people eligible for the temporary repatriation programme are taking part, amid fears of high radiation. The government is allowing former residents of selected areas around the plant with relatively low radiation contamination to stay at their homes from Christmas Eve through January 7. Agencies
