Science & Technology News

By Mari Saito and Kentaro Hamada TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s plan to restart nuclear reactors shut down after the Fukushima disaster will not be affected by Monday’s resignation of the industry minister, but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is losing a convincing advocate of a step most view with suspicion. Forty-year-old Yuko Obuchi’s resignation from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, six weeks after she was appointed, is the latest hitch in a process bogged down by documentation over safety standards, concerns about natural disasters and local opposition. …

By Linda Sieg TOKYO (Reuters) – Two Japanese cabinet ministers resigned on Monday over the dubious use of political funds, dealing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe his biggest setback since he took office in December 2012. The resignations of the two women, including the high-profile trade and industry minister, could complicate tough decisions on key policies, including whether to go ahead with an unpopular plan to raise the sales tax and planned restarts of nuclear reactors shut down after the 2011 Fukushima disaster. …

By Jack Kim SEOUL (Reuters) – The families of 16 people who died after falling through a ventilation shaft at a South Korean open-air concert asked for leniency on Monday for event organisers despite fresh concerns about safety six months after a ferry disaster. Opposition lawmakers chided the government for a lack of substantive improvements in safety despite repeated pledges to tighten standards, with one member of parliament saying: “The Republic of Korea has become the republic of disasters”. …

By Ben Blanchard and Sui-Lee Wee BEIJING (Reuters) – China is set to unveil key legal reforms this week that will try to limit the influence local officials have on court cases, a move being closely watched by company executives who hope it will make the legal system more impartial. The announcement is expected at the end of an Oct. 20-23 meeting of the ruling Communist Party elite, which has made the “rule of law” the theme of the gathering. …

By Sharon Begley and Toni Clarke NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. health officials have asked three advanced biology laboratories to submit plans for producing the experimental Ebola drug ZMapp, which ran out after it was given to a handful of medical workers who contracted the disease in West Africa, government and lab officials said on Friday. Under the “task order” issued on Thursday by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a state-of-the-art manufacturing center in Texas will submit plans for manufacturing ZMapp, said Dr. …

By Aditya Kalra NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India has launched a new air quality index to help citizens understand complex pollution data and its implications for their health, the environment minister said on Friday. A World Health Organization (WHO) study of 1,600 cities released in May found New Delhi had the world’s dirtiest air with an annual average of 153 micrograms of small particulates, known as PM2.5, per cubic metre. Thirteen of the dirtiest 20 cities worldwide were in India, the WHO said. India rejected the report. …

By Daniel Bases and Rodrigo Campos NEW YORK (Reuters) – Measuring the point at which investors have exhausted their selling in a market downturn is an inexact science at best, and at its worst akin to sticking a finger in the air to judge shifting winds. By some measures, the near 10 percent decline in the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index from a record high last month may already have flushed out much of the speculative money that helped propel a bull market in stocks beyond the average length. Investors look for a number of signs to determine whether a correction has run its course. …

By Clare Baldwin and Carlos Barria HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong police used pepper spray on Thursday to stop pro-democracy protesters from blocking a major road near the office of the city’s embattled leader amid public anger over the police beating of a protester a day earlier. At police headquarters in the nearby entertainment district of Wan Chai, hundreds of people gathered outside to express outrage at the beating, with dozens queuing to lodge formal complaints. …

By Clare Baldwin and Carlos Barria HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong police used pepper spray early on Thursday to stop pro-democracy protesters from blocking a major road near the office of the city’s embattled leader amid public anger over the police beating of a protester a day earlier. At police headquarters in the nearby district of Wan Chai, hundreds of people gathered outside into the early hours of the morning to express outrage at the beating, with dozens queuing to lodge formal complaints over the incident. …

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s inflation rate slowed more than expected in September to a near five-year low, adding to concerns that global growth is cooling fast unless governments take bolder measures to shore up their economies. The consumer price index (CPI) rose 1.6 percent in September from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday, missing market expectations for a 1.7 percent rise and down from 2 percent in August. The CPI rose 0.5 percent in September from the previous month, versus a 0.4 percent gain expected by economists. …