Kyodo news summary -6-

TOKYO, Jan. 5 Kyodo

---------- N. Korea preparing for another nuclear weapons test: media reports

WASHINGTON - U.S. media reported Thursday that North Korea appears to be making preparations for another nuclear test, but gave mixed information about whether it is imminent or will actually be carried out.

In Tokyo on Friday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told Reuters news service that Japan and the rest of the international community would ''take tougher measures'' if North Korea conducted a second nuclear test.

---------- China urges Iran's 'serious response' to U.N. resolution

BEIJING - Chinese President Hu Jintao urged Iran on Friday to make a ''serious response'' to a U.N. Security Council resolution requiring Tehran to halt its uranium enrichment activities.

Hu made the request to Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani during a meeting in Beijing, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

---------- 3 factory workers in S. China beaten up by guards

HONG KONG - A clash between security guards and workers of Italian furniture maker DeCoro in China's southern Guangdong Province left two workers injured, the company confirmed Friday.

Sales director Giovanni Prati of the factory in Longgang district of boomtown Shenzhen told Kyodo News that the company was not involved in the clash.

---------- Japan Railway sees slight decline in passengers in holiday season

TOKYO - The Japan Railway group's six passenger rail operators said Friday they saw a slight decline in the number of travelers who used their bullet trains on shinkansen lines and express trains on conventional lines during the year-end and New Year's holiday season.

The six carried 8.88 million travelers during the eight days between Dec. 28 and Jan. 4, a decline of 33,000 from the same period a year earlier. It was the first year-on-year drop in seven years.

---------- Nepal arms monitoring to start by mid-January

KATHMANDU - The process of monitoring the weapons of Nepal's Maoist rebels will start Jan. 15, the head of a U.N. team assisting the country's peace process said here Friday.

Ian Martin said 13 of the 35 U.N.-authorized arms monitors have already arrived and the rest will be available for deployment from mid-January.

---------- Abe to attend East Asia Summit, eyes China, S. Korea summits

TOKYO - Japan is trying to arrange a summit meeting next week between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, as well as a trilateral meeting that includes their South Korean counterpart Roh Moo Hyun, on the sidelines of multilateral talks on the Philippine resort island of Cebu, Japanese government officials said.

The meetings are being arranged for Jan. 14 when Abe arrives in Cebu from a trip to Europe for a two-day visit to attend the East Asia Summit, which was postponed early last month due to an approaching typhoon.

---------- Malaysia launches new, long-haul budget airline

KUALA LUMPUR - Tony Fernandes, the founder of Malaysia's budget carrier AirAsia, unveiled a new no-frills airline Friday that will fly long haul flights to Britain and China from July.

The airline, named AirAsia X, is owned by Fly Asian Express, or FAX, a domestic airline in which Fernandes holds a 50 percent stake.

---------- Abe plans U.S. visit in April or May for summit with Bush

TOKYO - Japan and the United States have agreed in principle to schedule a visit by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the United States for talks with President George W. Bush, most likely around late April or early May, Japanese and U.S. government sources said Friday.

Ahead of the summit, the two countries have also agreed to continue the basic mechanism of a bilateral economic partnership for growth that was signed in 2001 between Bush and Junichiro Koizumi, Abe's predecessor, the sources said.

---------- Indonesian prosecutors to sue ex-strongman Suharto in civil court

JAKARTA - After failed attempts to criminally prosecute former Indonesian strongman Suharto for alleged corruption during his 32-year rule, prosecutors plan to file a lawsuit against him at a civil court, the country's attorney general said Friday.

Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh told reporters the lawsuit would be filed at the South Jakarta District Court later this month over state losses reported by charity foundations that used to be chaired by Suharto.

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