Kyodo news summary -7-

TOKYO, July 19 Kyodo

---------- 6-way delegates to continue N. Korea nuclear talks Friday

BEIJING - Chief delegates of the six countries discussing North Korea's denuclearization met Thursday for their second day of talks in an effort to produce a timetable for North Korea to declare all of its nuclear programs and disable its nuclear facilities.

South Korean negotiator Chun Yung Woo said the talks were extended until Friday morning as host China is drafting a chairman's statement to wrap up the discussions which began Wednesday in Beijing.

---------- Abe stresses 'iron' will to seek resolution of abduction issue

MIYAZAKI, Japan - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stressed his ''iron will'' Thursday to press North Korea to return all Japanese abductees and called for ''dialogue and pressure'' to urge the North to abandon its nuclear programs.

In Tokyo earlier in the day, top government spokesman Yasuhisa Shiozaki said that Japan is ''always ready'' for bilateral talks with North Korea to discuss resolving the abduction issue, a major stumbling block to normalizing diplomatic ties between the two nations.

---------- Larger-than-anticipated tremor sensed at all Kashiwazaki reactors

TOKYO - The seismic acceleration detected at the world's largest nuclear power plant during Monday's devastating earthquake in Japan was much larger than the level that operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. had anticipated for the seven reactors there, Japan's largest utility firm announced Thursday.

This indicates that the quake resistance level for nuclear power reactors set by the government is insufficient, seismologists and construction experts said.

---------- Voting under way in Indian presidential election

NEW DELHI - Indian lawmakers on Thursday cast their ballots to elect a successor to President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, whose five-year term ends next week.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was the first among parliamentarians to cast their vote at Parliament House in New Delhi.

---------- Japan, N. Korea agree to make efforts to resolve bilateral issues

BEIJING - Top Japanese and North Korean delegates to the six-party nuclear talks met bilaterally on the sidelines Thursday and agreed to make ''mutual'' efforts to resolve various pending issues between the two nations, Japan's top negotiator Kenichiro Sasae said.

Sasae told reporters that his meeting with North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan was at the request of the Japanese side.

---------- Suharto's son named suspect in Indonesian corruption case

JAKARTA - Indonesia's Attorney General said Thursday that Hutomo ''Tommy'' Mandala Putra, the son of former President Suharto, has been named as a suspect in a multimillion dollar graft case involving a clove monopoly agency he used to chair.

''We named Tommy as a suspect because he had received Indonesian Central Bank's liquidity fund but the fund was not used properly,'' Attorney General Hendarman Supandji said.

---------- At least 86 die as torrential rain hits China

BEIJING - At least 86 people have died and dozens of others have gone missing this week in landslides, floods and other accidents caused by torrential rain in parts of China, state-run media reported Thursday.

One of the worst hit areas is Chongqing municipality in southwest China where the rain has triggered 29 landslides and destroyed nearly 30,000 homes, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

---------- Ex-fund manager Murakami gets 2-yr prison term for insider trading

TOKYO - Yoshiaki Murakami, a former investment fund manager regarded as heralding the arrival of a more freewheeling style of capitalism in Japan, was sentenced Thursday to two years in prison and imposed a fine of 3 million yen and a record 1.15 billion yen surcharge for insider stock trading in 2004 and 2005.

The Tokyo District Court ruled that Murakami, 47, violated the Securities and Exchange Law. The defense team for Murakami, who pleaded not guilty, immediately appealed the ruling.

---------- Myanmar commemorates Martyrs' Day

YANGON - Myanmar on Thursday commemorated Martyrs' Day in memory of Gen. Aung San, father of detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and other independent leaders who were gunned down on the day 60 years ago.

Culture Minister Maj. Gen. Khin Aung Myint presided over the official ceremony at the martyrs' mausoleum in Yangon, placing a wreath before the tombs, followed by relatives of the slain leaders.

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