UN experts decry Myanmar atrocities GENEVA, October 4 (Reuters): The U.N. committees for women’s and children’s rights called on Myanmar’s authorities on Wednesday to immediately stop violence in northern Rakhine state, which hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled in the past six weeks. “We are particularly worried about the fate of Rohingya women and children subject to serious violations of their human rights, including killings, rape and forced displacement,” the committees on the elimination of discrimination against women and on the rights of the child said in a statement. “Such violations may amount to crimes against humanity and we are deeply concerned at the state’s failure to put an end to these shocking human rights violations being committed at the behest of the military and other security forces.” Japan regulator grants safety approval to Tepco’s first reactor restart since Fukushima TOKYO, October 4 (Reuters): Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) on Wednesday received an initial safety approval from Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) to restart two reactors at the world’s biggest nuclear power plant. The approval marks the first safety approval Tepco has received in the first steps towards the possible restart of reactors since the 2011 meltdown of three reactors at Tepco’s Fukushima plant following an earthquake and tsunami that led to the eventual closure of Japan’s nuclear power plants. Tepco has said it needs to resume operations at the closed plants to pay for Fukushima’s restoration and other liabilities from the disaster. The NRA ruled that the No. 6 and No. 7 reactors, each with a capacity of 1,356 megawatts, at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant has passed new safety standards enacted after the Fukushima accident. The NRA made the approval in a unanimous voice vote among the five commissioners at a meeting on Wednesday. Even with the NRA safety approvals, the restart of reactors at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa are likely years away. Ryuichi Yoneyama, the governor of Niigata prefecture, where the plant is located, has said he will not discuss a restart at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa until Tepco completes a review of the Fukushima disaster, which could take until 2020 at the earliest. The Japanese public is also opposed to restarts and a majority favours an exit from nuclear power, according to opinion polls. Tepco shares were up by 1.7 percent by 0446 GMT, compared with a 0.2 percent rise in Nikkei index. Puerto Rico raises hurricane’s official death count to 34 SAN JUAN, October 4 (AP): The official death toll from Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico has increased to 34 from 16, the U.S. territory’s governor said Tuesday. Gov. Ricardo Rossello also said he believes the hurricane that struck on Sept. 20 with winds over 150 mph caused $90 billion in damage across the Caribbean island. The governor made the announcement at a news conference following U.S. President Donald Trump’s short visit to the U.S. territory to assess the storm’s impact. During his stop, Trump congratulated Puerto Ricans for avoiding a high death toll of “a real catastrophe like Katrina.” As many as 1,800 people died in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina breached levees protecting New Orleans. The governor said the death toll in Puerto Rico included 19 people who died as a direct result of the storm and 15 whose deaths were caused indirectly by the storm, local media reported. Nearly two weeks after the storm, 95 percent of electricity customers remain without power, including some hospitals. Some people have expressed concerns about the effect that extended outages will have on the ill and vulnerable in the tropical heat. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, there are now more than 10,000 federal officials on the ground on the island, and 45 percent of customers now have access to drinking water. Rossello has said he hopes 25 percent of electricity customers will have power by the end of October.
