Japan launches helicopter carrier

FLOATING STEEL

Bangladesh ship-breaking yards told to close: lawyer
Bangladesh's High Court has given the country's 36 ship-breaking yards two weeks to cease work because of their failure to fulfil environmental regulations, a lawyer said Wednesday. Syeda Rizwana, head of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers' Association, told AFP the yards had to apply for clearance from the Department of Environment. "Since none of the 36 yards in Bangladesh have ever received or applied for clearance, the court has said they are operating illegally and must be shut down within two weeks," she said. A spokesman for the ship-breakers told AFP they would appeal against the decision. More than 100 large ships are dismantled each year on beaches at Sitakundu, home to the world's largest breaking yards. The industry has long been a subject of controversy over its environmental impact and working conditions.

by Staff Writers
Yokohama, Japan (AFP) March 18, 2009
Japan's navy Wednesday commissioned its largest helicopter carrier yet but stressed that the destroyer complies with the country's post-war pacifist constitution.

The defence ministry said the 197-metre (646 foot) long Hyuga -- which can carry 11 helicopters on its flat deck -- is different from the light aircraft carriers of foreign armed forces which it resembles.

"Aircraft carriers of the United States or Russia or European military forces have a fair degree of offensive functions," the navy's chief of staff, Admiral Keiji Akahoshi, said at the launch in Yokohama port near Tokyo.

"But the Hyuga falls a little outside of that frame."

Under its US-imposed 1947 pacifist constitution, Japan renounced using or threatening force in international disputes. It nonetheless has one of the world's best-funded militaries, the Self-Defence Forces (SDF).

The government has said the constitution grants the SDF the right to possess a minimum level of armed force for self-defence but not aircraft carriers with their greater offensive capabilities and reach.

The 13,950-tonne destroyer is one of the largest vessels built for the Japanese Marine SDF. It will be stationed in Yokosuka port, near Tokyo, and is expected to be sent on overseas disaster relief missions.

The Hyuga has about 340 crew -- including 17 female officers and sailors, the first women to serve on an SDF naval destroyer.

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FLOATING STEEL

Mechanical fault puts French aircraft-carrier out of action

Paris (AFP) March 13, 2009
France's sole aircraft-carrier, the nuclear-powered Charles de Gaulle, was out of action again Friday, only months after undergoing a lengthy refit, the navy said.

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