WASHINGTON, April 21 (UPI) -- Japanese Defense Agency Director General Fukushiro Nukaga arrived in Washington on Friday for negotiations with U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
The discussions will cover how much Japan will underwrite the estimated $10 billion cost for relocating 8,000 U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam.
Kyodo news agency reported Thursday that Nukaga told journalists prior to his departure, "There is still a gap between us and I think it is important for me to clearly explain to Secretary Rumsfeld Japan's situation and our stance. This is a global strategic transformation that happens perhaps only once in 50 years ... so it is just natural for those responsible for security affairs to meet and talk. We had aimed for (an agreement) by the end of March. Now that we are stuck at the working level, I believe politicians should be decisive in making a decision and resolving the issue."
Talks have stalled despite several rounds of senior working-level talks, with negotiators missing a self-imposed March 31 deadline to reach agreement on the realignment plans.
Nukaga's visit precedes yet another round of senior working-level talks scheduled to begin Monday in Washington. Previous discussions between senior Japanese and U.S. officials ended last Friday in Tokyo without an agreement.
Washington is pressing Japan to pay 75 percent of the $10 billion relocation costs. Japan has counter-offered $3 billion along with another $3 billion in loans to be repaid by the United States.
The Venezuelan government has reacted angrily to U.S. military exercises in the Caribbean.
The two-month "Partnership of the Americas" exercises are being sponsored by the U.S. Army's Southern Command and include more than 6,500 sailors from the USS George Washington Carrier Strike Group practicing naval maneuvers. The Nimitz-class nuclear carrier is accompanies by the USS Monterrey cruiser, the destroyer USS Stout and the frigate USS Underwood.
EFE news agency reported Wednesday that Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said that the exercises "are not going to intimidate us. If they want to intimidate us, they are going to fail, because they are not going to intimidate us. The time for intimidation in the world has passed. We're going to see how close the ships get."
When asked about the forces from other Caribbean states taking part in the exercises, Rangel said their vessels were "canoes" compared to the U.S. carrier group. Military units from Colombia, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago are participating in the exercises.
The U.S. Navy warships will make port calls in Honduras, Nicaragua, Aruba, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Curacao and St. Kitts and Nevis as part of the upcoming military exercises.
A U.S. Southern Command press release stated that the "Partnership of the Americas" exercise is to train U.S. Central and Latin American allies in anti-drug and human traffic operations, improve inter-army ties, operational capacities and promote good relations.
For the last nine months a small U.S. military team has been laboring in Dubai to improve relations with Arab news agencies based there.
The mission has been so successful that U.S. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said that an Arabic-speaking diplomat and staff will be sent to Dubai this fall to present United States' perspectives on Arab television programs.
The Russian newspaper Pravda reported Wednesday that Ereli and other U.S. officials said that the Bush administration had previously ignored Arab news outlets, allowing radical Islamists to condemn U.S. policy without a suitable response. "We have, to our detriment, been defined by our critics," Ereli observed.
The U.S. military team has been focusing on Dubai Media City, which since opening in 2001 become the Middle East's largest journalism hub, with more than 1,000 media-related companies, including bureaus for global and regional TV, radio and newspapers.
Army Capt. Eric Clark, one of two U.S. Central Command officers based in Dubai Media City said, "We were essentially allowing al-Qaida and other terrorists to run rampant with lies and propaganda. We're late in this fight. We're filling this huge vacuum that's existed in Arab countries for years. We're working to change the mind-set in the Arab world that America is this monolithic evil. We're hoping to stop the ability of al-Qaida to recruit future members. The pan-Arab media outlets in Dubai Media City were like a dry sponge. They didn't have access to U.S. military personnel for breaking stories."
The United States is already present in Dubai Media City, with the State Department's Arabic-language Radio Sawa and Al-Hurra satellite TV operating bureaus there.
Al-Arabiya TV news director Nakhle Elhage is skeptical about the mission, commenting, "They want one-way traffic. They want to give their message, but they don't want to listen."
Two workers searching for tools set off a security alert at a Beaver County, Pennsylvania nuclear power plant. State police and federal investigators responded to the incident.
WTAE Channel 4 reported Wednesday that the security breach occurred when the men drove to the Beaver Valley Power Station in Shippingport in a tractor-trailer on Tuesday night to pick up a contractor's two large containers of tools.
When security guards stopped the pair for a routine inspection they drove away, causing guards to alert the police, who stopped the truck about a mile from the facility.
After obtaining a warrant to search the vehicle a state trooper found a duffel bag, containing $504,230 in mostly small bills. After the driver denied knowing anything about the money or who gave it to him, the trooper seized it.
A spokesman for the FBI confirmed that while the Joint Terrorism Task Force was involved with state police over the incident, the FBI doesn't think terrorism was involved.
Police reported that the two men, who were from Houston, said they picked up the bag in Chicago and were unaware of what it contained.
Investigators think the cash may have been part of drug operation, as a police dog picked up the scent of drugs in the sleeper cab of the truck where the bag was found.
The two men were detained and later released without being charged.
