Okinawans: Move U.S. air base off island
YOMITAN, Japan, April 25 (UPI) -- About 90,000 people rallied Sunday in Okinawa to demand a U.S. Marine air base be moved off the Japanese island.
The protest comes as Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and U.S. officials discuss a plan to relocate the Futenma Air Station from a busy city to a coastal area of Henoko on the southern part of the island.
"I strongly demand [the Futenma base] is moved out of the prefecture or out of the country," Hirokazu Na-kaima, Okinawa governor, told a crowd that reportedly included about 40 mayors, The Financial Times reported. "I'm confident that the passion of the people gathered here today can move both the Japanese and U.S. governments to reach a satisfactory conclusion."
The newspaper said the demonstration was one of the largest ever in Okinawa.
Many demonstrators sported yellow, the color symbolizing the protest, and held banners. "Against the move within the prefecture," one read.
A high school student at the rally told a local radio station: "We really don't need the base in our lives, so at the very least we want it out of the prefecture."
Earlier Sunday, Japan denied a report in The Washington Post that the country would broadly accept a plan to relocate a U.S. military base on Okinawa.
After meeting with U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos, Hatoyama told reporters Japan should reject the existing plan to move the base to coastal Henoko in part because it would hurt the environment.
Hatoyama and U.S. President Barack Obama met in Washington during a working dinner for the Nuclear Security Summit, and the prime minister said he asked for the president's cooperation on deciding where to relocate the Futenma base. But Hatoyama said he did not name a prospective relocation site, Kyodo reported.
Israel lifts ban on Apple iPad
JERUSALEM, April 25 (UPI) -- Israel has lifted a ban on Apple Inc.'s iPad, saying it will allow the device after testing showed it is compatible with the country's wireless networks.
The Israeli Communications Ministry had banned the tablet computer, saying it was incompatible with Israeli Wi-Fi standards, which are different from the American settings the iPad is configured for, Ynetnews reported Sunday.
Customs officials confiscated about 20 units brought into the country from abroad, Ynetnews said.
The ministry lifted the ban Saturday after determining the devices automatically adjust wireless broadcast intensity to match local standards, avoiding placing unnecessary strain on Israeli Wi-Fi networks.
The ministry will allow personal import of iPads, it said, and the confiscated devices will be returned to their owners.
Apple's distributor in Israel, iDigital, applauded the decision and said the iPad would be introduced in Israel in the coming months, the report said.
Reports: Pope may cancel U.K. visit
VATICAN CITY, April 25 (UPI) -- Pope Benedict XVI may cancel a planned visit to Britain after a memo by government workers mocked him and criticized the Catholic Church, published reports say.
The Daily Telegraph and The Times of London Online cited Vatican sources saying the memo prompted the pope to consider scuttling the trip, scheduled for Sept. 16-19. The memo, titled "The Ideal Visit," was written by junior Foreign Office workers after a brainstorming session on ways to welcome the pontiff, the office said.
Sections of the memo published by the Telegraph suggested launching "Benedict" condoms and called on the pope to open an abortion clinic, bless a gay marriage, sponsor a network of AIDS clinics, ordain a female priest and train bishops on how to respond to child-abuse allegations.
The Foreign Office apologized for a memo. Francis Campbell, the British ambassador to the Vatican, has met senior officials of the Holy See to express the government's regret over "this foolish document," the BBC reported Sunday.
Three or four staff members who worked on the memo, and the civil servant responsible have been put on other duties, the Foreign Office said.
"This could have very severe repercussions and is embarrassing for the British government," A Vatican source told the Telegraph. "One has to question whether the action taken is enough … . It's even possible the (pope's) trip could be canceled, as this matter is hugely offensive."
Austrian president cruises to re-election
VIENNA, April 25 (UPI) -- Austrian President Heinz Fischer coasted to election to a second six-year term Sunday, with exit polls showing he captured 78 percent of the vote.
Far-right candidate Barbara Rosenkranz won barely 15 percent of the vote, The Times of London reported. She had called for lifting a ban on voicing neo-Nazi sentiments, but later retracted the statement, and questioned Austria's laws forbidding denial of the Holocaust.
"Grandma Rosenkranz would have presented a horror show as president of Austria," Wolfgang Fellner, editor of Oesterreich, an Austrian daily newspaper, told the Times.
Rosenkranz's colleague Heinz-Christian Strache, leader of the far-right Freedom Party, blamed her poor performance on an "unprecedented media witch-hunt against a very good candidate and her family".
The Times said Strache will seek to shift the party's focus from questioning the law banning Nazi ideology and denial of the Holocaust to resisting immigration by Muslims and East Europeans.
"This was a defeat for Rosenkranz, for the Freedom Party and for its leader, Heinz-Christian Strache," analyst Peter Hajek told The New York Times.
The mainstream conservative party, the Austrian People's Party, along with the center-right People's Party and the Greens, did not field candidates because they believed Fischer couldn't be beaten, The London Times said.
The polling institute ARGE reported only 48.1 percent of those eligible to vote turned out, compared with 71.6 percent in 2004.
