Asian markets mostly higher following Wall Street advance

HONG KONG : Asian markets mostly rose Wednesday following big losses in the previous session, with Tokyo surging as the yen tumbled after Bank of Japan governor Masaaki Shirakawa said he will step down early.

Traders also took a lead from Wall Street and Europe, where encouraging economic data offset concerns over political uncertainty in Spain and Italy.

Tokyo soared 3.37 percent, or 416.83 points, to 11,463.75 - its highest close since September 2008 soon after the collapse of US bank Lehman Brothers and at the height of the financial crisis.

Sydney climbed 0.78 percent, or 38.3 points, to 4,921.0 and Hong Kong added 0.47 percent, or 108.40 points, to 23,256.93, while Shanghai ended flat, edging up 1.35 points to 2,434.48.

But Seoul lost 1.99 points to close at 1,936.19.

Wellington was closed for a public holiday.

Japanese foreign exchange traders welcomed Shirakawa's announcement that he would step down on March 19, about three weeks before the end of his term.

It fuelled expectations that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will likely fill the post with someone who shares his ideas on aggressive monetary easing that would see more yen pumped into the economy.

The Japanese currency tumbled in New York.

By the end of trade on Tuesday the US dollar bought 93.61 yen and the euro was at 127.13 yen, compared with 92.28 yen and 124.67 yen earlier in the day in Tokyo.

In afternoon Tokyo trade on Wednesday the US dollar bought 93.70 yen and the euro fetched 126.90 yen.

Yen "weakness has resumed with a vengeance", National Australia Bank said.

The euro was also at $1.3522, compared with $1.3582 in New York and much stronger than the $1.3489 Tuesday in Tokyo.

Major Japanese exporters have been raising their earnings outlooks thanks to recent weakness in the yen, heartening investors.

"Global markets continue to normalise, allowing risk-on trading to resume," said SMBC Nikko Securities general manager of equities Hiroichi Nishi.

"This is partially reflected in the fall of the yen," he told Dow Jones Newswires.

Regional markets resumed their upward trend after suffering a heavy jolt on Tuesday after Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was forced to deny corruption claims.

A surge in the polls for the party of former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi, who has said he would roll back recent austerity measures, spooked markets ahead of an election this month.

However, encouraging data showed US services sector activity rising and the contraction in eurozone business activity decelerating.

Wall Street rebounded after diving on Tuesday as the Dow sits close to record highs. The Dow ended 0.71 percent higher, the S&P 500 climbed 1.04 percent and the Nasdaq rose 1.29 percent.

In Europe markets on Tuesday recovered some of the huge losses suffered in the previous session.

In other markets:

Mumbai's Sensex index fell 0.10 percent, or 20.10 points, to 19,639.72. The world's biggest miner, Coal India, fell 2.03 percent to 342.4 rupees and engineering giant Bharat Heavy Electricals fell 1.72 percent to 208.55 rupees.

Kuala Lumpur shares lost 1.18 percent, or 19.21 points, to close at 1,614.14. Axiata Group dipped 2.1 percent to 6.16 ringgit, while CIMB Group Holdings fell 0.6 percent to 7.15. UMW Holdings gained 0.2 percent to 12.20 ringgit.

Jakarta ended up 0.44 percent, or 19.54 points, at 4,498.98. Asia Pacific Fibers rose 1.04 percent to 194 rupiah, Indofood Sukses Makmur climbed 4.96 percent to 6,350 rupiah, while carmaker Astra International slumped 0.66 percent to 7,550 rupiah.

Singapore's Straits Times Index closed up 0.12 percent, or 3.87 points, to 3,276.53. DBS Group shed 1.58 percent to Sg$14.96 and Wilmar International dipped 2.90 percent to Sg$3.68.

Bangkok lost 0.36 percent, or 5.37 points, to 1,500.35. Kiatnakin Bank added 2.64 percent to 58.25 baht, while oil company PTT dropped 1.63 percent to 361.00 baht.

Taipei rose 0.25 percent, or 19.71 points, at 7,906.65. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. gained 1.94 percent to Tw$105.0 while Hon Hai Precision was 0.60 percent higher at Tw$83.6.

Manila closed 0.60 percent lower, shedding 39.14 points to 6,431.35. SM Prime Holdings lost 3.85 percent to 17.46 pesos, Alliance Global fell 0.24 percent to 20.45 pesos and Ayala Land gave up 2.31 percent to 29.60 pesos.

- AFP/ch

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Women don't feel safe in Delhi: Sheila

NEW DELHI: Women do not feel safe in Delhi, chief minister Sheila Dikshit admitted Wednesday.

"Women don't feel safe in Delhi. Fears have risen. I'm shocked to learn about the Lajpat Nagar attempted rape case. It's a big setback for us," she said referring to the rape bid on a 19-year-old woman Tuesday.

The Class IX student fought off the rape bid in her own house by an electricity contractor, who thrust an iron rod into her throat to quell her cries for help. The accused has been arrested.

However, the chief minister promised to do everything possible to provide safety to women.

"My government will do everything possible to provide a conducive atmosphere for the women in the city," Dikshit said.

But CPM leader Brinda Karat criticized Dikshit.

"It is clear that women in Delhi are insecure. The chief minister is speaking the truth. But it is surely not enough. What is her responsibility as chief minister?

"Women's security issues have become political football between central and state government. Chief minister blames Delhi Police; central government defends police. It's a shame."

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The Real Richard III

It's a question that actors from Laurence Olivier to Kevin Spacey have grappled with: What did Richard III, the villainous protagonist of Shakespeare's famous historical drama, really look and sound like?

In the wake of this week's announcement by the University of Leicester that archaeologists have discovered the 15th-century British king's lost skeleton beneath a parking lot, news continues to unfold that helps flesh out the real Richard III.

The Richard III Society unveiled a 3D reconstruction today of the late king's head and shoulders, based on computer analysis of his skull combined with an artist's interpretation of details from historical portraits. (Related: "Shakespeare's Coined Words Now Common Currency.")

"We received the skull data before DNA analysis confirmed that the remains were Richard III, and we treated it like a forensic case," said Caroline Wilkinson, the University of Dundee facial anthropologist who led the reconstruction project. "We were very pleasantly surprised by the results."

Though Shakespeare describes the king as an "elvish-marked, abortive, rooting hog," the reconstructed Richard has a pleasant, almost feminine face, with youthful skin and thoughtful eyes. His right shoulder is slightly higher than the left, a consequence of scoliosis, but the difference is barely visible, said Wilkinson.

"I think the whole Shakespearean view of him as being sort of monster-like was based more on his personality than his physical features," she reflected.

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People are naturally fascinated by faces, especially of historical figures, said Wilkinson, who has also worked on reconstructions of J.S. Bach, the real Saint Nicholas, the poet Robert Burns, and Cleopatra's sister.

"We make judgments about people all the time from looking at their appearance," she said. "In Richard's case, up to now his image has been quite negative. This offers a new context for considering him from the point of view of his anatomical structure rather than his actions. He had quite an interesting face."

A Voice From the Past

Most people's impression of Richard's personality comes from Shakespeare's play, in which the maligned ruler utters such memorable lines as "Now is the winter of our discontent/Made glorious summer by this son of York," and "A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!"

But how would the real Richard III have expressed himself? Did he have an accent? Was there any sense of personality or passion in his choice of words?

To find out more about the mysterious monarch, Philip Shaw, a historical linguist at University of Leicester's School of English, analyzed the only two known examples of Richard III's own writing. Both are postscripts on letters otherwise composed by secretaries—one in 1469, before Richard became king, and one from 1483, the first year of his brief reign.

Shaw identified a quirk of spelling that suggests that Richard may have spent time in the West Midlands, or perhaps had a tutor who hailed from there.

"I was looking to compare the way he spells things with the way his secretaries spell things, working on the assumption that he would have been schooled to a fairly high level," Shaw explained.

Read about National Geographic explorers on our Explorers Journal blog

In the 1469 letter, Richard spells the word "will" as "wule," a variation associated with the West Midlands. But Shaw also notes that by 1483, when Richard wrote the second letter's postscript, he had changed his spelling to the more standard "wyll" (the letters 'i' and 'y' were largely interchangeable during that period of Middle English).

"That could suggest something about him brushing up over the years, or moving toward what would have been the educated standard," Shaw said, noting that the handwriting in the second example also appears a bit more polished. "One wonders what sort of practice and teaching he'd had in the interim."

Although it's hard to infer tone of voice from written letters, there is certainly emotion in the words penned by Richard III.

In the 1469 letter, the 17-year-old seeks a loan of 100 pounds from the king's undertreasurer. Although the request is clearly stated in the body of the letter, Richard adds an urgent P.S.: "I pray you that you fail me not now at this time in my great need, as you will that I show you my good lordship in that matter that you labour to me for."

That could either be a veiled threat (If you don't lend me the money, I won't do that thing you asked me to do) or friendly cajoling (Come on, I'm helping you out with something, so help me out with this loan).

"His decision to take the pen himself shows you how important that personal touch must have been in getting people to do something," Shaw said.

The second letter, written to King Richard's chancellor in 1483, also conveys a sense of urgency. He had just learned that the Duke of Buckingham—once a close ally—was leading a rebellion against him.

"He's asking for his Great Seal to be sent to him so that he can use it to give out orders to suppress the rebellion," Shaw said. "He calls the Duke 'the most untrue creature living. You get a sense of how personally let down and betrayed he feels."

Shaw said he hopes his analysis—in combination with the new facial reconstruction—will help humanize Richard III.

"He probably wasn't quite the villain that Shakespeare portrays, though I suspect he was quite ruthless," he said. "But you probably couldn't afford to be a very nice man if you wanted to survive as a king in those days."

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Lance Armstrong Under Criminal Investigation

Federal investigators are in the midst of an active criminal investigation of disgraced former Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, ABC News has learned.

The revelation comes in stark contrast to statements made by the U.S. Attorney for Southern California, Andre Birotte, who addressed his own criminal inquiry of Armstrong for the first time publicly on Tuesday. Birotte's office spent nearly two years investigating Armstrong for crimes reportedly including drug distribution, fraud and conspiracy -- only to suddenly drop the case on the Friday before the Super Bowl last year.

Sources at the time said that agents had recommended an indictment and could not understand why the case was suddenly dropped.

Today, a high level source told ABC News, "Birotte does not speak for the federal government as a whole."

According to the source, who agreed to speak on the condition that his name and position were not used because of the sensitivity of the matter, "Agents are actively investigating Armstrong for obstruction, witness tampering and intimidation."

An email to an attorney for Armstrong was not immediately returned.

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AP Photo/Bas Czerwinski, File

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Earlier Tuesday, during a Department of Justice news conference on another matter, Birotte was confronted with the Armstrong question unexpectedly. The following is a transcript of that exchange:

Q: Mr. Birotte, given the confession of Lance Armstrong to all the things --

Birotte: (Off mic.)

Q: -- to all thethings that you, in the end, decided you couldn't bring a case about, can you give us your thoughts on that case now and whether you might take another look at it?

Birotte: We made a decision on that case, I believe, a little over a year ago. Obviously we've been well-aware of the statements that have been made by Mr. Armstrong and other media reports. That has not changed my view at this time. Obviously, we'll consider, we'll continue to look at the situation, but that hasn't changed our view as I stand here today.

The source said that Birotte is not in the loop on the current criminal inquiry, which is being run out of another office.

Armstrong confessed to lying and using performance-enhancing drugs throughout his career in an interview with Oprah Winfrey.

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Investigators are not concerned with the drug use, but Armstrong's behavior in trying to maintain his secret by allegedly threatening and interfering with potential witnesses.

Armstrong is currently serving a lifetime ban in sport handed down by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. He has been given a Feb. 6 deadline to tell all under oath to investigators or lose his last chance at a possible break on the lifetime ban.

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Strengthening security at the nation’s airports

Most people think of airport security as their walk through the metal detector and the eyeballing by transportation security officers (TSOs). Dan Liddell, whose job it is to protect the flying public at seven airports in central New York, instead sees 17 zones of worker responsibility and hundreds of different tasks.

In pursuit of safeguarding the public, Liddell, a federal security director based in Syracuse, has written a book that is now used to train TSOs. It’s called the “National Standardization Guide to Improving Security Effectiveness.” Tasks at each duty area have been inventoried and cataloged, and the “knowledge, values and skills” associated with the airport security jobs have been identified under what Liddell describes as a systems approach to training.

As important as it is to use X-ray machines and explosive trace-detection equipment and to have the correct rules and procedures in place, Liddell said transportation security relies on the skills of the people responsible for it.

“People performance is the cornerstone,” he said. “When I set out to improve things, I look at the people. I look at their proficiency, their skill in doing something and how well they’re doing that job.”

Even when people have the skills to do their jobs, they don’t necessarily do them well each time, especially when conditions can vary with each day and every passenger. To keep performance high, TSOs are tested covertly at unexpected times. A banned item will be sent through a checkpoint and the reaction and activities that take place are monitored.

Whether or not TSOs spot contraband, everyone at that checkpoint during the test participates in an “after-action” review. “It’s the learning experience that’s relevant,” Liddell said. “We’re doing a review of actual performance and you can always improve.”

Liddell is sensitive to the pressure that airport security personnel face. TSOs have the tough of performing multiple tasks under constant camera surveillance and public scrutiny, often interacting with tired or irritated travelers. The testing and training helps them continually up their game.

Thirty airports around the country that helped test the training system and now use a version of it. Paul Armes, federal security director at Nashville International Airport, was interested in creating such a system with a colleague when they both worked in Arizona, but it “never got traction.”

When he learned about what Liddell was doing, he was eager to participate. “Typical of Dan, he built it himself and practiced it so he had hard metric results, and then he started reaching out to some of us, working with his counterparts around the country to get a good representative sample,” Armes said. “He sees things others don’t see sometimes and he has the capability to drill down into the details.”

Liddell began the “pretty long process” of analyzing how people were performing at checkpoints in 2009. He sat down with subject-matter experts to produce the task inventory he now uses. In 2010, he improved the review and reporting process that occurs after covert tests events and instituted the security practices he refined at the other New York airports he oversees, including Greater Binghamton, Ithaca and four others. “I love breaking it down,” he said. “I’ve got a quest for improvement.”

In a less sneaky version of the television show, “Undercover Boss,” Liddell went through the new-hire training program for his employees to understand as much as he could about the jobs and the training provided for them, he said.

If pursuing knowledge is in Liddell’s genes, it may be because his parents were both in education. His father was a high school principal and his mother was a fifth-grade teacher. His teaching manifested itself instead in the training realm, where he strives to educate security employees as effectively as possible, inside the classroom and out.

“It’s always a challenge to meet that right balance of really great effectiveness and really great efficiency,” he said. “There are always challenges. It’s what gets me up in the morning, trying to improve.”

This article was jointly prepared by the Partnership for Public Service, a group seeking to enhance the performance of the federal government, and washingtonpost.com. Go to http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/fedpage/players/ to read about other federal workers who are making a difference.

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Parliament debates WP's proposals on labour participation

SINGAPORE: A considerable amount of time was spent debating the Workers' Party's (WP) proposals put forward on Monday by its party chairman Sylvia Lim.

The opposition party had proposed that the growth of foreign worker numbers can be reined in by increasing the labour force participation rate of Singaporeans.

Member of Parliament (MP) for Aljunied Group Representation Constituency Chen Show Mao elaborated on how the economically inactive Singaporeans could be incentivised to join the workforce to boost participation rate.

This includes home makers, foreign spouses of Singaporeans and the elderly.

Mr Chen said: "We should stop seeing elderly Singaporeans as a drain on our economy and a hindrance to our goal to keep Singapore dynamic. Older Singaporeans have much to offer us and not all of it can be measured in economic terms. Our elderly Singaporeans are essential to maintaining a Singapore core."

Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin commented: "You have described the outcomes, you have described the positives, the values of encouraging older workers and how they contribute. I am interested to know the specific programmes you have in mind because you have been talking about the elderly for a long time, surely you have very concrete ideas which I will be very interested to look at."

Mr Tan also repeated his point when Non-Constituency MP Gerald Giam elaborated on the Workers' Party proposal.

Mr Giam said the labour participation rate of Singaporeans can be raised by one per cent a year till 2030.

Mr Tan said: "A key component of your strategy is to beef up labour force participation rates to such a stage that we actually do not need foreign workers in Singapore, or there's an increase. I am very interested to know the initiatives and ideas that would actually bring that about and that's key.

"It's not the rhetoric that's important. Governance is about how do you translate ideas, visions, into reality. And that's what it's really about. Not just rhetoric, not just pressing the right emotive buttons. It's about making things happen so that we can realise, I think, a shared vision about how to make things better for Singaporeans."

Mr Giam responded: "I am not sure why the Minister seems to be implying that we're just doing rhetoric. We intend to push for measures to increase the labour force participation rate. We've mentioned things like flexi-work, tele-commuting, part-time work. But I think one area that is a very important way of increasing the labour force participation rate is to raise wages. And the reason is because it increases the opportunity cost of people staying at home."

Second Minister for Trade and Industry S Iswaran questioned: "May I clarify with the member does the WP's zero tolerance for foreign workers in this period extend to sectors like construction and others where we have great difficulty in finding Singaporeans to do the job?

"Secondly, this implies zero immigration, no new Singapore citizens or permanent residents (PRs). I'm trying to reconcile with the statement by the WP chairman who advocated extending PR and citizenship to respective groups."

Mr Giam answered: "We do not have a zero tolerance policy towards foreigners. The WP is not an anti-immigrant party and we welcome foreigners who come here to be able to contribute to our economy, contribute to our life over here.

"Regarding the specific question on construction, we do not see the need to increase the foreign labour force numbers. It does not mean we kick off all the foreigners that are here right now. We maintain the numbers that are here and replace those that leave.

"I'm saying we can hit zero if we increase our resident labour force. It's not our goal to hit zero foreign worker increments. Our goal is to hit that 1 per cent resident workforce and we believe that 1 per cent resident workforce increment can hit the growth we need to sustain a better life for Singaporeans."

Inderjit Singh, MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC said time is required in tightening the labour force and focusing on productivity.

He said: "Because companies have got a certain business model they are used to. Business models cannot change overnight. If you really care about companies then you will not tighten the labour workforce any further.

"Give them a chance, a longer time horizon to restructure and then tighten the labour force but what the Workers Party is proposing is just shut off the tap right now. That is not going to accelerate restructuring, it's going to kill companies."

- CNA/xq

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Delhi gang-rape case: Victim's friend testifies before court

NEW DELHI: The companion of a medical student who died after being gang-raped identified on Tuesday the bus on which the attack took place as he testified in the trial of five adults accused of her murder.

The 28-year-old, confined to a wheelchair as a result of injuries sustained in the attack, confirmed that a white bus was the vehicle on which the deadly assault took place on December 16, his father said.

"Yes, my son could identify the bus. The cross-examination is going to start now," said the father, whose son cannot be named for legal reasons.

Although proceedings are subject to a gagging order, police allowed reporters to see the young man being taken in the company of lawyers and the judge to the bus which has been parked in the court compound.

No photographs were allowed.

He then returned inside the courtroom where he was expected to be cross-examined by lawyers for the five adult accused, who have all denied murder, rape and robbery charges.

A sixth defendant is being tried separately as a juvenile.

"My son will go to any lengths to ensure that the guilty are punished," the father had earlier told AFP as the two of them entered the courtroom in the Saket district.

"He will cooperate and is prepared to answer any questions posed by the defence."

The 23-year-old medical student died in a Singapore hospital on December 29 from massive internal injuries she sustained during the savage bus assault a fortnight earlier which caused outrage across India.

She and her companion had spent the evening at the cinema and were lured onto the off-duty bus after failing to flag down an autorickshaw to take them home.

As well as taking turns to rape the woman and violating her with a rusty iron bar, the group attacked her companion so badly that he is still unable to walk properly.

He is the main witness in a case that is being held in a special fast-track court.

The judge has banned all reporting of proceedings inside the courtroom and ordered lawyers not to speak to journalists.

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Space Pictures This Week: A Space Monkey, Printing a Moon Base

Illustration courtesy Foster and Partners/ESA

The European Space Agency (ESA) announced January 31 that it is looking into building a moon base (pictured in an artist's conception) using a technique called 3-D printing.

It probably won't be as easy as whipping out a printer, hooking it to a computer, and pressing "print," but using lunar soils as the basis for actual building blocks could be a possibility.

"Terrestrial 3-D printing technology has produced entire structures," said Laurent Pambaguian, head of the project for ESA, in a statement.

On Earth, 3-D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, produces a three-dimensional object from a digital file. The computer takes cross-sectional slices of the structure to be printed and sends it to the 3-D printer. The printer bonds liquid or powder materials in the shape of each slice, gradually building up the structure. (Watch how future astronauts could print tools in space.)

The ESA and its industrial partners have already manufactured a 1.7 ton (1.5 tonne) honeycombed building block to demonstrate what future construction materials would look like.

—Jane J. Lee

Published February 4, 2013

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Boy Safe, Abductor Killed After Standoff

The 5-year-old boy held hostage in a nearly week-long standoff in Alabama is in good spirits and apparently unharmed after being reunited with his family at a hospital, according to his family and law enforcement officials.

The boy, identified only as Ethan, was rescued by the FBI Monday afternoon after they rushed the underground bunker where suspect Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65, was holding him. Dykes was killed in the raid and the boy was taken away from the bunker in an ambulance.

Who Is Jimmy Lee Dykes?

Officials have not yet provided any further details on the raid, citing the ongoing investigation.

"I've been to the hospital," FBI Special Agent Steve Richardson told reporters Monday night. "I visited with Ethan. He is doing fine. He's laughing, joking, playing, eating, the things that you would expect a normal 5- to 6-year-old young man to do. He's very brave, he's very lucky, and the success story is that he's out safe and doing great."

Ethan is expected to be released from the hospital later today and head home where he will be greeted by birthday cards from his friends at school. Ethan will celebrate his 6th birthday Wednesday.

Joe Songer/AL.com/AP Photo

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Officials were able to insert a high-tech camera into the 6-by-8-foot bunker to monitor Dykes' movements, and they became increasingly concerned that he might act out, a law enforcement source with direct knowledge told ABC News Monday. FBI special agents were positioned near the entrance of the bunker and used an explosive charge to gain access and neutralize Dykes.

"Within the past 24 hours, negotiations deteriorated and Mr. Dykes was observed holding a gun," the FBI's Richardson said. "At this point, the FBI agents, fearing the child was in imminent danger, entered the bunker and rescued the child."

Richardson said it "got tough to negotiate and communicate" with Dykes, but declined to give any specifics.

After the raid was complete, FBI bomb technicians checked the property for improvised explosive devices, the FBI said in a written statement Monday afternoon.

The FBI had created a mock bunker near the site and had been using it to train agents for different scenarios to get Ethan out, sources told ABC News.

Former FBI special agent and ABC News consultant Brad Garrett said rescue operators in this case had a delicate balance.

"You have to take into consideration if you're going to go in that room and go after Mr. Dykes, you have to be extremely careful because any sort of device you might use against him, could obviously harm Ethan because he's right there," he said.

Still, Monday's raid was not the ending police had sought as they spent days negotiating with the decorated Vietnam veteran through a ventilation shaft. The plastic PVC pipe was also used to send the child comfort items, including a red Hot Wheels car, coloring books, cheese crackers, potato chips and medicine.

State Sen. Harri Anne Smith said Ethan's mother asked police a few days ago not to kill Dykes.

"She put her hand on the officer's heart and said, 'Sir, don't hurt him. He's sick,'" Smith said Monday.

Taylor Hodges, pastor of the Midland City Baptist Church, said, "Many people here don't keep their doors locked. Things are going to change, especially for our school system."

The outcome of the situation drew praise from the White House.

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Singaporean photographer nabbed in Japan for alleged obscenity

TOKYO - Tokyo-based Singaporean photographer Leslie Kee was arrested Monday on suspicion of obscenity after selling books containing pictures of male genitals at a gallery in Tokyo, police said.

The 41-year-old photographer, known for his pictures of Japanese pop stars including Ayumi Hamasaki, Yumi Matsutoya and Kumi Koda, was arrested along with two Japanese publishing firm employees.

The trio sold seven copies of a book "containing many photographs explicitly showing male genitals and others" to two customers at the gallery in the upscale shopping and entertainment district of Minami Aoyama, a Metropolitan Police Department spokesman said.

The book was each priced at 6,000 yen (US$65), he added.

The trio could be jailed up to two years and/or fined up to 2.5 million yen if convicted of the obscenity charge.

Under Japanese law, pictures of genitals must be obscured, a process usually done through pixellation, which has given rise to its own genre of pornography.

- AFP/ir

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