Farmers say they have long feared the legal might of Creve Couer-based Monsanto Co., the world’s largest seed company, and its pursuit of farmers who violate the company’s patents on genetically modified seeds.
Now a group of them is making a pre-emptive maneuver of sorts.
The New York-based Public Patent Foundation, a group that describes its mission as representing the public’s interest in freedom from unjustified patent restraints, filed suit in a Manhattan district court Tuesday, challenging the company’s patents on genetically modified seeds.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of 60 farmers, organic agriculture organizations and seed companies, including Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, based in Mansfield, Mo., about 200 miles southwest of St. Louis.
“This case asks whether Monsanto has the right to sue organic farmers for patent infringement if Monsanto’s transgenic seed should land on their property,” said Dan Ravicher, the group’s executive director, in a statement.
“It seems quite perverse that an organic farmer contaminated by transgenic seed could be accused of patent infringement, but Monsanto has made such accusations before and is notorious for having sued hundreds of farmers for patent infringement, so we had to act to protect the interest of our clients.”
The lawsuit says the company’s claims that genetically modified seeds have increased production and reduced weed killer are false, and, therefore, the company’s patents on genetically modified seed are invalid because they don’t meet the “usefulness” requirement of patent law.
In a news release, Monsanto said it has never sued farmers over inadvertent presence of its patented traits in their fields and has committed to not do so.
“(The foundation’s) approach is a publicity stunt designed to confuse the facts about American agriculture and we will vigorously defend ourselves. It is well established that biotech crops have provided significant benefit to farmers and the environment, including increased yields.”
The company has said it pursues farmers who violate patents by illegally planting its seed. Most of the cases are settled without going to trial.
The company has filed 144 lawsuits for patent infringement since 1997 through April 2010. Nine of those have gone through a full trial, and in every case a judge or jury decided in the company’s favor, according to a company spokeswoman.
In the past two months, regulators have approved the planting of Monsanto’s genetically modified alfalfa and sugar beets despite ongoing court challenges.
A powerful blast at a factory making explosives and weapons in southern Yemen killed at least 78 people on Monday after the facility was briefly taken over by Islamic militants and then looted by residents of the area, officials said.
Many women and children from the surrounding villages were killed in the explosion, which left bodies blackened and burned, said medical and security officials in Abyan province. The blast appeared to be accidental, and one factory worker said it was caused by a looter who dropped a lit cigarette that ignited a heap of gunpowder.
The tragedy was rooted in Yemen’s rapidly deteriorating security under a surge of unprecedented protests that threatens to topple the autocratic president who has ruled the impoverished and divided nation for 32 years.
On Sunday, militants took over the factory and the nearby the town of Jaar, taking advantage of the growing lawlessness in a part of Yemen that was already largely beyond the government’s reach. Like several other parts of Yemen, police and security forces there had melted away in the face of the political unrest.
The militants are adherents of the ultraconservative Islamic movement known as Salafism. The allegiance of their particular group is bought by Yemen’s government, while other Salafis agitate for the its overthrow and the establishment of Islamic rule. Nonetheless, seeing an opening to seize weaponry, the group took what they wanted and left.
They made off with two armored cars, a tank, several pickup trucks mounted with machine guns and ammunition, said 28-year-old factory worker Hakim Mohammed.
Later, dozens of locals entered the facility and looted whatever they could find, including cables, doors and vehicle fuel, Mohammed said.
The factory makes munitions, Kalashnikov assault rifles and explosives used in road construction in the mountainous area.
Some of the looters emptied large barrels of gunpowder because they wanted to use the containers for storing water, Mohammed said. A cigarette ignited what he said were massive piles of the explosive.
Among the wounded, 27 people were in critical condition, said officials at al-Razi hospital in Jaar. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to journalists.
Chinese specialists working at the factory left several days ago because of the political turmoil and the absence of security in the area, said resident Walid Mohammed Muqbil.
Another resident, Seif Mohammed, said the blast could be heard 10 miles (15 kilometers) from the factory.
Yemen has been hit by weeks of unrest and unraveling security as protesters throughout the country demand the president’s ouster and the introduction of political freedoms. A government crackdown has killed 92 protesters, according to the Shiqayiq Forum for Human Rights.
As the situation has escalated, police and security forces have withdrawn from some towns and cities in Yemen, chased out by protesters in some cases.
The area around the weapons factory was one of the places where units abandoned their posts.
The deputy governor of Abyan province, Saleh al-Samty, blamed the national government for the tragedy, saying it was a result of the lack of order resulting from the security pullback.
A former Intel executive who has pleaded guilty to leaking company secrets has begun testifying in New York City at a hedge fund manager’s insider trading trial.
Prosecutors say Rajiv Goel and the defendant, Raj Rajaratnam (rah-juh-RUHT’-nuhm), were caught on a wiretap discussing a closed-door meeting in 2008 of the Intel board of directors. Goel revealed that the board agreed to invest up to $1 billion in a joint wireless venture by Sprint and Clearwire.
Goel said early in his testimony Tuesday that he violated his obligation to keep secrets by sharing information with Rajaratnam business cards design.
The 53-year-old Rajaratnam has pleaded not guilty to charges he made millions trading illegally on secrets.
Nineteen defendants charged in a federal crackdown on insider trading have pleaded guilty. Some are cooperating, including Goel.
Asian currencies gained, led by Singapore’s dollar and Malaysia’s ringgit, on speculation the Group of Seven nations’ efforts to curb the yen’s rally will stabilize markets and boost demand for emerging-market assets.
The yen weakened for a second day after the G-7 issued a joint statement on March 18 saying it would join Japan in concerted intervention in foreign-exchange markets. The currency reached a postwar high of 76.25 on March 17 on speculation Japanese companies and investors were repatriating funds after the country’s biggest earthquake on record. India, China, South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia have all boosted interest rates this year to combat rising prices.
“The G-7 action is giving a positive signal to the market and tempers the risk of an economic slowdown,” said Nik M. Khairul, a treasury dealer at Asian Finance Bank Bhd. in Kuala Lumpur. “The focus is back on efforts to tackle inflation in the region” which could benefit currencies, he said.
The Bloomberg-JPMorgan Asia Dollar Index climbed for a third day, up 0.1 percent to 116.45 as of 10:39 a.m. in Hong Kong. The Singapore dollar gained 0.5 percent to S$1.2690 against the greenback, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The ringgit strengthened 0.4 percent to 3.0395 and the Philippine peso advanced 0.3 percent to 43.57.
China’s yuan reached a two-week high after policy makers raised banks’ reserve requirements for the third time this year on March 18. Consumer prices climbed 4.9 percent in February and January from a year earlier, according to official data. Prices are likely to increase at a rate of less than 4 percent in 2011, the official Xinhua news agency reported over the weekend, citing former central bank adviser Fan Gang.
Ringgit Rises
The yuan strengthened 0.06 percent to 6.5650 per dollar after reaching 6.5640 earlier, the strongest since March 7.
“The reserve-rate increase eases suspicion that China may use the Japan earthquake as an excuse not to allow faster appreciation,” said Sean Callow, a senior currency strategist at Westpac Banking Corp. in Sydney. “The move also shows Chinese authorities remain confident about its growth prospects and concerned with its inflation level.”
The ringgit rose for a fourth day, poised for its longest winning streak in a month, on speculation the central bank will allow more gains or raise interest rates to stem rising prices.
Inflation in Southeast Asia’s third-largest economy accelerated 2.6 percent in February from a year earlier, compared with 2.4 percent in January, according to the median estimate of economists in a Bloomberg News survey. The statistics department will report the data on March 25.
Indonesian Growth Forecast
Indonesia’s rupiah advanced to its strongest level in almost a week after the central bank said economic growth in the first quarter may beat its forecast. The rupiah strengthened 0.2 percent to 8,753 per dollar.
Gross domestic product may increase 6.6 percent in the three months through March, compared with an earlier estimate of 6.4 percent, Deputy Governor Hartadi Sarwono said last week. The currency rose for a second day after U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said the Obama administration believes the worst of Japan’s nuclear crisis is over.
“Recent comments by Indonesian officials that gross domestic product may beat the initial forecast has set a positive backdrop for the rupiah,” said Joanna Tan, an economist at Forecast Singapore Pte. “There’s also positive developments in Japan.”
Elsewhere, the Thai baht strengthened 0.1 percent to 30.28 per dollar, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. South Korea’s won rose 0.2 percent to 1,124.70 and Taiwan’s dollar added 0.1 percent to NT$29.566.
Japan said radiation levels in spinach and milk from farms near its tsunami-crippled nuclear complex exceeded government safety limits, as emergency teams scrambled Saturday to restore power to the plant so it could cool dangerously overheated fuel.
The food was taken from farms as far as 65 miles (100 kilometers) from the stricken plants, suggesting a wide area of nuclear contamination.
While the radiation levels exceeded the limits allowed by the government, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano insisted the products “pose no immediate health risk.”
Firefighters also pumped tons of water directly from the ocean into one of the most troubled areas of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex _ the cooling pool for used fuel rods at the plant’s Unit 3. The rods are at risk of burning up and sending radioactive material into the environment.
The news of contaminated food came as Japan continued to grapple with the overwhelming consequences of the cascade of disasters unleashed by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake on March 11. The quake spawned a tsunami that ravaged Japan’s northeastern coast, killing more than 7,300 people and knocking out backup cooling systems at the nuclear plant, which has been leaking radiation.
Nearly 11,000 people are still missing.
The tainted milk was found 20 miles (30 kilometers) from the plant, a local official said. The spinach was collected from six farms between 60 miles (100 kilometers) and 75 miles (120 kilometers) to the south of the reactors.
Those areas are rich farm country known for melons, rice and peaches, so the contamination could affect food supplies for large parts of Japan.
More testing was being done on other foods, Edano said in Tokyo, and if tests show further contamination then food shipments from the area would be halted.
Officials said it was too early to know if the nuclear crisis caused the contamination, but Edano said air sampling done near the dairy showed higher radiation levels.
Iodine levels in the spinach exceeded safety limits by three to seven times, a food safety official said. Tests on the milk done Wednesday detected small amounts of iodine 131 and cesium 137, the latter being a longer lasting element and can cause more types of cancer. But only iodine was detected Thursday and Friday, a Health Ministry official said.
Officials from Edano on down tried to calm public jitters, saying the amounts detected were so small that people would have to consume unimaginable amounts to endanger their health.
Edano said someone drinking the tainted milk for one year would consume as much radiation as in a CT scan; for the spinach, it would be one-fifth of a CT scan. A CT scan is a compressed series of X-rays used for medical tests.
“Can you imagine eating one kilogram of spinach every day for one year?” State Secretary of Health Minister Yoko Komiyama said. One kilogram is a little over two pounds.
Meanwhile, just outside the bustling disaster response center in the city of Fukushima, 40 miles (60 kilometers) northwest of the plant, government nuclear specialist Kazuya Konno was able to take only a three-minute break for his first meeting since the quake with his wife, Junko, and their children.
“It’s very nerve-racking. We really don’t know what is going to become of our city,” said Junko Konno, 35. “Like most other people, we have been staying indoors unless we have to go out.”
She brought her husband a small backpack with a change of clothes and snacks. The girls _ aged 4 and 6 and wearing pink surgical masks decorated with Mickey Mouse _ gave their father hugs.
Low levels of radiation have been detected well beyond Tokyo, which is 140 miles (220 kilometers) south of the plant, but hazardous levels have been limited to the plant itself.
Nuclear reactors at the Fukushima plant began overheating and leaking radiation into the atmosphere in the days after the March 11 quake and the subsequent tsunami overwhelmed its cooling systems. The government admitted it was slow to respond to the nuclear troubles, which added another crisis on top of natural disasters, which officials believe killed more than 10,000 people and displaced more than 400,000 others.
There were signs of progress in bringing the overheating reactors and fuel storage pools under control.
A fire truck with a high-pressure cannon was parked outside the plant’s Unit 3, about 300 meters (yards) from the Pacific coast, and began shooting a stream of water nonstop into the pool for seven straight hours, said Kenji Kawasaki, a spokesman for the nuclear safety agency.
A separate pumping vehicle will keep the fire truck’s water tank refilled. Because of high radiation levels, firefighters will only go to the truck every three hours when it needs to be refueled. They expect to pump about 1,400 tons of water, nearly the capacity of the pool.
Edano said conditions at the reactors in units 1, 2 and 3 _ all of which have been rocked by explosions in the past eight days _ had “stabilized.”
Holes were punched in the roofs of units 5 and 6 to vent buildups of hydrogen gas, and the temperature in Unit 5’s fuel storage pool dropped after new water was pumped in, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.
“We more or less do not expect to see anything worse than what we are seeing now,” said Hidehiko Nishiyama of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
Although a replacement power line reached the complex Friday, workers had to methodically work through badly damaged and deeply complex electrical systems to make the final linkups without setting off a spark and potentially an explosion. Company officials hoped to be able to switch on the all the reactors’ power on Sunday.
Even once the power is reconnected, it is not clear if the cooling systems will still work.
The storage pools need a constant source of cooling water. When removed from reactors, uranium rods are still very hot and must be cooled for months, possibly longer, to prevent them from heating up again and emitting radioactivity.
More workers were thrown into the effort _ bringing the total at the complex to 500 _ and the safety threshold for radiation exposure for them was raised two-and-a-half times so that they could keep working.
Officials insisted that would cause no health damage.
Nishiyama also said backup power systems at the plant had been improperly protected, leaving them vulnerable to the tsunami.
The failure of Fukushima’s backup power systems, which were supposed to keep cooling systems going in the aftermath of the massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake, let uranium fuel overheat and were a “main cause” of the crisis, Nishiyama said.
“I cannot say whether it was a human error, but we should examine the case closely,” he told reporters.
A spokesman for Tokyo Electric Power Co., which owns and runs the plants, said that while the generators themselves were not directly exposed to the waves, some electrical support equipment was outside. The complex was protected against tsunamis of up to 5 meters (16 feet), he said. Media reports say the tsunami was at least 6 meters (20 feet) high when it struck Fukushima.
Spokesman Motoyasu Tamaki also acknowledged that the complex was old, and might not have been as well-equipped as newer facilities.
People evacuated from around the plant, along with some emergency workers, have tested positive for radiation exposure. Three firefighters needed to be decontaminated with showers, while among the 18 plant workers who tested positive, one absorbed about one-tenth tenth of the amount that might induce radiation poisoning.
As Japan crossed the one-week mark since the cascade of disasters began, the government conceded Friday it was slow to respond and welcomed ever-growing help from the U.S. in hopes of preventing a complete meltdown.
The United States has loaned military firefighting trucks to the Japanese, and has conducted overflights of the reactor site, strapping sophisticated pods onto aircraft to measure radiation aloft. Two tests conducted Thursday gave readings that U.S. Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel B. Poneman said reinforced the U.S. recommendation that people stay 50 miles (80 kilometers) away from the Fukushima plant. Japan has ordered only a 12-mile (20-kilometer) evacuation zone around the plant.
The government on Friday raised the accident classification for the nuclear crisis, putting it on a par with the Three Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania in 1979, and signifying that its consequences went beyond the local area.
This crisis has led to power shortages and factory closures, hurt global manufacturing and triggered a plunge in Japanese stock prices.
Police said more than 452,000 people made homeless by the quake and tsunami were staying in schools and other shelters, as supplies of fuel, medicine and other necessities ran short.
On Saturday evening, Japan was rattled by 6.1-magnitude aftershock, with an epicenter just south of the troubled nuclear plants. The temblor, centered 150 kilometers (90 miles) northeast of Tokyo, caused buildings in the capital to shake.
Congress has approved $6 billion in spending cuts as part of legislation to keep the government running for three more weeks and give President Barack Obama and congressional leaders time to negotiate a far more sweeping package of reductions demanded by Republicans.
The bill easily passed the Senate by a 87-13 vote, but patience is running out on both sides with stopgap funding measures that keep the government open for two or three weeks at a time.
The White House and Capitol Hill Republicans remain far apart on larger legislation to cover the day-to-day operations of the government until the 2012 fiscal year begins in October.
Government agencies have generally been operating at last year’s levels for almost half of the budget year. But Thursday’s measure _ combined with $4 billion in cuts from a two-week extension passed earlier this month _ means that Congress has cut $10 billion since Republicans took over the House in January.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.
A divided Congress readied a spending bill for President Barack Obama that would keep the government open for three more weeks in hopes that budget talks between the White House and House Republicans will produce a longer-term deal.
The stopgap measure awaiting Senate approval Thursday includes $6 billion in cuts to domestic spending in the budget year that ends Sept. 30. Some GOP conservatives want deeper reductions and an immediate fight over the budget, but both Democratic and Republican leaders support the latest temporary extension.
The measure would buy time for talks about passing larger legislation to cover the day-to-day operations of the government until the 2012 budget year begins.
Talks have gotten off to a slow start, however, with disputes over how much to cut. Also at issue are proposals to cut off taxpayer aid to Planned Parenthood, block money to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, and bar the government from shutting down mountaintop mines it believes will cause too much water pollution.
Some Democrats say the GOP cuts could lead to widespread furloughs of federal workers and cost jobs if public works money is trimmed.
“How much more can we cut before we have no funds to pay employees to monitor our borders and ports? How much more before we have to cancel the construction of dams, bridges, highways, levees, sewers, and transit projects and throw thousands of private sector workers on to the street?” said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii guaranteed high risk personal loans.
Both sides say they’re tired of running the government in two- and three-week installments. Expectations are rising that a confrontation is ahead when the latest measure would run out on April 8.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Wednesday he would do everything in his power to make sure that Congress acts on the Pentagon’s budget by that time. He said that after this temporary measure, further legislation to fund the government will have to include the $500 billion-plus Pentagon budget.
McConnell said House GOP leaders have assured him that any future budget bill _ whether it’s a full-year measure endorsed by President Barack Obama or one more stopgap measure _ will contain the defense money. Such a scenario could give Republicans leverage because Democrats wouldn’t want to be accused of blocking the Pentagon’s budget.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has grown increasingly anxious as his budget has stalled in the quarrel between Democrats and Republicans.
The House passed the temporary extension Tuesday by a 271-158 vote despite opposition from some tea party-backed conservatives who said it “kicks the can down the road” instead of imposing steep and immediate spending cuts.
Fifty-four Republicans opposed the bill, which meant that Democratic support was required to pass it _ a prospect that GOP leaders must avoid to maintain leverage in future rounds.
“If this 54 is the tail that wags the dog, they’re in trouble,” said the No. 2 House Democrat, Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland.
Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, could yield to conservatives and try to rally Republicans behind legislation that the White House won’t accept, or he could negotiate with Democrats and anger supporters in the tea party movement.
South Korea’s unemployment rate rose to a one-year high in February as jobs in farms, hotels, restaurants, and the retail and wholesale sectors declined.
The jobless rate rose to 4.0 percent from 3.6 percent in January, Statistics Korea said in Gwacheon today, citing seasonally adjusted figures. The median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of eight economists was for a rate of 3.6 percent.
A further climb may ease pressure on the central bank to extend interest-rate increases if it helps tame the fastest inflation in more than two years by curbing demand. Officials are also weighing the impact of the earthquake in Japan, saying they will help exporters if trade flows are disrupted.
“The jobless rate probably rose last month due to the impact of foot-mouth-disease and the Lunar New Year holidays,” Park Sang Hyun, chief economist at HI Investment & Securities Co. in Seoul, said before the release. “The rise will be temporary as the economy is still on a recovery track, but the outlook is uncertain due to higher oil prices and Japan’s earthquake.”
The won yesterday fell to its weakest level this year and government bonds rose on concern about radiation leaking from nuclear reactors in Japan following the magnitude-9 temblor and ensuing tsunami on March 11.
Market Declines
The won slid 0.5 percent to 1,134.80 per dollar at the 3 p.m. close in Seoul after reaching 1,137.95, its weakest level in 2011, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The benchmark Kospi stock index dropped 2.4 percent.
South Korea’s exports and factory output will probably be hurt if the earthquake disrupts supplies from Japan for an extended period, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said this week.
The Bank of Korea on March 10 raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point for the second time this year, to 3 percent. Inflation has breached the bank’s 4 percent ceiling for two straight months and climbed to 4.5 percent in February from a year earlier.
The central bank forecasts economic growth of 4.5 percent in 2011, slowing from a 6.1 percent pace in 2010, and predicts inflation will accelerate to 3.5 percent from 2.9 percent.
The seasonally unadjusted jobless rate was 4.5 percent in February, compared with 3.8 percent in January, today’s report showed. The number of employed people increased 469,000 to 23.34 million last month from a year earlier.
Employment in manufacturing rose 6.7 percent from a year earlier and jobs in the agricultural, fishery and forestry industries declined 4.2 percent, today’s report showed. Jobs in restaurants, hotels and the retail and wholesale sectors dropped 1.4 percent while construction jobs advanced 1.7 percent and the number of people employed in the private and public service sectors gained 3.3 percent.
A massive earthquake in Japan on Friday threatened to delay U.S.-bound exports of Japanese vehicles and parts, straining the supply base of the still-recovering auto industry.
All of Japan
Regulators on Friday shut down small banks in Oklahoma and Wisconsin, lifting to 25 the number of U.S. bank failures this year after economic distress and soaring loan defaults brought down 157 banks in 2010.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. seized First National Bank of Davis, with one office in Davis, Okla., $90.2 million in assets and $68.3 million in deposits; and minority-owned Legacy Bank in Milwaukee, also with one office, with $190.4 million in assets and $183.3 million in deposits.
Pauls Valley National Bank, based in Pauls Valley, Okla., agreed to assume all the deposits and $28.5 million of the loans and other assets of First National Bank of Davis. Chicago-based Seaway Bank and Trust Co. is assuming the deposits and $165.9 million of the assets of Legacy Bank. The FDIC will retain the rest of the failed banks’ assets for future sale.
In addition, the FDIC and Seaway Bank and Trust agreed to share losses on $120 million of Legacy Bank’s assets.
The failure of First National Bank of Davis is expected to cost the deposit insurance fund $26.5 million; the failure of Legacy Bank is expected to cost $43.5 million.
The 157 bank closures last year topped the 140 shuttered in 2009. It was the most in a year since the savings-and-loan crisis two decades ago.
The FDIC has said that 2010 likely would be the peak for bank failures payday loans online. Already this year the pace of closures has slowed: By this time last year, regulators had closed 30 banks.
The 2009 failures cost the insurance fund about $36 billion. The failures last year cost around $21 billion, a lower price tag because the banks that failed in 2010 were smaller on average. Twenty-five banks failed in 2008, the year the financial crisis struck with force; only three were closed in 2007.
The growing number of bank failures has sapped billions of dollars out of the deposit insurance fund. It fell into the red in 2009, and its deficit stood at $7.4 billion as of Dec. 31.
The number of banks on the FDIC’s confidential “problem” list rose to 884 in the final quarter of last year from 860 three months earlier. The 884 troubled banks is the highest number since 1993, during the savings-and-loan crisis.
The FDIC expects the cost of resolving failed banks to total around $52 billion from 2010 through 2014.
Depositors’ money _ insured up to $250,000 per account _ is not at risk, with the FDIC backed by the government. That insurance cap was made permanent in the financial overhaul law enacted in July.
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Friday he will not resign after acknowledging that his office had unknowingly received donations from a foreign supporter _ illegal in Japan _ days after he lost his foreign minister for a similar reason.
Kan explained during a parliamentary committee session that because the donor had a Japanese name, he did not know the individual was a foreign national.
Kan said his campaign office was investigating the matter and would return the money in full if media reports are confirmed. Major daily the Asahi Shimbun reported Thursday that Kan received a total of 1.04 million yen ($12,500) between 2006 and 2009 from a South Korean resident of Japan.
“This person has a Japanese name, and I thought he was a Japanese citizen,” said Kan. “I was completely unaware that he was a foreign national.”
Political funding laws prohibit lawmakers from accepting donations from foreigners to prevent domestic politics from being influenced by foreign countries.
The news brings further pressure on Kan, whose approval ratings have tumbled below 20 percent amid public dismay over gridlock in parliament guaranteed payday loans. The opposition controls the upper house, making it difficult for the ruling Democratic Party of Japan to pass legislation, including the budget and related bills.
Earlier this week, Seiji Maehara resigned as foreign minister after acknowledging that he received a total of 250,000 yen ($3,000) over the past several years from a 72-year-old Korean woman who has lived most of her life in Japan.
Hundreds of thousands of ethnic Koreans, many descended from laborers brought forcibly to Japan before and during World War II, live in the country legally but without citizenship. Many were born in Japan and have taken Japanese names and citizenship.
But some Koreans have decided against becoming naturalized as a way to maintain their ethnic identity or as a form of protest against the Japanese government for its past policies.
Kan said the donor was an individual introduced by a friend several years ago. It wasn’t immediately clear if the donor was born in Japan.
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