Japan court backs Tokyo bid to relocate baseTOKYO -- A Japanese court on Friday approved Tokyo's plan to relocate a U.S. military base on Okinawa in a move unlikely to immediately resolve a long-running spat between central and local authorities. Tokyo wants to move the unpopular U.S. air base in a crowded residential district on Okinawa to a sparsely populated area in its north, but many locals want the base moved off the island altogether. A court in the prefectural capital of Naha ruled in Tokyo's favor on Friday, a court spokesman said, in the first judicial decision over the disputed reclamation. "There is no choice but to go ahead with the landfill in order to reduce the trouble at Futenma," Tamiya told the court, according to Jiji Press. After the verdict, Onaga told local media that he will appeal to the supreme court and pledged to do whatever he can to block the relocation.

Source: The China Post September 16, 2016 16:18 UTC