Reports noted that Japanese Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada ordered his country’s air force, especially its intelligence-gathering and surveillance planes, to join the international efforts against piracy off the coast of Somalia.1

In other developments, Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura told reporters that additional sanctions imposed on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in response to its rocket launch will take effect from May 12.2

• 1. “Japan prepares planes for anti-piracy mission,” Reuters, April 17, 2009, at
  http://www.reuters.com/article/africaCrisis/idUST312983
• 2. “Japan to start fresh sanction on DPRK in May,” Xinhua, April 17, 2009, at
  http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/17/content_11199611.htm