News Headlines - 06 February 2014

▽BBC News - 'Japanese Beethoven' admits he is a fraud

A deaf composer who has been dubbed "Japan's Beethoven" has admitted hiring someone else to write his music for nearly two decades.
Mamoru Samuragochi shot to fame in the mid-1990s and is most famous for his Hiroshima Symphony No 1, dedicated to those killed in the 1945 atomic blast.
The 50-year-old has now confessed he has not composed his own music since 1996.

▽Bombardier wins £1bn Crossrail contract - FT.com

Bombardier has won a £1bn contract to supply the trains for the new Crossrail east-west rail line, giving a huge boost to the Derby-based manufacturer after failing to secure other recent UK government contracts.
The Canadian company beat off competition from Hitachi of Japan and CAF, a Spanish manufacturer, to win the award to build 65 trains. The government said the contract would support 760 new jobs in Derbyshire and 80 apprenticeships as well as 244 positions at a new depot in northwest London.

▽Exclusive: Japan makes first oil payment to Iran in a year - sources | Reuters

Japan this week became the first of Iran's oil buyers to make a payment for crude imports under an interim nuclear deal, sources told Reuters on Wednesday, as the West eased a year-long stranglehold on revenues that has crippled the Iranian economy.

▽Japan considers constitutional changes to enhance defence capacity | theguardian.com

A government panel will urge Japan to allow its military to help allies that come under attack, in a major reversal of the country's ban on collective defence under its pacifist constitution.
The panel on Tuesday discussed ways that Japan could improve its defence capability and said it would present its near-final draft recommendation in coming weeks, before its final report is expected after April.

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