Across the World: Japan

Anti-terror exercise

Tokyo staged its biggest ever anti-terrorism exercise on Friday, in an attempt to prove its credentials for staging the 2016 Olympic Games, days after Barack Obama's US election victory boosted rival Chicago's hopes.

Sirens wailed as a thousand personnel drawn from the army, navy and coastguard, as well as police and rescue services, gave a carefully orchestrated demonstration of how they would deal with a nuclear "dirty" bomb explosion at a conference center.

Police abseiled from a helicopter and overpowered a group of men in balaclavas amid a cloud of smoke from fake gunfire. Rescuers in protective gear and gas masks assessed a group of "victims".

(China Daily 11/08/2008 page11)