Groom gets cold feet, sets wedding hotel on fire

A Japanese man who set fire to a hotel in a bid to buy himself time to decide whether to stay with his wife or marry his girlfriend was sentenced to five years jail Thursday, a court official said.

Presiding Judge Yasushi Watanabe called 40-year-old defendant Tatsuhiko Kawata "egoistic and short-sighted" and dismissed the defence argument that no-one was hurt in the fire, the Kyodo news agency reported.

Kawata, who had been married to his wife since 1994, had also been seeing another woman for about three years and promised to marry her last October at the Risonare hotel in the mountain resort of Hokuto, Yamanashi Prefecture.

However, on the eve of the ceremony, the still-married Kawata sought to delay the ceremony by spilling seven litres of petrol in the hotel and setting it on fire, causing minor damage and forcing the evacuations of several guests.

Prosecutors had sought six years' prison for Kawata, who pleaded guilty to the charges of arson and unauthorized entry to the hotel, a Kofu District Court official told AFP.

Japanese learn English using Obama speeches

Aspiring English speakers in Japan have made U.S. President Barack Obama's book of speeches and accompanying CD a national best-seller.

In Aichi, central Japan, a Buddhist monk has reportedly been playing the president's speeches during his temple service, and dozens of students in an English-language class in Tokyo have been memorizing his 2004 Democratic Convention speech to improve their understanding and pronunciation.

"Tonight is a particular honor for me because, let's face it, my presence on this stage is pretty unlikely," the students at Kaplan Japan school recited together Friday.

"The Speeches of Barack Obama" has sold 420,000 copies since its release on Nov. 20 - an "unprecedented huge hit" for an English-language text, according to publisher Asahi Press.

Any book that sells more than 100,000 copies in Japan, which has a population of 128 million, is considered a success, and foreign-language publication sales rarely exceed 20,000, the publisher said.

Obama's book of speeches surged to No. 2 in Japan's main best-seller list this week, according to Hiroki Tomatsu, an official of Japan's largest book distributor Tohan Co. that publishes the ranking.

The 95-page book compiles Obama's speeches including the one at the 2004 convention, many from the party primaries, and his victory speech after he beat Hillary Rodham Clinton to secure the Democratic nomination. Each English-language transcript comes with a Japanese translation.

Although the simplicity of campaign speeches makes them an obvious choice as a language-learning tool, other American presidents have rarely been so feted.

"We don't publish every single president's speeches," Asahi Press official Yuzo Yamamoto said. "Would you buy the text of former President George W. Bush's speeches?"

Woman nabbed for injecting contaminated water into daughter's IV drip

A 35-year-old woman from Gifu Prefecture was arrested Wednesday for allegedly attempting to kill her 1-year-old daughter by adding contaminated water to the intravenous drip the child was being administered at Kyoto (Japan) University Hospital in Kyoto, police said.

While the suspect has denied her intention to kill the girl, the hospital has said this could be a case of Munchausen by proxy, a form of child abuse in which the mother intentionally sickens her child through medication and other methods, according to the police.

"I can nurse (my child) if she becomes ill. I did not do it with a view to causing her death, " the woman was quoted as telling the police.

According to investigations, the woman used a syringe to inject contaminated water into an intravenous drip hooked up to her fifth daughter at the hospital's intensive care unit between Monday and Tuesday.

Her daughter, who is 1 year and 10 month old, could have died due to blood poisoning, but her condition is improving following treatment.

The woman's second, third, and fourth daughters all died of illness by the age 4.

The fifth daughter was transferred to Kyoto University Hospital early December from a Gifu hospital. Her condition was worsening due to blood poisoning, and tests detected the presence of the fungus candida albicans, which is not normally found in the bloodstream.

Suspecting child abuse, the hospital consulted the police and checked on the woman's movements. They found she had mixed a sports drink with water and waited until the liquid went bad before using it in the case, according to police. She also possessed a syringe, they added