State briefs for December 7

Carter: US to return Okinawa land to Japanese government

TOKYO (AP) — The U.S. and Japan announced Tuesday that Washington will give back to the Japanese government nearly 10,000 acres of land on Okinawa that U.S. Marines use for jungle warfare training.

The giveback, to be completed by Dec. 22, has been in the works for 20 years and is the largest by U.S. forces in Japan since the U.S. returned control of Okinawa in 1972.

Carter announced the plan at a joint appearance with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who also mentioned his earlier announced plan to visit Pearl Harbor in Hawaii in late December to mark the 75th anniversary of Japan’s attack.

Speaking through an interpreter, Abe said his visit to Pearl Harbor is meant to serve as a message that, “We must never again repeat the devastation of war.” Carter called the visit a sign of both countries’ “commitment to peace and also to reconciliation.”

Forum: Congress must help Hawaii fishermen confined to boats

WASHINGTON (AP) — Experts and advocates are urging Congress to improve conditions for hundreds of foreign fishermen working in Hawaii’s commercial fleet, following an Associated Press investigation that found the men have been confined to vessels for years without basic labor protections.

The AP report found commercial fishing boats in Honolulu employ men from impoverished Asian nations who catch ahi tuna and other seafood sold nationwide. A legal loophole allows them to work on U.S-flagged boats without visas as long as they don’t set foot on shore.

Mark Lagon, a scholar at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, said the fishermen are treated like modern-day slaves.

He and other speakers at a congressional forum Tuesday urged Congress to close the loophole that allows workers to stay on the boats without coming ashore.