Kyodo news summary -5-

---------- Man dies from Niigata foundry explosion, may be 11th quake victim

KASHIWAZAKI, Japan - The powerful July 16 earthquake may have resulted in an 11th death as a 47-year-old man died Monday from burns suffered at a foundry explosion that occurred soon after the quake in Kashiwazaki, Niigata Prefecture, local officials said.

The Niigata prefectural government is investigating whether Kimio Tomimatsu, who was working at the foundry of Shimoda Industry Co. in the city of Kashiwazaki, can be considered the 11th victim.

---------- Japan ready to work with IAEA to check quake-hit nuke plant

TOKYO - Japan told the International Atomic Energy Agency on Monday that it will accept an IAEA inspection of a nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture that was damaged by a powerful earthquake last week, an industry ministry official said.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki indicated earlier in the day that Japan will cooperate with the IAEA in the inspection of Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant, saying the government hopes the sharing of information will contribute to the safety of nuclear plants worldwide.

---------- Hiratsuka woman gets 12 yrs for killing daughter, but mystery remains

YOKOHAMA - The Yokohama District Court sentenced a woman to 12 years in prison Monday for killing her 19-year-old daughter in 2005 at their apartment in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, where the badly decomposed bodies of her other children -- a young boy and two babies -- were also found.

Chizuko Okamoto, 56, pleaded not guilty and argued that her daughter's half brother, who was found hanging in the same apartment, was the ''real culprit.'' Presiding Judge Takaaki Oshima, however, dismissed the plea, saying there were ''no reasons'' for the man, who had the same father as Okamoto's daughter, to kill her.