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jp0002149
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"crime-legal-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/03/24
|
Over 10,000 Philippine bikers stage protest against newly introduced license plate regulation
|
MANILA - More than 10,000 motorcycle riders staged a motorcade Sunday in the main highways of Manila to protest at new regulations forcing them to display bigger license plates, saying the measure will not solve the crime problem. Cases of murders, robberies and other crimes perpetrated by people on motorbikes have been rampant in the Philippines, as more and more people turn to using motorbikes because the roads are so congested. President Rodrigo Duterte signed the measure into law this month, requiring all licensed motorbikes to display bigger front and rear plates to make them more visible to the authorities and any witnesses to crimes. At present, registration plates are displayed only on the back. Under the law, the font style of plates should be readable from a distance of 15 meters. For quick and easy identification, the plates need to be color coded for each of the country’s 17 regions. “This is not a solution for crime because a criminal will not use his own motorcycle. This is why the riding community should fight the double plate bill,” protester Joseph De Los Reyes said.
|
manila;license;rodrigo duterte;motorbike
|
jp0002150
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/03/24
|
WAW/W20 talks close with a call for men to be more involved in women's issues
|
Changing people’s mindsets and involving men in dealing more with women’s issues are key to empowering women, participants at this year’s joint World Assembly for Women and Women 20 summit agreed on Sunday as their two-day meeting in Tokyo came to a close. “I am sure there was a little something that each of us can take away” from the summit, said Akie Abe, the wife of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in her closing remarks at the meeting, which brought lawmakers, diplomats and business executives together to discuss a wide range of issues on empowering women. “I urge you to share your experiences with those around you and translate that into concrete action,” she said. Although the summit covered a broad range of topics, including the digital gender gap, sexual violence, and women in the workplace, a theme that was raised repeatedly was the need to involve men in women’s issues. “I personally got the impression that only one in ten people in the audience were men during a panel discussion I attended earlier,” said Yasutoshi Nishimura, a Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker and deputy chief Cabinet secretary. “It’s great that women have such a strong presence here, but it’s essential for men to understand and get involved in these issues … for women to be empowered,” he added. Corporate executives at a panel discussion on how companies can better foster gender equality in the workplace also stressed the importance of engaging men in women’s issues. “We very quickly noticed the fact that (women’s issues) has to be shared with and embraced by men … because men are part of the solution not the problem,” said Stacey Kennedy, president of the South and South East Asia Region of Philip Morris International, when speaking of her experiences of being part of a commission to improve gender equality in the workplace. “I found very little, if at all, bad intent” on behalf of the men, and the reaction among men was “mostly shock and surprise,” she explained, stressing the importance of revealing unconscious biases. Philip Morris International became the first global multinational firm earlier this month to receive official certification for paying its employees, regardless of gender, equally for their work across the globe by the Equal-Salary Foundation, an independent Swiss-based third-party organization that accredits companies for equal pay. The World Women for Assembly plans to release written suggestions at a later date on how to achieve better gender equality based on the discussions held at the two-day gathering. The W20 submitted a communique to Prime Minister Abe on Saturday for further discussion at the Group of 20 summit, to be held in Osaka in June.
|
women;akie abe;world assembly for women;w20;waw
|
jp0002151
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/03/24
|
Small Japanese firms fear foreign laborers will abandon them when new visas kick in
|
As Japan braces for a fresh influx of foreign workers from the new visa system starting next month, small and midsize firms fear the system will end up helping only major firms in large cities, since those who qualify for the two new “specified skills” visas will be free to switch companies in the same sector. Although the immigration law was revised to cope with the nation’s severe labor shortage, small companies feel they will continue to struggle to secure competent workers because they have to compete with big-name companies offering higher pay. Foreign trainees who meet certain criteria also will be able to switch to one of the new visas without extra testing, so companies are additionally concerned they might suddenly decide to go and work for a bigger company. At an auto parts maker in Nishio, Aichi Prefecture, six of the roughly 30 employees are trainees from China, Vietnam and Indonesia operating machinery to produce screws and check finished products. “They work hard and are quick to learn their jobs,” said Kosuke Okada, 42, the president of the company. “They are a vital workforce amid the labor shortage.” The company, which has been struggling to find Japanese workers, started hiring Brazilians and Peruvians of Japanese descent in the 1990s. But many of them chose to switch to larger companies to get higher pay and better benefits. After learning about the technical intern program, Okada started accepting foreign trainees about 10 years ago. Because they are basically not permitted to change employers during their stay, he depended on the program as a way to secure enough staff. But since they will be allowed to upgrade their visas starting in April, Okada fears some of the newly hired ones might move to larger companies, just like the Japanese-Brazilians and Japanese-Peruvians did in the past. The firm has taken measures to improve working conditions, such as offering raises depending on experience and installing air conditioners in its factory. But nothing seems to work, Okada said. “At the end of the day, we don’t have the resources to take on big companies,” he said. The new visa system offers two residence statuses — one for those with skills in 14 labor-hungry sectors, including nursing care and agriculture, and one for those with higher skills in two specific sectors — construction and shipbuilding. Changing jobs is permitted in the same sector. In mid-November, when the bill to revise the immigration law was under deliberation in the Diet, Human Resource Support Corporative Association Tokai, an intermediary body in Hekinan, Aichi Prefecture, that acts as a broker and support center for foreign trainees, held a seminar for companies in nearby Anjo. Attending were officials of organizations that dispatch technical interns from Vietnam and Indonesia to Japan. It has become increasingly difficult to recruit people for training in Japan, they emphasized. An official from Human Resource Support, which sends trainees to about 100 firms in the Chubu region, said competition for labor has become international. “To secure human resources, companies now have to compete not only against rivals within Japan but also overseas. Small companies, which have already been at a disadvantage, should change their mindset and offer better conditions,” the official said. According to Human Resource Support, corporate reputations spread quickly via social media. Competition is likely to intensify and there are concerns that more workers will converge on metropolitan areas. Since the central government has yet to take effective measures to cope with these concerns, the only advice for small and midsize firms in the region right now is “to make efforts to be chosen by foreign people,” the official said.
|
china;vietnam;indonesia;foreign workers;aichi;small businesses
|
jp0002152
|
[
"national",
"politics-diplomacy"
] |
2019/03/24
|
Base-laden Okinawa vies to become tourism magnet
|
NAHA, OKINAWA PREF. - Just a couple minutes from the Okinawa Prefectural Government building and the busy shopping street Kokusai-dori, Sora Shokudo offers jerk chicken on the menu — a Caribbean cuisine that goes well with rum — which is now also produced in Okinawa and attracting interest from domestic and overseas tourists. “Okinawa grows sugarcane and so it’s natural that we’d produce different varieties of rum,” says owner and Okinawan rum expert Masahiro Aoyama, where about 10 different varieties of locally made rum are offered. The bitter struggle between the prefecture and the central government over the unpopular plan to move U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from crowded Ginowan to Henoko, a coastal district in Nago further north on the main island, has dominated political commentary and media coverage for the past two decades. But in recent years, the prefecture has been getting a huge amount of central government funding to develop its tourism and transportation infrastructure in order to become a major tourism hub in Asia. In a 2013 deal with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, former Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima gave Tokyo the green light on the Futenma relocation plan in exchange for promises of at least ¥300 billion a year in central government subsidies for local infrastructure projects. Though public anger over Nakaima’s approval led to his ouster, Abe has kept his word on the funding. Last year, the central government provided Okinawa with just over ¥300 billion in subsidies. Okinawa has three major infrastructure projects that are the subject of local and national political focus. One of them is set to be completed next year, while negotiations continue over who will fund the other two. Okinawa’s total development budget request for fiscal 2019, which begins on April 1, is ¥319 billion. Of this, about ¥227 billion includes funding for a project Okinawa has long sought — a second runway at Naha Airport that is slated to open in 2020. “We will proceed with the construction of the second runway at Naha Airport with an aim to start the service in March next year. By expanding the arrival and departure capacity of the airport significantly, we will strengthen its functions as an airport hub connecting Japan and the rest of Asia,” Abe said in his January policy speech. The new 2,700-meter runway means Naha Airport will be able to handle up to 188,000 takeoffs and landings annually, up from 166,000 in fiscal 2017. But there are concerns about how much flights, and thus Okinawa’s tourism industry, can grow even with a new runway. A recent editorial in the Ryukyu Shimpo, a local newspaper, noted that U.S. flight patterns and air space restrictions at adjacent Kadena Air Base could restrict use of the second runway. In addition, Naha Airport is jointly used by the Self-Defense Forces. So if more SDF aircraft are scrambled, that could mean additional runway delays for civilian flights. Still, with completion of the second runaway in sight, Okinawa officials, including Gov. Denny Tamaki, who was elected last year to oppose the Futenma relocation plan but is a proponent of public infrastructure development, are turning their attention to the two other projects on Okinawa’s wish list. These include a public railway system that would connect Naha, the prefectural capital in the south, to Nago, about 70 km north. In 2014, a few months after Abe and Nakaima reached their deal on Henoko, a series of proposals for the railway were made public. Last year, a route that would connect eight cities and towns, including Ginowan, emerged as the local favorite. If built, the travel time between Naha and Nago, now a two-hour trip by bus, would be shortened to an hour. Construction would take around 15 years and cost an estimated ¥610 billion. Given the lack of rail transportation between the more prosperous Naha area and the less-developed north, residents on the main island are in favor of the plan even if there are questions about the price tag. “At present, the central government is conducting various surveys on the proposed route, and we’re consulting with officials of the eight cities where the rail system would pass through. While there is a lot of support locally, there is also concern about who would pay,” said Yutaka Miyagi, a prefectural official involved with the project. The third major infrastructure project Okinawa eventually hopes to get is a large venue for attracting international conferences, conventions and trade exhibitions — something that would include adjacent luxury hotels and shopping centers. Plans are underway to build such a facility on the eastern side of the island. “There’s no detailed plan of action yet. But we believe that Okinawa has several advantages. It’s the only place in Japan where you have the necessary urban environment for business exchanges in a resort island atmosphere with a tropic climate,” said Yoshifumi Kishimoto, a local tourism official. Not mentioned in the plans is the prospect of a casino. While there have been suggestions among some local leaders in the past that the prefecture might benefit from a casino resort, Tamaki has said it is not necessary. Most of the members of the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly have also opposed or expressed skepticism about casino gambling. But building the Naha-Nago rail line and a major conference center are deemed critical needs by Tokyo and Okinawa if the prefecture is to meet its goals of reeling in 12 million visitors a year by 2021 and turning itself into a regional hub for business and tourism. Last year, visitors to the prefecture topped 9.8 million. That included over 2.9 million from abroad, the largest number being from Taiwan (889,000), mainland China (632,000) and South Korea (555,000), with another 583,000 from other countries. While Okinawa Prefecture moves forward with attempts to complete major infrastructure plans and draw more tourists, local businesses, like Sora Shokudo, continue to innovate and expand, paying attention to increased demand from domestic and foreign travelers, especially for products like rum that are universally known but have a uniquely local flavor, which perhaps sums up Okinawa itself.
|
okinawa;u.s. military;relocation;infrastructure;airports
|
jp0002153
|
[
"national",
"politics-diplomacy"
] |
2019/03/24
|
Official campaigning for Osaka mayoral election starts
|
OSAKA - Official campaigning for the Osaka mayoral election began Sunday, with Osaka Prefecture’s former governor, Ichiro Matsui, facing off against a ruling Liberal Democratic Party-backed challenger opposed to the controversial idea of restructuring the city into a metropolis. The city of Osaka this month joined a number of local governments scheduled to hold gubernatorial, mayoral and assembly elections on April 7 after Osaka Gov. Matsui and Osaka Mayor Hirofumi Yoshimura both resigned in a bid to swap their positions. Matsui’s successor will also be picked on April 7. Matsui, 55, and Yoshimura, 43, want to use the elections to push their political party’s goal of reshaping the city into a metropolitan government similar to that of Tokyo, which is intended to streamline the prefectural and city administrations. The idea to form the “Osaka metropolis” — originally a pet proposal of former Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto — was put to a city referendum in May 2015, only to be rejected by voters. Matsui and Yoshimura were elected as governor and mayor respectively in November the same year, vowing to try again. “We should not go back to a time when the overlapping operations of the prefecture and city were criticized,” Matsui said in a stump speech as the campaigning kicked off. “We will make Osaka a city that grows and where people are protected by the social security system.” Akira Yanagimoto, a 45-year-old former assembly member of the city of Osaka who also filed his candidacy, called for the need to maintain the current city structure, saying, “It’s a great chance to bring an end to the Osaka metropolis concept.” The gubernatorial race will be fought between Yoshimura and Tadakazu Konishi, a 64-year-old former Osaka deputy governor supported by the LDP. Campaigning for mayoral polls in five other major cities across Japan, including Hiroshima, also began Sunday.
|
osaka;mayoral election;ichiro matsui;akira yanagimoto;hirofumi yoshimura
|
jp0002154
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/03/24
|
Tsunami-hit railway in northeast Japan resumes regular services
|
MORIOKA - A railway line stretching more than 160 kilometers along Iwate Prefecture’s Pacific Coast resumed regular services Sunday for the first time since sustaining heavy damage caused by the 2011 tsunami and massive earthquake that devastated the Tohoku region. The service between Miyako and Kamaishi stations in the prefecture officially reopened Saturday with a single train journey. The operator, Sanriku Railway Co., took control of the section of track from East Japan Railway Co., completing the opening of the entire 163-kilometer-long Rias Line. Two sections of the coastal-rail line had previously resumed operations. At Unosumai Station in the city of Kamaishi on Sunday, local students welcomed train cars adorned with the design they helped create, featuring English and French words of appreciation for the support they received from overseas during the reconstruction efforts. “It looks better than I expected. I hope more people will smile and cheer up our town when they see this train in operation,” said Mana Kawasaki, a 14-year-old from Kamaishi-Higashi Junior High School, as she viewed the brightly-colored train. In the 2011 disaster, the Unosumai Station building was completely destroyed. Unosumai will become the closest station to the stadium serving as one of the venues for the Rugby World Cup that starts this September. The Rias Line, which links Kuji and Sakari stations further to the north and south in the prefecture, is the longest railroad in Japan operated by a public-private venture. Among Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures — all significantly damaged by the March 11, 2011 disasters — the only train service that remains suspended is between JR Namie and Tomioka stations in Fukushima, a result of the nuclear crisis that occurred there.
|
tsunami;tohoku;trains;sanriku raiway co. rias line
|
jp0002155
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/03/24
|
Japan plans to develop home-made long-range anti-ship missile to counter threat
|
The Defense Ministry plans to develop a domestically made long-range anti-ship missile, apparently in response to advanced, longer-range air-defense missiles now in service with the Chinese Navy, according to sources. Under the plan, the new missile will be an improved model of the ASM-3 supersonic air-to-ship cruise missile, whose development was completed in fiscal 2017. The aim is to deploy a standoff missile capable of attacking targets from outside the ranges of an opponent’s air-defense capabilities. The ministry hopes to include related development expenditures in its budget request for fiscal 2020, the sources said Saturday. Some critics consider the development of such standoff missiles problematic in terms of Japan’s exclusively defense-oriented policy, claiming that it may lead to the country’s acquisition of weapons that give the Self-Defense Forces the ability to attack enemy bases. But Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya has said, “We need to have long-range systems in order to respond to circumstances while ensuring the safety of Self-Defense Forces members.” The government included a policy to introduce long-range weapons in a new medium-term defense program adopted at a Cabinet meeting late last year. The ASM-3, which flies at a speed of around Mach 3, was planned to be mounted on the Air Self-Defense Force’s F-2 fighter jets. But it has yet to be deployed because its range — about 200 kilometers (125 miles) — is too short. The ministry aims to extend the range of the new missile to 400 kilometers or longer. Among foreign-made long-range anti-ship and anti-surface missiles, the ministry has already decided to introduce the Norwegian-made JSM, with a range of about 500 kilometers (over 300 miles) and which will be mounted on new F-35 stealth fighters. Additionally, the U.S.-made JASSM and LRA, each having a range of some 900 kilometers (about 550 miles), will be mounted on F-15 fighters. However, one drawback of these missiles is that they cannot fly faster than Mach 3. The ministry is considering mounting the new missile on the successor model to the F-2 fighter jet, which is set to be retired from around 2035.
|
china;missile;defense ministry;sdf
|
jp0002156
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/03/24
|
Fugu grow faster and without deadly toxin at hotelier's hot spring farms in Tohoku
|
MORIOKA, IWATE PREF. - A hotel operator in the Tohoku region is one of a small number of companies that have launched businesses in depopulated rural areas to raise torafugu, a high-quality variety of the poisonous puffer fish prized as a delicacy in Japan, using tanks filled with hot spring water. Torafugu raised in this manner, however, are free of the toxins that often require the fish to be prepared by licensed chefs, and also grow much faster than those farmed at sea, according to hotel chain Akita Kyoei Kanko in Akita Prefecture. The company started offering full-course meals based on the tiger puffer fish, including thin slices of sashimi, the most popular serving method, to guests in December. After purchasing a hotel in Iwate Prefecture in September 2017 that had closed more than a decade ago in the town of Shizukuishi, the company set up 10 tanks that can hold about 10,000 liters of water. The company then began farming the fish in February 2018, starting with 4,000 juvenile puffers. It said water from the local onsen (hot springs) is rich in minerals and suitable for cultivating this kind of fish. The onsen water helps the tiger puffers grow even in winter and lets the chain ship them in about a year, or roughly six months earlier than their sea-farmed counterparts. It opened the farm with the support of Yumesozo, a company based in landlocked Tochigi Prefecture. Yumesozo invented the technique of cultivating puffer fish in onsen water to help revitalize depopulated towns and villages. Fugu is one of Japan’s top delicacies and usually contains a deadly neurotoxin in its liver and other organs. But the fish farmed by the company at its facility in Shizukuishi are nontoxic because they are not raised on seaweed and shellfish, which are thought to be the origins of the poison. “Our tiger puffers are as delicious as wild ones,” Ritsu Iwamoto, managing director of the hotel chain, said. “We want to develop it as a new local specialty and contribute to reinvigorating northeastern areas in Japan.” Japan has hot springs in all 47 prefectures, with the total standing at more than 27,000 as of fiscal 2016, according to the Environment Ministry. With franchise contracts with Yumesozo, more than 10 other companies have started using onsen water to farm torafugu at sites including a former elementary school in Miyazaki Prefecture, in Kyushu.
|
fish;iwate
|
jp0002157
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/03/24
|
Japan wants more foreign nationals to join regional revitalization programs amid graying population
|
The internal affairs ministry will encourage foreign nationals living in Japan to join regional revitalization programs outside greater Tokyo and other big metropolises, sources said. In fiscal 2019, the ministry will expand the scope of its financial assistance to municipalities to make it easier for non-Japanese, including those who have worked as assistant language teachers (ALTs), to participate in the programs, according to the sources. Under the project, launched in fiscal 2009, young people are encouraged to move out of the greater Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya areas and live in the countryside where they are expected to engage in regional revitalization activities such as farming, the development of local specialty goods or working in the forestry and fishery industries, for one to three years. Host municipalities receive up to ¥4 million per worker in special tax grants. The ministry hopes to facilitate the participation in such regional revitalization efforts by foreign nationals who have worked as ALTs, international relations coordinators at municipalities and other staff under the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme, or JET. At present, the special tax grants are provided only when participants move out of the three big-city areas to be enrolled in revitalization programs in other places. The ministry plans to ease the rule to newly cover young people who move from one location to another outside the three metropolitan areas, the sources said. The ministry expects that the programs will interest many former JET participants who are already used to life in Japan. They must join a regional program within a year after they leave the JET program. According to the ministry, participants in regional revitalization efforts across Japan numbered 5,359 in fiscal 2018, a record high. The number of municipalities accepting such participants also hit a record high of 1,061. The ministry aims to raise the number of participants to 8,000 by fiscal 2024.
|
jet programme;foreign residents;regional revitalization
|
jp0002158
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/03/24
|
Japan to use Osprey aircraft for overseas rescue operations: sources
|
The government plans to introduce a special operations variant of the U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 tilt-rotor Osprey aircraft for Self-Defense Forces to conduct dangerous and covert missions abroad, such as the rescuing of Japanese citizens, according to sources. The Ground Self-Defense Force has a special anti-terror unit to carry out such operations. But the unit is still not fully capable and lacks specialized aircraft. Under the government plan, the CV-22 Osprey, the special operations variant of the MV-22, will be deployed along with refurbished models of the GSDF’s UH-60 helicopter, the government sources said Saturday. The CV-22 is widely seen as more capable of nighttime flying and its terrain-following radar enables it to fly at low altitudes, they said. The remodeled UH-60 is regarded as better armored and can be carried by the Air Self-Defense Force’s C-2 transport airplanes. The controversial security legislation that came effect in 2016 expanded the scope under which the SDF can conduct overseas military operations. Japan has been seeking to enhance its capability to rescue Japanese citizens overseas since the 2013 hostage crisis in Algeria in which 10 Japanese were killed. The GSDF is also eyeing the use of special aircraft in the event that Japan’s remote islands are occupied by foreign forces, according to the sources. At U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa Prefecture, 24 MV-22s have been deployed since 2012. The Defense Ministry is considering introducing CV-22s among the 17 Ospreys it plans to deploy at Saga airport on the island of Kyushu, according to the sources. The ministry was supposed to deploy the aircraft over four years from fiscal 2018, but it has postponed delivery of the first batch of five planes from the United States. That is because the government has struggled to win local consent due to concerns over the Osprey’s safety record. The new security laws loosened the constraints of Japan’s postwar pacifist Constitution on military matters. They have allowed for SDF participation in foreign peacekeeping operations at the request of international organizations not under United Nations control. Rescue operations in other countries might not only put SDF members’ lives at risk but also create situations in which they are forced to return fire at armed groups. The Constitution bans the use of force abroad.
|
osprey;rescue;overseas missions;sdf
|
jp0002159
|
[
"business",
"economy-business"
] |
2019/03/23
|
Bank of Japan's tankan likely to show slump in manufacturing sentiment, projections say
|
The Bank of Japan’s quarterly tankan survey for March is likely to show a slump in business sentiment among major Japanese manufacturers, according to the latest projections by 12 private think tanks. Their average forecast points to a fall to plus 13 in the headline diffusion index for large manufacturers’ business confidence, down from plus 19 in the December 2018 survey and the lowest figure since March 2017. All the 12 think tanks foresee a fall in the manufacturing sentiment DI. The dismal forecast mainly reflects the adverse implications of U.S.-China trade friction for Japan’s exports and production. The results of the March survey are due to be released on April 1. The DI for large manufacturers’ business outlook over the next three months is estimated at plus 12. Eight of the 12 institutes project a further deterioration in sentiment. “Business sentiment is believed to have sharply worsened in sectors including production machinery, which is badly affected by slowing demand from China,” an official of the NLI Research Institute said. Meanwhile, the DI for large nonmanufacturers’ present sentiment is projected to sag to plus 22 from plus 24, weighed down by labor shortages but partly supported by solid consumption. Capital expenditures at large manufacturers and nonmanufacturers in fiscal 2019, starting on April 1, are seen decreasing 0.2 percent from the previous year.
|
boj;tankan;japanese economy;ban of japan
|
jp0002160
|
[
"business",
"economy-business"
] |
2019/03/23
|
30% of Japanese companies keen to increase hiring of new grads in 2020: poll
|
A recent poll has found that more than 30 percent of Japanese companies surveyed plan to hire more new graduates in spring 2020 than they did this year. Including those aiming to secure about the same number as this spring, more than 80 percent of all respondents are seen as being keen to hire in 2020. The Jiji Press survey was conducted on 100 major companies from late February to mid-March. Of them, 75 outlined their recruitment plans. According to the survey, 39 companies have no plans to change the number of new recruits from the previous year, 24 intend to hire more and 12 expect reductions. Construction and logistics companies are especially eager to increase hiring, while some securities firms plan to decrease their number of new recruits. General contractor Taisei Corp., which cut recruitment for years after the bubble economy collapsed in the early 1990s, plans to employ 316 newcomers in spring 2020, up some 20 percent from this year. Fast Retailing Co., which runs the Uniqlo casual clothing chain, will hire 650 to strengthen operations at home and abroad. Meanwhile, rehabilitating Toshiba Corp. will reduce its number by 36 percent to 350. Amid increasing uncertainties over the course of the global economy, Nomura Holdings Inc. and Daiwa Securities Group Inc. plan to hire fewer graduates. The survey also found that 10 companies failed to secure the planned number of new recruits for 2019, twice the previous year’s result. Expecting difficulties securing the planned number of newcomers in spring 2020, Mazda Motor Corp. will increase the number of recruiters amid intensifying competition for talent. The hiring guidelines by Keidanren, the nation’s largest business lobby, are to be abolished with the spring 2020 hiring wave. New guidelines, led by the government, are under consideration.
|
employment;jobs;job hunting;japanese companies
|
jp0002161
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/03/23
|
Tepco unit to tie up with JXTG on hydrogen production for fuel-cell vehicles
|
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.’s thermal power generation unit will team up with a subsidiary of JXTG Holdings Inc. to start producing hydrogen for fuel cell vehicles in 2020. Tepco Fuel & Power Inc. said Friday that it and JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy Corp. have agreed to build a facility to produce hydrogen on the premises of the Tepco subsidiary’s power plant in Tokyo because a private-public effort is underway to spread the use of hydrogen as an alternative to fossil fuels. The new facility will be capable of supplying hydrogen to about 290 fuel cell cars a day. The government is promoting the use of hydrogen in an effort to showcase the clean technology during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government and bus firms plan to operate over 100 fuel cell buses during the games. The latest hydrogen deal will involve Tepco Fuel & Power’s operations, which are set to be transferred to Jera Co., an energy joint venture it set up with Chubu Electric Power Co., in April. Fuel cell vehicles are powered by electricity generated by the chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen and do not emit carbon dioxide. Unlike systems based on directly supplied electricity, a fuel cell can store hydrogen until needed without losing its charge. But spreading the use of hydrogen remains a challenge due to the high costs and lack of infrastructure, especially fuel stations. Following the triple core meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant in 2011, there has been growing public interest in renewable energy in resource-scarce Japan. Under the 2015 Paris climate accord, Japan is aiming for a 26 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 from 2013 levels. In the private sector, Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. have already developed hydrogen-powered FCVs.
|
tepco;renewables;environment;automobiles;fuel cells;hydrogen
|
jp0002162
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/03/23
|
Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner cooperating with U.S. House probe, source says
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WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is cooperating with a wide-ranging probe by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee into Trump and possible obstruction of justice and abuse of power, a person knowledgeable about the matter said on Friday. Just hours earlier, a lawyer for Trump adviser Roger Stone said in a letter seen by Reuters that Stone was not cooperating with the same committee and cited his right to avoid self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The contrasting responses to Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler’s probe targeting 81 individuals and groups came on the same day the Justice Department announced the completion of a report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into Trump and Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. As a cloud of legal risk darkened over Trump, he was spending the weekend at his private club Mar-a-Lago in Florida. Kushner submitted documents to Nadler’s panel on Thursday in response to a wave of document requests sent by the committee on March 4, the knowledgeable person said. Kushner’s attorney Abbe Lowell, who received the committee’s document request, was not immediately available for comment. Democrats in the House of Representatives have launched numerous inquiries into Trump, his presidency, his family and his business interests. The Mueller investigation has been focused on the election and whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Moscow in its effort to sway U.S. voters in Trump’s favor. Although Mueller’s report is finished, its contents were not yet known late on Friday. Details were expected soon. Russia has denied U.S. intelligence agencies’ findings that the Kremlin interfered in the 2016 campaign. Trump has denied any collusion and dismissed Mueller’s probe as a “witch hunt.” Among the Judiciary Committee’s aims are determining if Trump obstructed justice by ousting perceived enemies at the Justice Department and abused his power by possibly offering pardons or tampering with witnesses. It was not clear how much material Kushner provided to the committee. But investigators sought documents from him on more than two dozen topics. Those topics ranged from a June 9, 2016, Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer who claimed to have damaging information about Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton to any Trump transition team contacts with Russia. Stone’s lawyer Grant Smith said in the letter to Nadler that Stone faces federal criminal charges and that it “is not in Mr. Stone’s best interest” to participate in any other proceedings. Stone was arrested in January and charged with lying to Congress about the 2016 Trump campaign’s efforts to use stolen emails to undercut Clinton. Stone declared himself innocent hours after a team of FBI agents raided his home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Smith called Nadler’s demand for documents a “fishing expedition request.” Stone, who is under a gag order from the judge hearing his criminal case, had no comment.
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congress;donald trump;jared kushner;russia probe
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jp0002163
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/03/23
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Robert Mueller: The invisible prosecutor who shook the White House
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WASHINGTON - As a prosecutor, Robert Mueller took on violent Hells Angels, mob bosses and foreign spies. At the end of his career, he was tasked with hunting the biggest quarry of all: the president of the United States. For two years, Mueller has been digging for the truth behind the most explosive political investigation in American history: Did Donald Trump or his campaign conspire with the Russian government? And has the president been beholden to the Kremlin since his victory? Named director of the FBI just days before the Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaida attacks, Robert Swan Mueller III knows well the pressure of being thrust suddenly into the center of a firestorm. But nothing compared to being appointed special counsel in May 2017 to investigate a president who, according to the suspicions, may have been compromised by Russians whose meddling helped him win the election. Since then, the enigmatic and stately Mueller, 74, has been a dark cloud over Trump’s presidency, and the billionaire commander-in-chief has fought back vociferously, with denials, threats, and character assassination. In a town where leaks are currency and a bully pulpit is power, Mueller has remained silent and invisible, communicating through sporadic indictments that have repeatedly signaled evidence of possible wrongdoing reaching into the Trump administration’s inner circles. Mueller submitted his report on Friday — 674 days after his appointment — U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr announced. There was no immediate indication of whether Trump or members of his family or former campaign advisors were implicated in collusion or obstruction but Barr indicated that he may be able to summarize its “principal” conclusions in the coming days. The announcement capped two years during which Mueller’s team of seasoned counterintelligence agents, financial forensics specialists and organized crime prosecutors worked with uncommon speed for such a sprawling investigation to open and close cases. They indicted 34 individuals, including six former Trump aides, five of whom have pleaded guilty or been convicted at trial. Most of the rest — that’s more than two dozen Russians Mueller charged with conspiracy to meddle in the 2016 election — are unlikely ever to face trial. Mueller’s team has been aggressive and focused, reflecting his reputation as a gruff taskmaster who demands speed and precision. This discipline has been especially important in countering Trump’s repeated accusation — more than 180 times on Twitter alone — that the operation was a politicized “witch hunt.” Mueller, the president said on Twitter in December, “is a much different man than people think.” “His out of control band of Angry Democrats, don’t want the truth, they only want lies,” Trump huffed. Despite the White House attacks, few in Washington thought there was anyone better than Mueller for the special counsel job. The onetime U.S. Marine served both Republican and Democratic presidents and was a patrician of the Washington bureaucratic establishment, deeply trusted to do the right thing no matter who that would upset or disappoint. “I think Bob Mueller is an American hero,” said Ty Cobb, who served as a top White House lawyer tasked with protecting the president during the first year of the Trump administration. But the man who had the fate of the presidency in his hands stayed silent and invisible, keeping politicians of both parties on edge, lawyers studying the constitution and journalists swarming. In two years he was seen in public only a handful of times — at a restaurant, in a Washington Apple Store getting tech help with his wife and once, portentously crossing paths with Trump’s son Don Jr. in Washington’s National Airport. He spoke only via the details of court filings in each case, thousands of pages that offered a steady flow of puzzle pieces of what had the potential to become a big, coherent picture — or not. It clearly made the White House and Republicans in Congress nervous. Mueller enjoys a certain mystique, depicted in fan memes as a “Star Wars” Jedi or a character from “Game of Thrones.” In sketches on “Saturday Night Live,” he was played by Robert DeNiro as an all-knowing, omnipresent threat. “I’ve got my eyes on you,” he signaled menacingly to Alec Baldwin’s nervous Trump in one sketch. For a Washington transfixed by a man they never saw, DeNiro’s Mueller became, for many, the real thing.
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robert mueller;donald trump;russia probe
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jp0002164
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/03/23
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Change to 737 Max controls may have imperiled planes, experts say
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NEW YORK/SEATTLE - Much like tapping the brake pedal in a car to disengage cruise control, a sharp tug on the controls of older models of Boeing Co.’s 737 used to shut off an automatic trim system that keeps the plane flying level, giving the pilot control. But Boeing disabled the “yoke jerk” function when it brought out the 737 Max, the latest version of its top-selling jet — and many pilots were unaware of the change, aviation experts said. The difference may help explain why pilots struggled to keep their aircraft climbing after takeoff on two fatal 737 Max flights less than five months apart that left a total of 346 people dead. Pilots of a Lion Air flight that crashed in October desperately scoured the pages of a handbook for answers as the plane repeatedly lurched downward in the first minutes of flight, it was reported. An Ethiopian Airlines flight that went down on March 10 showed “clear similarities” to the Lion Air accident, aviation authorities said after seeing data retrieved from the plane’s black box. A pair of switches on the center console between the pilots will turn off the automatic trim and a mechanism, new on the 737 Max, known as the Maneuver Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS, that is suspected of playing a role in both disasters. Training material ‘not clear’ But pilots would have needed to know that MCAS existed, that it had unusual power to force the plane down and that “a hard pull on the yoke” would no longer turn off the automatic trim that uses MCAS, John Hansman, an aeronautics professor at MIT, said during an interview. “That wasn’t clear to the pilots flying the airplane,” Hansman said. “The training material was not clear on that.” Boeing declined to comment. In the aftermath of the Lion Air crash, Boeing pointed to long-established procedures that pilots could have used to handle a malfunction of the anti-stall system, regardless of whether the pilots knew MCAS existed. That checklist tells pilots to switch off the two stabilizer trim cutout switches on the central console, and then to adjust the aircraft’s stabilizers manually using trim wheels. An American Airlines flight manual mentions MCAS only in a table of acronyms, according to an October 2018 edition of the 1,400-page book seen by Reuters. Pilots have raised questions about why more detail on MCAS was not included. The American Airlines manual’s two-page description of trim controls describes a “trim circuit,” but not how MCAS could be triggered by a faulty sensor reading, which is also suspected in the two crashes. Preventing dangerous stall The MCAS system was designed to counteract the effect on the plane’s handling caused by new larger 737 Max engines, which had to be placed farther forward and higher on the wings because the 50-year-old 737 design sits relatively low to the ground. That move gave the Max a tendency to nose up into a stall, a dangerous position in which a plane loses lift as too little air flows across its wings. MCAS, essentially a few lines of computer code in the flight control system, relies on data from two small, blade-shaped sensors near the nose of the aircraft that measure the angle of air flow. Faults in the sensors are not uncommon, and MCAS relies on only one sensor at a time during flight. In the Lion Air crash, investigators found a faulty reading led the plane’s computer to believe it was stalled and to push the nose down. Boeing later issued a bulletin reminding pilots how to respond to such a faulty reading. An optional warning light could have alerted pilots to the faulty sensor. Training under scrutiny Investigators unraveling the Lion Air crash are looking at maintenance records and whether the pilots had enough training to handle the emergency, among other factors. The 737 Max can fly without MCAS, so the feature was not considered “flight-critical” even though it has extraordinary power to steer the plane, said an industry expert with knowledge of the system who spoke on condition of anonymity. MCAS controls the large horizontal wing on the plane’s tail known as the stabilizer, while the pilot controls smaller flaps or “elevators” on the stabilizer. Over several minutes, the stabilizer can shift position enough that the elevator controls can no longer counteract the downward direction of the plane, the source said. “They gave more control power to the automation than to the pilot,” the source said of the MCAS design. The Lion Air pilots flew for about five minutes by using the elevator to counteract the stabilizer every 15 or 20 seconds, said Hansman, based on readings from the flight data recorder. After that, the pilot tried pulling back hard on the controls. “That’s what suggests that the crew didn’t understand the system. They thought they were shutting MCAS off and didn’t,” Hansman said. “Whereas any time during the entire sequence, they could have reached to the middle console and just shut it off.”
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airlines;boeing;air accidents
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jp0002165
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/03/23
|
Mueller's Russia report could still damn Trump, experts say
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WASHINGTON - Special Counsel Robert Mueller concluded his Russia meddling investigation Friday without recommending any new charges, but U.S. President Donald Trump, who faced obstruction and collusion allegations, could still be implicated in serious, even impeachable wrongdoing. Experts say the confidential report Mueller has submitted to Attorney General William Barr might still have evidence of wrongdoing that for Mueller didn’t rise to criminal level but could still lead to an impeachment investigation by Congress. However, no one else has seen the report yet, so the focus is on what comes next in the process in the coming days and weeks. Under his mandate, Mueller was to provide to Barr “a confidential report explaining the prosecution or declination decisions.” Barr is obliged to summarize the report for the House and Senate judiciary committees. Barr said Friday he will likely be able to deliver its “principal conclusions” for the committees this weekend. But Barr, a past critic of Mueller whom Trump named to lead the Justice Department only in February, can divulge or withhold as much information as he wants in his own report. The special counsel regulations “give Barr lots of discretion about what to disclose to Congress and the public,” said Andrew Coan, a University of Arizona law professor who has written about special prosecutors and presidents. Coan said Barr could release an abbreviated report that puts Trump in a good light rather than a very damaging one. “The selective release of exculpatory material is a possibility worth watching for.” Barr also said he will study how much of Mueller’s report he can release to the public. With public pressure immense, Barr said he is “committed to as much transparency as possible.” David Rivkin, a conservative attorney who has followed the investigation closely, says he thinks there won’t be much that Barr needs to hold back. “My sense is it’s going to be a nothing-burger. It will be fairly anticlimactic,” he said. “Mueller is a cautious person, he’s not going to make recommendations about impeachment.” Parts or all of Barr’s summary can be expected to leak within hours of its arrival on Capitol Hill. But Congress has already moved beyond that to demand more. The Democratic chairs of six committees in the House insisted Friday that the full Mueller report be released to the public. “We also expect the underlying evidence uncovered during the course of the Special Counsel’s investigation will be turned over to the relevant committees of Congress upon request,” they said. The value of that could be huge — or a dud. The report could be “much ado about nothing,” wrote Marcy Wheeler, an independent journalist known for her knowledge of the case. One the other hand, it might be “a very damning report that doesn’t amount to criminal behavior” — something that Democrats in Congress could act upon even if Mueller did not. If Barr refuses to give more, it could spark a pitched battle between Congress and the White House. “It is likely to be weeks, and possibly months, before this issue is fully resolved, with much legal and political wrangling in the meantime,” said Coan. Whatever they get from Barr, Congress — or at least the Democrats who control the House — will continue to investigate Trump and his circle. Their reason: Through criminal cases against 34 individuals, including six former Trump aides, Mueller sketched out a picture of scores of willing contacts between the Trump campaign and the Russians and a readiness to exchange “dirt” on Trump’s election rival, Hillary Clinton. And Trump’s behavior throughout the investigation has, many lawyers said, met most definitions of obstruction, even if Mueller didn’t see a provable case. If there is more to that picture, Democrats want it out in public, and may believe that further investigation is required beyond the parameters that Mueller set for himself. Both Mueller and Barr can be expected to be summoned to testify, both behind closed doors where they can discuss intelligence matters, and in public.
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robert mueller;donald trump;russia probe;william barr
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jp0002166
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[
"world"
] |
2019/03/23
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U.S.-backed forces in Syria declare Islamic State defeated and 'caliphate' eliminated
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BAGHOUZ, SYRIA - The Islamic State group has been defeated at its final shred of territory of Baghouz in Syria, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Saturday, announcing the end of its self-declared “caliphate” that once spanned a third of Iraq and Syria. The SDF declared the “total elimination of (the) so-called caliphate,” Mustafa Bali, head of the SDF media office, wrote on Twitter. “Baghouz has been liberated. The military victory against Daesh has been accomplished,” he wrote. The SDF has been battling to capture Baghouz at the Iraqi border for weeks. Daesh is an Arabic acronym for Islamic State. “We renew our pledge to continue the war and to pursue their remnants until their complete elimination,” he wrote. Though the defeat of IS at Baghouz ends the group’s grip over the jihadi quasi-state straddling Syria and Iraq that it declared in 2014, it remains a threat. Some of its fighters still hold out in Syria’s remote central desert and in Iraqi cities they have slipped into the shadows, staging sudden shootings or kidnappings and awaiting a chance to rise again. The United States believes the group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is in Iraq. He stood at the pulpit of the great medieval mosque in Mosul in 2014 to declare himself caliph, sovereign over all Muslims. Further afield, jihadis in Afghanistan, Nigeria and elsewhere have shown no sign of recanting their allegiance to IS, and intelligence services say its devotees in the West might plot new attacks. The Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar Ja’afari, said on Friday IS was not yet finished in Syria, adding that it was the Damascus government backed by Russia and Iran that was genuinely battling it, not the United States. Still, the fall of Baghouz is a big milestone in a fight against the jihadi group waged by numerous local and global forces — some of them sworn enemies — over more than four years. It also marks a big moment in Syria’s eight-year war, wiping out the territory of one of the main contestants, with the rest split between President Bashar Assad, Turkey-backed rebels and the Kurdish-led SDF. Assad and his Iranian allies have sworn to recapture all Syria, and Turkey has threatened to drive out the SDF, which it sees as a terrorist group, by force. The continued presence of U.S. troops in northeast Syria might avert this. IS originated as an al-Qaida faction in Iraq, but it took advantage of Syria’s civil war to seize land there and split from the global jihadi organization. In 2014, it suddenly grabbed Iraq’s Mosul, one of the region’s great historic cities, as well as Syria’s Raqqa, and swathes of land each side of the border. It declared an end to modern countries and called on supporters to leave their homes and join the jihadi utopia it claimed to be erecting, trumpeting its currency, flag, passports and military parades. Oil production, extortion and antiquities smuggling financed its agenda, which included the slaughter of some minorities, public slave auctions of captured women, grotesque punishments for minor crimes and the choreographed killing of hostages. Those excesses brought an array of forces against it, forcing it from Mosul and Raqqa in a year of heavy defeats in 2017 and driving it, eventually, down the Euphrates to Baghouz. Over the past two months some 60,000 people poured out of that dwindling enclave, fleeing SDF bombardment and a shortage of food so severe that some said they were reduced to cooking grass. A mass grave the SDF discovered there last month showed there were other dangers in the enclave, though it has released no details on the identities of the victims or how they died. Civilians made up more than half the people leaving Baghouz, the SDF said, including IS victims such as women from the Iraqi Yazidi sect whom the jihadis had sexually enslaved. Thousands of the group’s unbending supporters also abandoned the enclave while still vowing their allegiance to a ruined caliphate and showing no remorse for its victims. At displacement camps in northeast Syria where they were sent by the SDF, the hard-liners, including many foreign women who came to Syria and Iraq to marry jihadis, had to be kept away from other, often traumatized, residents. Their fate has befuddled foreign governments, who see them as a security threat and are loath to accede to SDF entreaties to take them back home. As the fighting progressed in recent weeks, the convoys of trucks from Baghouz started to include hundreds, and then thousands, of surrendering jihadi fighters, many hobbling from their wounds. The SDF said it captured hundreds more in recent weeks who tried to slip through its cordon and escape into Iraq or across the Euphrates and into the Syrian desert. At the end, they were besieged in a tiny camp full of rusting vehicles and makeshift shelters, pinned against the Euphrates and overlooked by hills held by the SDF. IS released video from inside that miserable, shell-pounded enclave, showing its last fighters still shooting at the SDF as smoke billowed overhead. It was an attempt to shape the narrative of its defeat, portraying it as a heroic last stand against overwhelming odds and a call to arms for future jihadis. But the footage shown by the SDF in recent weeks was of long lines of abject, surrendering fighters, sitting or squatting in a desolate landscape, their dreams dashed.
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conflict;u.s .;violence;terrorism;syria;islamic state
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jp0002167
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/03/23
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Hundreds of thousands march in London to demand new Brexit referendum
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LONDON - Hundreds of thousands of people opposed to Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union marched through central London on Saturday to demand a new referendum as the deepening Brexit crisis risked sinking Prime Minister Theresa May’s premiership. Marchers set off in central London with banners proclaiming “The best deal is no Brexit” and “We Demand a People’s Vote” in what organizers said could be the biggest anti-Brexit protest yet. After three years of tortuous debate, it is still uncertain how, when or even if Brexit will happen as May tries to plot a way out of the gravest political crisis in at least a generation. May hinted Friday that she might not bring her twice-defeated EU divorce deal back to Parliament next week, leaving her Brexit strategy in meltdown. The Times and The Daily Telegraph reported that pressure is growing on May to resign. “I would feel differently if this was a well managed process and the government was taking sensible decisions. But it is complete chaos,” Gareth Rae, 59, who traveled from Bristol to attend the demonstration, said. “The country will be divided whatever happens and it is worse to be divided on a lie.” While the country and its politicians are divided over Brexit, most agree it is the most important strategic decision the United Kingdom has faced since World War II. Pro-EU protesters gathered for a “Put it to the People March” at Marble Arch on the edge of Hyde Park around midday, before marching past the prime minister’s office in Downing Street and finish outside Parliament. While there was no official estimate of the numbers, campaign organizers said hundreds of thousands of people were in the crowd as it began to march. Organizers were confident that the size of the crowd would exceed a similar rally held in October, when supporters said about 700,000 people turned up. Phoebe Poole, 18, who was holding a placard saying “Never Gonna give EU up” in reference to a song by 1980s popstar Rick Astley, wasn’t old enough to vote in the 2016 referendum. “We have come here today because we feel like our future has been stolen from us. It is our generation that is going to have to live with the consequences of this disaster,” she said. “It is going to make it harder to get a job. You are already seeing a lot of large companies leaving. I am worried about the future.” Two hundred coaches from around Britain were booked to take people to London for the march. One coach left the Scottish Highlands on Friday evening, and another left from Cornwall, in southwest England, early Saturday morning. A petition to cancel Brexit altogether gained 4 million signatures in just 3 days after May told the public “I am on your side” over Brexit and urged lawmakers to get behind her deal. In the June 23, 2016, referendum, 17.4 million voters, or 52 percent, backed Brexit while 16.1 million, or 48 percent, backed staying in the bloc. But ever since, opponents of Brexit have been exploring ways to hold another referendum. May has repeatedly ruled out holding another Brexit referendum, saying it would deepen divisions and undermine support for democracy. Brexit supporters say a second referendum would trigger a major constitutional crisis. We already put it to the people. And the people roared,” pro-leave group Change Britain said in a tweet. Supporters of Brexit say that while the divorce might bring some short-term instability, in the longer term Britain would thrive if cut free from what they cast as a doomed experiment in German-dominated unity that is falling far behind other major powers. Some opinion polls have shown a slight shift in favor of remaining in the European Union, but there has yet to be a decisive change in attitudes. Many voters in Britain say they have become increasingly bored by Brexit and May said Wednesday that they want this stage of the Brexit process to be “over and done with.” But protesters disagreed with May’s claim that she is on the side of the British public, with one placard reading: “You do not speak for us Theresa.”
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eu;politics;london;brexit;theresa may
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jp0002168
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/03/23
|
Now what? Russia probe ends but story far from over
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WASHINGTON - Now what? Special counsel Robert Mueller has concluded his Trump-Russia investigation and on Friday delivered his final report to Attorney General William Barr. But what the report looks like isn’t clear. Justice Department regulations required only that Mueller give the attorney general a confidential report that explains the decisions to pursue or decline prosecutions. It could have been as simple as a bullet point list, but the Justice Department has described it as “comprehensive.” Whatever is in the report, we may not get all the juicy details that were uncovered over the past 22 months — at least not right away. But this story is far from over. Here’s what to expect next: What will Barr do? Barr has to decide what should be released to Congress and the public. In a letter to lawmakers Friday, Barr suggested this could come in stages. He said he could release Mueller’s principal conclusions as soon as this weekend. He also said that he would consult with Mueller and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to see what other information could be released “consistent with the law.” He said he remains “committed to as much transparency as possible.” But Barr has previously said he takes seriously the “shall be confidential” part of the regulations governing Mueller’s report. He has noted that department protocol says internal memos explaining charging decisions should not be released. Does Trump have access? It is unclear whether Trump will ask to see the full report and under what circumstances he or his attorneys might be able to view it, especially because the document is meant to be confidential for Justice Department leadership. Mueller reports to the Justice Department, not the White House. Barr said at his confirmation hearing that he would not permit White House interference in the investigation. But he also has voiced an expansive view of executive power in which the president functions as the country’s chief law enforcement officer and has wide latitude in giving directives to the FBI and Justice Department. Democrats could seize on any disclosure to the president to argue that the report really isn’t confidential and should be immediately provided to them as well. What will democrats do? Democrats are demanding access to the full Mueller report and the underlying evidence in the investigation — and are threatening to issue subpoenas if they don’t get them. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said on CNN that Congress needs to know “and so does the country.” But Trump, as the leader of the executive branch, could direct the Justice Department to defy the subpoena, setting the stage for a court fight that could go to the Supreme Court. What won’t happen now? More indictments. A Justice Department official says Mueller is not recommending any further indictments in the Russia investigation.
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vladimir putin;russia;espionage;scandals;robert mueller;donald trump;2016 u.s. presidential election;russia probe
|
jp0002169
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/03/23
|
May pushes lawmakers for Brexit deal with new timetable
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LONDON - British Prime Minister Theresa May tried to persuade MPs to back the EU divorce deal, seeking to build bridges after lashing out at lawmakers for their indecision on Brexit. May wrote to all MPs on Friday to spell out the possible paths forward after European Union leaders granted a short delay to Britain’s departure date at this week’s EU summit. However, the prime minister said she would not hold a third vote on the divorce deal next week if sufficient numbers do not switch sides in the coming days. The premier faces daunting odds to persuade British lawmakers to support the plan — something they have already overwhelmingly rejected twice — by a new April 12 deadline agreed with the EU. If May succeeds, Britain — which was staring at a cliff-edge deadline of March 29 for leaving the EU — will depart on May 22 under the terms of the withdrawal agreement struck with Brussels last year. But if MPs cannot back the deal, then Britain can ask for another extension by April 12 or face a no-deal Brexit. A further extension would require Britain to take part in European Parliament elections in May, despite having voted to leave the bloc three years ago. In her letter, May said she would only bring the divorce agreement before the House of Commons again if it looked like there was sufficient support to pass the deal. She spelled out the four options ahead, the first to being to revoke Britain’s notice to leave the EU, “but that would betray the result of the referendum,” the second to leave with no deal on April 12 — which a majority of MPs have said they do not support, in a vote earlier this month. “If it appears that there is sufficient support and the speaker permits it, we can bring the deal back next week and if it is approved we can leave on May 22,” she wrote. But she said if there was not sufficient support or the house rejected it, Britain could ask for another extension and take part in the European Parliament elections, adding: “I strongly believe that … would be wrong.” Speaking to reporters in Brussels on Friday at the close of the EU summit, EU Council President Donald Tusk said: “Until April 12, anything is possible.” Brexit protesters were set to march in London on Saturday demanding a second referendum. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she would join. “The EU’s decision to postpone things until at least April 12 has opened a window, and those of us who oppose Brexit must seize the chance it offers,” Sturgeon said, according to the Press Association. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the bloc’s leaders would need another summit with May to discuss how to proceed if MPs reject the agreement again. That prospect increased on Friday after Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, which props up May’s government in parliament, accused the prime minister of “failure” at the EU summit. “The government has been far too willing to capitulate,” Nigel Dodds, the DUP’s leader in the British Parliament, said in a statement, adding that “nothing has changed as far as the withdrawal agreement is concerned.” May faces an immediate hurdle in the form of John Bercow, the speaker of Parliament’s lower House of Commons. He has said the agreement being voted on has to be on different terms from the ones MPs have already rejected. There was also heightened speculation that May is increasingly open to a series of so-called “indicative votes” that could reveal the level of parliamentary support for other options. Parliament has been deadlocked for months over Brexit, with lawmakers unable to decide how to implement the 2016 referendum vote to leave, reflecting bitter divisions in the kingdom as a whole. In her letter, May rowed back from Wednesday night, when she made a statement lambasting MPs for failing to make their minds up on how they wanted to proceed on Brexit. “I expressed my frustration with our failure to take a decision, but I know that many of you are frustrated too. You have a difficult job to do and it was not my intention to make it any more difficult,” she said. The pound rose on news of the Brexit delay but is likely to remain volatile amid uncertainty over what path Britain will now take. Stocks in London ended the day 2.0 percent lower. As uncertainty continues to reign, more than 3.7 million people have signed an online petition calling on the government to cancel Brexit.
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eu;u.k .;brexit;theresa may
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jp0002171
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/03/23
|
'Utterly shocking': Trump sparks new confusion over North Korea sanctions policy
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WASHINGTON - The U.S. will leave in place North Korea-related sanctions on two Chinese shipping companies that were announced on Thursday, and U.S. President Donald Trump has no plans to impose additional penalties on Kim Jong Un’s government, according to two people familiar with the matter. The two people, who were granted anonymity to discuss the issue, spoke on Friday night, hours after Trump threw U.S. sanctions policy toward North Korea into confusion, saying on Twitter that he had ordered the withdrawal of “additional large scale” penalties his government imposed against the country. Trump said the new sanctions had been issued on Friday, but the Treasury Department made no such announcement. Treasury announced sanctions against the two shipping companies on Thursday to punish them for alleged violations of existing sanctions against shipments to North Korea. Spokesmen for the White House and the Treasury Department didn’t explain Trump’s midday announcement before the end of the day. Trump has a penchant for making policy on Twitter, catching his own government off-guard. On Thursday, he announced in a tweet that the U.S. should recognize the disputed Golan Heights as Israeli territory, surprising State Department officials. “This is utterly shocking,” John Smith, a former director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control at Treasury, which issues and polices sanctions, said in an email. “The president of the United States actively undercut his own sanctions agency for the benefit of North Korea.” Smith left the agency in May. A second former OFAC official, Sean Kane, said in an email that Trump’s announcement was “unprecedented” and “calls any OFAC action into question when no one can be sure whether they’re speaking for the administration.” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement: “President Trump likes Chairman Kim and he doesn’t think these sanctions will be necessary.” Sanders didn’t specify which sanctions Trump planned to withdraw, and didn’t respond to follow-up questions. One of the two Chinese shipping companies, Dalian Haibo International Freight Co. Ltd., is doing business with a sanctioned North Korean company, Treasury said in a statement on Thursday. The other, Liaoning Danxing International Forwarding Co. Ltd., was sanctioned for “operating in the transportation industry in North Korea,” Treasury said. The U.S. also updated a North Korea shipping advisory, adding dozens of vessels that are believed to have engaged in ship-to-ship transfers of oil with North Korean tankers or exported North Korean coal to evade sanctions. Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, publicly applauded the actions on Thursday. “The maritime industry must do more to stop North Korea’s illicit shipping practices,” he said in a tweet, adding that “everyone should take notice and review their own activities to ensure they are not involved in North Korea’s sanctions evasion.” Trump abruptly ended a summit with Kim in Hanoi last month after the president said the North Korean leader had asked for all U.S. sanctions to be lifted in exchange for the dismantling of the country’s main nuclear facility. Each side has blamed the other, with the U.S. saying North Korea demanded too much sanctions relief and Pyongyang faulting Washington for rejecting its promises to reduce its nuclear program. North Korea has recently demonstrated its frustration with the outcome of the summit. Last week, one of North Korea’s top diplomats, Choe Son Hui, said Kim would decide soon whether to continue to refrain from weapons tests, blaming the breakdown in Hanoi on the America’s “gangster-like” demands. And on Friday, Pyongyang withdrew from a liaison office it established with South Korea last year that allowed the rivals to communicate around the clock. The last time the Koreas used the office for a meeting was Feb. 22. North Korea informed the Seoul government that it was “pulling out with instructions from the superior authority,” South Korea’s Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung said. The ministry said in an emailed statement that it regrets the withdrawal and urged the North to promptly return to the office. While South Korean President Moon Jae-in has tried to act as a bridge between Trump and Kim, Choe called her country’s southern neighbor “a player, not an arbiter,” because it was an ally of Washington. North Korea has called South Korea “cowardly” for cooperating with U.S. sanctions, according to its propaganda website, Uriminzokkiri.
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u.s .;north korea;diplomacy;sanctions;north korea nuclear crisis;donald trump
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jp0002172
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[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/03/23
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26 killed in China after tour bus bursts into flames
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BEIJING - Twenty six people were killed and 30 injured after a tourist bus caught fire in central China, local officials said. The vehicle burst into flames as it drove through Hunan province Friday with 56 people on board — including 53 passengers, two drivers and a tour guide — according to local authorities. The injured, including five in a critical condition, were rushed to hospital for treatment. The two drivers were detained and an investigation into the cause of the accident is under way, according to a statement posted on the city of Changde’s official social media account on Weibo. Grisly car accidents are common in China, where transport authorities struggle to enforce safety regulations, which are often flouted. Some 58,000 people were killed in traffic accidents across the country in 2015, the latest year for which the data is available publicly. Violations of traffic laws were blamed for nearly 90 percent of accidents that caused deaths or injuries that year. In November, at least 13 people died when a bus plunged off a bridge in Chongqing municipality, after the driver got into a fist fight with a passenger who had missed her stop. Search and rescue teams dispatched more than 70 boats, as well as a team of scuba divers and underwater robots, to find the wreckage and retrieve bodies from the water. In February, a van packed with pressurized gas tanks and petrol-filled bottles caught fire and plowed into pedestrians in Shanghai, leaving at least 18 people injured. Authorities concluded that it had been a “traffic accident.”
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china;accidents
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jp0002173
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/03/23
|
Tearful Muslims return to Christchurch mosque as New Zealand works to move on
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CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND - Muslims prayed at Christchurch’s main mosque on Saturday for the first time since a white supremacist massacred worshippers there as New Zealand sought to return to normality after the tragedy. The Al Noor mosque was taken over by police for investigations and security reasons after alleged gunman Brenton Tarrant attacked Muslims gathered there and at a smaller mosque for Friday prayers on March 15, killing 50 people. But Al Noor was handed back to the local Muslim community on Saturday and began allowing small groups onto its grounds around midday. “We are allowing 15 people at a time, just to get some normality,” said Saiyad Hassen, a volunteer at Al Noor, adding that there was as yet no known plan to fully reopen. Among the first to enter was Vohra Mohammad Huzef, who survived the bloodshed. Huzef, a Christchurch civil engineer originally from India, said two of his roommates were killed and he managed to survive only by hiding under bodies. “I could feel the bullets hitting the people and I could feel the blood coming down on me from the people who were shot,” he said. “Everyone wants to get back in again to give praise and to catch up. This is the central point of our community.” The attacks have shocked a country of 4.5 million known for its tolerance and prompted global horror, heightened by Tarrant’s cold-blooded live-streaming of the massacre. New Zealand came to a standstill on Friday to mark one week since the massacre, with the Muslim call to prayer broadcast across the country followed by two minutes of silence for the dead. The nationwide ceremonies saw poignant scenes of non-Muslims embracing Muslims, Maoris performing the traditional haka war dance, and non-Muslim New Zealand women donning makeshift Islamic headscarves in solidarity. A day earlier, the country outlawed the military-style rifles used in the assault. Police confirmed they had also handed back the Linwood Mosque, the second killing zone several kilometers away, but no plans to allow visitors were announced. An armed police presence will remain at both mosques, as well as others around New Zealand. Workers have rushed to repair bullet-pocked walls and clean blood-spattered floors at the two mosques. At Al Noor, the small groups of visitors removed their shoes and socks and knelt down at a garden tap to wash their feet and faces in ritual pre-prayer ablutions. Some wept quietly as they made their way into the mosque, where bright sunlight streamed through windows and the air smelled of fresh paint. No bullet holes were seen. Men and women then knelt down to pray on a grey padded carpet underlay taped to the floor, with the mosque’s rugs yet to be replaced. Visitors included mosque Imam Gamal Fouda, who arrived draped in a New Zealand flag. The day before, Fouda had delivered an impassioned memorial service at a park next to the mosque that was broadcast nationwide, praising an “unbreakable” New Zealand for uniting in the tragedy’s wake. Around 2,000 people gathered Saturday at the same park to join a “March for Love” procession through Christchurch. Elsewhere in the city were signs of a return to normalcy, with children playing cricket near Al Noor and a previously scheduled 100-kilometer cycling race going ahead as planned. New Zealand, which already has prosecuted two people for distributing the gruesome livestream video of the attack, has now also made it a crime to share the alleged killer’s “manifesto,” NZ media reported. In the document, Tarrant says he carried out the killings in response to what he termed a Muslim “invasion” of Western countries. “Others have referred to this publication as a ‘manifesto,’ but I consider it a crude booklet that promotes murder and terrorism,” Chief Censor David Shanks was quoted as saying.
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guns;violence;terrorism;new zealand;mass shootings
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jp0002174
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[
"national"
] |
2019/03/23
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754 pass Japanese government's first unified hiring exam for people with disabilities
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A total of 754 candidates have passed the government’s first unified employment examination for people with disabilities, according to the National Personnel Authority. The examination started early last month and the list of successful applicants was announced Friday. They will start working as civil servants at ministries, agencies or their branches across Japan from as early as Monday. The unified exam was created after several state entities were found to have padded employment numbers for people with disabilities. A total of 8,712 people applied for the exam, meaning only one in about 11.6 people passed. The ministries and agencies initially planned to hire 676 people with disabilities but hired more at the request of the National Personnel Authority. The youngest person to pass the exam was 18 and the oldest was 59. Of the successful applicants, 432 people have mental disabilities, 319 have physical disabilities and three have intellectual disabilities. The Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry hired the largest number, at 174, followed by the Justice Ministry with 138, and the National Tax Agency with 90. With the government aiming to employ some 4,000 workers with disabilities for regular and part-time positions by the end of the year, further steps will be required to reach the target.
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employment;disability;bureaucracy
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jp0002175
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[
"national"
] |
2019/03/23
|
Otsu turns to AI in bid to help teachers detect signs of school bullying
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OTSU, SHIGA PREF. - The city of Otsu will begin next month the country’s first attempt to use artificial intelligence to help teachers detect signs of serious school bullying. AI will be used to analyze some 9,000 historical bullying cases reported by local elementary and junior high schools over the six years to this month. The system will also assess cases in which the bullying was only suspected. The city signed an accord with Tokyo-based Hitachi Systems Ltd. on Friday to collaborate on the project. The AI is expected to assist schools in detecting aggression in bullying cases, which can be triggered by a minor issue between students, even when some teachers lack knowledge or experience in identifying warning signs, according to the local education board. Otsu Mayor Naomi Koshi said earlier she expects local schools to “act firmly against (bullying) without solely being dependent on teachers’ experience, by having AI theoretically analyze past data.” Among the factors to be looked at via the AI are the grade-level of students impacted, their gender and the number involved, the timing of the bullying and where it occurred, as well as the students’ academic records. The education board believes the analysis, expected to be completed by October, will make known the characteristics of bullying to help teachers identify cases in their classrooms. In Otsu, the suicide of a 13-year-old boy in 2011 was determined by a third-party panel two years later to have been caused by bullying. Since then, the city’s education board has required each school to report bullying cases within 24 hours.
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bullying;shiga prefecture;artificial intelligence
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jp0002176
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[
"national",
"politics-diplomacy"
] |
2019/03/23
|
Japan and China to open talks on foreign infrastructure projects amid warming ties
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Japan and China have agreed to launch talks to facilitate cooperation on infrastructure development projects in third countries amid a recent thaw in bilateral relations, diplomatic sources said Friday. The inaugural meeting is being arranged for April or May in Beijing, before Chinese President Xi Jinping’s planned visit to Japan in June for the Group of 20 summit in Osaka, according to the sources. The launch of talks comes as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is shifting toward conditional cooperation with China despite Xi’s “Belt and Road” initiative to build infrastructure networks in Asia and beyond, which has raised concerns over the possibility Beijing could pull many developing countries into its economic orbit. When Abe visited China last October, he and Xi agreed on the need to discuss how best to cooperate on infrastructure projects in third countries. Kazuya Nashida, director-general of the Foreign Ministry’s International Cooperation Bureau, is expected to lead a Japanese delegation for the meeting with senior officials from the China International Development Cooperation Agency, according to the sources. It remains to be seen how much China and Japan, the world’s second- and third-largest economies, can cooperate in developing infrastructure in third countries, including those along the ancient Silk Road that runs from China to Europe via Central Asia. Critics say some developing countries that have borrowed heavily from China are reeling from excessive debt burdens. Japan has been vigilant against China’s attempts to increase its economic influence in the region even though recent months have seen the two countries warming to each other amid trade friction between Beijing and Washington. Some Japanese government officials say the upcoming dialogue should not be a forum for the giant initiative. “We hope to explore future cooperation in new areas as Japan’s official development assistance to China is set to end in fiscal 2018,” a senior Foreign Ministry official said. Under Abe, Japan has been striving to create a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific,” an initiative designed to facilitate the flow of goods and people by building quality infrastructure, and to maintain the rules-based order in the region.
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shinzo abe;china-japan relations;g20;xi jinping
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jp0002178
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[
"national",
"media-national"
] |
2019/03/23
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Denki Groove campaign reveals what Japan truly thinks of celebrities embroiled in drug scandals
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It doesn’t take much for a celebrity drug scandal to be picked up by domestic news outlets in Japan, so when TV personality Pierre Taki was arrested on suspicion of cocaine use on March 12, it’s perhaps not surprising that TV and print media jumped on the story. Segments featured on morning shows in the wake of the news included an analyst using a bank note to demonstrate how to consume the drug and an awkward attempt at explaining what “acid house” was. The story also dominated social media conversations in Japan, partially because all celebrity scandals generate chat online. However, whereas television grappled with the notion of trying to explain a decades-old music genre, netizens used Taki’s case as a jumping off point to talk about the sillier aspects of such cases, as well as Japan’s place in the world. Once the initial surprise of Taki’s arrest wore off and people dug out CDs from their collections, attention turned to a familiar ritual in the nation’s entertainment industry in such cases. As has been the case with other artists and celebrities arrested for various crimes, the body of work that Taki is associated with has been pulled from stores and upcoming shows by Denki Groove were canceled. Disney even stopped producing new copies of “Frozen,” in which Taki had been the voice of the fictional snowman Olaf. However, Taki’s situation introduced a few new twists. All of Denki Groove’s music also vanished from streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music, a decision that reinforced the notion that digital media (especially those controlled by private companies) can disappear with the click of a button, unlike CDs. However, this was also a rare example of an artist getting in trouble for drugs in the Twitter and YouTuber age, which has allowed a wide range of users to weigh in on Taki’s situation. The online landscape has changed significantly since pop star Aska was booked for a similar case in 2014 , as have attitudes on social media. Many users haven’t been shy in expressing how they feel about the move to yank works featuring Taki. Some weren’t happy to hear that his art would vanish , while others argued it seemed unfair to those with chemical dependency issues. Online voices have always criticized the strict approach taken in such celebrity scandals, but social media these days has allowed people to be more vocal than ever before. While such things rarely result in actual change, more than 50,000 signed a Change.org petition asking for Taki’s works to be reinstated. Many on Twitter reveled in the irony of NHK airing “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” in place of a drama featuring Taki shortly after his arrest, even though the replacement featured River Phoenix, an actor who himself died of a drug overdose. Composer Ryuichi Sakamoto slammed the decision to pull Taki’s releases. Online outlets were just as feisty in a way previously unseen. Weekly magazine Gendai Business used this as a way to lambast Japan for being 10 years behind the rest of the world , while Litera argued that the reaction to it showed a shift in tune with the globe at large. Electronic-leaning station Block.fm shared a blistering editorial that argued the decision to remove his music wasn’t in line with popular opinion. Buzzfeed Japan poked some fun at the issue, before proving a point by making a quiz that asked respondents whether it was appropriate to remove the works of Western musicians dabbling in drugs (the Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, among others). Netizens almost certainly rallied against the decision to pull Denki Groove and Taki-related works, with social media being used as a tool in a way it hasn’t really been utilized in Japan before. Maybe attitudes are changing (stars formerly busted for drugs, including former baseball player Kazuhiro Kiyohara, now admit they are battling addiction ) or platforms allow long-present views to be published. Who knows how other celebrity drug scandals would have unfolded had they occurred in 2019 — there are plenty to consider from other years . As much righteous flak Taki’s arrest received, there were a few other lessons to learn. Plans to release one of Taki’s movies in the near future are still in the works, which certainly wasn’t the case for upcoming features from Hirofumi Arai, an actor arrested on suspicion of rape earlier this year. One online outlet referenced this and noted that entertainment figures in Japan accused of a crime involving abuse or domestic violence are typically blacklisted from the industry. This state of affairs might actually put Japan ahead of the U.S., where artists such as Xxxtentaction, R. Kelly and, most recently, Michael Jackson can still make money from their music despite the serious allegations that have been levied against them. Whatever happens, it’s not all bad news as far as Taki is concerned. At the same time Taki was getting booked, J-pop performer Noriko Sakai (better known as “Nori-P”) made her first appearance on broadcast TV in 11 years after being arrested for drug possession. Time does indeed appear to heal all wounds … even if it takes a little longer in Japan.
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social media;cocaine;pierre taki;japan pulse
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jp0002179
|
[
"national",
"media-national"
] |
2019/03/23
|
Idols and agencies in Japan navigate a brand new landscape
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Television personality Masahiro Nakai made an appearance as a “surprise guest” on the March 10 installment of Nippon TV’s law-related variety show, “ Gyoretsu no Dekiru Horitsu Sodanjo ” (“Line-up Law Office”). Earlier, guest Koji Kato had related an anecdote featuring Shingo Katori, Nakai’s former associate in the idol group SMAP, which disbanded in 2016. Nakai liked the story, referring to Katori affectionately as “Shingo- chan .” It was hardly a big deal but, according to the online news blog Cyzo Woman , the exchange shocked a number of media people. SMAP called it quits when three of its five members, including Katori, decided to leave the company that created them, Johnny & Associates, one of Japan’s most powerful talent agencies. Nakai remained. Industry practice says that when someone quits an agency for any reason, they are informally blackballed by media entities, which means their name shouldn’t be mentioned on the air. Cyzo Woman wanted to know why this form of institutionalized snubbing was not in force at Nippon TV that day. A reporter for a sports tabloid said that Kato is the host of Nippon TV’s morning show “Sukkiri,” and that, in November 2017, he complained about his employer’s treatment of the SMAP members who left Johnny’s. They had appeared at an awards ceremony covered by “Sukkiri,” but the clip with their image contained no indication of who they were in the form of text superimposed on the screen. It was almost as if they didn’t exist. The writer of the Cyzo Woman article suggested that Nippon TV might have regretted this decision, the implication being that when Katori’s name came up naturally in conversation on “Gyoretsu no Dekiru Horitsu Sodanjo,” the producers opted not to edit it out. A person who works in an advertising company also implied that Johnny’s itself had nothing to do with the matter. It was simply Nippon TV exercising sontaku , the not-so-peculiar Japanese habit of “conjecturing” another party’s displeasure about a matter and preemptively ensuring that the matter doesn’t turn into a problem. However, the advertising employee told Cyzo Woman that the Fair Trade Commission is investigating Johnny’s for possible antitrust violations in its handling of former talent, and so all TV stations, not just Nippon TV, are now being careful about how they refer to the three former SMAP members. However, the Cyzo article discusses the matter almost exclusively within the realm of television. The three Johnny’s defectors — Katori, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi and Goro Inagaki, who have formed a new group called Atarashii Chizu (New Map) — have done well for themselves since leaving the company. Collectively and individually they attract attention on social media, act in movies and appear in advertisements. Katori has made a name for himself as a contemporary artist. In fact, Kusanagi still has a regular TV job as a narrator on NHK’s travelogue, “Buratamori.” The changing situation at Johnny’s also reflects the fact that the agency’s aging founder, Johnny Kitagawa, has been transferring power to new people , but there is also a growing desire among Japanese talent in general to steer their own careers. Granted, SMAP was one of the biggest acts in the history of Japanese showbiz, thus making it possible for Atarashii Chizu to buck the system without committing career suicide. However, their departure paved the way for Johnny’s other popular boy band, Arashi, to announce their own pending hiatus , although what’s notable about Arashi’s decision is that it was sparked by leader Satoshi Ohno, who suggests that rather than being free of Johnny’s he wants out of show business altogether. Now that the gates are open, will there be a stampede? Earlier this month, the weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun reported that 34-year-old Ryo Nishikido was pondering a split from another Johnny’s act, Kanjani Eight. It isn’t clear whether only Nishikido is leaving or Kanjani Eight will dissolve, but television insiders told tabloid Nikkan Gendai Digital that TV producers who work with the group are planning for the day when they are no more. Kanjani Eight has already lost one member in a similar fashion. Subaru Shibutani left the group last year and launched a website on Feb. 28. Apparently, Shibutani had been frustrated as an idol and dreamed of making it as a legitimate musician . He has cited another former Johnny’s charge, Jin Akanishi, as inspiration. In 2014, after studying English in Los Angeles, Akanishi left the company to launch a solo career, and it has been largely successful. He launched his own record label and collaborates with Universal Music. In fact, several former Johnny’s idols have recording contracts with major labels, including Atarashii Chizu. What most don’t have is work on TV, which is still considered vital for celebrity affirmation. Producers of TV drama series depend on Johnny’s because it’s assumed their charges attract maximum viewership. That’s an important consideration for Nishikido, who doesn’t seem interested in a music career. He’s also an actor, and if he leaves Johnny’s it might be difficult to get acting gigs on TV dramas such as Fuji TV’s highly rated police procedural, “Trace,” which ended on March 18. However, movies and theater shouldn’t be a problem. Kusanagi is now attracting attention as a deadbeat father in the film “Makuko.” In the weekly magazine Aera , he admitted that when he quit Johnny’s he was afraid of not being able to find work, so he was relieved when the role was offered to him. In a follow-up to its initial scoop, Shukan Bunshun said that Johnny’s had spread the word that media shouldn’t report on Nishikido’s rumored split from Kanjani Eight, implying it was fake news. For a few days, most media held back on the story, but then another weekly, Shukan Josei, broke the embargo and other weeklies and tabloids followed suit. As Hiroyuki Shinoda remarked in a roundup of weekly magazine stories in the Tokyo Shimbun on March 17, thanks to the internet, Johnny’s cannot control coverage of its operations as effectively as it used to. That may be true but eventually, it seems, even idols get tired of being told what to do.
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smap;nippon tv;atarashii chizu
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jp0002180
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/03/23
|
Planning for new visas faces delays
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The central government is unsure when it will complete all of its preparations for two new visa categories, with preparatory work unlikely to be concluded before the new permits are introduced April 1. There have been delays in concluding notes on cooperation with China and seven other countries from which workers are expected to arrive, officials said. On Friday, the government held a meeting of officials from relevant agencies at the Prime Minister’s Office. Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kazuhiro Sugita instructed participants to step up preparations so that Japan can start the new system without any hitches. He also requested that an expanded version of the government’s comprehensive support measures for foreign workers be drawn up as early as June. Two visa categories will be granted to foreign workers with specific skills. Most of the workers to be accepted from April will fall under the first type of visa for those with lower levels of skill. Under this category, foreign nationals who have passed skill and Japanese-language tests will be allowed to work in Japan for up to five years. Fourteen industries, including nursing care and agriculture, are preparing to accept workers under that visa type. The government estimates that, between the two visa types, up to about 340,000 foreign workers will be accepted over the coming five years. It represents a major policy shift for a country that has basically granted working visas only to highly skilled people with professional knowledge such as doctors, lawyers and teachers. At the meeting, officials from the Foreign Ministry said the first round of Japanese-language tests for applicants will be held in Manila on April 13 and 14. Representatives of the Justice Ministry said it has completed briefings on the visa categories in all of Japan’s 47 prefectures and posted explanatory materials for recipient companies on its website. Participants also said the English and Japanese versions of guides on life and work in Japan will be posted online in April. Still, the government is facing a delay in concluding notes of cooperation over the new visa system with other countries. It aims to complete deals with eight more nations by the end of this month — Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Nepal and Mongolia. So far, Tokyo has only concluded an agreement with the Philippines. Officials said Japan is uncertain when it will be able to conclude the notes with some of them, such as China and Vietnam. Work to create foreign-language materials for foreign nationals who will work under the new categories has also been delayed. The Justice Ministry does not know to what extent preparations have been made for opening the planned 100 consultation centers on the issue nationwide. “We haven’t had enough time since the beginning,” a ministry official said. “We can’t say preparations have progressed smoothly.”
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immigration;labor shortage;foreign workforce
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jp0002181
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/03/23
|
Japan to make carbon dating of ivory mandatory for trade, tightening controls on oft-criticized market
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Japan will tighten controls on its internationally maligned ivory market in July, requiring dealers to prove via carbon dating that specimens were legally obtained, the Environment Ministry said Friday. “By shutting down the movement of ivory of unknown origin, the domestic market is moving closer to an effective closure,” Environment Minister Yoshiaki Harada said at a news conference. In 1990, international ivory trading was banned in principle under the Washington Convention, officially known as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. However, ivory that remains in its original form and that was obtained prior to the convention taking effect is permitted to be traded in Japan after it is registered with the Japan Wildlife Research Center. Individuals who wish to trade ivory in the country will now have to report how it was acquired, while providing third-party testimony on its provenance. Carbon dating to show the age of ivory will become an absolute prerequisite from July 1, making ivory obtained from recent poaching impossible to register and sell, the ministry said. While the United States, China and other countries have taken steps to close markets, Japan has previously argued its domestic trading has no impact on poaching. The nation’s conservation law was amended in 2017 to mandate that ivory dealers register with the government, but the WWF said the measure did not resolve pressing issues involving ivory. The conservation group said more than 2.4 tons of ivory was unlawfully exported from Japan to China and elsewhere between 2011 and 2016.
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smuggling;ivory;environment;wwf japan
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jp0002182
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/03/23
|
Major Mount Fuji eruption would shower about 1.5 cm of ash on central Tokyo: disaster management team
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A major volcanic eruption of Mount Fuji similar to the one that occurred in 1707 could leave ash 1 to 1.5 cm thick in central Tokyo over 15 days, according to a recent estimate released by a government team. The layer of ash would exceed 3 meters in thickness at the foot of Japan’s highest peak, about 100 km west of central Tokyo, the working team of the central disaster management council said Friday. The team made the estimates using wind data from Dec. 16 to 31 last year as those conditions are considered to be similar to what was seen at the time of the 1707 eruption. Ash from the 3,776-meter mountain is also forecast to accumulate as far away as Chiba Prefecture. The accumulation is seen reaching 1.2 meters in Gotemba in Shizuoka Prefecture, 45 cm in Hadano in Kanagawa and 10 cm in Yokohama. The amount would be 4.5 cm in Tokyo Bay and 1 to 1.5 centimeters in the capital’s Shinjuku Ward. The team said roads will become impassable if the ash accumulation reaches 10 cm. It also said disruptions in aviation could be serious as well. Only 0.2 to 0.4 mm of ash would make it difficult to see signs and indicators on runways, possibly resulting in airport shutdowns. The team will consider how to control traffic, remove and dispose of fallen ash and deal with other problems that would be caused by such an eruption. The measures will be finalized by the end of March 2020 and reflected in local government disaster management plans.
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eruption;mount fuji;volcanoes;natural disasters
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jp0002183
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/03/23
|
At Tokyo summit, Malala Yousafzai urges world leaders to expand educational opportunities for women
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Visiting Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai urged world leaders Saturday to further promote the empowerment of women through education and financial support. Her call came on the first day of the joint World Assembly for Women and Women 20 (W20) summit, which was held in Tokyo with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in attendance. “If you want to create a world where all women and girls can shine, where women are driving innovation, or succeed in government and business, our leaders must invest in girls’ education,” Malala said in her opening keynote speech. “This week, I’m asking G20 leaders to commit new funding to girls’ education” and for the development of the “skills that they need to prepare for the future workforce,” she added. In his opening speech, Abe echoed the need to invest in women’s education and made clear his commitment to make it a high priority in the agenda for this year’s Group of 20 summit, to be held in Osaka in June. Speaking of Japan’s commitment to making education accessible for young women in developing countries, Abe said that Japan will “provide high quality education and opportunities for resource development to 4 million women in developing countries by 2020.” “Better education is not just about social policy, but also crucial to sustainable economic growth,” he added, referring to the findings of a World Bank report released last year claiming that the global cost of women who cannot complete 12 years of education amounts to $15 trillion to $30 trillion in lost lifetime earnings. “I will be raising this issue at the G20 to make sure with other leaders that as the G20, we envision a world where all women across the globe can have access to good education for 12 years,” he said. Representatives of the W20 network also submitted to Abe a communique that endorsed previous G20 declarations and made new suggestions on how to improve gender equality and empower women. In the World Economic Forum’s annual World Gender Gap Index in 2018, Japan was ranked 110 out of 149 countries, although it had moved up four spots from the previous year mainly due to narrower wage gaps and an increase in women’s employment. This year’s communique has a particular focus on women and technology, and pushes for the “inclusive and responsible use of all new technologies, including AI … to ensure no woman is left behind,” and touches on the need to “close the digital gender gap” to ensure “women can exercise their digital rights.” The communique also suggests putting governance mechanisms for the G20 in place to make sure the declarations and commitments are being met, as well as removing “systemic legal and social barriers in the labor market.” Other suggestions included encouraging the financial inclusion of women, such as access to investment and promoting entrepreneurship, pushing for life-long learning and gender equality in schools, as well as ending violence against women and girls in all areas of society, including online.
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education;malala yousafzai;nobel prize;female empowerment;waw
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jp0002184
|
[
"national",
"crime-legal"
] |
2019/03/23
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South Korean airline union demands Japanese civil servant apologize over airport incident
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SEOUL - A Korean Air Lines Co. labor union has demanded that a Japanese civil servant accused of assaulting an airport worker in Seoul recently directly apologize and offer compensation to the worker, who is a member of the union. The union released a statement Friday expressing “serious regret for the unforgivable behavior” by senior Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare bureaucrat Kosuke Takeda, who has been effectively demoted from his position as the head of the ministry’s wage division since the incident. He is accused of committing violence against the worker at Gimpo International Airport last Tuesday. Calling Takeda, 47, a “labor expert” at the ministry responsible for work-style reform, the statement asked critically why he could treat a worker in another country roughly and with such disdain. The union also warned that if Takeda does not promptly respond to the demand, it will take action to strip him of his civil servant status. According to a statement, Takeda tried to board an aircraft in an intoxicated state, and when the union member held him back for the safety of other passengers, he assaulted the worker. South Korean police earlier said that Takeda was detained Tuesday on suspicion of hitting an airport worker at a boarding gate while under the influence of alcohol. “He was heavily drunk,” police said, adding Takeda admitted the allegations and had made an apology. Takeda, who was in the country for private business, was later released and has already returned to Japan. Takeda, however, has disputed the allegations, saying in a Facebook post Wednesday, “In fact, I wasn’t drunk. I acted disorderly but didn’t hit the airport worker.” He admitted telling the airport worker that he hated South Koreans but said it was because he was angry and there was “no political intention.”
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south korea;health ministry;kosuke takeda;gimpo airport
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jp0002185
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/03/15
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China's military benefiting from Google's work in the country, says U.S. general
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WASHINGTON - The top U.S. general said on Thursday that the Chinese military was benefiting from the work Alphabet Inc.’s Google was doing in China, where the technology giant has long sought to have a bigger presence. “The work that Google is doing in China is indirectly benefiting the Chinese military,” Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. “We watch with great concern when industry partners work in China knowing that there is that indirect benefit,” he said. “Frankly, ‘indirect’ may be not a full characterization of the way it really is, it is more of a direct benefit to the Chinese military.” Last year Google said it was no longer vying for a $10 billion cloud computing contract with the U.S. Defense Department, in part because the company’s new ethical guidelines do not align with the project. In June, Google said it would not renew a contract to help the U.S. military analyze aerial drone imagery when it expires, as the company sought to defuse an internal uproar over the deal. At the same time, Google said it has “no plans” to relaunch a search engine in China, though it is continuing to study the idea. Lawmakers and Google employees have raised concerns the company would comply with China’s internet censorship and surveillance policies if it re-enters the Asian nation’s search engine market. Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai has previously said the company has invested in China for years and plans to continue to do so, but that the company also was continuing to work with the U.S. government on projects in health care, cybersecurity and other fields.
|
china;u.s .;censorship;google;cybersecurity;joseph dunford
|
jp0002186
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/03/15
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U.S. gun industry dealt blow by Connecticut's top court over Sandy Hook suit
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HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT - Gun-maker Remington can be sued over how it marketed the rifle used to kill 20 children and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, a divided Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Thursday. Gun control advocates touted the ruling as providing a possible road map for victims of other mass shootings to circumvent a long-criticized federal law that shields gun manufacturers from liability in most cases when their products are used in crimes. Gun rights supporters bashed the decision as judicial activism and overreach. In a 4-3 decision, justices reinstated a wrongful death lawsuit against Remington and overturned the ruling of a lower court judge, who said the entire lawsuit was prohibited by the 2005 federal law. The majority said that while most of the lawsuit’s claims were barred by the federal law, Remington could still be sued for alleged wrongful marketing under Connecticut law. “The regulation of advertising that threatens the public’s health, safety, and morals has long been considered a core exercise of the states’ police powers,” Justice Richard Palmer wrote for the majority, adding he didn’t believe Congress envisioned complete immunity for gun-makers. Several lawsuits over mass shootings in other states have been rejected because of the federal law. The plaintiffs in Connecticut include a survivor and relatives of nine people killed in the massacre. They argue that the Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle used by Newtown shooter Adam Lanza is too dangerous for the public and that Remington glorified the weapon in marketing it to young people, including those with mental illness. Remington has denied wrongdoing and previously insisted it can’t be sued because of the 2005 law, called the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. Lanza, 20, shot his way into the locked school in Newtown on Dec. 14, 2012, and killed 20 first-graders and six educators with a Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle, which is similar to an AR-15. He alxso shot his mother to death in their Newtown home beforehand, and killed himself as police arrived at the school. Connecticut’s child advocate said Lanza’s severe and deteriorating mental health problems, his preoccupation with violence and access to his mother’s legal weapons “proved a recipe for mass murder.” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, called the ruling a victory for gun violence victims that gives moment to an effort by him and other federal legislators to repeal the 2005 law. “It’s a wow moment in American legal history,” he said. “It will change the legal landscape for this industry, potentially all across the country.” Blumenthal said the ruling reminded him of early court victories against tobacco companies that led them to disclose damaging internal documents and later agree to billions of dollars in legal settlements over sickened smokers.
|
guns;nra;courts;connecticut;sandy hook;mass shootings
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jp0002187
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/03/15
|
Chinese lawmakers rubber-stamp technology law amid U.S. pressure
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BEIJING - Chinese legislators on Friday endorsed a law meant to help end a costly tariff war with Washington by discouraging officials from pressuring foreign companies to hand over technology. The measure is part of an investment law that aims to address complaints by the United States, Europe and other trading partners that China’s system is rigged against foreign companies despite Beijing’s commitments to treat competitors equally. The 3,000-plus delegates to the ceremonial National People’s Congress rarely do lawmaking work. But their annual session, the highest-profile political event of the year, gives President Xi Jinping’s government a platform to advertise changes aimed at ending a bruising battle with Washington that has disrupted trade in soybeans, medical equipment and billions of dollars worth of other goods. It was unclear whether the measure would mollify U.S. President Donald Trump, who launched the tariff war by raising U.S. duties on Chinese imports in response to complaints Beijing steals or pressures companies to hand over technology. Washington has yet to comment on the law. American and Chinese negotiators are in the midst of rapid-fire negotiations aimed at ending the battle. Washington also wants China to roll back plans for government-led creation of global competitors in robotics and other technologies. Its trading partners say those violate its market-opening obligations. The official Xinhua News Agency said China’s economy czar, Vice Premier Liu He, talked by phone with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. The one-sentence report said they made “further substantial progress” but gave no details. The government said earlier the investment law will prohibit Chinese officials from using “administrative methods to force technology transfers.” The wording of the final version of the law following amendments this week wasn’t immediately released, but state media gave no indication the technology portion had changed. Ahead of Friday’s vote, foreign business groups welcomed the proposed law but said it might have been rushed through the approval too quickly. They said they will need to see how it is enforced to know whether it will improve conditions for foreign companies. The law is “still quite general” and fails to address problems including the potential for unequal treatment of companies, the American Chamber of Commerce in China said in a statement Wednesday. It expressed concern about the broad scope of “national security reviews” allowed by the law and the impact of regulations on individual industries. The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China earlier expressed concern the focus on “administrative methods” might mean officials are still free to use other tactics to pressure companies to hand over know-how. Chinese officials deny companies are required to hand over technology. But they face pressure, including requirements in industries such as auto manufacturing and pharmaceuticals to work through state-owned partners, which requires them to provide technology to companies the ruling Communist Party hopes will become their competitors. The NPC delegates voted 2,929 to eight, with eight abstentions, in favor of the law — an unusually wide margin even for a powerless legislature that routinely endorses all ruling party policies.
|
china;trade;xi jinping;tariffs
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jp0002189
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/03/15
|
Boeing and airlines face tough and costly path after 737 Max grounding
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WASHINGTON - Days after the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max 8 that killed 157 people and led to the plane being grounded worldwide, Boeing and commercial airlines are trying to get a handle on the fallout. Boeing will have to restore confidence in its product, and pay the costs of any modifications, while airlines try to find workarounds to replace the popular aircraft in their lineup of flights. The U.S. on Wednesday grounded the 737 Max 8 and Max 9 models while it continues the search for the cause of the crash, which happened less than five months after a Lion Air plane of the same model went down in Indonesia, killing 189. Both accidents occurred a few minutes after takeoff, a similarity that led authorities around the world to pull the plane out of operation. The cost for Boeing and the airlines will depend largely on the length of time the planes are out of commission. How long any reputational damage will endure will depend on how well and how quickly Boeing deals with the a fix, analysts say. “They will have to convince people to trust them again,” AirInsight’s Michel Merluzeau told AFP. The 737 Max is expected to account for more than 90 percent of Boeing’s planned year-end deliveries, so it will want to keep the ban as short as possible. The company’s shares have fallen 12 percent in the days after Sunday’s crash in Ethiopia, wiping out nearly $30 billion in value, but so far there have been no reports of canceled orders. Boeing has repeatedly said its top-selling 737 Max planes are safe and reliable, but in the wake of the deadly crash in October, it worked on updating its manual and training. And following the Ethiopia Airlines accident, the Federal Aviation Administration said it had ordered Boeing to roll out an update to flight software by April. The Lion Air crash was attributed to the flight stabilization system designed to prevent the aircraft from stalling, the “MCAS,” and the FAA said Wednesday that new evidence and satellite data indicated similarities between the two crashes. At least four U.S. pilots filed reports following the October crash complaining that the aircraft suddenly pitched downward, according to documents reviewed by AFP on a flight safety database. They overcame the problem by shutting off the autopilot. One American pilot who flew a Max 8 on a flight Monday, said while it was “prudent” to ground the planes, he was skeptical about the link between the two crashes. “There are infinite possibilities that could cause the same symptom,” the pilot, who asked not to be identified, told AFP. “Anything can malfunction.” But he said guidance issued by Boeing on the MCAS system following the Lion Air crash was quickly incorporated into domestic operations, so “most U.S. pilots would have been able to troubleshoot” the problem if it arose. Goldman Sachs said that if the problem with the planes is “contained to a software fix, this would likely be a quicker and less costly fix implementation.” But if there is “a more comprehensive design flaw,” it could be a long and costly issue. Ken Herbert, analyst at Canaccord, said the cost for a software fix would be around $500 million. The other major consequence of pulling the planes from service are how the airlines can adjust. There are about 371 Boeing 737 Max aircraft in use worldwide, accounting for a small share of the world’s 27,000 commercial planes, according to Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace expert at Teal Group, who said that “replacing them is a temporary problem.” However, air transport expert Addison Schonland said, “Nobody has ‘extra’ planes.” Airlines will have to juggle to cover their flights, and reimburse customers if they have to cancel, he said. “I suspect recently retired aircraft are coming out of the desert now.” The carriers have the option of leasing replacement jets, and likely would send the bill to Boeing. Canaccord’s Herbert said the “best case” scenario is six to eight weeks, and meanwhile Boeing “will likely be responsible for the operating difference between Maxes and alternative jets, and for any lease costs for new jets, which could amount to $1 billion.” American carrier Southwest has the largest fleet of Max planes in the world, but they make up only 4 percent of its flight program. “We will complete any previously scheduled Max 8 flying with other available aircraft in our fleet,” a Southwest spokesman said. But in Europe, budget airline Norwegian Air Shuttle will fill in with other models, such as the long-haul Dreamliner and the short- and medium-haul Boeing 737-800. The airline on Wednesday announced that it would ask Boeing for compensation to cover the additional operating costs.
|
boeing;ethiopian airlines;southwest airlines;737 max;lion air;air accidents;mcas
|
jp0002190
|
[
"business",
"economy-business"
] |
2019/03/15
|
Bank of Japan downgrades views on exports and output amid China slowdown
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The Bank of Japan said Friday that an economic slowdown in China and some other countries is beginning to weigh on exports and production at home. After a two-day meeting, the central bank’s board decided to maintain its monetary policy of asset purchases and ultralow interest rates, measures aimed at lifting stubbornly low inflation. It maintained its headline assessment that the economy is “expanding moderately,” but warned that exports and industrial output have been “affected by the slowdown in overseas economies.” That was a less optimistic view than in January when the board said both exports and production were on an “increasing trend.” Recent data have shown economic expansion waning in parts of Europe and China, with Asia’s biggest economy seeing its lowest growth in nearly three decades last year. Uncertainty over the global economic outlook has led central banks in the United States and the eurozone to freeze plans to hike interest rates. Japan has also been affected. According to one key indicator, the latest expansionary phase, claimed by the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to be the longest since the end of World War II, may have already ended late last year. The BOJ Policy Board voted 7-2 to maintain a short-term interest rate policy of minus 0.1 percent and long-term yields near zero percent, as well as a pledge to keep rates extremely low for “an extended period of time.” Goushi Kataoka and Yutaka Harada, who have advocated expanding monetary stimulus, dissented. The central bank will also continue purchasing such risky assets as exchange-traded funds. The BOJ has continued aggressive monetary easing since April 2013 in pursuit of a 2 percent inflation target to dispel the country’s deflationary woes. In September 2016, it changed its policy framework from expanding the monetary base to targeting interest rates. But inflation remains below 1 percent as tepid wage gains keep households from spending. Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda has maintained that upward momentum in prices remains intact, though he has acknowledged that it may take more time than previously thought to reach the target. Kuroda defended the 2 percent inflation target that guides his monetary stimulus program after the government advocated taking a flexible approach to the goal. “There’s no change to the BOJ’s policy of aiming to bring about stable prices while considering the economy, prices and the financial environment overall,” Kuroda told a news conference when asked if he is sticking with the 2 percent target. With policy side effects piling up, there are growing calls for the BOJ to rethink its commitment to 2 percent inflation — which many economists now deem unrealistic. Finance Minister Taro Aso this week joined the fray, saying that things had changed since the BOJ and the government agreed to the target in 2013 and that sticking to it without flexibility could be problematic.
|
boj;haruhiko kuroda;monetary policy;zero interest rates
|
jp0002191
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/03/15
|
Donors team up to expand #MeToo's impact in U.S. workplaces
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NEW YORK - In an unusual team effort to broaden the #MeToo movement, a group of prominent U.S. foundations is launching a new fund aimed at combating sexual violence and harassment in the workplace. In addition to the foundations’ contributions, some funds are coming from CBS — money initially set aside as an exit package for former CEO Les Moonves that has been redirected due to his firing over sexual misconduct allegations, organizers told The Associated Press. The fund, which claimed pledges of $20 million even ahead of its public launch Thursday, plans to direct most of its grants to programs led by and benefiting the most vulnerable categories of women — low-income workers, migrants, women of color. Among the likely recipients are campaigns led by women of color to bolster the rights of domestic workers who lack standard labor protections and restaurant workers who depend on tips for income. The 11 partners that have signed on so far include the Ford Foundation, the Open Society Foundations, the Conrad Hilton Foundation and the NoVo Foundation. Most of the partners fund a wide variety of causes, while the NoVo foundation has focused on the empowerment of women and girls. Its co-presidents are Peter and Jennifer Buffett; Peter is the youngest son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett. Pamela Shifman, the NoVo Foundation’s executive director, said the group of donors was inspired by the multitude of women in the U.S. and around the world who engaged in the #MeToo movement. “We’ve seen girls and women step up with such incredible bravery,” Shifman told The Associated Press. “This is about funders stepping up to say, ‘We hear you. We see you.’ “ Since the #MeToo movement emerged in October 2017, scores of powerful men have been toppled by allegations of sexual misconduct, and pervasive abuse has been documented in sectors ranging from Hollywood to the restaurant industry. However, Shifman said, less than 2 percent of foundation giving in the U.S. has focused on gender-based violence. “Calling out individual bad actors doesn’t get to the root of the problem,” she said. “We need to prevent violence in the first place and change the culture.” For now, the new initiative is called the Collaborative Fund for Women’s Safety and Dignity, although there are plans to shift to a pithier name. The fund will be housed at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, with plans to award at least $5 million a year over the next five years. The fund will focus most of its efforts on the United States but also will seek to build international alliances. That was an attraction for the Ford Foundation; combating violence against women and girls is among its top global priorities. The initiative was prompted in part by an appeal in October from a coalition of groups engaged in the #MeToo movement, including Girls for Gender Equity, Justice for Migrant Women, the National Domestic Workers Alliance, and Restaurant Opportunities Centers United. The coalition challenged America’s philanthropic sector to allocate $300 million over the coming year to address sexual violence and sexual harassment. One of the groups in the coalition was the National Women’s Law Center, which played a key role in creation of the Times Up Legal Defense Fund after the #MeToo movement caught fire. The defense fund has raised millions of dollars to help financially struggling women litigate their complaints of sexual assault and harassment. Fatima Goss-Graves, the law center’s president, is pleased that the foundations launching the new fund see the potential for capitalizing on the #MeToo movement with broader initiatives. “Moments like this do not happen that often, and they have to be effectively resourced,” she said.
|
u.s .;harassment;women;# metoo;collaborative fund for women 's safety and dignity
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jp0002192
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/03/15
|
At B20 in Tokyo, world business leaders urge stronger cooperation on looming challenges
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As confidence in free trade appears to be waning mainly due to U.S. foreign policy and Brexit, international business leaders said Friday that stronger cross-border cooperation is needed more than ever to prevent further damage to the principles of globalization. “Our message is very clear. We need a rules-based, free, fair and open international economical order,” said Hiroaki Nakanishi, the head of Keidanren, Japan’s biggest business lobby, at the B20 meeting in Tokyo. “We the business communities of G20 countries must stand united and deliver voices to our political leaders.” The B20 is the business version of the Group of 20 summit. The two-day meeting, which began Thursday, was hosted by Keidanren, also known as the Japan Business Federation, ahead of the G20 leaders’ summit in June. At the meeting, the B20 issued a series of policy recommendations to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth, such as promoting digitalization so more people can benefit from cutting-edge technologies, and realizing a low-carbon emissions society. The event also featured panel discussions where businesspeople discussed topics ranging from economics and trade to sustainable development. Participants expressed concerns about the economic risks of ongoing political events, including Brexit and the trade war between the United States and China. “I would say the general observation of course is that global growth is weakening,” said Masamichi Kono, deputy secretary-general of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. Earlier this month, the OECD once again downgraded its global economic growth forecast for this year to 3.3 percent from 3.5 percent, following a cut last November. Policies to enhance productivity and facilitate fair competition and free trade need to be thrust forward by the G20 leaders, he said. “G20 can really play a leadership role and I think this is more necessary than ever,” Kono said. Carolyn Fairbairn, director-general of the Confederation of British Industry, said the political turmoil over London’s split with Brussels has worried many about the future business environment in the U.K. But there are “reasons to be cheerful” because economic and business conditions in the U.K. are actually healthy, Fairbairn said, noting that exports and employment are solid and the U.K. is the center of the financial technology industry. Peter Robinson, who heads the United States Council for International Business, also stressed that the U.S. business community is against the protectionism trend. “It is true we do have economic challenges ahead of us,” such as trade conflict with China, he said. “I just want to assure everybody here that the American business community still believes in open trade, globalization and multilateralism,” Robinson added. He also said the G20 communities need to do everything possible to prevent global recession. A primary short-term focus is reforming the World Trade Organization to help ease the intensifying trade war, saying he hopes that the G20 leaders will cooperate closely on this issue. Business leaders also said it is critical for the private sector to take further steps to facilitate sustainable growth, as the global governing organizations are having a tough time getting the international community to move in the same direction. “We have a challenge that no businessperson has ever had to deal with before. We have to decarbonize the global economy. We have to move to a circular economy … we have to (create) more inclusive growth,” said Paul Polman, who chairs the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce. To do so, Polman said financial markets and investors need to value longer-term benefit rather than pursuing short-term profit.
|
u.s .;u.k .;keidanren;g20;b20
|
jp0002193
|
[
"business",
"tech"
] |
2019/03/15
|
Microsoft targets video game developers in challenge to Amazon's cloud dominance
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NEW YORK - Microsoft Corp. on Thursday said it is combining elements of its video gaming and Azure cloud computing businesses to court game developers, an action designed to use the strength of its XBox gaming franchise to gain ground on cloud services leader Amazon.com. Microsoft said it will start rolling out “Microsoft Game Stack,” a group of services that lets game developers do things like host multiplayer games and match players of similar skill levels. The services are designed to work for titles played on any device — including those with operating systems from Microsoft’s onetime rivals like Apple and Google. Microsoft competes against Amazon Web Services division to sell those cloud services. But it has been in the console gaming business with its XBox device since 2001 and had 64 million users for its XBox Live online gaming service. Microsoft also owns titles such as the “Halo,” the sci-fi action franchise for the XBox and Windows, as well as “Minecraft,” a game that is popular on mobile devices with operating systems from Apple Inc. and Google Inc. On “any device you’re going to pick up today, consumer gaming is almost surely one of the top engagement and monetization businesses on that device,” Phil Spencer, Microsoft’s executive vice president for gaming, told Reuters. “As we were looking at our place in the gaming business and our place and things like Azure and the other services that Microsoft offers, we were seeing more and more synergy.” Microsoft faces competition in the game space from Amazon, which acquired gaming video service Twitch to let gamers watch each other battle online and GameSparks to provide back-end services to game makers. Piers Harding-Rolls, head of games research at IHSMarkit, said Amazon has a lead right now over Microsoft in cloud services for game makers. But Microsoft’s moves on Thursday, many based on its acquisition last year of a company called PlayFab, could help it gain ground. “Microsoft intends to be as agnostic as possible — even supporting other cloud service providers and all platforms — but you have to think that these tools will end with more companies using Azure as a result,” Harding-Rolls said. An example of where Microsoft hopes its own gaming experience will pay off is in matching players of equal skill online, said Mark Russinovich, chief technical officer of Azure. The service requires a technology called machine learning, which Microsoft has refined through its XBox Live service over the years, he said.
|
microsoft;gaming;video games;amazon.com;twitch azura;obox
|
jp0002194
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2019/03/15
|
Nikkei gains 164 points as yen eases and equities firm up elsewhere in Asia
|
Stocks staged a rally Friday on the Tokyo Stocks Exchange after investor sentiment was lifted by a weakening yen and climbing indexes in other Asian markets. The 225-issue Nikkei average gained 163.83 points, or 0.77 percent, to end at 21,450.85. On Thursday, the key market gauge shed 3.22 points. The Topix index of all first-section issues finished up 14.34 points, or 0.90 percent, at 1,602.63, after giving up 3.78 points the previous day. The yen’s drop against the dollar on expectations for the Bank of Japan to take a fresh easing step prompted purchases mainly of export-oriented names in morning trading, market sources said. Although the favorable effects of yen selling subsided after the BOJ announced its decision to stand pat on policy at a two-day Policy Board meeting through Friday, brisk performances in Shanghai and other Asian equities kept Tokyo’s market buoyant in the afternoon, the sources said. “Investors here found it safe to buy in view of higher stock prices in other parts of Asia,” said Masahiro Ichikawa, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management Co. He said players were little surprised by the British Parliament’s vote on Thursday to push back the March 29 deadline for the so-called British exit from the European Union, or Brexit. The market failed to go up further in the afternoon, as “‘selling on a rally’ emerged after the Nikkei rose above 21,500,” Ryuta Otsuka, strategist at the investment information department of Toyo Securities Co., said. Rising issues outnumbered falling ones 1,434 to 634 in the TSE’s first section, while 68 issues were unchanged. Volume rose to 1.483 billion shares from Thursday’s 1.132 billion shares. The weaker yen lifted Toyota, chip-making equipment manufacturer Tokyo Electron and other export-oriented names. Employment information service firm Recruit Holdings, cosmetics maker Shiseido and technology investor SoftBank Group were among other major winners. By contrast, Ya-man tumbled 12.76 percent after investors grew disappointed with the health and beauty care equipment maker’s operating profit in November-January, brokers said. Also sold were clothing store chain Fast Retailing, Daiwa House Industry and tech giant Sony. In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the key June contract on the Nikkei average grew 120 points to end at 21,240.
|
stocks;nikkei;tokyo stock exchange;topix
|
jp0002195
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/03/15
|
Tripling in value of Binance Coin, the cryptocurrency of the hour, echoes bitcoin's glory days
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PORTLAND, OREGON - The cryptocurrency boom appears to be alive and well for Binance, the world’s largest digital-asset exchange by trading volume. One of the hottest coins right now is the Malta-based exchange’s eponymous token, Binance Coin, which has more than tripled in value in the last three months to around $15. The surge comes as the broader digital-asset market is little changed in the wake of last year’s collapse that saw the prices of many rivals tumble by more than 90 percent. The coin’s performance is the latest twist in the dramatic rise of Zhao Changpeng, who co-founded the exchange during the 2017 cryptocurrency boom and had run-ins with authorities in Japan and Hong Kong before eventually decamping to the European island nation. “This is the best executing team in crypto,” said Tushar Jain, managing partner at hedge fund Multicoin Capital Management in Austin, Texas. “We expect to hold them for the foreseeable future.” Binance Coin, also known as BNB, is used by holders to pay the fees levied by the exchange for trading. It’s also on the way to becoming a favorite medium of exchange for issuers of initial coin offerings, allowing startups to raise money by listing on one of the most liquid crypto-exchanges with about $1 billion in daily trading volume. What’s made Binance Coin particularly attractive is the company’s practice of tying the performance of the exchange to the amount of tokens in circulation. After an ICO issued 200 million of the coins in July 2017, the company plans to spend 20 percent of its profits each quarter to buy back and destroy Binance Coins — an undertaking that may continue for the next 10 years, Zhao said in an interview. About 50 percent of the coins were allocated to company employees and investors. “We are in the same boat,” said Zhao. “We don’t want the price to drop, to be negatively impacted. We are very much aligned with our investors.” The buyback, which is similar to what many public companies do with their shares, raises a concern that has long hung over the cryptocurrency market since its beginning a decade ago: whether the coins are actually securities. If that is the case, then tokens such as Binance Coin and the exchange would likely fall under the jurisdiction of local regulators, which many members of the crypto-community have sought to avoid. “Personally, I don’t think it’s a security,” Zhao said. “I don’t think that there’s any regulation against destroying assets you have yourself. In the worst case, we can stop the burning process.” Binance has also been developing a public blockchain for the transfer and trading of digital assets that Zhao expects to be launched in two to five months. The network, called Binance Chain, will provide coin traders access to a decentralized exchange that handles transactions through an automated process, eliminating the need for a third party to hold and trade funds. Once Binance Chain is ready for prime time, Binance Coin will be moved to that digital ledger from the Ethereum network, and used to pay various transaction and listing fees. So-called validators, which will support the chain, will be required to hold certain balances on Binance Coins in the future as well, Zhao said. Binance made about $400 million last year, and expects profits of about the same amount, or a little more, which it receives in cryptocurrency, this year, Zhao said. The company doesn’t release audited financial results. In the meantime, the company is seeking to raise the profile of Binance Coin in ways that harken back to the heydays of the crypto bubble. Zhao’s staff as well as 130 volunteers known as Binance Angels are organizing user gatherings called MeetUps to sing the virtues of the coin. Photos of one recent event posted to Twitter show a woman in a Binance T-shirt standing by a poster saying, “Take BNB to the moon.”
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china;u.s .;cryptocurrency;binance
|
jp0002196
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/03/15
|
Toyota investing $750 million at five U.S. plants, creating 600 new jobs
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BUFFALO, WEST VIRGINIA - Toyota Motor Corp. on Thursday announced it is investing an additional $750 million (¥83.7 billion) at five U.S. plants that will bring nearly 600 new jobs, including the production of two hybrid vehicles for the first time at its Kentucky facility. It marks yet another expansion of the Aichi Prefecture-based automaker’s U.S. presence, bringing the amount it will spend by 2021 to nearly $13 billion. The latest investments are at facilities in Alabama, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee and West Virginia. Those same facilities were part of a 2017 announcement by Toyota for a $374 million investment to support production of its first American-made hybrid powertrain. Toyota Motor North America executive Chris Reynolds said the investments represent yet more examples of the company’s long-term commitment to build where it sells, irrespective of trade uncertainty due to tariffs. “Our overarching manufacturing principle is if we can sell it here we need to make it here. That’s been true before any tariff uncertainty, it’s true during tariff uncertainty and it will be true after. Our investment cycles go beyond any particular political cycle,” he said during a conference call with reporters. Toyota Motor North America CEO Jim Lentz said, “In a time when others are scaling back, we believe in the strength of America, and we’re excited about the future of mobility here in America.” The automaker is spreading the additional investments among several plants. Toyota’s Georgetown, Kentucky, facility will get a $238 million infusion to produce hybrid versions of Lexus ES 300 sedans starting in May and the RAV4 SUV starting in January 2020, the company announced. The RAV4 production doesn’t signal a shift away from sedan production at the sprawling Kentucky plant, Toyota executives said. Instead, it reflects Toyota’s plan to build multiple vehicles at its plants to better insulate each facility from downturns in market cycles. “Unlike some of our competitors, we think there’s value in the sedan market, while it may not be as big as it was,” Reynolds said. The announcement also includes $288 million to increase annual engine capacity at Toyota’s Huntsville, Alabama, facility. The plant will add 450 jobs to accommodate new four-cylinder and V6 engine production lines. Last year Toyota and Mazda Motor Corp. announced plans to build a $1.6 billion joint-venture plant in Huntsville that will eventually employ about 4,000 people. Toyota is also spending $62 million on equipment to boost production of Toyota and Lexus cylinder heads at its Bodine Aluminum facility in Troy, Missouri, as part of its cost-saving New Global Architecture production strategy to share common parts and components among different vehicles. A $50 million expansion and equipment upgrade at a Bodine plant in Jackson, Tennessee, will add 13 jobs and produce engine blocks while doubling the capacity of hybrid transaxle cases and housings. And Toyota will add 123 jobs and spend $111 million to expand its plant and purchase equipment in Buffalo, West Virginia, to double the capacity of hybrid transaxles. Previously, Toyota also announced a $600 million investment at its Princeton, Indiana, plant to increase the capacity of its Highlander SUV and to incorporate the new production strategy, and $170 million to launch the 2020 Corolla on a new production line in Blue Springs, Mississippi.
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u.s .;toyota;suvs;hybrids
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jp0002197
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/03/15
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Itochu wins bigger stake in sportswear-maker Descente in rare hostile takeover for Japan
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Trading house Itochu Corp. said Friday it has increased its stake in major sportswear-maker Descente Ltd. to 40 percent, succeeding in what, for Japan, was a rare hostile takeover bid. The two firms with over 50 years of business ties were drawn into a takeover battle last month when Descente opposed the tender offer by its top shareholder Itochu to raise the company’s equity stake from around 30 percent to up to 40 percent, a level giving the trading house veto power over crucial management decisions. Unlike in the United States and Europe, hostile takeovers are unusual in Japan and rarely successful. A hostile takeover, as opposed to a friendly one based on a mutual agreement to deepen ties, is accomplished without the consent or cooperation of the target company’s management. Through the tender offer between Jan. 31 and Thursday, Itochu offered ¥2,800 per share, which represented a 50 percent premium on the closing price on Jan. 30. The feud arose partly from differences in views over the overseas strategy of Descente, which sells brands such as Le Coq Sportif, Munsingwear and Umbro, with Itochu objecting to its heavy reliance on its South Korean businesses that generate most of its revenue. The trading house has urged the affiliate to seek revenue growth at home and in China. It has indicated that if the sportswear-maker shows no signs of responding to its request, Itochu will propose ousting Descente President Masatoshi Ishimoto at a general shareholders meeting. But Descente has argued that Itochu’s proposed overseas strategy “is not significantly different from the measures we have already taken” and that it is opposed to any change in top management. Descente, which provides training wear to Los Angeles Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani, was founded in 1935 in Osaka, and its ties with Itochu date back to the 1960s. Itochu helped Descente out of trouble in 1984, when it struggled with excessive inventories at Munsingwear, and in 1998 when its rights to sell Adidas clothes in Japan ended. The Adidas lineup made significant contributions to its sales at the time. But as differences in business practices surfaced, Descente in 2013 appointed Ishimoto as president, marking the first time in 19 years that the sportswear company’s founding family had taken the helm instead of an Itochu-appointed chief. Itochu said the appointment was made “without giving any prior notice to the directors who had been dispatched from Itochu.”
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acquisitions;mergers;sportswear;itochu;trading houses;descente
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jp0002198
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[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/03/15
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Instagram's first overseas development team to set up shop in Tokyo
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The head of Instagram says its first development team outside the United States will set up shop in Tokyo this summer to bolster the photo- and video-sharing platform’s services and functions. Instagram, a subsidiary of Facebook Inc., aims to strengthen the design and quality of its services by setting up a new team in Japan, where users have sometimes helped create new ways to use the platform, Adam Mosseri said Friday. “Japan was a unique opportunity given how much growth we had here, given how important the market is for the business and given how unique Japan is, culturally, economically … that we thought it was worth the risk,” Mosseri said at a news conference marking his first trip to the country since he took the helm in October. Active Instagram accounts in Japan more than tripled to 29 million as of last September from 8.1 million in June 2015, according to Instagram, which was launched in 2010. The new team will have about 10 members at the beginning, led by Ian Spalter, head of the design division, and add more later. Mosseri said Instagram can help athletes in all kinds of sports entice more fans ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Instagram held a seminar in Tokyo on Thursday with the Japan Hockey Association and advised the members of the national field hockey team about how to effectively use the platform to communicate with fans and show them how attractive the sport is. “We think we can do work to help to make sure that (the Olympics) are a success, both by raising awareness around the Olympics, during the event but also creating a lot of excitement … in the lead up to the summer” of next year, Mosseri said. He said Instagram plans to hold similar events for athletes in other sports. Mosseri was named head of Instagram last October following the resignation of founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger.
|
instagram;tokyo 2020 olympics;adam mosseri
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jp0002199
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/03/15
|
New York mayor announces plan to extend shoreline as protection against climate change
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NEW YORK - New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a plan Thursday to meet the “existential threat” of climate change by extending a section of the lower Manhattan coastline as much as 500 feet (152 meters) into the East River. The Democratic mayor said the $10 billion effort to protect lower Manhattan from flooding by extending the shoreline between the Brooklyn Bridge and the Battery will be funded partly by private development if federal funds are not available. “If there’s federal money in play it probably looks one way,” de Blasio said. “If there’s not federal money in play, we have to get some private money into it and there has to be some development.” Officials have been developing schemes to fortify New York City’s waterfront since Superstorm Sandy destroyed thousands of homes and businesses in 2012. De Blasio said it will cost about $500 million to fortify most of lower Manhattan from future effects of climate change, including rising sea levels and intense precipitation, with grassy berms and removable barriers. But planners determined that protecting the lowest-lying area, including South Street Seaport and the financial district, will require adding more land over several years. De Blasio, who is contemplating joining the crowded field of 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, said the $10 billion landfill project should be supported by federal funds, but that’s unlikely to happen during the administration of Republican President Donald Trump. “Lower Manhattan is one of the core centers of the American economy,” he said. “It’s where the financial capital of the United states is. The security of lower Manhattan should be a national priority. The fact is it is not. And it’s incomprehensible to me that there’s no sense of urgency from the federal government.” He added, “We can’t afford to bury our head in the sand and that’s right now what our federal government is doing.” The plan to extend the coastline will go through the city’s environmental review process, de Blasio said, but he hopes to avoid “the endless dragging on that usually accompanies something of this scale.” But the prospect of private development on the newly built land is sure to meet resistance from downtown Manhattan community members. City Council member Margaret Chin, who represents the area, said the more resilient future “cannot be paid for by private real estate development that would destroy the waterfront neighborhoods that we are trying to protect.” De Blasio announced the climate resilience plan at a news conference after previewing it in New York magazine . He said a study undertaken by his office and others has determined that if the city does not prepare for climate change, rising seas will expose 20 percent of lower Manhattan to daily flooding by 2100. “This is the existential threat,” de Blasiko said. “This is the core issue we all must face as aggressively as humanly possible.”
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storms;climate change;floods;environment;superstorm sandy;bill de blasio
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jp0002200
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/03/15
|
49 dead and four in custody after mosque shootings on 'one of New Zealand's darkest days'
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CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND - Shootings at two mosques full of worshippers killed 49 people Friday on what the prime minister called “one of New Zealand’s darkest days.” Authorities charged one person, detained three others and defused explosive devices in what appeared to be a carefully planned racist attack. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the events in Christchurch represented “an extraordinary and unprecedented act of violence” and acknowledged that many of those affected may be migrants and refugees. In addition to the dead, she said more than 20 people were seriously wounded. “It is clear that this can now only be described as a terrorist attack,” Ardern said. Police took three men and a woman into custody after the shootings, which shocked people across the nation of 5 million people. One suspect was charged with murder. Authorities have not specified who they detained, but said none had been on any watch list. A man who claimed responsibility for the shootings left a 74-page anti-immigrant manifesto in which he explained who he was and his reasoning for the attack. He said he was a 28-year-old white Australian and a racist. He said he came to New Zealand only to plan and train for the attack. He said he had acted alone and was not a member of any organization, but had donated to and interacted with many nationalist groups. He said he chose New Zealand to show that even the remotest parts of the world are not free of “mass immigration.” New Zealand is considered a welcoming country for immigrants and refugees. Last year, Ardern announced the country would boost its annual refugee quota from 1,000 to 1,500 starting in 2020. Ardern, whose party campaigned on the promise of raising the intake of refugees, dubbed the planned increase “the right thing to do.” Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed that one of the four people detained was a citizen born in Australia. Police Commissioner Mike Bush said Friday night that a man had been charged with murder. He did not mention the other three suspects and did not say whether the same shooter was responsible for both attacks. In the manifesto, the man who claimed responsibility said the mosques in Christchurch and Linwood, a suburb east of the center of Christchurch, would be the targets — as would a third mosque in the town of Ashburton if he could make it there. Ardern alluded to anti-immigrant sentiment as the possible motive, saying that although many people affected by the shootings may be migrants or refugees, “they have chosen to make New Zealand their home, and it is their home. They are us.” As for the suspects, Ardern said “these are people who I would describe as having extremist views that have absolutely no place in New Zealand.” Bush said police had found two improvised explosive devices in one car. The deadlier of the two attacks occurred at the Masjid Al Noor mosque in central Christchurch at about 1:45 p.m. At least 30 people were killed there. Witness Len Peneha said he saw a man dressed in black enter the mosque and then heard dozens of shots, followed by people running from the mosque in terror. Peneha, who lives next to the mosque, said the gunman ran out of the mosque, dropped what appeared to be a semi-automatic weapon in his driveway and fled. He then went into the mosque to try to help. “I saw dead people everywhere. There were three in the hallway, at the door leading into the mosque, and people inside the mosque,” he said. “It’s unbelievable nutty. I don’t understand how anyone could do this to these people, to anyone. It’s ridiculous.” He said he helped about five people recover in his home. “I’ve lived next door to this mosque for about five years and the people are great, they’re very friendly,” he said. “I just don’t understand it.” He said the gunman was white and was wearing a helmet with some kind of device on top, giving him a military-type appearance. A video that was apparently livestreamed by the shooter shows the attack in horrifying detail. The gunman spends more than two minutes inside the mosque spraying terrified worshippers with bullets again and again, sometimes re-firing at people he has already cut down. He then walks outside to the street, where he shoots at people on the sidewalk. Children’s screams can be heard in the distance as he returns to his car to get another rifle. The gunman walks back into the mosque, where at least two dozen people are lying on the floor. After walking back outside and shooting a woman, he gets back in his car, where the song “Fire” by the rock band The Crazy World of Arthur Brown can be heard blasting from the speakers. The singer bellows, “I am the god of hellfire!” and the gunman drives away. The video then cuts out. There was a second shooting at the Linwood Masjid Mosque that killed at least 10 people. Mark Nichols told the New Zealand Herald that he heard about five gunshots and that a Friday prayer-goer returned fire with a rifle or shotgun. Mass shootings in New Zealand are exceedingly rare. The deadliest in modern history occurred in the small town of Aramoana in 1990, when gunman David Gray shot and killed 13 people following a dispute with a neighbor.
|
guns;murder;terrorism;new zealand;christchurch;mass shootings
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jp0002201
|
[
"world",
"science-health-world"
] |
2019/03/15
|
Astronauts on aborted Soyuz launch blast off successfully for ISS
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BAIKONUR, KAZAKHSTAN - NASA astronaut Nick Hague and his Russian colleague Alexey Ovchinin, who survived a dramatically aborted Soyuz launch last year, blasted off successfully for the International Space Station on Thursday. The two men, joined by U.S. astronaut Christina Koch, lifted off from Russia’s Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at the expected time 1914 GMT. “The Soyuz is now in orbit and the crew are on their way to the International Space Station,” said a commentator on NASA television. The Russian space agency Roscosmos confirmed it had entered orbit. The lift off was closely watched after the two men’s space journey was cut short in October when a technical problem with their Soyuz rocket triggered a launch abort two minutes into the flight. Both men escaped unharmed. It was the first such accident in Russia’s post-Soviet history and a major setback for its once proud space industry. Speaking to reporters ahead of their six-month mission, flight commander Ovchinin said that some faulty components in the launch vehicle had been found and replaced this week. “Yesterday they found some minor malfunctions,” the 47-year-old said on Wednesday. He insisted that the launch vehicle was in good shape. “There are no problems,” Ovchinin said. Hague, 43, said he was looking forward to the flight — his second attempt to get into space. “I’m 100 percent confident in the rocket and the spaceship,” he said. The October abort was caused by a sensor damaged during the rocket’s assembly. Space expert Vadim Lukashevich said last-minute replacements were nothing out of the ordinary. “The Soyuz is an old but reliable machine,” he told AFP. Russia’s space industry has in recent years suffered a lot of mishaps including the loss of cargo spacecraft and numerous satellites. Ovchinin, who spent six months at the ISS during a previous mission in 2016, has been keen to play down the drama of the October emergency landing. The abort was “a little disappointing” after preparations that lasted a year-and-a-half but also “an interesting and needed experience” that tested the depth of the space program’s preparedness, he said. Koch, Hague and Ovchinin’s six-hour flight Thursday will be closely watched for another reason too. SpaceX’s successful test launch to the ISS of its Dragon vehicle has challenged an eight-year monopoly on travel to the space station enjoyed by Russia ever since NASA stopped launches of the Space Shuttle. Speaking to reporters, the trio and their three-man backup crew stressed cooperation rather than competition following the Dragon mission, seen by some as the dawn of an era of commercial space travel driven by businessmen such as Elon Musk who owns SpaceX. Koch, a 40-year-old space rookie, called the SpaceX success a “great example of what we’ve been doing for a very long time.” “And that is cooperating among partners and making things that are very difficult look easy,” she said. There had already been one successful manned launch to the ISS since the failed Soyuz mission. The trio’s arrival will return the orbiting laboratory’s crew to six in all. Oleg Kononenko of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, Anne McClain of NASA and David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency blasted off to the orbiting outpost in December and are expected to greet their new crew mates early on Friday. During their mission McClain, Saint-Jacques, Hague and Koch are set to perform the first spacewalks of their careers. This week in a lighter moment Hague offered an insight into the specifics of personal grooming aboard the ISS. “In space, we’ll use clippers attached to a vacuum device so that the hair particles don’t float around or get stuck in our vent systems,” he wrote on Twitter. The International Space Station — a rare area of cooperation between Moscow and Washington — has been orbiting the Earth at roughly 28,000 kph since 1998.
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iss;nasa;space;soyuz;roscosmos;baikonur
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jp0002202
|
[
"world",
"science-health-world"
] |
2019/03/15
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How Neolithic cooking changed human language
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WASHINGTON - Changes to the human diet prompted by Neolithic advances in agriculture played a role in human jaw evolution that allowed people to pronounce the consonants “f” and “v,” researchers say. Their work — which combines linguistics, speech science and paleoanthropology and appears in the U.S. journal Science — indicates that language is not merely a random product of history but was also linked to biological changes at the time. The Neolithic era — spanning from 6,000 to 2,100 B.C. — was when wheat- and barley-based farming took root and animals such as goats, sheep and cows were domesticated. “Language is not usually studied as a biological phenomenon and it does not normally figure in, say, the curriculum of biology,” said Balthasar Bickel, a researcher at the University of Zurich. “If you think about it, however, this is a bit strange, actually, because like the communication system of other animals, language is simply part of our nature,” he stressed. Before the Neolithic era, humans used their teeth to quickly chew the products of hunting and gathering. While the upper incisors covered the lower ones in children, wear and tear led to an “edge-to-edge bite” in adults, prehistoric skulls show — positioning that made it difficult to make certain sounds. If you pull in your lower jaw until your upper and lower teeth touch each other, and then try to pronounce “f” and “v,” it’s very difficult. The sounds are called labiodental consonants, which require the combined action of the lower lip and the upper teeth. Starting in the Neolithic era, hunter-gatherers learned techniques to process food — for example, by milling it and cooking it. “There were chiefly types of gruel or porridge, stews and soups, but also daily products like milk, cheese and yogurt that came about through food processing technologies that led to the softer diets,” said Bickel’s colleague Steven Moran. “And an important thing here was the spread of pottery for preserving food — something that became very important with the introduction of agriculture.” Dental wear and tear was curtailed thanks to the softer diet, and the upper incisors maintained their adolescent position: over the lower teeth, as in today’s humans. Researchers say they spent five years on the study. In the final phase, they studied the history of Indo-European languages and concluded that it was “very likely the labiodentals emerged not much before the Bronze Age, in parallel to development of food processing techniques,” explained another co-author, Damian Blasi. The Bronze Age followed the Neolithic. “Our findings suggest that language is shaped not only by the contingencies of its history, but also by culturally induced changes in human biology,” the researchers wrote. “We can no longer take for granted that the diversity of speech has remained stable since the emergence of Homo sapiens.” Blasi said he hoped that the study would spark a “wider discussion” on how some aspects of language and speech “need to be treated as we treat other complex human behaviors lying between biology and culture.”
|
archaeology;diet;language;psychology
|
jp0002203
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/03/15
|
Rockets fired from Gaza at Tel Aviv for first time since 2014, Israeli military says
|
TEL AVIV - Two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip at the Tel Aviv area on Thursday, setting off sirens, the Israeli military said, and several explosions were heard. TV footage showed what looked like Israeli interceptor missiles streaking into the sky above Tel Aviv, Israel’s commercial capital, and detonating. Despite the apparent activation of Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system, the military said no rockets were shot down. It said there were no reports of casualties or damage. It was the first time sirens had rung out in the city since the 2014 Gaza war. About 40 minutes after the alarm went up, traffic was flowing normally on Tel Aviv’s main Ayalon highway. The military said two rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip and it would provide further details later. Israeli media said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was convening senior military and security officers to evaluate the situation. There was no immediate claim of responsibility in the Gaza Strip, where its dominant Hamas group was engaged on Thursday in talks with Egypt on a long-term ceasefire with Israel. Tensions have been high for the past year along the Israel-Gaza frontier since Palestinians began violent protests near Israel’s border fence that have often drawn a lethal response from the Israeli military. The rocket fire raised speculation in Israel that Palestinian militants opposed to any deal between Hamas and Israel were behind the launchings. Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahalon said on Twitter that Israel “would respond as necessary” to the rocket attack. The anniversary of the Gaza border protests is in two weeks, on March 30 and Palestinian groups have been preparing events and march to mark the date. Around 200 Palestinians have been killed in the demonstrations and about 60 other Palestinians have died in other incidents, including exchanges of fire across the border. Since the protests began, one Israeli soldier was shot dead by a Palestinian sniper along the frontier and another was killed during an undercover raid into Gaza. Fires caused by Palestinian incendiary devices attached to kites and balloons have set ablaze large areas of Israeli forest and farmland along the Israel-Gaza border.
|
conflict;israel;gaza;benjamin netanyahu;palestinians;hamas;iron dome;tel aviv
|
jp0002204
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/03/15
|
Senior prosecutor Andrew Weissmann to leave U.S. special counsel Robert Mueller's team soon
|
WASHINGTON - One of U.S. special counsel Robert Mueller’s top prosecutors will soon leave his post, a Mueller spokesman said on Thursday, confirming a move likely to add fuel to speculation that the Russia investigation is nearing a conclusion. Andrew Weissmann, who orchestrated the prosecution of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, will leave the team “in the near future,” Mueller spokesman Peter Carr said, confirming earlier media reports. The news of his departure broke one day after Manafort was sentenced by a second judge. Manafort is facing 7½ years in prison in two cases brought by Mueller’s team after being convicted of or pleading guilty to a litany of financial and other crimes. Weissmann is in talks to take a teaching position at the New York University School of Law, according to Michael Orey, a spokesman at the university. “Andrew has been involved with NYU Law in the past and we have been talking with him about returning to the Law School following his current commitments,” Orey said. Weissmann, who was in a Washington federal court on Thursday to attend a hearing in the special counsel’s prosecution of longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone, did not respond to a request for comment. Stone was indicted in January, accused of lying about his communications with associates about the Wikileaks website that released documents that prosecutors said were stolen by Russia and made public to hurt Trump’s 2016 Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. Stone pleaded not guilty. His trial is set for on Nov. 5.
|
u.s .;robert mueller;donald trump;paul manafort;roger stone;russia probe;andrew weissman
|
jp0002205
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/03/15
|
Slovak entrepreneur charged with ordering investigative journalist Jan Kuciak's 2018 murder
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BRATISLAVA - Slovak prosecutors said Thursday they had charged an entrepreneur with ordering the murder of an investigative journalist whose killing during a corruption probe triggered mass protests and toppled the country’s prime minister. Journalist Jan Kuciak had been investigating Marian Kocner’s business activities at the time of his death, one of several stories he had been working on when he was gunned down with his fiancee, Martina Kusnirova, at home in February 2018. “The reason for the murder was the journalistic work of the victim,” a special prosecutor, who was left unnamed for security reasons, told reporters. The prosecutor said Kocner, who has a number of property development and investment businesses, was charged on March 8 with “ordering the murder.” Four others have already been charged over the killings. The Kuciak family’s lawyer, Daniel Lipsic, called the news “a very substantial breakthrough.” The International Press Institute also welcomed the move as a step toward “achieving justice for Jan and Martina.” “Authorities and the justice system must preserve the existing momentum,” IPI Deputy Director Scott Griffen added in a statement. The Kocner announcement came just two days before the eurozone member’s presidential election and analysts say it could affect the result of the poll. Kuciak’s murder and his last explosive report — published posthumously and unrelated to Kocner — sent shock waves through the country. The investigation alleged ties between Slovak politicians and the Italian Mafia. Tens of thousands took to the streets to protest against and threats to media freedom, piling pressure on then-Prime Minister Robert Fico, who was forced to resign, although he remains the leader of the ruling populist-left Smer-SD party. To mark the first anniversary of Kuciak’s death, around 30,000 people marched in Bratislava on Feb. 25, while thousands of others rallied across Slovakia. Slovaks will vote Saturday in round one of the presidential ballot, which is seen as a crucial test for the Smer-SD before next year’s general election. Presidential front-runner Zuzana Caputova is a vocal government critic who took part in the demonstrations following the double murder. Caputova has vowed to restore public trust in the state, running on a slogan of “Let us stand up to evil.” “People are calling for change,” she told AFP ahead of the March 16 first round vote. Opinion polls give her a double-digit lead over her main rival, European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic. The career diplomat is running as an independent but has backing from the Smer-SD. Analysts say it is unclear how the Kocner news will affect the presidential ballot. “With this announcement, the authorities may have wanted to show just how effectively the state functions, so it could help Sefcovic gain some points,” Bratislava-based analyst Grigorij Meseznikov told AFP. “On the other hand, this could also be vindication for Caputova, as she is the symbol of change.” Meseznikov said the widespread protests had pressured authorities into conducting a thorough investigation of the murders. Last year, prosecutors charged four suspects in connection with the killings, including a woman identified as Alena Zs. Local media reported that Alena Zs had worked as an interpreter for Kocner, who is believed to have ties to members of Smer-SD. Peter Bardy, Kuciak’s editor-in-chief at the aktuality.sk news website, claimed in September 2017 that Kocner had called Kuciak to threaten him. Kocner had vowed to set up a website publishing information on reporters’ private lives, according to the leading SME daily. The 55-year-old multimillionaire, who owns more than a dozen companies, was detained by police in June on suspicion of fraud. He is still in custody. “It is not excluded that further individuals will be accused of participating in the murder,” the special prosecutor said Thursday. The prosecutor added that “we do not yet have the weapon but we have evidence as to what kind of weapon it was.” Slovakia ranked 27 out of 180 countries in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) World Press Freedom Index 2018, falling 10 places in a year.
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murder;slovakia;jan kuciak;marian kocner
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jp0002206
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[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/03/15
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Russia may leave Council of Europe and European Court of Human Rights
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MOSCOW - Moscow may soon leave the Council of Europe, depriving Russians of what activists call the last hope for justice and crushing efforts to integrate the country into the international rights framework. Russia has been under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights — overseen by the continent’s top rights organization — for more than 20 years, becoming its biggest purveyor of cases. But after the 2014 annexation of Crimea ties between Moscow and the Council of Europe reached a crisis point, and Russia may quit the rights body or be suspended this year, activists and observers warn. “For Vladimir Putin, Council of Europe membership is certainly seen as being part of the civilized world and an exit has always been considered an unwelcome scenario,” said Tatyana Stanovaya, head of R.Politik, a Paris-based analysis firm. “However there may not be another way out in the current circumstances.” A Russian departure — dubbed “Ruxit” by the council’s secretary general Thorbjorn Jagland — would have far-reaching consequences. Campaigners warn of a potential intensification of a clampdown on civil society, worsening abuse of prisoners, a new wave of emigration, and a possible reinstatement of the death penalty. Ruxit would also weaken the council itself, and create new fault lines in Europe. After Moscow’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe deprived the Russian delegation of voting and other rights. In retaliation Russia has suspended its annual €33 million ($37 million) payment to the Strasbourg-based council — about 7 percent of its budget — and has not participated in PACE sessions. As a result more than half of ECHR judges, who serve for nonrenewable nine-year terms, and the commissioner for human rights have been elected without Russia. After two years of non-payment of contributions — from June this year — Russia could be suspended from the council. More importantly, Moscow probably will not be able to participate in the June election of the council’s next secretary general, and Russia warns that if this happens it may go. Pyotr Tolstoy, deputy speaker of parliament’s lower house and head of the country’s PACE delegation, said Moscow would take part in the election only if all its rights were restored and if PACE agreed to eliminate a possibility to impose sanctions against national delegations. “If this does not happen, the Russian delegation will not take part in the election,” Tolstoy told AFP. “This brings into question the overall necessity of our participation in this organization.” Russia’s top opposition politician Alexei Navalny, who has filed many complaints with the court on behalf of himself and others, said Moscow may be bluffing. “The Kremlin is relishing the fact that our delegation has been deprived of voting rights,” Navalny told AFP in an interview, noting that the Kremlin uses tensions with Europe to boost its standing at home. “Even though the Russian government really does not like many of the ECHR decisions, they don’t want to withdraw from the Council of Europe, and the Council of Europe does not really want to exclude Russia,” he said, suggesting that rules could be bent to keep Moscow in the organization. Rights attorney Karinna Moskalenko, the first Russian lawyer to win a case at the ECHR, said that even if Moscow was playing a game it was a “very dangerous” one. “They may reach a point of no return,” said Moskalenko. The 47-member council — which is not linked to the European Union — promotes democracy and the rule of law across Europe and also includes Turkey and Ukraine. Were Russia to leave the council, it would only be the second such case in its 70-year history. Greece quit the body under the military junta in 1969 to pre-empt being kicked out, but was re-admitted in 1974. Talks to resolve the crisis are underway but the margin of maneuver is very small, said rights activists, noting the organization may not be in a position to fulfill all Russian demands. Council of Europe spokesman Daniel Holtgen said the organization was hoping to find a solution by May when the council’s decision-making body meets. He stressed Russia took part in all of the council’s bodies except PACE. Late last year more than 60 campaigners and lawyers signed a memorandum calling on both sides to find a compromise, saying Russia’s departure would punish victims of unfair prosecution and trials. They also warned of a potential reinstatement of the death penalty, which must be banned as a prerequisite for council membership. “It is quite obvious that the losses will be huge,” said Yuri Dzhibladze, president of the Centre for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights, calling the court “an ultimate hope for justice.” In 2017 alone, the Russian government paid more than 14.5 million euros in “just satisfaction” to victims, compared with €222,667 for Britain and €88,279 for France. Russia has made a point of paying but it often fails to act to root out the cause of problems behind violations, activists say. Tolstoy dismissed campaigners’ worries, saying Russia’s courts and law-enforcement bodies were in line with European standards. “Human rights campaigners simply cannot imagine how they will live without the ECHR, but they will have to live without the ECHR.” Navalny said many Russians lived with the feeling that “somewhere out there, far away in France there is justice” and Moscow’s departure would pose a major problem. “The realization that fair trial will no longer be available — even theoretically — will be the main and most terrible consequence.”
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europe;courts;russia;rights;eu;council of europe;echr
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jp0002207
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/03/15
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Steve Mnuchin says U.S. government would shield Trump tax returns from Congress
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WASHINGTON - U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday that he would shield President Donald Trump’s tax returns from Congress, during remarks that could signal the administration’s approach to an expected request from congressional Democrats. During testimony in the House of Representatives, Mnuchin told the House tax committee that he would follow the law upon receiving a request for tax returns but would also protect Trump’s privacy rights. “I’m not aware if there’s ever been a request for an elected official’s tax return,” Mnuchin said in response to questions from Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee. “But we will follow the law and we will protect the president as we would protect any individual taxpayer under their rights.” Committee Chairman Richard Neal, the only member of the House authorized by law to request the president’s returns, is expected to ask Mnuchin for the documents. A Democratic member of the committee said earlier this month he believed the panel would ask for Trump’s returns in a few weeks. Democrats view the documents as a potential linchpin for oversight investigations, saying they would show whether the president has complied with U.S. tax law, profited from his own tax cuts, or has conflicts of interest from his vast business holdings. Neal’s committee could seek both his personal and business returns. Trump defied decades of precedent as a presidential candidate by refusing to release his tax documents and has continued to keep them under wraps as president, saying his returns were under audit by the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS has said that Trump can release his tax returns even while under audit. Interest in Trump’s returns has soared since his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen told a House panel on Feb. 27 that the president has altered his value of assets and slashed the wages of his employees to lower his tax bills. Section 6103 of the U.S. tax code allows the chairs of three committees — Neal’s House panel, the Senate Finance Committee and the Joint Committee on Taxation — to request confidential tax returns, and says the Treasury secretary “shall furnish” the documents. But requesting the tax returns of a sitting president is unprecedented. Fearing a lengthy court battle for the documents, Neal’s committee has spent months working to develop a winning legal argument that could base the quest firmly within the panel’s jurisdiction to oversee the U.S. tax system. Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Republican chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, is also expected to seek Trump’s taxes if Democrats obtain them. “There’s an awful lot of interest in 6103 today,” Mnuchin said. He said he would not speculate on a specific strategy for handling a request from lawmakers because he has not yet received one.
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u.s .;congress;taxes;democrats;donald trump;steve mnuchin;chuck grassley
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jp0002208
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[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/03/15
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Brazil city mourns eight victims of school attack
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SUZANO, BRAZIL - Stunned family members on Thursday prepared to bury the eight victims of a school shooting in Brazil, along with the two attackers who carried out the violence, and grappled to understand why the bloodshed took place. A collective wake for six of the victims was held in a large sports arena in this city on the eastern outskirts of metropolitan Sao Paulo. Lines of mourners snaked outside the building, while inside, grief-stricken family members hugged and cried over caskets holding the teenagers killed. The attack has shocked Brazil, a country with the world’s highest number of murders but where school shootings are relatively rare. The rampage has raised tough questions about just how to deal with a wave of violence that helped pave the way for the election of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. A total of 10 people, including the two attackers, were killed Wednesday, Sao Paulo police said. The students who died were boys, mostly between 15 and 16 years old. The assailants were aged 17 and 25, and carried out the attack with one .38 caliber pistol and a crossbow, as well as with hatchets and knives. Another 10 people, mostly schoolchildren, were shot or cut, and several are in serious condition, police said. The two attackers committed suicide as police closed in on them inside the school, authorities said. “This is all too sad. These things happen because of a lack of love, a lack of God,” said mourner Solange Cardoso, as she stood outside the arena. “Suzano is in mourning. I am here to stand with the families, just like many of the people who are out here today.” Investigators said the attack was inspired by the 1999 Columbine massacre in the United States. Before entering the Raul Brasil school in Suzano near Sao Paulo, the two former pupils shot and killed the younger assailant’s uncle, who owned a car rental agency where they stole a vehicle. An amateur video aired by Globo TV showed children screaming, running and begging for their lives as loud shots were heard. Children climbed and jumped over a wall that surrounds the school building, then sprinted down streets, screaming for help, security camera footage from homes nearby showed. The two assailants spent more than a year planning their attack, investigators said. A motive was not yet clear. The school is in a middle-class neighborhood and has about 1,000 students aged 11 to 16. One teacher told police that the younger attacker had been bullied while he was a student there. The last major school shooting in Brazil was in 2011, when 12 children were shot dead by a former pupil in Rio de Janeiro. Gun laws are strict in Brazil, but it is not difficult to illegally purchase a weapon. Bolsonaro made relaxing gun control a cornerstone of his campaign last year.
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guns;brazil;schools;mass murder;jair bolsonaro
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jp0002209
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/03/15
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Senate rebukes Trump on border emergency; president vows 'VETO!'
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WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump suffered an embarrassing defeat Thursday at the hands of US senators, including fellow Republicans, who voted to terminate his declaration of an emergency on the border with Mexico. Trump’s response was swift and unequivocal: “VETO!” he tweeted after a dozen Republicans joined Democrats in voting down the emergency, declared as a way to secure alternative funding for the border wall denied to him by Congress. Opponents had argued that Trump’s emergency amounted to executive overreach, saying a vote to curtail his authority would preserve the constitutionally mandated separation of powers in Washington. Half a dozen Republicans had already spoken out publicly against the February declaration. But on the morning of the vote, the simmering revolt grew to 12 Republicans, and the final tally was a resounding 59 to 41. Trump had made clear he planned to use his veto powers to override any congressional block, after failing to strong-arm enough Republicans into line. “I look forward to VETOING the just passed Democrat inspired Resolution which would OPEN BORDERS while increasing Crime, Drugs, and Trafficking in our Country,” he tweeted, following up on his initial one-word response. “I thank all of the Strong Republicans who voted to support Border Security and our desperately needed WALL!” Unless there is a substantial weakening of support for Trump among congressional Republicans on the issue, the first veto of his presidency is expected to stand. The Senate and House of Representatives would each need a two-thirds majority to override a block by the White House, and both parties say the numbers are not likely there. “It won’t be overturned and the legal scholars say it’s totally constitutional,” Trump told reporters of his emergency. Trump argues the move allows him to skirt Congress and repurpose billions of dollars in other government funds, including money earmarked for military facilities. But Democrats and some Republicans point to Congress’s constitutional duty to control government purse strings — and say declaring an emergency to seize more money is an abuse of executive authority. Sen. Mitt Romney, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, opposed Trump on the declaration, saying he cast his vote “for the constitution and for the balance of power that is at its core.” A group of Republicans had sought to limit defections by cutting a deal with the president to rein in emergency declaration powers, but Trump refused. He set the stage for the showdown by using now-familiar pressure tactics, unsuccessfully warning Republicans not to rebuke him on the emergency. “Don’t vote with Pelosi!” he boomed on Twitter early Thursday, referring to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi whose Democratic-led chamber had already approved the resolution. Pelosi, who lunched with Trump and the Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar at the U.S. Capitol two hours before the critical Senate vote, had urged the upper chamber to “reject the president’s unconstitutional measure.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell expressed support for Trump as he sought to rally his troops. “The president is operating within existing law, and the crisis on our border is all too real,” McConnell said, citing rising numbers of border detentions. But the chamber’s top Democrat couched it as a power grab by an unrestrained president acting out of “pique.” “It’s our job, here in Congress, to limit executive overreach, to defend our core powers” of controlling how federal dollars are spent, Sen. Chuck Schumer said. “This is not an everyday moment,” he added. “The judgment of history weighs on this vote.” Numerous Senate Republicans, including some who sided with Trump Thursday, have called for a narrowing of parameters of the National Emergencies Act of 1976, under whose authority Trump and other presidents have acted in declaring their emergencies. “I think that law is overly broad and I want to fix it,” Sen. Ben Sasse said. “But at present Nancy Pelosi doesn’t, so I am therefore voting against her politically motivated resolution.” The White House laid out an ambitious 2020 budget proposal Monday which contains $8.6 billion in new wall funding, considerably above the $5.7 billion Trump sought for this year. Lawmakers are unlikely to go along. Congress recently provided just $1.4 billion for construction of 55 miles (90 km) of barriers along the border in Texas. The White House has signaled it will seek to repurpose some $6 billion from military funds, without specifying which Pentagon programs would be slashed. But re-apportioning military money is a prickly undertaking, and several lawmakers from both parties have warned against it. Thursday’s vote was the second bipartisan rebuke of Trump in as many days, after the Senate Wednesday voted to end U.S. military support for the Saudi-led war effort in Yemen. Trump has threatened to veto that measure too.
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u.s .;congress;republicans;democrats;nancy pelosi;donald trump;border wall
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jp0002210
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/03/15
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'We won't do cost plus 50,' Pentagon chief says, denying Trump plan for fivefold hike in Japan base costs
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WASHINGTON - Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan on Thursday denied news reports that Washington is considering demanding that Japan and other allies pay significantly higher costs for the stationing of American troops on their soil. Reports had said that U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration was floating the controversial idea to push allies to pay the full cost of U.S. forces’ presence plus an additional 50 percent in a so-called “cost plus 50” formula. “We won’t do cost plus 50 percent,” Shanahan said at a congressional hearing, calling the reports “erroneous.” “We’re not going to run a business and we’re not going to run a charity,” he told the Senate Armed Services Committee. “The important part is that people pay their fair share,” Shanahan said. But he added that compensation comes in many forms, such as providing support for war efforts in Afghanistan, for example. According to multiple reports, the administration is drafting fresh demands that Japan and Germany — and eventually other countries hosting U.S. troops — pay in line with the envisaged formula for the privilege of having them there. The new formula could mean that the United States will be asking such countries to pay at least five times more than they do now, they said. However, some lawmakers from Trump’s Republican Party oppose the idea, saying the United States benefits from cooperation with allies and the foreign bases help ensure freedom, prosperity and security around the world. “The notion that we are somehow now going to change them cost plus 50 is really … it’s wrongheaded and it would be devastating to the security of the nation and our allies,” Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming told an NBC program on Sunday. Cheney said the United States “should not look at this as though somehow we need to charge them rent or for the privilege of having our forces there” because having U.S. troops based in other countries “does us a huge benefit as well.” Speaking to reporters Monday in Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Japan and the United States share the cost of stationing American forces in Japan “appropriately.” “The U.S. government highly values Japan’s share in the stationing cost,” Suga said. As of fiscal 2015, Japan was shouldering 86.4 percent of the cost of stationing American troops in the country, according to Japanese Defense Ministry calculations. Given that the current cost-sharing agreement is valid until March 2021, Suga said the two governments have yet to start negotiations for a new accord.
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defense;u.s. military;u.s. bases;donald trump;patrick shanahan
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jp0002211
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[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/03/15
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U.K. lawmakers overwhelmingly back Brexit delay, setting stage for new vote on deal next week
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LONDON - In a stalemate over Brexit, British politicians have chosen to delay it. After weeks of political gridlock, Parliament voted Thursday to seek to postpone the country’s departure from the European Union, a move that will likely avert a chaotic withdrawal on the scheduled exit date of March 29. With Brexit due in 15 days and no divorce deal yet approved, the House of Commons voted 413-202 to ask the bloc to put off Britain’s exit until at least June 30. The vote gives Prime Minister Theresa May some breathing space but is still humbling for a leader who has spent two years telling Britons they were leaving the bloc on March 29. In a historic irony, almost three years after Britain voted to leave the EU, its future is now in the bloc’s hands. Power to approve or reject the extension lies with the EU, which has signaled that it will only allow a delay if Britain either approves a divorce deal or makes a fundamental shift in its approach to Brexit. May is likely to ask EU leaders for an extension at a March 21-22 summit of the bloc in Brussels. The European Commission said the bloc would consider any request, “taking into account the reasons for and duration of a possible extension.” In Tokyo, government officials on Friday expressed concerns over the uncertainty surrounding Britain’s departure from the European Union. “The outlook remains uncertain because we don’t know how much the delay will be and whether the European Union will approve it,” industry minister Hiroshige Seko said at a news conference. “Should the deadline not be extended and Britain leave the European Union without a deal, it will have an extremely grave impact on Japanese businesses.” May was forced to consider a Brexit delay after lawmakers twice rejected her EU divorce deal and also ruled out, in principle, leaving the bloc without an agreement. Withdrawing without a deal could mean major disruptions for businesses and people in the U.K. and the 27 remaining countries. By law, Britain will leave the EU on March 29, with or without a deal, unless it cancels Brexit or secures a delay. Thursday could have been worse for May. Lawmakers rejected an attempt to strip her of control over the Brexit agenda. They defeated by the narrowest of margins — 314-312 — an opposition attempt to let Parliament choose an alternative to May’s rejected divorce deal and force the government to negotiate it with the EU. Lawmakers also voted against holding a second Brexit referendum — at least for now. By a decisive 334-85 vote, they defeated a motion that called for another vote by the public on whether to stay in the EU or leave. Campaigners for a new referendum are divided over whether the time is right to push for a second Brexit vote. The vote doesn’t prevent lawmakers from trying again later to get Parliament’s support for another referendum. Despite the rebuffs and the political chaos that have weakened her authority, May has signaled she will try a third time to get backing for her agreement next week. She is seeking to win over Brexit-backing opponents in her own party and its Northern Irish political ally, the Democratic Unionist Party, who fear the deal keeps Britain too closely tied to the EU. Alan Wager, a researcher at the U.K. in a Changing Europe think tank, said May faced a struggle to overturn a 149-vote margin of defeat in Parliament this week. “It’s still really difficult to see how the numbers stack up for Theresa May, but she’s giving it one more go,” he said. If May’s deal is approved, she hopes to use a delay until June 30 to enact legislation needed for Britain’s departure. She has warned Brexit supporters who oppose her deal that if no withdrawal agreement is passed in the coming days, the only option will be to seek a long extension that could mean Brexit never happens. Any delay in the Brexit process would require the unanimous approval of all 27 remaining EU member states — and leaders in the bloc are exasperated at the events in London. They have said they will approve an extension if there is a specific reason, but don’t want to provide more time for political bickering in Britain. “Under no circumstances an extension in the dark!” tweeted the European Parliament’s Brexit coordinator, Guy Verhofstadt. “Unless there is a clear majority in the House of Commons for something precise, there is no reason at all for the European Council to agree on a prolongation.” Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said the EU needed “more decisions” from London. The EU is also reluctant to postpone Brexit beyond the late May elections for the European Parliament, because that would mean Britain taking part even as it prepares to leave. The bloc is more open to a long delay to allow Britain to radically change course — an idea favored by pro-EU British lawmakers who want to maintain close ties with the EU. European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted that he will appeal to EU leaders “to be open to a long extension if the U.K. finds it necessary to rethink its Brexit strategy and build consensus about it.” In another sting for May, U.S. President Donald Trump said he was “surprised at how badly” the Brexit negotiations have been handled. Trump, who sees himself as a dealmaker, said he gave May advice but she didn’t listen to him. Speaking alongside Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar at the White House, Trump said Britain’s debate over leaving the EU was “tearing the country apart.” British businesses expressed relief at the prospect of a delay. Many worry that a no-deal Brexit would cause upheaval, with customs checks causing gridlock at U.K. ports, new tariffs triggering sudden price increases and red tape for everyone from truckers to tourists. Josh Hardie, deputy director-general of the Confederation of British Industry, said the vote for an extension showed there was “still some common sense in Westminster.” “But without a radically new approach, business fears this is simply a stay of execution,” he said.
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trade;eu;u.k .;brexit;theresa may
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jp0002212
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/03/15
|
'Large number' of Islamic State fighters and their families surrender after U.S.-backed assault on Syria's Baghouz
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BAGHOUZ, SYRIA - U.S.-backed Syrian fighters said Thursday a “large number” of Islamic State militants and their families are surrendering a day after intense fighting in the last speck of land the extremists still hold in eastern Syria. At the edge of Baghouz, the village where the militants are still holed up, men, women and children climbed a road that winds along a cliff overlooking what remains of a tent encampment, heading out. Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces said they searched the evacuees as they reached the front lines. Many of the people carried rolls of blankets and clothes but cast them aside as they made their way up the hill. Women carried babies as children slowly made their way up the rocky terrain. Most of the men appeared to be wounded, with many limping or walking with crutches, and they carried little aside from water bottles. Women were weighted down with duffel and plastic bags, and children holding onto their arms or to the black robes they wore. The sound of sporadic gunfire echoed off the cliff and U.S.-led coalition planes flew overhead. SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali said after an intensive offensive Wednesday from multiple fronts, “a large number” of IS militants and their families “started to surrender” early Thursday. The U.N. said in a Wednesday report that some 7,000 new evacuees are expected to arrive at an already overpopulated displaced people’s camp to the north over the next few days. The SDF forces said the militants took advantage of dusty and windy conditions a day earlier to launch multiple counterattacks. The U.S.-backed forces fought back, repelling the offensive and apparently triggering the latest evacuation. Windy conditions continued on Thursday, and SDF commanders inspected front-line positions early in the day. A day after heavy bombing and clashes, it was quiet Thursday. By early afternoon, it began drizzling. The battle to retake Baghouz and surrounding villages began in September, but has been paused on a number of occasions to allow civilians out. Some fighters have surrendered in recent weeks, but hard-core militants, including many foreigners, are still holed up in the shrinking space along the eastern banks of the Euphrates River. Since early February, more than 10,000 civilians were evacuated from the IS-held pocket, most of them family members of IS fighters. The capture of Baghouz would be a milestone in the devastating four-year campaign to dismantle the extremist group’s self-declared caliphate, which once covered a vast territory straddling both Syria and Iraq. Wind and dust storms give the extremists a reprieve from airstrikes and aerial reconnaissance. The militants have also burned tires and oil to thicken the air cover above their tent encampment in Baghouz, where an unknown number remain holed up. SDF spokesman Adnan Afrin reported heavy clashes late Wednesday, saying IS sent suicide bombers to blast open gaps in their lines. At one point, IS had a group of SDF fighters encircled, but reinforcements managed to liberate them. The civilians evacuated from the area have been sent to al-Hol, a camp for the displaced. The U.N. Population Fund said Wednesday that more than 53,000 have arrived at the camp since December, mainly women and children. It said the camp’s 67,000 residents are living in “uninhabitable” conditions, with harsh weather, overcrowded tents and lax security. The U.N. said aid groups are overwhelmed and cannot access parts of the camp because of a lack of resources or safety issues. Some 200 people took part in violent protests in the camp earlier this month.
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conflict;u.s .;terrorism;syria;islamic state;syrian democratic forces;baghouz
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jp0002213
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/03/15
|
California totally free of drought for the first time in seven years
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LOS ANGELES - California was declared totally drought-free for the first time in more than seven years on Thursday, following unusually abundant winter rains and snowfall statewide, according to the government’s weekly report on U.S. drought conditions. The U.S. Drought Monitor’s latest survey reflected an astonishing turnaround — at least for now — from a severe, prolonged dry spell that reduced irrigation supplies to farmers, forced strict household conservation measures and stoked a spate of deadly, devastating wildfires. A relatively small swath of California’s southern-most region, including most of San Diego County, remains labeled “abnormally dry” on the drought map index, as does a tiny patch at the state’s extreme northern end along the Oregon border. But this week marks the first time since mid-December of 2011 that 100 percent of the state has been classified as being free of drought, defined as a moisture deficit severe enough to cause social, environmental or economic ills. Conditions were classified as normal across 93 percent of the state. The current picture marks a major improvement from just one year ago, when nearly 70 percent of California was still classified as suffering from moderate to severe drought. What made the difference was one of the wettest winters on record in California — a series of Pacific storms that have replenished lakes and reservoirs and left the Sierra Nevada mountain snowpack, the state’s largest single source of fresh surface water, well above normal. It was just three years ago when the Sierra snowpack had dwindled to virtually zero. Two years later, in early 2017, then-Governor Jerry Brown rescinded a statewide drought declaration following record rainfall. Experts say swings from drought to deluge, or the reverse, are an illustration of variability in weather extremes that California can be expected to experience in an era of climate change. “Dry conditions can easily creep back in,” Jessica Blunden, a climate scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), told the Los Angeles Times. Well-above-average precipitation this winter across the wider U.S. West has helped ease drought conditions throughout much of the region, filling reservoirs and restoring sparse snowpacks but also causing avalanche hazards in Colorado, the Drought Monitor summary said. The weekly report is prepared by experts from NOAA, the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska, the U.S. Agriculture Department.
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california;weather;climate change;drought
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jp0002214
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/03/15
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China's National People's Congress wraps up annual session amid clampdown on information
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BEIJING - The annual session of China’s parliament ended Friday with stronger information control and a consideration toward the United States, which has been putting pressure on Beijing to rectify its alleged unfair trade practices. The National People’s Congress kicked off on March 5 at a time when many analysts say President Xi Jinping has faced one of the most challenging years since he came to power in 2013, with a trade dispute with the United States hurting the economy. In a work report mapping out policy direction for this year, the government of the world’s second-largest economy downgraded its gross domestic product growth target to 6.0 to 6.5 percent for 2019 from last year’s target of about 6.5 percent. Recently, some ruling party officials, scholars and journalists in Beijing have started to rap Xi’s China-centered policies for complicating relations with the U.S. administration of President Donald Trump and jeopardizing solid economic expansion. Amid mounting fears that foreign media will report news critical of China’s one-party political system, the country’s authorities have stepped up efforts to crack down on internet freedom around the time of the parliamentary session. In a bid to prevent its citizens from seeing and obtaining information that would disadvantage the nation’s ruling Communist Party and government, China has blocked access to many overseas websites like Google search, YouTube and Facebook. Virtual private networks enable internet users in China, especially foreigners, to visit such websites in circumvention of the so-called Great Firewall, which blocks flows of information inconvenient for the country’s authorities. But since earlier this month, VPN connections have apparently stopped working regularly in China, internet users said. “I believe that the last major blocking was in autumn 2017,” said an engineer of Express VPN, one of the most popular VPN providers. In October 2017, the Communist Party held its twice-a-decade congress, where it amended its constitution to enshrine Xi’s political “thought” with his name in order to make his status comparable to Mao Zedong, founder of the People’s Republic of China. The move was lambasted by democratic and capitalist nations, including the United States and Japan, as fostering a cult of personality and a dictatorship. Stephen Nagy, a senior associate professor of politics at International Christian University in Tokyo, warns that China will continue to bolster its internet censorship to “limit Western influences from the outside.” “There is growing insecurity in China associated with a decelerating economy, tangible increases in social control, and perceived shifts towards Mao-like power being accumulated by President Xi,” he said. “The leadership needs not only to control these perceptions to maintain their leadership but also to prevent social unrest and dissatisfaction with the leadership from achieving a critical mass,” added Nagy, a fellow at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. In a separate process, the Communist Party has developed and called on its members to use a new smartphone app, named Xuexi Qiangguo (Study Powerful Country), aiming to raise the profile of Xi’s ideology at home. While “ xuexi ” means “study” in English, the app’s name contains a pun on the president’s surname, implicitly urging users to “study Xi,” a source familiar with the political situation in China said. The leader has actively promoted his “Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.” Using the app released in January, two months before the National People’s Congress convened, users can get points by watching state-run media news reporting and guessing right on quizzes about Xi’s speeches or movements. With disapproval of his policies growing, “Xi may be jumping at his own shadow,” said a source working at Peking University in Beijing. To consolidate information control, Xi’s leadership also limited access by foreign journalists to ruling party and government officials during the opening of the latest parliamentary session. “We were not allowed to interview Communist Party and government officials at all this year,” one of the journalists said. China, meanwhile, showed its consideration for the United States at the National People’s Congress, with Premier Li Keqiang emphasizing in his speech on the first day that Beijing will proceed with its “reform and opening-up” policy. Li also made no mention of the “Made in China 2025” technology blueprint, under which China has been attempting to create global leaders in advanced technologies at the state’s initiative — one of the causes that prompted the United States to wage a trade war. Trump, who ran his presidential campaign with the “Make America Great Again” slogan, has frowned on the plan, with the U.S. government having targeted Chinese goods containing technology related to it in the tit-for-tat tariff spat. At their summit in Argentina in December, Xi and Trump agreed to a truce in which both promised to refrain from imposing further tariffs on each other’s imports for 90 days while trying to complete trade negotiations. As talks continue, Washington has extended the March 1 deadline, but the world’s two largest economies have remained divided over what Washington calls Beijing’s “unfair” trade practices, such as alleged intellectual property theft and forced technology transfer. “China has become very sensitive ahead of a possible summit between Xi and Trump in the not-so-distant future. At the National People’s Congress, Xi was forced to be careful about trade and business issues,” a diplomatic source in Beijing said.
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china;censorship;trade;xi jinping;ccp
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jp0002215
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/03/15
|
Duterte publicly names 46 officials under investigation over drugs
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MANILA - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday publicly named 46 government officials — including three congressmen — whom he said are involved in illegal drugs, and added that criminal investigations against them are underway. Although critics have warned him against making such public announcements without solid evidence, Duterte said in a peace-and-order meeting shown on nationwide TV that he trusted the government agencies that provided the information. “My decision to unmask these drug personalities was anchored on my trust in the government agencies who had vetted and validated the narco list,” Duterte said. He said the Department of Interior and Local Government has filed administrative complaints against the politicians. The government’s Anti-Money Laundering Council and a presidential anti-corruption commission are both investigating the officials to build criminal cases against them, Duterte said. Many of the officials, including 33 mayors, eight vice mayors and three members of the House of Representatives, are running in midterm elections in May. Duterte said he did not aim to undermine the politicians ahead of the elections but decided to identify them after their involvement in the drug trade was validated by authorities. The officials named by Duterte did not immediately respond. Duterte said other officials were also involved but that he had decided not to name them until their complicity is ascertained. Duterte’s crackdown on illegal drugs has left thousands of mostly poor suspects dead and has alarmed Western governments and human rights groups. The drug killings have sparked two complaints of mass murder to the International Criminal Court. A prosecutor there is looking into the complaints and is expected to announce soon whether to elevate the inquiry into an investigation. Duterte took steps last year to withdraw the Philippines from the international court, an action that would take effect on March 17. He has often lashed out at the court and the prosecutor examining the allegations against him, saying the court will never acquire jurisdiction over him and threatening the prosecutor with arrest if she travels to the Philippines.
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drugs;philippines;rodrigo duterte
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jp0002216
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/03/15
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Millions affected in Manila's worst water shortage in years
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MANILA - Manila has been hit by its worst water shortage in years, leaving bucket-bearing families to wait hours to fill up from tanker trucks and some hospitals to turn away less urgent cases. Taps are dry from four to 20 hours per day in the homes of about half of the Philippine capital’s roughly 12 million people due to rolling outages driven by a dearth of rain and inadequate infrastructure. “I have learned to take a bath using only seven pitchers of water,” Ricardo Bergado told AFP as he lined up with his buckets. “I even save the bath water to flush our toilet.” The shortages started hitting late last week, with some areas in eastern Manila seeing the supplies of water into their homes being completely cut off. However, Manila Water Co., one of the capital’s two suppliers, said it will now use rolling cutoffs spread across the city to share the pain more evenly. Jerry cans and buckets were flying off store shelves and landing in lines where families were spending hours waiting for deliveries by truck. “Instead of doing important things, our time is consumed now by making sure we have enough water,” Bergado, a 57-year-old audio technician told AFP. At least five public hospitals in the capital have started getting supplemental supplies from water tankers, as shortages had led at least one to limit admissions. “This is the worst (water shortage) we have experienced. It almost happened last year but we were saved by heavy rains brought by storms,” Dittie Galang, Manila Water communications manager, told AFP. The disruption could last until July when monsoon rains are typically in full swing and would replenish regional reservoirs, one of which is at a two-decade low. Better known for flooding from its frequent typhoons, the Philippines is experiencing a dry spell that led to reserves being severely depleted. At the same time, the aging pipelines and dams that provide Manila’s water have not kept pace with the growth of the mega-city, which has roughly doubled its population since 1985. The government has admitted that the problem of growing demand for water has long been forecast but they failed to address it due to delays in projects that would expand capacity. “We need an alternative water source and we need it yesterday,” Patrick Ty, chief of Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, told ABS-CBN television. Among the main projects in the pipeline is the construction of $355 million Kaliwa Dam, a Chinese-funded project that met resistance from indigenous peoples and church leaders for its feared effects on communities.
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philippines;manila;water;utilities;drought
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jp0002217
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/03/15
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After 60 years in exile, Dalai Lama is still an inspiration back home in Tibet and a concern for China
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TAKTSER, CHINA - It has been six decades since the Dalai Lama fled into exile, but in the isolated mountain hamlet where he was born, he remains very much on the minds of devotees and Chinese authorities alike. Lying on the northeastern edge of the Tibetan plateau in Qinghai province, Taktser is where the Dalai Lama was born in 1935 to parents who farmed buckwheat and barley and is now a magnet to worshippers and foreign tourists — and security personnel. During a recent Reuters visit to Taktser, known in Chinese as Hongya, police armed with automatic weapons blocked the winding road leading into the village of some 60 houses. Police and more than a dozen plain-clothed officials who declined to identify themselves refused Reuters entry, saying the village was not open to the public. Beijing views the Nobel Peace Prize laureate as a dangerous separatist and has denounced the 83-year-old spiritual leader as a “wolf in monk’s robes.” The Dalai Lama denies espousing violence and says he only wants genuine autonomy for Tibet. Many of China’s more than 6 million Tibetans still venerate the Dalai Lama, despite government prohibitions on displays of his picture or any public display of devotion. This Sunday marks 60 years since the Dalai Lama, disguised as a soldier, fled the Potala Palace in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, after rumors that Chinese troops were planning his abduction or assassination fomented an abortive popular uprising. The Dalai Lama crossed into India two weeks later and has not set foot in Tibet since. Despite the passage of time, during sensitive political anniversaries China’s security apparatus routinely restricts access to the village where the Dalai Lama’s old family is located, behind a pair of wooden doors and high concrete walls. One 29-year-old Tibetan man in the largely ethnic Tibetan town of Rebkong, set in a precipitous valley in Qinghai with a large monastery adorned in rich colors, enthusiastically recounted his pilgrimage to Taktser years ago. He said Tibetans were well aware of the upcoming 60th anniversary of the Dalai Lama’s exile, even if public commemorations of any sort were banned. “You can only bury it in your heart, we just don’t speak about it,” he said, declining to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter. “We have no ability to go against politics, we can only just go with society.” Born Lhamo Thondup, the Dalai Lama was just 2 years old when identified by a search party as the new incarnation of Tibet’s most important spiritual leader and was whisked from the family home to live in Lhasa. The anniversary of his escape over the mountains into exile in India is one of several politically sensitive dates in China this year, including the 30th anniversary of the crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square in June. At China’s annual meeting of parliament this month, Tibet’s Communist Party chief, Wu Yingjie, said the Tibetan people felt greater affection toward the government than the Dalai Lama, who “hasn’t done a single good thing for the people of Tibet.” As the Dalai Lama ages, many Tibetans fear that Beijing will simply appoint its own replacement. The Dalai Lama has suggested that his incarnation might be found outside Chinese-controlled territory, or that the centuries-old Dalai Lama institution could die with him.
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china;religion;history;tibet;dalai lama;nobel prize;anniversaries
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jp0002218
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/03/15
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A look back at the Dalai Lama's dramatic 1959 escape from China-ruled Tibet
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PARIS - In March 1959, Tibet’s ruler and spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, fled his homeland amid a deadly Chinese crackdown, escaping to India in a grueling two-week trek. There he formed a government-in-exile and demand autonomy for Tibet, going on to earn international renown and respect while remaining a bete noir for China. Here is an account of his dramatic escape. Tibetans revolt Predominantly Buddhist Tibet, a vast Himalayan area of plateaus and mountains, declared independence from China in the early 20th century. But China took back control in 1951, having sent in thousands of troops. Lhamo Dhondup, chosen at the age of 2 in 1937 as the 14th incarnation of Tibetan Buddhism’s supreme religious leader under the name Tenzin Gyatso, was enthroned as head of state after the Chinese invasion. His co-existence with the Beijing authorities was tense, and when the Chinese authorities summoned him to an event without his bodyguards on March 10, Tibetans feared a trap that could endanger their leader. Thousands assembled at his summer palace to prevent him from leaving, and thousands more demonstrated in Lhasa to demand the Chinese depart, the Dalai Lama would later say. Beijing poured more troops into Tibet. As tensions mounted, they opened fire on March 17, targeting and eventually razing the Dalai Lama’s palace. The revolt was suppressed by March 21, ending in a bloodbath. The government in-exile later claimed the Chinese Army killed tens of thousands. Dalai Lama disappears The outside world was largely unaware of the turmoil engulfing isolated and remote Tibet. Only neighboring India had diplomatic representation there, and rare reports of the unrest trickled out via its media. On March 22, AFP reported from India that there was concern over the fate of the Dalai Lama, then age 23, who seemed to have disappeared. “According to some rumors, the young man could be in his Lhasa palace or under Chinese military guard,” the report said, citing India’s The Statesman newspaper. It later emerged that he had been able to slip past Chinese troops massed around his palace on March 17, another story said. A great escape He left the palace dressed as a soldier and met up with a group of Tibetan resistance fighters 60 kilometers (37 miles) outside of Lhasa, AFP reported, again citing The Statesman. His entourage included his mother, sister, younger brother and several top officials. They traveled for two days and two nights without stopping, on foot and on horseback, AFP later cited a Tibetan official as saying. A month’s supplies were carried by mules. To cross the major Brahmaputra River, they used a single boat made of yak skin, the official said. The group then continued on foot, walking only at night through the harsh Himalayan terrain. They had a head start on Chinese troops, who had not realized the Dalai Lama had disappeared until two days later, only then sending out a ground and air dragnet and combing monasteries where he could be hiding. It was “one of the most fantastic escapes in history,” an AFP story said. Arrival in India On March 31 the Dalai Lama walked across the border into the Indian state of Assam. “The Dalai Lama entered India on March 31 in the evening,” Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru announced on April 3. In mid-April, an official statement provided details of his escape. “It is thanks to the affectionate support and the loyalty of his people that the Dalai Lama was able to make his way, by an extremely difficult route,” it said. It denied a Chinese claim that he had been forced into exile. “The Dalai Lama wishes to categorically state that he left Lhasa and Tibet and came to India of his own free will and not by force,” it said. Government-in-exile India granted the Tibet leader asylum on April 3 and permission to establish a government-in-exile in the northern hill station of Dharamsala, which already was a sanctuary for thousands of Tibetan exiles fleeing Chinese repression. From there he launched a campaign to reclaim Tibet, gradually easing this into an appeal for greater autonomy. Talks between the two sides failed, China adamantly rejecting any suggestion of Tibetan autonomy and blacklisting the Dalai Lama as a dangerous “separatist.” Beijing continues to be accused of political and religious repression in the region but insists that Tibetans enjoy extensive freedoms and that it has brought economic growth. More than 150 Tibetans have set themselves on fire since 2009 in protest against Beijing’s presence in Tibet. The Dalai Lama, who gave up his political role in 2011 but remains based in Dharamsala, has gained worldwide respect for his pacifist approach, winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.
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china;religion;history;tibet;dalai lama;nobel prize;anniversaries
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jp0002219
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"crime-legal-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/03/15
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Mosque killer's rifles bore white-supremacist references
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The self-proclaimed racist who attacked a New Zealand mosque conducting Friday prayers during an assault that killed 49 people opened fire with rifles covered in white-supremacist graffiti and listened to a song glorifying a Bosnian Serb war criminal. These details highlight the toxic belief system behind an unprecedented, live-streamed massacre, which Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called “one of New Zealand’s darkest days.” Trying to understand what motivated the slaughter may be difficult, as some of the material posted by the killer resembles the meme-heavy hate speech prominent in dark corners of the internet. He even seemingly randomly referenced a prominent YouTube user before carrying out the attack. However, beneath the online tropes lies a man who matter-of-factly described himself in writing as preparing to conduct a terrorist attack before opening fire on Muslims who simply had gathered to pray on a Friday. Music The shooter’s soundtrack as he drove to the mosque included an upbeat sounding tune that belies its roots in a destructive European nationalist and religious conflict. The nationalist Serb song from the 1992-95 war that tore apart Yugoslavia glorifies Serbian fighters and Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic, who is jailed at the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, for genocide and other war crimes against Bosnian Muslims. A YouTube video for the song shows emaciated Muslim prisoners in Serb-run camps during the war. “Beware Ustashas and Turks,” says the song, using wartime, derogatory terms for Bosnian Croats and Muslims. When the gunman was finished in the mosque and returned to his car, the song “Fire” by English rock band “The Crazy World of Arthur Brown” can be heard blasting from the speakers. The singer bellows, “I am the god of hellfire!” as the man, a 28-year-old Australian, drives away. Symbols At least two rifles used in the shooting mention Ebba Akerlund, an 11-year-old girl killed in an April 2017 truck-ramming attack in Stockholm by Rakhmat Akilov, a 39-year-old Uzbek man. Akerlund’s death is memorialized in the gunman’s apparent manifesto, published online, as an event that led to his decision to wage war against what he perceives as the enemies of Western civilization. The number 14 is also seen on the gunman’s rifles. It may refer to “14 Words,” which according to the Southern Poverty Law Center is a white supremacist slogan linked to Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf.” He also used the symbol of the Schwarze Sonne, or black sun, which “has become synonymous with myriad far-right groups,” according to the center, which monitors hate groups. In photographs from a now deleted Twitter account associated with the suspect that match the weaponry seen in his live-streamed video, there is a reference to “Vienna 1683,” the year the Ottoman Empire suffered a defeat in their siege of the city at the Battle of Kahlenberg. “Acre 1189,” a reference to the Crusades, is also on the guns. The name Charles Martel, who the Southern Poverty Law Center says white supremacists credit “with saving Europe by defeating an invading Muslim force at the Battle of Tours in 734,” was also on the weapons.
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terrorism;new zealand;christchurch;racism;mass shooting
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jp0002220
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"crime-legal-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/03/15
|
New Zealand mosque killings spark global horror
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PARIS - Attacks on two mosques in New Zealand which left at least 49 people dead on Friday — the Muslim day of prayer — have sparked horror, revulsion and dismay around the world. “It is clear that this can now only be described as a terrorist attack,” said Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, describing the attacks in the city of Christchurch as “one of New Zealand’s darkest days.” Some countries have stepped up patrols around mosques following the rampage. Here is a summary of global reactions. “My warmest sympathy and best wishes goes out to the people of New Zealand after the horrible massacre in the Mosques. 49 innocent people have so senselessly died, with so many more seriously injured. The U.S. stands by New Zealand for anything we can do. God bless all!” Trump wrote on Twitter. “We stand in solidarity with the people of New Zealand and their government against this vicious act of hate,” said his spokeswoman Sarah Sanders. “Japan firmly condemns the atrocious shooting carried out in Christchurch,” said Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in a statement, expressing Japan’s “sincere solidarity with the people of New Zealand.” “Japan is determined to resolutely stand up against terrorism.” “With this attack, hostility towards Islam that the world has been has been idly watching and even encouraging for some time, has gone beyond the boundaries of individual harassment to reach the level of mass killing,” said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “If measures are not taken right away, news of other disasters will follow this one… I am calling on the world, in particular the West, to take quick measures,” he said. “Murder of people at prayer, in their most holy and sacred place, is a depraved and despicable act. For people of all religions and of none, a red line has been crossed,” Israeli President Reuven Rivlin wrote on his official Twitter feed. Official Palestinian news agency WAFA quoted Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas as describing the shootings as a “horrific and heinous criminal act.” Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg urged the international community to combat all forms of extremism after the Christchurch attacks, which revived painful memories of the 2011 mass killings in Norway by right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik. “It’s obviously very sad. It recalls painful memories of our own experience with July 22, the most difficult moment in the post-war period in Norway.” The mother of a Swedish girl killed in a 2017 jihadist attack condemned the New Zealand massacre, after the attacker claimed in his manifesto that he wanted to avenge the girl’s death. The attack on two mosques on Friday in Christchurch “goes against everything Ebba stood for,” Jeanette Akerlund told Swedish public television SVT. One of the weapons used in the Christchurch massacres was reportedly engraved with the name of Luca Traini, an Italian far-right militant who was jailed for racist shootings last year. Traini’s lawyer Gianluca Giulianelli said on the radio that his client had repented and “firmly dissociates himself” from the New Zealand killer. Italy’s far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini voiced his “absolute condemnation” of the New Zealand killings, in a statement. British Prime Minister Theresa May offered deepest condolences “after the horrifying terrorist attack in Christchurch. My thoughts are with all of those affected by this sickening act of violence.” Queen Elizabeth II, New Zealand’s head of state, said she and her husband Prince Philip sent condolences to the families and friends of those who lost their lives and paid tribute to emergency workers and volunteers providing support to the injured. “I have been deeply saddened by the appalling events in Christchurch… At this tragic time, my thoughts and prayers are with all New Zealanders.” London’s police service said it was “stepping up reassurance patrols around mosques and increasing engagement with communities of all faith, giving advice on how people and places can protect themselves.” In Australia, police in New South Wales said there were increasing patrols around mosques as a precaution. “There is no ongoing or specific threat to any mosque or place of worship,” police said. Pope Francis assured “all New Zealanders, and in particular the Muslim community, of his heartfelt solidarity,” the Vatican said. The pope was “deeply saddened to learn of the injury and loss of life caused by the senseless acts of violence,” Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin said in a telegram. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said he hoped New Zealand “will arrest these terrorists and do the necessary under the law of the country.” Indonesian President Joko Widoyo, head of the world’s largest Muslim country, said “we strongly condemn these kind of violent acts.” “Harrowing news from New Zealand overnight” said EU Council president Donald Tusk. “The brutal attack… will never diminish the tolerance and decency that New Zealand is famous for.” “An attack against peaceful people gathering for prayer is shocking in its cruelty and cynicism,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said. “I hope that those involved will be severely punished,” he said in a message to Arden. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she mourned “with New Zealanders for their fellow citizens who were attacked and murdered out of racist hatred while peacefully praying in their mosques. We stand together against such acts of terrorism.” French President Emmanuel Macron echoed Merkel’s message, condemning an “odious attack” and saying France “stands against any form of extremism.” NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the U.S.-led alliance “stands with our friend and partner New Zealand in defence of our open societies and shared values.” Spanish Premier Pedro Sanchez said his thoughts were with the victims, families and government of New Zealand after attacks by “fanatics and extremists who want to destroy our societies.”
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terrorism;new zealand;christchurch;mosques;religious extremism;mass shooting
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jp0002221
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/03/15
|
As population declines, Fukushima Prefecture to lose 15 of its 96 high schools
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The Fukushima Prefectural Board of Education will reduce its number of prefecture-run high schools by 15 by the end of fiscal 2023 as the region continues to struggle with a dwindling number of students due to a declining birthrate. The mergers will be implemented over the span of three years from fiscal 2021 and will reduce the number of high schools in the prefecture from 96 to 81. Twenty-five schools will be merged and reorganized into 13 under the plan, which will integrate schools located in close proximity of one another. Each school will retain four to six classes per grade. With the merger, the prefecture’s 88 day schools and seven night schools will be reduced to 74 and six, respectively, by the end of March 2024, according to the education board’s reform plan revealed Feb. 8. Fukushima’s only correspondence school will remain open. Takuya Okazaki and Hideki Yaginuma, who are both in charge of the plan, told a news conference the same day that the integration is necessary to provide a better learning environment for the students. The education board says it will offer briefings to local residents and members of alumni associations affected by the merger. Taking into considering their opinions and concerns, the education board will decide the number of students the affected schools will accept in the academic year of the merger. The names of the integrated schools will also be decided after consultation with relevant parties. In the education board’s plan on prefectural high school reform drafted in May last year, the number of students is estimated to decrease by about 5,300. The education board has also been considering consolidating smaller schools with less than three classes per grade, which face challenges in fostering intense competition and a high level of participation in clubs and extracurricular activities. People in the towns and cities affected by the move expressed a variety of opinions. While some say it’s the inevitable result of a declining birthrate, residents from depopulated areas fear the move will lead to fewer opportunities for students in the classroom. Meanwhile, many schools that survived the cut breathed a sigh of relief. Naganuma High School in the city of Sukagawa — which will merge with Sukagawa High School — celebrated the 70th anniversary of its founding in October. The school initially started out as a branch of another high school but became an independent institution in 1978. “I’ve always recommended the school to local children because I wanted it to last,” said Hidenao Kobayashi, 58, president of the school’s alumni association. “I was quite shocked.” Some municipalities, including the town of Hanawa, will no longer have a local high school as a result of the reorganization. Hidetoshi Miyata — the mayor of Hanawa, where Hanawa Technical High School is slated to be consolidated into Shirakawa Jitsugyo High School in the adjacent city — criticized the decision. “I’m certain there will be students that will have a hard time commuting to Shirakawa city,” Miyata said. “It seems like the prefectural board of education made the decision on their own terms and with little knowledge of the local situation.” The mayor of the town of Kawamata, where Kawamata High School survived the cut, said he was relieved. “There are students who say they want to study at Kawamata High School, which has a long history. We will cooperate with the prefecture and the school and provide support,” said Mayor Kanemasa Sato. Haruo Auchi, an associate professor at Fukushima University and an expert in education administration, said that “the entire region will be affected with more people leaving,” adding that the education board needs to thoroughly explain the plan.
|
fukushima;population;education;schools;high schools
|
jp0002222
|
[
"national",
"science-health"
] |
2019/03/15
|
Google team led by Japanese engineer breaks record by calculating pi to the 31.4 trillionth digit
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LOS ANGELES - Google LLC said Thursday that a team led by engineer Emma Haruka Iwao from Japan has broken a Guinness World Record by calculating pi to the 31.4 trillionth digit, around 9 trillion more than the previous record set in 2016. The accomplishment, announced on the day dubbed “Pi Day” as its first three digits are 3.14, was achieved by using Google Cloud infrastructure, the tech giant said. Iwao became fascinated with pi, an infinitely long number defined as the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, when she was 12 years old. “When I was a kid, I downloaded a program to calculate pi on my computer,” she said in a Google blog post. In college, one of her professors was Daisuke Takahashi of the University of Tsukuba in Ibaraki Prefecture, then the record holder for calculating the most accurate value of pi via a supercomputer. “When I told him I was going to start this project, he shared his advice and some technical strategies with me,” she said. The groundbreaking calculation required 25 virtual Google Cloud machines, 170 terabytes of data and about 121 days to complete. “I’m really happy to be one of the few women in computer science holding the record, and I hope I can show more people who want to work in the industry what’s possible,” Iwao said. According to Google, Iwao calculated 31,415,926,535,897 digits, making it the first time the cloud has been used for a pi calculation of this magnitude.
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google;mathematics;pi;emma haruka iwao
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jp0002223
|
[
"national",
"politics-diplomacy"
] |
2019/03/15
|
LDP picks former assemblyman Yanagimoto to take on Osaka Ishin's Ichiro Matsui in mayoral race
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OSAKA - Former Osaka municipal assemblyman Akira Yanagimoto of the Liberal Democratic Party has been tapped to run against Ichiro Matsui, the governor of Osaka Prefecture and head of Osaka Ishin no Kai (One Osaka), in next month’s Osaka mayoral race, with the focus on whether to abolish Osaka’s 24 wards and establish four large semiautonomous districts. Earlier this week, Matsui and current Osaka Mayor Hirofumi Yoshimura announced their resignations and intention to run for each other’s positions in elections taking place on April 7, the same day as elections for the Osaka municipal and prefectural assemblies. The campaign for Osaka governor kicks off on March 21 and the mayoral campaign starts on March 24. Matsui and Yoshimura called the elections in a bid to drum up public support and quickly decide on a proposal to merge Osaka’s wards and hold a referendum, measures that the LDP, Komeito and all other political parties have long opposed. The merger plan will save money and improve services, according to Osaka Ishin. The opposition, however, says the plan will cost more than advertised, add to local debt and lead to less autonomy. “I’m ready to make all efforts to take back Osaka and guard the people’s autonomy,” Yanagimoto told reporters in Osaka late Thursday evening in announcing his candidacy. He was due to meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo on Friday to solicit his support, as well as with LDP Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai and other LDP senior figures. The 45-year-old Yanagimoto is also expected to win the backing of Komeito, which endorsed LDP candidate Tadakazu Konishi, 64, for governor on Friday. Attention now turns to whether other opposition parties, including the Japanese Communist Party, either officially endorse or unofficially support Yanagimoto in an “all anti-Osaka Ishin” campaign. Next month’s mayoral campaign marks the second attempt at the mayor’s chair for Yanagimoto, who ran as an LDP candidate with the support of Komeito and the JCP against Yoshimura in the November 2015 election. But Yoshimura, the handpicked successor to the popular former Mayor Toru Hashimoto, won by a margin of nearly 190,000 votes. Yanagimoto was also the public face of the opposition force during a referendum held in May 2015 regarding the merger of Osaka’s wards. The Osaka Ishin-backed plan was very narrowly voted down, with Matsui and his party vowing in the 2015 elections to try again. Yanagimoto had originally been slated to be a candidate in the Upper House elections in July, where he had hoped to succeed his uncle, 74-year-old Takuji Yanagimoto, who is a member of Nikai’s faction. The elder Yanagimoto said last year that he would not run in the next election and retire. As late as Wednesday, the younger Yanagimoto was denying he would run in the mayoral election. But with the start of the campaign looming, the LDP’s Osaka chapter having just decided on Konishi for the governor’s race and pressure from both Osaka-based LDP and Komeito members for him to run against Matsui in what is expected to be a tough race, he changed his mind.
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osaka;elections;ichiro matsui;osaka ishin no kai;akira yanagimoto
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jp0002224
|
[
"national",
"politics-diplomacy"
] |
2019/03/15
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Approval rate for Abe's Cabinet sags to 39% in latest survey
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The Cabinet saw its approval rate this month drop 3.4 points to 39.0 percent and its disapproval rate climb 1.9 points to 36.4 percent, a recent opinion poll shows. The shift in the Jiji Press monthly poll appears to reflect public criticism of the government statistics scandal involving the labor ministry, and the cool response of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration to the Okinawa referendum that rejected the Futenma air base relocation plan late last month. In the latest poll, 2,000 people 18 or over were interviewed nationwide. Of them, 61.2 percent gave valid responses. Of the respondents, 39.5 percent said they expected the Abe administration to make progress on bringing back the citizens abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s, but 48.0 percent said they did not. Abe has repeatedly said he is ready to have a face-to-face meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to settle the long-running issue. Regarding a recent series of child abuse cases in Japan and the government’s plan to prohibit parents from physically punishing their children, 58.0 percent backed the legal revision, while 20.5 percent opposed it. About 21.5 percent said they could not back either position. Of those who approved of Abe’s Cabinet, 20.7 percent said they supported Abe because there was no one else fit to be prime minister, while 9.2 percent praised his leadership skills, and 8.8 percent regarded him as trustworthy. Of those who disapprove of the Cabinet, 22.6 percent said they could not trust Abe, 17.7 percent said they could expect nothing from his Cabinet, and 12.3 percent rejected its policies. The support rate for his ruling Liberal Democratic Party edged up 0.1 point to 25.5 percent. The support rate for the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, meanwhile, climbed 0.9 point to 4.3 percent. Those two parties were followed by Komeito, the LDP’s junior coalition partner, which was backed by 2.8 percent, the Japanese Communist Party, backed by 2.3 percent, Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party), backed by 1.4 percent, and the Democratic Party for the People, which received support from 0.7 percent. Respondents who didn’t support a party accounted for 60.7 percent, down 0.8 point.
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shinzo abe;poll;approval rate;jiji
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jp0002225
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/03/15
|
Tokyo's biggest train and subway lines to extend operating hours during 2020 Games
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The biggest train and subway lines in and around Tokyo will adopt extended operating hours for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, games organizers said Friday. For each day during the games, the major lines, including the Yamanote Line that encircles central Tokyo, will run past 2 a.m., about two hours later than normal, to accommodate Olympic spectators. “We are thankful to the train operators for extending their services as we want spectators to be able to enjoy the late-night events no matter what time they finish,” said Toshiro Muto, CEO and Director-General of the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee. The organizers and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government have asked train and subway companies to cooperate in easing crowding and chaos in train stations. Many of the volleyball games at Ariake Arena near Tokyo Bay are scheduled to finish around 11:30 p.m., for example. In addition, handball games at Yoyogi National Stadium in Tokyo and basketball games at Saitama Super Arena to the north will last until 11 p.m. on certain days. Traffic and transportation remain concerns for the metropolis more than a year away from the sporting spectacle. Lawmakers in June last year said they will shift three national holidays around the opening and closing ceremonies for the Games to reduce congestion caused by all the tourists expected.
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railways;tokyo 2020 olympics;mass transport
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jp0002226
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/03/15
|
Yamaguchi court rejects residents' call to halt last Ikata nuclear reactor in Ehime Prefecture
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YAMAGUCHI - A district court on Friday rejected a plea by residents to halt a reactor at the Ikata nuclear power plant in Ehime Prefecture. The decision by the Iwakuni branch of the Yamaguchi District Court is in line with rulings made by other regional courts and allows the No. 3 reactor to continue operating. The plant is managed by Shikoku Electric Power Co. Unit No. 3, the sole remaining reactor at the plant, passed the state safety screening process that was revamped in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis. But concerns remain about its safety, which led residents to turn to the courts to seek an injunction. Of the more than 30 reactors in Japan, excluding those set to be decommissioned, only a few are in operation. A previous order forcing a halt in operations was issued by the Hiroshima High Court in December 2017, citing the risk of an eruption at the caldera of Mount Aso about 130 kilometers away. The decision was overturned in September 2018 and the utility company restarted the unit a month later. The Yamaguchi court considered whether the utility and the Nuclear Regulation Authority’s estimates of risks from eruptions at the volcano in Kumamoto Prefecture were reasonable. It also looked at the potential size of a quake anticipated by scientists in seismically active areas off the central and western coasts, a key factor in a reactor’s quake-resistance, when ruling. In the decision, the presiding judge, Akira Onose, said the possibility that a large eruption might occur during the reactor’s operating life is low and the regulatory authority’s safety standards are adequate. The No. 3 reactor at Ikata began operations in 1994. The plaintiffs pointed out that pyroclastic flows from possible catastrophic eruptions could reach the plant. They also said the utility underestimated the fact that the reactor sits on the median tectonic line, a massive fault zone, as well as the potential damage from a massive earthquake off the Pacific coast of central and western Japan. “We find the decision appropriate. We will ensure safe and stable operation while keeping in mind that there is no end to efforts to improve safety,” Shikoku Electric said in a statement. The Ikata No. 3 reactor was temporarily halted in April 2011 for a periodic inspection and was restarted in August 2016. Separate demands to halt the reactor had been turned down by regional courts in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, and Oita.
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fukushima;energy;nuclear energy;ehime;yamaguchi;shikoku electric;ikata
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jp0002227
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/03/15
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Japan to put robotics prowess on show during 2020 Olympics by helping staff and visitors alike
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Acting on its aim to make the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics “the most innovative in history,” organizers on Friday unveiled robots that will be deployed to assist spectators and staff during the games. The robots shown to reporters are to be used as part of the Tokyo 2020 Robot Project, as the games’ organizers see the event as a chance to showcase how the country’s robot technology focuses on practicality rather than just entertainment. The Human Support Robot and Delivery Support Robot, developed by Toyota Motor Corp., will be used in tandem to assist visitors using wheelchairs. HSR, a one-armed robot about a meter in height, can hold objects, pick things up off the ground and reach high up. It can move by itself or can be controlled remotely as it attends to people in wheelchairs, guiding them to their seats and helping carry items. When people order food or drinks using a tablet computer, DSR will transport the items in a basket and HSR will then deliver them directly to guests. Sixteen HSRs and eight to 10 DSRs are expected to be used in the stadiums hosting track and field events, according to Toyota. In addition, Atoun Model Y, a wearable robotic suit developed by Panasonic Corp., will be used at venues and other facilities by staff tasked with carrying, loading and unloading heavy objects such as bags of waste or suitcases. Weighing 4.5 kilograms, the wearable suit can reduce the burden of heavy loads on the users’ lower backs by 10 to 40 percent, according to Panasonic. Massaki Komiya, the organizing committee’s director general, said they are aiming to have robots that are “friendly to people for the games and enhance convenience at events, as well as provide the audience with a new experience.” He also hopes the use of robots will become a legacy stretching beyond the 2020 Games. Organizers said details about other robots to be used during the games will be announced at a later date.
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olympics;toyota;robots;panasonic;disability;2020 tokyo olympics
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jp0002228
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/03/15
|
JOC head Takeda likely to retire amid probe into Tokyo 2020 Olympic bid corruption, say sources
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Japanese Olympic Committee President Tsunekazu Takeda is likely to retire without serving another term at a time when French prosecutors are investigating him for suspected corruption in Japan’s successful bid to host the 2020 Games, sources said Friday. The 71-year-old president is unlikely to extend his term at the JOC’s executive elections slated for June and July, the sources said. Before the corruption scandal surfaced, he had been expected to secure an 11th term. The next JOC board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday. The JOC said “nothing has been decided” without providing further details. The Tokyo 2020 organizing committee also declined to comment. French prosecutors have been probing multimillion dollar payments made by the Tokyo bid committee to a Singapore consulting company. The prosecuting judge now suspects Takeda of paying bribes to secure the winning bid, a judicial source said. Takeda, who was president of the 2020 bid committee, was questioned in Paris in December and placed under formal investigation. He has denied any wrongdoing, saying that there was nothing improper with the contracts made between the committee and the consultancy and that they were for legitimate work. The International Olympic Committee’s ethics commission has opened an ethics file on Takeda, who is also an IOC member and chairs its marketing commission. Takeda was also re-elected to his post as vice president of the Olympic Council of Asia earlier this month.
|
olympics;corruption;joc;scandals;tsunekazu takeda;2020 tokyo olympics
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jp0002229
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/03/15
|
Japan's Prince Hisahito, soon to be second-in-line to throne, graduates from Tokyo elementary school
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Prince Hisahito, the 12-year-old grandson of Emperor Akihito and soon-to-be second-in-line to the throne, graduated Friday from an elementary school affiliated with Ochanomizu University in Tokyo. The prince will become second-in-line to the Chrysanthemum Throne after the 85-year-old Emperor abdicates at the end of next month, to be succeeded by his eldest son, Crown Prince Naruhito, on May 1. Prince Akishino, the younger son of the Emperor and the father of Prince Hisahito, will become first-in-line to the throne. The Imperial House Law states that only males with male lineal descent from emperors can ascend the throne. Prince Hisahito remains the only male of his generation. In a graduation essay, the prince looked back on his years at the school, where he took part in activities such as searching for herbs and trees, as well as conducting research into Tokyo’s municipalities. “We live in the midst of nature,” the prince said in a handwritten message attached to the essay. According to the Imperial Household Agency, the prince was responsible for looking after the school’s rabbits and flower beds in his final years at the institution. He also took part in an overnight school trip to Nagano Prefecture in early March, where he enjoyed activities such as pottery and curling. The prince will continue his education at a junior high school associated with the women’s university. Prince Hisahito, who had attended a kindergarten also associated with Ochanomizu University, enrolled in the elementary school in April 2013. He is the first member of the Imperial family in the postwar period to attend and graduate from a school other than Gakushuin Primary School in Tokyo. Gakushuin University was established in the 19th century as a school for aristocrats. Most imperial family members have attended schools associated with the university.
|
tokyo;emperor akihito;schools;prince hisahito;imperial family;ochanomizu university
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jp0002230
|
[
"national",
"crime-legal"
] |
2019/03/15
|
Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange founder Mark Karpeles gets suspended term for falsifying data but is cleared of embezzlement
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Mark Karpeles, the former head of Mt. Gox — a bitcoin exchange that went bankrupt in 2014 — was found guilty of data manipulation by the Tokyo District Court on Friday and handed a prison sentence of 2½ years that will be suspended for four years. He was found not guilty on a separate charge of embezzling millions of dollars through customer accounts. Karpeles, a 33-year-old Frenchman, was the head of Mt. Gox when the firm filed for bankruptcy protection in 2014 after 850,000 bitcoins — worth an estimated ¥48 billion at the time — disappeared from its digital vaults. Karpeles was arrested in 2015 and accused of embezzling a total of ¥341 million belonging to customers that was kept in a Mt. Gox account. He was alleged to have transferred the money to his own account and to have used the money to live a lavish lifestyle. However the court found that Karpeles transferred roughly $33.5 million to a bank account operated by a bitcoin exchange based in Dallas across 21 transactions made between February and September 2013. He used his personal computer and covered his tracks by falsifying company records. In Friday’s ruling, the court said the issue wasn’t that Karpeles transferred money but that he acted against the company’s interests and beyond his authority when he manipulated company records to conceal the transactions. Prosecutors had sought a 10-year prison sentence, but the court rejected some aspects of their case in handing down the lighter term. Among the issues in question was Karpeles’ decision to use about ¥315 million of the allegedly embezzled money to purchase a 3D printer business, which prosecutors said was unnecessary for Mt. Gox. The court concluded, however, that Mt. Gox used that money to acquire the business as a valuable and a potentially profitable asset, calling the decision reasonable. The court also ruled that it was not possible to determine that Karpeles embezzled funds from Mt. Gox clients because the company did not have a proper accounting system in place for when its executives borrowed money from the company, a common arrangement in small or medium-sized firms or privately owned businesses without accounting units. Presiding Judge Tomoyuki Nakayama said that data manipulation has led to the loss of credibility for cryptocurrency exchange services given the large amount of money involved. The court said that given Karpeles’ expertise in IT engineering and his position of authority, the misuse of the information he possessed was not justifiable. “The defendant’s criminal responsibility cannot be taken lightly,” Nakayama said. But the court decided to suspend the sentence given that Karpeles had no prior criminal record. Throughout the trial, Karpeles maintained his innocence, blaming the financial loss on an external hacking attack. “I swear to god that I am innocent,” he said in Japanese to a panel of judges at a hearing when his trial started in 2017. He apologized to customers for the company’s bankruptcy but denied allegations of data manipulation or embezzlement. Karpeles later recovered about 200,000 of the lost bitcoins in a storage device. At one point, Mt. Gox claimed that it was handling 80 percent of the world’s bitcoin transactions. In the wake of the company’s shutdown in 2014, angry investors began to question the security of cryptocurrencies in general.
|
courts;bitcoin;mt . gox;mark karpeles;cryptocurrency
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jp0002231
|
[
"national",
"crime-legal"
] |
2019/03/15
|
In Japan's first case of its kind, 18-year-old sent to prosecutors over ¥15 million cryptocurrency theft
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An 18-year-old boy was referred to prosecutors Thursday for allegedly stealing about ¥15 million ($134,300) worth of cryptocurrency last year by hacking a digital currency storage website, police said. The case is the first in Japan in which criminal charges have been pursued against a hacker over cryptocurrency losses, the police said. The boy, from the city of Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, whose name is being withheld because he is a minor, allegedly stole the money after hacking Monappy, a website where users can keep the virtual currency monacoin, between Aug. 14 and Sept. 1 last year. He used software called Tor that makes it difficult to identify who is accessing the system, but the police identified him by analyzing communication records left on the website’s server. The police said the boy has admitted to the allegations, quoting him as saying, “I felt like I’d found a trick no one knows and did it as if I were playing a video game.” He took advantage of a weakness in a feature of the website that enables a user to transfer the currency to another user, knowing that the system would malfunction if transfers were repeated over a short period of time. He repeatedly submitted currency transfer requests to himself, overwhelming the system and allowing him to register more money in his account. About 7,700 users were affected and the operator will compensate them. The boy later put the stolen monacoins in an account set up by a different cryptocurrency operator, received payouts in a different cryptocurrency and bought items such as a smartphone, the police said. According to the operator of Monappy, the stolen monacoins were kept using a system with an always-on internet connection, and those kept offline were not stolen. Japan has seen large digital currency heists in recent years amid a boom in people purchasing various currencies. In 2014, ¥48 billion worth of bitcoin was stolen from the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox. Then in January last year, about ¥58 billion worth of the digital currency NEM was taken from customers’ accounts at the Tokyo-based exchange Coincheck Inc. In June, the Financial Services Agency, which regulates cryptocurrencies, ordered six virtual currency exchange operators to improve internal controls.
|
internet;hacking;teens;cybersecurity;theft;cryptocurrency
|
jp0002232
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/03/15
|
Rules issued for firms hiring foreign workers via new system, including pay parity with Japanese
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The government released Friday a set of ordinances on how to enlist foreign workers under a new visa system that will start from April, including requiring employers to pay wages equivalent to or higher than those of Japanese nationals. The move came as Japan, under its revised immigration control law, is set to ease its restrictions on the entry of foreign workers to address serious labor shortages resulting from the nation’s aging population and falling birthrate. “The government will make sure that everything is in place for the launch of the new system,” Justice Minister Takashi Yamashita, who is overseeing it, told a news conference. The government expects hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals to take jobs under the new visa program over the next five years, but concerns remain over whether they could be exploited as cheap labor. Under the decrees, employees should make payments to foreign workers via their bank accounts, with the records to serve as evidence that they are properly paid. If workers cannot finance their travel expenses to return to their countries after their contracts expire, employees should shoulder the cost. Entities that want to hire foreign workers must pass requirements such as not allowing the involvement of brokers who collect large sums from foreign nationals seeking to work in Japan. Companies must also have no recorded violations of immigration law or other labor-related regulations in the past five years. For their part, workers must prove they are in good health in order to qualify for a visa. Companies will need to assign staff to take charge of supporting the daily lives of foreign workers, including helping make arrangements for them to secure accommodation and study the Japanese language. The Diet passed a bill revising the immigration law in December to bring in more workers from abroad into 14 labor-hungry sectors, including construction, farming and nursing care. The decision marked a major policy shift for the country, which had previously effectively granted working visas only to highly skilled professionals such as doctors and lawyers. The new visa system allows foreign workers aged 18 or older to apply for two new residence statuses — Specified Skilled Worker No. 1 for people who will engage in work that requires a certain level of knowledge and experience, and Specified Skilled Worker No. 2 for work that entails higher skill levels. Holders of the No. 1 type status, which can be renewed for up to a total of five years, will not be allowed to bring family members to Japan. For each application, they will be permitted to stay for four months, six months or one year. Those granted the No. 2 status will be allowed to live in Japan with their family members and there will be no limit on the number of times they can renew their visa. For each application, they are permitted to stay for six months, one year or three years. With the new visa system, Japan is planning to accept up to around 345,000 foreign workers over the next five years. Foreign nationals who have gone through Japan’s existing technical intern program for more than three years will be able to obtain the No. 1 visa status without taking tests, and the government expects many interns to apply for the visa. Japan introduced the technical intern program in 1993 with the aim of transferring skills to developing countries. But the scheme has been criticized for providing cover for companies that want to import cheap labor. Many interns have also been found to have been saddled with debts in coming to Japan and end up being exploited.
|
immigration;jobs;justice ministry;expats;foreign workers;takashi yamashita
|
jp0002233
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/03/12
|
ANA has no plans yet to halt purchase of 30 Boeing 737 Max 8 jets despite two deadly crashes
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All Nippon Airways Co. is not considering whether to suspend an order for 30 Boeing 737 Max 8 jets, the same airplane model involved in a deadly crash this week in Ethiopia, a spokesperson said Tuesday. “We are hearing the accident is under investigation by the authorities, so at this point there is nothing new to announce, like suspending the order,” said the spokesperson, who declined to provide a name. The Japanese airline does not currently own the model, the spokesperson added. Other than ANA, Japan Investment Adviser Co., a lease company, bought 10 Boeing 737 Max 8 planes in 2017, according to Boeing’s website. A Japan Investment Adviser spokesperson said it does not have plans to change the order. Airlines and aviation authorities worldwide are scrambling to set out plans after Sunday’s accident, the second involving a 737 Max 8 within six months. Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET302 from Addis Ababa to Nairobi plummeted into a field shortly after takeoff, killing all 157 people onboard. In October, a Lion Air flight carrying 189 people in a 737 Max 8 crashed into the Java Sea after taking off from Jakarta. The cockpit data recorder indicated the jet’s airspeed indicator had not functioned properly in prior flights. Following the Ethiopian Airlines’ crash, regulatory authorities in several economies, such as Singapore, Indonesia and China, have reportedly ordered the suspension of 737 Max 8 operations. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has not issued a new guidance. The aircraft manufacturer said in a statement that the model is “a safe airplane.”
|
airlines;ana;boeing;aviation;ethiopian airlines;boeing 737 max 8
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jp0002234
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/03/12
|
Japanese classics from Toyota, Honda, Mazda and the like are now a hot bet among car collectors
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NEW YORK - When a classic red 1994 Toyota Supra sold online for $121,000 in January, it shocked not only the usual car-related Instagram junkies but also close followers of the tiny Japanese sports car. The going rate for one in good condition tends to hover around $59,000. Credit the high price to its low mileage and the fact that it was so well-preserved — it might as well have been vacuum-packed back in ’94. The record for the most expensive Supra sold at auction is $199,800, the sum paid for the orange Supra that appeared in the movie “The Fast and the Furious.” But this was the highest price ever paid for one in an online auction. Most of them dimly approach the $100,000 mark. The sale came a few weeks before the first-production 2020 Toyota Supra took $2.1 million at a Barrett-Jackson charity auction during the famous annual sales in Scottsdale, Arizona. That’s twice as much as the first-production Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 fetched at the same event. And it’s just the beginning of what experts predict will be a spate of modern collectible Japanese-branded cars gaining value in the near future, with some already climbing. Rarities like the Toyota 2000GT and the Mazda Cosmo have long commanded six- and seven-figure prices at auctions worldwide. But lately, more mundane cars from Asia have also started to gain value, according to the 2019 Hagerty Bull Market List, an annual report that identifies trends and value potential for collectible and classic cars. The biggest push has come from millennials who have finally made enough money to afford their own era’s hero cars. Their attraction is the thrill of actually owning the car they had in a poster on the wall or raced in early video games. For Japanese vehicles in the Hagerty price guide, the value of a car in “fine” condition with minimal wear has increased by an average of 18.1 percent in the past three years and 38.8 percent in the past five years. (The market in general rose 13.1 percent over the past three years and 23.6 percent over the past five.) Another from Toyota Motor Corp., the 1988 MR2, bolsters the trend. Beloved in its day for a lightweight body and quick-shift five-speed gearbox, the car retains original fans who are nostalgic for its plucky demeanor. Millennials make up 45 percent of the quotes requested for the MR2, an unusual portion. “These are people just getting into the hobby, so there’s room to grow,” the report said. Throw the Toyota Supra Turbo into this group, too. Examples in good condition from model years 1994 to 1998 increased more than 6 percent in value from 2017 to 2018. The rise beat gains from such iconic models as a 2000s-era Porsche 911 Turbo and 2010 Ford Raptor. Then there’s the Subaru Impreza WRX STI. The first legal version of the WRX turbo came to the U.S. in 2002, buoyed by its notoriety in video games like “Gran Turismo.” They were rough-and-ready cars at the time, packed with a rally-race-perfected all-wheel-drive punch and used in northern climates to dominate snow and mud. That means few today have survived in perfect condition. If you do find one like new, it’ll be worth the price. Average values for one in good condition hover near $33,700 (just above the $32,000 sticker price bought new) and are expected to continue climbing. It’s a similar story with the Acura NSX, though that has a slightly more elite pedigree. Known as Japan’s sophisticated sports car, the NSX had an aluminum 3.0-liter V-6 engine when it came out in 1991; it had 270 horsepower and regularly beat Ferraris and Porsches in track-side comparisons. Plus, since it was made by parent company Honda Motor Co., it was incredibly reliable. Pininfarina SpA, Ayrton Senna and Bobby Rahal, the former race-car driver and team owner, were involved in its development. Jack Nicholson, Michael Jordan and Bill Gates famously owned them. Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, known for lavishing gifts on his friends, once name-checked it in a 1993 email, offering to “buy an Acura NSX and anything else you want — a house in Woodside, a Gulf Stream jet, a Hope diamond …” Today, examples can sell for almost $100,000 if they’re in concours condition, but the average value for a 1991 model in good condition is closer to $43,000. In recent months, Bring a Trailer has seen them go for anywhere from $36,000 to $75,000. That’s a veritable steal compared with those smaller, underpowered Supras selling for as much as twice that these days. Either way, if market indicators—and those popular online sales—hold true, each one is a good bet.
|
toyota;honda;social media;carmakers;mazda;cars;subaru
|
jp0002235
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/03/12
|
French prosecutors open inquiry into Carlos Ghosn's lavish Versailles wedding party, source says
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NANTERRE, FRANCE - French prosecutors have begun an inquiry into the lavish wedding party at the Palace of Versailles for former Renault and Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn, part of which was billed to the French automaker, a legal source said. Renault SA disclosed last month that the chateau had waived the usual €50,000 (¥6.3 million) rental fee for the October 2016 party under a sponsorship fee signed a few months earlier. The waived bill could amount to the misuse of company resources, as well as tax evasion, if the benefit-in-kind was not declared to French authorities. Renault began sifting through Ghosn’s years at the helm after his shocking arrest in Tokyo last November on charges of underreporting billions of yen in salary as head of Nissan Motor Co., Renault’s alliance partner. His subsequent indictment on three charges of financial misconduct has led to renewed scrutiny of his management and lifestyle at both companies. Ghosn and his second wife, Carole, threw a Marie Antoinette-themed dinner and party at the former royal residence at Versailles, complete with entertainers in period costumes, on Oct. 8, 2016. In a statement, the Chateau de Versailles said Renault had signed a €2.3 million (¥288.516 million) sponsorship deal with the palace in June 2016. Under the terms of the deal, Renault could benefit in return from Versailles access and other services worth a maximum 25 percent of the deal, or around €575,000 (¥72 million), it said. Ghosn’s lawyer in France, Jean-Yves Le Borgne, said the executive “stands ready” to repay the money, saying his client was “not aware he owed it because he had not been billed. “He thought it was free,” Le Borgne said. Ghosn was released from Tokyo Detention House last week after more than 100 days in custody, following an unusual court decision allowing him to post bail of ¥1 billion. The executive, who turned 65 over the weekend, has strongly denied the charges of financial misdeeds. But he has been stripped of his chairmanships at Nissan and fellow alliance partner Mitsubishi Motors Corp., and removed as CEO of Renault, while awaiting trial.
|
france;scandals;nissan;carmakers;mitsubishi motors;renault;carlos ghosn
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jp0002236
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/03/12
|
Venezuelan blackout hits oil exports as residents scramble for food and electricity rationing looms
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CARACAS/SAN CRISTOBAL, VENEZUELA - Much of Venezuela, including parts of the capital Caracas, remained without power on Monday for a fifth day, crimping vital oil exports and leaving people struggling to obtain water and food. President Nicolas Maduro, who has blamed the unprecedented blackout on sabotage by the United States at Venezuela’s Guri hydroelectric dam, ordered the suspension of classes and the working day, as he had on Friday. Sources in the oil sector, OPEC member Venezuela’s main source of foreign earnings and a vital generator of revenue for Maduro’s government, said that exports from the primary port of Jose had been halted by the blackouts. The opposition-controlled congress called an emergency session to discuss the power cuts, blaming negligence by Maduro’s socialist government. Maduro’s rule is being challenged by congress leader Juan Guaido, who in January invoked the constitution to assume the presidency after declaring Maduro’s 2018 re-election a fraud. Guaido has been recognized as Venezuela’s legitimate leader by the United States and most Western countries, but Maduro retains control of the armed forces and state institutions. The blackout, which began Thursday afternoon, has heightened frustration among Venezuelans already suffering widespread food and medicine shortages, as the once-prosperous nation’s economy suffers a hyperinflationary collapse. Food has rotted in refrigerators, hospitals have struggled to keep equipment operating, and people have clustered on the streets of Caracas to pick up patchy telephone signals to reach relatives abroad. On Monday, people formed lines to fill containers with water from the streams cascading down the mountain overlooking Caracas. “This is driving me crazy,” said Naile Gonzalez in Chacaito, a commercial neighborhood of Caracas. “The government doesn’t want to accept that this is their fault because they haven’t carried out any maintenance in years.” Experts consulted by Reuters believe the nationwide blackout originated in transmission lines that transport energy from the Guri hydroelectric plant to the Venezuelan south. Venezuela’s electricity network has suffered from years of underinvestment and lack of maintenance. Restrictions on imports have affected the provision of spare parts, while many skilled technical personnel have fled the country amid an exodus of more than 3 million Venezuelans in recent years. Winston Cabas, the president of an electrical engineers’ professional association, told reporters that several of the country’s thermoelectric plants were operating at just 20 percent of capacity, in part due to lack of fuel. He said the government was rationing electricity, which explained why some parts of Caracas had power and others did not. The process of restoring service was “complex” and could take between five and six days, he said. “We once had the best electricity system in the world — the most vigorous, the most robust, the most powerful — and those who now administer the system have destroyed it.” A source at state oil company PDVSA also said the government had decided to ration electricity, in part to supply power to the Jose oil export terminal. The Information Ministry did not respond to a request for comment. The collapse in crucial crude exports comes after the United States slapped sanctions on PDVSA in January in a bid to cut off cash to the government and oust Maduro from power. On Monday, it imposed sanctions on a Russian bank over its dealings with PDVSA. “The United States will not stand idly by while foreign financial institutions facilitate illegitimate transactions that benefit Maduro and his cronies, and perpetuate the corruption that has devastated Venezuela,” U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton wrote on Twitter. The lack of electricity has aggravated a crisis in Venezuelan hospitals, already lacking investment and maintenance in addition to the shortage of medicines.
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energy;venezuela;oil;nicolas maduro;opec;juan guaido;pdvsa
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jp0002237
|
[
"business",
"tech"
] |
2019/03/12
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Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee urges users to seek 'complete control' of data
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GENEVA - World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee on Monday slammed the increasing commodification of personal information and appealed for internet users to strive to maintain “complete control” of their data. Berners-Lee, credited with creating the web in 1989, is on a mission to save his invention from a range of problems increasingly dominating online life, including misinformation and a lack of data protection. “You should have complete control of your data. It’s not oil. It’s not a commodity,” he told a small group of journalists gathered at Europe’s physics lab CERN, where he first came up with the idea for the web 30 years ago. When it comes to personal data, “you should not be able to sell it for money,” he said, “because it’s a right. Berners-Lee, who last year launched a development platform called “Solid” aimed at giving users control of their data, described a frightening future if we do not rise to the challenge of privacy protection. “There is a possible future you can imagine (in which) your browser keeps track of everything that you buy,” he said. In this scenario, “your browser actually has more information than Amazon does,” he said, warning against complacency in expecting no harm will come from this loss of control over one’s own data. “We shouldn’t assume that the world is going to stay like it is,” he said. People needed to do more to protect themselves and their data and not to simply expect that governments will look out for their best interests, he argued. Berners-Lee told a Washington Post event last week that he launched the Solid project in response to concerns about personal data being bought and sold without the consent of users. The platform aimed “to separate the apps from the data storage” so users could decide where and how they would share their personal information, he said. He acknowledged Monday that enforceable laws would be needed to protect the most sensitive personal data. “Sometimes it has to be legislation which says personal data, you know, genetic data, should never be used,” he said. In addition to his work advocating for data protection, Berners-Lee has launched a “Contract for the Web,” aimed at ensuring the integrity of online information. In a letter published Monday, he hailed the opportunities the web had created, giving marginalized groups a voice and making daily life easier. But he warned, “it has also created opportunity for scammers, given a voice to those who spread hatred, and made all kinds of crimes easier to commit. He was nevertheless optimistic that the problems could be fixed. “Given how much the web has changed in the past 30 years, it would be defeatist and unimaginative to assume that the web as we know it can’t be changed for the better in the next 30,” he wrote. “If we give up on building a better web now, then the web will not have failed us. We will have failed the web.”
|
internet;privacy;cern;personal information;amazon.com;tim berners-lee
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jp0002238
|
[
"business",
"tech"
] |
2019/03/12
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U.S. warns Germany against using 5G tech of China's Huawei and threatens to not share intel, reports WSJ
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WASHINGTON - The United States has told Germany that it will share less intelligence with its security agencies if the country’s wireless network uses China’s Huawei Technologies Co. to upgrade to 5G, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday in the first explicit U.S. warning to Germany of consequences for declining to shun Huawei. The U.S. ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, issued the warning in a letter dated Friday, the newspaper said. In Germany, Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said on Thursday on a ZDF talk show that Germany did not want to ban Huawei but said that Berlin will change the law to ensure that all components used in the 5G networks will be secure. Grenell said in his letter that Chinese companies, under Chinese law, can be required to support China’s security agencies and that inspections of Huawei software could not ensure there were no vulnerabilities, the newspaper said. The battle with Huawei is one of many conflicts in Washington’s disputes with China. The United States and China spent most of 2018 slapping import tariffs on billions of dollars worth of each other’s goods. The year ended with the arrest of Huawei’s chief financial officer in Canada at U.S. request, to the consternation of China.
|
china;u.s .;tech;germany;huawei;5g
|
jp0002239
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/03/12
|
Japan eyes flexible fines for antitrust violators that cooperate with investigators
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The government approved a bill Tuesday that would allow for flexible fines to be handed down to antitrust violators who come forward to confess to wrongdoing, depending on the degree of their cooperation with investigations. The legislation, which the government aims to implement by the end of 2020 after gaining Diet approval, would give the country’s antitrust watchdog more leeway in offering lenient treatment. The aim is to encourage companies to cooperate with its investigations into practices such as bid-rigging and forming cartels. Under the bill, which would revise the antimonopoly law for the first time in six years, the government also plans to introduce an attorney-client privilege system under which companies can keep their communications with lawyers secret to make it easier for them to consult with legal experts. This kind of system, already widely recognized in Western countries, allows suspected antitrust violators to make documents on their communications with outside lawyers confidential and even exclude them from evidence to be submitted to court. “I’m expecting (the bill) to effectively do away with (antitrust) violations and enhance deterrence,” Mitsuhiro Miyakoshi, a minister overseeing the Fair Trade Commission, said at a news conference. Under the current system, the first company that voluntarily admits wrongdoing to the FTC in an antitrust probe is fully exempted from fines, while the second firm gets a 50 percent reduction and the third, fourth and fifth receive 30 percent cuts uniformly. For each case, only the first five companies that come forward are subject to such treatment. Under the envisioned amendment, the second company would get a cut of “between 20 and 60 percent” in fines, while the third to the fifth would receive reductions of “between 10 and 50 percent.” The 100 percent exemption for the first firm to come forward would remain unchanged. Also, the limitation on the number of companies subject to the fine reduction would be abolished, allowing as many firms as possible to confess to violations.
|
courts;corruption;scandals
|
jp0002240
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2019/03/12
|
Stocks jump on Wall Street rally and Brexit optimism
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Stocks soared Tuesday as buying sentiment swelled following a Wall Street rebound and amid rising prospects for a deal for Britain’s exit from the European Union. The Nikkei 225 average surged 378.60 points, or 1.79 percent, to end at 21,503.69. On Monday, the key market gauge gained 99.53 points. The Topix, which covers all first-section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, finished 24.04 points, or 1.52 percent, higher at 1,605.48 after climbing 9.00 points Monday. Stocks surged from the outset as buying got a boost from both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq composite index snapping five-session losing streaks on Monday. The market was also supported by growing optimism that a no-deal Brexit can be avoided, after media reported that British Prime Minister Theresa May and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker agreed on a revised deal, brokers said. “A risk-on mood strengthened” also thanks to Shanghai stocks’ continued briskness, said Hiroaki Kuramochi, chief market analyst at Saxo Bank Securities Ltd. Tomoaki Fujii, head of the investment research division at Akatsuki Securities Inc., pointed out that behind Tuesday’s jump was futures-linked buying prompted by the Wall Street rally. Meanwhile, Yutaka Miura, senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities Co., said, “Now that the Nikkei has topped 21,500, the market is likely to attract selling on a rally.” Profit-taking emerged toward the day’s closing, an official at a midsize securities firm said. Rising issues far outnumbered falling ones 1,893 to 185 in the first section, while 56 issues were unchanged. Volume grew to 1.231 billion shares from Monday’s 1.045 billion. Monotaro rose on buying spurred by the tool shopping website operator’s robust sales in February. Semiconductor-related issues and other technology names, including chipmaking gear manufacturer Tokyo Electron and electronic parts supplier Murata Manufacturing, buoyed across the board after U.S. technologies fared well Monday. Clothing store chain Fast Retailing and tech investment giant SoftBank Group were among other major winners. By contrast, automaker Suzuki, beverage producer Kirin Holdings and Zozo, the operator of online fashion mall Zozotown, sank on selective selling.
|
stocks;nikkei;tokyo stock exchange;topix
|
jp0002241
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2019/03/12
|
Dollar firms slightly to around ¥111.35 in Tokyo trading
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The dollar gained modest ground to trade at around ¥111.35 in Tokyo on Tuesday, helped by higher Japanese stock prices. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥111.36-36, up from ¥111.27-28 at the same time Monday. The euro was at $1.1266-1266, up from $1.1248-1249, and at ¥125.47-47, up from ¥124.16-16. The dollar rose above ¥111.40 in the morning after the Japanese currency weakened against the British pound amid growing optimism over a deal for Britain’s departure from the European Union. The Nikkei 225 stock average’s sharp advance also lent support to the dollar. In the afternoon, however, the greenback came under selling pressure. A currency broker said that the dollar was struggling for direction in late trading while players were sitting on the sidelines to “see the outcome of a Brexit vote” in the British Parliament later in the day. “Active trading was held in check before the release of the U.S. consumer price index for February,” a domestic bank official said.
|
forex;currencies
|
jp0002242
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2019/03/12
|
Boeing shares, vanguard of the Dow, crushed after second 737 MAX crash
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BANGALORE, INDIA/NEW YORK - Boeing Co. shares fell by the most in three years on Monday after China, Indonesia and Ethiopia ordered airlines to ground their 737 MAX 8 planes following the second deadly crash of one of the jets in just five months. The drop — around 7 percent in late morning trade — wiped nearly $16 billion off Boeing’s market value, marking an abrupt reversal for a stock that had been the runaway top performer this year in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. With a stock price near $400 a share, it was by far the largest drag on the price-weighted blue chip index on Monday. A Nairobi-bound Boeing 737 MAX 8 operated by Ethiopian Airlines crashed minutes after takeoff from the country’s capital Addis Ababa on Sunday, killing all 157 on board. The same model, flown by Lion Air, crashed off the coast of Indonesia in October, killing all 189 on board. “The grounding of the 737 MAX by China, Indonesia, and Ethiopian are near-term reputational negatives for Boeing that could impact sales, particularly if the FAA follows suit and also grounds the plane,” Cai von Rumohr, analyst at Cowen & Co., said in a research note, referring to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. Still, von Rumohr and other analysts said the accident should not pose a long-term risk to a stock that has delivered the richest total return among the 30 stocks in the Dow over the 10 years of the current bull market. Since U.S. stocks began rebounding from the financial crisis in March 2009, Boeing shares have delivered a total return, including reinvested dividends, of nearly 1,600 percent, four times the performance of the full index. Indeed, many investors saw the initial drop in Boeing stock as an opportunity to pick up the shares at a sudden discount. After dropping by as much as 13.5 percent in the first 10 minutes of trading on Monday morning, by late morning they had recouped roughly half the loss and were down just 6.7 percent. Spreads on Boeing’s bonds, a measure of the added compensation investors demand for owning its debt, were also wider, data from Refinitiv showed. Its credit default swaps, a form of insurance against a Boeing default, rose sharply in price, according to IHS Markit. The company has about $13.8 billion of bonds issued. Boeing said on Monday the investigation into the Ethiopian Airlines crash is in its early stages and there was no need to issue new guidance to operators of its 737 MAX 8 aircraft based on the information it has so far. Wall Street has been overwhelmingly bullish on Boeing — 19 of the 24 brokerages covering the stock rate it “buy” or higher, while five have a “hold” rating. No brokerage has had a sell rating on the stock since July 2017. Even with Monday’s drop, it remained the Dow’s best performer so far this year with a gain of 21.6 percent compared with 9.45 percent for the full index. Morgan Stanley analyst Rajeev Lalwani said there would be concerns about safety, production, groundings and costs, but that those should all be manageable longer-term. He said he was not changing the bank’s positive “overweight” recommendation on Boeing shares, and that any corrective action the company has to take on its best-selling passenger plane will likely prove a longer-term buying opportunity. Investigators have found the black box from the fatal crash with both the cockpit voice recorder and digital flight data, Ethiopian state TV reported on Monday, which should shed light on the cause of the crash. Earlier in the day, China’s aviation regulator grounded nearly 100 Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft operated by its airlines after the crash. Boeing’s shares lost 12 percent in the weeks following the Lion Air crash last year, but have more than recouped those declines. Shares of Dallas-based Southwest Airlines Co. — the biggest operator of the MAX 8 — fell 1.3 percent, while American Airlines Group Inc., which has 24 MAX 8 jets, was up 0.4 percent. Southwest and American said overnight they remained fully confident in the aircraft and were closely monitoring the investigation. Shares of Boeing’s European rival Airbus SE were up 1.3 percent in Paris. Boeing delivered 806 aircraft last year, missing its target by four jets, but still retaining the title of the world’s biggest plane-maker for the seventh straight year. European rival Airbus delivered 800 planes in 2018. The 737 MAX 8 uses LEAP-1B engines made by CFM International, a joint venture of General Electric Co. and Safran SA. Shares in Safran fell 1.7 percent on Monday.
|
boeing;stocks;airbus;ethiopian airlines;dow;southwest airlines;air accidents
|
jp0002243
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/03/12
|
Olympus whistleblower Michael Woodford wins pension suit brought by Japan firm's U.K. subsidiary
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LONDON - The former CEO of Olympus, who blew the whistle in 2011 on a massive accounting scandal at the medical equipment maker, has won a London court battle over alleged wrongdoing linked to his £64 million (¥9.4 billion) pension. The Olympus U.K. subsidiary KeyMed sued Michael Woodford and former company director Paul Hillman in 2016, alleging they had breached their duties as directors and trustees of a defined benefit pension plan and conspired to maximize their pension benefits by unlawful means. London High Court Judge Marcus Smith said Monday he saw no evidence of dishonest or improper conduct by the company veterans, adding that any failings identified by KeyMed could be attributable to “an innocent failure of process” in a busy company. “In these circumstances, I find that the defendants acted honestly and did not breach the duties … dishonestly or at all,” he said in a judgment. Woodford, who joined KeyMed as a 20-year-old salesman in 1981 and rose through the ranks to become Olympus’ first foreign chief executive in 2011, was fired two weeks into the top job after persistently querying unexplained payments. He then alerted global authorities and the media. Olympus initially said Woodford was fired for failing to understand its management style and Japanese culture. But the company later admitted it had used improper accounting to conceal investment losses, and restated years of financial results. In September 2012, the company and three former executives pleaded guilty in Japan to cover-up charges. Woodford and Hillman, described in the judgment as Woodford’s “right-hand man” and who also left the company in 2011 after a 33-year career, said in a joint statement that they felt completely vindicated. KeyMed, a surgical products maker in southern England, said it was disappointed and was considering its legal options. “When KeyMed discovered that Mr. Woodford was entitled to a pension transfer of over £64 million, we had a duty to our stakeholders to investigate the circumstances in which such a large entitlement had arisen,” it said in a statement. Woodford has said his annual pension benefit rose to £993,000 at the end of his 30-year Olympus career. This was converted into a capital sum of £64.5 million and transferred to a Self Invested Personal Pension (SIPP), a U.K. government-approved scheme, with the approval of Olympus approval in 2014. The company’s European headquarters in Germany did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment sent after hours.
|
courts;u.k .;michael woodford;olympus;scandals
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jp0002244
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/03/12
|
Tokyo Gas gets green light for Philippine LNG terminal project
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MANILA - Tokyo Gas Co. and a major power producer of the Philippine conglomerate Lopez Group have obtained governmental approval for the construction of a liquefied natural gas terminal in Batangas province. Tokyo Gas plans to hold a 20 percent stake in the project, aiming to commence operations in 2023 with First Gen Corp., Tokyo Gas spokesman Noriyoshi Ibara said. Japan’s largest gas utility and First Gen submitted the LNG terminal plan to the Department of Energy last December. Although the consortium gained the permit, “we have yet to make a final investment decision,” the spokesman said without elaborating. The new terminal will have an annual capacity of 5.26 million tons, according to Rino Abad, director of the department’s oil industry management bureau. Local media said investment costs are estimated at $10 billion (¥1.1 trillion). The Philippine government has so far approved two other LNG hubs development projects, but the Tokyo Gas-First Gen venture is the largest in capacity size. First Gen operates four gas-fired power plants in the province, south of Manila, by sourcing natural gas from the Malampaya gas field off the coast of Palawan Island. First Gen, which is also the Philippines’ largest natural gas buyer, has decided to build the gas import terminal as local supplies are feared to become depleted as early as 2024. First Gen aims to firm up contractors, costs and other arrangements “within the year” to proceed with the plan by next year, President Francis Giles Puno was quoted by BusinessMirror as saying.
|
gas;philippines;lng;tokyo gas
|
jp0002245
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/03/12
|
Calling for 'renewed sense of urgency,' Toshiba activist investor King Street to nominate new directors
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NEW YORK - Toshiba Corp. investor King Street Capital Management plans to nominate a slate of independent directors to replace a majority of the manufacturer’s board, ratcheting up the hedge fund’s first public activist campaign. Among the nominees will be Brian Higgins, co-founder of the fund, which manages about $20 billion. King Street owns about 5.4 percent of Toshiba and is its fourth-largest shareholder. The stock rose as much as 2.5 percent in Tokyo on Tuesday. In a letter to Chief Executive Officer Nobuaki Kurumatani dated Monday, New York-based King Street said Toshiba needs new independent directors to “fully maximize its industrial strengths and empower the innovative potential of its employees.” It added that the board “must provide a renewed sense of urgency, assertive decision-making and a profitable growth mindset to unlock Toshiba’s value.” “The structuring of the board and candidate selection has been done appropriately,” Toshiba said in an emailed response. The company said it plans to respond flexibly to changes in the environment to ensure it can deliver shareholder value. In October, King Street urged the company to buy back at least ¥1.1 trillion ($9.9 billion) of shares as quickly as possible. King Street also released a 100-plus page presentation outlining ways the company could increase its profit margins in the next 12 to 24 months. Toshiba has been raising capital and selling assets to restore its finances and profitability following an accounting scandal and losses tied to its nuclear-power business. Hong Kong-based Argyle Street Management previously criticized the Tokyo-based company over the ¥2 trillion sale of the memory unit to a group led by Bain Capital, saying it was undervalued. Toshiba agreed in June to a ¥700 billion buyback, an amount King Street said was too small, given that the conglomerate is sitting on about ¥1.8 trillion in cash. King Street said it would drop its proposal if it can reach a resolution with management. Otherwise it plans to submit directors’ names in time for the annual meeting.
|
toshiba;investments;hedge funds
|
jp0002246
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/03/12
|
The obscure firm making iPhones better: Japan's Lasertec masters extreme ultraviolet lithography
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After two decades in development, chipmakers are making a costly bet on a technology that will cram even more transistors onto silicon. Their success may hinge on a little-known company in Yokohama. Lasertec Corp. is the world’s sole maker of equipment that tests glass squares slightly bigger than a CD case that act as a stencil for chip designs. By shining light through the squares, circuits smaller than the width of a few strands of DNA are imprinted onto silicon wafers in a process called lithography. These templates have to be perfect: Even a tiny defect can make every single chip in the batch unusable. Consumers take it for granted that gadgets will keep getting slimmer, more powerful and cheaper, but the chip companies are running out of ways to etch ever smaller circuit patterns onto silicon. After years of setbacks, the industry has settled on extreme ultraviolet lithography, which uses plasma as the light source to draw lines smaller than 7 nanometers. That’s the size seen in Apple Inc.’s A12 Bionic chip, featured in the iPhone XS and XR. In 2017, Lasertec solved the final piece of the puzzle when it created a machine that can test blank EUV masks for internal flaws, giving it a monopoly. The company’s stock has tripled since then. Lasertec has already received orders for ¥4 billion machines that test EUV blanks, according to President Osamu Okabayashi. The company may see additional sales as soon as this summer, depending on how quickly Samsung Electronics Co. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. ramp up mass production, he said. “We spent six years developing this equipment,” Okabayashi said in an interview. “At this point it’s become an industry standard and it would be very difficult for somebody else to enter the space.” An EUV mask, a sandwich of about 80 alternating layers of silicon and molybdenum, can fetch as much as ¥11 million. Only two companies — glassmakers Hoya Corp. and AGC Inc., both in Japan — manufacture the blanks. Lasertec’s machines can spot problems early on, which is critical to making the technology cost competitive. “For EUV, masks have to be perfect,” Okabayashi said. EUV lithography is so complex and expensive that so far only Samsung and TSMC have said they will use it to move to 7-nanometer chipmaking. Intel Corp. has delayed its introduction, while difficulties in making EUV economically viable have prompted Globalfoundries Inc. to reportedly abandon it altogether. Samsung has said that the move lets it use chip area 40 percent more efficiently, improves performance by 20 percent and halves power consumption. Apple’s 7-nanometer processor is manufactured by TSMC and is specialized for machine-learning applications. In the past few months, Qualcomm Inc. and Huawei Technologies Co. unveiled a 7-nanometer chip that will power 5G devices. “It used to be that chip demand was completely dependent on product cycles for personal computers,” Okabayashi said. “But then came smartphones and pretty soon we’ll be able to add AI, IOT (‘internet of things’) and 5G to the list of applications driving demand.” It will take a while for the impact from new orders to show up in earnings, because EUV blank testers take about two years to build. Lasertec is forecasting that sales will climb 32 percent to ¥28 billion in the year to June 30, while operating income will grow 14 percent. Revenue may jump about 50 percent next fiscal year and profit could double, according to analyst estimates. The company’s shares have climbed more than 50 percent this year, approaching the ¥4,590 record high set in March 2018. Of the eight analysts tracked by Bloomberg, six recommend buying the shares. “Earnings have a lot of room to grow because we haven’t even seen the spending on 5 nanometer process yet,” said Yasuo Imanaka, an analyst at Rakuten Securities Inc. “This is a very good company.”
|
smartphones;iphones;semiconductors;lasertec
|
jp0002247
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/03/12
|
Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi seek fresh start after Carlos Ghosn era with new joint board
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YOKOHAMA - Leaders of the scandal-hit global auto alliance between Nissan Motor Co., Renault SA and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said Tuesday they will strive for a balanced and stronger partnership to excel against rival carmakers. In an apparent effort to outline the structure of the post-Carlos Ghosn alliance, the three companies said the entity will establish a new joint management board designed to be operated with a fair balance of power. “This is a very special day for the alliance,” Renault Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard said during a news conference at Nissan’s headquarters in Yokohama. “We have decided to join our forces again to enhance the strength of our collaboration,” Senard said. “We want to be instantly in a position to improve, significantly, our efficiency.” The three companies have agreed on several points, including simplifying the alliance management structure by creating the new board. They said it will be the sole governing body of the alliance. Currently, the alliance is managed by a Nissan-Renault venture and a Nissan-Mitsubishi Motors venture. The new board will consist of four members, including Senard, Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa, Renault CEO Thierry Bollore and Mitsubishi Motors Chairman Osamu Masuko. All three attended Tuesday’s news conference. Saikawa stressed the importance of respecting fairness, with the previous alliance’s operational structure not having been balanced from Nissan’s standpoint. “Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi — these three companies — will work under a consensus-based and win-win spirit. This is a real equal-partnership body … this is very efficient and starting something like this has a very significant meaning,” Saikawa said. Previously, the decision-making was up to the head of the Renault-Nissan joint venture board, which was headed by an executive from Renault, meaning Nissan did not have ultimate power to control alliance policies, according to Nissan. But the chairman of the new board won’t have such authority, the firm said. Some Japanese media outlets have also reported that too much power was held by Ghosn, the former Nissan and Renault chief who also doubled as head of the three-way alliance. Saikawa said they agreed that the custom of the Renault chairman assuming the Nissan chairmanship will not apply to Senard, highlighting this change as another example of Nissan’s independence being respected. Nissan and Renault announced that their Amsterdam-based joint venture called Renault-Nissan B.V., which was overseeing the operation of the alliance, will continue to exist and function as a backup alliance operation body for the new board. Renault and Nissan said they are not considering a review of the power balance in the cross-shareholding partnership at this point. Ghosn, who came onboard to save struggling Nissan in 1999, was the architect of the alliance. He had reportedly been eyeing a merger between Nissan and Renault under one holding company while respecting their independence. Nissan was reluctant to accept the merger plan out of concern that its autonomy would be undermined. Asked whether Ghosn was really planning such a merger, Senard said he was not able to confirm that and added that a merger, or shareholding power balance, “is not the point of today.” “I am just taking the situation as it is and looking at the future,” he said. Renault holds 43 percent of Nissan shares while Nissan holds 15 percent of Renault shares. While the fate of the alliance was the focus of attention, reporters also asked a number of questions regarding its former chief. Ghosn, who was released on bail last week from the Tokyo Detention House after more than 100 days, had requested permission from the Tokyo District Court to attend Tuesday’s Nissan board meeting. The court rejected his request, citing the risk of evidence being destroyed if Ghosn communicated with Nissan executives, according to some reports in the Japanese media. Junichiro Hironaka, an attorney on Ghosn’s legal team, said Ghosn is still a board director and so hoped to fulfill his professional duty. Nissan opposed his attendance out of concern that the meeting would not run smoothly, he told reporters in an exchange that was aired on TV. The Nissan board ousted Ghosn from the position of chairman in November after his arrest on Nov. 19, but he remains a board director. To appoint or remove someone from a directorship, the firm needs approval at a shareholders meeting. Nissan plans to hold an extraordinary general shareholders meeting next month to relieve Ghosn and his aide, Greg Kelly, a former Nissan representative director who was also arrested along with Ghosn, of their directorship positions. The 65-year-old Brazilian-born French auto executive’s first arrest in the case, on suspicion of underreporting his income, was made by Tokyo District Public Prosecutor’s Office at Haneda airport. The prosecutors subsequently arrested him again on two additional counts of financial misconduct, including for allegedly understating his income on another occasion and an alleged incident of aggravated breach of trust involving the transfer of private investment losses to Nissan during the global financial crisis in 2008. Ghosn has denied all of the allegations. Senard declined to comment on the allegations against Ghosn, saying that by principle he considers people innocent until a legal verdict is handed down.
|
france;scandals;nissan;carmakers;mitsubishi motors;renault;carlos ghosn
|
jp0002248
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/03/12
|
Warring sides blame each other as at least 20 are civilians killed, including children, in north Yemen
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DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - At least 20 civilians, including women and children, have been killed in a village in northern Yemen, Saudi and Houthi media reported on Monday, in an attack both sides blamed on the other. The Houthis’ Al Masirah television said airstrikes by a Saudi-led coalition killed 23 civilians in Kushar district. Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV said the Houthis had killed several members of the Hajour tribes who had begun an uprising against the movement. It quoted unnamed sources as saying 20 women and children from two families were killed. Reuters was not able to independently verify the reports. Neither said when the attack took place. The war has killed tens of thousands, displaced more than 2 million and driven the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country to the verge of famine. Iran-aligned Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, in late 2014, saying they were fighting a revolution against corrupt politicians and Gulf powers in thrall to the West. The Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen’s war in 2015 to try to restore the internationally-recognised government to power.
|
conflict;yemen;saudi arabia;houthis
|
jp0002249
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/03/12
|
U.N. mourns loss of 21 staff members in Ethiopian jetliner crash
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UNITED NATIONS - Flags flew at half-staff at the United Nations on Monday after 21 U.N. staff members were killed in an Ethiopian Airlines plane crash that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said marked a “sad day” for the world body. Guterres lead delegates at the opening of the annual gathering on women’s rights at the General Assembly in observing a moment of silence in honor of the victims. “A global tragedy has hit close to home — and the United Nations is united in grief,” he said at the Commission on the Status of Women. U.N. ambassadors opened a Security Council meeting on Afghanistan by standing in silence for the victims of Flight ET302, which crashed Sunday shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa. All 157 people on board were killed. Among the dead were many traveling to a UN environment conference in Nairobi. The World Food Program, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration and the U.N. Environment agency all lost staff in the crash.
|
u.n .;ethiopian airlines;antonio guterres;air accidents
|
jp0002250
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/03/12
|
Sniper fire and land mines slow U.S.-backed force's advance in ruins of Islamic State's Syrian territory
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BAGHOUZ, SYRIA - U.S.-backed fighters are moving slowly into Islamic State’s final pocket in eastern Syria to avoid losses in the face of sniper fire and land mines, a commander said on Monday. Warplanes flew above Baghouz, a cluster of houses on the banks of the Euphrates at the Iraqi border where Islamic State fighters still hold out, and smoke rose from the area along with the sound of intermittent clashes. The defeat of Islamic State at Baghouz will mark a milestone in the campaign against the jihadi group, ending its control of populated territory in the area straddling Iraq and Syria where it suddenly expanded in 2014 and declared a caliphate. However, it has already shown it will continue to mount a potent security threat, with a string of insurgent attacks in both countries. Pro-Syrian government forces hold the opposite bank of the Euphrates across from Baghouz and Iraqi militias are stationed at the border, cutting off any easy escape route for the jihadis. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has made “modest advances” since resuming its assault late on Sunday, killing and wounding many jihadi fighters said Adnan Afrin, a senior commander in the U.S.-backed militia. The SDF pressed on with operations on Monday along with coalition airstrikes, but Afrin said advances were slow because the SDF wanted to complete the campaign with minimal losses. Islamic State fighters attempted four suicide attacks but the SDF captured an arms dump, said militia spokesman Mustafa Bali. One SDF fighter was killed and four wounded. The SDF has held off from a full assault for most of the past few weeks as many thousands of people poured from the enclave, including surrendering fighters, Islamic State supporters, other civilians and some of the group’s captives. By Sunday evening, no more people had come out, prompting the SDF to start its attack. Inside Baghouz, a squalid area of makeshift shelters, garbage and trenches filmed by Reuters TV on Sunday showed the harsh conditions in the ruins of Islamic State’s “caliphate.” Amid palm trees and scrubby patches of vegetation in front of dry bluffs, rusting cars stood among the bivouacs made by stringing blankets from rope. Oil drums and plastic barrels lay scattered around. The SDF has shipped most people fleeing the wreckage of Islamic State’s rule over recent weeks to al-Hol in northeast Syria where some 65,000 people now live in a camp that the U.N. says was built to house 20,000. The obdurate support voiced by many of them for Islamic State, particularly among foreigners, has posed a complex security, legal and moral challenge for both the SDF and their own governments. Those issues were underscored on Friday with the death of the newborn son of Shamima Begum, a British woman who left to join Islamic State when she was a schoolgirl. On Monday, the head of the United Nations children’s agency UNICEF said there were about 3,000 children from 43 countries living in al-Hol, along with many more Syrian and Iraqi children, in “extremely dire conditions. “Since the 1st of January 2019, every single day, a child has died fleeing the fight against ISIS,” said the UNICEF head, Geert Cappelaere, at a news conference in Beirut.
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conflict;u.s .;terrorism;syria;islamic state;syrian democratic forces;baghouz
|
jp0002251
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/03/12
|
Runaway Islamic State teen loses third child in Syria refugee camp as her mom asks for 'mercy' from U.K.
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LONDON - The mother of a London girl who ran away to join the Islamic State group in Syria urged the U.K. government on Monday to reinstate the teenager’s British citizenship after she lost her third child. A lawyer representing Shamima Begum’s family wrote to interior minister Sajid Javid, pleading with him to reverse his Feb. 19 decision to strip her of her British citizenship “as an act of mercy. Begum, now 19, had asked to return home after giving birth to a son last month in a refugee camp in northeastern Syria, but London refused. The 3-week-old baby, Jarrah, has since died from pneumonia. She has told British media that her two other children died in infancy in Syria. Begum’s fate has sparked heated debate in Britain, which like other countries is facing a dilemma over whether to allow jihadis and IS sympathizers home to face prosecution, or stop them from returning at all. She was 15 when she left east London for Syria with two other schoolgirls in 2015. She was found by journalists in a refugee camp after fleeing fighting between the jihadi group and U.S.-backed forces. She is married to Dutch IS fighter Yago Riedijk, 27, who is now being held in a Kurdish-run detention center in northeast Syria. Urging Javid to reverse his decision, Begum’s mother “requests this reconsideration, as an act of mercy,” following Jarrah’s death, said the letter from law firm Farooq Bajwa and Co. “It is extremely unlikely that Shamima will be in a fit state to make any rational decisions.” The letter said the family have not been able to contact Begum directly and their request for help from the British government to contact her was refused in writing by the Home Office on March 5. “There are immediate fears for Shamima’s health and safety, and the matter is urgent,” the letter said, asking for a response within 24 hours. The letter was posted on Twitter by lawyer Tasnime Akunjee. In the wake of the baby’s death, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said officials were working on how to rescue British children born to IS runaways. Hunt said the death of Begum’s third child was “an incredibly distressing and sad situation” but that it was too dangerous to dispatch officials to the war zone. “Shamima knew when she made the decision to join Daesh (IS) she was going to a country where there’s no embassy, where there’s no consular assistance,” he told BBC television on Sunday. “And I’m afraid those decisions, awful though it is, they do have consequences.”
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terrorism;syria;u.k .;refugees;islamic state;shamima begum
|
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