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jp0002465
|
[
"national",
"crime-legal"
] |
2019/03/25
|
Cybozu chief Yoshihisa Aono loses lawsuit at Tokyo court over right to use premarital name
|
A Tokyo court on Monday upheld a national law that forces couples to use the same surname upon marriage, rejecting claims over its unconstitutionality. The lawsuit against the central government was brought by Yoshihisa Aono, the 47-year-old president of software development firm Cybozu Inc., and three others seeking a change to the Family Register Law that would give them the right to use their premarital surnames. The other three plaintiffs, who declined to be named, are a woman in her 20s and a common-law couple. The four filed the suit with the Tokyo District Court in January 2018, seeking ¥2.2 million in compensation for “psychological suffering.” In a strong statement, presiding Judge Tetsuro Nakayoshi said that “the law in question does not violate the Constitution” and ordered the plaintiffs to cover the cost of the trial. The Family Register Law forbids Japanese couples from using different surnames after marriage, although the practice is permitted in marriages between Japanese and foreign nationals. Divorcees, meanwhile, can choose whether to retain the same surname regardless of nationality. Many companies and public offices in Japan allow employees to use their pre-marriage names at work but only registered surnames can be used on official documents like passports. Aono legally took his wife’s surname — Nishihata — upon marriage, but he uses his pre-marriage name for business purposes. The plaintiffs argued that the law is unconstitutional, in that it fails to ensure the essential equality of the sexes and individual dignity, and demanded the right to use their pre-marriage name through a change to the Family Register Law. The court concluded, however, the laws in question do not contravene the Constitution as Article 750 of the Civil Code stipulates that a husband and wife shall adopt the same surname upon marriage. Aono’s lawsuit was not the first to have been rejected in the courtroom. In 2015, five women sought the right to retain their maiden names after marriage but the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Civil Code provision that requires married couples to use the same surname for official matters. During a news conference following the ruling, Tomoshi Sakka, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, expressed his dissatisfaction with Monday’s ruling. “It appears the court adopted the government’s stance, which is disappointing,” he said. “I was hoping for some progress but this ruling states the same arguments as those presented in 2015 without any evidence to support their claims.” He questioned the court’s logic that the Civil Code only allows one name and that a family’s name cannot differ. He also emphasized the contradiction compared with Japanese marrying foreign nationals given that separate names are acceptable in international marriages under the same law. Sakka believes that amending the Family Register Law is the easiest solution to respond to changes in society where more women now actively participate, he said. But the court argued such regulations need to go in line with the Civil Code. Aono said he was disappointed that despite the Supreme Court’s suggestion in the 2015 ruling that the disputed issue should be raised in Diet’s debates, the district court’s ruling showed there had been no progress since 2015. “If you think logically, this law is unconstitutional — and I thought the court would rule based on logical arguments, which has apparently been ignored,” he said. Aono stressed that the existing law may cause difficulties for many married couples, such as when contacted by a day care center during an emergency, for example, if the parent uses separate names for work and for the child’s day care nursery. Aono said he had only sought the right to choose one’s last name. He said that although he was dismayed by the ruling, he was planning to follow up by challenging the court’s arguments and take the fight to a higher court as soon as possible. “This trial has gained attention from the public and the media, and I believe it has significantly mobilized public opinion,” Aono said, adding that he was hoping the public would follow suit in seeking change through votes in planned local elections. In its ruling on Monday the court also rejected the compensation claims, saying the government bore no responsibility for the plaintiffs’ psychological suffering given that there had been no violation of their rights guaranteed in the Constitution.
|
tokyo;courts;civil code;names;marriage;cybozu;yoshihisa aono
|
jp0002466
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/03/25
|
Government considering terms from Japanese classics, rather than Chinese, for nation's next era name
|
Options under consideration for the next Imperial era name, which will be unveiled April 1, are believed to include terms adapted from Japanese classics despite past era names typically being drawn from Chinese classics, government sources have said. In Japan the era name is used throughout an emperor’s reign, appearing in calendars and on official documents. Past era names with identifiable sources were all drawn from Chinese classics, as the era system originates in China. The current Heisei Era, which began on Jan. 8, 1989, will end when Emperor Akihito abdicates on April 30. The next era name will become effective May 1, when Crown Prince Naruhito ascends the throne. The Japanese government on March 14 commissioned scholars to make their proposals for the next era name, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Sunday during a visit to Naha, Okinawa Prefecture. The government’s procedures call for each of a small number of scholars to be asked to propose about two to five names, attaching explanations about why they made the proposals. The scholars are believed to be experts on Japanese and Chinese literature and Japanese and Asian history. The submitted proposals are kept in a safe in the room of Assistant Chief Cabinet Secretary Kazuyuki Furuya. Suga said Monday, however, that the government will not disclose the names of the scholars even after the announcement of the new era name, saying that both the government and the scholars themselves think making the names public is inappropriate. Suga will narrow down the possible new names to around three, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will make the final selection. The government plans to announce the name of the new era on April 1. Even if the new era name is inspired by a piece of classical Japanese literature, it may still have its roots in Chinese literature. “There are many Japanese classics written in Chinese style that can be traced back to Chinese classics,” said one expert. “The more formal a word is, the more likely it is to originate in Chinese classics.” The term Heisei, meaning “achieving peace,” comes from phrases in Chinese classics. It was chosen from three candidates, the other two being Shubun and Seika.
|
imperial family;abdication;heisei
|
jp0002467
|
[
"reference"
] |
2019/03/25
|
The week ahead for March 25 to March 31
|
Monday Over 50 regional banks to start introducing the J-Coin cashless payment system developed by Mizuho Financial Group. Transactions will be processed through a smartphone app using Quick Response two-dimensional barcode. Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko to visit Kyoto and Nara prefectures through March 28. Tokyo District Court to hand down ruling in damages suit over constitutionality of legal ban on married couples from having different surnames. Tuesday Japanese men’s soccer team to take on Bolivia in friendly match at Kobe’s Noevir Stadium. Wednesday Nissan Motor’s corporate governance committee to release final report. It is expected to propose reducing the power of the chairman’s post following the dismissal of former CEO Carlos Ghosn, who was arrested for alleged financial misconduct at the carmaker. Pioneer to be delisted from Tokyo Stock Exchange’s first section. The struggling auto electronics maker has agreed to be fully owned by a Hong Kong-based investment fund in return for a capital injection. Thursday The Kumamoto District Court to hand down ruling in retrial of man over a 1985 murder. The court is expected to acquit the man, who has already served a prison term, as prosecutors have dropped the charges against him. Friday Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry to release unemployment rate for February. Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare to release ratio of job offers to job-seekers for February. Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry to release preliminary industrial production index for February. Focus is on how strongly the index could rebound following a 3.4 percent decline in January amid slowing exports mainly due to China’s economic downturn. Opening games of NPB’s Central and Pacific leagues to be held. Saturday No major events. Sunday Furniture store operator Otsuka Kagu to hold annual shareholders meeting.
|
weekly events;the week ahead;schedule
|
jp0002469
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Hyperwired South Korea gets head start on rest of world with launch of first national 5G networks
|
SEOUL - South Korea launches the world’s first fully fledged 5G mobile networks Friday, a transformational leap that already has superpowers sparring for control of an innovation that could potentially change the day-to-day lives of billions of people. The superfast communications heralded by fifth-generation wireless technology will ultimately underpin everything from toasters to telephones; from electric cars to power grids. But while South Korea has won the race to be first to provide the user experience, that is only one part of a wider battle that has pit the United States against China and ensnared giants including Huawei. Hyperwired South Korea has long had a reputation for technical prowess, and Seoul has made the 5G rollout a priority as it seeks to stimulate stuttering economic growth. The system will bring smartphones near-instantaneous connectivity — 20 times faster than the existing 4G — allowing users to download entire movies in less than a second. In the same way that 3G enabled widespread mobile web access and 4G enabled new applications ranging from social media to Uber, 5G will herald a new level of connectivity, empowered by speed. It is crucial for the future development of devices ranging from self-driving vehicles that send data traffic to one another in real time, industrial robots, drones and other elements of the “internet of things.” That makes it a vital part of the infrastructure of tomorrow, and the 5G standard is expected to bring about $565 billion (¥63 trillion) in global economic benefits by 2034, according to the London-based Global System for Mobile Communications, an industry alliance. But the implications have pitted Washington against Beijing in an increasingly bitter standoff. The U.S. has pressed its allies and major economies to avoid 5G solutions from Chinese-owned telecom giant Huawei, citing security risks that technological backdoors could give Beijing access to 5G-connected utilities and other components. But Chinese firms dominate 5G technology. Huawei, the global leader, has registered 1,529 5G patents, according to data analysis firm IPlytics. Combined with manufacturers ZTE and Oppo, plus the China Academy of Telecommunications Technology, Chinese entities own a total of 3,400 patents, it says — more than a third of the total. South Korea comes next, with its companies holding 2,051 patents. In contrast, U.S. firms have 1,368 altogether, IPlytics said — 29 fewer than Finland’s Nokia alone. All three of South Korea’s mobile networks — KT, SK Telecom and LG UPlus — will go live with their 5G services. “5G’s hyper speed can connect 1 million devices within a one square kilometre zone simultaneously,” KT said in a report. On the same day, Samsung Electronics will release the Galaxy S10 5G, the world’s first available smartphone using the tech, with rival LG following with the V50s two weeks later. More than 3 million South Koreans will switch to 5G by the end of this year, predicted KT vice president Lee Pil-jae. Until now, no mobile networks have offered nationwide 5G access. In the US, hotspots in a few selected cities have offered 5G speeds but over Wi-Fi only, while Qatari firm Ooredoo says it offers 5G services in and around Doha, but does not have devices available to use them. U.S. network carrier Verizon will launch fifth-generation services for mobile users in Chicago and Minneapolis next week, with more than 30 cities due to follow this year. Japan is also expected to roll out a limited deployment in 2019 before full services start in time for next year’s Tokyo Games. But cost is likely to be a barrier for user uptake initially, analysts say: The cheapest version of the new Galaxy handset will be 1.39 million won (¥136,600). “While there are many cheap 4G smartphones under $300 (¥33,450), Samsung’s 5G phones are well over $1,000, which could be a major minus point for cost-savvy consumers,” a KT representative said. None of South Korea’s three network operators would say how much they have invested in 5G, but Seoul’s economy minister Hong Nam-ki put it at at least $2.6 billion this year alone. “If 5G is fully implemented,” he said, “it will greatly improve people’s lives.”
|
china;u.s .;internet;smartphones;tech;south korea;5g
|
jp0002470
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Microsoft to provide automatic updates to handle Japan era name change to Reiwa
|
Microsoft Japan Co. said Tuesday that it will send out automatic updates for individual users of its Windows operating system and Office software to handle the era name change to Reiwa on May 1. Users who have turned on automatic updating do not need to take any other special steps because necessary programs will be automatically installed, the Japanese arm of U.S. giant Microsoft Corp. said. Users can also check how to manually update software on the Microsoft website. In order to respond to technical questions during the Golden Week holiday period, which lasts for 10 days from April 27, Microsoft Japan will open a consultation desk for three days from April 30. The company started work to add the new era name to its system after the name was announced Monday. Program updates will be offered in phases.
|
microsoft;computers;abdication;reiwa
|
jp0002471
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Asian Development Bank sees growth in continent's developing countries slowing to 5.7% in 2019
|
MANILA - The Asian Development Bank said Wednesday that growth in developing Asia will slow to 5.7 percent this year, down from 5.9 percent in 2018, due to slowing global demand and persistent trade tensions. In its Asian Development Outlook 2019 report, the bank said growth in the region will further weaken to 5.6 percent in 2020, citing such factors as the continuing moderation of Chinese economic growth. “A drawn-out or deteriorating trade conflict between the People’s Republic of China and the United States could undermine investment and growth in developing Asia,” Yasuyuki Sawada, the bank’s chief economist, said in the report. “With various uncertainties stemming from U.S. fiscal policy and a possible disorderly Brexit, growth in the advanced economies could turn out slower than expected, undermining the outlook for (China) and other economies in the region,” he added. The report said China’s growth will continue to moderate, with 6.3 percent expansion this year and 6.1 percent in 2020, “as restrictions on housing markets and shadow banking continue and as the trade conflict with the U.S. weakens exports.” It forecasts the combined economies of the United States, Japan and the eurozone will see growth slow to 1.9 percent this year and 1.6 percent in 2020, citing “less accommodative fiscal and monetary policies” in the United States, “uncertainty surrounding Brexit in the United Kingdom and the European Union, and the trade conflict between” China and the United States. Meanwhile, the bank said inflation in developing Asia remains low, forecasting it at 2.5 percent for both 2019 and 2020.
|
trade;economy;asia;adb;banks;development
|
jp0002472
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Japan's travel agencies and hotels look to milk imminent era shift to Reiwa with tours and souvenirs
|
Travel agencies and hotels are selling commemorative packages to take advantage of the forthcoming change of Imperial era, an opportunity that typically comes only once every several decades. Leading travel agency JTB Corp. is selling a three-day tour that starts on April 30, the final day of the current Heisei Era, when Emperor Akihito is set to abdicate, and features visits to the Grand Shrines of Ise, a Shinto shrine complex in the city of Ise in Mie Prefecture. Tour participants will offer prayers at Naiku, where deity and legendary Imperial ancestor Amaterasu Omikami is enshrined, and other areas of the Grand Shrines of Ise early in the mornings of April 30 and May 1, when Crown Prince Naruhito ascends to the Chrysanthemum Throne and the new Reiwa Era begins. Nippon Travel Agency Co., meanwhile, is offering a train tour between Osaka Station and Izumoshi Station in Izumo, Shimane Prefecture, where the Shinto shrine Izumo Oyashiro is located. The Salon Car Naniwa train operated by West Japan Railway Co., or JR West, will leave Osaka Station on the night of April 30. Aboard the train participants will celebrate the moment the Heisei Era ends and the Reiwa Era begins at the stroke of midnight. Commemorative tickets stamped with the dates of Heisei and Reiwa will be given out to them, according to the company. For both the JTB and NTA tours, 80 to 90 percent of the tickets have already been booked. Club Tourism International Inc.’s era change tours include one in which participants will view sunset on the last day of Heisei from Tokyo Skytree, the tallest tower in the world, and another allowing customers to watch the sunrise and Mount Fuji on the first day of Reiwa from a chartered plane. “We hope participants will enjoy the precious moments,” an official of the company said. The Capitol Hotel Tokyu in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward, where the Imperial Palace is also located, is selling an overnight package on the night of April 30 for up to two guests staying in a suite, with the most expensive room costing ¥110,000 per person. Despite the high price, the package is almost fully booked, according to hotel officials. A wedding package offered by Yokohama Bay Hotel Tokyu in Yokohama includes taking commemorative photographs with Yokohama Bay Bridge in the background and going for a cruise in a boat that sails under the bridge. It opened in 1989, the first year of the Heisei Era. With the hotel selling the package as the last such product for the Heisei Era, the number of reservations for wedding receptions for April jumped 40 percent from a year before. Kyushu Railway Co., or JR Kyushu, will bring out a set of platform tickets made from cardboard and sell a collection of tickets for all of its 567 stations bearing the numbers “1.5.1,” meaning May 1 in the first year of the Reiwa Era. Currently, cardboard-type tickets are not typically available. The collection, priced at ¥110,000 per set, includes an additional platform ticket for Heisei Station on the Hohi Main Line in the city of Kumamoto. On the ticket will be the numbers “31.4.30,” meaning April 30 in the 31st year of Heisei. The station, named after the current era, was opened in 1992, three years after the start of the era. As it has been bombarded with orders, JR Kyushu has already stopped accepting reservations for the 300 sets it plans to produce.
|
rail;hotels;travel;imperial family;abdication;reiwa
|
jp0002473
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Shell to quit U.S. refining lobby over climate disagreement and will back Paris accord
|
LONDON - Royal Dutch Shell on Tuesday became the first major oil and gas company to announce plans to leave a leading U.S. refining lobby due to disagreement on climate policies. In its first review of its association with 19 key industry groups, the company said it had found “material misalignment” over climate policy with the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) and would quit the body in 2020. The review is part of Shell’s drive to increase transparency and show investors it is in line with the 2015 Paris climate agreement’s goals to limit global warming by reducing carbon emissions to a net zero by the end of the century. It is also the latest sign of how investor pressure on oil companies is leading to changes in their behavior around climate. “AFPM has not stated support for the goal of the Paris Agreement. Shell supports the goal of the Paris Agreement,” the Anglo-Dutch company said in its decision. Shell said it also disagreed with AFPM’s opposition to a price on carbon and action on low-carbon technologies. AFPM Chief Executive Chet Thompson thanked Shell for its “longstanding collaboration. “Like any family, we aren’t always fully aligned on every policy, but we always strive to reach consensus positions on policies,” Thompson said in a statement. “We will also continue working on behalf of the refining and petrochemical industries to advance policies that ensure reliable and affordable access to fuels and petrochemicals, while being responsible stewards of the environment.” AFPM counts around 300 U.S. and international members, including Exxon Mobil, Chevron, BP and Total that operate 110 refineries and 229 petrochemical plants, according to its 2018 annual report. Shell’s review was welcomed by Adam Matthews, director of ethics and engagement for the Church of England Pensions Board, which invests in Shell and led discussions with the company over its climate policy. “This is an industry first,” Matthews said. “With this review Shell have set the benchmark for best practice on corporate climate lobbying not just within oil and gas but across all industries. The challenge now is for others to follow suit.” Shell and AFPM have also been at odds in recent months over regulation over the use of renewable fuels. While Shell and other large refiners have invested in the cleaner fuel technology, AFPM has fought hard against the Renewable Fuel Standard from which some independent refiners could lose out. Shell and rivals Exxon and BP have in recent years also left the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative political group, over its stance on climate change. Shell also found “some” misalignment with nine other trade associations, including the American Petroleum Institute, the oil and gas industry’s main lobby. Shell said that while it had some climate-related differences with API, it welcomed the lobby’s advocacy on a range of state and federal issues such as trade and transport, as well as the API’s efforts to reduce methane emissions. It will continue to engage with the API and other groups over climate policies and monitor their alignment, Shell said. Last year, Shell caved in to investor pressure over climate change, setting out plans to introduce industry-leading carbon emissions targets linked to executive pay. Its chief executive, Ben van Beurden, has since repeatedly urged oil and gas producers to take action over climate and pollution. “The need for urgent action in response to climate change has become ever more obvious since the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015. As a result, society’s expectations in this area have changed, and Shell’s views have also evolved,” van Beurden said in the report. “We must be prepared to openly voice our concerns where we find misalignment with an industry association on climate-related policy. In cases of material misalignment, we should also be prepared to walk away.” Shell last month urged President Donald Trump’s administration to tighten restrictions on emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, instead of weakening them as planned.
|
u.s .;oil;bp;royal dutch shell;paris climate accord;afpm
|
jp0002474
|
[
"business",
"economy-business"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Global trade growth to slow to 2.6% amid China-U.S. standoff, says WTO
|
GENEVA - The World Trade Organization said Tuesday that growth in global merchandise trade volume is expected to slow to 2.6 percent this year, down from 3 percent last year, amid a tariff war between the United States and China. “With trade tensions running high, no one should be surprised by this outlook,” WTO Director General Robert Azevedo said in a news release. “Trade cannot play its full role in driving growth when we see such high levels of uncertainty.” The WTO warned that trade growth this year could even be below or above this range, depending largely on the outcome of negotiations between Washington and Beijing. “If we forget the fundamental importance of the rules-based trading system we would risk weakening it, which would be an historic mistake with repercussions for jobs, growth and stability around the world,” Azevedo said. The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs on a total of $250 billion in Chinese imports — or about half of the goods the United States imports from China each year — in response to what Washington calls Beijing’s “unfair” trade practices such as alleged intellectual property theft and forced technology transfers. China has retaliated with tariffs on $110 billion of U.S. imports. At their summit in Argentina last December, Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to a truce in which both promised to refrain from imposing further tariffs for 90 days while trying to complete trade negotiations. As working-level and ministerial-level talks continue, Washington extended the March 1 deadline, with speculation rife that Trump and Xi may hold a summit in the near future to end the trade war.
|
china;u.s .;trade;economy;wto;trade war
|
jp0002475
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Announcement of Japan's impending Reiwa Era sets off scramble for internet domain names
|
It is not only for products and companies that people have a desire to use the new Imperial era name, and its announcement has set off a scramble to acquire a domain name — the address used to access a website — featuring the word “ reiwa .” GMO Internet Inc. confirmed Wednesday that on the day of the announcement, there were more than 1,300 domain registrations with the era name expressed in kanji or roman characters on the Onamae.com service. Harumi Ishii, a spokesman for the internet service company, said through Tuesday the number grew to 2,000. Ishii said that such domain names are almost sold out, but added that it may still be possible to acquire one “if you add a character (before or after) ‘reiwa,'” as in “reiwa1” and “reiwatokyo.” Ishii said that after the unveiling, traffic to its website temporarily rose so high that it slowed down. Some of the “reiwa” domain names have been put up for auction at hefty prices. A search on Yahoo Japan’s auction site Wednesday showed the domain name reiwa.jp had the price of ¥66,000 after receiving 87 bids as of 7 p.m., for example. Another domain, r-e-i-wa.com , even carried a price of ¥6 million. Some companies had already been using “reiwa” in their domain name before the announcement. Among them is the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia, which said it had an unexpected surge in traffic to its website — reiwa.com — after the era name was unveiled, according to media reports. Seventy percent of the day’s traffic to reiwa.com was from Japan, the institute said.
|
internet;imperial family;abdication;reiwa
|
jp0002476
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Jetstar 787 had 'serious' engine trouble before landing at Kansai International Airport
|
A Boeing 787 plane of Australian budget carrier Jetstar Airways had trouble with both engines before landing at Kansai International Airport, the transport ministry said Tuesday. The ministry classified the situation as a “serious incident” that could have led to a major accident, adding that although there were no reports of injuries it has decided to send inspectors to the airport to look into the plane, which was from the northern Australian city of Cairns. When the aircraft was descending toward the airport at around 6:55 p.m. on Friday, the thrust of its left engine went down for a few seconds before recovering, and subsequently the right engine’s thrust also fell for tens of seconds, according to the ministry. It also said readings from the right engine’s instrument were unstable several minutes before it saw the fluctuations in speed. The 787 did not sent an emergency message requesting a preferential landing and touched down safely at about 7:20 p.m., according to the airport’s operator.
|
airlines;australia;aviation;jetstar airways
|
jp0002477
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Canada OKs first farm for genetically modified salmon
|
OTTAWA - Canada’s first commercial farm for genetically modified salmon received environmental approval on Tuesday — the final hurdle in a decades-long push to bring the fast-growing fish to market, amid strong opposition. The U.S.-based biotech firm AquaBounty said it would begin stocking its Rollo Bay facility in the eastern province of Prince Edward Island, capable of producing up to 250 metric tons (550,000 pounds) of fish a year, “as soon as possible.” The first commercial harvest, it said, is expected at the end of 2020, around the same time as another at the company’s facility in Albany, Indiana. The genetically modified salmon have a gene that enables them to grow more rapidly than conventional salmon, and can reach adult size in 16 to 18 months, compared with 30 months for natural Atlantic salmon. The company will be raising them in contained, land-based hatcheries. The U.S. and Canada found in 2015 and 2016, respectively, that the fish were safe to eat, clearing the way for them to become the first transgenic animal destined for North American dinner tables. Environmentalists and consumer groups, however, continue to raise concerns that the salmon could be dangerous to human health and may pose risks to wild fish if they were to escape into the environment. “This decision means more Canadians will be eating GM salmon without knowing,” said Lucy Sharratt of the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network, citing a lack of mandatory labeling of genetically modified foods in Canada. Argentina, Brazil and China have also granted environmental approvals for genetically modified fish farming trials, the company said.
|
food;canada;biotechnology;gmos;salmon
|
jp0002478
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Dollar rises above ¥111.50 in Tokyo
|
The dollar topped ¥111.50 in Tokyo trading Wednesday, aided by growing hopes for a U.S.-China trade deal and a rise in U.S. long-term interest rates. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥111.51, up from ¥111.37 at the same time Tuesday. The euro was at $1.1236-1237, up from $1.1199, and at ¥125.30-31, up from 124.¥73. The dollar moved in a narrow ¥111.30 range early in the morning. But the greenback scaled to around ¥111.52 in midmorning trading on buying sparked by a Financial Times report that the United States and China were drawing closer to a final trade deal. Although the dollar eased below ¥111.40 past noon, the U.S. currency rose back above ¥111.50 in the late afternoon thanks to purchases on a rise in the 10-year Treasury yield in off-hours trading and solid performances of Chinese stocks, traders said. “The dollar-yen pair was largely firm amid a growing risk-on mood, but its climb above ¥111.50 prompted selling,” a currency broker said. “The dollar lacked momentum to hit ¥112.” Despite the optimistic U.K. media report ahead of the start of ministerial-level trade talks between the United States and China in Washington on Wednesday, players refrained from full-fledged dollar buying as they wanted to see the outcome of the talks, an official at a foreign exchange margin trade service firm said.
|
forex;currencies
|
jp0002479
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Tokyo stocks rebound on renewed hopes for China-U.S. trade deal
|
Stocks bounced back on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Wednesday, as investors accelerated buying amid growing hopes for an end to the U.S.-China trade row. The 225-issue Nikkei average rallied 207.90 points, or 0.97 percent, to end at 21,713.21. On Tuesday, the key market gauge edged down 3.72 points. The Topix index of all first-section issues finished up 10.08 points, or 0.63 percent, at 1,621.77, after falling 4.12 points the previous day. After getting off to a mixed start, the market went up sharply on a Financial Times report that Washington and Beijing were “closer” to a final trade deal, brokers said. The U.K. newspaper report hit the market before the start of ministerial negotiations between the Unites States and China in Washington on Wednesday. Robust buying in Fast Retailing Co., a heavily weighted component of the Nikkei average, helped the key price indicator gain over 100 points, analysts pointed out. The market remained comfortably higher in the afternoon on purchases prompted by rises in Shanghai stocks. Tomoaki Fujii, head of the investment research division at Akatsuki Securities Inc., said that an unexpectedly sharp improvement in China’s Caixin services purchasing managers’ index and U.S. stock index futures’ climb in off-hours trading also gave a boost to buying momentum. “Concerns over a global economic slowdown receded” thanks to the brisk readings of Wednesday’s Chinese nonmanufacturing PMI and Monday’s U.S. Institute for Supply Management manufacturing index, Fujii added. The Nikkei may test its recent high of 21,822 this week, if Wall Street advances further and the U.S.-China trade talks produce fruit, said Ryuta Otsuka, strategist at the investment information department of Toyo Securities Co. Rising issues outnumbered falling ones 1,480 to 588 in the TSE’s first section, while 71 issues were unchanged. Volume fell to 1.292 billion shares from Tuesday’s 1.343 billion shares. China-linked issues attracted purchases, with chipmaking gear manufacturer Tokyo Electron rising 2.85 percent, industrial robot producer Fanuc Corp. 2.72 percent and its peer Yaskawa Electric Corp. 2.67 percent. Fast Retailing jumped 5.44 percent, thanks to a same-store sales rise at its Uniqlo casual clothing store chain in March. Other major winners included technology investor Softbank Group Corp. and drugmaker Eisai Co. Meanwhile, Megmilk Snow Brand Co. plunged 5.48 percent after Mizuho Securities Co. revised down its investment rating and target stock price for the dairy products maker. Also sold were power supplier Tokyo Electric Power Holding Inc. and railway operator Central Japan Railway Co., or JR Tokai. In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the key June contract on the Nikkei average climbed 250 points to end at 21,720.
|
stocks;nikkei;tse;topix
|
jp0002480
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Toyota to allow free access to 24,000 hybrid and electric vehicle tech patents to boost market
|
NAGOYA - Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday it will allow royalty-free access to its nearly 24,000 patents for hybrid and other vehicles using electrification technology in a bid to expand competition in the market as the industry adopts stricter emissions regulations. Rather than shutting rivals out, Toyota hopes that making its motor and battery technology accessible to other companies will broaden the market, in particular for hybrids, a field the auto giant leads with its Prius vehicles. But it remains uncertain whether the use of Toyota patents will be as widespread as the carmaker hopes, observers said. Toyota said in January 2015 it will offer patents related to its fuel-cell vehicles but it has only led to a dozen contracts. For the policy change, Toyota said it will offer around 23,740 patents related to electrification technology, with the grant period running from Wednesday to the end of 2030. Toyota also hopes that opening up its technology for motors and batteries, which are key components of electric and fuel-cell vehicles, will increase their supply and help it to cut costs in developing such vehicles. “The level of electrification technology required by global environmental regulations is becoming stricter year by year,” Toyota Vice President Shigeki Terashi said at a news conference in the city of Nagoya, near Toyota headquarters, underscoring efforts to strengthen cooperation with other companies. The carmaker also said it will provide fee-based technical support to manufacturers developing and selling electric vehicles using Toyota’s motors, batteries and other technologies. Chinese manufacturers are seen as likely to be interested in the gasoline-electric hybrid technology as the world’s largest auto market by volume also moves to implement stricter fuel economy regulations. Since the release of the Prius in 1997, Toyota has kept its related technology under wraps. But it has now judged that it can retain a competitive edge even if it offers its technology to other automakers, company sources said.
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toyota;automakers;patents;cars;intellectual property;ev
|
jp0002481
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Re-arrest may loom for Carlos Ghosn as ousted Nissan chief tweets he will 'tell the truth'
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A tweet posted at 12:51 p.m. on Wednesday under the name of former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn was initially met with great skepticism. The profile photo was his headshot, featuring gray hair and a cherry blossom tree in the background. Journalists were abuzz speculating about the veracity of the account. “I’m getting ready to tell the truth about what’s happening,” read the tweet, the account’s first. “Press conference on Thursday, April 11.” Then the account was verified. There was another tweet, this time in Japanese, about an hour later. That had gained more than 8,500 retweets and over 12,000 likes as of 7:10 p.m. Wednesday. The ex-chairman’s snap announcement amid his indictment on charges of financial misconduct while head of Nissan has drawn speculation over who penned the tweet and the motive behind it. It was not immediately clear whether Ghosn himself or a representative was responsible for the message. It is also not clear where the news conference would take place. Ghosn’s legal team had previously said he is willing to hold a news conference — most recently on Tuesday afternoon. Junichiro Hironaka, one of the attorneys representing Ghosn, told reporters the news conference would take place “in the near future” but declined to give a specific date. Ghosn’s choice of medium for announcing his news conference bewildered legal experts and observers: Why wasn’t the news delivered through his lawyers? The move raises questions over Ghosn’s relationship with his legal team, Tokyo-based corporate lawyer Shin Ushijima said. But Ushijima added that it is unlikely that Ghosn acted unilaterally without consulting them. The surprise tweet came as media reports said the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor’s Office is seeking to bring a fresh charge against the 65-year-old. Multiple Japanese media outlets have reported that prosecutors are probing Nissan’s ¥3.5 billion ($31 million) payments to a distributor in Oman. The prosecutors allege some of the money, which came from a budget controlled by Ghosn, was misappropriated for Ghosn’s personal use. “We cannot rule out the possibility that the prosecutors may add additional charges from now,” Hironaka said at Tuesday’s news conference. If the report is accurate and the prosecutors bring charges, Ghosn could be arrested again and sent back to the Tokyo Detention House. Yasuyuki Takai, an attorney and a former prosecutor at the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor’s Office, said while he understands Ghosn’s intention to speak out, the tweets won’t have much effect. He added that prosecutors would not likely change their plans to bring fresh charges due to the holding of a news conference. In one way, though, Ghosn’s announcement and the possibility of his arrest could be related, Ushijima said. “If (Ghosn) were arrested before the 11th, he cannot hold a news conference,” Ushijima said. “So if that is the case, Ghosn could make the criticism that the prosecutors stripped him of an opportunity to tell the truth. … If he were arrested, he could say he was arrested to be silenced.” Both Takai and Ushijima were doubtful of the merits of holding a news conference, pointing out that Ghosn’s remarks could be used against him by prosecutors when he goes to trial. If he wants to do it anyway, the premise would need to be that he cannot comment on the allegations, Takai said. He could only go as far as claiming his arrest was a plot and treason by Nissan executives, which may not be well received by the public, Takai said. “If I were his lawyer, I would advise him to forget about it,” Takai said. “There are no merits to doing it. It has no redeeming features.” Ghosn, who saved Nissan from the brink of bankruptcy when he took over and transformed it into a global auto conglomerate, was initially arrested last November. He was accused of deliberately underreporting his remuneration for years and then subsequently slapped with additional charges, including aggravated breach of trust for the alleged transfer of private investment losses to Nissan in 2008. He was released on bail from the Tokyo Detention House on March 6 after having spent 108 days in confinement. His conditional release was secured after three attempts and followed the first effort by a new legal team including Hironaka, who earned his nickname “Razor” for his acumen and reputation for winning nonguilty verdicts in some of the country’s most high-profile cases. Ghosn has denied any wrongdoing.
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corruption;social media;scandals;nissan;twitter;carmakers;carlos ghosn
|
jp0002482
|
[
"world",
"science-health-world"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Unfroggetable: Bolivian amphibians get first date that may just save the species
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LA PAZ - The fate of a species may just rest on this love story. Happily, the first date between Romeo, once the last-known Sehuencas water frog, and Juliet, who was discovered deep inside a Bolivian cloud forest in January, went so well the two have been living together in his aquarium since. According to a statement by Global Wildlife Conservation (GWC) on Monday, the pair were introduced on March 1 after being cleared of chytridiomycosis, which has decimated amphibian populations throughout the Neotropics region. After a period of observation, they were moved into Romeo’s aquarium, where he made a mating call for the first time since 2017: a clear sign he is eager to breed. “Romeo has been really sweet to Juliet, following her around the aquarium and sacrificing his worm meals for her,” said Teresa Camacho Badani, chief of herpetology at the Museo de Historia Natural Alcide d’Orbigny in Bolivia, which is working on the project with the GWC. “After he’s been alone for so long, it’s wonderful to see him with a mate finally.” Romeo had been found in the same cloud forest a decade ago and it was feared that he was the last survivor of his species. With a lifespan of 15 years, time was running out to find Romeo a mate to ensure the survival of the species, although the frog himself never gave up hope, continuing to call out for a mate during his decade in captivity. But it is not quite happily ever after, at least not yet. Romeo hasn’t fully figured out amplexus — the mating position for frogs where the male holds the female until he can fertilize her eggs as she lays them. Some species of frog need to go into amplexus for weeks or even months, but it isn’t known how long it lasts for the Sehuencas. So far Romeo has gotten into the correct position a handful of times — the longest for about 15 minutes on the first day the two were put together. Since meeting Juliet, Romeo has also exhibited a behavior water frog experts had not encountered for this species: a performance in which he rapidly twinkles the toes of his back feet, likely intended to impress the female. Apart from Juliet, four other Sehuencas water frogs were brought in from the wild during the same expedition: two males and two additional females. They were the first Sehuencas frogs that researchers had seen in the wild in a decade. The others have just begun showing signs of being ready to breed, and remain together in a single aquarium. According to the GWC, Bolivia has the 10th highest level of amphibian diversity in the world, but 22 percent of those species now face the threat of extinction. The Sehuencas frog, which is completely aquatic, was once found in abundance at the bottom of small streams and rivers or in ponds deep inside mountain forests. A combination of climate change, habitat destruction, contamination, chytridiomycosis and the introduction of invasive trout provoked the abrupt demise of many aquatic frog species in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru.
|
nature;animals;endangered;bolivia
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jp0002483
|
[
"world",
"science-health-world"
] |
2019/04/03
|
After the moon in 2024, NASA wants astronauts to reach Mars by 2033
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WASHINGTON - NASA has made it clear it wants astronauts back on the moon in 2024, and now, it is zeroing in on the Red Planet — the U.S. space agency confirmed that it wants humans to reach Mars by 2033. Jim Bridenstine, NASA’s administrator, said Tuesday that in order to achieve that goal, other parts of the program — including a lunar landing — need to move forward more quickly. “We want to achieve a Mars landing in 2033,” Bridenstine told lawmakers at a congressional hearing on Capitol Hill. “We can move up the Mars landing by moving up the moon landing. The moon is the proving ground,” added the former Republican congressman, who was appointed by President Donald Trump. NASA is racing to enact the plans of Trump, who dispatched Vice President Mike Pence to announce that the timetable for once again putting man on the moon had been cut by four years to 2024. The new date is politically significant: it would be the final year in Trump’s eventual second term at the White House. Many experts and lawmakers are concerned that NASA cannot make the deadline, especially given the major delays in development of its new heavy-lift rocket, the Space Launch System, which is being built by aerospace giant Boeing. Any mission to Mars would take at least two years, given the distance to be traveled. Getting there alone would take six months, as opposed to the three days needed to reach the moon. A round trip to Mars can only take place when the Red Planet is positioned on the same side of the sun as Earth — that occurs about every 26 months, so the dates are 2031, 2033 and so on. In 2017, a NASA budget bill set 2033 as the target date for the first manned mission to Mars, but NASA itself has talked about the “2030s” in its roadmap. NASA wants to learn how to extract and use the tons of ice at the moon’s south pole. “Water ice represents air to breathe, it represents water to drink, it represents fuel,” Bridenstine said. “The intent of course is to not just get humans to the surface of the Moon but prove that we can live and work on another world.” Democratic lawmaker Eddie Bernice Johnson, the chair of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, asked Bridenstine to put a price tag on the new schedule. The NASA chief said he would make his updated budget request by April 15.
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nasa;space;mars;moon;donald trump;mike pence;jim bridenstine
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jp0002484
|
[
"world",
"science-health-world"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Indian satellite destruction created 400 pieces of debris, endangering International Space Station: NASA
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WASHINGTON - The head of NASA on Monday branded India’s destruction of one of its satellites a “terrible thing” that had created 400 pieces of orbital debris and led to new dangers for astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Jim Bridenstine was addressing employees of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration five days after India shot down a low-orbiting satellite in a missile test to prove it was among the world’s advanced space powers. Not all of the pieces were big enough to track, Bridenstine explained. “What we are tracking right now, objects big enough to track — we’re talking about 10 cm (six inches) or bigger — about 60 pieces have been tracked.” The Indian satellite was destroyed at a relatively low altitude of 180 miles (300 km), well below the ISS and most satellites in orbit. But 24 of the pieces “are going above the apogee of the International Space Station,” said Bridenstine. “That is a terrible, terrible thing to create an event that sends debris at an apogee that goes above the International Space Station,” he continued, adding: “That kind of activity is not compatible with the future of human spaceflight. “It’s unacceptable and NASA needs to be very clear about what its impact to us is.” The U.S. military tracks objects in space to predict the collision risk for the ISS and for satellites. They are currently tracking 23,000 objects larger than 10 cm. That includes about 10,000 pieces of space debris, of which nearly 3,000 were created by a single event: a Chinese anti-satellite test in 2007 at 530 miles from the surface. As a result of the Indian test, the risk of collision with the ISS has increased by 44 percent over 10 days, Bridenstine said. But the risk will dissipate over time as much of the debris will burn up as it enters the atmosphere.
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china;india;u.s .;iss;nasa;satellite;space debris
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jp0002485
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Democrat-led House panel subpoenas ex-White House personnel chief in security clearance probe
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WASHINGTON - A Democratic-led congressional committee voted on Tuesday to subpoena a former White House security clearance chief over whistle-blower allegations that the Trump administration inappropriately reversed career officials’ decisions to deny security clearances to some of the president’s advisers. Elijah Cummings, chairman of the House of Representatives Oversight Committee, led the push to subpoena Carl Kline, who was White House personnel security chief for the first two years of Trump’s presidency and now works for the Department of Defense. The committee voted to approve the subpoena for Kline, with 22 Democrats voting in favor and 15 Republicans against. In a letter sent to White House counsel Pat Cipollone on Monday, Cummings said Kline had not responded to the committee’s requests that he testify voluntarily. Cummings said the White House and Kline’s lawyer on Monday responded he would voluntarily testify but would not answer questions about specific security clearance cases or violations. Cummings said on Tuesday these conditions were unacceptable. Tricia Newbold, a career security official at the White House for 18 years, has said the Trump administration overruled security experts to give questionable security clearances to more than two dozen people, who congressional sources said included Republican President Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner. In a letter to the White House on Monday, Cummings said Newbold detailed the cases of three anonymous “senior White House officials” whose clearances career officials recommended should be denied, though the White House went ahead and granted clearances to two of the three unnamed individuals. Two sources familiar with the congressional investigation said that two of the senior officials whose clearances Newbold said were initially denied were Ivanka Trump and Kushner. The White House on Tuesday shot back at Democratic moves to issue a subpoena for Kline. “These requests are absolutely ridiculous,” White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said in an interview on MSNBC, adding that the White House would not cooperate with Cummings’ demands on security clearances.
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u.s .;congress;white house;donald trump;elijah cummings;tricia newbold;carl kline
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jp0002486
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Chinese woman arrested at Trump resort with malware on thumb drive
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WASHINGTON - A Chinese woman carrying multiple cellphones and thumb drives bearing malware was arrested on Saturday at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida while the president was staying there, court documents revealed Tuesday. An arrest document in the federal district court of Palm Beach, Florida, says Zhang Yujing tried to gain entry into Mar-a-Lago on Saturday, first claiming she was a member headed to the pool and then claiming to be attending a nonexistent Chinese-American event. U.S. press accounts said she had “Chinese passports” but the court document stated they were for “Republic of China,” the official name of Taiwan, as opposed to “People’s Republic of China,” the mainland. Secret Service agents at the scene inspected her and found four cellphones, a laptop computer, an external hard drive and a thumb drive that “contained malicious software,” according to the document. She had no swimsuit, the document said, despite her initial claim to be headed for a swim. Zhang was arrested and charged with making false statements to federal officers and knowingly entering a restricted building — which Mar-a-Lago is while Trump is in residence.
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china;taiwan;florida;malware;donald trump;zhang yujing
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jp0002487
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/04/03
|
U.K. police investigate devices found placed on rail line linked to Brexit
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LONDON - British police on Tuesday were investigating two attempts to disrupt the rail network that they said were linked to Britain’s exit from the European Union. The devices were found by rail workers on tracks in central England on March 21 and 27, but police said the obstructions had failed to disrupt services. “This was a serious and deliberate attempt by someone to cause significant sabotage and disruption to Britain’s rail network,” Sean O’Callaghan from British Transport Police said in a statement. “We’re are currently keeping an open mind on why someone would put their life at risk to place these items on a live railway, however, our early assessment has led us to believe it relates to Britain’s exit from the European Union,” he said. O’Callaghan said the intent was only to delay services rather than cause damage to the rail infrastructure. A BBC reporter said both devices — left near Yaxley in Cambridgeshire and Netherfield in Nottinghamshire — had notes attached to them. One note said “Leave means leave” and “The other had words to the effect of “We’ll bring Britain to a standstill. Britons voted to leave the EU in a 2016 referendum but the country and the political establishment remains deeply divided three years on. The original date for Brexit was last Friday but having failed to agree a divorce deal, the EU delayed this until April 12 to give lawmakers a chance to find a consensus. There have been warnings from a number of pro-Brexit supporters that failing to deliver on the outcome of the referendum could lead to civil unrest.
|
u.k .;rail;brexit
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jp0002488
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi's offspring being bankrolled by kingdom whose agents murdered him: report
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WASHINGTON - The children of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi have received multimillion-dollar homes and are being paid thousands of dollars per month by the kingdom’s authorities, The Washington Post reported Monday. Khashoggi — a contributor to the Post and a critic of the Saudi government — was killed and dismembered in October at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul by a team of 15 agents sent from Riyadh. His body has not been recovered. The payments to his four children — two sons and two daughters — “are part of an effort by Saudi Arabia to reach a long-term arrangement with Khashoggi family members, aimed in part at ensuring that they continue to show restraint in their public statements,” the Post said. The houses given to the Khashoggi children are located in the port city of Jeddah and are worth up to $4 million, the newspaper reported. Salah, the eldest of the children, plans to continue living in the kingdom, while the others, who live in the United States, are expected to sell the homes, the paper said. In addition to the properties, the children are receiving $10,000 or more per month and may also receive larger payments that could amount to tens of millions of dollars each, according to the report. Saudi Arabia’s powerful crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has been accused of orchestrating Khashoggi’s killing, but the kingdom has claimed that the prince was not involved. Saudi Arabia initially said it had no knowledge of Khashoggi’s fate but later blamed rogue agents for his death. Its public prosecutor has charged 11 people over his murder.
|
murder;saudi arabia;washington post;mohammed bin salman;jamal khashoggi
|
jp0002489
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Democrats mock Trump over health care walk-back as they prepare for 2020 battle
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WASHINGTON - Democrats mocked President Donald Trump on Tuesday for pushing back his promise of sweeping health care reform until after the 2020 election, and said they were happy to make it a central campaign issue. Trump in recent days had pledged to use court action to end Obamacare, the signature law of his Democratic predecessor President Barack Obama, and said his Republican Party would over the next few months push for a better health care plan at lower cost for most Americans. But Republican leaders in Congress quickly shied away from the issue and pushed him to reconsider. In a series of late-night posts on Twitter on Monday Trump did just that, saying there would be no vote on any health care legislation until after next year’s election. Democrats gleefully jumped on the delay, saying it showed Trump and his party have no idea what to do with health care beyond repealing Obamacare. “Last night the president tweeted that they will come up with their plan in 2021. Translation: they have no health care plan,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said. “They are for repeal, they have no replace.” Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, said he told Trump on Monday that the party was not about to restart work on comprehensive health care legislation, noting they were unable to pass a plan when they controlled both chambers of Congress in the first two years of the Trump presidency. “I made it clear to him we were not going to be doing that in the Senate,” McConnell told reporters. Democrats won control of the House of Representatives in November elections after campaigning heavily on health care. Trump said on Tuesday he and Republicans would draw up a new health care plan ahead of the 2020 election and implement it soon afterward. “I think we’re going to have a great health care package. … If we get back the House and on the assumption we keep the Senate and we keep the presidency — which I hope are two good assumptions — we’re going to have a phenomenal health care,” Trump told reporters. He said a Republican plan would mean most Americans pay lower premiums and deductibles for their health care than they currently pay under the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. While Trump’s delay gives Republicans more time to knit together an alternative to Obamacare, it all but guarantees a 2020 battle over the divisive issue. “Don’t let President Trump fool you, America. Republicans are not the party of health care. They are the party that wants to end your health care,” Schumer said at a rally on Tuesday. “We Democrats will not stop fighting tooth and nail to protect America’s health care, today, tomorrow, and on in through 2021.” Trump and his fellow Republicans had vowed in the 2016 presidential election to “repeal and replace” Obamacare but failed to do so during their first two years in power, despite control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Several of the leading candidates for the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential nomination, including a number of current U.S. senators, have already made health care a major part of their campaign message. Trump accuses Democrats of seeking “a socialist takeover of American health care,” and is certain to take that argument onto the 2020 campaign trail. “I see what the Democrats are doing. It’s a disaster what they’re planning and everyone knows it,” he told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday.
|
u.s .;congress;health;obamacare;democrats;donald trump;2020 u.s. presidential election
|
jp0002490
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Turkish opposition demands mandate as Istanbul recount continues
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ANKARA - Turkey’s main opposition candidate in Istanbul urged the High Election Board (YSK) on Wednesday to confirm him as the elected mayor after it ruled in favor of a partial recount of votes in eight of the city’s 39 districts. Initial results from Sunday’s mayoral elections showed the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) had narrowly won control of Turkey’s two biggest cities, Istanbul and Ankara, in a shock upset for President Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AK Party. If those results are confirmed in the coming days, the CHP will gain control of municipal budgets with an estimated total value of 32.6 billion liras ($5.79 billion) for 2019 in Istanbul, Turkey’s commercial hub, and the capital Ankara. Erdogan — who campaigned hard for the AKP ahead of the vote — would likely lose some oversight for local contracts in the two cities, possibly complicating his efforts to drag the Turkish economy out of recession. However, the AKP submitted objections to election results in all districts of Istanbul and Ankara, saying the results had been impacted by invalid votes and voting irregularities. In Istanbul, CHP candidate Ekrem Imamoglu, and his AKP rival, ex-prime minister Binali Yildirim, both said on Monday that Imamoglu was about 25,000 votes ahead, a relatively slim margin in a city of some 15 million people. The chairman of YSK, Sadi Guven, said on Wednesday it had ruled that the recount of what had been marked as invalid votes should go ahead in eight Istanbul districts, some of them AKP strongholds. Imamoglu called on the YSK to “do its job” and name him mayor, accusing the AKP of disrespecting the people of Istanbul. “We want justice. We demand our mandate from the YSK, which has given the numbers, as the elected mayor of this city… The world is watching us, the world is watching this city’s elections,” he told reporters. “Three or four people acting like children who had their toys taken away should not damage this country’s reputation through their own internal fights.” AKP Deputy Chairman Ali Ihsan Yavuz said his party was not doing anything illegal and added that the vote difference between Imamoglu and Yildirim had fallen to below 20,000 votes. “We believe the reality will emerge tonight and we will all accept the results. Both Ekrem Imamoglu and the AK Party will have to accept the outcome,” Yavuz told reporters. Pro-government newspapers on Wednesday said there had been a conspiracy against Turkey in the local elections, with the Star newspaper likening this to an attempted military coup in 2016 and nationwide protests in 2013. Yeni Safak newspaper editor Ibrahim Karagul called for a second vote after what he termed a “coup via elections,” adding without providing evidence that supporters of the U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen — blamed by Ankara for the 2016 coup attempt — were involved. Ahead of the elections, the CHP had formed an electoral alliance with the Iyi (Good) Party to rival that of the AKP and their nationalist MHP partners. In Ankara, opposition candidate Mansur Yavas received 50.9 percent of votes on Sunday, nearly 4 percentage points ahead of his AKP rival. In some 100 rallies during his election campaign, Erdogan had described the opposition alliance as terrorist supporters linked to Gulen’s network and Kurdish militants. Erdogan’s political success has rested on years of stellar economic growth in Turkey, but a recession that has brought surging inflation and unemployment and a plunging lira have taken their toll on the president’s popularity. While Erdogan’s ruling alliance won a nationwide majority of just under 52 percent of all votes, losing Ankara and Istanbul- the city where he started his political life- would significantly dent his dominance. “It is by controlling the municipality that you keep your support happy because it is at the municipal level that you give away lots of things to your core base,” said Wolfango Piccoli, co-president of Teneo political risk advisers. Uncertainty generated by the local elections has added to volatility in the Turkish lira, which sold off sharply nearly two weeks ago, reflecting waning confidence among both Turks and international investors. The lira was flat on Wednesday but slipped 2 percent on Tuesday after relations with Washington soured following a U.S. decision to halt delivery to Turkey of equipment related to the F-35 fighter aircraft. Adding to investor concerns over fraying diplomatic ties and possible U.S. sanctions over the F-35 aircraft and missile defence, the U.S. State Department urged Ankara to respect the “legitimate election results.” Ankara responded by warning against foreign interference. “We urge all parties, including foreign governments, to respect the legal process and refrain from taking any steps that may be construed as meddling in Turkey’s internal affairs,” Fahrettin Altun, Turkey’s presidential communications director, said on Twitter.
|
elections;turkey;tayyip erdogan
|
jp0002491
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Justin Trudeau ousts two ex-ministers from Canada's ruling party over 'broken trust' in alleging corruption
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OTTAWA - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ousted from his Liberal Party on Tuesday two former ministers whose accusations of political meddling in a prosecution jeopardized his re-election bid. The announcement came at the end of an emergency caucus meeting to consider expelling former Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould after her release of a secret recording last week that reignited the simmering scandal. Former Budget Minister Jane Philpott, who had quit in protest over Trudeau’s handling of the controversy, was also removed. “Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott will no longer be members of the Liberal caucus,” Trudeau said. “The trust that previously existed between these two individuals and our team has been broken,” he said. “Whether it’s taping conversations without consent or repeatedly expressing a lack of confidence in our government and in me personally as leader, it’s become clear that (both) can no longer remain part of our Liberal team.” Since February, Trudeau’s government has been rocked by accusations that his inner circle sought to shield engineering giant SNC-Lavalin from a corruption trial. The Montreal-based firm was charged in 2015 for allegedly paying bribes to secure contracts in Libya. Wilson-Raybould refused to ask prosecutors to settle the case, and the trial is set to proceed. After resigning, she testified to lawmakers that she’d experienced “consistent and sustained” political pressure to interfere in the case, including “veiled threats.” Trudeau has steadfastly denied the claims, which also led to the resignations of two other senior officials, and plunged his Liberals behind the opposition Tories in opinion polls just months before elections. On Friday, the House of Commons justice committee looking into the allegations released messages and a secret recording by Wilson-Raybould of a call with Canada’s top bureaucrat, Chief of the Privy Council Michael Wernick, to back her claims. “If a politician secretly records a conversation with anyone,” Trudeau said, “it’s wrong.” He labeled as “unconscionable” the one-time attorney general’s secret recording of the clerk of the Privy Council. The prime minister said the scandal has sidelined his government’s progressive agenda and created divisions within the party. “Our political opponents win when the Liberals are divided,” he said. “We can’t afford to make that mistake, Canadians are counting on us.” Earlier in the day, Wilson-Raybould had expressed her desire to remain in the party and run as a Liberal in the October election.
|
corruption;canada;scandals;justin trudeau
|
jp0002492
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/03
|
White House security clearance row shines harsh light on Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner
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WASHINGTON - Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, faced little scrutiny on his way to becoming one of America’s most powerful people. But now a row over White House security clearances is pushing the president’s publicity-shy favorite into unwelcome limelight. Unlike his can’t-get-enough-exposure father-in-law, Kushner is a discreet presence. He’s virtually a ghost on social media, where he has 77,000 Twitter followers but doesn’t tweet. And in the White House, he may be a fixture at high-level meetings, but he’ll rarely speak if the press corps is present, waiting until journalists leave the room. So it was a measure of the White House’s need for damage control that Kushner went on the Trump go-to channel, Fox News, late Monday to dismiss concerns over his security access. “I’ve been accused of all different types of things, and all of those things have turned out to be false. We’ve had a lot of crazy accusations,” Kushner said on Fox’s “The Ingraham Angle.” Controversy over Kushner’s access to top secrets has been brewing since the start of the Trump presidency. After all, he was a relatively unknown quantity in Washington — a man with no political or diplomatic experience, or previous vetting, but a ton of potentially tangled business dealings at home and abroad. This week the issue blew up when a veteran White House bureaucrat told Congress that her department had been overruled by higher-ups to grant passes to 25 people initially rejected due to worries over conflicts of interest, foreign influence and personal problems. Among the names that the Democrat-led congressional committee investigating the issue suggests may be on that list: Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump. Kushner was just another privileged New York business scion until his father-in-law and fellow real estate dealer unexpectedly won the presidency in 2016. The change of address to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in 2017 catapulted him into the smallest of presidential inner circles. Kushner’s title in the Trump administration is a vague “senior adviser.” In reality, the youthful-looking 38-year-old, who married Ivanka Trump in 2009, has the president’s ear on everything from U.S. drug addiction to selling Saudi Arabia weapons. An Orthodox Jew who is part of what Trump proudly calls the “most pro-Israeli” U.S. government in history, Kushner is also tasked with presenting a new Israeli-Palestinian peace plan. Generations of seasoned U.S. diplomats have already failed there and expectations are low that Kushner’s as yet hidden plan will do better. With Ivanka Trump also tagged as an adviser to her father, critics say the White House has sunken into the kind of nepotism few would have thought possible anymore. “Not since JFK — more than 50 years ago — have family members of the president served in policy positions,” Mark Carl Rom, associate politics professor at Georgetown University, said. “The Trump presidency is a throwback: he is making America 18th century again.” Naturally, Trump does not see things that way. He seems not only to rely heavily on Kushner but genuinely to like and appreciate him. At a big event Monday celebrating prison reform — an issue Kushner says he was inspired to work on due to seeing his own father serve 14 months behind bars for financial crimes — Trump singled out his son-in-law for lavish praise. “You know,” Trump told the audience in the ornate East Room,” Jared has had a very easy life. He was doing phenomenally in New York and everything he touched has turned to gold. “Then, one day, he said,’I want to come down and I want to have peace in the Middle East. And I want to do criminal justice reform. And I want to do all these wonderful things.’ ” Finally, the punchline: “And his life became extremely complex.” In a presidency defined by all-out fights with the opposition Democrats, accusations of administrative chaos, and the morass of the Russia collusion investigation, Trump is believed to value Kushner and his daughter as among the few people he knows he can always rely on. That’s understandable but will depending on family bring Trump more trouble down the road? “The question is: Is their primary loyalty to the Constitution of the United States of America, or to their father?” Rom asked.
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u.s .;donald trump;jared kushner
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jp0002493
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/03
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Ailing Algerian President Bouteflika, once a hero, resigns under pressure
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LONDON/CAIRO - Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who led Algeria out of civil war to become its longest-serving president, has resigned after throngs of protesters and even his military allies told the ailing president he had overstayed his welcome. Though Bouteflika has rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013, his political demise will deepen political uncertainty in the North African OPEC member. Last elected in 2014, Bouteflika has been largely incapacitated, communicating through statements and governing with the help of his brother Said and a coterie of army officers, businessmen and officials of the ruling FLN party, known collectively as “le pouvoir.” His bid for another term in elections initially slated for April prompted anger and disbelief among Algerians, nearly half of whom are under 25 and no longer want to be ruled by aging veterans of the country’s war of independence from France. During his time in office, Bouteflika worked to co-opt and weaken the country’s opposition parties, leaving no obvious rival to lead Europe’s third-largest gas supplier. Divisions within the ruling elite mean even the establishment was unable to offer up a clear successor. With his departure, a long-standing North African bulwark against terrorism and illegal migration to Europe enters uncharted territory. When he first came to power in 1999, Bouteflika cut a more popular figure. At the time, Algeria was still ravaged by a civil war that began in 1992 after the army, unwilling to accept an expected Islamist victory in parliamentary elections, scrapped the poll. By the end of the decade, the rebels were divided and Bouteflika and the military exploited those splits to defeat them, effectively ending the conflict. As many as 200,000 people died in brutal fighting, thousands went missing, and Algerians who lived through the violence still credit Bouteflika for his role in restoring peace. With the war over, Bouteflika presided over a period of relative domestic stability that saw the economy grow at an average of 5 percent a year during his first three terms in office. Barely touched by the Arab Spring uprisings that spread through the region in 2011, Algeria’s lawmakers approved at the time constitutional changes granting more political rights to key constituencies, including the indigenous Amazigh community, women and businessmen. Critically, a long run of relatively high oil prices provided Bouteflika with the financial resources to buy off public discontent with generous state benefits. During the 2014 electoral race, he quelled smaller protests with a mixture of water canons and enhancements to subsidies and public sector salaries. The slump in oil prices during his fourth term in office, coupled with a failure to modernize and diversify the economy, made those handouts increasingly unaffordable. The country struggled to curb twin fiscal and current account deficits in recent years and its foreign currency reserves shrank to $88 billion in 2018 from almost $177 billion in 2014. His detractors accused Bouteflika of failing the country’s youth and allowing corruption to flourish. Algeria resisted tapping the global debt market despite the oil slump, its leaders, most of them heroes of the anti-colonial movement, wary of “mortgaging” the country’s future to outside powers. Bouteflika was born on March 2, 1937, in Oujda, then French Morocco, though his parents, Ahmed Bouteflika and Mansouria Ghezlaoui, were from the Tlemcen region of Algeria. In 1956, Bouteflika interrupted his philosophy studies to join the military wing of the National Liberation Front, known by the French acronym FLN. He went on to serve in the National Liberation Army, where he was a protege of Houari Boumedienne, a commander in the war against French colonial rule. After Algeria won independence in 1962, Bouteflika became minister for youth and sport in the government of President Ahmed Ben Bella, whom he helped overthrow three years later in a coup led by Boumedienne, the defense minister at the time. Bouteflika then served as foreign minister until Boumediene’s death in 1978. He left the country for about six years following allegations of misappropriating public funds, returning in 1989 to a period of political turbulence. In 1992, the army canceled elections that the Islamic Salvation Front was set to win, triggering the civil war. Bouteflika stayed on the sidelines during the early years of fighting and then, with the support of the army, ran for president. He was the sole candidate in the 1999 ballot, with other contenders withdrawing before polling day, and was elected with 74 percent of the vote. International monitors made allegations of electoral fraud following his repeated landslide victories at the ballot box. While his rise brought initial hopes of economic development and political openness, Bouteflika quickly disappointed, restricting the activities of political parties and banning new ones. Even as the economy improved, Algeria failed to reach its target oil output of 2 million barrels a day, because bureaucracy, taxes and corruption probes within the state-owned petroleum company, Sonatrach, dampened foreign interest in exploration. In his last term, wheelchair-bound, incapable of speaking to the public or of governing effectively, Bouteflika clung on as long as he could, leaving Algeria in a holding pattern, its frustrated youths protesting in the streets. Until his one-time allies in the army stepped in to end the impasse.
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algeria;history;abdelaziz bouteflika
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jp0002494
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Chicago elects gay black woman, Lori Lightfoot, as mayor in historic first
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CHICAGO - In a historic first, a gay black woman was elected mayor of America’s third-largest city Tuesday as Chicago voters entrusted a political novice with tackling difficult problems of economic inequality and gun violence. Lori Lightfoot, a 56-year-old former federal prosecutor and practicing lawyer who has never before held elected office, won the mayoral race in a lopsided victory. She beat out Toni Preckwinkle, the chief executive of Cook County, in which Chicago is located, by a wide margin of 74 to 26 percent in early voting results with most ballots counted. Preckwinkle is also black. Lightfoot will become Chicago’s first openly gay mayor and the first black woman to hold the post. Since 1837, Chicago voters have elected only one black mayor and one female mayor. Her ascendancy to the top of Chicago government was a stunning development in a city where insider deals and entrenched party politics held sway for decades. “It is a city-wide rejection of the Chicago political establishment at the mayoral level,” said Evan McKenzie, political science professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago. Preckwinkle has for decades held various local elected offices, which analysts said hurt her in an election in which voters were looking to shake up City Hall — fed up with gun violence that claims more lives than in other major American cities, and years of political corruption in the Democratic stronghold. “People (are) hoping for something different to come along. To be the vessel for that is overwhelming,” Lightfoot told reporters earlier Tuesday. The initial field in the mayoral race consisted of 14 contenders, but Lightfoot managed an upset — sidelining moderates and establishment figures by promising to clean up city government and reduce economic inequality. She and Preckwinkle were the final two left competing in Tuesday’s runoff election. Lightfoot headed a panel investigating the city’s policing problems and held a number of appointed positions in city government. She has promised to increase affordable housing, fight homelessness and crime, and boost oversight of the police department. Voters left little doubt they wanted the next mayor to tackle the major issues vexing the city of 2.7 million people — including economic disparities and gun violence. “The message is that (voters) want new ideas and cleaner government,” McKenzie said. Community groups have for years complained about disparities in living conditions among the sprawling city’s diverse communities. Gun violence, fueled by gangs and the drug trade, plagues economically depressed neighborhoods in the south and west, which are majority black. The downtown business district, and areas to the north and along the city’s famed lake shore, have enjoyed an economic boom even as more than 550 people were murdered last year alone. Reforming the police department, which has a sordid history of abusive tactics, and City Hall, which is mired in a federal corruption probe of one of its members, are also top priorities, McKenzie said. Lightfoot will replace outgoing Mayor Rahm Emanuel — once a rising star in the Democratic Party and former President Barack Obama’s first White House chief of staff. The powerful Emanuel sustained political damage for his handling of murder of black teenager Laquan McDonald and declined to run for a third term. Lightfoot emphasized during her campaign that she was among the few early candidates to declare her candidacy before Emanuel decided not to run again. McDonald was a 17-year-old boy shot dead by police in a 2014 encounter caught on police dash cam video. The video — showing officer Jason Van Dyke firing 16 bullets into the knife-wielding teen even after he fell to the ground — was not released for more than a year. Emanuel faced accusations of an attempted cover-up. He fired the police chief and brought in a reformer who has instituted changes, worked to rebuild public trust, and reduced gun violence. But as Van Dyke was about to go on trial for murder in September, Emanuel announced he would not run for re-election. Van Dyke was convicted and sentenced to nearly seven years in prison.
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elections;lgbt;sexuality;ethnicity;chicago;lori lightfoot
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jp0002495
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Floods hit over 40,000 displaced people living in northwest Syria camps: U.N.
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BEIRUT - More than 40,000 displaced people in northwestern Syria have seen their camps flooded by heavy rains in the past three days, a United Nations spokesman said Tuesday. Around 14 camps were affected in the northwestern province of Idlib, David Swanson of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs told AFP. The Idlib region, controlled by Syria’s former al-Qaida affiliate, is home to more than 3 million people — more than half of them displaced by the country’s eight-year war. Civil defense workers known as the White Helmets have been working to save people and their scant belongings from the rising muddy waters. “For the second day in a row, White Helmets … continue to respond to the catastrophic situation in the northern Syria camps,” they said on Twitter late Monday. One video posted by the group on Sunday showed brown water cascading out of a flooded tent. In another published the same day, civil defense workers clung on to a rope as they waded through a brown torrent above knee level. The downpour has affected tens of thousands of civilians, displaced persons, crops and livestock in Idlib, as well as in the Aleppo and Hasakeh provinces since Saturday, Swanson said. In Aleppo province, tents were destroyed in several camps for the displaced and a hospital in the countryside had to shut down due to the flooding. Syria’s war has killed more than 370,000 people and displaced millions since starting in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests. Tens of thousands of displaced Syrians in the north of the country depend on handouts from humanitarian aid groups, including food, blankets and heating fuel for the winter months.
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syria;u.n .;refugees;floods;idlib;white helmets
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jp0002496
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/03
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Islamic State-backed Boko Haram faction publishes 'execution' video
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KANO, NIGERIA - Boko Haram’s Islamic State-backed faction has claimed to have executed five Nigerian soldiers but security sources told AFP on Tuesday three of those killed were civilian militia members. The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) video, dated April 1 and said to have been filmed in Borno state, northeast Nigeria, was published online by the IS propaganda arm Aamaq. It showed two men in military fatigues and three in red-orange jumpsuits reminiscent of those worn by IS hostages in Syria and Iraq. All five are shot in the head at point-blank range. Nigerian Army spokesman Sagir Musa said only that he had seen the video. But three senior security sources said at least three of the five were not soldiers. “We have identified three of them as CJTF (Civilian Joint Taskforce) who were held by ISWAP in Baga in December,” said one of the sources on condition of anonymity. The CJTF assists the military with security. ISWAP attacked military bases in and around Baga, on the shores of Lake Chad, in northern Borno, in December last year. The sources said the militia members were trying to flee with civilians when they were detained. All three had been presumed dead. “The first three from the right are known to us by name. … We are still working to establish the identity of the other two,” said one source. “What is surprising is that one of them in military uniform was arrested in his civilian clothing and now he was given some military uniform to make him look like a soldier.” The video comes as Nigerian and regional forces have intensified their activities against ISWAP in northern Borno, particularly around the towns of Monguno and Marte. The Nigerian Army and the Multinational Joint Taskforce (MNJFT) comprising troops from Nigeria, Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Niger both claim to have inflicted heavy losses. The video will fuel speculation about the direction of ISWAP, which has claimed or been blamed for a spate of attacks against military bases since July last year. There is also wider concern about an increase in jihadi activity in the wider Sahel region, particularly in Burkina Faso, after IS’s Middle East “caliphate” was declared defeated. ISWAP under Abu Mus’ab Al-Barnawi broke away from the group led by Abubakar Shekau in mid-2016 in opposition to his indiscriminate targeting of civilians. Well-informed sources told AFP last month Al-Barnawi had been ousted, some six months after his deputy, Mamman Nur, was killed by more hard-line fighters. They had been angry at Nur’s more moderate approach and back-channel talks with the government, which is seeking an end to the conflict after nearly 10 years and 27,000 deaths. He was also accused of pocketing a putative ransom payment for the release of more than 100 schoolgirls abducted from a school in Yobe state in February last year. ISWAP previously published a video online showing the execution of an aid worker kidnapped in a raid in the Borno town of Rann last year.
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conflict;terrorism;death penalty;boko haram;islamic state;aamaq
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jp0002497
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[
"world"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Ecuador leader says WikiLeaks' Julian Assange breached terms of London embassy asylum
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QUITO - President Lenin Moreno of Ecuador told radio stations Tuesday that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has “repeatedly violated” the terms of his asylum in the nation’s London embassy, where he has lived for nearly seven years. Moreno, interviewed by the Ecuadorian Radio Broadcasters’ Association, said Assange does not have the right to “hack private accounts or phones” and cannot intervene in the politics of other countries, especially those that have friendly relations with Ecuador. Attorneys for Assange did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Moreno made the comments on Assange after private photographs of him and his family when they were living in Europe several years ago circulated on social media. Although Moreno stopped short of explicitly blaming Assange for the leak, the government said it believed the photos were shared by WikiLeaks. “Mr. Assange has violated the agreement we reached with him and his legal counsel too many times,” Moreno said in the interview in the city of Guayaquil. “It is not that he cannot speak and express himself freely, but he cannot lie, nor much less hack private accounts or phones.” Moreno did not say whether or not the government will take steps to remove Assange from the embassy. Assange took refuge in Ecuador’s London embassy in 2012 to avoid being extradited to Sweden, where authorities wanted to question him as part of a sexual assault investigation. That probe was later dropped, but Assange fears he could be extradited to face charges in the United States, where federal prosecutors are investigating WikiLeaks. Ecuador last year established new rules for Assange’s behavior while in the embassy, which required him to pay his medical bills and clean up after his pet cat. He challenged the rules in local and international tribunals, arguing they violated his human rights. Both courts ruled against him. Last month, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which is linked to the Organization of American States, rejected Assange’s request that Ecuador ease the conditions it has imposed on his residence in the London embassy. Assange says Ecuador is seeking to end his asylum and is putting pressure on him by isolating him from visitors and spying on him. Ecuador has said its treatment of Assange has been in line with international law, but that his situation “cannot be extended indefinitely.”
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ecuador;julian assange;wikileaks
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jp0002498
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Prospect of nuclear weapons use 'higher than it has been in generations,' U.N. disarmament chief says
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NEW YORK - The head of disarmament at the United Nations warned the international community on Tuesday that the threat of nuclear weapons use has increased because the headway made in the post-Cold War era toward denuclearization has “come to a halt.” “The disarmament and arms control framework upon which the gains of the post-Cold War era were made is eroding, but we have nothing else yet with which to replace it,” Izumi Nakamitsu, the U.N. undersecretary general and high representative for disarmament affairs, told Security Council members. The warning was issued at a meeting to discuss the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty ahead of the next NPT review conference to be held in 2020, when the landmark pact marks the 50th year since its entry into force. The NPT is reviewed every five years. “As a result, the prospect of the use of nuclear weapons is higher than it has been in generations,” Nakamitsu said. In February, the United States said it is withdrawing from the 1987 bilateral Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia in response to alleged violations by Moscow, a move that could fuel concerns about a new arms race possibly involving other parties such as China. The situation has been further exacerbated by the trend of nations increasingly modernizing their nuclear arsenals, as well as relying more on rapidly emerging technology that makes acquiring the dangerous weapons easier, the undersecretary general said. The unstable situation is further compounded by the emergence of regional hot spots that “heighten proliferation drivers,” she added. “Together, these developments are placing the NPT under increasing stress and are exacerbating the fault lines that have been clearly evident between state parties for some time now,” she added, noting how the next review conference will be a “defining moment.” Widely recognized as the cornerstone of the international nonproliferation regime, the NPT relies on the pledge by five nuclear powers to work toward disarmament of their nuclear arsenals in exchange for the promise by nonnuclear nations not seek to acquire them, while making nuclear energy for peaceful purposes accessible to any country that wants it. However, nonnuclear countries that have held to their promise have been increasingly frustrated by what they view as lack of progress toward disarmament by the five nations — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — that possess nuclear weapons and are also permanent members of the Security Council. Additionally, countries such as North Korea, Pakistan, India and Israel, which remain outside the treaty, have pursued nuclear activities in ways that have greatly elevated global concerns. In the run-up to the NPT review conference to be held for a month from April 2020, a preparatory meeting through May 10 will get underway later this month at the U.N. headquarters.
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china;conflict;u.s .;north korea;russia;u.n .;nuclear weapons
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jp0002499
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[
"world"
] |
2019/04/03
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FAA was lax in Boeing 737 Max inspector training, whistle-blowers allege
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WASHINGTON/CHICAGO - Whistle-blowers have told the Senate Commerce Committee that safety inspectors at the Federal Aviation Administration, including those involved with approvals for the Boeing Co. 737 Max, lacked proper training and certifications, according to the panel’s chairman. “Multiple whistleblowers” provided the committee with information alleging that “numerous FAA employees, including those involved in the Aircraft Evaluation Group for the Boeing 737 MAX, had not received proper training and valid certifications,” Sen. Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, said in a letter to the FAA Acting Administrator Daniel Elwell Tuesday. Those claims and two 737 Max crashes since October that have killed 346 people prompted Wicker to launch an investigation into potential connections between training and certification shortcomings and the FAA’s evaluation of the airliner, he said in his letter, which was released by the committee Tuesday. “As the FAA Acting Administrator Dan Elwell stated in last week’s Senate Commerce Committee hearing, ‘In our quest for continuous safety improvement, the FAA welcomes external review of our systems, processes, and recommendations,’ ” FAA spokesman Gregory Martin said in an email. The Senate panel’s probe is the latest in a string of investigations by U.S. officials and lawmakers into how the FAA cleared the 737 Max as safe to fly. The Transportation Department’s inspector general is reviewing the FAA’s process for approving the airworthiness of new jets and aiding a Justice Department criminal probe. A grand jury convened by U.S. prosecutors subpoenaed on March 29 a former Boeing engineer demanding he provide testimony and documents related to the 737 Max. The subpoena, obtained by Bloomberg, was addressed to Peter Lemme, of Kirkland, Washington, and told him to provide documents, emails and other records related to the Boeing 737 Max. The document ordered him to appear April 12 at a grand jury in Washington, D.C. It was signed by Cory Jacobs of the Justice Department’s criminal division. Lemme said in an interview that he worked on automated flight controls on Boeing’s 767 model. He blogs under the name Satcom Guru and has written posts analyzing how the anti-stall system on the 737 Max aircraft behaved in the Lion Air accident. He didn’t work on the 737 Max and has no direct information about how it was designed by Boeing and approved by the FAA, he said. He said he would provide whatever he knows to prosecutors. “I don’t know if the information I have is of any significance,” he said. “I really don’t.” The 737 Max, Boeing’s best-selling single-aisle jet, was grounded March 13 after the second fatal crash in less than five months. An anti-stall system that pushes down the plane’s nose automatically had activated in both cases. The whistle-blowers alleged that some of those FAA personnel may have participated in an agency panel responsible for determining pilot training requirements and other matters related to the 737 Max, Wicker wrote. The committee is concerned that the potential staff shortcomings “may have led to an improper evaluation of the” 737 Max’s anti-stall system linked to the deadly crashes of the jet, Wicker wrote. “According to information obtained from whistleblowers and a review of documents obtained by the committee, the FAA may have been notified about these deficiencies as early as August 2018. Furthermore, the committee is led to believe that an FAA investigation into these allegations may have been completed recently,” Wicker wrote. Wicker also asked Elwell to respond to several questions for the committee by April 16.
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u.s .;faa;ethiopian airlines;737 max;lion air;air accidents
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jp0002500
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Wary of nuclear arms quest, U.S. senators seek details of secret reactor cooperation with Saudis
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WASHINGTON - U.S. senators from both parties on Tuesday asked Energy Secretary Rick Perry for details about recent approvals for companies to share nuclear energy information with Saudi Arabia, with the lawmakers expressing concern about possible development of atomic weapons. Saudi Arabia has engaged in “many deeply troubling actions and statements that have provoked alarm in Congress,” Sens. Bob Menendez, a Democrat, and Marco Rubio, a Republican, told Perry in a letter, a copy of which was seen by Reuters. The senators said Congress was beginning to reevaluate the U.S.-Saudi relationship, and they believe Washington should not be providing nuclear technology or information to Saudi Arabia now. The Trump administration has been quietly negotiating a deal that would potentially help Saudi Arabia build two reactors. Last week news reports revealed that since November 2017, Perry has authorized so-called Part 810 approvals allowing U.S. companies to share sensitive nuclear information with the kingdom. The approvals were kept from the public and from Congress. The senators asked Perry to provide them by April 10 with the names of the companies that got the 810 approvals, what was in the authorizations, and why the companies asked that the approvals be kept secret. While 810 agreements are routine, the Obama administration made them available for the public to read at Energy Department headquarters. Lawmakers say the department is legally required to inform Congress about the approvals. Perry approved the seven recent authorizations as the administration has tried to hash out nonproliferation standards with Saudi Arabia. Such a pact, known as a 123 agreement, would have to be agreed before U.S. companies can share physical exports of materials and equipment to build reactors. The kingdom has resisted standards on reprocessing spent fuel and enriching uranium, two potential paths to making nuclear weapons. The United States has been competing with South Korea, France, Russia and China on a potential deal to help build reactors in Saudi Arabia. The kingdom is expected to announce the winner this year. Lawmakers from both parties have been concerned about Saudi Arabia’s bombing campaigns in Yemen, which is on the brink of famine, and the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a U.S. resident, last October in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Concern in Congress grew last year after the kingdom’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told CBS that “Saudi Arabia does not want to acquire any nuclear bomb, but without a doubt if Iran developed a nuclear bomb, we will follow suit as soon as possible.” Perry has said the 810 approvals were kept from the public for corporate proprietary reasons. He has also said that if Saudi Arabia relies on China or Russia for building nuclear reactors those two countries don’t give a “tinker’s damn” about non-proliferation. Many non-proliferation experts dispute the notion that a deal with China or Russia would be riskier. These people say the United States has many other levers it can pull to influence nuclear behavior.
|
u.s .;congress;saudi arabia;nuclear weapons;rick perry;donald trump;mohammed bin salman;part 810
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jp0002501
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"science-health-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Australia plans to mine moon water within five years
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SYDNEY - Australia is joining the growing number of nations looking to compete in space, from launching microsatellites that track sheep to mining water on the moon. Its advantage? Half the country already looks like Mars. With advances in technology and the falling cost of launch slots, the fledgling Australian Space Agency, set up last year, is taking a commercial approach to extraterrestrial ventures. It aims to leverage the country’s industrial skills in mining remote locations, developing automation and tapping a fast-growing startup culture to triple the size of the sector to 12 billion Australian dollars ($8.5 billion) by 2030. “We’re witnessing a massive transformation of the sector, due to things like the miniaturization of technology, the lowering cost of launch and faster innovation cycles,” ASA Deputy Head Anthony Murfett said in an interview. ASA aims to be “one of the most industry-focused space agencies in the world.” It will need to be. The government budget for ASA is just AU$41 million for four years, compared to NASA’s annual $20 billion and the European Space Agency’s €5.7 billion ($6.4 billion). Without deep pockets, Australia’s ambitious space projects will need to be commercial enough to interest businesses. Andrew Dempster, director of the Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research at the University of New South Wales, is focused on reducing the investment risk for big resources companies like Rio Tinto Group in a proposal to mine water on the moon. “What’s preventing them from participating at the moment is that the risks that are there are not risks they have dealt with before,” said Dempster. So as well as tackling the engineering challenge, his team needs to make a compelling business case. Rio said in a January report that it was engaging with the industry to see how its mining technology could be used in space, in particular its use of autonomous drilling. ASA head Megan Clark is a nonexecutive director at Rio. Moon water could be a potential source of rocket fuel to enable manned missions to Mars in the long term. “Getting things from the surface of the Earth into orbit or into deep space costs a lot of money,” said Dempster. “If you can produce water in space for less than it costs to get there, then you’re ahead.” Lunar exploration is becoming increasingly crowded. China in January landed the first vehicle on the far side of the moon, Israel’s privately funded Beresheet probe is on its way there and an Indian lander and rover are due to launch this month. The European Space Agency plans to start mining water on the moon by the middle of the next decade. Dempster’s goal is to send a mission there within five years, citing the proliferation of private companies like SpaceX that are making space more easily accessible. Some Australian resources companies are already adapting terrestrial technology for space. Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Australia’s biggest listed oil and gas producer, partnered with NASA to use robot technology to improve safety at its offshore platforms. Woodside will also collaborate with ASA to apply its expertise in remote operations to the space sector. While ASA is less than 9 months old, Australia’s cosmic ambitions go back to the earliest days of the space race. It was one of the first countries to launch a satellite from its own territory, sending a probe into orbit from the Woomera military site as early as 1967. And when Neil Armstrong made the first moonwalk two years later, it was Australia’s Parkes Radio Telescope that picked up the TV signals for most of the transmission that was broadcast to the world. The vast, scarcely populated Outback has long been a mecca for astronomers thanks to its low light pollution and Southern Hemisphere vantage point. The Sliding Spring Observatory, 350 kilometers (217 miles) north of Sydney, houses some of the most powerful telescopes in the world. Today, most commercial opportunities for the country in space remain in the area of communications and remote sensing satellites. Central Queensland University is leading a project that uses satellite positioning to track the movements of individual sheep or cattle to enable fenceless farming. Adelaide-based Myriota is trialing sensors for marine drifters in the ocean that would connect to a satellite network and provide precise data on currents, sea surface temperatures and barometric pressures — a trove of information for agencies and governments seeking to manage fragile marine ecosystems and predict major weather events such as El Nino. Sky and Space Global Ltd., which listed on the Australian stock exchange in 2016, plans to launch a constellation of around 200 nanosatellites, each weighing less than 10 kilograms, that would provide another global communication network for voice, data and instant messaging. Dempster says that the ability for startup companies to find commercial solutions like those are key to the growth of Australia’s space program. “We’re not being weighed down by big lumbering agencies and huge multinationals,” he said. “There’s a lot of agile people with lots of interesting ideas working in this area. Success can occur quite quickly.”
|
space;australia;planets;mars;moon
|
jp0002502
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/03
|
King Xi? Trump says he gave Chinese president monarch moniker based on job-for-life gambit
|
King Xi. That’s what U.S. President Donald Trump says he called Chinese leader Xi Jinping during the American president’s 2017 state visit to Beijing. Trump, speaking Tuesday at the National Republican Congressional Committee spring dinner in Washington, said the Chinese president had denied he was a king, but the U.S. leader was insistent. “He said, ‘But I am not king, I am president.’ I said ‘No, you’re president for life, and therefore you’re king,'” Trump told the audience, prompting laughter. “He said, huh. He liked that. I get along with him great.” Trump’s November 2017 visit to China came just months before the country’s rubber-stamp legislature, the National People’s Congress, removed the two-term limit on the Chinese presidency in March the following year, effectively cementing Xi’s already iron grip on power and clearing the way for him to serve as president for life. Prior to eliminating term limits, Xi embarked on a still-running crackdown on corruption that at the same time removed virtually all of his potential rivals and other threats to his authority within the ruling Communist Party. Trump is known to tout his close relationships with powerful leaders and dictators, including Xi, who he has talked about in the sort of warm terms U.S. presidents normally reserve for long-standing allies. However, his proclamations of strong ties with Xi have in recent months been overshadowed by trade and military tensions between Washington and Beijing. Early last year, Trump began imposing tariffs on billions of dollars’ worth of Chinese exports to narrow the trade deficit, sparking a trade war. The U.S. leader’s administration has also sparred with Xi’s regime over the disputed South China Sea, where China has built up a series of militarized islands.
|
china;u.s .;xi jinping;donald trump
|
jp0002503
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Facebook and Twitter find themselves ensnared by Indian-Pakistani rivalry
|
ISLAMABAD/NEW, DELHI - Pakistani social media campaigner Hanzala Tayyab leads about 300 ultranationalist cyberwarriors fighting an internet war with archfoe India in a battle that is increasingly sucking in global tech giants. Tayyab, 24, spends his days on Facebook and encrypted WhatsApp chat rooms organizing members of his Pakistan Cyber Force group to promote anti-India content and make it go viral, including on Twitter, where he has more than 50,000 followers. That ranges from highlighting alleged Indian rights abuses to lionizing insurgents battling Indian security forces in Kashmir, a disputed region at the heart of historic tensions between Pakistan and India. Tayyab’s job became harder Monday when the Pakistan Cyber Force’s Facebook account was taken down, one of 103 Pakistani accounts Facebook said it had deleted because of “inauthentic behavior” and spamming. Some Indian nationalist accounts have also been suspended in recent weeks. Portraying himself as an online combatant defending Pakistan from India’s attempts to destabilize his country, Tayyab plans to continue playing his role in the information war between the nuclear-armed foes. “We are countering the Indian narrative through social media, we are countering the enemies of Pakistan,” Tayyab said in an interview in Islamabad. With a combined population of 1.5 billion, India and Pakistan are hot growth markets for Facebook and Twitter, say analysts. But with many rival ultranationalist and extremist groups using Facebook and Twitter platforms to advance their political agendas, both companies face accusations of bias whenever they suspend accounts. Facebook has been buffeted by controversies across the globe in recent years, including for not stopping the use of fake accounts to try to sway public opinion in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, and for not acting to stamp out hate speech on its platform that was fueling ethnic violence in Myanmar. Four Facebook and more than 20 Twitter accounts belonging to members of the Pakistan Cyber Force have been shuttered in the past two months, according to Tayyab, who is still angry at Twitter for shutting down his previous personal account in 2016. A Twitter spokeswoman said, “We believe in impartiality and do not take any actions based on political viewpoints.” A Facebook spokesperson said the company did not remove the Pakistani accounts because of Indian government pressure, but because people behind them coordinated with one another and used fake accounts to misrepresent themselves. Pakistan and India flirted with war in February, when they carried out aerial bombing missions against each other’s territory for the first time since the 1971 war and fought a brief dogfight over the Kashmir skies. That flare-up was accompanied by a fierce propaganda war on social media. This online battle of political and ideological narratives is one that Pakistan’s military believes it must win at all costs, analysts say. Military spokesmen often warn unconventional “fifth-generation warfare” is being waged against Pakistan. Facebook said Monday the 103 accounts removed were part of a network linked to employees of the Pakistani military’s public relations arm. Tayyab denies the Pakistan Cyber Force is linked to Pakistan’s military, saying the group is made up of volunteers. But analysts say such cyberarmies work directly either for Pakistan’s military or civilian state organizations, acting as de facto proxies or militias in the online battlefields. “These groups who are being resourced and organized are actually a kind of a line of defense for this fifth-generation warfare,” said Shahzad Ahmed, from Pakistani digital rights group Bytes for All. In India, similar nationalist groups are popping up and pushing to purge and punish those whom they perceive to be critical of India — or supportive of Pakistan — on social media. One such group, Clean the Nation, says its actions have resulted in more than 50 people who had posted what it called anti-India comments and remarks critical of India’s armed forces being arrested or suspended from work or education. “This is our motherland, and if someone is abusing people who are protecting our motherland, actually fighting on the ground, I don’t believe they should be allowed to work here or allowed to live here,” Rahul Kaushik, one of cofounders the group, said. “This is a clear case of treason, in our view.” Kaushik said Clean the Nation has no formal links with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, though one BJP leader praised the group when it was founded in late February, following an attack by a Pakistan militant group in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 40 paramilitary police. Two of Clean the Nation’s founders, Siddharth Kapoor and Ashutosh Vashishtha, are followed on Twitter by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Others, including Kaushik, have posted pictures on social media of meetings with Modi and other members of his Cabinet.
|
media;india;kashmir;pakistan;internet;social media;propaganda
|
jp0002504
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/03
|
South Korean police apologize and army expresses regret for 1948 Jeju massacres
|
SEOUL - South Korean police apologized for the first time Wednesday over massacres that killed 10,000 people decades ago and the military expressed deep regret as President Moon Jae-in seeks to re-examine history. On April 3, 1948, members of the communist Workers’ Party of Southern Korea — an ally of the organization that still rules the North — launched an armed uprising on the southern island of Jeju, attacking a dozen police stations. At the time the division of the peninsula had yet to be formalized and the Korean War was still two years away, but the U.S.-supported South was ideologically split following the end of World War II and Japanese colonial rule. The revolt was quickly put down, but while sporadic clashes continued more than 10,000 civilians were killed by South Korean security forces over the next six years, including beyond the end of the Korean War. “We apologize to the innocent people whose lives were sacrificed,” said Min Gap-ryong, the commissioner general of the Korean National Police Agency, at a commemoration of the uprising’s 71st anniversary. “We promise to be an organization that only thinks about and works for Korean citizens so that a tragedy like this will never repeat in our future.” The country’s defense ministry also expressed “deep regret” to the victims, while stopping short of a full apology. The Jeju Incident, as the events are known, remains a highly politicized issue in South Korea, as do some other aspects of the country’s post-war history. Some Jeju-based research and NGOs have claimed it was “Jeju people’s resistance against national division and ‘American Imperialism.’ ” The police apology and ministry’s expression of regret come after left-leaning South Korean President Moon Jae-in has repeatedly spoken on the importance of “setting our history right.” Moon, who brokered talks between Washington and Pyongyang, has stressed the independence struggle against Japan’s colonial rule is at the heart of national identity in both Koreas, while framing the South’s right-wing — who say the victims of Jeju were all communist rebels — as descendants of pro-Japanese collaborators. Last year, Moon became the first South Korean president in more than a decade to attend the annual memorial ceremony on Jeju. At the event he said: “Young people who were falsely accused of being communists during the April 3 Incident defended their country in the face of death. Ideology was nothing more than a cause that justified the massacre.” In 2003 the then South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun — whom Moon served as chief of staff — offered an apology to the victims of the Jeju incident.
|
wwii;history;south korea;korean war;jeju
|
jp0002505
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"crime-legal-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Philippine Supreme Court orders release of drug war reports, posing potential airing of extrajudicial killings
|
MANILA - The Philippine Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the release of police documents on thousands of killings of suspects in the president’s anti-drug crackdown, in a ruling that human rights groups said could shed light on allegations of extrajudicial killings. Supreme Court spokesman Brian Keith Hosaka said the court ordered the government solicitor-general to provide the police reports to two rights groups which had sought them. The 15-member court, whose justices are meeting in northern Baguio city, has yet to rule on a separate petition to declare President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-drug campaign unconstitutional. Solicitor-General Jose Calida had earlier agreed to release the voluminous police documents to the court but rejected the requests of the two groups, the Free Legal Assistance Group and the Center for International Law, arguing that such a move would undermine law enforcement and national security. The two groups welcomed the court order. “It’s a big step forward for transparency and accountability,” said Jose Manuel “Chel” Diokno, who heads the Free Legal Assistance Group. He said the documents will help the group of human rights lawyers scrutinize the police-led crackdown that was launched when Duterte came to office in mid-2016, and the massive number of killings that the president and police say occurred when suspects fought back and endangered law enforcers, Diokno said. “This is an emphatic statement by the highest court of the land that it will not allow the rule of law to be trampled upon in the war on drugs. It is a very important decision,” said Joel Butuyan, president of the Center for International Law. “These documents are the first step toward the long road to justice for the petitioners and for thousands of victims of the ‘war on drugs’ and their families,” Butuyan said. More than 5,000 mostly poor drug suspects have died in purported gunbattles with the police, alarming Western governments, U.N. rights experts and human rights watchdogs. Duterte has denied ordering illegal killings, although he has publicly threatened drug suspects with death. The thousands of killings have sparked the submission of two complaints of mass murder to the International Criminal Court. Duterte has withdrawn the Philippines from the court. After holding public deliberations on the two groups’ petitions in 2017, the Supreme Court ordered the solicitor-general to submit documents on the anti-drug campaign, including the list of people killed in police drug raids from July 1, 2016, to Nov. 30, 2017, and documents on many other suspected drug-linked deaths in the same period which were being investigated by police.
|
drugs;philippines;rodrigo duterte
|
jp0002506
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/03
|
China plans to replace its longtime envoy to Japan, Cheng Yonghua, sources say, as ties improve
|
BEIJING - China has told Japan that it intends to replace its ambassador to Japan, Cheng Yonghua, early next month, ending what has been an unusually long stint for a Chinese envoy in Tokyo, sources familiar with bilateral ties said Wednesday. With relations between the two countries improving, Beijing has likely deemed it is in a position to send a new ambassador, the sources said. Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou, considered an expert on Japan, is seen as a leading candidate to succeed Cheng. News of the impending replacement comes amid expectations that Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Japan in July, when the nation hosts the Group of 20 summit in Osaka. It would be Xi’s first trip to Japan since he came to power in 2013. To formally begin their role, a new ambassador presents his or her credentials to the Emperor. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government is willing to cooperate with China in making that happen in a swift manner, the sources said. Crown Prince Naruhito is due to ascend the throne on May 1, the day after his father, Emperor Akihito, is set to abdicate. Cheng became the ambassador to Japan in February 2010. For more than nine years he has been at the forefront of diplomatic efforts to improve China-Japan ties, which have seen challenged by a territorial dispute over the uninhabited Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. Tensions between Tokyo and Beijing intensified in particular after the government of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, Shinzo Abe’s predecessor, decided in September 2012 to bring the group of islets under state control. The situation, however, has changed recently, with the neighbors last year marking the 40th anniversary of the signing and taking effect of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and China. The Senkakus, which are called Diaoyu in China, are controlled by Japan but claimed by Beijing. Cheng began working at the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo in 1977, after studying at Soka University in Tokyo. He served as ambassador to Malaysia and to South Korea before being appointed ambassador to Japan in February 2010. His tenure is the longest among Chinese ambassadors to Japan since Tokyo established diplomatic relations with Beijing in 1972. Last year, Cheng worked to realize Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s visit to Japan and Abe’s trip to Beijing. Kong, meanwhile, doubles as China’s special representative for Korean Peninsula affairs at a time when the international community is closely watching whether North Korea will achieve denuclearization as its leader, Kim Jong Un, has pledged.
|
china;china-japan relations;diplomacy;kong xuanyou;cheng yonghua
|
jp0002507
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Find your 'dwarf' at the 'Forgotten Center'?: Japan calls for fix to odd translations amid tourist influx
|
“Forgotten Center” instead of “Lost and Found” is just one of the mistranslations discovered on websites that may puzzle foreign tourists in Japan, the government said Wednesday, urging the operators to fix such problems as soon as possible. With the country readying itself for a further influx of foreign visitors ahead of next year’s Olympics, the Japan Tourism Agency conducted a survey between February and March examining a total of 85 websites by train and bus operators as well as transportation signs in towns. Peculiar English words were found on websites that rely on automated translations, with problematic examples including the use of “dwarf” for “children” and “release place” for “ticket machines.” The agency also found that translations of some sentences were confusing or incomprehensible, with examples including “what happens to the children fare from what age?” The machine-aided system also did unnecessary translations of the names of train stations on some websites, making it difficult for non-Japanese speakers to comprehend, the agency said. Of the 85 websites, 70 offered explanations in English, Korean and Chinese, it added. Unnatural direct translations and mistranslations from Japanese sometimes crop up in the news and on social media. The operator of the Osaka subway system recently drew global attention when its English websites carried a number of odd translations for train lines and stations as a result of automatic translations that went unchecked. The Sakaisuji Line was translated as the “Sakai muscle” line. The Japanese word “ suji ” in the name means street, but the kanji character can also mean “muscle.” Travelers were also amused to find stations called “Powerhouse Town” (Daikokucho) and “World Teahouse” (Tengachaya), among others. The survey also covered the quality of signs in and around stations on 80 routes, discovering instructions in foreign languages that were printed too small and a lack of information about exactly which line would take tourists to their destinations.
|
internet;tourism;language;english;translation;2020 tokyo olympics
|
jp0002508
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Japan assures world that Reiwa is all about 'beautiful harmony' and has nothing to do with 'command'
|
The Foreign Ministry confirmed Wednesday the name for Japan’s forthcoming new Imperial era, Reiwa, means “beautiful harmony” in English. Within days of the announcement of the new gengō , as such eras are known, the ministry has presented an English translation for the new name. The move is intended to dispel what the ministry considers erroneous reports overseas that the new era name has connotations of “command” or “order” — one of the most common meanings of the kanji for rei that forms the first half of Reiwa. “Having seen talk overseas that the new gengō means ‘order’ or ‘command,’ we felt the need to let the world know that nobody (in the government) thinks like that,” Hiroatsu Satake, a foreign ministry official, told The Japan Times. “If you look up that individual kanji in dictionaries, I believe a meaning like this does show up, but it has multiple other meanings too. We felt we should at least make it clear this particular one is not the intended meaning here,” Satake said. The foreign ministry’s attempt to dissociate Reiwa from the authoritative nuance of command or law chiefly associated with rei, which is used in terms such as meirei (command) or hōrei (law), may have been clear enough from its issuance of the translation “beautiful harmony.” But that rendition of Reiwa fails to reflect the original context in which the kanji rei was used in “Manyoshu” — the nation’s oldest existing anthology of poetry, from which the new gengō was drawn. Reiwa was inspired by a portion of a passage written by prominent poet Otomo no Tabito, who used rei to render reigetsu , an “auspicious month,” as he detailed the soft manner of an early spring breeze. While acknowledging that the ministry’s translation fails to capture the connotation of “auspicious,” Satake said the ministry placed a greater emphasis on accurately conveying Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s expectations for a new era than staying faithful to the original meaning of rei as was used by the poet in “Manyoshu.” “We came up with ‘beautiful harmony’ based on a statement read out by the Prime Minister (soon after the gengō announcement), thinking about the kinds of expectations he had for these two kanji characters,” he said. In an address to the nation on Monday, Abe said Reiwa suggests a “culture born and nurtured as people’s hearts are beautifully drawn together.” It was “impossible,” the foreign ministry official said, to translate Reiwa verbatim, it being an inventive combination of two kanji characters that has never before entered the Japanese lexicon and has left even native Japanese speakers scratching their heads as they try to parse and interpret it. Satake added that “beautiful harmony,” although promoted by the foreign ministry, is afforded no legally binding power and therefore should be considered just one of the possible ways to interpret Reiwa in English. He preferred to call it an English “explanation” or “interpretation” by the government of Reiwa, instead of the “official translation.” That view was echoed by Masao Yamamoto, a Cabinet Office official. Under the Era Name Law, the only details about gengō that can be specified by a government ordinance are the way it is written in kanji and its kana reading. Other secondary details, such as its intonation and English translation, have no legal backing, he said. “Therefore, it’s not like we’re saying ‘beautiful harmony’ is the only acceptable translation” of the new era name. Indeed, when asked to confirm Reiwa’s English translation as “beautiful harmony,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga didn’t seem aware of it — saying it was his “first time” to hear about it — so could not vouch for the official nature of the translation.
|
shinzo abe;kanji;nihongo;foreign ministry;english;translation;abdication;reiwa
|
jp0002509
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Japanese teenager lops off Guinness World Record-setting locks ready for Reiwa and college
|
KAGOSHIMA - An 18-year-old Japanese woman, once recognized as having the longest hair in the world among teenagers aged 13-17, had her first-ever haircut Tuesday before starting life at university. Keito Kawahara, who lives in Izumi, Kagoshima Prefecture, said she plans to donate the hair that was cut for medical wigs. Kawahara initially grew her hair to hide a scar on her head that developed as a result of medical treatment shortly after birth. She continued life without cutting her hair, which she braided every morning during high school. There were times when she thought about changing her hairstyle, but instead she focused on studying for university entrance examinations. In March last year, Guinness World Records recognized Kawahara as having the longest hair of all teenagers aged between 13 and 17 years old. At the time, her hair measured 155.5 centimeters (5.1 feet) in length. Kawahara turned 18 in April last year, making her no longer eligible for maintaining the record. As she will start attending university in Kumamoto Prefecture this month, she decided to have a haircut for the first time in her life. She also said she felt it was a good time to do so because Japan will mark the start of a new Imperial era following the abdication of Emperor Akihito on April 30. Her mother, Miyuki Kawahara, 47, who washed her daughter’s long hair every day, said, “I felt kind of sad when I shampooed her hair (before the haircut), but it’s stylish and looks good on her.” The nongovernmental organization that will receive the donated hair said, “We are grateful for the donation of preciously grown hair. It will be used for long wigs, of which there tends to be a shortage.” An Indian girl residing in Italy established a new world record in November. According to Guinness World Records, the length of the girl’s hair was 170.5 centimeters long (5.5 feet).
|
teens;kagoshima;guinness world records;records;hair;keito kawahara
|
jp0002510
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/03
|
An enigmatic nod and a smile as Japan's Crown Prince learned he will one day be known as Emperor Reiwa
|
Crown Prince Naruhito nodded with a gentle smile when he learned Monday that the government had picked Reiwa as the next era name, to be used during his reign from May 1, an official with the Imperial Household Agency said. “I understand,” he was quoted as telling Yasuhiko Nishimura, the vice grand steward of the agency who explained the meaning of the new era name to the Crown Prince prior to the announcement made to the public before noon. With Emperor Akihito set to abdicate on April 30, the first Japanese monarch to do so in about 200 years, the government unveiled the new era name to both the Emperor and the Crown Prince in advance. The 85-year-old Emperor looked calm as usual when he heard about the two kanji characters that will replace the current era name, Heisei, according to agency Grand Steward Shinichiro Yamamoto. The name Reiwa is drawn from “Manyoshu,” the country’s earliest extant collection of Japanese poetry. The government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has explained that the name means culture coming into being and flourishing when people bring their hearts and minds together in a beautiful manner. Reiwa literally means “beautiful harmony,” according to the government. “I’m very much relieved because I was extremely nervous, being aware of the heavy responsibility of deciding a gengō (era name),” Abe told a TV program later Monday. The selection of an era name from a Japanese classic for the first time in the history of gengō, which date back to the 7th century, is seen as an attempt to show pride in what Abe said is Japan’s rich culture and long tradition. An era name is used for the length of an emperor’s reign. The current Heisei Era, the name of which means “achieving peace,” has been used since 1989 when Emperor Akihito ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne following the death of his father, Emperor Hirohito, posthumously known as Emperor Showa.
|
royalty;imperial family;abdication;reiwa;emperor naruhito
|
jp0002511
|
[
"national",
"science-health"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Immunotherapy: The key to a brighter future for cancer patients in Japan's aging society?
|
YOKOHAMA - As the risk of cancer increases among the country’s aging population, immunologist Tasuku Honjo is pinning his hopes on cancer treatments that shift the approach from traditional methods directly targeting cancer cells to ones that stimulate the body’s immune system to fight the disease. Nobel laureate Honjo, 77, believes his research can help bring about a cure — or at least turn cancer into a nonfatal chronic disease — but the jury is still out on whether immunotherapy can become a first-line treatment option. “Certain types of cancer patients are finally being cured thanks to immunotherapy. So I hope the percentage of such cases will steadily increase along with improvement (in the treatment),” Honjo said in a recent interview. “Even if tumors are not completely eliminated, (people can survive) as long as cancer is kept in check at a level where people can coexist with the disease,” he said on the sidelines of an event in Yokohama arranged by Nobel Media in collaboration with the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. The discovery of a protein called PD-1 by Honjo and his team in 1992 has led to the development of the drug Opdivo, an immune checkpoint inhibitor that can trigger the immune system to attack cancer cells by targeting and blocking PD-1. Honjo was jointly awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his contribution to cancer therapy, in which he showed how the protein he discovered could function as a brake on the immune system. His fellow recipient, American immunotherapy scientist James Allison, was recognized for his study of another braking molecule. A distinguished professor and deputy director-general of the Kyoto University Institute for Advanced Study, Honjo gave a lecture and took part in a discussion with other Nobel laureates during the latest Nobel Prize Dialogue, which was held in Japan under the theme of “The Age to Come,” in which a number of policymakers, researchers, students and the general public took part. “To discuss aging populations is a highly topical theme, especially in a Japanese context as the country is experiencing an extreme demographic shift,” Laura Sprechmann, acting CEO of Nobel Media, said in a statement. Aging demographics aren’t unique to Japan and have become a global phenomenon, however, the country in 2005 became the nation with the highest ratio of elderly people among major countries, according to government data. As of Oct. 1, 2017, the number of people 65 or over stood at 35.15 million and accounted for 27.7 percent of the country’s total population of 126.71 million, according to the government’s Annual Report on the Aging Society in 2018. Due to a low birthrate and limited immigration, the nation’s aging population is expected to continue to grow. Cancer is often considered an age-related disease, as numerous studies indicate that the risks of developing it increase with age due to accumulated genetic mutations, among other factors, such as deteriorating immunity linked with aging. As people grow old, their thymus gland, which produces T cells that kill dysfunctional cells or foreign agents, shrinks, thus leaving humans more susceptible to infections and cancers. But Honjo said he can one day imagine a scenario where people, particularly the elderly, can live their lives normally and without pain despite having cancer. “If we live to be old enough, there won’t be any serious problem even if we have some tumors in our bodies,” he said during his lecture. He highlighted three strong points of immunotherapy, which developed from his discovery of PD-1. First of all, he claims his treatment, “has the potential to be effective against all cancers.” “It also causes relatively less pain to patients” compared with other cancer treatments, pointing out that normal cells are not affected by immunotherapy. “Thirdly, it can bring a complete cure,” Honjo said, stressing that cancer did not reoccur in some patients even after they stopped receiving the therapy. He said there are many cases in which patients had no recurrence of cancer for five years. According to Honjo, PD-1 blockade therapy has been approved for treating over a dozen different cancers. The cancers approved for the treatment between 2014 and 2018 include melanoma, lung and colorectal cancers, as well as all highly mutated cancers, regardless of the organ they originate from. “The (PD-1 blockade) therapy is particularly effective against highly mutated cancers. It is a very significant (development) … that we became able to treat various types of cancers that exceed a certain level in mutations with the therapy,” Honjo said. Naturally, patients will react differently to immunotherapy based on differences in their immune response, he said. He noted that raising the response rate of patients to the PD-1 blockade therapy is one area of improvement aimed at making the therapy a first-line treatment option, adding studies are still underway to figure out what types of patients respond the best. There are also some immune-related side effects to immunotherapy, although those are less severe than with traditional cancer treatments, he said. He cited a lack of knowledge about immunity as being among the reasons why adverse effects might be overlooked. Common symptoms of side effects include fatigue, skin rashes and diarrhea. “The education of doctors is a major issue that needs to be addressed,” he said. He also expressed concerns over the future of basic science research in Japan, saying it is essential to create an environment where young researchers, especially in their 30s, can more freely engage in research they wish to pursue. “These days, (the ratio of) young people advancing to graduate schools is declining and it is very concerning,” he said. According to data from the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry, the ratio of people advancing to PhD programs has been declining in recent years. “There should be a system to provide a sufficient amount of money that they can use freely for a long time,” Honjo said.
|
medicine;health;disease;cancer;immunotherapy;tasuku honjo
|
jp0002513
|
[
"national",
"politics-diplomacy"
] |
2019/04/03
|
30% of Japanese in late teens say Diet isn't improving people's lives, while 50% don't know either way
|
Thirty percent of Japanese in their upper teens who responded to a recent online survey said they believe the Diet is not helping to improve people’s lives, a nonprofit organization said Wednesday. The opinion poll, held in February and targeting 800 people aged 17 to 19, showed the percentage of respondents disapproving of the Diet outnumbered the 20.9 percent of people who considered it useful. It also showed that 49.1 percent of respondents said they do not know whether the Diet is playing a helpful role or not. The Nippon Foundation, which conducted the survey, said the results “reflect young people’s lack of interest in national politics.” The organization has been conducting a series of surveys targeting youngsters on topics such as work, marriage and politics, with the aim of offering insight into the minds of young voters after the county lowered the voting age to 18 from the previous 20 in 2016. The latest survey showed only 5.0 percent thought the Diet was serving as a place for meaningful policy debates, while 54.8 percent said they did not think that was the case. Of those who responded negatively, 57.3 percent said lawmakers argue for conflicting goals and 50.2 percent said there are too many discussions not related to policies. Asked what is needed to improve the functions of the Diet, 31.3 percent called for more female lawmakers, followed by 28.5 percent who sought a review on how to manage the Diet and 27.0 percent who proposed bringing in younger lawmakers and setting a cap on the number of times a Diet member can be re-elected.
|
teens;diet;surveys
|
jp0002514
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Japanese authorities say suicide of JAXA contractor was work-related
|
Authorities have recognized the October 2016 suicide of a man involved in satellite control operations at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Tsukuba Space Center as a work-related death, it was learned Wednesday. The labor standards inspection office of Tsuchiura, Ibaraki Prefecture, ruled on Tuesday that Yukinobu Sato’s death was due to adjustment disorder caused by strong psychological stress from his work, the bereaved family told a news conference Wednesday. Sato, then 31, was working on control operations for the greenhouse gas-observing satellite Ibuki at the space center in the prefecture. He took his own life at his home. In October 2015, Sato was transferred from Tokyo-based system development firm Software Consultant Corp. to group company Space Engineering Development Co. He was involved in the satellite control operations based on Space Engineering’s contract with JAXA. According to the bereaved family’s lawyer, the Tsuchiura office recognized that Sato had been involved in software development, in addition to the control operations, and had too many quotas imposed on him. The office also said that Sato had problems with his supervisor, who scolded him when he turned in an overtime work application. Taking into account the major change in Sato’s workload and work duties, the office decided that he was under strong mental stress. At the news conference, Sato’s mother, Hisae, 60, described him as a “kind and sincere son with a strong sense of responsibility.” “No lives should ever be lost because of work,” she said. Space Engineering said it takes the matter seriously and will handle the case carefully. JAXA said the agency will work to assess the situation, including whether it had any room for improvement as the entity that commissioned the control operations.
|
suicides;jaxa
|
jp0002515
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Banna, Banpo, Eiko, Koshi and Kyuka: The Japan eras that could have been, beaten out by Reiwa
|
Five of the potential names for Japan’s next era that were unsuccessful at the final stage came to light Tuesday, a day after the government selected Reiwa from the six finalists. The five other candidates were Eiko, Kyuka, Koshi, Banna and Banpo, sources with knowledge of the matter said. Three of the six shortlisted candidates were derived from Japanese classical literature and the rest from Chinese classics. Reiwa was taken from “Manyoshu,” the oldest existing collection of Japanese poems. Reiwa will succeed the current era name of Heisei on May 1, when Crown Prince Naruhito accedes the throne, following the abdication of his father, Emperor Akihito, set for April 30. Meanwhile, there is speculation that the creator of Reiwa is Susumu Nakanishi, 89, professor emeritus at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies, according to sources. Nakanishi is known for his research on “Manyoshu,” and received the Order of Culture from the government in 2013. He is believed to have been among scholars asked by the government on March 14 to come up with proposals for the country’s next era name. When asked by reporters in Kyoto on Tuesday, Nakanishi declined to confirm whether he is the creator of Reiwa. “There is nothing I would say. I don’t know anything,” Nakanishi said. But he added that it was “very good” that the era name came from “Manyoshu.” “I hope it will be a good era, but there is nothing more I can say.” The government has no plans to disclose unsuccessful candidate names for the forthcoming era or their creators.
|
shinzo abe;literature;kanji;nihongo;abdication;manyoshu;susumu nakanishi;reiwa;emperor naruhito
|
jp0002516
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/03
|
For Tokyo calendar maker, announcement of Reiwa era name was cue to get printers rolling
|
At the Tokyo offices of a major calendar maker on Monday, executives and employees crowded around a television broke into applause as Reiwa, the country’s next Imperial era name, was announced. While the Gregorian calendar is in common use in Japan, the country’s Imperial era system is also widely used and the announcement was closely watched. And for Kunio Kowaguchi, president of calendar and diary manufacturer Todan Co., the announcement was more than just symbolic; It was set to kick-start a frantic period of producing new products that bear the new era’s name. About 30 members of the company had gathered at the TV at the firm’s Tokyo offices on Monday when Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga held up the traditional calligraphy revealing the new name. “I like it — it’s very good,” Kowaguchi said, pointing out that not many Japanese words begin with an “r” sound. “Reiwa sounds modern but when you see the characters, it’s solemn,” he added. The name combines the characters “ rei ” which can have meanings related to “order” but also “auspicious” and “beautiful,” and “ wa ” meaning “peace” or “harmony.” As soon as the two-character name was announced, a Todan designer rushed to her computer to start preparing new layouts for products bearing the new gengō, or Imperial era name. Another employee started consulting digital dictionaries to determine the order in which the strokes of the two characters should be written. That information was then passed on to a calligrapher who began carefully painting the two characters as Kowaguchi and others looked on. The wet ink was hurriedly dried, first with a traditional fan and then with a hair dryer, to allow the characters to be scanned as quickly as possible. The new era name has arrived too late for Todan’s rollout of 2019 calendars but the company will now start work on 2020 products, as well as a special production of 800 desktop calendars that will run from this May until March next year. For the year 2020, “we are talking about production plans for 50 kinds of calendars with gengō,” Kowaguchi said. “Plus the special edition for the first year of the new era.” Japan is the only country in the world still using Chinese-style Imperial calendars, and many people still remember historic events by the era year in which they occurred rather than the corresponding Gregorian date. So it wasn’t just calendar makers firing up the printing presses Monday; Japanese newspapers quickly issued special editions that prompted stampedes in parts of central Tokyo. At Todan’s factory in the town of Ami, Ibaraki Prefecture, 70 workers had their own excited gathering at the firm’s canteen to watch the era announcement. “We have all been working together during the past two years (since the abdication was announced) and I was filled with a sense of relief when I heard the name being announced,” factory chief Junichi Ishii said. “At the moment of the announcement, we all applauded,” he added. There wasn’t much time to savor the moment though, with the factory springing straight into action to begin producing the special edition desktop calendars. Workers manned machines in rooms for printing, cutting and assembling the new calendars that feature the name Reiwa prominently on their cover page. The large machines responsible for printing the calendars roared, churning out large sheets printed with multiple months, each of which was cut out and then assembled by hand into a calendar. The calendars will be shipped immediately, and Kowaguchi, the company president, said the initial plans for a run of 800 copies might prove insufficient. “We planned this as something that customers would keep as a commemorative product. We thought this wouldn’t be something that should be produced in a large volume,” he said. But, he added, “We are receiving a flood of inquiries. Now I’m concerned that printing just 800 may leave some customers disappointed.”
|
kanji;nihongo;ibaraki;abdication;reiwa;todan
|
jp0002517
|
[
"national",
"crime-legal"
] |
2019/04/03
|
15 Japanese arrested in Thailand raid accused of scamming more than ¥225 million
|
BANGKOK - A group of 15 suspected Japanese scammers arrested last week in Thailand acquired more than ¥225 million ($2 million) in illegal proceeds in February and March alone, Thai police and other sources said Tuesday. Records seized in a March 30 police raid on a rented upscale house in the seaside resort town of Pattaya show that the suspects scammed victims in Japan of some ¥136.86 million between Feb. 1 and 24, and another ¥89 million during March. The records show the highest value of what was described as “sales” in any one day in February was ¥14.04 million and the lowest was ¥2.74 million. Thai and Japanese police continue to examine the records in an attempt to grasp the extent of fraudulent activities and to clarify details regarding the gang, whose members have been charged with working illegally in the kingdom. At a news conference in Bangkok, the police also released a “fraud manual” seized during the raid, in which they also seized 52 internet protocol phones, 19 notebook computers, routers and other equipment as well as a list of victims and bank accounts. In the printed A4 sheets it is clearly stated that in one scam, victims were to be told that “(as) the charges for the paid site are unpaid, the civil trial is progressing.” Earlier, police had said that the scammers particularly targeted people in Japan who are retired and living alone, falsely claiming that their phone use exceeded a limit and that they would need to pay an excess charge to continue using their phones. After being arrested, the 15 suspects, all men aged between 22 and 54, were transferred to an Immigration Bureau holding center in Bangkok. They were interrogated earlier Tuesday. At the news conference, they were all were dressed in orange T-shirts and remained silent, wearing masks and facing away from the press to avoid the cameras. Besides those in detention, the police suspect that as many as four more Japanese and Thais were involved in fraud scheme. Japan’s National Police Agency personnel are expected to go to Bangkok later this month to proceed with investigations. According to the police, it is the first time such a scam victimizing people in Japan has been uncovered in Thailand. The gang is believed to have used the country as a base because Japanese nationals can enter without a visa and it offers easy, high-speed internet access.
|
yakuza;organized crime;thailand;fraud;elderly;scams
|
jp0002518
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Emperor cancels attendance at rituals and other events due to cough
|
Emperor Akihito canceled his attendance at the rituals and other events scheduled for Wednesday after developing a cough the previous night, the Imperial Household Agency has said. The agency said the move was a precautionary measure. The rituals are unrelated to a series of ceremonies being held before the 85-year-old Emperor becomes the first Japanese monarch to abdicate in about 200 years. The Emperor has been taking part in a series of ceremonies ahead of the enthronement of his elder son, Crown Prince Naruhito, on May 1 when the new Imperial era Reiwa, announced by the government Monday, is set to begin. On Wednesday morning, the Emperor was scheduled to attend a planned ritual but an Imperial household Agency official attended as a proxy. The Emperor was also scheduled, in the afternoon, to greet volunteers who clean the Imperial Palace. Empress Michiko attended the event alone and conveyed gratitude on the Emperor’s behalf, the agency said. On Tuesday afternoon the Imperial Couple, joined by the Crown Prince and his wife Crown Princess Masako, attended a concert celebrating the Imperial Couple’s 60 years of marriage and 30 years of the Emperor’s reign.
|
emperor akihito;rituals;cough
|
jp0002519
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/03
|
Special celebrations planned for newlyweds on auspicious first day of Japan's new Reiwa era
|
Local governments are planning something special for those who register their marriage on the first day of the new era, including gifts and commemorative photos, as they prepare for a spike in the number of couples tying the knot on May 1. The start of the new Reiwa Era upon the enthronement of Crown Prince Naruhito will fall on an auspicious day for marriage according to a traditional Japanese calendar, likely prompting many couples to file their marriage papers that day. Some local governments plan to set up temporary counters for marriage registrations, instead of accepting the documents at the security guards’ room — usual practice on a public holiday. Japan has designated May 1 this year as a one-off holiday to celebrate the Imperial succession, as part of a 10-day Golden Week vacation period. Other local authorities plan to celebrate the “new-era marriages” by taking photos of couples and offering them presents. In the city of Kaga in Ishikawa Prefecture, marriage registration counters will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on May 1. Staff will take commemorative photos of couples standing in front of a cardboard background illustrated with hearts while their registration is processed. The photos will then be framed and presented to the newlyweds. “We want to celebrate marriages on the first day of the new era, which will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” an official for the project said. The city of Okayama will mark the day by setting up a counter for accepting marriage registrations at the Akazu gate of Okayama Castle. From May 1 the city government will use special marriage papers with illustrations of the castle and Momotaro (Peach Boy), a popular hero of Japanese folklore originating from Okayama Prefecture and said to have been born from a giant peach. Those registering their marriage will also receive pairs of celebratory local pottery cups with the date engraved on them. On average the city of Okayama receives 20 marriage registration requests a day, but it expects the number will jump to 100 on May 1. “We hope (couples) will memorialize their (personal) event at the historic (castle),” a city official said. In Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture, five or six workers will be ready to offer potted geraniums and colored paper as gifts to the first 100 couples registering their marriage. In the Tokyo suburb of Komae, Mayor Toshio Matsubara will be on hand to congratulate couples as they get married, deviating from the usual bureaucratic process. “He has a strong desire to celebrate that day,” explained a city official. The Komae city office expects to receive around 30 to 40 registration requests for marriage on May 1 — as high as Nov. 11, 2011, when many couples chose the date because it contained six ones.
|
marriage;okayama;local government;abdication;reiwa
|
jp0002520
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/04
|
Truckers and stores on U.S.-Mexico border struggle as Trump closure threat looms
|
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA/EL PASO - Trucks inched through traffic and some stores reported fewer customers in U.S.-Mexico border towns on Wednesday as staffing shortages tied to a surge in asylum seekers slowed checkpoints and threats of the border closing scared away shoppers. U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his threat to close the border, or parts of it, saying Congress could avert such a shutdown by changing laws to fix what he called immigration “loopholes.” Business leaders on both sides of the border have lashed out against the threat, saying a shutdown would hurt supply chains and $1.7 billion in daily trade at some of the world’s busiest land crossings. “Words have meaning, especially when they come from the White House. The mere threat of a border closure does create uncertainty, and uncertainty is the enemy of jobs, economic development and commerce,” said Jon Barela, who runs Borderplex Alliance, a U.S.-Mexico trade and economic development group. Already, Washington’s decision to move some 750 border agents from commercial to immigration duties has triggered long delays for legitimate cross-border traffic. Petra Gomez, 63, who owns the discount store Buy 4 Less near the Otay Mesa crossing in California, opposite Tijuana, said Trump’s threats were taking a toll. “Many people are not crossing for fear that if they close the border, they will be trapped,” she said, referring to the tens of thousands of people who cross every day from the Tijuana area into California. “If they close the border, I will have to close because I will not have clients.” In El Paso, Texas, small business owners also spoke of a sharp drop in sales. “We’ve seen our customers go down by about 30 percent. I also have some co-workers who live in Juarez and say they have to get into the pedestrian lane an hour and a half before their shift starts just to cross the border,” said David Canales, supervisor at UTEA Duty Free, at the base of El Paso’s downtown international bridge, which connects the Texas city with Mexico’s Ciudad Juarez. However, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Wednesday there were no “serious problems” at the border, and that the government was in constant communication with U.S. authorities to keep it open. “It’s not in anyone’s interest to close the border,” he told reporters at his regular morning news conference. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has estimated that some 100,000 migrants were apprehended or encountered at the border in March, the highest level in a decade. Most are Central American families seeking asylum. Trump has made stemming the flow of migrants across the southern border a centerpiece of his administration, likening the situation to a crisis and using that argument to justify his demand to build a wall along the frontier. “This is one of, if not the biggest crisis this country has faced in a decade, truly, the security aspects of this, the humanitarian aspects of this have got to be addressed,” the U.S. Department of Homeland Security secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, told Fox News in an interview on Tuesday. But critics of Trump’s immigration policy, like Ruben Garcia, executive director of El Paso migrant shelter Annunciation House, said he saw “a lot of truth” to criticism that CBP recently held migrants in a detention enclosure under a city bridge to create a sense of chaos for media. The CBP said it would suspend cargo operations every Saturday at one of its El Paso crossing points until it had enough staff to operate fully. On Wednesday, some, but not all, lanes were open to commercial traffic at El Paso and Laredo, Texas, and Otay Mesa in California. The longest wait stretched up to seven hours at a section of the El Paso crossing where only one of six lanes was open at a major bridge, according to the CBP. In Ciudad Juarez, lines of trucks were longer than usual, according to a Reuters witness. Mexico is the United States’ third-largest trading partner and its largest supplier for agricultural products, including vegetables and avocados. “Avocados in particular have the potential to become the new green gold in terms of prices” if a shutdown caused shortages, Moody’s said in a report on Wednesday. Americans would run out of avocados in three weeks if imports from Mexico were stopped, Steve Barnard, president and chief executive of Mission Produce, the largest distributor and grower of avocados in the world, said this week. The Business Roundtable, a powerful private sector lobby, said in a letter to White House officials on Wednesday that shutting the border would severely damage U.S. businesses, particularly those that depend on employees who commute daily to work from Mexico. Luis Ventura, 23, crosses from Tijuana every day to work at a customs agency in San Diego. More than just concern over his job, he fears a shutdown would take him away from his son. “If you close the border, either I stay in Tijuana without work or I stay here without family,” he said.
|
trade;mexico;u.s.-mexico border;donald trump;cbp
|
jp0002522
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/04
|
Trump signs memorandum to stem 'Wild West' of online counterfeit goods trafficking
|
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum on Wednesday to rein in what the administration calls the “Wild West” of online trafficking in counterfeit goods. The memorandum is aimed at stopping the sale of counterfeit products on sites like Amazon, eBay and China’s e-commerce leader, Alibaba. “This president has decided that it’s time to clean up this Wild West of counterfeiting and trafficking,” said Peter Navarro, director of the White House National Trade Council. “The central core of the problem is that right now, third-party online marketplaces … have zero liability when it comes to trafficking in these counterfeit goods. That simply has to stop. We are going to attack that on numerous fronts.” In a statement released on Wednesday, Amazon said that it “strictly prohibits” the sale of counterfeit products and welcomes more coordinated support from law enforcement to stem the problem. Amazon said that last year it spent more than $400 million fighting counterfeits, fraud and other forms of abuse. “We have built industry-leading tools like Brand Registry, Transparency and our newly launched Project Zero to protect our customers and help rights owners drive counterfeits to zero,” the company said. “With these and other tools, we ensure that over 99% of the products that customers view on Amazon never receive a complaint about counterfeits.” Navarro said discussion of possible actions the administration will take to deter online trafficking in counterfeit merchandise is premature. He says the directive orders the Department of Homeland Security to work with other agencies on a report identifying the scope of the problem. The report also is to identify the origin of the fake goods and recommend administrative, regulatory, legislative or policy changes to stem the problem. Alibaba also released a statement saying it would welcome the administration’s work to combat counterfeiting. The company said it has developed systems to protect intellectual property and has worked with brand name companies, law enforcement, consumers and trade associations to battle the problem. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development estimates that the value of trade in counterfeit and pirated goods is about a half trillion dollars a year, with roughly 20% infringing on U.S. intellectual property, according to the directive. The U.S. is engaged in a trade dispute with China after the Trump administration made several complaints, including that China was stealing U.S. trade secrets and was forcing companies to give them technology to access its market. Trump imposed tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese imports, about half what the United States buys from that country. China retaliated with tariffs on about $110 billion of U.S. items. Trade talks are ongoing. Navarro told reporters in a conference call, however, that the new memorandum has nothing to do with the U.S.-China trade talks or Trump’s criticism of Amazon owner, Jeff Bezos. Trump has accused Amazon of not paying its fair share of taxes, harming the U.S. Postal Service and putting brick-and-mortar stores out of business. A recent Government Accountability Office report examined four categories of frequently counterfeited goods, and, based on a small sample of these goods purchased through various online third-party marketplaces, investigators found that more than 40% were counterfeit, Navarro said.
|
internet;trade;computers;fraud;alibaba;amazon.com;ebay;donald trump;peter navarro
|
jp0002523
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/04
|
Honda's N-Box is top-selling vehicle in Japan for second year in a row
|
Honda Motor Co.’s N-Box minivehicle topped Japan’s sales rankings for new vehicles for the second consecutive year in fiscal 2018, taking a huge lead over runner-up Suzuki, industry data showed Thursday. Sales of the N-Box totaled 239,706 units. Seven of the top 10 models were minivehicles with engine displacements of up to 660 cubic centimeters. They were also same seven that made the top 10 list the previous year, according to the Japan Automobile Dealers Association and the Japan Light Motor Vehicle and Motorcycle Association. Demand continued to be brisk for minivehicles partly because an increasing number are equipped with advanced driving support systems. Ranked second was Suzuki Motor Corp.’s Spacia, with sales of 158,397 units, followed by Daihatsu Motor Co.’s Tanto, with sales of 142,550 units. Other than minivehicles, Nissan’s Note subcompact came sixth, with 131,760 units. A hybrid version of the Note also continued to fare well. Toyota Motor Corp.’s Aqua hybrid compact ranked seventh, with 127,889 units, while its Prius hybrid was placed eighth, with 115,123 units. Support for models with high fuel efficiency, including minivehicles, grew. For March alone, the N-Box stayed at the top for the 19th straight month, with sales of 26,418 units.
|
toyota;honda;nissan;carmakers;suzuki;daihatsu;minivehicles;n-box
|
jp0002524
|
[
"business",
"economy-business"
] |
2019/04/04
|
U.S. plans to pump dollars into Venezuela if Maduro falls, as it talks with Guaido on rescue strategy
|
WASHINGTON - The Trump administration is considering pumping dollars into Venezuela through banks, smartphones and apps if the regime of Nicolas Maduro fails, President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser said. The U.S. is already in talks with Juan Guaido — the Venezuelan opposition chief the U.S. has recognized as the nation’s leader — to develop an economic rescue and restructuring plan for the country that could begin immediately, should Maduro step down or be deposed, National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow said Wednesday at an event in Washington hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. The U.S. is planning to employ “banks, iPhones, apps and many clever ways to get cash in there,” Kudlow said. “And the cash will not be bolivars, it will be dollars. At least in the beginning so there’s no demand for bolivars.” The U.S. Treasury, the National Security Council, NEC and International Monetary Fund are all working on the plan, he said, adding that the White House “will move rapidly” with if leadership changes. Oil-rich Venezuela is reeling from hyperinflation, hunger and rolling blackouts that make daily life miserable for residents in rural towns and major cities alike. Maduro, however, insists that the country’s woes are not the result of poor governance but sabotage orchestrated by his opponents at home and abroad. The U.S. has explicitly warned against harming the opposition leader and has stepped up sanctions on Venezuela and the regime’s officials.
|
u.s .;venezuela;nicolas maduro;donald trump;larry kudlow;juan guaido
|
jp0002525
|
[
"business",
"tech"
] |
2019/04/04
|
More delays for Boeing's new Starliner space capsule for astronauts
|
FLORIDA - AP Boeing’s new space capsule for astronauts faces more launch delays. The Starliner capsule was supposed to make its debut this month, after a series of postponements. But the first test flight is now off until August. And the second test flight, with astronauts, won’t occur until late in the year. NASA announced the revised lineup Wednesday. At the same time, officials said the first Starliner crew will remain at the International Space Station longer than the few weeks originally anticipated. The mission length will be decided later. SpaceX, NASA’s other commercial crew provider, successfully flew its new Dragon capsule without a crew to the International Space Station last month. The first flight with astronauts could be as early as this summer, but the schedule is under review. Boeing said the last major milestones have been cleared and the capsule is almost finished. But scheduling conflicts with an early summer Air Force launch helped push the Starliner’s debut into August. The Starliner will fly on United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket, the same kind of rocket needed for the Air Force’s critical mission in late June, from the same pad. While the first SpaceX astronauts will visit the space station for a few weeks at most, the Starliner’s three-person crew will move into the orbiting complex for an extended period. The typical station stay is about six months. NASA wants to reduce its reliance on expensive Russian Soyuz capsules as soon as possible, and so the Boeing test flight will double as a taxi mission for station residents. NASA astronauts have been stuck riding Russian rockets since the end of the space shuttle program. SpaceX Dragons and Boeing Starliners will return human launches to Florida, following the eight-year hiatus. NASA contracted with the two companies to handle space station ferry flights, so it could focus on getting astronauts to the moon and, eventually, Mars.
|
iss;nasa;boeing;spacex;soyuz;u.s. air force;starliner;united launch alliance
|
jp0002526
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/04
|
Lego's hopes new programmable robotics kit will see use in classrooms
|
NEW YORK - Danish toymaker Lego Group has unveiled a new robotics kit that encourages students to gain programming skills through collaborative, hands-on activities. Each set of the Spike Prime kit comes with over 500 pieces, for building a variety of creations, and is paired with lesson plans for both students and teachers. It also comes with an app that uses a drag-and-drop programming language. One of the models, called “Rain or Shine,” is programmed to get data from a weather service, which then instructs a Lego robot to move its umbrella or sunglasses based on whether it is raining or sunny in a particular city. “Our intention is that every child in middle school should be able to have a very solid and valuable STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) learning experience and ultimately to build that confidence,” said Esben Staerk Joergensen, president of Lego Education. In Japan, computer programming will become required material in all elementary schools starting in April 2020, with Sony Corp. and other companies developing relevant educational tools. “I think we are also seeing, globally, the recognition that students need to be equipped with a broader set of skills,” Staerk Joergensen said. “I think introducing coding … makes sense in the world that we are living in.” According to a new Confidence in Learning Poll by Harris Insights & Analytics, 84 percent of Japanese teachers agree that anxiety and lack of confidence impede learning and that Japanese students who are not eager to learn STEAM subjects tend to be more nervous about learning new things in school. Globally, 76 percent of teachers say anxiety and lack of confidence hinder learning among their students, while only 17 percent of students say they are “very confident” when it comes to learning STEAM subjects. Staerk Joergensen says he hopes to bring Spike Prime into all Japanese junior high schools and seeks to work with education authorities to fulfill that vision. The robotics kit will be available globally starting in August of this year and is priced at $329.95 (¥36,800) in the United States. It comes with 11 new elements like a caster wheel part for driving robots and wire clips.
|
education;lego
|
jp0002527
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2019/04/04
|
Dollar falls below ¥111.40 in Tokyo trading
|
The dollar eased below ¥111.40 in Tokyo trading Wednesday, hit by selling to lock in profits. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥111.35-35, down from ¥111.51-51 at the same time Wednesday. The euro was at $1.1240-1241, up from $1.1236-1237, and at ¥125.16-17, down from ¥125.30-31. The dollar temporarily topped ¥111.52 toward midmorning on purchases by Japanese importers and investors heartened by stock price rises in Tokyo and other parts of Asia. But the greenback bowed to selling by profit-takers in the wake of stock market downturns and a pause in the key U.S. long-term interest rate’s increase in off-hours trading, market sources said. In late trading, the dollar moved in a tight range amid a dearth of fresh trading incentives. The weak reading of the Institute for Supply Management nonmanufacturing index for March, released on Wednesday, put a damper on “risk-on” buying of the dollar vis-a-vis the yen, a currency broker said. However, the White House’s announcement that President Donald Trump will meet with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He on Thursday boosted hopes for a U.S.-China trade agreement and supported the dollar, the broker also said. Meanwhile, an official at a foreign exchange margin trading service firm said investors cannot tilt their positions either way until it becomes certain whether or not Trump and Liu will be able to strike a deal.
|
forex;currencies
|
jp0002528
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2019/04/04
|
Tokyo stocks mixed without strong incentives
|
Stocks were mixed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Thursday, as investors refrained from tilting their positions in the absence of powerful market-moving events. The 225-issue Nikkei average edged up 11.74 points, or 0.05 percent, to end at 21,724.95, after gaining 207.90 points Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Topix index of all first-section issues closed down 1.72 points, or 0.11 percent, at 1,620.05, following its 10.08-point rally the previous day. Both indexes moved around Wednesday’s closing levels for most of the session amid a dearth of strong trading incentives. Hopes for progress in the ongoing U.S.-China trade negotiations continued to underpin the market, but its topside was weighed on by selling to lock in profits, brokers said. “The recent market ascent was so fast that players found it advisable to take profits for now,” said Mitsuo Shimizu, chief strategist at Aizawa Securities Co. The Nikkei gained over 670 points in the four sessions through Wednesday. Buying sentiment receded, especially late in the morning, as the Nikkei came closer to a key technical resistance line around 21,900, Shimizu said. The United States and China resumed their ministerial trade talks in Washington on Wednesday. Before the restart, a U.K. media report let investors grow hopeful about a successful end to the talks, leading to the sharp rebound in Tokyo that day. On Thursday, however, the market reacted little to a Wall Street Journal report that U.S. President Donald Trump may announce plans for talks with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, later on the day, market sources said. Investors could not be fully confident that the leaders would strike a deal to end the trade dispute between the two economic superpowers, they pointed out. Falling issues outnumbered rising ones 1,158 to 873 in the TSE’s first section, while 109 issues were unchanged. Volume decreased to 1.220 billion shares from the previous day’s 1.292 billion shares. Electronic parts makers attracted purchases, with Taiyo Yuden Co. up 1.90 percent and TDK Corp. up 1.83 percent. Drug store chain operator Sugi Holdings Co. jumped 3.51 percent on a reported rise in its consolidated net profit for the year that ended in February. Other major winners included automaker Suzuki Motor Corp. and auto parts supplier Denso Corp. By contrast, drug makers met with selling, with Shionogi & Co. falling 2.26 percent and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. 1.18 percent. Yakult Honsha Co. plunged 3.26 percent after JP Morgan Securities Japan Co. lowered its investment rating and target stock price for the lactic beverage-maker. Also on the negative side were advertising agency Dentsu Inc. and technology giant Sony Corp. In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the key June contract on the Nikkei average dropped 20 points to end at 21,700.
|
stocks;tse;nikkei 225
|
jp0002529
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/04
|
Next Seven-Eleven Japan chief vows 'flexible response' as he replaces defender of 24-hour policy
|
Seven-Eleven Japan Co. said Thursday the convenience store operator will replace its president after its longtime 24-hour operating policy caused controversy recently amid a labor crunch that is straining the retail industry. “When it comes to operating hours, I’d like to consider a flexible response that would suit each outlet,” given that the business environment for every store varies greatly, vice president Fumihiko Nagamatsu, who will be promoted to the top post, effective Monday, told a news conference in Tokyo. The revamp of Seven-Eleven’s management could lead to a major turning point for the country’s convenience store industry, which has been increasingly relying on foreign part-time workers to fill shifts as many franchise owners have been struggling to secure labor amid Japan’s graying population. At present, 96 stores, accounting for 0.5 percent of its franchise outlets nationwide, are hoping to reduce business hours, according to the company. Seven & I Holdings Co., the parent of Japan’s leading convenience store operator, said the current president, Kazuki Furuya, will become chairman without the right to represent the company. “We are aware of the phenomenon in which information from the workplace was not shared smoothly with upper sections (in the company),” said Ryuichi Isaka, president of the parent, who attended the same news conference. The reform comes with Seven-Eleven mired in controversy over its 24-hour operating policy after one of its franchise owners in Higashiosaka, Osaka Prefecture, cut the business hours at his store due to a labor shortage without approval from the franchise operator. The owner, Mitoshi Matsumoto, was accused by the chain operator of violating his contract after he started closing his store overnight from Feb. 1. Following the announcement of the management change, Matsumoto said that he does not have high expectations as the current president will stay on as chairman of the chain operator. Since late March, Seven-Eleven has started trials of shorter opening hours in 10 stores that are directly operated by the company, while the industry ministry also asked operators of major convenience store chains in Japan to come up with measures to address growing discontent. On Thursday, Seven & I Holdings reported a record group net profit of ¥203 billion ($1.8 billion) in the business year ending February, up 12.1 percent from the previous year, backed by robust sales of its overseas convenience stores.
|
convenience stores;seven-eleven japan;fumihiko nagamatsu
|
jp0002530
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/04
|
U.K. government and labor union officials plan trip to Japan in bid to save Honda's Swindon plant
|
SWINDON, ENGLAND - British government officials and senior labor union members are set to visit Japan soon to urge Honda Motor Co. to review its plan to close its automobile plant in Swindon, in the south of the country. Late last month, thousands of people — including workers from the factory of the major automaker and parts suppliers for the Swindon facility — staged a rally to call for the cancellation of the decision to shut down the factory. Honda’s decision is “shocking” and “still unbelievable,” said 43-year-old Jos Fernandes, who has been working at the plant for eight and a half years. “I love Honda,” he continued, pointing to difficulties finding a different job in Swindon. In the demonstration, believed to the first of its kind in Swindon in some 40 years, Fernandes and other participants marched for about an hour, chanting slogans including “Save Honda.” Many placards calling on the U.K. government to nationalize the Swindon plant were also seen. The planned end of production at the plant in 2021 is expected to affect a total of around 15,000 jobs, including some 3,500 at the factory as well as workers at parts suppliers. “We will be traveling to Japan” with senior British government officials in order to meet with Honda executives and press them to review the decision, Len McCluskey, general secretary of Unite, the largest labor union in the U.K., told rally participants. “I strongly believe it was the wrong decision,” said Greg Clark, Britain’s secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy, in a statement. “Swindon is the ideal place” to manufacture next-generation automobiles, Clark also said, citing a “highly efficient and dedicated” workforce, and a supplier network “finely tuned” to meeting needs. Meanwhile, he stopped short of commenting on the ongoing turmoil over the U.K.’s planned exit from the European Union, which is casting a dark shadow over the country’s auto industry.
|
u.k .;jobs;honda;carmakers;brexit;swindon
|
jp0002531
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/04
|
SoftBank to seek $15 billion more for huge Saudi-backed Vision Fund
|
LONDON/SAN FRANCISCO - For SoftBank Group Corp., $100 billion (¥11 trillion) isn’t enough. The conglomerate, which has reshaped the technology startup landscape with its Saudi-backed Vision Fund, is in talks with investors to add as much as $15 billion more to its already massive fund, according to people familiar with the discussions. In about two years the Vision Fund has invested more than $70 billion in tech companies. SoftBank wants to continue its deal spree while leaving enough assets in reserve to continue buying shares in companies it currently backs. Later, it plans to undergo an even more ambitious effort to assemble a second Vision Fund, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private. SoftBank has weighed a variety of ways to pump more cash into the original Vision Fund. Proposals include raising more capital, persuading state-backed investors in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi to waive their rights to debt repayments or taking out more bank loans, said the people. Terms of the fundraising have yet to be finalized, and there’s no certainty a deal will come together, one of the people said. Spokesmen for the Vision Fund and Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Co. declined to comment. Representatives for Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund didn’t respond to requests for comment. The Vision Fund has been writing huge checks at a rapid rate since raising the bulk of the fund in 2017. SoftBank has signed dozens of deals with startups involved in cancer detection, construction, dog walking, indoor farming, ride-hailing, satellites and window glass. SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son has said he intends to raise a new $100 billion fund every two or three years. For a while, SoftBank appeared to have a long-term partner in Saudi Arabia. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the chairman of the nation’s sovereign wealth fund, said in October that he would pledge another $45 billion to the next Vision Fund. Then the crown prince came under fire over accusations that he ordered the assassination of a Washington Post journalist. He denied prior knowledge and blamed the killing on Saudi security operatives who had gone rogue. Amid the international scrutiny that followed, the relationship with SoftBank and its biggest Middle Eastern investors showed signs of fraying. The Wall Street Journal reported in February that representatives of the Saudi and Abu Dhabi funds had voiced concerns over the high prices the Vision Fund was paying for tech stocks. Son had been holding preliminary discussions with investors last year about backing a second fund that could be established as soon as this year. The new fund would likely draw a wider pool of financiers. SoftBank is seemingly in a more favorable negotiating position now. The stock is up about 50 percent this year. Although the debut of the second fund isn’t expected imminently, executives from SoftBank have been meeting over recent months with a range of investors — some of whom backed the original Vision Fund and others who didn’t — in attempts to nail down commitments, people familiar with the talks now say. One stopgap to keep the money flowing came last month, when the Vision Fund secured a $3 billion loan from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and other banks. SoftBank executives have since renewed talks with banks to potentially take on even more debt for the Vision Fund, said people familiar with the discussions. Another idea currently under consideration would enable the fund to reinvest some of the $5.6 billion profit it has made from investments in Nvidia Corp. and Flipkart, said the people. Or they might wait until Uber Technologies Inc. and Slack Technologies Inc. go public in the coming months and include a piece of those profits, one of the people said. Either scenario would require investors to approve changes to their contracts, which is no small feat. A third scenario relies predominantly on the fund’s backers in the Middle East. SoftBank is asking investors to consider giving up the $3 billion a year they demanded in exchange for $40.6 billion in a preferred equity loan to the fund, the people said. Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi hold the vast majority of that stock.
|
saudi arabia;tech;softbank;startups;investments;masayoshi son;uae;abu dhabi;vision fund
|
jp0002532
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/04
|
Yodobashi to buy outdoor goods shop operator ICI Ishii-Sports
|
Major electronics retailer Yodobashi Holdings said Wednesday it will acquire outdoor goods shop operator ICI Ishii-Sports as early as the end of this month. The operator of Yodobashi Camera stores will buy all outstanding shares in ICI Ishii-Sports including those held by investment fund Advantage Partners, which is a significant shareholder in the target company. The value of the deal was not disclosed. Through the acquisition, Yodobashi Holdings, based in Tokyo, hopes to obtain ICI Ishii-Sports’ business expertise and customer base at a time when the popularity of mountaineering and camping is growing among women and young people. Tokyo-based ICI Ishii-Sports, established in 1964, has a strong position in sales of mountain climbing gear. “We highly rate the high-quality expertise” of ICI Ishii-Sports, Yodobashi Holdings said, adding that the move will allow the company to maintain its independence in store management and will guarantee the employment of its workers.
|
electronics;retailers;yodobashi camera
|
jp0002533
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/04
|
LCD maker Japan Display reaches bailout deal with China-Taiwan consortium
|
Display panel maker Japan Display Inc. has reached a broad agreement to receive a capital injection of ¥60 billion ($538 million) to ¥80 billion from a Chinese-Taiwanese consortium, a source close to the matter said Wednesday. The company, known as JDI, is a key supplier for Apple Inc. and is set to sign the deal with China’s Silk Road Fund and Taiwan’s TPK Holding Co. early next week. The deal offers a lifeline the firm needs to rebuild its finances and continue investing in new panel technologies, at a time when it is expecting a net loss for the fifth straight year in fiscal 2018 ended March, the source said. Japan Display has been working to achieve a turnaround with the help of government-backed fund INCJ Ltd., its biggest shareholder, which owns 25.3 percent. The Chinese fund and TPK consortium will become JDI’s top shareholder, with a stake of less than 50 percent, according to the source. INCJ’s stake will be reduced to less than 20 percent as a result. JDI said Wednesday that it is in negotiations over a capital injection and is expecting to seal a deal early next week. It had previously said it was aiming to reach an agreement this week. INCJ is also expected to refinance JDI by tens of billions of yen, including through a conversion of debt to preferred shares, bringing the total capital injection to the display panel maker to over ¥110 billion, JDI has said. Japan Display, formed in 2012 through a merger of the LCD operations of Hitachi Ltd., Sony Corp. and Toshiba Corp., has attributed its expected net loss to slowing sales of display panels for Apple products. Japanese electronics makers have been fiercely competing with South Korean rivals such as Samsung Electronics Co. in developing advanced display panels.
|
electronics;japan display;incj
|
jp0002534
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/04
|
Toshiba Memory to draw ¥1.3 trillion in bank loans before going public
|
Toshiba Memory Holdings Corp. is set to draw a total of ¥1.3 trillion ($11.7 billion) in loans from four Japanese banks, sources familiar with the situation said late on Wednesday. With the additional funds, the former chip unit of Toshiba Corp. will step up preparations for an initial public offering after buying back preferred shares currently held by Apple Inc. and other business partners. The chipmaker will get a total of ¥1 trillion from its major creditors, MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. and Mizuho Bank, and ¥300 billion from the state-backed Development Bank of Japan, the sources said. The company had sought to list on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange earlier, in September, but that is not likely to happen before November, according to the sources. The government-backed INCJ fund was considering investing in Toshiba Memory as well, but has decided not to do so, the sources said. Due to serious financial difficulties, Toshiba was forced to sell the chip unit last year to a consortium led by U.S. private equity fund Bain Capital for about ¥2 trillion. Toshiba reinvested about ¥350 billion in the Bain-led consortium, which includes Apple, Dell Inc. and South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix Inc. Bain holds 49.9 percent of the voting rights in the chip company, while Toshiba has 40.2 percent of the rights and optical glass maker Hoya Corp. has 9.9 percent. Hynix and Apple also own stakes without voting rights. Toshiba Memory adopted a holding company structure in March.
|
banks;toshiba;smbc;mufg;mizuho;ipos;toshiba memory
|
jp0002535
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/04
|
Fastest electric car chargers wait for batteries to catch up
|
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - The viability of electric vehicles depends in part on one manufacturing plant in eastern Australia, where gleaming white cabinets the size of large refrigerators are loaded on shipping crates. They’re among the most advanced car chargers available, promising to deliver a full tank of juice in minutes. Automakers and energy companies are spearheading the global rollout of these ultrafast charging pumps to lure consumers away from gas guzzlers and toward vehicles powered by electricity. Thousands of souped-up stations are being installed along highways from China to Germany and the U.S., with the capacity to charge enough for 20 miles (32 kilometers) of driving range in one minute. Electric vehicles will comprise more than half of all new car sales in 2040, according to BloombergNEF, as prices come down and battery life and driving ranges get longer. To meet the power demand, about $50 billion of investment in charging equipment is needed through 2030, according to McKinsey & Co. Volkswagen AG, Tesla Inc. and Ford Motor Co. are among the automakers spending on high-speed chargers as they look toward that future. Current power packs aren’t compatible with the fastest chargers, and the first EVs able to fully utilize the new pumps won’t debut until later this year. Still, car companies are nudging battery-makers to catch up, to help allay nagging consumer concerns that EVs can’t take uninterrupted lengthy trips and that motorists face long, inconvenient waits to recharge on the go. “It’s about impacting that buying decision in the dealership,” said David Finn, chief executive officer of Tritium Pty, an Australian supplier of high-power chargers to more than 25 countries. “The main reason you own a car is for the freedom to do whatever you want, whenever you feel like it. That will always be playing on your mind if you have a slow charger.” The push is seeding unheralded companies in atypical manufacturing hubs, including Tritium in Brisbane and Innogy SE’s BTCPower, which has plants in California and the Philippines. It’s also enticing traditional energy and engineering companies such as Zurich’s ABB Ltd. and Portugal’s Efacec Power Solutions. A typical, slow-speed public EV charger offers about 20 miles of driving distance per hour at the plug. The next level up, called a fast charger, can add about 75 miles in 30 minutes, according to Los Angeles-based station operator EVgo Services LLC. Tritium, formed in 2001 by members of a solar-car racing team, makes pumps that add more than 215 miles of range in 10 minutes. Customers include Ionity GmbH — a consortium of carmakers, including Volkswagen and Ford, that’s partnering with energy giants such as Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Kuwait Petroleum International. Ionity is building about 400 stations — with as many as six ultrafast chargers each — on European highways to compete with networks backed by Renault SA, and Nissan Motor Co. ABB, with chargers deployed in 70 countries, is also supplying high-speed pumps. It’s “a real breakthrough in terms of convenience,” CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer told the CERAWeek conference in Houston in March. “We barbecued a couple of cars until we got there.” Electrify America, a Volkswagen unit created under a settlement in the automaker’s emissions scandal, is spending $2 billion on refueling stations in the U.S. over a decade, and installed its first ultrafast charger in Chicopee, Massachusetts, last May. “The charging capacities of electric vehicles have doubled in the space of a few years,” a Volkswagen representative wrote in an email. “We expect that fast-charging in public spaces will become the norm.” Tesla, which has more than 12,000 chargers globally, is boosting the speed of its own refueling units to cut time at the pump by as much as half. The upgrade promises to add as much as 75 miles of charge in five minutes — still lagging the ultrafast models. The speed at which current EVs can recharge is limited by factors such as the size of their battery, the voltage the pack can accept and the charger’s current. While it may be years before battery packs able to handle power from ultrafast chargers go mainstream, some new EVs — including Hyundai Motor Co.’s Kona Electric and Jaguar Land Rover Automotive Plc’s I-Pace — can already recharge faster than previous generations. Volkswagen’s Porsche brand will introduce its electric Taycan sports car later this year. It’s the first vehicle capable of taking full advantage of the fastest chargers, with a larger battery and the ability to operate at a higher voltage. “The cars are coming,” said Marty Andrews, CEO of Chargefox Pty, which installed ABB’s fastest units at some Australian charging stations. “The carmakers want ultrarapid chargers because they want this to be future-proof. This is not a six-month plan, it’s a 10-year plan.” Battery-makers are starting to follow that lead. China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. — better known as CATL — is working to improve charging speeds, according to its website. South Korea’s LG Chem Ltd., a supplier to Volkswagen, last year invested in Enevate Corp., a University of California spinoff that’s developing cells capable of ultrafast refueling. With annual EV sales reaching 2 million last year, more emphasis is being put on building a widely available public charging infrastructure, including the faster pumps. Customer experience for EV drivers is “inextricably linked to how refueling is experienced,” BNEF analyst Salim Morsy said in a September report. By the end of 2018 there were more than 630,000 public charging points installed globally, the bulk of which were in China, according to BNEF. By 2030, there may be demand for more than 20 million public EV charging pumps, the International Energy Agency forecasts. That’s good news for manufacturers such as Tritium, which added a production line in California and a discreet facility in Amsterdam for automakers to test future electric models, Chief Technology Officer James Kennedy said. “We are having to use air freight as customers just don’t want to wait six to eight weeks,” Kennedy said while inspecting completed high-speed units on the Brisbane assembly line. “They need them as fast as possible.”
|
carmakers;cars;ev
|
jp0002536
|
[
"world",
"science-health-world"
] |
2019/04/04
|
'Too big to fail — until now': Warming seas wrecking Great Barrier Reef's regrowth
|
PARIS - Rising sea temperatures have wrecked the Great Barrier Reef’s ability to regrow, researchers said Wednesday, highlighting for the first time a 90 percent fall in new corals since back-to-back heat waves bleached the World Heritage site. Following the unprecedented loss of swathes of the reef — the world’s largest living structure — in successive ocean heat waves in 2016 and 2017, the number of new corals measured a year later was found by a team of scientists to be 89 percent lower than historical levels. Coral reefs make up less than one percent of Earth’s marine environment, but are home to an estimated 25 percent of ocean life, acting as nurseries for many species of fish and a habitat for birds, sharks, dolphins and porpoises. The study measured how many adult corals survived along the 2,300-km (1,400-mile) reef, off the northeast coast of Australia, following consecutive summers of unusually warm seas that bleached and killed off numerous coral species. It discovered a “crash” in coral replacement compared to levels measured in years before a mass bleaching event. The population of one species — Acropora, a branching coral that supports thousands of marine species — tumbled by 93 percent. “We never thought we would see disturbance on a scale to affect recruitment to this extent,” said Andrew Baird, co-author of the study that appeared in the journal Nature. The team estimated that it would take between five and 10 years for the reef’s production of baby corals to fully recover — but only if there isn’t another bleaching event. Atmospheric temperatures have risen by around 1 degree Celsius (1.8 Fahrenheit) since the middle of last century, and coral is uniquely sensitive to fluctuating heat levels. Last year an expert panel of international climate experts warned that coral structures — including the Great Barrier Reef — would most likely not survive a rise of 2 C. Bleaching occurs when warmer ambient temperatures cause coral to expel tiny photosynthetic algae, draining them of their color. The Great Barrier Reef has experienced four mass bleaching events in recorded history — all within the last two decades. “Dead corals don’t make babies,” said Terry Hughes, director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at Australia’s James Cook University. “Fever babies means recovery will be slower, and the shift in species means the reefs will not recover to the same configuration as before,” he told AFP. “The question is, will that recovery be interrupted by another mass coral bleaching event due to escalating global warming?” Hughes said there may however be some hope, as evidence suggested that some coral species are more resilient to temperature fluctuations than others. The team found that while bleaching occurred in both 2016 and 2017, it took much greater heat exposure to cause the same level of bleaching the second time around — meaning the reef was naturally adapting to house more heat-tolerant coral varieties. “So the reef is now moving rapidly to a new configuration, with a greater proportion of the species that are resistant to bleaching, or that are capable of bouncing back the fastest,” Hughes said. The number of species, however, would likely be greatly reduced, earlier research has shown. Co-author Morgan Pratchett, however, warned that there is a limit to the amount of warming the reef can take. “It’s highly unlikely that we could escape a fifth or sixth (bleaching) event in the coming decade,” she said. “We used to think that the Great Barrier Reef was too big to fail — until now.”
|
climate change;coral;great barrier reef
|
jp0002537
|
[
"world",
"science-health-world"
] |
2019/04/04
|
1 in 5 deaths worldwide linked to unhealthy diet, study says
|
LONDON - Eleven million deaths worldwide in 2017 were linked to people eating poor diets high in sugar, salt and processed meat that contributed to heart disease, cancer and diabetes, a global study found. The research, published in the Lancet medical journal, found that among 195 countries studied, the proportion of diet-related deaths was highest in Uzbekistan and lowest in Israel. The United States ranked 43rd, Britain 23rd, China 140th and India 118th. Among the 20 most populous countries, Japan had the lowest rate of diet-related deaths, with salt being the top risk factor. On average, consumption of healthier foods such as nuts and seeds, milk and whole grains was too low and people consumed too many sugary drinks and too much processed meat and salt. This led to 1 in 5 deaths in 2017 being linked to bad diets. The Global Burden of Disease study tracked trends from 1990 to 2017 of consumption of 15 dietary factors. Chris Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, which led the work, said it “affirms what many have thought for several years.” “Poor diet is responsible for more deaths than any other risk factor in the world,” he said. Our assessment suggests the leading dietary risk factors are high intake of sodium or low intake of healthy foods such as whole grains, fruit, nuts and seeds and vegetables.” The study found people ate only 12 percent of the recommended amount of nuts and seeds — an average intake of 3 grams a day, compared with the recommended 21 grams — and drank more than 10 times the recommended amount of sugary drinks. Diets high in sugar, salt and bad fats are known risk factors for heart disease, stroke, diabetes and many types of cancer. The global diet also included less than a quarter of the recommended amount of whole grains — at 29 grams average intake a day, compared with the recommended 125 grams — and almost double the recommended amount of processed meat — at around 4 grams average intake per day, compared with the 2 grams recommended. A study in January suggested an “ideal diet” for health and for the planet would include a doubling of consumption of nuts, fruits, vegetables and legumes, and a halving of meat and sugar intake. The study found that of the 11 million diet-related deaths in 2017, 10 million were from cardiovascular diseases, 913,000 from cancer and 339,000 from type 2 diabetes. Annual deaths related to diet have increased from 8 million in 1990, but the researchers said this was largely due to larger and older populations.
|
deaths;diet;fruit;lancet;sodium;global burden of disease;nuts
|
jp0002538
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/04
|
Report: Pilots in doomed Ethiopian Airlines jetliner followed Boeing's emergency steps
|
WASHINGTON/DALLAS - New details in the probe into the Ethiopian 737 jetliner crash indicate the pilots disabled a safety system driving down the nose yet still crashed, deepening the mystery of what happened. Ethiopian authorities were preparing to release a preliminary report on the accident Thursday. The flight crew on the Ethiopian Airlines flight followed a protocol set by plane-maker Boeing to manually disable an automated anti-stall system as they tried to save the 737 Max jet, a person familiar with the situation said. The Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System engaged numerous times during the short flight, the person said. MCAS, which is programmed to push down a plane’s nose to help prevent stalls, is a focus of concern by regulators and lawmakers after 346 people died in crashes of Boeing’s newest version of the 737 flown by Ethiopian and Lion Air less than five months apart. The two disasters have rocked the credibility of Boeing as well as U.S. regulators who approved the new plane. Regulators around the world grounded the 737 Max, Boeing’s fastest-selling plane ever, before the U.S. FAA followed suit. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that the pilots on the deadly flight initially followed the emergency procedures laid out by Boeing, cutting power to electric motors driven by the automated system. The newspaper said pilots turned electric power back on after cranking a manual wheel that turned the same movable surfaces on the plane’s tail that MCAS had affected. “Hearing that the pilots executed the procedures, as stark as the story is, is good news,” said Dennis Tajer, spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association, which represents pilots at American Airlines. “To get my trust and confidence in the new software, I have to have some trust issues revisited.” Boeing is working on a redesigned software package designed to limit MCAS’s movements and make it more reliable so that it won’t cause accidents in the future. The company needs several more weeks to finish, and the process is subject to approval by U.S. regulators. The American Airlines pilots who flew Boeing simulators last week were surprised at how fast the plane’s trim system tried to push the nose down when MCAS activated, Tajer said. “They were able to disconnect it and were able to use the manual trim, but they said it was a handful,” he said. “This is a complex emergency.” Boeing recommended against jumping to conclusions before the Ethiopian report is published. “We urge caution against speculating and drawing conclusions on the findings prior to the release of the flight data and the preliminary report,” it said Wednesday. The data leaking out from the investigation raise many questions and still don’t provide a clear sense of why the plane crashed, said Jeffrey Guzzetti, the former director of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s Accident Investigation Division. Following part of the procedure by turning off power to the motor driving the plane’s trim system makes sense, Guzzetti said. But turning it back on — which wasn’t recommended by Boeing and aviation regulators — wasn’t appropriate, he said. “It just seems to me that the crew should have kept the thing off,” he said. At the same time, the fact that the system flummoxed two Lion Air crews in Indonesia in October, including one that crashed shortly after takeoff, and possibly the Ethiopian pilots suggests that investigators will need to review whether the processes were too complex, he said. “There may be additional distractions and issues that are preventing crews from doing what they need to be doing,” he said. Once the Ethiopian pilots disengaged the trim system — cutting power to its motor and preventing MCAS from acting — they would have had to adjust the trim manually using wheels on either side of the cockpit. Trim moves the horizontal wing at the rear of the plane, adjusting how high or low the nose is pointed. Those manual adjustments require coordination in the cockpit during a hectic time because one pilot may need to concentrate on flying the plane while the other moves the trim wheel by hand. There are a range of reasons why pilots might not feel comfortable making those manual adjustments, said a U.S. 737 Max pilot. They may not have been trained adequately on how the trim wheel works, may not have used an arm on the wheel to make large adjustments or may not have coordinated well between each other, said the pilot, who wasn’t authorized to speak and asked not to be identified.
|
ethiopian airlines;aircraft accidents;lion air;boeing 737 max;mcas
|
jp0002539
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/04/04
|
U.S. senators want stiff sanctions to deter Russia election meddling
|
WASHINGTON - U.S. Republican and Democratic senators introduced legislation on Wednesday seeking to deter Russia from meddling in U.S. elections by threatening stiff sanctions on its banking, energy and defense industries and sovereign debt. The Deter Act is the latest effort by U.S. lawmakers to increase pressure on Moscow over what they see as a range of bad behavior, from its aggression in Ukraine and involvement in Syria’s civil war to attempts to influence U.S. elections. The measure was introduced by Sens. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat, and Marco Rubio, a Republican. They had offered a similar measure last year, when it also had bipartisan support but was never brought up for a vote by the Senate’s Republican leaders, who have close ties to President Donald Trump. Trump has gone along with some previous congressional efforts to increase sanctions on Russia, although sometimes reluctantly. Backers of stronger action against Russia believe such measures will have better prospects in 2019, given control of the House of Representatives by Democrats, who are less reluctant than Trump’s fellow Republicans to push back against the White House. The legislation would require the U.S. director of national intelligence (DNI) to determine, within 30 days of any federal election, whether Russia or another foreign government, or anyone acting as an agent of that government, had engaged in election interference. If the DNI found such interference occurred, the act would require, among other things, that mandatory sanctions be imposed within 10 days on, among others, Russian banks and energy companies. The act would mandate that sanctions be imposed on two or more of the following Russian banks: Sberbank, VTB Bank, Gazprombank, Vnesheconombank and Rosselkhozbank. It also would order the prohibition of all transactions subject to U.S. jurisdiction in Russian sovereign debt, Russian government bonds and the debt of any entity owned or controlled by Russia’s government. The sanctions would include blocking — freezing without seizing — any assets in the United States of those targeted for sanction, including senior Russian political figures and business leaders. Russia denies trying to influence U.S. elections. But U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies have found that Moscow sought to intervene in the 2016 vote to boost Trump’s chances of winning the White House. An investigation by U.S. special counsel Robert Mueller did not establish that members of Trump’s campaign conspired with Russia during the 2016 election, according to a summary released by U.S. Attorney General William Barr last month. The Deter Act is targeted at Russia but notes that U.S. intelligence has identified China, Iran and North Korea as other major foreign government cyberthreats. It also asks that Trump’s administration present Congress with a strategy on preventing interference in U.S. elections for each of those countries and other countries of significant concern. The senators timed the bill’s release to come after the end of Mueller’s investigation, which has cast a shadow over the first two years of Trump’s presidency, and just before an address to Congress by Jens Stoltenberg, secretary general of the NATO alliance, who has focused on the threat posed by Russia.
|
congress;russia;banks;sanctions;u.s. senate;donald trump;election meddling;deter act
|
jp0002540
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/04/04
|
American kidnapped on Ugandan safari, with $500,000 ransom demanded
|
KAMPALA - An American woman and her driver have been kidnapped at Uganda’s most popular wildlife park by gunmen demanding a ransom of $500,000, police said on Wednesday. Kimberley Sue Endecott, 35, and Ugandan driver Jean Paul were on a game drive in Queen Elizabeth National Park when four gunmen ambushed their vehicle on Tuesday evening, a police statement said. Various illegal groups from Somali Islamists to Congolese-based rebels sometimes operate in Uganda, but the kidnappers’ identity was not known. An elderly couple also at the scene were not taken and raised the alarm. “I suspect the kidnappers left them because they were elderly. They took all their possessions,” said Ugandan government spokesman Ofwono Opondo. Califonia-based Endecott and the couple, whose relationship was unclear, entered Uganda on March 29 and flew the next day to the park in the country’s southwest, the spokesman added. The Somali Islamist militant group al-Shabab has carried out attacks in Uganda in the past, but has never been known to kidnap anyone for ransom there. The park, Uganda’s most visited, is located about 400 km (250 miles) southwest of the capital Kampala, near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which is home to many fragmented rebel groups. Police said the kidnapping appeared financially motivated, since the group quickly made a demand using Endecott’s mobile. “The joint security teams have cut off all exit areas on the border between Uganda and the DRC in search of the victims,” the statement added, warning the group may still be in the park. The U.S. embassy in Kampala said it would be issuing a statement later. In 1999, an American couple, four Britons and two New Zealanders were killed along with four Ugandan guides when their group was ambushed by gunmen in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. Survivors said the killers appeared to be Congo-based Hutu rebels. Bwindi begins about 20 km (12 miles) south of Queen Elizabeth National Park, where tourists flock to see lions, hippos, crocodiles, chimpanzees and other African wildlife in an area of lakes, savanah, forests and swamps.
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kidnapping;terrorism;uganda;al-shabab;kimberley sue endecott
|
jp0002541
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/04/04
|
Democrats formally seek six years of Trump's tax returns
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WASHINGTON - A House committee chairman formally asked the IRS to provide six years of President Donald Trump’s personal tax returns and the returns for some of his businesses as Democrats try to shed light on his complex financial dealings and potential conflicts of interest. The request by Massachusetts Rep. Richard Neal, who heads the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, is the first such demand for a sitting president’s tax information in 45 years. The unprecedented move is likely to set off a huge legal battle between Democrats controlling the House and the Trump administration. Neal made the request Wednesday in a letter to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, asking for Trump’s personal and business returns for 2013 through 2018. He asked for the documents in seven days, setting an April 10 deadline. Trump told reporters Wednesday he “would not be inclined” to provide his tax returns to the committee. Democrats insist that obtaining Trump’s tax filings falls within their mandate of congressional oversight. Republicans have denounced it as a political witch hunt and invoked privacy concerns. “We have completed the necessary groundwork for a request of this magnitude, and I am certain we are within our legitimate legislative, legal and oversight rights,” Neal said in a statement Wednesday evening. Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, the senior Republican on the Ways and Means panel, denounced the move as “an abuse of the tax-writing committees’ statutory authority.” “Weaponizing our nation’s tax code by targeting political foes sets a dangerous precedent and weakens Americans’ privacy rights,” Brady wrote in a letter Wednesday to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who oversees the IRS. “As you know, by law all Americans have a fundamental right to the privacy of the personal information found in their tax returns.” The legal battle set to ensue could take years to resolve, possibly stretching beyond the 2020 presidential election. Trump broke with decades of tradition for presidential candidates by refusing to release his income tax filings during his 2016 campaign. He has said he won’t release them because he is being audited, even though IRS officials have said taxpayers under audit are free to release their returns. Trump claimed at a news conference following the November election that the filings are too complex for people to understand. The IRS has a policy of auditing the tax returns of all sitting presidents and vice presidents, “yet little is known about the effectiveness of this program,” Neal said in the statement. “On behalf of the American people, the Ways and Means Committee must determine if that policy is being followed, and if so, whether these audits are conducted fully and appropriately.” Neal continued, “In order to fairly make that determination, we must obtain President Trump’s tax returns and review whether the IRS is carrying out its responsibilities.” Neal is one of only three congressional officials authorized under to make a written request to the Treasury secretary for anyone’s tax returns. The Internal Revenue Service is part of the Treasury Department. A rarely used 1924 law says the Treasury chief “shall furnish” the requested material to members of the Ways and Means Committee for them to examine behind closed doors. A spokesman for Mnuchin didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Mnuchin suggested in testimony to Congress last month that he would protect Trump’s privacy if the House Democrats requested his tax returns. “We will examine the request and we will follow the law … and we will protect the president as we would protect any taxpayer” regarding their right to privacy, Mnuchin said.
|
u.s .;congress;taxes;corruption;democrats;donald trump
|
jp0002542
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/04/04
|
'White power' graffiti defaces historic Tennessee civil rights site that was victim of fire
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ATLANTA - Racist graffiti was painted in the parking lot of a Tennessee social justice center that hosted giants of the 1960s U.S. civil rights movement, such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks, it said on Tuesday. The Highlander Research and Education Center, whose main office burned down last week, was home to innumerable documents, recorded speeches and artifacts from the movement that were lost in the fire, it said on its website. It described the graffiti only as a “white power” symbol painted on the parking lot. “While we do not know the names of the culprits, we know that the white power movement has been increasing and consolidating power across the south,” the center said in a statement on Tuesday. “Now is the time to be vigilant.” Friday’s fire was less than a week after another fire police say was race-driven arson at a Southern California mosque, where racist graffiti was left in the parking lot. No one was injured in either fire. The Jefferson county sheriff’s office is investigating the Highlander Center fire as a possible crime, broadcaster NBC and other media have said. A sheriff’s spokesperson was not immediately available to comment to Reuters early on Wednesday. The Highlander Center helped organize the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycotts of 1955 that were among the first major civil rights protests of the movement in the United States. Protesters, mostly black residents, refused to ride city buses in a bid to defy racial segregation, after Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white person. The center also helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, a youth movement that worked with Martin Luther King Jr.’s efforts to ensure voting rights and social justice for minorities, it said on its website.
|
u.s .;racism;graffiti;arson;martin luther king jr .;tennessee
|
jp0002544
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/04
|
Trump again threatens Mexico border closure and throws ball back to Congress, drawing business outcry
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WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump again threatened on Wednesday to close the U.S. border with Mexico, this time calling on Congress to take steps immediately to deal with immigration and security loopholes that he says are creating a national emergency. “Congress must get together and immediately eliminate the loopholes at the Border!” Trump wrote in a Twitter post. “If no action, Border, or large sections of Border, will close. This is a National Emergency!” Trump has repeatedly threatened to close the border to stem what he calls a tide of illegal immigration. On Friday, he said he would close the border this week unless Mexico took steps to stop illegal migration. The threat drew an outcry from business leaders and others, who said the move could disrupt legal crossings and billions of dollars in trade. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the largest U.S. business lobbying group, said it contacted the White House to discuss the negative impact of a border closure. Trump took a step back on Tuesday, saying action by Mexico in recent days had eased pressure on U.S. ports of entry. But he revived the closure warning on Wednesday in a bid to pressure Congress to act. White House adviser Mercedes Schlapp said on Wednesday that progress is being made with Mexico on immigration issues but she declined comment on whether the border would be closed this week. “Our resources are being stretched thin. The system is overwhelmed,” she told reporters at the White House. “We are seeing our border patrol commissioner make it very clear that we are at a breaking point.” Trump has made fighting illegal immigration from Mexico a key part of his agenda but shutting down one of the world’s most used borders might be a step too far even for many of his fellow Republicans. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday that closing the border could have devastating economic consequences, and joined his Democratic colleagues in warning Trump against such a move. The White House is looking closely at ways to lessen the economic impact of a border shutdown, Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Wednesday.
|
u.s .;congress;immigration;mexico;refugees;u.s.-mexico border;donald trump
|
jp0002545
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/04
|
Joe Biden in Twitter video: I'll be more mindful of respecting personal space'
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NEW YORK - Former Vice President Joe Biden acknowledged Wednesday that his tendency toward physical displays of affection and encouragement have made some women uncomfortable, and he promised to be “much more mindful” of respecting personal space. In a cellphone video, Biden also teased an announcement of his political plans, promising to “be talking to you about a whole lot of issues,” before conceding that his behavior had offended some. “Social norms have begun to change. They’ve shifted,” the 76-year-old Biden said, looking into the camera in a suit and open-collared shirt. “And the boundaries of protecting personal space have been reset. And I get it. I get it. I hear what they are saying. I understand.” The video posted on Twitter was Biden’s first direct comment on what has tripped up his preparations to enter the 2020 Democratic presidential campaign. He did not directly apologize but seemed to be seeking to ease some people’s discomfort. On Friday, former Nevada politician Lucy Flores wrote in New York Magazine that Biden approached her from behind, touched her shoulders and kissed the back of her head in 2014. Since then, another woman has said Biden grabbed her face when he was thanking congressional staff at a 2009 event. Biden, a former longtime U.S. senator from Delaware, first said in a statement that he did not recall the episode that Flores initially described in the magazine piece and then in subsequent weekend interviews. In the video Wednesday, Biden insisted that what he described as the compassion from where the affection comes will not change and again nodded to the steps he’s taking toward running. “But I’ll always believe governing — life, for that matter — is about connecting, connecting with people,” he said. “That won’t change.” Biden also said that he would be more careful about his actions in the future. “And I’ll be much more mindful. That’s my responsibility, my responsibility, and I’ll meet it,” Biden said. And in so doing, Biden was tacitly acknowledging a nagging concern for some voters: that he cannot adapt. “The idea that I can’t adjust to the fact that personal space is important, more important than it’s ever been, is just not thinkable,” he said in closing. “I will. I will.”
|
sexual harassment;twitter;joe biden;# metoo;2020 u.s. presidential election;lucy flores
|
jp0002546
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/04
|
Putin and new Kazakh leader talk up military and nuclear cooperation
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MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kazakhstan’s new president discussed Wednesday boosting political and military cooperation as the two leaders met after the shock resignation of strongman Nursultan Nazarbayev. Kazakhstan’s new president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, paid his first foreign visit to Russia, describing the trip as a sign of “continuity” in the two countries’ close cooperation. “I will continue the strategic course to strengthen comprehensive dialogue between our countries,” Tokayev told Putin. Kazakhstan’s veteran leader, Nazarbayev, who had ruled the energy-rich Central Asian nation since before it gained independence with the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, announced his sudden resignation last month. Nazarbayev, 78, has been known for careful diplomacy that privileges key partners Russia and China while maintaining cordial ties with the West. “We propose moving to new forms of cooperation,” Putin told reporters after the talks. “I mean first and foremost building a nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan using Russian technologies,” he added. Kazakhstan, the world’s biggest uranium producer, has been discussing the construction of its first nuclear power plant with foreign powers including Russia. Last year, Russia started building a nuclear power plant in Uzbekistan, the Central Asian country’s first. Putin said the two countries’ military cooperation was growing, adding that Russia trained Kazakh military experts. The 65-year-old Tokayev said the two leaders discussed assembling civil helicopters and establishing maintenance centers to repair military equipment. Nazarbayev has the constitutional status of “Leader of the Nation” as well as a lifetime position as chief of the security council and will retain a decisive role in decision-making. Tokayev was previously the leader of the senate, where he was succeeded by Nazarbayev’s daughter, Dariga Nazarbayeva, triggering talk of an eventual dynastic succession.
|
vladimir putin;russia;military;nuclear energy;kazakhstan;nursultan nazarbayev;kassym-jomart tokayev
|
jp0002547
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/04
|
First images of Saudi nuclear reactor show plant nearing finish
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VIENNA - Saudi Arabia is nearing completion of its first nuclear reactor, satellite images of the facility show, triggering warnings about the risks of the kingdom using the technology without signing up to the international rules governing the industry. The research facility is located in the southwest corner of the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology in Riyadh, according to images published by Google Earth. The satellite photos are the first in the public domain to confirm that the program is advancing, showing construction nearing its finish around a columnar vessel that will contain atomic fuel. The advancement is alarming to arms-control experts because Saudi Arabia has yet to sign up to the international framework of rules that other nuclear powers follow to ensure that civilian atomic programs aren’t used to build weapons. Nuclear fuel providers won’t move to supply the unit until new surveillance arrangements have been sealed with the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. “There’s a very high probability these images show the country’s first nuclear facility,” said Robert Kelley, a former IAEA director who also led the U.S. Department of Energy’s remote sensing laboratory. “It means that Saudi Arabia has to get its safeguards in order.” Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry said in a statement the facility’s purpose is to “engage in strictly peaceful scientific, research, educational and training activities in full compliance with international agreements.” The reactor is being built with transparency, and the kingdom has signed all international nonproliferation treaties, the ministry said, adding that the facility is open to visitors. Neither the IAEA nor Saudi Arabia’s mission to the agency responded to phone calls and emails seeking comment. An official at the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy, a government entity that is managing Saudi Arabia’s nuclear program, declined to comment to a reporter. While Saudi Arabia has been open about its ambitions to acquire a nuclear plant, less is known about the kinds of monitoring the kingdom intends to put in place. More arms-control experts are now scrutinizing Saudi Arabia’s nuclear work because of official statements that the kingdom could try to acquire nuclear weapons. A little over a year ago, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said the kingdom would develop a bomb if its regional rival Iran did so. Those statements raised a red flag within the nuclear monitoring community, which is uneasy that it has more ability to access nuclear sites in Iran than it does in Saudi Arabia. “The much louder debate in Washington is about whether Saudi Arabia acquires nuclear weapons,” said Sharon Squassoni, a researcher and former diplomat on non-proliferation issues at George Washington University. Focus on the program has increased since the U.S. Congress opened an investigation into the potentially illegal transfer of sensitive technologies to the kingdom. The U.S. Government Accountability Office joined the probe this week, adding its weight as the federal watchdog assigned to examine work that U.S. companies are seeking to do in Saudi Arabia. Argentina’s state-owned INVAP SE sold the unit to Saudi Arabia, which plans to start it later this year. The containment vessel is about 10 meters (33 feet) high with a 2.7 meter diameter, matching specifications of other research reactors, according to Kelley, who also used images published by Zamil Industrial Investment Co. to reach his conclusion. The steel vessel was made in Saudi Arabia. It will contain uranium fuel that as been enriched to a purity well short of levels used in weapons. Saudi Arabia is currently signed up to the IAEA’s so-called Small Quantities Protocol, a set of rules that will become obsolete once the nation needs atomic fuel. The government hasn’t adopted the rules and procedures that would allow nuclear inspectors to access potential sites of interest. In the rarefied world of nuclear monitoring, the IAEA is responsible for sending hundreds of inspectors around the world to look after and maintain a vast network of cameras, seals and sensors. Their job is to account for even gram-size levels of enriched uranium, ensuring that the key ingredient needed for nuclear power isn’t diverted to weapons instead. Without submitting to tighter IAEA monitoring, the kingdom would struggle to fuel its reactor. “Saudi Arabia will have to move to a full-scope comprehensive safeguards agreement with subsidiary arrangements before the unit is fueled,” said Rafael Mariano Grossi, who is Argentina’s envoy to the IAEA. His comment marks the second time in a month that officials at the Vienna institution have reminded Saudi Arabia that it needs to follow stricter international rules before delving deeper into its ambitious nuclear program. The aim of monitoring is to ensure that nuclear materials used in a civilian power plants don’t end up going into a weapons program. The U.S. is focusing on whether Saudi Arabia will adopt a so-called gold-standard agreement that would make authorities in Washington comfortable with signing off on deeper involvement by U.S. companies. While the kingdom’s deal with Argentina allowed some work on the research reactor to progress, it can’t fill the monitoring gaps that need to be filled before the Riyadh facility is fueled, Squassoni, the Georgetown academic, said in an interview. “The fuel isn’t going to be supplied until it has a strong safeguards agreement in place,” Squassoni said. “Once they cross that threshold of needing fuel, it has to be in place.” The ability of IAEA inspectors to gain access to facilities in Saudi Arabia is currently restricted because its program is developing “based on an old text” of safeguard rules, IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said last month. His agency is encouraging the kingdom to rescind those old rules and adopt a so-called additional protocol — the most stringent inspection guidelines available. Amano is scheduled to hold meetings in Washington this week. The 2013 deal between INVAP and Saudi Arabia opened the door to potentially lucrative new business for the debt-strapped South American country, which has been exporting research reactors for decades while also developing new modular power units. Those so-called small modular reactors are a focal point of the kingdom’s nuclear ambitions, which aim for some 3.2 gigawatts of atomic power by 2030, according to an IAEA briefing given by Saudi regulators.
|
saudi arabia;nuclear weapons;nuclear energy
|
jp0002548
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"science-health-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/04
|
Indonesia may close island of Komodo dragons to thwart smuggling
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JAKARTA - Indonesia may temporarily shut an island that is home to Komodo dragons in a bid to fix problems created by mass tourism and thwart attempts to smuggle the world’s biggest lizard, the local tourism agency said Thursday. The proposed closure, which is awaiting central government approval, would start from 2020 but does not apply to nearby islands where the giant, slavering carnivores are also found, the agency said. Thousands of tourists annually descend on the cluster of islands in the eastern part of the sprawling archipelago nation — the only place in the world where Komodo dragons can be seen in their natural habitat. Komodo Island is home to some 2,300 dragons, which can grow to around three meters (10 feet) in length. An adult typically weighs from 70 to 90 kilograms (150 to 200 pounds). “Mass tourism is already happening on Komodo Island and it’s really disturbing,” local tourism agency head Marius Ardu Jelamu told AFP. “When there are too many tourists in sensitive areas like Komodo National Park, the dragons can be adversely affected,” he added. Jakarta has agreed in principle to temporarily shutter the national park, Jelamu said. During the proposed closure, conservationists would work to rehabilitate endemic plants and boost the number of deer, boars and other natural prey. “We want Komodo Island to be like the Galapagos islands … so we need to rehabilitate the flora and fauna,” Jelamu said. The move would also include tighter visitor quotas and a new ticketing system that would require tourists to book online ahead of time rather than paying on the spot. Last year, the provincial governor sparked a controversy when he proposed charging visitors $500 to see the dragons, about 50 times the current entrance fee. Security would be tightened to prevent bids to smuggle the endangered lizard, Jelamu said Thursday. Last week, police in East Java foiled an attempt to smuggle five Komodo dragons, and arrested a group of traffickers linked to the case. Those dragons were not smuggled from the national park, however, according to the environment ministry.
|
nature;indonesia;animals;endangered;komodo dragons
|
jp0002550
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"crime-legal-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/04
|
U.N. slams Brunei's Sharia laws condemning gays and adulterers as violation of human rights
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UNITED NATIONS - Brunei is violating human rights by implementing Islamic laws that would allow death by stoning for adultery and homosexuality, the United Nations said on Wednesday. Brunei, a Muslim-majority former British protectorate with a population of around 400,000, on Wednesday began implementing Sharia laws, which punish sodomy, adultery and rape with the death penalty — including by stoning, and theft with amputation. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “believes that human rights are to be upheld in relation to every person everywhere without any kind of discrimination,” said U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric. “The legislation approved is in clear violation with the principles expressed,” he said. “So long as people face criminalization, bias and violence based on their sexual orientation, gender identity or sex characteristics, we must redouble our efforts to end these violations. “Everyone is entitled to live free and equal in dignity and rights,” Dujarric said. Brunei has defended its right to implement the laws, elements of which were first adopted in 2014 and which have been rolled out in phases since then. Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, 72, is the world’s second-longest reigning monarch and is prime minister of the oil-rich country. He ranks as one of the world’s wealthiest people. Oscar-winning actor George Clooney has called for a boycott of luxury hotels owned by The Brunei Investment Company, such as the Beverly Hills Hotel, the Dorchester in London and the Plaza Athenee in Paris. The United States on Tuesday criticized Brunei’s decision to implement the laws and urged it to ratify and implement the United Nations Convention Against Torture.
|
u.n .;marriage;brunei;sultan hassanal bolkiah;adultery;antonio guterres;gays;sharia laws
|
jp0002551
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/04
|
Reiwa was only added to list of candidates for Japan's new era at final stage
|
The name of the upcoming Imperial era, Reiwa, was added to the list of candidates after mid-March during the last stage of the government’s selection process, according to sources. The number of era name proposals stood between 20 and 30 as of late January before Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga started the process of narrowing down the list, the sources said Wednesday. As of early March, Reiwa was still not on the list, and it apparently emerged after Suga on March 14 officially asked experts of Japanese literature, Chinese literature, Japanese history and East Asian history to come up with more proposals, the sources said. In the end, the government had six proposals, including Reiwa. The choice of the next era name, or gengō , was a closely guarded secret and its announcement gripped the country. It will be used on things ranging from official documents and calendars to driver’s licenses. Still, details of the selection process remain mostly under wraps. An expert, Susumu Nakanishi, who is well-versed with “Manyoshu” — Japan’s oldest poetry anthology — from which Reiwa was derived, had prior to the announcement expressed a willingness to talk to the media once the name was officially revealed. But he reversed course Sunday and decided he wouldn’t speak to the press after the announcement. It has been revealed that the government secured near-unanimous approval for Reiwa from the panel that met on Monday to review the six proposals. The panel included experts handpicked by Suga from various fields such as academia, business and media to reflect diverse views. “The atmosphere in the room was that everyone thought Reiwa was the best fit,” one participant said. Cabinet ministers later endorsed the name after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe proposed that it be selected, according to the sources. Abe has said “Manyoshu” symbolizes Japan’s rich culture and long tradition and that the new era name means “culture coming into being and flourishing when people bring their hearts and minds together in a beautiful manner.” The government unveiled the new name on Monday and has translated the name as “beautiful harmony.” Crown Prince Naruhito is set to ascend to the throne on May 1, taking over from his father Emperor Akihito. A gengō is used during an emperor’s reign. Reiwa became the first era name to break with tradition and be derived from a Japanese classic rather than a Chinese work.
|
abdication;manyoshu;susumu nakanishi;reiwa
|
jp0002553
|
[
"national",
"science-health"
] |
2019/04/04
|
Japanese study uncovers protein that keeps skin youthful, helping strong cells squeeze out the weak
|
Beauty might only be skin deep, but for those wondering how to keep that skin young, Japanese scientists may have found an answer in the form of a protein that encourages cell competition. The prosaically named COL17A1 might not sound like a fountain of youth, but the new study suggests it does the heavy lifting when it comes to keeping skin intact and unimpaired. The protein works by encouraging cell competition, a key process to maintain tissue fitness. That effectively “drives out” weaker cells while encouraging replication of stronger ones. “Damaged or stressed stem cells can be selectively eliminated by intact stem cells every day in our skin,” said research leader Emi Nishimura, a professor at Tokyo Medical and Dental University’s Stem Cell Biology department. But aging results in a depletion of COL17A1, as do familiar enemies of youthful skin, like UV radiation and other stress factors. And when that happens, weaker cells replicate, leaving the skin thinner, more prone to damage and slower to heal. The research, published Thursday in the journal Nature, is based on investigations using mice tails, which share many of the same characteristics as human skin. After confirming the importance of COL17A1, the team decided to investigate whether they could stimulate the protein once it was depleted — effectively looking for compounds that could kick-start the anti-aging process in skin. They isolated two chemical compounds — Y27632 and apocynin — and tested both on skin cells, with positive results. “Application of these drugs to full-thickness skin wounds significantly promoted wound repair,” the study said. The two compounds point to ways of “facilitating skin regeneration and reducing skin aging,” the study added. In a review of the study commissioned by Nature, two professors from the University of Colorado said cell competition had previously only been studied extensively in fruit flies. The research “provides evidence that healthy cells in mammals can also efficiently repopulate adult tissues, replacing unfit or damaged cells,” wrote professors Ganna Bilousova and James DeGregori. And they said the research offered “proof-of-principle” that the two chemical compounds could combat aging. “Future studies are needed to determine the mechanisms of cell competition in other tissues, and to identify compounds capable of reversing aging in other organs,” they said. Nishimura said that the work could eventually lead to products like creams or tablets that could stop skin deterioration and promote repair. “We are going to collaborate with pharmaceutical or cosmetic companies for the clinical use of the chemicals,” she said. She said additional research would investigate whether the same process might also be at work in other parts of the body that have so-called epithelial cells like skin does. “We are working on other epithelial organs as well to find out (whether) similar competition may underlie long-term tissue maintenance as well as organ aging,” she said.
|
nature;research;skin;emi nishimura;proteins
|
jp0002554
|
[
"national",
"politics-diplomacy"
] |
2019/04/04
|
Japan files protest with Russia over planned shooting practice near disputed island off Hokkaido
|
Japan lodged a protest over a planned Russian shooting exercise in waters near one of the four islands off Hokkaido that are at the center of a bilateral territorial dispute, the Japanese government said Thursday. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference the planned exercise, of which Moscow notified Tokyo on Tuesday, is “unacceptable as it would lead to a stronger Russian military presence” on the disputed islands. Suga added that Japan filed its protest the same day. The exercise was scheduled to begin Thursday and end April 12, but Japan has yet to confirm whether it has started, according to the Foreign Ministry. The four islands, known as the Northern Territories in Japan and Southern Kurils in Russia, were seized by the Soviet Union following Japan’s 1945 surrender in World War II. The dispute has prevented Tokyo and Moscow from concluding a postwar peace treaty. According to the Japanese Foreign Ministry, Moscow told Tokyo the shooting practice would be carried out off the eastern coast of Kunashiri for seven days, excluding the weekend. Russia asked that fishing vessels be warned to keep clear of the area. Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Akiba lodged the protest with Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov during a meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday. The practice comes less than a month after Russia undertook a military exercise on Kunashiri and Etorofu — another of the four islands — involving some 500 troops from machine gun and artillery units. For Moscow, the show of force appears to be aimed at gaining leverage in bilateral negotiations over a postwar peace treaty. “We closely monitor the Russian military’s movements in the Northern Territories on a regular basis,” Suga said. But he stressed the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will “continue to strive to resolve the territorial issue and sign a peace treaty.” Tokyo has argued the islands were illegally seized by the Soviet Union following Japan’s 1945 surrender, while Moscow maintains it acquired them as part of the outcome of World War II. Abe has agreed with Russian President Vladimir Putin to accelerate territorial talks based on a 1956 joint declaration which stipulates the smallest two islands — Shikotan and the Habomai islet group — be transferred to Japan once a peace pact is concluded.
|
yoshihide suga;russia;military;disputed islands;northern territories;hokkaido;kunashiri;russia-japan relations
|
jp0002555
|
[
"national",
"politics-diplomacy"
] |
2019/04/04
|
Eight more wartime forced labor lawsuits filed in South Korea against Japan firms
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SEOUL - Eight lawsuits were filed in South Korea on Thursday seeking compensation from coke producer Nippon Coke & Engineering Co. and three other Japanese companies over wartime forced labor, the plaintiffs’ lawyers said. The remaining three firms named in the suits are Nippon Steel Corp., Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and machinery manufacturer Nachi-Fujikoshi Corp. The suits have 31 plaintiffs, including surviving family members of the alleged victims, the lawyers said. They are the first wartime labor compensation lawsuits to be filed against Japanese firms that involve multiple plaintiffs since the South Korean Supreme Court in October ruled against steel-maker Nippon Steel Corp. over forced labor during World War II. Since the top court ruling, lower courts in South Korea have issued similar decisions against Japanese companies, making it likely the new lawsuits will result in similarly unfavorable outcomes for the companies being sued. Similar lawsuits are also being prepared against six other Japanese companies — Mitsubishi Materials Corp., Nishimatsu Construction Co., construction company Kumagai Gumi Co., petroleum firm Japan Energy Corp., metal producer Dowa Holdings Co. and coal importer Hokkaido Colliery & Steamship Co. — according to an official of a support group for the plaintiffs. “We plan to file more lawsuits going forward as we target a wider range of Japanese firms,” said Lee Hyung-joon, one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs, at a news conference in Seoul. Aside from the new lawsuits, at least 12 similar cases are pending in South Korea involving about 920 plaintiffs. Excluding two cases that each target a number of companies, the remaining 10 suits affect four Japanese companies: Nippon Steel, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Nachi-Fujikoshi and shipbuilder Hitachi Zosen Corp. Nippon Steel changed its name this month. It was previously called Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. Nippon Coke & Engineering was previously known as Mitsui Mining Co. Nippon Steel, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Nachi-Fujikoshi have already had company assets in South Korea seized after the firms defied court decisions ordering them to compensate the plaintiffs. But the plaintiffs have so far stopped short of asking the courts to sell them. The civic groups that support the lawsuits say the South Korean government should take action to force the settlement of the issue. “This is an issue involving everyone who suffered under Japan’s colonization, and the government should therefore be at the forefront of (efforts to forge) a settlement,” said Cho Si-hwan, a researcher at the Center for Historical Truth and Justice, at Thursday’s news conference. Tokyo maintains that the issue of compensation arising from its 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula was finalized in 1965, when Japan and South Korea established diplomatic ties, through an agreement on the settlement of problems related to property and claims. But South Korea’s top court said in its rulings in October and November that the right of victims of forced mobilization to seek compensation was not terminated by the accord. Tokyo has warned that it would retaliate if the business interests of Japanese firms were damaged by measures taken in the wake of the rulings in South Korea.
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wwii;history;south korea;nippon steel;mitsubishi heavy industries;wartime labor;south korea-japan relations;nachi-fujikoshi;nippon coke & engineering
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jp0002556
|
[
"national",
"politics-diplomacy"
] |
2019/04/04
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Japan and U.K. to postpone 'two-plus-two' security talks amid Brexit deadlock
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Tokyo and London have decided to postpone their ministerial security talks scheduled for next week, a Japanese government source said Wednesday, due to the U.K. Parliament’s continued efforts to end the Brexit impasse. The fourth “two-plus-two” meeting between the two countries’ foreign and defense ministers planned for Monday in Tokyo will be rescheduled by the end of May, the source said. The U.K. government proposed earlier in the week to postpone the meeting, citing the parliamentary duties of Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson, according to the source. They are to discuss closer defense cooperation including expanded joint training with Foreign Minister Taro Kono and Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya. Japan and the U.K. last held such security talks in December 2017 in London. With the aim of promoting a “free and open Indo-Pacific” region amid China’s growing maritime assertiveness, Japan wants to see the U.K. more deeply committed to the region, according to government sources. In January, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his U.K. counterpart, Theresa May, agreed at their meeting in London to hold the two-plus-two meeting in spring in Tokyo.
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security;u.k .;foreign ministry;defense ministry;u.k.-japan relations;brexit
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jp0002557
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[
"national"
] |
2019/04/04
|
Records bearing Emperor's seal and signature and Japan Cabinet meeting documents to be kept on paper
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Public records with an emperor’s seal and handwritten signature, as well as Cabinet meeting documents signed by ministers, are expected to fall outside the scope of the digital archiving process used by the government. The government considers it essential to save such public records in paper form in order to preserve their historical value, officials said. An emperor’s signature and seal are needed for the promulgation of laws and treaties. For example, Emperor Akihito signed and affixed his seal to the ordinance on the new era name, Reiwa, which was announced Monday. Cabinet ministers customarily put distinctive handwritten signatures, called kao, on Cabinet meeting documents. On March 25, the government adopted a basic policy on the electronic management of administrative records, stipulating that digital versions of administrative records drawn up from now on would be systematically managed as the authentic and original texts of such records. The policy is aimed at preventing a recurrence of scandals, such as the tampering of Finance Ministry records related to a controversial discounted sale of state land to school operator Moritomo Gakuen, and at improving the efficiency of public record management. The government plans to review such operations and widen the scope of records subject to digital archiving, the officials said. But the government will make an exception for records that must be saved in paper form to preserve their historical value. An official of the Cabinet Office said paper records with an emperor’s signature and seal and those with kao signatures by Cabinet ministers should be regarded as the original texts. The handwritten kanji used for the new era name’s announcement is expected to be preserved in paper form as a public record.
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history;emperor akihito;signatures;personal seals
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jp0002558
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/04
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Whaling fleet leaves for north Japan waters in last ostensibly scientific mission before IWC exit
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SENDAI - Four whaling vessels left a port in Miyagi Prefecture on Thursday to take part in the last of what the government calls a scientific research program before the country’s exit from the International Whaling Commission at the end of June. The ships, which left the port of Ayukawa, will join four other vessels from different areas of Japan on the mission to catch up to 80 minke whales in April and May off Miyagi and Aomori prefectures to gather data on the whale population, including approximate ages. They will also look at the stomach content of the animals with a view toward improving management of marine resources. The data will be used as a reference for commercial whaling, which Japan plans to resume in its exclusive economic zone for the first time in 31 years starting in July. “Scientific data collected during past missions support today’s whale hunts. We’ll make efforts to conduct commercial whaling in a sustainable manner,” Shigeki Takaya, head of the Fisheries Agency’s whaling office, said at a ceremony to mark the ships’ departure, attended by some 100 crew members and butchers of whale meat. The mission, organized by the Association for Community-Based Whaling in Fukuoka, involves vessels from the town of Taiji in Wakayama Prefecture, known for its whaling and dolphin-hunting culture, and the city of Minamiboso in Chiba Prefecture. After whale hunts planned off Miyagi and Aomori, the vessels will move to waters off Hokkaido to engage in commercial whaling. Although Japan halted commercial whaling in 1988 in line with a moratorium adopted in 1982 by the IWC, the country has hunted whales for what it claims to be scientific research since 1987, a practice criticized internationally as a cover for commercial whaling. Tokyo notified the IWC of its pullout in December after its proposal to resume commercial whaling and change decision-making rules at the body was rejected at its annual meeting in September amid a long-standing rift between pro- and anti-whaling nations.
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whales;animals;whaling;hokkaido;miyagi;aomori;iwc
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jp0002559
|
[
"national",
"history"
] |
2019/04/04
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From Meiji to Reiwa: Japan's centenarians offer a window to bygone eras
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Few Japanese born in the Meiji Era will live long enough to see the dawn of the Reiwa Era, which will begin on May 1, but those who do can offer a glimpse at past generations while providing context for the next. Era names ( gengo) have come to represent the generations of those who lived through them, unlocking bygone memories — some painful, some joyful, but all very personal — to those who experienced them. Jiro Usui, a 108-year-old former physician, was born in 1911, in the 44th year of the Meiji Era, or Meiji 44, in Ogaki, Gifu Prefecture. The Taisho Era began in 1912, the same year the Titanic sank after a fateful collision with an iceberg during her maiden voyage. Two years later saw the outbreak of World War I, when Usui was just a toddler. “The Taisho were the best years (for me). I could play until my heart was content. But the impact of the war wasn’t very good,” Usui said. He was 15 when the Showa Era began in 1926. In 1941, Usui’s younger brother set off to fight the Allies in the Pacific War and after he was killed the family only received a wooden box containing stones, as was the case with many Imperial Japanese soldiers who died in the war. During Japan’s economic boom from the postwar period to the 1970s, Usui worked as the director of a health care center and opened an internal medicine clinic after retirement. He was 78 when the Heisei Era began in 1989, and worked as a physician until the age of 105 treating patients in his region. “The best thing (about the new era) will be everyone in the next generations enjoying life,” Usui said. Although still haunted by memories of the war, he believes the choice of Reiwa as an era name, including the Chinese character wa for peace, is a sign of good things to come. “It’s about protecting the peace, isn’t it?” he posited. Motome Hirata, who lives in Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, was born on a farm in Ueda, Nagano Prefecture, in 1906, or Meiji 39. It was the same year that celebrated author Natsume Soseki’s “Botchan” was first published. Hirata, now 112, always had her head in a book as a little girl. She married into a family of silkworm breeders right when raw silk prices collapsed during the Great Depression. Struggling to make ends meet while raising four boys and two girls, she regularly worked from dawn to dusk. She would find respite from work by reading the Japanese classical poetry known as tanka. During WWII, a local women’s association to which she belonged prepared paper lanterns for use in morale-boosting parades. But the bad times outweighed the good. Sometimes she witnessed unbearable sorrow, such as when a neighboring soldier’s entire family committed suicide, even killing their child, after the war concluded in 1945. “It was particularly sad because there was a baby (in the family),” said Hirata. Although Showa was a period of intense work, Hirata said her life changed for the better during Heisei. She started participating in tanka readings and developed a passion for drawing, among other hobbies. She moved from Nagano to Chiba, where she currently lives in an apartment with her daughter, who is 74. Asked about Reiwa, the first Imperial era name to be chosen from a traditional work of Japanese poetry, Hirata said it was wonderful and that she was aware it was derived from the “Manyoshu,” given her background in poetry. Expressing hope for new generations and the era starting May 1 with the ascension of Emperor Akihito’s son, Crown Prince Naruhito, Hirata said, “I want the world to become a better place.”
|
elderly;abdication;meiji;showa;reiwa;taisho
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jp0002560
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/04
|
Yayoi Kusama polka-dot piano ready for public use at Tokyo government building, with view to die for
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Tokyoites looking for a great place to play their favorite Mozart piece take note: The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has set up a grand piano for visitors to the 45th floor of its No. 1 building in Shinjuku Ward, giving people of all skill levels a chance to perform while taking in dazzling views of the city. Renowned Japanese avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama, an “honorary citizen” of Tokyo, decorated the piano with yellow and black patterns. It was donated by a Tokyoite and is around 30 years old. After the renovated 202-meter-high South Observation Deck reopens Monday, visitors will be able to line up to play the grand piano for about five minutes each. “I hope that both those who are confident in their piano skills and those who are not will deliver melodies from the metropolitan government building to the world,” Gov. Yuriko Koike said at an event Wednesday to unveil the piano. Last June, the metropolitan government solicited a donation of a grand piano from Tokyo citizens. The chosen instrument was in the best shape out of the eight offers received. With a goal toward promoting interaction between visitors and residents, many organizations and groups in Japan have installed pianos in public places that are available for use by anyone.
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tokyo;shinjuku;piano;yayoi kusama;yuriko koike;tmg;tokyo government
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jp0002561
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/05
|
European utilities contemplating a future in which oil has gone the way of the dinosaurs
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LONDON - European oil companies have started to address what they worry may one day be an existential threat to their business — the end of a century of oil demand growth in a low carbon world. The emergence of the electric vehicle and demand among investors and consumers for cleaner energy to limit climate change has pushed the European side of Big Oil to take baby steps toward refocusing their businesses from oil production and refining to electricity via natural gas and renewables. Their funding for oil exploration dwarfs any alternatives, but they are buying up power generation and retail utilities to integrate with their long-standing natural gas and emerging renewables ventures. Relatively small investments in electricity aim to help them ride the energy transition by offering households and businesses cleaner power than coal can provide and giving their petrol stations a green edge with EV charging. Testing an electrification route also helps meet demands from shareholders that they “future-proof” their businesses. The International Energy Agency predicts regulatory changes to curb carbon emissions will mean demand for electricity will grow much faster than that for oil as Asia’s power-hungry middle class expands. The industry sees oil demand peaking any time from 2020 to 2040. Diversification is not new to the oil and gas business but has a patchy record at best. Oil majors have bought stakes in coal, household cleaning, pet food, nutrition, shrimp trading, diapers, hotels and steel, with limited success. Critics say power will not deliver the profits the oil and gas companies need to sustain the large dividends their investors are used to. BP lost billions in its first foray into renewables 20 years ago when it rebranded itself “Beyond Petroleum.” It closed its solar manufacturing division in 2011 and tried to get rid of its wind farms but says it now has a more successful model. “Most of the things we do today are linked to our core capabilities,” said Dev Sanyal, head of BP’s alternative energy division. “If you can start combining molecules and electrons in an integrated offer, you start creating something of greater interest.” Profit is the first challenge when joining the dots between renewables, gas-fired plants and utilities facing growing competition in markets that are fragmenting fast. None of the companies break down their results from renewables or power. BP returned to solar in 2017 with a $200 million investment in U.K. solar generator Lightsource and dipped a toe into U.K. electricity retail the same year by buying a 25 percent stake in Pure Planet, a small challenger brand supplying some 100,000 customers with renewable electricity. Sanyal said BP plans to expand its alternative energy capacity — the biggest among the majors, according to CDP, a climate-focused research provider that works with major institutional investors. Gazprom’s large hydropower interests put it in second place ahead of Total and then Shell, CDP calculations show. On retail, the French and Italians are ahead. French giant Total’s purchase of Direct Energie last year gave it a portfolio of gas-fired and renewable energy power plants and a platform to challenge state-controlled utility EDF. It is targeting 7 million customers in France and Belgium by 2022 and said in a recent investor presentation it aims to make low carbon electricity 15 to 20 percent of its total offering by 2040. Eni says it is now Italy’s second-largest electricity producer, with six power plants, large electricity trading business and 2 million customers. Shell says it wants to become the biggest electricity provider and over the past year has made a number of investments including a Brazilian gas-fired power plant and a U.K. utility. Last week it renamed that utility Shell Energy and switched all 710,000 customers to 100 percent renewable electricity, offering them discounts on petrol and electric car charging in its petrol stations. Mark Gainsborough, head of the Anglo-Dutch company’s new energy division, said it aims to grow its retail customer base in Britain. Shell looked into acquiring the retail division of rival SSE in recent months but discussions made little progress due to concerns over the government’s decision to cap most domestic energy prices, industry sources said, an example of the risks facing power markets around the world. Both Shell and SSE declined to comment. In a sign of the growing competition among the majors for power assets, Total is considering a rival bid to Shell for Dutch energy company Eneco, according to sources close to the matter. Total declined to comment. Eneco is valued at around €3 billion and has 2.2 million customers. Shell’s Gainsborough said it could provide a template for a power business model. Former BP CEO John Browne, who drove the London-based company’s first push into renewables, said much lower production costs for wind and solar projects and a greater understanding about the future growth of power markets have changed the picture dramatically since then. “The question is whether you have the skills, the people and the determination to make this work and are you happy that in reality the returns you make are better than the returns you make in your other business,” Browne said. Returns on solar and wind projects are typically around 5 to 10 percent, according to climate research provider CDP, half of those from many oil and gas projects. So far the oil majors have committed a small fraction of their annual investment to low-carbon technologies as they balance shareholder demands for returns and innovation. “If at the end of the day it doesn’t work, these companies have deep pockets and would be able to spin off power divisions,” said Munir Hassan, head of clean energy at the law firm CMS in the U.K. The differential in returns from power versus oil and gas has not changed much, he said, but there is a new impetus because perceptions among shareholders and their children have changed. “Some of the oil companies will succeed,” Hassan said. “But I wonder whether they will find it more painful than they expected.”
|
europe;energy;oil;renewables;electricity;wind
|
jp0002562
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/05
|
Record number of people to travel abroad during Japan's 10-day Golden Week, says JTB
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The number of people who plan to take advantage of this year’s expanded Golden Week holiday period by traveling abroad is projected to rise 6.9 percent from the year before to a record 662,000, according to the latest report on travel trends by leading travel agency JTB Corp. The number of residents of Japan traveling domestically is also projected to increase by 1.1 percent to reach a record 24.01 million, the report said. This year’s Golden Week runs from April 27 to May 6 due to events surrounding the Imperial succession. In the JTB report, which was released Thursday, the firm estimated that a record 24.67 million people had travel plans for Golden Week, up 1.2 percent from the previous year. “Apparently more people are willing to travel this year,” taking advantage of the extended holiday period, Risa Ogata, a spokeswoman for the firm, said Thursday. She added that the average cost for overseas trips was also expected to hit a record high. JTB estimates that an average traveler will spend ¥268,000 on overseas travel to cover costs such as accommodation and transport. In Japan, travelers are expected to spend ¥36,800 on services including accommodation, transport and souvenirs. The firm estimates that residents of Japan will likely spend around ¥1.06 trillion in total between April 27 and May 6, Ogata said. The findings are based on a survey conducted online from March 20 to March 22 involving 20,000 residents age 15 to 79 from all regions of Japan, with follow-up research conducted with the 2,060 respondents who said they were planning trips around Japan or abroad during the Golden Week holiday. Around 31.5 percent of those 2,060 said they were given 10 days off or more this year, and 38.6 percent of the respondents said their vacation would be longer than in the previous year. Some 8.3 percent said they were unable to travel during last year’s Golden Week. However, about 36.9 percent of the respondents planned a two-day trip, and 1 in 3 had plans for a three-day vacation, the company said. The most popular plan for domestic travelers is to visit their hometowns and spend time with their families, while those planning overseas trips prioritized relaxation, according to the findings. The survey also showed that 14.5 percent of respondents thought the longer vacation made trips to further-away places more realistic than a year ago. The research also showed that this year, more people were interested in JTB’s overseas tours to Europe, as well as ship cruises, than in past years, Ogata added. However, South Korea, Hawaii, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand were among the most popular travel destinations this year. Those who plan to stay home for Golden Week cited crowds and higher prices during the holiday season, the company said. The government created the unprecedented 10-day holiday period by designating May 1, the day when Crown Prince Naruhito will ascend to the Chrysanthemum Throne, as a one-off public holiday. Because the law says any day sandwiched between public holidays itself becomes a holiday, April 30 and May 2 became holidays as well.
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holidays;tourism;travel;golden week;jtb
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jp0002563
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/05
|
Bayer contains cyberattack it says bore Chinese hallmarks
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FRANKFURT, GERMANY - German drugmaker Bayer has contained a cyber attack it believes was hatched in China, the company said, highlighting the risk of data theft and disruption faced by big business. Bayer found the infectious software on its computer networks early last year, covertly monitored and analyzed it until the end of last month and then cleared the threat from its systems, the company said on Thursday. “There is no evidence of data theft,” Bayer said in a statement, though a spokesman added that the overall damage was still being assessed and that German state prosecutors had launched an investigation. “This type of attack points towards the ‘Wicked Panda’ group in China, according to security experts,” the spokesman added, citing DCSO, a cybersecurity group set up by Bayer in 2015 with German partners Allianz, BASF and Volkswagen. Third-party personal data were also not compromised, the spokesman said. The hackers used malware called WINNTI, which makes it possible to access a system remotely and then pursue further exploits from there, said Andreas Rohr of the DCSO. “Once it has been installed, more or less any action can be carried out,” Rohr said. Discovery of WINNTI provides clear evidence of complex and sophisticated malware that is used in a targeted, sustained espionage campaign, he added Bayer, Germany’s biggest drugmaker and the world’s largest agricultural supplies company after its takeover of Monsanto, said it could not determine exactly when its systems were first compromised. There was a WINNTI attack on computer systems at German technology group ThyssenKrupp in 2016, according to media reports at the time. Rohr declined comment in detail on the Bayer case, citing a nondisclosure agreement, but said he knew of at least five WINNTI attacks in Germany. “This is a very active group of hackers with the ability to carry multiple international attacks in parallel,” he said. Manufacturing groups across the globe are expanding their data networks as sensors, processing chips and analytical tools become more advanced and cheaper. Germany has experienced a big increase in the number of security incidents hitting critical infrastructure such as power grids, the country’s cybersecurity agency said in February. While it’s not possible to say with certainty who was responsible for the attack, because the malware used is widely available, Rohr said the methods bore the hallmarks of Chinese hackers. “The malware most probably comes from a Chinese group of ‘mercenaries’ who carry out targeted attacks and campaigns on the internet for money,” he said. “Their targets have in the past been the online gambling industry, the theft of intellectual property of the affected companies or the use of access for the purposes of espionage.” German broadcasters BR and NDR initially reported the incident.
|
china;monsanto;cyberattacks;malware;bayer;winnti;wicked panda
|
jp0002564
|
[
"business",
"economy-business"
] |
2019/04/05
|
Hiring rebounds as U.S. employers add a solid 196,000 jobs; unemployment stays at 50-year low
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WASHINGTON - Hiring rebounded in March as U.S. employers added a solid 196,000 jobs, up sharply from February’s scant gain and evidence that many businesses still want to hire despite signs that the economy is slowing. The unemployment rate remained at 3.8%, near the lowest level in almost 50 years, the Labor Department reported Friday. Wage growth slowed a bit in March, with average hourly pay increasing 3.2% from a year earlier. That was down from February’s year-over-year gain of 3.4%, which was the best in a decade. The figures reported Friday suggest that February’s anemic job growth — revised to 33,000, from an initial 20,000 — was merely a temporary blip and that businesses are confident the economy remains on a firm footing. Even with the current expansion nearly 10 years old, the U.S. economy is showing resilience. At the same time, the economy is facing several challenges, from cautious consumers to slower growth in business investment to a U.S.-China trade war that is contributing to a weakening global economy. So far this year, job gains have averaged 180,000 a month, easily enough to lower the unemployment rate over time, though down from a 223,000 average last year. In March, job growth was strongest in the service sector. Health care added 61,000 jobs, restaurants and bars 27,000 and professional and business services, which includes high-paying fields such as engineering and accounting, added 37,000. Manufacturers cut 6,000 jobs, while construction added 16,000. The overall economy is sending mixed signals. Most indicators suggest slower growth this year compared with 2018. That would mean that hiring might also weaken from last year’s strong pace. In February, employers added a surprisingly low 20,000 jobs, the fewest in nearly a year and a half, though that pullback likely reflected extreme weather and other temporary factors. Another weak jobs report Friday, though, would fuel concerns about a downshift in growth. Consumers have shown caution so far this year. Retail sales fell in February, and a broader measure of consumer spending slipped in January, potentially reflecting a waning effect of the Trump administration’s tax cuts. Businesses have also reined in their spending on industrial machinery and other equipment and on factories and other buildings. And in Europe and Asia, weaker economies have reduced demand for U.S. exports. Europe is on the brink of recession, with its factories shrinking in March at the fastest pace in six years, according to a private survey. The U.S. trade war with China has weighed on the Chinese economy, which has hurt Southeast Asian nations that ship electronic components and other goods that are assembled into consumer products in China’s factories. Economists now forecast that the U.S. economy will expand roughly 2% to 2.5% this year, down from 2.9% last year. Still, most economists have forecast a bounce-back in hiring in March to about 170,000 added jobs, according to data provider FactSet. The unemployment rate is expected to remain near a half-century low of 3.8%. Some positive signs for the economy have emerged in recent weeks: Sales of both new and existing homes rose in February after declining last year. More Americans are applying for mortgages now that rates have fallen. And some of the weakness in spending earlier this year likely reflected delays in issuing tax refunds because of the government shutdown. Refunds largely caught up with their pace in previous years in March, economists at Bank of America Merrill Lynch said, suggesting that spending may as well. The low unemployment rate and steady hiring have also raised Americans’ paychecks. Average wages grew 3.4% in February compared with a year ago, the fastest such pace since the recession. If wage growth continues to accelerate, it should fuel more spending and lift the economy in the coming months.
|
unemployment;united states economy
|
jp0002565
|
[
"business",
"economy-business"
] |
2019/04/05
|
Almost half of young Russians want to emigrate as economy stagnates: Gallup poll
|
MOSCOW - Forty-four percent of Russians aged 15-29 want to emigrate as their economy stagnates, according to a survey by the pollster Gallup. The poll, based on 2,000 face-to-face interviews conducted in 2018, indicated that 20 percent of all Russians wanted to move abroad, the highest share since 2007, when it stood at 17 percent. Young people of working age were most keen to leave, something that Gallup said threatened Russia’s future economic position and political influence. “While not all of these Russians will move, the higher desire in recent years should concern Moscow,” it said. Russia’s population declined last year for the first time in a decade, to 146.8 million, Gallup noted. Among 30-45 year-olds, 22 percent wanted to move abroad permanently. The most sought-after destinations overall were Germany and the United States. As recently as 2014, the year Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine, only 14 percent of 15-29 year-olds and 7 percent of 30-45 year-olds said they wanted to move away. Pollsters attribute the souring mood to disillusionment with five consecutive years of falling real incomes and government moves to raise the retirement age and increase value added tax. An opinion poll in January indicated that public trust in President Vladimir Putin, re-elected last year with more than 76 percent of the vote, had fallen to its lowest level in 13 years. Although his 60 percent approval rating was still high by Western standards, it was far off the 90 percent he used to score. Gallup said Russia was in danger of exceeding the 8 percent population loss that the United Nations currently projects by 2050.
|
u.s .;vladimir putin;immigration;russia;economy;germany;wages;surveys
|
jp0002566
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/05
|
METI asks Japan's convenience store chains to present plans for coping with labor shortage
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The industry minister on Friday urged operators of Japan’s eight major convenience store chains to formulate action plans to address severe labor shortages, which have been placing a burden on franchise store owners and straining the industry. During the meeting with heads of the convenience store operators, Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko said the labor shortage issue is causing growing discontent among franchisees, who face long working hours due to the chains’ 24-hour operating policies. The minister also said the aging of store owners makes the situation even worse. “Please come up with your own proactive measures on the operation of franchises and securing (enough) employees,” Seko said. Industry leader Seven-Eleven Japan Co. said Thursday it will review its 24-hour operating policy after one of its franchise owners cut the business hours at his store without approval from Seven-Eleven due to a labor shortage. The operators will formulate improvement measures for addressing the labor shortage and operational efficiency, among other issues, with the aim of submitting their action plans to the government by the end of this month. The industry ministry plans to launch a panel that will check whether the operators have actually implemented the plans. According to a preliminary report on the results of a survey conducted on franchise store owners operating under the eight chains, 61 percent of respondents said they do not have enough employees. “We are taking the situation seriously,” said Isamu Nakayama, chairman of the Japan Franchise Association. Chiefs of the convenience store operators joining the industry minister at the meeting included Kazuki Furuya, president of Seven-Eleven Japan; Fumihiko Nagamatsu, the vice president of Seven-Eleven Japan, who will replace Furuya next week; Takashi Sawada, president of FamilyMart Co.; and Sadanobu Takemasu, president of Lawson Inc.
|
jobs;meti;convenience stores;lawson;seven-eleven;hiroshige seko;familymart
|
jp0002567
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/05
|
France says 'new elements' in Ghosn case passed to judiciary
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PARIS - Renault’s internal probe into allegations of financial wrongdoing by former CEO Carlos Ghosn has revealed “new elements” that have been passed onto the authorities, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Thursday. “There are new elements that emerged within the framework of the probe that I asked for a few weeks ago,” Le Maire told the BFM news channel, hours after Ghosn, who was also chairman of Nissan, was rearrested in Japan. “These elements have been passed onto the judiciary and the judiciary will evaluate these elements,” he added, without giving details about the nature of the new information. “I tell you that I have asked for total transparency. We owe this to our compatriots,” Le Maire said, noting that he had last year asked for a detailed internal probe from Renault. Japanese authorities arrested the 65-year-old early Thursday less than a month after he was dramatically freed on bail following more than 100 days in detention. The auto tycoon, in a statement, slammed his latest detention as “outrageous and arbitrary. Le Maire insisted that he wanted to “throw every light on the previous corporate governance at Renault. Pressed on Ghosn’s latest arrest in Japan, Le Maire insisted that the tycoon “was equal before the law like any other” and “should benefit from the presumption of innocence and consular protection. Japanese prosecutors said Ghosn had been detained over transfers of Nissan funds totalling $15 million between late 2015 and the middle of 2018. They suspect $5 million of that amount was used by Ghosn for personal expenditure. Renault had also announced late Wednesday that a joint Renault-Nissan audit of their Dutch subsidiary RNBV had raised “serious questions” over millions of euros in expenses incurred by Ghosn. The statement said that “RNBV’s internal organization suggests serious deficiencies in terms of financial transparency and expenditure control procedures.”
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tokyo;france;nissan;renault;carlos ghosn
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jp0002568
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[
"business"
] |
2019/04/05
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Japan's Naomi Osaka, tennis world No. 1, drops Adidas and signs with Nike
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World No. 1 Naomi Osaka has agreed a deal with Nike, the sports apparel giant has announced. The Japanese tennis player, who had previously been tied to rival Adidas, will first wear Nike gear at the Stuttgart Grand Prix later this month, the U.S. sportswear-maker said on its website. “I’m proud to become a member of the Nike family and excited about getting involved in all of the opportunities Nike has to offer,” said Osaka in the statement. “Nike has a legendary track record of writing history and I look forward to being a part of those moments for many years to come.” Osaka has won the last two Grand Slams, having become the first ever Japanese player to win one of the four majors when she overcame Serena Williams at the U.S. Open in September. “Naomi is an incredible talent to add to our roster and help drive our commitment to inspiring a new generation of female athletes,” Nike VP Amy Montagne added in the statement. “We are thrilled to have her join our team.” Osaka’s ascent to the top of the women’s game has made her a hot marketable commodity for the world’s top brands. She already has deals with All Nippon Airways, car manufacturer Nissan and watch company Citizen, among others.
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tennis;nike;adidas;naomi osaka
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jp0002569
|
[
"business",
"tech"
] |
2019/04/05
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U.S. conducted FISA-approved secret surveillance of Huawei, prosecutors say
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NEW YORK - U.S. authorities gathered information about Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. through secret surveillance they plan to use in their case charging the Chinese telecom company with violating sanctions against Iran, prosecutors said Thursday. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Solomon said at a hearing in federal court in Brooklyn the evidence, obtained under the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), would require classified handling. Information gathered under FISA is generally used in espionage cases. The government notified Huawei in a court filing Thursday of its intent to use the information, saying it was “obtained or derived from electronic surveillance and physical search,” but gave no details. The United States has been pressuring other countries to drop Huawei from their cellular networks, worried its equipment could be used by Beijing for spying. The company says the concerns are unfounded. Brian Frey, a former federal prosecutor who is not involved in the Huawei case, said FISA surveillance, which requires a warrant from a special court. Information gathered under FISA is generally used in cases involving espionage or terrorism. “The reason they typically would have gotten the surveillance through a FISA court is where we suspect someone may be spying on behalf of a foreign power,” Frey said. The U.S. government has been concerned about espionage by Huawei for years, he added. In the Brooklyn case, Huawei and its chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, are accused of conspiring to defraud HSBC Holdings PLC and other banks by misrepresenting Huawei’s relationship with Skycom Tech Co. Ltd., a suspected front company that operated in Iran. Huawei did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Huawei has said Skycom was a local business partner, but prosecutors said in their indictment against Huawei and Meng that it was an unofficial subsidiary used to conceal Huawei’s Iran business. U.S. authorities claim Huawei used Skycom to obtain embargoed U.S. goods, technology and services in Iran, and to move money via the international banking system. Meng was arrested in December in Canada after she was indicted, but the charges were not unsealed until January. She has said she is innocent of the charges and is fighting extradition. Last month, Reuters detailed how U.S. authorities secretly tracked Huawei’s activities, including by collecting information copied from electronic devices carried by Chinese telecom executives traveling through airports. It is not clear whether the FISA surveillance discussed at Thursday’s hearing included those activities.
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china;u.s .;iran;espionage;sanctions;huawei;fisa;skycom;u.s. foreign intelligence surveillance act
|
jp0002570
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2019/04/05
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Dollar tops ¥111.65 in Tokyo as hopes climb for China-U.S. trade deal
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The dollar surpassed ¥111.65 in Tokyo trading Friday, amid growing hopes for a U.S.-China trade deal. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥111.67-67, up from ¥111.35-35 at the same time Thursday. The euro was at $1.1229-1230, up from $1.1240-1241, and at ¥125.40-40, up from ¥125.16-17. The dollar traded mostly between ¥111.60 and ¥111.70 in the early morning, carrying over its strength in overnight trading overseas on expectations for progress in the ongoing U.S.-China trade negotiations. The greenback came close to ¥111.80 following a media report that Chinese President Xi Jinping noted “substantial progress” on a trade deal with Washington. But the dollar stopped climbing thereafter as the Nikkei stock average failed to expand gains and U.S. long-term interest rates turned flat in off-hours trading, a currency broker said, adding there were few incentives to trade while the Chinese markets including Hong Kong were closed. In late afternoon trading, investors concentrated on position-squaring moves before the release of the U.S. employment report for March later on Friday. Risk appetite will continue to support the dollar next week if the jobs data prove stronger than expected, an official at a foreign-exchange margin trading firm said.
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forex;currencies
|
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