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jp0003325
|
[
"world",
"social-issues-world"
] |
2019/04/01
|
Trump aides repeat threat to shut down U.S.-Mexico border on 'melting point' migrant crisis
|
WASHINGTON - The Trump administration on Sunday doubled down on its threat to shut down the southern border with Mexico, a day after it cut aid to Central American countries which President Donald Trump accused of deliberately sending migrants to the United States. Faced with a surge of asylum seekers from Central American countries who travel through Mexico, Trump said on Friday there was a “good likelihood” he would close the border this coming week if Mexico does not stop unauthorized immigrants from reaching the United States. He also accused, without providing evidence, the nations of having “set up” migrant caravans and sending them north. Speaking to ABC’s “This Week” show, White House acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said the president had few other options in the absence of any support from Democrats for more border security or legislative action to change the immigration law. “Faced with those limitations, the president will do everything he can. If closing the ports of entry means that, that’s exactly what he intends to do,” Mulvaney said. “We need border security and we’re going to do the best we can with what we have,” he added. White House adviser Kellyanne Conway told “Fox News Sunday” that the situation at the border was at “melting point” and said the president was serious in his threat. “It certainly is not a bluff. You can take the president seriously.” Neither Trump aide offered any specific details or timeline for the potential border shutdown. At a Saturday rally on the border in El Paso, Texas, Democratic presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke denounced Trump’s immigration policies as the politics of “fear and division.” Trump has repeatedly said he would close the U.S. border with Mexico during his two years in office. His latest threat had workers and students who frequently cross the border worried about the potential disruption to their lives. The government says it is struggling to deal with a surge in recent days of asylum seekers from countries in Central America who travel through Mexico and on Saturday cut aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. March is on track for 100,000 border apprehensions, Department of Homeland Security officials said, which would be the highest monthly number in more than a decade. Most of those people can remain in the United States while their asylum claims are processed, which can take years because of ballooning immigration court backlogs.
|
immigration;mexico;guatemala;refugees;honduras;el salvador;u.s.-mexico border;donald trump;kellyanne conway;mick mulvaney
|
jp0003326
|
[
"world",
"social-issues-world"
] |
2019/04/01
|
Pope hits leaders who build walls to keep migrants out, saying they ultimately imprison themselves
|
ABOARD, THE PAPAL PLANE - Pope Francis said on Sunday that political leaders who want walls and other barriers to keep migrants out “will end up becoming prisoners of the walls they build. The pope made his comments to reporters aboard the plane returning from Morocco in response to a question about migration in general and about U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to shut down the southern border with Mexico. “Builders of walls, be they made of razor wire or bricks, will end up becoming prisoners of the walls they build,” he said. Francis, who did not mention Trump in his response, has sparred with the U.S. president before over migration, which was a theme of several questions on the plane as well as during the trip to Morocco. Trump has declared a national emergency to justify redirecting money earmarked for the military to pay for his promised U.S.-Mexico border wall. “I realize that with this problem (of migration), a government has a hot potato in its hands, but it must be resolved differently, humanely, not with razor wire,” the Argentine-born pope said on the plane. Addressing Moroccan leaders on Saturday, Francis said that problems of migration would never be resolved by physical barriers but instead required social justice and correcting the world’s economic imbalances. “With fear, we will not move forward, with walls, we will remain closed within these walls,” he said on Sunday. Besides the United States, migration has again risen to the fore of national political debates in a number of North African and European countries. On the plane, Francis repeated some of the key points of his views on migration. He said wealthy countries should help eliminate the root causes of migration such as poverty, war and political instability. Migrants should be accepted, protected and integrated and if a country cannot handle the numbers, the migrants should be distributed among other countries, he said.
|
u.s .;immigration;refugees;catholic church;pope francis;morocco;donald trump;border wall
|
jp0003327
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/01
|
Rwanda's genocide killers learn new life back home
|
MUTOBO, RWANDA - Dozens of ex-militia killers stroll around an open camp beneath mist-shrouded volcanoes in Rwanda. They are learning to reintegrate into the country whose government they have spent years trying to overthrow. These are men who helped carry out Rwanda’s horrific 1994 genocide, and then formed a rebel army that has been fighting ever since. After the carnage of the Rwanda genocide, which began 25 years ago this April, the men who carried out the massacre of at least 800,000 people, mostly Tutsi, fled west to the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. Some of them are former members of Rwanda’s army. Others had joined the militia known as the Interahamwe, club- and machete-wielding Hutu gangs that carried out the killings targeting the Tutsi minority. Chased out of Rwanda, they formed a notorious rebel army, the Hutu fighters of the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda, known by its French acronym, FDLR. But after a quarter of a century haunting Congo’s forests, many of these veterans were exhausted and wanted to give up the fight. So a stream of rebels have returned home. Rwanda houses them at Mutobo, a camp some 100 kilometers northwest of the capital Kigali and beneath the Virunga Mountains, seeking to reintegrate them into society. Joseph Kabalindwi, a 50-year-old former rebel major, said he laid down his arms in 2014 “to promote peace.” Kabalindwi was one of 1,563 former FDLR fighters who returned to Rwanda last November after Congo refused to keep them on their soil any longer. But he says he is happy to be back. “Even though I left the country a long time ago, I remained Rwandan,” he said with conviction. “Rwanda is my country, and I wanted to go home.” There is no fence around the camp, but Rwanda keeps a close eye on the former rebels. The government’s demobilization and reintegration commission, which runs the Mutobo camp, has handled 11,000 fighters from rebel forces since 1997. Each batch spends three months in the camp, before they can return to the families and homes they left decades before. They are then also issued with identity papers and a one-off payment of 60,000 Rwandan francs ($66) to start their new life. In Mutobo, the former FDLR receive civic education classes aimed at combating the bloody ideology that led to the genocide. The former guerrillas also learn how to participate in the reconstruction and development of the nation, and, for men who have spent years in military fatigues, training to reacquaint them with civilian life. In November, Kabalindwi’s brothers came to visit. They had last met in 1994. “They were very happy to see me,” he said with a smile. “Some of us died in the forests of Congo, so for me it is a miracle from God to find someone who is still alive.” When he and his comrades returned to Rwanda, many believed that they would be killed immediately. Instead, they have been surprised by their reception. “Since we have been here, fear is gradually diminishing,” Kabalindwi admitted. For many FDLR fighters, mistrust of Kigali is the main obstacle to their return — as well as the fear of facing justice for the crimes they committed. In the classrooms where the men learn their lessons, the mood is serious. Focus Twiringiyimana, a 47-year old ex-FDLR fighter, takes detailed notes at a sewing machine, while the teacher at the blackboard offers instructions. Twiringiyimana passed through the camp a year ago but has returned for training to become a tailor. For his old FDLR comrades still fighting in the bush, he offers a simple message. “They should come back to the country, to work for their own development,” Twiringiyimana said. They are only wasting time and it will do them no good.” Not everyone in the camp joined the FDLR. One newcomer is Bernard Ntuyahaga, a former army major, who arrived in December from Belgium after serving 20 years in prison. He was convicted over his role in the death of 10 Belgian soldiers with the U.N. peacekeeping force, who were slaughtered in 1994 as they protected then-Rwandan Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana. She was also murdered. Ntuyahaga, now in his late 60s, returned to Rwanda in December against his will after exhausting all legal efforts to remain in Belgium. Now he is taking classes in civic education. “Within just the few months I have spent here, I already feel comfortable,” he said. There is, at times, an echo of official rhetoric. It is unclear if he believes it, or if he is wary of criticizing the government policies. “I am hopeful for the years that I have left to live,” he added.
|
conflict;military;rwanda
|
jp0003328
|
[
"world",
"science-health-world"
] |
2019/04/01
|
North Dakota fossil 'mother lode' records Earth-shaking asteroid's impact: study
|
WASHINGTON - Scientists in the U.S. say they have discovered the fossilized remains of a mass of creatures that died minutes after a huge asteroid slammed into the Earth 66 million years ago, sealing the fate of the dinosaurs. In a paper to be published Monday, a team of paleontologists headquartered at the University of Kansas say they found a “mother lode of exquisitely preserved animal and fish fossils” in what is now North Dakota. The asteroid’s impact in what is now Mexico was the most cataclysmic event ever known to befall Earth, eradicating 75 percent of the planet’s animal and plant species, extinguishing the dinosaurs and paving the way for the rise of humans. Researchers believe the impact set off fast-moving, seismic surges that triggered a sudden, massive torrent of water and debris from an arm of an inland sea known as the Western Interior Seaway. At the Tanis site in North Dakota’s Hell Creek Formation, the surge left “a tangled mass of freshwater fish, terrestrial vertebrates, trees, branches, logs, marine ammonites and other marine creatures,” according to Robert DePalma, the report’s lead author. Some of the fish fossils were found to have inhaled “ejecta” associated with the Chicxulub event, suggesting seismic surges reached North Dakota within “tens of minutes,” he said. “The sedimentation happened so quickly everything is preserved in three dimensions — they’re not crushed,” said co-author David Burnham. “It’s like an avalanche that collapses almost like a liquid, then sets like concrete. They were killed pretty suddenly because of the violence of that water. We have one fish that hit a tree and was broken in half.” The fossils at Tanis include what were believed to be several newly identified fish species, and others that were “the best examples of their kind,” said DePalma, a graduate student and curator of the Palm Beach Museum of Natural History in Florida. “We look at moment-by-moment records of one of the most notable impact events in Earth’s history. No other site has a record quite like that,” he said. “And this particular event is tied directly to all of us — to every mammal on Earth, in fact. Because this is essentially where we inherited the planet. Nothing was the same after that impact. It became a planet of mammals rather than a planet of dinosaurs.” The paper is to be published in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences.
|
mexico;asteroids;fossils;dinosaurs;north dakota;tanis
|
jp0003329
|
[
"world",
"science-health-world"
] |
2019/04/01
|
International aid helps cyclone-ravaged Mozambique fight growing cholera outbreak in Beira
|
BEIRA, MOZAMBIQUE - As Mozambique battles to control a fast-spreading cholera outbreak in the cyclone-hit central city of Beira, international assistance is arriving. The number of cholera cases jumped to 271 over the weekend although no deaths from the disease had been reported. More than 500 people have died in Mozambique from Cyclone Idai , which slammed into Beira more than two weeks ago, according to government officials. Another 259 people died in Zimbabwe and 56 in Malawi, bring the three-nation total to more than 815. Authorities warn the tolls are preliminary as flood waters recede and reveal more bodies. The Chinese government has sent doctors to fight the cholera outbreak in Beira and on Sunday Chinese aid workers sprayed anti-cholera disinfectant in parts of the port city of 500,000. The World Health Organization has said some 900,000 cholera vaccine doses are expected to arrive on Monday, with a vaccination campaign to start later this week. “You know we came from China and our government cares very much about the situation in Beira here in Mozambique. And China has a good relationship with Africa, so the China government sent medical doctors to come and give some treatment,” said Wang Shenguin, spokesman for the Chinese doctors. The U.S. army joined the international humanitarian aid efforts to Mozambique by airlifting food and relief supplies from South Africa. The first round-the-clock flights to deliver supplies from the U.N. World Food Program started Saturday and continued Sunday from King Shaka International Airport in Durban, South Africa, said Robert Mearkle, U.S. embassy spokesman. He said the commodities airlifted from Durban were from the World Food Program’s internal stock. “Separately from these shipments, the United States has provided nearly $3.4 million in additional funding for the World Food Program to deliver approximately 2,500 metric tons of rice, peas, and vegetable oil to affected people in Sofala, Zambezia, and Manica provinces,” said Mearkle. “This lifesaving emergency food assistance will support approximately 160,000 people for one month.” The U.S. government has provided nearly $7.3m in humanitarian assistance to help people in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi who have been affected by Cyclone Idai, including more than $6.5 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development, said Mearkle. The cholera outbreak in Beira started on Wednesday with five cases of the acute diarrheal disease confirmed by national health director Ussein Isse. The number of cases jumped to 271 over the weekend. Beira’s crowded, poor neighborhoods are at particular risk. Children and other patients curled up on bare beds at a treatment center in Beira, some with anxious parents by their side. They had intravenous drips to help replace fluids. Doctors Without Borders has said it is seeing some 200 likely cholera cases per day in the city, where relief workers are hurrying to restore the damaged water system and bring in additional medical assistance. Cholera is spread by contaminated food and water and can kill within hours if not treated. The disease is a major concern for the hundreds of thousands of cyclone survivors in the southern African nation now living in squalid conditions in camps, schools or damaged homes. Some drink from contaminated wells or filthy, stagnant water. As health responders stress the need for better disease surveillance, the United Nations’ deputy humanitarian coordinator in Mozambique, Sebastian Rhodes Stampa, has said all cases of diarrhea are being treated as though they are cholera. Cholera is endemic to the region, and “it breaks out fast and it travels extremely fast,” he told reporters. Doctors Without Borders has said other suspected cholera cases have been reported outside Beira in the badly hit areas of Buzi, Tica and Nhamathanda but the chance of spread in rural areas is smaller because people are more dispersed. Mozambican officials have said Cyclone Idai destroyed more than 50 health centers in the region, complicating response efforts. The United Nations has said some 1.8 million people need urgent help across the sodden, largely rural region.
|
china;u.s .;mozambique;msf;cyclone idai
|
jp0003330
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/04/01
|
Murdered South Carolina student may have thought car was her Uber ride, say police
|
MILWAUKEE - A South Carolina man has been charged in the murder of a University of South Carolina student who may have gotten into her killer’s car mistakenly believing that it was her Uber ride, police said. Nathaniel Rowland, 24, was charged with the murder and kidnapping of Samantha Josephson, 21, who was last seen outside of Five Points bar in Columbia, South Carolina, early Friday morning, Columbia Police Chief William Holbrook said during a news conference on Saturday evening. Her friends called the authorities to report a missing person about 12 hours later after they had not seen Josephson since she left the bar the night before, he said. “We believe that she simply mistakenly got into this particular car thinking that it was an Uber ride,” Holbrook said. “She opened the door, got into it and departed with the suspect driving.” Two hunters found her body in a wooded area along a dirt road in a rural part of a nearby county a few hours after her friends called police, Holbrook said. “Our hearts are broken. There is nothing tougher than to stand before a family and explain how a loved one was murdered,” he said. “It was gut-wrenching.” Her father, Seymour Josephson of Robbinsville, New Jersey, wrote a post on Facebook about his daughter’s death. “It is with tremendous sadness and of a broken heart that I post this! I will miss and love my baby girl for the rest of life,” he wrote. Police received a number leads and were able to determine through video that the vehicle Josephson got into was a black Chevrolet Impala. Early on Saturday morning, an officer spotted a vehicle matching the description of the car two blocks from the tavern and initiated a traffic stop, Holbrook said. The officer took the suspect into custody after a short foot chase. Police later found blood and her cell phone along with several cleaning items in his car. Blood was also found in the car’s trunk, Holbrook said. Uber Technologies Inc. launched a public awareness campaign in July 2017 regarding Uber scams and how riders can avoid getting into the wrong car, suggesting that they check the app to make sure that the car matches the one that they ordered. If the information doesn’t match up, do not get into the car, the company wrote on a blog post.
|
u.s .;murder;south carolina;uber;samantha josephson;nathaniel rowland
|
jp0003331
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/01
|
Turkish leader Erdogan's ruling AK Party loses control of Ankara; Istanbul results disputed
|
ANKARA - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suffered a severe setback as his ruling AK Party lost control of the capital, Ankara, for the first time in a local election and he appeared to concede defeat in the country’s largest city, Istanbul. Erdogan, who has dominated Turkish politics since coming to power 16 years ago and rules his country with an ever tighter grip, campaigned relentlessly for two months ahead of Sunday’s vote, which he described as a “matter of survival” for Turkey. But the president’s daily rallies and overwhelmingly supportive media coverage failed to win over the country’s capital or secure a definitive result in Istanbul, as Turkey’s economic downturn weighed heavily on voters. Turkish broadcasters said the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) candidate Mansur Yavas had won a clear victory in Ankara, but the vote count in Istanbul was so tight that both parties declared the narrowest of victories. “The people have voted in favor of democracy, they have chosen democracy,” opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu said, declaring that his secularist Republican People’s Party (CHP) had taken Ankara and Istanbul from the AK Party and held its Aegean coastal stronghold of Izmir, Turkey’s third largest city, Defeat for Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted party in Ankara was a significant blow for the president. Losing Istanbul, where he launched his political career and served as mayor in the 1990s, would be an even greater symbolic shock and a broader sign of dwindling support. State-owned Anadolu Agency said the AKP will appeal in some districts of the capital. In Istanbul, the AK Party said former Prime Minister Binali Yildirim defeated his CHP rival, Ekrem Imamoglu, by a mere 4,000 votes — with both candidates polling more than 4 million votes. Imamoglu said he had a lead of 28,000 with only 2,000 votes uncounted. In a speech to supporters in Ankara, Erdogan appeared to accept AKP defeat in Istanbul, although he maintained that most neighborhoods in the city were held by his party. “Even if our people gave away the mayorship, they gave the districts to the AK Party,” he said. The party will appeal results wherever needed, he added. Erdogan pledged that Turkey will now focus on its troubled economy in the run-up to national elections in 2023. “We have a long period ahead where we will carry out economic reforms without compromising on the rules of the free-market economy,” he told reporters. Turkey’s most prominent leader since Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish republic, Erdogan’s support has been based on strong economic growth and backing from a core constituency of pious, conservative Muslim Turks. A consummate campaigner, he has been the country’s most popular — although divisive — modern politician, tightening his grip in elections last year that ushered in a powerful executive presidency, approved in a bitter 2017 referendum which alarmed Western allies who fear growing authoritarianism in Turkey. But a currency crisis after last year’s election dragged the lira down by 30 percent and tipped the economy toward recession. With inflation close to 20 percent and unemployment rising, some voters appeared ready to punish the president. “Today’s elections are as historic as that of 1994,” prominent journalist Rusen Cakir tweeted, referring to the year Erdogan was elected mayor of Istanbul. “It is a declaration that a page that was opened 25 years ago is being turned.” As authorities again scrambled to shore up the lira over the past week, Erdogan cast the country’s economic woes as resulting from attacks by the West, saying Turkey will overcome its troubles and adding he is “the boss” of the economy. However, Wolfango Piccoli, co-president of Teneo political risk advisers, said the AK Party has lost seven of the country’s 12 main cities, even without taking Istanbul into account. “It’s a bad night for the AK Party,” he said. “They have done very poorly in all the economic powerhouses of country. For a party which portrays itself as pro-business, it’s a huge issue.” The lira traded at 5.61 to the dollar after initial results came in, compared with 5.55 at Friday’s close and 5.65 in U.S. trading hours later Friday. In mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey, residents celebrated as the pro-Kurdish opposition People’s Democratic Party (HDP) won back municipalities that authorities had taken over two years ago, accusing the HDP of terrorist links. The HDP denies links to the outlawed militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party. “They robbed us of our will and we overturned this,” Diyarbakir resident Abdullah Elmas said.
|
elections;turkey;recep tayyip erdogan
|
jp0003332
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/01
|
Comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy leads Ukraine presidential vote
|
KIEV - Early results in Ukraine’s presidential election show a comedian with no political experience maintaining his strong lead against the incumbent president in the first round, setting the stage for a runoff in three weeks. With nearly 60 percent of the polling stations counted Monday, Volodymyr Zelenskiy had 30 percent of Sunday’s vote, while incumbent President Petro Poroshenko was a distant second with just over 16 percent. Ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko trailed behind with 13 percent. The results were in sync with a top exit poll. The strong showing for the 41-year-old Zelenskiy reflects the public longing for a fresh leader who has no links to the corruption-ridden Ukrainian political elite and can offer a new approach to settling the grinding five-year conflict with Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. “This is only the first step toward a great victory,” Zelenskiy said after seeing the exit poll findings. The top two candidates advance to a runoff on April 21. Final results in Sunday’s first round are expected to be announced later Monday. Zelenskiy dismissed suggestions that he could pool forces with Tymoshenko to get the backing of her voters in the second round in exchange for forming a coalition following parliamentary elections in the fall. “We aren’t making any deals with anyone,” he said. “We are young people. We don’t want to see all the past in our future, the future of our country.” Like the character he plays in a TV sitcom, a schoolteacher turned president, Zelenskiy made fighting corruption a focus of his candidacy. He proposed a lifetime ban on holding public office for anyone convicted of graft. He also called for direct negotiations with Russia on ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine. The election was marred by allegations of widespread vote buying. Police said they had received more than 2,100 complaints of violations on voting day alone in addition to hundreds of earlier voting fraud claims, including bribery attempts and removing ballots from polling places. Zelenskiy’s headquarters alleged multiple voting and other cheating on the part of Poroshenko’s campaign, but election officials said the vote took place without significant violations. Poroshenko looked somber as the votes came in, but visibly relieved about surpassing Tymoshenko to advance to the runoff. “I critically and soberly understand the signal that society gave today to the acting authorities,” he said. “It’s a tough lesson for me and my team. It’s a reason for serious work to correct mistakes made over the past years.” It is not clear whether he would or could adjust his campaign enough to meet Zelenskiy’s challenges over the next three weeks. Poroshenko, 53, a confectionery tycoon before he was elected five years ago, saw approval of his governing sink amid Ukraine’s economic woes and a sharp plunge in living standards. Poroshenko campaigned on promises to defeat the rebels in the east and to wrest back control of Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014 in a move that has drawn sanctions against Russia from the U.S. and the European Union. A military embezzlement scheme that allegedly involved top Poroshenko associates as well as a factory controlled by the president dogged Poroshenko before this election. Ultra-right activists shadowed him throughout the campaign, demanding the jailing of the president’s associates accused in the scandal. Poroshenko after the vote hit back at Zelenskiy, describing him as a pawn of self-exiled billionaire businessman Igor Kolomoyskyi, charges that Zelenskiy denies. “Fate pitted me against Kolomoyskyi’s puppet in the runoff,” he said. “We won’t leave a single chance for Kolomoyskyi.” Zelenskiy quickly shot back, saying mockingly that it’s impossible to say whether a corrupt official involved in the military embezzlement scheme was Poroshenko’s puppet, or the other way round.
|
conflict;russia;corruption;elections;ukraine;yulia tymoshenko;crimea;petro poroshenko;volodymyr zelensky
|
jp0003334
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/01
|
Thousands in Brazil protest 55th anniversary of military coup that Bolsonaro praised
|
RIO DE JANEIRO - Several thousand protesters chanting “dictatorship never again” took to the streets of Brazil’s biggest cities Sunday on the 55th anniversary of the coup that established more than two decades of military rule. Some 2,000 people rallied in Rio de Janeiro’s central Cinelandia plaza, while in Sao Paulo a few hundred converged on popular Ibirapuera Park to demonstrate against the 1964-1985 dictatorship. The protests were sparked by the order recently issued by far-right President Jair Bolsonaro for defense forces to “appropriately” commemorate the overthrow of President Joao Goulart. Nearly 1,000 noisy protesters in Brasilia chanted slogans against Bolsonaro, an ex-army captain and unabashed admirer of the country’s former dictators, shouting “Bolsonaro out.” “It’s not a date that should be commemorated,” retired teacher Maria Fatima, who is 65, told AFP at the Rio demonstration. “It is a day of mourning, of violence, of cruelty.” The demonstrations came a day after an appeals court judge overturned another judge’s decision to bar commemorations sought by Bolsonaro. Appellate judge Maria do Carmo Cardoso accepted the government’s argument that Brazilian democracy was strong enough to support “a pluralism of ideas.” “I see no violation of human rights, particularly as similar demonstrations took place in the barracks in preceding years with no negative consequences,” she wrote. Bolsonaro, who is on a three-day visit to Israel, is the country’s first president since democracy was restored in 1985 to publicly exalt the military regime, though he argues its rise to power was not a “coup.” In the past, the tough-talking Bolsonaro has referred to the dictatorship as a “glorious” time in Brazilian history. He was quoted in 2008 as saying that “the error of the dictatorship was that it tortured but did not kill.” Since taking office, Bolsonaro has had fond words for military dictators in 1970s and 1980s Latin America, such as Alfredo Stroessner of Paraguay and Chile’s Augusto Pinochet. At least 434 people were killed or disappeared in Brazil during the 21-year dictatorship, far fewer than the 30,000 deaths in Argentina and 3,200 or more in Chile during their respective periods of right-wing military rule. But unlike its South American neighbors, Brazil has not prosecuted military officials for regime-era crimes, leaving the events of that dark period unresolved. Bolsonaro, who ran for the presidency as a political outsider determined to dismantle a culture of corruption, has seen his approval rating plunge amid scandals and missteps since his Jan. 1 inauguration.
|
brazil;protests;coups;jair bolsonaro
|
jp0003335
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/01
|
Antipollution activists in southern France unimpressed by EU's environmental promises
|
BOUCHES-DU-RHONE, FRANCE - Outside the French Mediterranean port of Marseille, at Fos-sur-Mer, one of the largest industrial and port zones in Europe has been spewing a noxious cocktail of fumes for years. And few residents think EU pledges to clean up the continent will make a difference anytime soon. Environmental concerns are expected to be a major issue in the European Parliament elections in May, when analysts say green parties could score better than they do in national contests. Yet antipollution activists say that despite EU claims of having the toughest standards in the world, its actions are far too feeble against places like Fos-sur-Mer, home to dozens of oil refineries, chemical factories and steel companies. “I’m fed up with the European Union — what are they waiting for to raise awareness about this?” said Daniel Moutet, who has spearheaded the campaign to force Fos-sur-Mer to clean up its act. Rates of cancer and chronic diseases are higher in this area than the average in France — last year Moutet was diagnosed with diabetes, which he believes could be linked to the dire air quality. In March 2018 ARS, the regional health agency, acknowledged that the health of residents of the area had been hit by the pollution levels. A year earlier an independent study concluded that women questioned in the area had cancer levels three times higher than the national average. According to Moutet, mercury, benzene, sulfur and nitrogen oxides are all part of that toxic cocktail along this stretch of the French Mediterranean coastline. Last May, the European Commission took France and five other countries to the European Court of Justice for failing to apply long-sought steps to improve air quality. In France’s case the move came after 12 years of warnings over fine particles as well as nitrogen dioxide levels which in some cities were more than double EU limits. Some residents have learned to live with the fumes belching from the Fos-sur-Mer chimneys. “The white ones are just steam,” said Martine Monnier, 65, enjoying the spring sun on a beach just a stone’s throw from the site. “But there are also red ones and yellow ones, those are more dangerous. We know how to recognize them.” According to France’s public health agency, fine particle pollution alone is the cause of 48,000 premature deaths in the country each year. To ensure the EU’s pollution limits are met, countries are supposed to impose — and enforce — strict emission limits for industrial sites like Fos-sur-Mer. Some progress has been made: A study released in March showed a marked decline in atmospheric concentrations of mercury since the 1970s in response to tougher rules. And the Esso refinery, for example, which produces 7 million tons of petroleum products a year, says it has cut its sulfur emissions in half over the past 10 years, while reducing nitrogen oxide emissions by two-thirds. “There are lots of spot checks” by state inspectors, the site’s director, Stefaan Van Severen, said. “We’ve gotten our environmental footprint under control.” Such claims fail to persuade the EU’s critics in Fos-sur-Mer and nearby Marseille, where there is also shipping traffic and a heavy reliance on cars because of limited public transportation options. A recent report by Greenpeace and the Respire (“Breathe”) advocacy groups found that a quarter of Marseille’s schools and day care centers are in areas where NO2 levels exceed EU thresholds. Rene Raimondi, who was the Socialist mayor of Fos-sur-Mer for 14 years before stepping down last year, says he is “a little disappointed” that the EU has “very little power” when it comes to the environment. “France has been convicted several times by Europe over fine particles, but afterward nothing ever happens,” he said. A case in point is the steel giant ArcelorMittal, which was targeted in late 2018 for excessive runoffs of benzene, a known carcinogen, at Fos-sur-Mer. Critics say the fine of just €15,000 ($16,850) was unlikely to have any meaningful impact on the operations of a company with an annual turnover in the billions. ArcelorMittal Europe CEO Aditya Mittal says the group is cleaning up its act at Fos-sur-Mer. “We are obviously making additional investment and we plan to solve all these problems by the end of April this year,” he said. Alain Dumort, the European Commission’s representative in Marseille, said Brussels will fulfill its role as the guardian of Europe’s air quality. He pointed to the commission’s warning to Paris in January to enact several EU directives into French law, a first step toward legally binding infringement proceedings. The EU is also financing a €7 million research project aimed at capturing the industrial gases emitted at Fos-sur-Mer and using them in the production of insulation products and plastic films. But the eventual results of the four-year project might not be enough to convince Fos-sur-Mer residents of the EU’s effectiveness, less than two months from the European Parliament elections.
|
pollution;france;eu;elections;environment
|
jp0003336
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/01
|
Thai king's rebuke of Thaksin points to junta-backed regime taking office
|
BANGKOK - Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn issued a rare rebuke of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra about a week after an inconclusive national election, making it more likely that a pro-military party would form a government. The monarch revoked royal decorations given to Thaksin because he fled Thailand after being sentenced to prison, which is “an extremely inappropriate behavior,” according to a statement posted on the Royal Gazette’s website. Thaksin hasn’t set foot in the country since 2008 after being accused of corruption in a case he has called politically motivated. Provisional results show the Thaksin-linked Pheu Thai party emerged with the most seats after the general election on March 24, which followed almost five years of military rule. He or his allies have won the most seats in every election held since 2001, only to be unseated from government by coups or the courts. Pheu Thai says it has built an alliance of anti-junta parties that would have a majority in the lower house of parliament. That claim is disputed by a pro-military party, Palang Pracharath, which says it will seek to form a coalition government after winning the most votes of any single party. “It’s a significant signal that one side is viewed as more favorable than the other,” said Punchada Sirivunnabood, an associate professor at Mahidol University who often writes about politics. “Everything points to a favorable outcome for the pro-military party and its allies. They’ll be successful in forming a government, but it will be difficult for them to maintain its power and last a full term.” The shape of the next government may not emerge for many weeks, following a messy election dogged by opposition claims of rigging and incompetent administration. Authorities must certify official results by May 9, which comes a few days after Vajiralongkorn’s coronation ceremony. The king, who serves as head of state and is traditionally considered above politics, has been vocal around the election. In February, he denied an attempt by a Thaksin-linked party to name Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya as its candidate for prime minister, saying it was highly inappropriate and violated the spirit of the constitution. The courts disbanded the party soon afterward. Then on the eve of last Sunday’s vote, Vajiralongkorn released a statement that in effect asked citizens to back good people to govern the nation. It came shortly after Thaksin was photographed with the princess at his daughter’s wedding in Hong Kong. After the vote, Thaksin wrote an op-ed in the New York Times calling the election “rigged” and warning that the junta “will find a way to stay in charge.” “They have no shame, and they want to be in power no matter what,” Thaksin said. A spokesman for Pheu Thai couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on Sunday. The party canceled a planned rally in Bangkok featuring Sudarat Keyuraphan, its candidate for prime minister, just a few hours after the king’s statement was published. In an unrelated statement on Sunday, Pheu Thai said the anti-junta coalition had twice as many votes as the pro-military camp, showing the country doesn’t want current junta chief and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha to stay in power. Thailand’s royal family is officially treated as semi-divine, and the country has some of the world’s toughest lese-majeste laws. Offenders face as many as 15 years in prison for defaming, insulting or threatening the king, queen, heir apparent or regent. Since taking the throne in 2016, Vajiralongkorn has changed rules related to royal powers. He gained greater control of the Crown Property Bureau’s billions of dollars in holdings following a legal change in 2017 that transferred ownership of the assets to him. In the past, the bureau was described as managing and preserving crown property that was neither public property nor the private property of the monarch. Just over a month after ascending to the throne, the military-appointed legislature approved changes to an interim national constitution following suggestions from the king’s office. The most notable adjustment allowed Vajiralongkorn to travel abroad without temporarily handing over power. The current constitution allows the military to appoint a 250-member Senate that will also get a vote for prime minister. The group will most likely back Prayuth, effectively tilting the playing field in favor of the armed forces. If Prayuth takes power without a working majority in the lower house, however, he would struggle to pass legislation and could be vulnerable to a no-confidence vote. That scenario could end up hurting the economy, according to Paul Chambers, a lecturer at Naresuan University’s College of ASEAN Community Studies. “It’s not looking good for either side,” he said. “Investors don’t want to be investing in a country that has a lot of risks.”
|
military;thailand;elections;coups;thaksin shinawatra;pheu thai;maha vajiralongkorn
|
jp0003337
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/01
|
China reveals details of key Xi speech on overcoming West's long-term economic and military superiority
|
BEIJING - Developed Western nations have long-term economic, technological and military advantages over China and the Communist Party has to realize that some people will use the West’s strong points to criticize socialism’s failings, President Xi Jinping said. Since assuming power in China more than six years ago, Xi has ramped up efforts to ensure total party loyalty and discipline, including a sweeping crackdown on corruption, warning the party’s very survival is at stake. This year, which is marked by a series of sensitive anniversaries, including three decades since the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in and around Tiananmen Square, has seen a further increase in calls for party loyalty. On Monday, leading party theoretical journal Qiushi, which means “Seeking Truth,” published lengthy excerpts for the first time from a speech Xi gave in early 2013 shortly after becoming party boss, warning of the dangers the party faces. Citing Marx and Engels, Xi said socialism would inevitably vanquish capitalism, but that it would be a long historical process. China practices what it calls “socialism with Chinese characteristics.” China must “fully appraise the objective reality of the long-term advantage Western developed countries have in the economic, scientific, and military fields, and conscientiously prepare for all aspects of long-term cooperation and struggle between the two social systems,” Xi said. The party also needed to “face the reality that some people compare the good qualities of Western developed nations with the insufficiencies of our country’s socialist development and offer criticism of it,” he added. While the party has committed “big mistakes” like the Cultural Revolution, when children turned on parents and students on teachers after Mao Zedong declared class war, the party’s history is “generally speaking glorious,” Xi said. Those who criticize the revolution — which brought the Communist Party to power in 1949 — are simply trying to incite the overthrow of the party, he added. But China needs to stick to its landmark economic reforms begun in 1978, without which the party could have fallen, Xi said. The party “may even have faced a serious crisis, like the death of the party and the death of the country encountered by the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries.” But China had proved the naysayers wrong, Xi added. “Both history and reality tell us that only socialism can save China. Only socialism with Chinese characteristics can develop China. This is the conclusion of history and the choice of the people.”
|
china;u.s .;military;rights;protests;xi jinping
|
jp0003339
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/01
|
Trump's sale of F-16 fighters to Taiwan seen making China nervous politically
|
NEW, DELHI/TAIPEI - The U.S. may finally sell Taiwan the warplanes it has sought for more than a decade to defend against China. Their arrival would deal more of a political shock than a military blow to Beijing. Trump administration officials have given tacit approval to Taipei’s request to buy more than 60 Lockheed Martin Corp. F-16s, according to people familiar with the matter, setting the stage for the first such deal since 1992. While a few dozen fighter jets would hardly tip the military balance against the increasing powerful Chinese military, it would signal a new American willingness to back the democratically run island. “For Beijing, it would be a huge shock,” said Wu Shang-su, a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. “But it would be more of a political shock than a military shock. It would be, ‘Oh, the U.S. doesn’t care how we feel.’ It would be more of a symbolic or emotional issue.” The potential sale is among several gestures of U.S. support for Taiwan in recent months, even as President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping near a deal to end the costly trade war. The U.S. also sailed a warship through the Taiwan Strait and accommodated President Tsai Ing-wen’s stopover in Hawaii last week, drawing protests from China, which denounced the moves as “extremely dangerous.” Renewed U.S. interest in Taiwan follows growing calls in Washington for a “whole-of-government” effort to prevent China from surpassing American military and industrial dominance. Perhaps nowhere has the power shift been felt more than on Taiwan, an island of 23.6 million people that China aims to eventually control despite 70 years of divided rule. China has directed its industrial strength toward huge investments in military hardware over the past two decades, building a world-class navy and filling its coastline with missiles capable of hitting Taiwanese targets. The country spent 23 times more than Taiwan on defense in 2017, up from double in 1997. New F-16s won’t “change the fundamental balance of capabilities across the strait, nor will it eliminate the threat that China poses to forcibly absorb a democratic Taiwan,” said Scott Harold, an associate director of Rand Corp.’s Center for Asia Pacific Policy. “Taiwan will continue to need to invest in missiles, electronic warfare, mines and other advanced conventional and asymmetric capabilities designed to deter, and if necessary defeat, any Chinese effort to use coercion to compel unification.” Rand analysts argued in a 2016 report that China’s sophisticated short-range ballistic missiles could “cut every runway at Taiwan’s half-dozen main fighter bases and destroy essentially all” parked aircraft in a conflict. Any planes that made it in the air could face Chinese pilots flying jets such as the J-20, a “fifth-generation” stealth fighter considered to be a rival to Lockheed’s advanced F-22s and F-35s. Still, the F-16 sale would represent a shift by the U.S., which is obligated to sell “arms of a defensive character” to Taipei under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act. Presidents since Bill Clinton have repeatedly rebuffed Taiwan’s requests for new fighter jets and other advanced weapons systems that could provoke Beijing, with Barack Obama agreeing in 2011 to merely upgrade its aging F-16 fleet. Tsai said during her visit to Hawaii on Wednesday that a fighter jet deal would “greatly enhance our land and air capabilities, strengthen military morale and show to the world the U.S.’s commitment to Taiwan’s defense.” The F-16Vs requested by Taiwan are promoted as the world’s most advanced fourth-generation jet, including the latest radar and avionics, even though the original F16 model has been in service for more than 40 years. The aircraft would help the island respond day-to-day incidents such as air space incursions that fall short of open war and mop up data during routine patrols. China, which suspended military exchanges with the U.S. in response to previous sales, protested the F-16 move. The foreign ministry said the country lodged “stern representations” with U.S. while the defense ministry warned against moves that undercut the contention that the mainland and Taiwan are part of “one China.” “Any words or actions that undermine the one-China policy are tantamount to shaking the foundation of China-U.S. relations, are inconsistent with the fundamental interests of China and the United States and are also extremely dangerous,” Senior Col. Wu Qian said at a briefing Thursday in Beijing. The sale could be calibrated to test China’s bottom line without breaching it. Xi, the Chinese president, would have to decide whether to risk his trade pact with Trump or even an open conflict between two of the world’s most powerful militaries to prevent the sale of a few dozen jets. The U.S., meanwhile, refused Taiwan’s request for F-35 fighter jets. Not only would the costly aircraft strain Taiwan’s defense budget, a deal for America’s most advanced military technology would be more likely to provoke China’s ire. “It’s better for us to have F-16s as a first priority,” Feng Shih-kuan, who served as defense minister under Tsai until February last year and is now at the Taipei-based Institute for National Defense and Security Research. “We won’t feel any sadness if we don’t get F-35s.”
|
china;taiwan;lockheed martin;donald trump;trade war;f-16s
|
jp0003340
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/01
|
Taipei blasts 'provocative' Chinese fighter jet incursion across Taiwan Strait line
|
Taiwan has protested what it called a “reckless” and “provocative” flight by two Chinese fighter jets across the so-called median line of the Taiwan Strait, the country said late Sunday. “At 11 a.m., March 31, 2 PLAAF J-11 jets violated the long-held tacit agreement by crossing the median line of the #Taiwan Strait,” the official Twitter account of the Taiwanese Foreign Ministry said in a tweet. “It was an intentional, reckless & provocative action. We’ve informed regional partners & condemn #China for such behavior.” PLAAF is the acronym for the People’s Liberation Army Air Force. In the extremely rare flight, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said that the Chinese warplanes had crossed into its airspace and that it had scrambled fighters in response. Local media reports said the incident had triggered a 10-minute standoff between the Taiwanese and Chinese warplanes. The 180-km-wide Taiwan Strait separates mainland China from self-governed and democratic Taiwan, which Beijing views as a renegade province that must be brought back into the fold — by force if necessary. The flight was rare in that Beijing and Taipei have generally respected the median line in the Taiwan Strait, usually keeping their warplanes and ships from crossing it. Bonnie Glaser, director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington, called the flight “unusual,” but noted that Chinese fighter jets had frequently crossed the median line in the mid- to late-1990s. However, Glaser said that the Chinese “haven’t done so for at least a decade, likely longer.” “I’ve been told that Chinese jets approach the midline, but then veer off,” she said. The flight came just after Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen capped off a tour of several Pacific nations with a visit last week to Hawaii, where she said she had formally submitted new requests to the United States for F-16B fighter jets. The U.S. has no formal ties with Taiwan but is bound by law to help it defend itself and is the island’s main source of arms. The Pentagon says Washington has sold Taipei more than $15 billion in weaponry since 2010. China is suspicious of Tsai and her pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party and any push for the island’s formal independence. Chinese President Xi Jinping said in January that Beijing reserves the right to use force to bring Taiwan under its control, but would strive to achieve peaceful “reunification.” Beijing has called Taiwan “the most important and sensitive issue in China-U.S. relations” and has bolstered its military presence near the island, sailing its sole operating aircraft carrier through the Taiwan Strait in January and March of last year and holding large-scale “encirclement” exercises and bomber training throughout 2018. In an editorial published late Sunday, the state-run China Daily newspaper criticized Tsai, saying that she “clearly intends to keep the U.S. tied to her bandwagon of ‘Taiwan independence,’ ” adding that “if Tsai continues to blindly pursue the course she has been taking and gives a cold shoulder to public will, she will pay a dear political price sooner or later.” The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency noted in a report released in January that China continues to undertake ambitious steps to modernize and better equip its military — steps that are driven primarily by “Beijing’s long-standing interest to eventually compel Taiwan’s reunification with the mainland and deter any attempt by Taiwan to declare independence.” “Beijing’s anticipation that foreign forces would intervene in a Taiwan scenario led the (People’s Liberation Army) to develop a range of systems to deter and deny foreign regional force projection,” the report added. Sunday’s move also comes less than a week after the U.S. sent ships through the strait — the third time in as many months — amid Washington’s ramped-up naval activities in the waterway. Observers have said that those sailings have likely been interpreted by China as implicit support for self-ruled Taiwan. The most recent saw the U.S. send the Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture-based USS Curtis Wilbur destroyer and the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Bertholf through the strait on March 25 and 26. That mission was unusual, experts said, in that it was believed to be the first one involving a Coast Guard vessel. Although the waterway is regarded as an international waterway, China has long been sensitive about the presence of U.S. military forces there. That presence has grown since last year, with the most recent operation being the sixth known transit in about seven months. The U.S. Navy also sailed two ships through the strait in October and November — operations that were shadowed by multiple Chinese warships — and conducted a similar operation in July. Prior to that, the operations were believed to occur only about once a year.
|
china;u.s .;taiwan;military
|
jp0003341
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/01
|
South Korea begins excavation of war remains along DMZ without previously agreed help from North
|
SEOUL - Seoul began a unilateral effort to excavate Korean War remains along the border Monday as silence from Pyongyang stymied a previously agreed joint operation with the North. The joint excavation along the Demilitarized Zone of remains from the 1950-53 conflict was part of a military agreement signed at a Pyongyang summit in September between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Under the deal — aimed at defusing military tensions — around 100 personnel from the two sides were to jointly carry out the recovery operation from April 1 until Oct. 31. But progress on the key issue of the North’s nuclear weapons has since stalled, with Kim’s Hanoi summit in February with U.S. President Donald Trump breaking up without agreement, raising doubts over the future of inter-Korean projects. Seoul’s Defense Ministry said the North had not responded to its calls and the South Korean military would begin preparatory excavation work Monday on the southern side of the DMZ. “We are making preparations so that it can be immediately shifted to a South-North joint excavation once North Korea responds,” Roh Jae-cheon, the ministry’s deputy spokesman, told reporters. Moon — who met Kim three times last year — has long backed a policy of engagement with nuclear-armed, sanctions-hit Pyongyang and was instrumental in brokering talks between the U.S. and North Korea. At a meeting with his top aides Monday, Moon said the failed U.S.-North Korean summit in Vietnam posed a “temporary difficulty” but added: “It is clearly being confirmed that the South, the North, and the U.S. all do not wish to go back to the past.” Moon, who will fly to Washington next week, said his rapidly arranged summit with the U.S. president shows the allies want to revive the “momentum for dialogue at an early date.” Since Hanoi, Pyongyang and Washington have both sought to blame each other for the deadlock. Pyongyang said it had proposed dismantling the Yongbyon complex — a sprawling site covering multiple different facilities — in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions that have isolated the North. But U.S. officials have said the North wanted all significant sanctions removed while not making clear exactly which facilities at Yongbyon it is willing to give up — and Trump has said that “the weapons themselves need to be on the table.”
|
north korea;south korea;korean war;dmz
|
jp0003342
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/01
|
Philippines alarmed by roughly 200 Chinese ships spotted near disputed South China Sea isle this year
|
MANILA - Some 200 Chinese ships have been spotted near the Philippine-occupied Thitu Island in the South China Sea since the start of the year, triggering alarm in the Philippine military. Philippine soldiers will continue their patrols in the disputed area, military chief Gen. Benjamin Madrigal Jr. said, adding that Chinese fishing vessels have repeatedly been spotted near the island. He urged a panel with representatives from both nations tasked with resolving South China Sea disputes to address Chinese presence in the area. “This is a concern not only for the military, but for other agencies as well, including the Coast Guard. We are looking for ways to address this,” Madrigal told reporters on the sidelines of opening ceremonies for annual joint military drills between the Philippines and the U.S. China’s foreign and defense ministries didn’t immediately reply to faxed requests for comment. Thitu Island, which Manila calls Pag-asa, is part of the disputed Spratly Islands, a series of reefs and shoals in the South China Sea. The area, which lies 480 kilometers (300 miles) west of the Philippines’ Palawan province, is also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam. China claims over 80 percent of the sea, through which vast amounts of trade passes — and which is estimated to hold billions of dollars worth of gas reserves. Manila won an arbitration case in 2016 nullifying Beijing’s claims. But Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte set aside the victory, opting to foster friendlier ties with China, tap Chinese loans for infrastructure projects, and discuss a possible joint oil exploration deal. More than 7,000 soldiers from the Philippines and the U.S. are participating in this year’s military drills, Madrigal said, which have continued to take place despite Duterte’s 2016 call to split with his biggest military ally. A small delegation from Australia’s armed forces is also joining this year’s military exercises.
|
china;u.s .;vietnam;philippines;military;disputed islands;south china sea;south china sea ruling
|
jp0003343
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/01
|
New Zealand gun enthusiasts back controls after massacre
|
New Zealand will crack down on firearms ownership this week after the Christchurch mosques massacre that claimed 50 lives — and the Kiwi gun lobby, for the most part, is OK with that. In stark contrast to the United States, where even the most minor curbs on gun ownership meet ferocious opposition led by the National Rifle Association, New Zealand gun owners agree action is needed. The March 15 rampage by a white supremacist gunman has been a shock to the collective system. “We want to support our government in any changes to prevent a terrorist attack from happening in New Zealand again,” said Nicole McKee, secretary of the Council of Licensed Firearm Owners. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s government announced an immediate ban on military-style semi-automatic rifles (MSSAs) after the shooting and will send laws to parliament formalizing its action Tuesday. Finalizing such legislation can often take months, but Ardern says the matter is so urgent it will be done by April 11. Further curbs — potentially including a gun register, tighter vetting and stricter gun storage rules — are set to be passed by the end of the year. In a move that would be unthinkable in the U.S., one of New Zealand’s largest gun retailers, Hunting & Fishing, voluntarily stopped selling MSSAs and halted online firearms sales. “Such weapons of war have no place in our business — or our country,” chief executive Darren Jacobs said. New Zealand has its own National Rifle Association, but since the shooting it has been at pains to point out it is a small sporting organization, not a wealthy political lobby group like its American counterpart. “Our members shoot with single-shot bolt action rifles at paper targets,” President Malcolm Dodson said. Another office holder has told media the New Zealand NRA is considering changing its name to avoid any association with the American body. On the surface, New Zealand and the U.S. share many historical similarities, but they have a fundamentally different attitude towards firearms. Both are former British colonies that fought bitter wars against indigenous populations and forged an individualistic frontier mentality. However, statistics highlight the difference. In 2016, New Zealand, with a population of about 4.7 million, had nine firearms-related homicides. In the U.S., with a population of approximately 327 million, there were 14,415, more than two hundred times the per capita rate as New Zealand. There are approximately 393 million guns in private hands in the U.S., or 1.2 for every person, whereas New Zealand has about 1.5 million, or 0.3 per person. The New Zealand government believes there are 13,500 MSSAs in the country, while estimates put the number in the U.S. at 15 million. Philip Alperts, a gun policy researcher at the University of Sydney, said the crucial difference between New Zealand and the United States was the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment, which guarantees the right to keep and bear arms. Alperts, himself a Kiwi, said countries such as New Zealand view gun ownership as a privilege, while in America it is seen as an inalienable right. “We have a population who, when they traveled to America would get off the plane and be absolutely horrified to see people walking around with a gun,” he said, adding that safety was at the centre of New Zealand gun culture. Journalist Dawn Picken covered scores of shooting deaths in the U.S. and once bullets lodged in her bedroom when a random gunman opened fire on her apartment building in Spokane, Washington state. She said she found a different mindset since moving to New Zealand in 2011. “It was quite refreshing as an American to come here and hear Kiwis who own guns say ‘I don’t think they should be easy to get and it’s not my right, they should check I’m not predisposed to violence or going to go off the rails,” she said. However, like anywhere, New Zealand has a vocal fringe element. “Tyrant Prime Minister Kills Sports Shooting,” screams the headline on one prominent pro-gun website. But former police minister Judith Collins had a blunt message for the U.S. NRA and any other gun lobbyists who try to inject themselves into New Zealand’s gun control debate: “Bugger off.” The difference in gun cultures has played out on social media since the Christchurch shooting. When a right-wing U.S. website tweeted that “armed government thugs” were carrying out door-to-door gun confiscations in New Zealand, dozens of Kiwis left mocking replies. “I had a self-saucing dessert in my pantry,” said one. “The cops came for it in the dead of night — apparently we aren’t allowed semi-automatic trifles.”
|
guns;new zealand;mass shootings
|
jp0003344
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"crime-legal-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/01
|
Fugitive tycoon to challenge Hong Kong's extradition plans
|
HONG KONG - A fugitive billionaire has vowed to launch a legal challenge against Hong Kong’s controversial plan to sign an extradition agreement with Macao, Taiwan and mainland China, his lawyers said Monday. Hong Kong property tycoon Joseph Lau is wanted in Macao where he was convicted in absentia for bribery in the gambling enclave in 2014. He remains a free man because Hong Kong and Macao do not currently have an extradition agreement. Hong Kong’s government has recently announced plans to overhaul its extradition rules, allowing the transfer of fugitives with Taiwan, Macao and mainland China on a “case-basis” for the first time. The proposal has sparked large protests and mounting alarm within the city’s business and legal communities who fear it will hammer the financial hub’s international appeal and tangle people up in China’s opaque courts. Lau has applied for leave to challenge the government’s extradition proposal in the courts, law firm Sit, Fung, Kwong & Shum said in a statement. “On behalf of Mr. Lau, we have today issued an application in the High Court of Hong Kong for leave to apply for judicial review,” the statement read. Thousands of protesters hit the streets of Hong Kong on Sunday to demonstrate against the new extradition proposal, which will be discussed in the city’s legislature on Wednesday. Even a number of pro-Beijing politicians and prominent businesspeople have joined a growing chorus of opposition, while Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said it may issue travel warnings if the extradition agreement included China. The proposal comes at a time of roiling distrust over how Beijing wields its authoritarian legal system — and as two Canadian nationals languish in Chinese custody following the arrest of a top Huawei executive in Vancouver. The Hong Kong government backtracked last week under pressure and exempted nine primarily economic crimes from the list of offenses that could be covered by the new extradition law. Critics fear any extradition agreement could leave both business figures and dissidents in Hong Kong vulnerable to China’s politicized courts, fatally undermining a business hub that has thrived off its reputation for a transparent and independent judiciary. The sudden plan to overhaul Hong Kong’s extradition agreement was sparked by a high-profile murder in Taiwan where a Hong Kong man allegedly strangled his pregnant girlfriend during a holiday trip and then fled. Historically Hong Kong has balked at extraditing to the mainland because of the opacity of China’s criminal justice system, and the death penalty — which has been abolished in Hong Kong. Lau made headlines in 2015 when he spent a combined $76.9 million at auction to buy two rare diamonds for his young daughter.
|
china;hong kong;taiwan;macao;extradition bill
|
jp0003345
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"crime-legal-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/01
|
Vietnamese woman pleads guilty over Kim Jong Nam's 2017 killing, could be freed soon
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SHAH ALAM, MALAYSIA - A Vietnamese woman who is the only suspect in custody for the killing of the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s half brother pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in a Malaysian court Monday and her lawyer said she could be freed as early as next month. Doan Thi Huong had faced a murder charge, which carried the death penalty if she was convicted, in the slaying of Kim Jong Nam, who died after being accosted by two women in a Kuala Lumpur airport terminal. Huong nodded as a translator read the new charge to her: voluntarily causing injury with a dangerous weapon, VX nerve agent. High Court Judge Azmi Ariffin sentenced Huong to three years and four months from the day she was arrested on Feb. 15, 2017. Her lawyer, Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, said his client is expected to be freed by the first week of May, after a one-third reduction in her sentence for good behavior. “I am happy,” Huong told reporters as she left the courtroom, adding she thought it was a fair outcome. While handing out a jail term short of the maximum 10 years the new charge carried, the judge told Huong she was “very, very lucky” and he wished her “all the best.” Vietnamese officials in the courtroom cheered when the decision was announced. Huong is the only suspect in custody after the Malaysian attorney-general’s stunning decision to drop the murder case against Siti Aisyah, an Indonesian national, on March 11 following high-level lobbying from Jakarta. Huong sought to be acquitted after Aisyah was freed, but prosecutors rejected her request. The original charge had alleged the two women colluded with four North Koreans to murder Kim with VX nerve agent they smeared on his face as he was passing through the airport on Feb. 13, 2017. The women had said they thought they were taking part in a harmless prank for a TV show. The four North Koreans fled Malaysia on the same day Kim was killed. The High Court judge last August had found there was enough evidence to infer that Aisyah, Huong and the four North Koreans engaged in a “well-planned conspiracy” to kill Kim and had called on the two women to present their defense. Lawyers for the women have said that they were pawns in a political assassination with clear links to the North Korean Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, and that the prosecution failed to show the women had any intention to kill. Intent to kill is crucial to a murder charge under Malaysian law. Huong’s lawyer told the court Monday that her guilty plea to the lesser charge shows she “has taken responsibility” for her actions. In asking for a lenient sentence, he also told the court that her move saved judicial time. Hisyam had urged the judge to take into account Huong’s honesty, her acceptance of responsibility and the acquittal of her co-defendant. “She is neither a criminal nor has the propensity to commit a crime,” Hisyam said. Huong, the youngest of five children, has a promising future with a degree in accountancy but she is also “naive and gullible,” he said. Hisyam said four North Korean suspects still at large are the “real assassins.” They “exploited her weakness and manipulated her to carry out their evil designs under the camouflage of funny videos and pranks,” he said. Hisyam said Huong had been punished physically and emotionally since she was detained two years ago and had urged the judge to temper justice with mercy. Before the sentencing, Vietnamese Ambassador Le Quy Qunyh said he expected Huong to be freed immediately. After the sentencing he said: “I am highly appreciative that she will be released very soon but I want to emphasize that she is a victim like the Indonesian.” Malaysian officials have never officially accused North Korea and have made it clear they don’t want the trial politicized. Kim Jong Nam was the eldest son in the current generation of North Korea’s ruling family. He had been living abroad for years but could have been seen as a threat to Kim Jong Un’s rule.
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malaysia;north korea;kim jong nam;doan thi huong
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jp0003346
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[
"national"
] |
2019/04/01
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Imperial era names — once coined by emperors, now by the Cabinet
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Japan will usher in a new era, Reiwa, when Crown Prince Akihito ascends to the Chrysanthemum Throne on May 1 — a day after Emperor Akihito abdicates. Gengō, the Japanese term for era names, aren’t merely used to identify the reign of an emperor. They are symbols of sorts that reflect the zeitgeist of the nation and indicate the path the country as a whole aspires to. The era under Emperor Akihito’s reign, Heisei, was named with hopes to achieve peace following the tumultuous Showa Era, which saw Japan’s descent into World War II and subsequent recovery. Reiwa, in the words of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, was named with a desire for the people to be hopeful and to cultivate a new future, as well as pass down the country’s rich history, culture and natural beauty to the next generation. Let’s take a closer look at Japan’s unique way of identifying a year: How do gengō work? The practice originated in ancient China, but historians say Japan is the only country that still adheres to it, as opposed to the internationally used Gregorian, or Western, calendar. To begin with, Gengō do not start at zero. 1989, for example, is called Heisei 1 instead of Heisei 0. 2019 thus corresponds to Heisei 31. It is also possible to see multiple gengō in the same year. This happened at the beginning of Heisei and will happen again this year. At the beginning of 1989, Emperor Hirohito, who represented the Showa Era (1926-1989), died on Jan. 7. So the first seven days of 1989 are recognized as Showa 64 and the remainder as Heisei 1. Each gengō is said to represent an ideal and should in principle consist of two auspicious kanji. Examples include hei (peace), ei (eternal), ten (heaven) and an (safety). The first era, which was named Taika and whose provenance is unknown, began in 645, paving the way for 247 more. Reiwa will be No. 248. The use of era names remains pervasive in modern Japan, taking precedence over the Gregorian calendar in official identification and other documents ranging from driver’s licenses to health insurance cards and bank books. To many Japanese, gengō are a proud part of their identity, with phrases such as “Heisei umare ” (“born in Heisei”) frequently used by youth to emphasize the era they were born in. How did the system become what it is today? Before and during World War II, Emperor Hirohito (posthumously known as Emperor Showa) had ultimate responsibility for selecting the name of his era upon accession as per the old version of the Imperial House Law. But Japan’s surrender resulted in a major rewrite of the law under the Allied Occupation, with no mention left of the era system. Deprived of legal status, the tradition faced the danger of extinction, sparking mixed reactions. The Science Council of Japan, for one, petitioned the government to abolish the system in 1950, labeling it impractical because it makes Japanese historical events hard to keep track of in a global context. In the meantime, calls for its enshrinement into law gathered traction, achieving new legal status in the 1970s, according to historian Isao Tokoro, a professor emeritus of Kyoto Sangyo University. In 1979, after an opinion poll a few years earlier by the Cabinet Office found 87.5 percent of the public used gengō in their daily lives, the Diet passed a law officially authorizing the Cabinet to designate eras. When does the name of an era change? The 1979 Era Name Law stipulates an era name can only be updated in tandem with a change on the Imperial throne. This is a holdover from the Meiji Era (1868-1912), when Japan — in what became a turning point in the centuries-old gengō system — adopted the “one reign, one era name” principle to emulate China, meaning only one name could be applied to the reign of each emperor. This has contributed to the relative longevity of recent eras, including Meiji, which lasted 45 years, and Showa, the longest ever at 64 years. But before the “one reign, one era name” system took hold, Japan had witnessed frequent name changes regardless of whoever was taking the throne. The changes often occurred in the wake of calamities such as earthquakes, conflagrations, famines and epidemics, in hopes of putting them behind. As a result, some eras spanned only a few years. How is an era name determined? With the 1979 enactment of the Era Name Law, the power to name an era shifted from the emperor to the Cabinet. This, according to Tokoro, left the government scrambling to commission outside experts to come up with names behind closed doors so it could whittle the list down before the death of Emperor Hirohito. This was done in accordance with a government policy stipulating era names must fulfill certain conditions, including that they can be read and written easily and must not overlap with an existing Japanese word. When Emperor Hirohito died at 87 on Jan. 7, 1989, the government wasted no time submitting the shortlist of candidate names for scrutiny by private experts and the heads of the two chambers of the Diet. Within hours of Emperor Hirohito’s death, then-Chief Cabinet Secretary Keizo Obuchi held an emergency news conference to publicly announce the start of Heisei, meaning “achieving peace,” effective the following day.
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emperor akihito;imperial family;abdication
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jp0003347
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/01
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Companies look to seize business opportunities as new era name unveiled
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Some Japanese firms rushed Monday to secure business opportunities presented by the newly unveiled Imperial era name, which will be used from May 1, preparing or releasing products inscribed with the kanji for Reiwa. Just 2 minutes and 27 seconds after the televised announcement of the era name, a precision parts manufacturer in Hiroshima Prefecture began accepting orders on its homepage for tin sake cups laser printed with the new era name. “We’re happy because our goal was to launch products within 3 minutes. We hope our customers will use them on a daily basis,” said Shinichi Ikeda, an official of Castem Co. The company had been hoping to become one of the fastest businesses to produce items in tribute to the new Imperial era, which will follow Emperor Akihito’s abdication on April 30. A gengō (era name) is used for the length of an emperor’s reign, and a change of era is an important event in Japan with the names used in minting coins and producing calendars and official documents, among other purposes. The Gregorian calendar is also widely used in the country. Major calendar manufacturer Todan Co. will produce a desk calendar that starts from May, with its design including the new gengō as penned by a calligrapher on Monday. Employees worked to dry the ink before transferring the data to the company’s system. In the Jimbocho district of Tokyo, where streets are lined with used bookstores, stamp company Matsushima Seikodo Co. immediately ordered its factory to start making correction seals that can be used for already printed documents that have the current gengō, Heisei, on them. “It’s going to be busy from now on,” said Tatsuaki Koike, a senior official at the company. Demand is high for such stamps as many companies and government offices in the nation maintain stocks of documents and envelopes bearing the Heisei era name. Matsushima Seikodo said it had already received thousands of orders for the products, mainly from banks. A stationery store near the Kasumigaseki district in the capital, where government ministries and agencies are concentrated, said earlier that it had been receiving inquiries for correction stamps and stickers for era names. The start of the new era is also raising hopes for improved business sentiment, amid growing fears of recession. Tokyo shares got off to a brisk start Monday as many firms began the new business year in a festive mood, with the 225-issue Nikkei stock average briefly soaring nearly 500 points in the morning. Itoman Co., a sanitary paper maker in the prefecture of Ehime, hopes to contribute to the celebratory mood by selling boxes of tissues and toilet paper from April 22 in packages designed with Reiwa as well as turtles and cranes, known as symbols of good fortune. Fan manufacturer Hirai Seikodo Co. in the city of Osaka plans to sell new fans from mid-April with Reiwa on the front and all of the previous gengō on the back, starting from Taika in 645. While the era change in itself is expected to have a limited impact on the economy, a 10-day holiday through May 6 to celebrate the Imperial succession is expected to boost spending, said Koya Miyamae, a senior economist at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. “The economic effects are estimated at around ¥377 billion ($3.4 billion) throughout the 10 days,” Miyamae said. With Emperor Akihito stepping down on April 30, the first Japanese monarch to do so in about 200 years, the government decided to announce the next gengō a month prior to the Imperial succession to minimize possible disruptions caused by the calendar change. When the Heisei era started, in 1989, a number of companies were named after the era name. A credit research agency said similar naming may occur with the Reiwa Era. As of Monday, six companies in Japan had names that read Reiwa, written in hiragana or katakana, according to Tokyo Shoko Research, which looked at a database covering about 3.17 million companies, but none of the names found were written with Chinese characters identical to those selected for the name of the forthcoming era.
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business;abdication;gengo;era name;reiwa
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jp0003349
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[
"national",
"politics-diplomacy"
] |
2019/04/01
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Simultaneous elections unlikely to be held in both Diet houses this summer, Japan's top government spokesman says
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Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Sunday he believes that simultaneous elections for both chambers of the Diet are unlikely to be held this summer. Noting that the decision on whether to dissolve the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, for a snap election fully rests with the prime minister, Suga said on a radio program, “I cannot say with 100 percent conviction that there won’t be (double elections).” A triennial election for the House of Councilors, the upper chamber, is scheduled to be held this summer. Some speculate that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will dissolve the Lower House to call an election to coincide with the Upper House poll. On the consumption tax increase from 8 percent to 10 percent that is set for October, Suga said the government made steady preparations in its fiscal 2019 budget in order to deal with the effects of the tax hike. There is no change in the government’s stance of going ahead with the tax hike unless an unforeseen event occurs on a scale similar to the economic crisis caused by the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers in 2008, Suga said.
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yoshihide suga;elections
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jp0003350
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[
"national"
] |
2019/04/01
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Twitter has its say about Reiwa, Japan's new era name
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Twitter erupted in a flood of posts Monday morning as the Japanese government revealed the country’s new era name, Reiwa 令和, which is set to go into effect starting May 1. Keywords and hashtags related to the revelation captured most of the top trending spots on the social-media network, but the much-awaited announcement was just one of the final steps toward initiating the Japan’s first Imperial succession in three decades, when Emperor Akihito abdicates at the end of this month. Reactions to Reiwa: Japan’s new era
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shinzo abe;cabinet;imperial family;abdication;new era;era change
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jp0003351
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[
"national"
] |
2019/04/01
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Japan's Imperial era names are societal bookmarks for politics, history and culture
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In modern Japan, every emperor’s era has its own name — appearing in places such as coins, official paperwork and newspapers — and with a rare abdication coming at the end of April, there was much speculation about what the new gengō would be. On Monday, authorities announced the new era will be called Reiwa. The new era name is one of the biggest changes — practically and psychologically — for Japan at the start of Crown Prince Naruhito’s reign on May 1. On April 30, Emperor Akihito will abdicate, ending an era, known as Heisei, in the minds of many Japanese. City offices and government agencies, which mostly use gengō in their computer systems and paperwork, have been preparing for months to prevent glitches. To make the public transition easier, authorities announced the new gengō — two Chinese characters that the Cabinet chooses from a short list proposed by scholars — a month in advance on Monday. “We’ve been working on this change for about a year,” said Tsukasa Shizume, an official in the western Tokyo suburb of Mitaka, where the era name will be changed on 55 kinds of paperwork in 20 administrative sections. The month-long lead time should be sufficient, he said. Fujitsu and NEC Corp. have been helping customers ensure the switch doesn’t crash their systems. Programs have been designed to make it easy to change the name, said Shunichi Ueda, an NEC official. “If people want to test their computer systems, they can use a trial gengō and see if it works,” he said. Most major companies use the Western calendar in their computer systems, so it won’t affect them as much, although smaller companies might run into some problems, he said. National mood In Tokyo’s Minato Ward, officials will cross out Heisei on thousands of documents and stamp the new gengō above it. An era name is more than just a way of counting years for many Japanese. It’s a word that captures the national mood of a period, similar to the way “the ’60s” evokes particular feelings or images, or how historians refer to Britain’s “Victorian” or “Edwardian” eras, tying the politics and culture of a period to a monarch. “It’s a way of dividing history,” said Jun Iijima, a 31-year-old lawyer who was born the last year of Showa, the era of Emperor Akihito’s father, Emperor Hirohito, who is posthumously known by that gengō. “If you were just counting years, the Western system might be sufficient. But gengō gives a certain meaning to a historical period.” The 64-year Showa Era, which lasted until 1989, has generally come to be identified with Japan’s recovery and rising global prominence in the decades after World War II. The Imperial era name is also a form of “soft nationalism,” said Ken Ruoff, director of the Center for Japanese Studies at Portland State University. “It’s one of these constant low-level reminders that Japan counts years differently and Japan has a monarchy,” he said. The kanji are carefully chosen to have an aspirational meaning. Heisei, which means “achieving peace,” began on Jan. 8, 1989, amid high hopes Japan would play a greater role in global affairs after decades of robust economic growth. Soon afterward, Japan’s bubble economy imploded, ushering in a long period of stagnation and deflation. The rise of China and South Korea diminished Japan’s international prominence, and a series of disasters — including the 1995 Kobe earthquake and the 2011 mega-quake, tsunami and nuclear crises — has marred Heisei’s image. Fading use In daily life, usage of the gengō system is slowly declining as Japan integrates with the global economy. A recent Mainichi Shimbun newspaper survey showed that 34 percent of people said they used mostly gengō, 25 percent mainly the Western calendar, and 34 percent used both about the same. In 1975, 82 percent said they used mostly gengō . Both calendars use Western months. Japanese driver’s licenses also have started to print both kinds of dates instead of just gengō . Iijima, the lawyer, says legal paperwork uses the era name because that’s what the court system uses. But in daily life he uses both. For global events, he thinks in terms of the Western calendar — like the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks — and uses both dating systems for domestic events. He hopes that the new era will again be one without war, that Japan will keep up economically with China and India, and that it will grow into a “mature,” more tolerant place.
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computers;emperor akihito;imperial family;abdication
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jp0003352
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/01
|
Emperor set to attend engagements through April ahead of abdication
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The new era name may have been released Monday for the forthcoming reign of the emperor-in-waiting, but Emperor Akihito is still set to attend a series of ceremonies through this month in preparation for his abdication on April 30. In modern Japan an era name, or gengō , is used for the length of an emperor’s reign. The new era, named Reiwa, will begin May 1, when Crown Prince Naruhito, 59, ascends the throne to succeed his 85-year-old father. The Heisei Era began in 1989 following the death of Emperor Akihito’s father, Emperor Hirohito, who is known posthumously as Emperor Showa. The Emperor will deliver his last speech in an abdication ceremony to be held at the Imperial Palace on April 30. Before that, on April 10, Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary at the Imperial Palace. On April 18 the Imperial Couple will also ceremonially report the Emperor’s abdication to his ancestors during a visit to the Grand Shrines of Ise, an ancient complex of Shinto shrines in Mie Prefecture. The two will also visit the mausoleum of Emperor Hirohito, located in the western suburbs of Tokyo, on April 23 for the same purpose. On May 1, the new Emperor will inherit traditional regalia such as the Sacred Sword and Curved Jewels in the Kenji to Shokei no Gi ceremony, as proof of ascension to the throne. Later in the day he will meet representatives of the public for the first time after his ascension, in the Sokui go Choken no Gi rite.
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emperor akihito;abdication;gengo;heisei
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jp0003353
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[
"national"
] |
2019/04/01
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For some, era system is unnecessary in modern-day Japan
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As use of the Gregorian calendar has become more prevalent in the postwar period, some see the Japanese era system — which has been in use for more than 1,300 years — as unnecessary and no longer relevant to modern society. Some argue that the gengō system, which initially symbolized what was considered to be the emperor’s control of time, is inconvenient compared with the Gregorian calendar. Others say it contradicts the postwar Constitution that stipulates sovereign power resides with the people. Asked which they prefer to use in their daily life, 39.8 percent of respondents in a Kyodo News opinion poll conducted in January said they want to use both gengō and the Gregorian calendar, while 24.3 percent opted for the former and 34.6 percent the latter. The Japanese era system was first introduced in 645, but lost its legal basis when the country was defeated in World War II and occupied by the U.S.-led Allied forces from 1945. In 1950, a Diet panel had full-fledged discussions for the first time on whether to keep or do away with the gengō system. The debate was rekindled in 1979 when the Cabinet of then Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda moved to legislate the era name system. Forty years after the system became legal, there are still opponents to gengō. “(Japanese society) is no longer controlled by an emperor,” said Hiroshi Kozen, professor emeritus of Chinese literature at Kyoto University and a member of the Japan Academy, an organization that recognizes eminent researchers. “The era system should reflect people’s desires and we have to start from discussing why we need it,” the 82-year-old said. Last Wednesday, three people — a lawyer from Nagano Prefecture, a journalist from Tokyo and a company executive — filed a lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court to seek suspension of the era name change. In the suit, the plaintiffs claimed changing the era name in every Imperial succession “destroys a sense of time held by each individual” and violates Article 13 of the Constitution that guarantees all of the people shall be respected as individuals.
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constitution;imperial family;abdication;gengo;era name
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jp0003354
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/01
|
Tokyo taxis show off true colors to make ride-hailing easier
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With the Olympics — and an anticipated influx of even more foreign tourists — a little more than a year away, local companies are finding more ways to get in on the act of showcasing Japanese know-how and enhancing the overall experience of visitors. Take taxis for example. While the industry is world-renowned for its white-gloved drivers and automated doors, there is still room for improvement. In Japan, vacant vehicles display in red LEDs the Sino-Japanese characters of kusha (literally, “empty car”) to indicate that they are available for hire. Naturally, the signage is lost on many tourists visiting from abroad. Foreign visitors aren’t the only ones stymied by taxi displays. Due to the rapid aging of Japan’s population, more elderly people — and especially those who have had to give up their driver’s licenses — are utilizing taxis, and they too have complained how frustrating it can be to determine whether or not an oncoming vehicle is vacant, “reserved” or “off shift.” “Instead of customers having to squint at a moving LED display that might be even harder to see because of the low angle of the sun in wintertime, we thought we’d light up the whole car, so to speak,” explained taxi company owner Teruo Isshiki. From this month, Isshiki’s Kamereon Jidosha K.K. will commence service of what it claims to be the world’s first taxis that change the entire vehicle’s body color to indicate the vehicle’s status. The pale pink color, which Isshiki said was designed to closely approximate the hue of the Somei-Yoshino (Prunus yedoensis) — Japan’s most beloved species of sakura (cherry blossoms) — can be switched on or off at the driver’s prerogative. Isshiki, however, can’t imagine why a driver of a vacant car would want to switch off. “If you look at one of our cars coming down the street, say, at dusk on a rainy day, it sticks out like a flamingo among a bunch of crows. You can’t miss it!” he said. Isshiki credited his brother-in-law, Akira Momota, for the new invention. In an interview at the company’s office in the city of Mitaka in western Tokyo, Momota told The Japan Times he obtained a utility patent several years ago for a process that expedites the color changes in so-called thermochromic color-changing paint pigment. “Thermochromic pigment, which was first developed in the 1970s, is chemically structured to change color in response to temperature changes,” he explained. “As the temperature goes up, the pigment becomes colorless, revealing the base coat or graphics underneath. “I don’t want to reveal any trade secrets at this point, but my process involves retaining heat from the engine’s exhaust to maintain the temperature of the undercoat layer of the car’s paint in a quiescent mode. “For example, think of a printer that comes on right away when you type the command on the computer to print. The color changes quickly because the quiescent mode maintains a state of constant readiness,” he said. Momota’s new quick-change process — for which a trademark name of Pika-ichi (Japanese for “something that stands out above the rest”) is under application — enables the car to change color within approximately 90 seconds, irrespective of the ambient temperature. In addition to the shade of sakura, Momota said they’re considering using “crested Ibis white” to signify the “off shift” status and “imperial purple” for “reserved,” though the technology might not yet be up to the task of multicolor options. He confessed that due to temperature conflicts, early experiments frequently resulted in the cars taking on a muddy, unattractive brown hue. But pink? That they can do. “After many late nights and too much caffeine, we nailed it,” he said, loudly slapping his palms together with a wide grin. And watching a taxi turn from lime green to cherry-blossom pink, as did this reporter, is truly an amazing spectacle to behold … and one guaranteed to bring a smile to the viewer’s face. Isshiki chose Kamereon, which is Japanese for “chameleon,” as the company name, and a cartoon mascot will appear in company promotional materials and emblazoned on the doors of the vehicles in Kameleon’s current fleet of 20 cars, which include a mix of Toyota Prius and Nissan Sylphys. Last November, the Tokyo Association of Taxi and Limousine Carriers, after lively debate, agreed to support Kamereon’s request for the color-change system to the transport ministry, which issued provisional approval for the color-changing taxis at the start of this year. The pilot program will be limited to the Tokyo metropolitan area. “It was the ministry’s view that an experiment involving only 20 cars wouldn’t have a major impact on business conditions. Furthermore, they felt that the taxi industry can only secure a stable future through adoption of new technologies as they become available,” said Isshiki. “Until self-driving cabs — or flying vehicles — become the standard, there’s not a lot of new things to adopt right now. At least this will get more people talking about us.” When queried about Kamereon’s new cars, a spokesperson for the Tokyo branch of All Japan Automobile Transport Workers’ Unions was nonplussed, saying it would adopt a wait-and-see attitude to see if this really is “a horse of a different color.”
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transportation;tech;tokyo 2020 olympics;taxis;april fools ' day
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jp0003355
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/01
|
Some in China baffled by Japan's era name, with regret that it wasn't inspired by a Chinese classic
|
BEIJING - Some citizens in Beijing on Monday evaluated Japan’s new era name, Reiwa, as “strange” and expressed disappointment, saying it doesn’t make sense in their language and was not derived from Chinese classics. On Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter, many young people had tried to guess the name of Japan’s new era, traditionally composed of two Chinese characters, believing that it would derive from Chinese classics as in the past. Contrary to their expectations, however, the 248th era name, the first of which was created in 645, was derived from the Japanese classic “Manyoshu,” a collection of poetry from the late seventh to eighth centuries. The meaning of “rei” — pronounced as “ling” in Chinese — is understood to be “order” in China. The character of “wa” with the sound of “he” in Chinese, meanwhile, signifies “and” and “peace.” The new era name reflects a wish that people will join their hearts to develop Japan’s culture, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said at a news conference following the announcement by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga. Before hearing Abe’s explanation, “I was not able to understand what the new era name means,” a 36-year-old Chinese woman said. “It looks cool and it is easy to write, but sounds a little strange for Chinese people.” A 24-year-old Chinese man said: “Does the name mean ‘someone orders peace’? It is difficult to understand.” Some observers in China said the choice is indicative of what they see as the nationalist leanings of Abe’s conservative government. “I felt disappointed that Japan did not use Chinese classics to decide the new era name,” another man in Beijing said. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters that it is a “matter of internal affairs of Japan.” “Recently, China-Japan relations have maintained a good momentum of improvement and development. We will continue to promote healthy and stable development of bilateral ties to benefit the two countries,” Geng said. In modern Japan, era names are used for the length of an emperor’s reign. The name is a matter of huge public interest, as it will be widely used in calendars, newspapers, official documents and certificates, including driver’s licenses. Japan is the only country in the world that currently operates under the era name system, which has its roots in China, although it also commonly uses the Gregorian calendar. The Reiwa Era will begin May 1, when Crown Prince Naruhito ascends the throne that day and succeeds his father, Emperor Akihito.
|
china;shinzo abe;kanji;nihongo;imperial family;abdication;reiwa
|
jp0003356
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/01
|
Top secret: A look at how Japan's new era name, Reiwa, was picked and kept under wraps
|
When Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga unveiled that Reiwa would be the name of Japan’s next Imperial era on Monday, it was a moment that finally put an end to months of fierce media competition to get the scoop before the official announcement. The name of a new Imperial era, or gengō , has traditionally been treated as top secret. But in the past, the name would somehow wriggle its way into the hands of scoop-hungry journalists just before the announcement, shaming the officials involved. So it’s perhaps little surprise this time around that the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has gone to great lengths to prevent this. Before Monday, when a select pool of private-sector representatives discussed the shortlist for the new names in a private meeting in the Prime Minister’s Office, reports had emerged that the government might go so far as to confiscate their cellphones, temporarily jam the radio waves and keep them sequestered long after the meeting wrapped up. “We’re doing our best to keep the new era name thoroughly confidential,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a regular briefing Friday, declining to elaborate on the measures taken. “Given that the new era name is something extremely important that will be deeply rooted in the lives of Japanese, I don’t think it’s appropriate if many of its details are leaked beforehand,” he said. Indeed, the process of picking the gengo was confidential every step of the way. As per a long-held guideline, Abe’s team commissioned scholars to come up with ideas in mid-March, Suga said. He didn’t divulge any details, but a senior official in the Cabinet Secretariat earlier told the Upper House budget committee it would include experts on Japanese and Chinese literature as well as history. The guideline dictates that the chief Cabinet secretary must then narrow down the list submitted by the scholars, checking each name to ensure they are easy to read and write, consist of two kanji, do not overlap with any existing word, and encapsulate an ideal for the times ahead. The government was also reportedly careful to avoid picking any name with a first initial that overlaps with any of its four immediate predecessors, namely H (Heisei), S (Showa), T (Taisho) and M (Meiji). The four initials are widely used in official documents and computer systems, and using a repeat letter would generate confusion. On Monday, the shortlist was handed over for scrutiny by a group of private-sector representatives and legislative leaders before the finalist was selected. Suga said the government won’t disclose the name of a scholar who came up with the name, to prevent “inappropriate” prying. Breaking through this watertight wall of secrecy is often a priority for political reporters in Japan. Most have been falling over themselves to get the scoop on the gengo because it becomes a topic of significant public interest when an era is about to end. When the Meiji Era ended in 1912, it was the daily Asahi Shimbun that exposed the next name, Taisho, in a bombshell exclusive that ran a day before its announcement. A drama unfolded 14 years later when Emperor Taisho died in December 1926. In the morning edition on Dec. 25 that year, the Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun, a precursor to what is today the Mainichi Shimbun, ran a giant exclusive saying the next era would be called Kobun, only to see the government announce hours later that it had in fact decided on Showa. The “Kobun Incident,” as the mishap came to be known, tarnished the daily’s reputation like never before, at one point even prompting Hikoichi Motoyama, the president, to resign. To this day, it remains unknown whether the error was simply a result of inadequate reporting or a last-minute government change devised to derail the scoop. In any case, the debacle put significant pressure on the chief editor of the Mainichi’s political team six decades later, when Emperor Showa’s health had reached a critical point in 1988, to avenge the ignominy caused by the Kobun Incident and “prepare to be fired” if he let his competitors beat him to the punch, according to “Mainichi no Sanseiki” (“Three Centuries of Mainichi”), an official book on the company’s history. The reporters’ jockeying naturally put government officials on high alert in the closing days of Showa. When talking to reporters, officials back then even threatened to change the era name at the 11th hour if was leaked to prevent potential scoops, former Mainichi Shimbun politics reporter Tadao Kano recalled in an article he contributed to the Japan National Press Club. “It was tantamount to them saying, ‘if you dare to scoop the era name, you better remember what the Mainichi Shimbun went through after the Kobun Incident — you’ll either be doomed to resign or demoted.’ That was basically a threat,” Kano wrote. His strategy, he wrote, was to scoop it at the very last minute — or after a name picked by then-Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita entered the final process of Cabinet approval. In the end, the Mainichi’s efforts to redeem itself paid off — sort of. In Jan. 7, 1989, when Emperor Showa died after a months-long battle with cancer, a Mainichi Shimbun reporter got wind of the new name — Heisei (“achieving peace”) — 30 minutes before then-Chief Cabinet Secretary Keizo Obuchi unveiled it in a hastily arranged news conference. The paper, however, balked at publishing an extra edition based on this knowledge, as some executives in the newsroom demanded more thorough fact-checking to avoid a repetition of the Kobun Incident, according to Kano. Because of this lack of tangible proof, “many newspaper companies like the Yomiuri Shimbun, wire agencies and TV stations still don’t acknowledge we scooped” them, Kano wrote with chagrin.
|
shinzo abe;imperial family;abdication
|
jp0003357
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/01
|
LIVESTREAM: Japan announces name of new era
|
In a much awaited moment heralding the opening of a new chapter in Japan’s history, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga is to announce Monday the name of the new Imperial era, taking one of the final steps toward initiating the nation’s first imperial succession in three decades. The new era will start on May 1, when Crown Prince Naruhito ascends to the Chrysanthemum Throne following the abdication of his father, Emperor Akihito, a day earlier. Above is a livestream from the Prime Minister’s Office of Suga’s announcement.
|
yoshihide suga;cabinet;imperial family;abdication;era name;new era;reiwa
|
jp0003358
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/01
|
New Reiwa era name draws positive public responses across Japan
|
The name of the nation’s next Imperial era, announced on Monday, drew largely positive responses from people on the streets through the day. The Reiwa Era, which will begin on May 1 when Crown Prince Naruhito ascends the Chrysanthemum Throne, is written with two kanji characters. The first character, “ rei ,” means “good fortune” while the second, “ wa ,” means peace or harmony. Many members of the public said they thought the name was simple and easy to read and write. A few pointed to the first character, which also can be translated to “command” or “order” in certain contexts, saying that it bears a negative connotation. Minutes before the announcement on Monday, people gathering in front of the Inui gates of the Imperial Palace were restlessly checking their smartphones as they waited for a news update. Cheers erupted when it finally came. Hisako Tamura, a 70-year-old who was visiting Tokyo from Kobe, praised the name, saying that it “has a ring to it and is easy to write.” “It’s a great choice,” she added. With one month to go until the end of the Heisei Era, Tamura said her overall impression of the Heisei Era was “good, except for the fact that the number of heinous crimes, including ones involving parents and their children, is increasing.” Nonetheless, she said, “there was not a war in Japan in Heisei,” adding that working environments for women have improved in terms of advancement in their workplace. Tamura was worried, however, that a graying population and a declining birthrate would top the country’s agenda in the new era. She feared that the inequality between seniors, who have families and financial means, and those who do not will “widen significantly.” “When those people get older and become sick, I wonder what is going to happen,” she said. Atsuhiro Ono, a 21-year-old university student from Hyogo Prefecture, echoed those observations. Ono, who learned of the new era name by watching a live stream via Twitter on his smartphone, said the aging population and low birthrate are among many social issues Japan needs to address. “We as citizens should work together to resolve the issue with a positive mindset,” Ono said, adding that the new era name was “easy to pronounce, and its kanji characters are well-balanced and beautiful.” In Osaka, a large crowd gathered Monday morning in the city’s Dotonbori canal district to watch the announcement on a large television screen. There were audible gasps of surprise as well as pleased expressions when the new name was announced. “It was unexpected but I’m especially happy that they used ‘wa’ in the name, which is reminiscent of Showa as in the Showa Era. Reiwa is easy to understand and resonates with a broad range of Japanese people,” said Masayuki Nakanishi, 73, a shopkeeper in Osaka. Miho Maruyama, 22, an English teacher in Osaka, said she hoped the new era name would create expectations of positive changes in Japan, especially abroad. “There are international events like the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2025 Osaka World Expo that will take place in the Reiwa Era,” she said. Osaka-area university students Ami Dogan and Fuka Ijima, both 19 years old, said they were quite surprised at the choice. “I’d seen on social media that other words were popular so I thought it might be one of them. I like the inclusion of ‘ wa ,’ as it reminds me of heiwa (peace). But I don’t know about ‘ rei ,’ ” said Dogan. “It sounds a bit stiff,” said Ijima. The name was revealed on Monday by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga. The Heisei Era, which began in Jan. 8, 1989, will end the moment the next Emperor ascends the throne on May 1. “Heisei” was comprised of two characters that, when translated, meant “achieving peace.” The country enjoyed an unprecedented stretch of peace over the past three decades, interrupted only by natural crises like the Great Hanshin Earthquake and the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system, both in 1995, and the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. Yukari Okada, who was carrying her toddler in front of huge video screens in the Shinjuku Ward of Tokyo as she waited for the new era name to be announced, was born in the first year of the Heisei Era. She said she was currently on maternity leave but that her child had not been accepted into any preschools. She hopes that, among other things, the chronic lack of preschools in Japan will be addressed in the new era. “There were many natural disasters during the Heisei Era,” Okada said. “I hope that in the next era people will suffer less and enjoy life more.”
|
tokyo;osaka;cabinet;imperial family;abdication;heisei;reiwa
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jp0003359
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/01
|
Shizuoka man shares same kanji as Japan's new Reiwa era name
|
SHIZUOKA - A 45-year-old man in Fujieda, Shizuoka Prefecture, received many congratulatory messages after the government announced the next era’s name, written with the same kanji as his given name. “I was first surprised and then felt happy,” Norikazu Matsuura said. He learned the era name in a phone call from his father. The pronunciation of his given name, Norikazu, however, is different from that of the new era’s name, Reiwa. “I hope the new era will be a peaceful period with no crime,” Matsuura said.
|
kanji;nihongo;imperial family;abdication;reiwa
|
jp0003360
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/01
|
Japanese fleet's return to port spells end to contentious research whaling in Antarctic Ocean
|
SHIMONOSEKI, YAMAGUCHI PREF. - A ceremony to welcome home a fleet of whaling ships, including the 8,145-ton Nisshin Maru, from the Antarctic Ocean took place in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, on Sunday. The return brings an end to Japan’s whaling in the Antarctic Ocean for scientific research, which started in 1987. Tokyo has decided to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission (IWC)and resume commercial whaling in July. The ships, which left for the Antarctic Ocean in November, caught 333 minke whales from which, during processing, about 1,000 tons of meat will be taken, according to officials. This time there were no acts of sabotage by the U.S. antiwhaling group Sea Shepherd, they said. During the ceremony, Fisheries Agency Director-General Shigeto Hase said scientific information gathered during the 30-year-long research whaling program in the Antarctic Ocean can be regarded as the property of mankind. Japan will continue nonlethal scientific whale research in the Antarctic Ocean, such as counting the number of whales by visual inspection, the agency said. Takeharu Bando, chief of the Institute of Cetacean Research’s cetacean biology section, who served as head of the research whaling mission, expressed gratitude to the crew members for working in sub-zero temperatures in the Antarctic Ocean. Japan suspended commercial whaling in 1982, in line with a moratorium adopted by the IWC, but it has been catching whales under what it calls a research whaling program since 1987 — a practice often criticized as a cover for commercial whaling. The government, which insists scientific evidence has confirmed that certain whale species are abundant, notified the IWC of its pullout in December after its proposal to resume sustainable commercial whaling and change decision-making rules at the body was rejected at its annual meeting in September.
|
whaling;nisshin maru;shimonoseki
|
jp0003362
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/06
|
Keidanren wants maximum service life of nuclear power plants extended to over 60 years
|
Keidanren will ask the government to consider extending the maximum service life of nuclear power plants beyond the current 60 years, informed sources have said. Keidanren, also known as the Japan Business Federation, will also request that periods in which nuclear plant operations are halted be excluded from their operating life spans, the sources said Friday. The requests will be announced by Chairman Hiroaki Nakanishi, also chairman of Hitachi Ltd., at a news conference Monday. Keidanren, the country’s biggest business lobby, regards nuclear power as an energy source essential for the country to move toward the decarbonization of the power sector. In the requests, Keidanren will stress that the use of existing nuclear power facilities that have been confirmed safe is important, according to the sources. Japan effectively limits the service life of nuclear plants to 40 years. Under the current rule, the period may be extended by up to 20 years if state approval is given.
|
keidanren;nuclear energy
|
jp0003363
|
[
"business",
"economy-business"
] |
2019/04/06
|
RCEP trade pact likely to be concluded in November: ASEAN chief Lim Jock Hoi
|
CHIANG, RAI THAILAND - An Asiawide free trade deal involving 16 countries will likely be concluded in November at a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to be held in Thailand, ASEAN Secretary-General Lim Jock Hoi has said. “I am quite hopeful the RCEP will conclude as targeted within the November summit,” Lim told a joint news conference Friday after a meeting of ASEAN finance ministers and central bank governors in the northern Thai city of Chiang Rai. RCEP refers to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership being negotiated among the 10-member ASEAN as well as Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand. Those negotiations, he said, are progressing well and according to schedule. His remarks came in the wake of an RCEP Trade Negotiating Committee meeting in Indonesia in February, which was followed by an RCEP Intersessional Ministerial Meeting in Cambodia last month. When the 16 nations’ leaders met last November in Singapore on the occasion of an ASEAN Summit, they resolved to reach a final agreement within 2019, after missing a year-end deadline amid disagreements over tariffs and other politically sensitive issues. The RCEP talks began in 2013 and the initial goal was to wrap them up in 2015. Covering a third of the global economy, it would become one of the world’s largest free trade zones. Thai Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong told the news conference that each country involved in the RCEP negotiations realizes the importance of reaching a deal amid rising trade tensions on the global stage. According to a joint statement issued after the meeting, the ASEAN finance ministers and central bank governors also held discussions on the use of local currencies for trading to reduce foreign-exchange risks. Four ASEAN countries — Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand — are so far working together to establish a local currency settlement framework. That collaboration is expected to expand to encompass other areas, such as cross-border trading between Thailand and Myanmar. ASEAN also includes Brunei, Laos, Singapore and Vietnam. The ministers and governors also discussed cooperation in the areas of payment connectivity, cybersecurity resilience and sustainable finance. ASEAN has set up the ASEAN Payments Policy Framework to guide cross-border, real-time retail payments across the member states to achieve a more competitive economic bloc.
|
trade;rcep;asean
|
jp0003364
|
[
"business",
"economy-business"
] |
2019/04/06
|
Trump sees progress in China trade talks but doesn't predict success
|
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump on Friday said talks with Beijing were making progress toward ending the trade war between the world’s two top economies, but he again stopped short of predicting success. “The China meeting was a big success,” Trump told reporters, discussing the latest round of shuttle diplomacy conducted this week in Washington. “I don’t want to predict a deal or not a deal, but we’re very well along,” he added. “We have really negotiated probably the two hardest points.” He offered no detail on what those two points were, however. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin engaged in trade talks with a Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier Liu He from April 3 to 5 in Washington. “Significant work remains” in the talks, the White House said in a statement later in the day, “and the principals, deputy ministers, and delegation members will be in continuous contact to resolve outstanding issues.” Those issues include “intellectual property, forced technology transfer, non-tariff barriers, agriculture, services, purchases, and enforcement.” The statement however did say that both sides had “productive meetings and made progress on numerous key issues.” Top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told Bloomberg Television that the talks had been “very productive” and were “moving the ball in the right direction.” The U.S. side was less interested in the timing of a deal than “getting a good deal,” he said. Kudlow said progress had been made on how to enforce the commitments made by both sides, the theft of intellectual property, forced transfers of technology and commodity sales. “I am not here to provide details as those are in the middle of the negotiations that are ongoing,” he said. On Thursday, Trump stopped short of announcing a date for a summit to seal a final deal with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, something he said as far back as February was likely a month away. Instead, the Republican president said the talks were likely to stretch on for another four weeks, with any summit coming shortly thereafter. In China, Xi said Friday he hoped the talks would conclude “as soon as possible,” according to state media. Since last year, the two countries have exchanged tariffs on more than $360 billion in two-way trade.
|
china;u.s .;trade;xi jinping;donald trump
|
jp0003365
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/06
|
David Malpass confirmed as next president of World Bank
|
WASHINGTON - David Malpass, U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the World Bank, won unanimous approval from the institution’s executive board on Friday, continuing the 73-year tradition of an American running the world’s largest development lender. The bank said that Malpass, the U.S. Treasury’s undersecretary for international affairs, will start his new role on Tuesday as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings get underway. Malpass, a former Bear Stearns and Co. chief economist who advised Trump’s 2016 election campaign, was the sole candidate. Previous World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, who left in January to join a private infrastructure fund, faced two challengers, from Nigeria and Colombia, in 2012 when he was first selected. This time around, bank board members had said there was little appetite for a challenge to a U.S. candidate from developed economies such as Europe and Japan, and from larger emerging markets such as China and Brazil. In a phone interview, Malpass said he would uphold the bank’s commitment to reducing poverty in the poorest countries and to fight climate change, and pursue goals stated in a $13 billion capital increase last year. In an email to World Bank employees, Malpass emphasized the need to fight extreme poverty and “foster broad based growth for each and every borrower, and a stronger, more stable global economy for all.” Since taking his job at the Treasury in 2017, Malpass had been critical of the World Bank’s continued lending to China, arguing that the world’s second-largest economy was too wealthy for such aid while it was loading up some countries with unsustainable debt from its “Belt and Road” infrastructure program. Those comments and Malpass’ role in U.S.-China trade negotiations caused some concern in the development community that he might try to use the bank’s influence to put pressure on China. But Malpass said that he foresees an “evolution” of the bank’s relationship with China “toward one which recognizes China as the world’s second-biggest economy and an important factor in global development. I expect there to be a strong relationship collaboration with China. We have a shared mission of poverty alleviation and reduction.” Malpass said he did not participate in this week’s U.S.-China trade talks and is winding down his role at the Treasury. He said he intends to make his first trip as World Bank president in late April to Africa. World Bank Chief Executive Officer Kristalina Georgieva will attend China’s second “Belt and Road” forum on April 26 and 27, not Malpass.
|
world bank;banks;donald trump;david malpass
|
jp0003366
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/06
|
Malpractice scandal deepens at IHI's jet-engine business
|
Jet-engine-maker IHI Corp., reprimanded last month by the government for improper maintenance work, has discovered more malpractice at two of its plants, people close to the matter said Saturday. Uncertified staff inspected parts for engines supplied to Boeing Co. and Airbus S.A.S., though the Tokyo-based heavy-machinery maker does not expect the latest incidents to raise safety concerns or require immediate inspection of aircraft equipped with its engines, the sources said. IHI has yet to confirm how long workers without necessary qualification were checking parts at the plants in Hiroshima and Fukushima prefectures, or how many parts were involved, they said. The company is likely to disclose details after it finishes its own investigation, while the government is expected to take additional administrative action. In late March, the industry ministry ordered IHI to rectify its jet-engine maintenance operation and stick to state-approved methods, after it reported 6,340 improper inspections affecting 209 engines in the two years through January. In early March, the company initially reported 211 improper checks in engine maintenance work entrusted by airlines after the problem was uncovered in the government’s on-site inspections earlier in the year. The number of cases later jumped as IHI expanded the scope of its internal probe.
|
boeing;airbus;scandals;aircraft;ihi corp .
|
jp0003367
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/06
|
French foreign minister mentions Carlos Ghosn's rearrest in talks with Taro Kono
|
DINARD, FRANCE - French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian referred Friday to former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn’s rearrest during a meeting with Foreign Minister Taro Kono, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said. It remains unclear what Le Drian said about Ghosn’s situation, a day after the once-feted auto tycoon was again put in custody in Tokyo over a new allegation of aggravated breach of trust. Asked by reporters about details of Le Drian’s remarks, the official declined to comment, only saying the French minister touched on the issue briefly at the end of the meeting on the sidelines of a foreign ministerial gathering of the Group of Seven nations in Dinard in western France. Kono listened to Le Drian but there was not enough time to respond, the official said. The fourth arrest warrant against Ghosn — who was also chairman at Nissan’s alliance partners Renault SA of France and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. — was issued as the three automakers were also stepping up their investigation into allegations that he misused company funds for private purposes. Tokyo prosecutors served Ghosn with the latest warrant on suspicion he misused Nissan funds paid to a distributor in Oman. The rearrest came less than a month after Ghosn’s release on bail in Tokyo. The 65-year-old was planning to hold a news conference to “tell the truth about what’s happening” but was rearrested before he could do so.
|
scandals;nissan;carmakers;renault;carlos ghosn;taro kono
|
jp0003369
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/06
|
Hoya hit by cyberattack in February, disrupting Thai factory operations
|
Japanese eyeglass lens maker Hoya Corp. was hit by a cyberattack at its key production base in Thailand in late February, leading to a partial shutdown of its factory lines for three days, company officials said Saturday. About 100 computers were infected with a virus that steals user IDs and passwords, which the company believes was a precursor to spreading another virus to enable the unauthorized use of its computers for cryptocurrency mining. The company says it prevented the second phase of the attack. In a process called mining, digital currency is awarded to individuals and groups that leverage their computer processing power to perform complex mathematical calculations necessary to maintain and validate the currency’s transaction history. As the value of cryptocurrencies has risen from 2017, there has been a notable increase in illicit mining cases. With currency prices now falling, however, the number of cases is in decline although they are still being detected and being carried out in more sophisticated ways. In Hoya’s case, a computer server controlling the network slowed down on March 1 and workers were no longer able to use software to manage orders and production. Output at two factories dropped to around 40 percent of normal levels. The company officials said that a heavy load had been placed on the server as the initial virus continued to find its way to other computers. Computers in Japan that were connected to the network were also affected, disrupting the issuing of invoices. No data leak has been detected, the officials said. As the factories in Thailand operate around the clock, Hoya had yet to fully recover from the production delay caused by the cyberattack as of the end of March. But an official said the cyberattack will have “little” impact on business. The company has not made public how many lenses are produced at the factories.
|
thailand;cyberattacks;hoya corp .
|
jp0003370
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/06
|
U.S. to designate Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps as terrorist organization
|
WASHINGTON - The United States is expected to designate Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Corps a foreign terrorist organization, three U.S. officials said, marking the first time Washington has formally labeled another country’s military a terrorist group. The decision, which critics warn could open U.S. military and intelligence officials to similar actions by unfriendly governments abroad, is expected to be announced by the U.S. State Department, perhaps as early as Monday, the officials said. It has been rumored for years. The Pentagon declined comment and referred queries to the State Department. The State Department and White House also declined to comment. The Iranian mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a strident Iran hawk, has advocated for the change in U.S. policy as part of the Trump administration’s tough posture toward Tehran. The announcement would come ahead of the first anniversary of President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of a 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran and to reimpose sanctions that had crippled Iran’s economy. The administration’s decision to make the designation was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. The United States has already blacklisted dozens of entities and people for affiliations with the IRGC, but the organization as a whole is not. In 2007, the U.S. Treasury designated the IRGC’s Quds Force, its unit in charge of operations abroad, “for its support of terrorism,” and has described it as Iran’s “primary arm for executing its policy of supporting terrorist and insurgent groups.” Iran has warned of a “crushing” response should the United States go ahead with the designation. IRGC commander Mohammad Ali Jafari warned in 2017 that if Trump went ahead with the move “then the Revolutionary Guard will consider the American army to be like Islamic State all around the world.” Such threats are particularly ominous for U.S. forces in places such as Iraq, where Iran-aligned Shiite militia are located in close proximity to U.S. troops. Republican Sen. Ben Sasse said the move would be an important step in America’s maximum pressure campaign against Tehran. “A formal designation and its consequences may be new, but these IRGC butchers have been terrorists for a long time,” Sasse said in a statement. Former undersecretary of state and lead Iran negotiator, Wendy Sherman, said she worried about implications for U.S. forces. “One might even suggest, since it’s hard to see why this is in our interest, if the president isn’t looking for a basis for a conflict,” said Sherman, who is director of the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School. “The IRGC is already fully sanctioned and this escalation absolutely endangers our troops in the region.” Set up after the 1979 Islamic Revolution to protect the Shiite clerical ruling system, the IRGC is Iran’s most powerful security organization. It has control over large sectors of the Iranian economy and has a huge influence in its political system. The IRGC is in charge of Iran’s ballistic missiles and nuclear programs. Tehran has warned that it has missiles with a range of up to 2,000 km (1,240 miles), putting Israel and U.S. military bases in the region within reach. The IRGC has an estimated 125,000-strong military with army, navy and air units and answers to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It is unclear what impact the U.S. designation of the IRGC as a terrorist organization might have on America’s activities in countries that have ties with Tehran, including in Iraq. Baghdad has deep cultural and economic ties with Iran and Oman, where the United States recently clinched a strategic ports deal.
|
u.s .;terrorism;iran;donald trump
|
jp0003371
|
[
"world",
"social-issues-world"
] |
2019/04/06
|
Nebraska mom says carrying her gay son's baby was her gift
|
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA - When Cecile Eledge offered to carry a baby for her adult son and his husband, they thought she was kidding — and that her doctors in the family’s Nebraska hometown would balk at a 61-year-old woman serving as a surrogate for a gay couple. But two weeks ago the entire family — along with proud doctors — beamed as Uma Louise Dougherty came into the world at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. Grandmother and baby are both healthy — and Uma was delivered the old-fashioned way. The circumstances of Uma’s birth are a testament to changing social mores as well as the dramatic advances in senior health made by modern medicine and healthy lifestyles. “I wanted to do it as a gift from a mother to her son,” Cecile Eledge said. News of Uma’s conception, delivery and birth made headlines across the globe. On social media, the family was inundated with messages — most of them positive but some extremely angry and negative, Matthew Eledge said. “People from all around the world have been reaching out,” Matthew Eledge said. “They want to help in any way that they can.” The family is trying to ignore the negative reactions — the people who wrongly think that Matthew had sex with his own mother to produce the baby, or who leave homophobic remarks. When they set out to start their family, Matthew Eledge and Elliott Dougherty were already aware of the toll that prejudice could take. In 2015, Matthew Eledge had lost his job as a teacher at a Catholic school after the pair announced they would be married. That led to concerns that they would be denied permission to adopt a baby in their conservative home state. So they decided to try in vitro fertilization with a donated egg and a surrogate to carry the fetus. To their delight, Dougherty’s sister, Lea Yribe, offered to donate her eggs. The eggs were fertilized with sperm from Matthew Eledge, giving Uma genetic material from both sides of the family. The men jokingly told their IVF doctor that Matthew Eledge’s mother had offered to be the surrogate — even though she was at that point 59 and had gone through menopause. “Matt would comically say, ‘Well my mom keeps offering but we know that’s not an option,'” Cecile Eledge said. But the doctors, Matthew Eledge said, just wanted to know if his mom was healthy — and if she still had her uterus. After testing to make sure that Cecile Eledge’s body could tolerate the pregnancy, the embryo that would become Uma was implanted. Dr. Carl Smith, a specialist in maternal and fetal medicine at the medical center, said Cecile Eledge was healthy and fit, and looked years younger than her age. Among possible complications for older mothers are gestational diabetes and high blood pressure, and the team watched her health carefully, viewing the pregnancy as high-risk. Cecile Eledge took estrogen supplements for the first part of the pregnancy, Smith said, until the placenta holding Uma was able to make hormones of its own. The politics of helping a gay couple and the unusual choice of a grandmother for a surrogate did not deter the team, Smith said. “We never gave that a second thought,” Smith said. “She was pregnant and the circumstances of how she got pregnant are between her and her family.”
|
pregnancy;lgbt;sexuality;parenthood;in vitro;surrogacy
|
jp0003372
|
[
"world",
"science-health-world"
] |
2019/04/06
|
Cosmic monster photos: Scientists prepare to unveil first images of a black hole
|
PARIS - The world, it seems, is soon to see the first picture of a black hole. On Wednesday, astronomers across the globe will hold “six major press conferences” simultaneously to announce the first results of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), which was designed precisely for that purpose. It has been a long wait. Of all the forces or objects in the universe that we cannot see — including dark energy and dark matter — none has frustrated human curiosity so much as the invisible maws that shred and swallow stars like so many specks of dust. Astronomers began speculating about omnivorous “dark stars” in the 1700s, and since then indirect evidence has slowly accumulated. “More than 50 years ago, scientists saw that there was something very bright at the center of our galaxy,” said Paul McNamara, an astrophysicist at the European Space Agency and an expert on black holes. “It has a gravitational pull strong enough to make stars orbit around it very quickly — as fast as 20 years.” To put that in perspective, our solar system takes about 230 million years to circle the center of the Milky Way. Eventually, astronomers speculated that these bright spots were in fact “black holes” — a term coined by American physicist John Archibald Wheeler in the mid-1960s — surrounded by a swirling band of white-hot gas and plasma. At the inner edge of these luminous accretion disks, things abruptly go dark. “The event horizon” — the point of no return — “is not a physical barrier, you couldn’t stand on it,” McNamara explained. “If you’re on the inside of it, you can’t escape because you would need infinite energy. And if you are on the other side, you can — in principle.” At its center, the mass of a black hole is compressed into a single, zero-dimensional point. The distance between this “singularity” and the event horizon is the radius of a black hole. The EHT that collected the data for the first-ever image is unlike any ever devised. “Instead of constructing a giant telescope — which would collapse under its own weight — we combined several observatories as if they were fragments of a giant mirror,” said Michael Bremer, an astronomer at the Institute for Millimetric Radio Astronomy in Grenoble. In April 2017, eight such radio telescopes scattered across the globe — in Hawaii, Arizona, Spain, Mexico, Chile and the South Pole — were trained on two black holes in very different corners of the universe to collect data. Studies that could be unveiled in the coming week are likely to zoom in on one or the other. Oddsmakers favor Sagittarius A* (pronounced “A star”), the black hole at the center of our elliptical galaxy that first caught the eye of astronomers. Sag A* has 4 million times the mass of our sun, which means that the black hole is generates is about 44 million kilometers across. That may sound like a big target, but for the telescope array on Earth some 26,000 light-years (or 245 trillion kilometers) away, it’s like trying to photograph a golf ball on the moon. The other candidate is a monster black hole — 1,500 times more massive even than Sag A* — in an elliptical galaxy known as M87. It is also a lot farther from Earth, but distance and size balance out, making it roughly as easy (or difficult) to pinpoint. One reason this dark horse might be the one revealed in the coming week is light smog within the Milky Way. “We are sitting in the plain of our galaxy — you have to look through all the stars and dust to get to the center,” said McNamara. The data collected by the far-flung telescope array still had to be collected and collated. “The imaging algorithms we developed fill the gaps of data we are missing in order to reconstruct a picture of a black hole,” the team said on their website. Astrophysicists not involved in the project, including McNamara, are waiting to see if the findings challenge Einstein’s theory of general relativity, which has never been tested on this scale. Breakthrough observations in 2015 that earned the scientists involved a Nobel Prize used gravitational wave detectors to track two black holes smashing together. As they merged, ripples in the curvatures of time-space creating a unique, and detectable, signature. “Einstein’s theory of general relativity says that this is exactly what should happen,” said McNamara. But those were tiny black holes — only 60 times more massive than the sun — compared to either of the ones under the gaze of the EHT. “Maybe the ones that are millions of times more massive are different — we just don’t know yet.”
|
space;astronomy;black holes
|
jp0003373
|
[
"world",
"science-health-world"
] |
2019/04/06
|
Finely painted Ptolemaic tomb unveiled in Egypt
|
SOHAG, EGYPT - Archaeologists on Friday unveiled a well preserved and finely painted tomb thought to be from the early Ptolemaic period near the Egyptian town of Sohag. The tomb was built for a man named Tutu and his wife, and is one of seven discovered in the area last October, when authorities found smugglers digging illegally for artifacts, officials said. Its painted walls depict funeral processions and images of the owner working in the fields, as well as his family genealogy written in hieroglyphics. Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, described the burial chamber as a “beautiful, colorful tomb.” “The tomb is made up of a central lobby, and a burial room with two stone coffins. The lobby is divided in two,” he said. “It shows images of the owner of the burial room, Tutu, giving and receiving gifts before different gods and goddesses.” “We see the same thing for his wife, Ta-Shirit-Iziz, with the difference that (we see) verses from a book, the book of the afterlife,” he added. Two mummies, a woman age 35 to 50 and a boy age 12 to 14, were on display outside the shallow burial chamber, in a desert area near the Nile about 390 km (240 miles) south of Cairo. Around 50 mummified animals, including mice and falcons, were also recovered from the tomb. Ptolemaic rule spanned about three centuries until the Roman conquest in 30 B.C. Egypt’s ancient sites are a draw for tourists and authorities hope new finds can help boost the sector, which has been recovering after foreigners were scared off by the North African country’s 2011 popular uprising and the turmoil and insecurity that followed.
|
history;archaeology;egypt
|
jp0003374
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/06
|
Of those subject to Trump travel ban, only 6% got waivers
|
WASHINGTON - The U.S. government granted waivers to just 6 percent of visa applicants subject to its travel ban on a handful of countries during the first 11 months of the ban, new data show. Trump administration officials have pointed to the waiver process embedded in the travel ban as proof it was not motivated by animus toward Muslims, as critics have charged, but rather serves to protect the United States. In June 2018, after legal challenges defeated earlier iterations of the ban, the Supreme Court upheld a revised version and wrote in its majority opinion that the waiver program supported the government’s claims that the ban served “a legitimate national security interest.” But new data show that only 6 percent of people subject to the travel ban were ultimately granted waivers during the first 11 months of the ban’s full implementation. Between Dec. 8, 2017, and Oct. 31, 2018, State Department officers ruled on nearly 38,000 applications for nonimmigrant and immigrant visas filed by people subject to the travel ban who otherwise qualified for the visas and needed waivers to get them. They determined that just 6 percent — or 2,216 applicants — met the criteria for a waiver. Of those, 670 had not yet received their visas but were expected to do so. The data were provided in a Feb. 22 letter from Assistant Secretary of State Mary Taylor to Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen. The letter was received by Van Hollen’s office on Wednesday, and his office provided it to Reuters. “This data paints a clear — and deeply disturbing — picture of the Trump travel ban,” Van Hollen said in a statement to Reuters. “The administration repeatedly swore to the Supreme Court and the American people that this was not a de-facto Muslim ban and that there was a clear waiver process to ensure fairness. That couldn’t be further from reality.” A State Department spokesman said on condition of anonymity that “a consular officer carefully reviews each case to determine if the applicant is covered” by the travel ban and “if so, whether the case qualifies for a waiver.” The travel ban blocks citizens of Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, as well as some Venezuelan officials and their relatives, from obtaining a broad range of U.S. immigrant and nonimmigrant visas. Chad was previously covered by the ban but was removed in April 2018. The latest data show a slight increase in the waiver issuance rate. Data from December 2017 through April 2018 showed that waivers were issued in 2 percent of visa applications filed by people subject to the travel ban. The ban’s restrictions vary from country to country — Somalis, for instance, can receive short-term visas and Iranians are allowed to get student visas, while North Koreans are blocked from all visas. In addition to the almost 38,000 applications considered for a travel ban waiver, around 8,100 by people from countries subject to the travel ban were refused in the 11-month period for reasons unrelated to the ban, and nearly 2,600 applicants were found eligible for visas based on exceptions to the ban and thus did not need a waiver. Critics say the waiver process is shrouded in secrecy, with vague standards and little information given to applicants about how they can qualify or apply for one. Two federal lawsuits are contesting the fairness of the process. The official criteria for a waiver is a three-part test assessing whether denying entry to an applicant would cause “undue hardship,” if entry of the person would not pose a threat to the United States, and if entry would be in the national interest. There is no application for a waiver — the State Department says it “automatically” considers applicants for them. “They (the State Department) are actually actively telling applicants, ‘We don’t want your materials in support of a waiver,’ ” said Mahsa Khanbabai, an immigration attorney in Massachusetts who has clients subject to the ban. “Even in the cases where they do take them, the extraordinary amount of time that it takes to make a decision causes tremendous hardships for people.”
|
u.s .;immigration;terrorism;discrimination;donald trump
|
jp0003376
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/06
|
May's Brexit talks with Labour stall as delay request fails to convince EU
|
LONDON/BRUSSELS - Britain’s opposition Labour Party said Friday that talks with the government on a last-ditch Brexit deal had made no progress, as EU leaders said Prime Minister Theresa May had not convinced them that they should let Britain delay its departure next week. May wrote to Brussels asking European Union leaders to postpone Britain’s exit from next Friday until June 30. But they have insisted that she must first show a viable plan to secure agreement on her divorce deal in the deadlocked Parliament. Labour, which she turned to reluctantly after failing three times to get her deal passed, said the government “has not offered real change or compromise” in three days of talks. “We urge the prime minister to come forward with genuine changes to her deal,” a statement said. Labour Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer said his party wanted the talks to go on, and a spokesman for May’s office said the government had “made serious proposals” in the talks and wanted them to continue over the weekend “in order to deliver a deal that is acceptable to both sides.” May badly needs evidence of a viable divorce strategy to persuade the other 27 EU leaders at a summit next Wednesday to grant a delay, preferably on her preferred departure date. Any extension would require unanimous approval from the other EU countries, all weary of Britain’s Brexit indecision, and could come with conditions. “If we are not able to understand the reason why the U.K. is asking for an extension, we cannot give a positive answer,” said French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire. German Justice Minister Katarina Barley tweeted: “This playing for time must end.” Deep divisions in May’s Conservative Party and government, and in Labour, have led to a marathon of votes in Parliament, in which scenarios ranging from abandoning the EU with no transition period to canceling Brexit have all been defeated. Last Friday, May did the unthinkable by asking Labour to negotiate with her on a deal that might work for both — although some in Labour said she was luring the party into sharing responsibility for her failure. Hoping this would satisfy EU leaders, May wrote to EU summit chair Donald Tusk proposing a delay until June 30 at the latest, accepting that Britain might have to hold European Parliament elections on May 23, which she had hoped to avoid. “The government will want to agree a timetable for ratification that allows the United Kingdom to withdraw from the European Union before 23 May, 2019, and therefore cancel the European Parliament elections, but will continue to make responsible preparations to hold the elections should this not prove possible,” the letter said. So far, there has been little appetite in Brussels for an extension that could create another cliff edge in three months. May asked two weeks ago for a delay until June 30, only to be turned down. Tusk is planning to propose an extension of a year, which could also be shortened if Britain ratifies the withdrawal agreement, senior EU officials said. “The only reasonable way out would be a long but flexible extension. I would call it a ‘flextension,’ ” one official said. “It seems to be a good scenario for both sides, as it gives the U.K. all the necessary flexibility, while avoiding the need to meet every few weeks to further discuss Brexit extensions.” But Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said May’s letter raised questions, adding: “We hope for more clarity from London before next Wednesday.” And France, which wants the EU to move on to other business including reforms proposed by President Emmanuel Macron, indicated it was not ready to accept any delay without a clear plan. “If we are not able to understand the reason why the U.K. is asking for an extension, we cannot give a positive answer,” Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told reporters in Bucharest. With time running out, it was not clear how Britain would avoid the abrupt “no-deal” departure that business leaders in Britain and also neighboring Ireland say would cause huge disruption. Germany, as one of those with most to lose from a sudden dislocation of trade, has been one of those most tolerant of Britain’s turmoil. Justice Minister Barley tweeted that “there can only be an extension with a clear direction,” but also proposed a potential way out by adding: “This includes the question of a second referendum.” The idea of asking Britons — who voted by 52 percent to 48 to leave the EU three years ago — to confirm or reject any divorce deal has been gaining ground in Britain. Yet May herself and many lawmakers in both main parties are strongly opposed, saying it would betray voters and undermine democracy, especially if it offered an option to stay in the EU. Both main parties made commitments after the referendum to deliver Brexit, but they never settled on a plan for how to leave or what future relationship to seek. May long insisted that her plan — quitting all EU institutions, with a 21-month standstill period to negotiate a bespoke free trade deal — was the only viable one. But it still split her cabinet and infuriated the most euroskeptic of her Conservatives. Labour wants closer ties than May has sought, including a customs union, which she has so far ruled out. Many Labour members of Parliament insist that any agreement must be put to a second public vote.
|
eu;u.k .;brexit;theresa may
|
jp0003377
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/06
|
Joe Biden jokes about hugging in first speech since new accusations
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WASHINGTON - Democrat Joe Biden, who signaled Friday he was on the cusp of announcing a presidential bid, brushed off allegations of inappropriate conduct with women by joking about hugging in his first public appearance since the accusations broke. The former vice president said he was “very close” to revealing his 2020 plans, and that he and his team were busy “putting everything together.” But the will-he-or-won’t-he campaign game by the 76-year-old, who is his party’s frontrunner in opinion polls despite not officially joining the race, has been clouded by allegations about his behavior with women. Over the past week, Biden has been accused of inappropriately touching women or making them feel uncomfortable with his affection. That was “never my intention,” he said at an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers conference in Washington, as he sought, unsuccessfully, to defuse the turmoil. He added that while he “wouldn’t be surprised” if more women came forward with similar claims, “I’ve had hundreds and hundreds of people contact me — who I don’t know — and say the exact opposite.” But while he sought to move past the controversy, the veteran politician made an awkward joke about the situation. After embracing union chief Lonnie Stephenson, Biden turned to the crowd and said “I just want you to know I had permission to hug Lonnie.” The overwhelmingly male audience laughed. Further into his speech, he brought young children onstage and repeated a similar joke, before adding: “Everyone knows I like kids more than people.” Biden has said that in his constant effort to make “a human connection,” he shakes hands, hugs voters, and sometimes grasps their shoulders in moments of compassion or good will. That behavior has sparked criticism from his own party and its increasingly diverse base, with some saying he is out of step with changing social norms. Biden addressed the concerns, saying he would likely adjust how he campaigns should he enter the race. But he stopped short of an outright apology to those who have found fault with his actions. “I’m sorry I didn’t understand more,” Biden told reporters. “I’m not sorry for any of my intentions. I’m not sorry for anything that I’ve ever done. I’ve never been disrespectful intentionally, to a man or a woman.” After the remarks, two women who had recounted their uncomfortable encounters with Biden made clear they remained troubled. “To make light of something as serious as consent degrades the conversation women everywhere are courageously trying to have,” tweeted Lucy Flores of Nevada. The former state legislator has accused Biden of smelling her hair and then kissing her head at a 2014 rally when she ran for lieutenant governor. Amy Lappos of Connecticut, who recounted this week that Biden rubbed noses with her, told The Washington Post that the candidate-in-waiting’s joke “is a clear indication Biden doesn’t get it and doesn’t take the voice of the women who have come forward seriously.” The fact Biden joked about consent from a child “adds a new level of creepy and gross,” she added. Biden released a video Wednesday in which he pledged to “be more mindful” about people’s personal space going forward. President Donald Trump, who himself has faced accusations of sexual misconduct, was quick to mock Biden on Twitter, dismissing him as a potential challenger in 2020. “I don’t see Joe Biden as a threat,” Trump told reporters Friday. “I think he’s only a threat to himself.” Trump later posted what appeared to be a goading tweet just as the Democrat concluded his speech. “I’ve employed thousands of Electrical Workers. They will be voting for me!” Trump tweeted. In his address, Biden stressed his traditional themes of solidarity, union strength and his family’s blue-collar roots. “This country was not built by Wall Street bankers and CEOs and hedge fund managers,” Biden said. “It was built by the great American middle class,” and the group that forged the country’s middle class was “unions,” he added. Biden’s tactile politics are not the only concern raised by his decades of experience in public life. He faces renewed focus on how, as chairman of a Senate committee, he handled the 1991 hearings featuring Anita Hill, a former aide to then Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, whom she accused of sexual harassment. Biden is also under scrutiny for supporting 1990s tough-on-crime legislation that helped create a mass incarceration crisis that disproportionately affected black Americans.
|
harassment;women;elections;joe biden;donald trump
|
jp0003378
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/06
|
Thousands protest against Honduras president
|
TEGUCIGALPA - Thousands of people marched through the streets of the Honduran capital Friday night demanding the resignation of President Juan Orlando Hernandez and an investigation of him and his family. The protestors, from the so-called Movimiento Indignados (Indignant Movement) and numbering around 5,000 according to reporters, shouted “get out J.O.H.,” as they marched to the public prosecutor’s office. “We demand the immediate removal of Juan Orlando Hernandez from the post he is currently usurping, as well as an urgent investigation of him and his family circle and political associates,” the movement said in a statement. It alleged Hernandez has links to people accused of corruption and drug trafficking, including his brother Antonio Hernandez, a former lawmaker who was arrested in Miami, Florida on November 23 and is accused of “large-scale drug trafficking.” President Hernandez has said he was shocked by his brother’s arrest but that nobody was above the law. The opposition says Hernandez, a conservative backed by the United States, was illegitimately re-elected in a November 2017 vote marred by delays and alleged fraud. The indignados have made a return to the streets after their 2015 demonstrations against Hernandez, who was accused of illegally using government money for the 2013 presidential election that he won. Hernandez admitted his conservative ruling National Party had accepted $94,000 that had been misappropriated from social security funds but said the funds had been used without his knowledge. The opposition however charged that more than $300 million was skimmed from the poverty-stricken country’s public health system. Honduras is plagued by endemic corruption and gangs that control drug trafficking and organized crime. This phenomenon has caused a wave of illegal immigration to the United States, notably by minors who fear being forced into gang enrollment.
|
honduras;juan orlando hernandez
|
jp0003379
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/06
|
Democrat Beto O'Rourke says Trump rhetoric recalls Nazi Germany
|
WASHINGTON - Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke has compared Donald Trump’s attacks on immigrants to Nazi Germany, saying at a campaign event that similar rhetoric might have been heard during the Third Reich. Addressing a town hall gathering in Carroll, Iowa late Thursday, O’Rourke recalled how Trump blasted Mexican immigrants as “rapists” and referred to some people seeking to enter the country as “animals” and an “infestation.” The former congressman from Texas also pointed to other troubling Trump behavior, including his effort to ban all Muslims from entering the country, and his seeming defense of white nationalists at a deadly rally in Virginia in 2017. “Now we would not be surprised if, in the Third Reich, other human beings were described as an infestation, as a cockroach or a pest that you would want to kill,” O’Rourke told attendees, according to video posted on his Facebook page. “But to do that in 2017 or ’18 in the United States of America doesn’t make sense.” In a tweet last June, Trump berated Democrats as “the problem,” and said “they don’t care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our Country, like MS-13.” Trump frequently mentions MS-13, which is a particularly brutal criminal gang operating in the United States and Central America. O’Rourke is polling fourth in a Democratic field of at least 17 candidates including liberal Sen. Bernie Sanders, and which may soon see former Vice President Joe Biden enter the race. O’Rourke later acknowledged the Nazi comparison that he made in front of voters. “I compared the rhetoric that the president has employed to rhetoric that you might have heard during the Third Reich. Calling human beings an infestation is something that we might have expected to hear in Nazi Germany,” O’Rourke told reporters. “Describing immigrants … as rapists and criminals. Seeking to ban all Muslims, all people of one religion,” he added. “What other country on the face of the planet does that kind of thing?” O’Rourke’s comparisons came as U.S. lawmakers have been embroiled in heated debates in Congress about anti-Semitism and whether socialists are Nazis. Six million Jews were exterminated by the Nazis in Europe between 1939 and 1945.
|
immigration;elections;nazis;donald trump;beto o'rourke
|
jp0003380
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/06
|
Fight begins over Trump's taxes as lawyer slams Democrats' request for returns
|
WASHINGTON - An attorney for President Donald Trump on Friday blasted U.S. House Democrats’ request for six years of Trump’s tax returns as “a misguided attempt” to politicize the tax laws, accusing lawmakers of harassment and interference in IRS audits. In a statement that mapped out the legal battlefield ahead, William Consovoy said the request, formally filed on Wednesday by U.S. House of Representatives tax committee Chairman Richard Neal, flouts “constitutional constraints.” “The requests for his private tax information are not consistent with governing law, do not advance any proper legislative purpose, and threaten to interfere with the ordinary conduct of audits,” Consovoy said. “We are confident that this misguided attempt to politicize the administration of the tax laws will not succeed,” he said. One of the many investigations targeting Trump on Capitol Hill and in the U.S. court system, the House Democrat’s probe into the president’s tax returns could pull back the curtain on his business empire and his reputation as a savvy deal-maker. Unlike previous presidents over recent decades, Trump has refused to make public past tax returns, while retaining ownership in many enterprises, ranging from golf courses and hotels to Trump Tower in New York City and his Mar-a-Lago private club in Florida. Concerns about possible conflicts of interest have simmered since Trump moved into the White House in January 2017, along with lingering questions from his presidential campaign about his net worth, tax profile and past financial dealings. Seeking answers to such questions, Neal this week invoked a law that gives the head of the tax committee the power to ask the Internal Revenue Service for a president’s returns. He is seeking both Trump’s personal and business tax returns. Asked on Friday about Neal’s request, Trump said before leaving the White House for a trip to California, “From what I understand the law is 100 percent on my side.” Congressional Republicans oppose Neal’s effort, saying such a move sets a dangerous precedent by turning the confidential tax documents of a U.S. citizen into a political weapon. A tax committee spokesman said it had no comment for now. An IRS spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and a spokeswoman for the Justice Department declined to comment. When Neal filed his request to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig two days ago, Neal said it was “critical to ensure the accountability of our government and elected officials.” Trump has long maintained that he cannot release his returns because they are under IRS audit. The IRS, which is overseen by the U.S. Treasury Department, has said that Trump could release his returns even while under audit. Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen recently testified in Congress that he did not believe the president was being audited, but may have used the audit claim to avoid scrutiny that could lead to an audit and IRS tax penalties. In a letter to Treasury General Counsel Brent McIntosh on Friday, Consovoy called the request “a transparent effort by one political party to harass an official from the other party because they dislike his politics and speech.” He argued that any request from the House committee for private tax returns would need to have a legitimate legislative purpose, which he said Neal’s request lacked. Consovoy said the IRS should not comply with the request until it receives a formal legal opinion from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. Consovoy is also Trump’s personal lawyer in a case accusing him of violating the anti-corruption provisions of the Constitution with his Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., which is pending at the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
|
u.s .;congress;taxes;rights;donald trump
|
jp0003381
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/06
|
Boeing cuts 737 Max output in wake of two deadly crashes
|
CHICAGO/SEATTLE - Boeing Co. said Friday it plans to cut its monthly 737 aircraft production by nearly 20 percent in the wake of two deadly crashes, signaling it does not expect aviation authorities to allow the plane back in the air anytime soon. Deliveries of Boeing’s best-selling aircraft were frozen after a global grounding of the narrowbody model following the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines jet on March 10, killing all 157 people onboard. Production will be cut to 42 airplanes per month from 52 starting mid-April, the company said in a statement, without giving an end date. U.S. and airline officials said they now believe the plane could be grounded for at least two months, but an even longer grounding is a serious possibility. The crash in Ethiopia and the crash of a Lion Air plane in Indonesia last October that killed all 189 people on board have left the world’s largest planemaker in crisis. Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg said on Friday said the company now knows that a chain of events caused both disasters, with erroneous activation of so-called MCAS anti-stall software “a common link” between the two. Boeing said it would not reduce jobs at the new production rate and will work to minimize the financial impact. The company’s board will establish a committee to review how the company designs and develops airplanes, Muilenburg said. The group will “recommend improvements to our policies and procedures” for its 737 Max and other airplane programs. Boeing said it continues to make progress on a 737 Max software update to prevent further accidents. Shares in Boeing Co. fell around 2 percent after the market closed on Friday. While the number of 737 Max planes grounded is just over 370, nearly 5,000 more are on order. Boeing faces logistical issues in finding places to park the growing number of planes as well as being responsible for all their maintenance costs since it has been unable to deliver the jets to customers, two people briefed on the situation said. Manufacturers avoid halting and then resuming production as this disrupts supply chains and can cause industrial snags. Boeing had been planning to speed up production in June to 57 a month. Having to hold planes in storage without delivering them does, however, consume extra cash through increased inventory. Boeing supplier Spirit Aerosystems Holdings said it will continue to make 52 737 Max shipsets — the complete set of parts for each aircraft — per month, storing extras at its facilities. Its shares fell 3.5 percent. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) chairman Robert Sumwalt told reporters that U.S. investigators were given the raw data from Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 as soon as it was read in France last month. He added that the Ethiopian Airlines 302 preliminary report “was very thorough and well done.” Former NTSB chairman Christopher Hart was named by the Federal Aviation Administration this week to head an international team to review the safety of the 737 Max. He told reporters on Friday he thought the review, which will start on Monday, could take about three months. It is still not clear what countries will take part. He said investigators are going to be focused far more on the interaction between software and pilots than mechanical issues in future. “This is territory we are going to see more of,” Hart said.
|
u.s .;accidents;airlines;ethiopian airlines;boeing 737 max 8
|
jp0003382
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/06
|
IAEA asks Saudis for safeguards on first nuclear reactor
|
WASHINGTON - The head U.N. nuclear inspector said Friday that his agency is asking Saudi Arabia to agree to safeguards on nuclear material that could arrive by the end of the year for its first atomic reactor. Satellite imagery recently emerged of the Argentine-built project on the outskirts of Riyadh, which comes amid controversy in Washington over U.S. President Donald Trump’s approval of nuclear projects with the oil-rich kingdom. Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said that there is nothing secret about the reactor and that Saudi Arabia informed the Vienna-based U.N. body about its plans in 2014. He said the IAEA has encouraged Saudi Arabia to put into force a comprehensive safeguard agreement, under which the agency ensures that nuclear material is not being diverted to weapons use. Saudi Arabia in 2005 signed with the IAEA a so-called small quantities protocol, which exempts countries from inspections if they have no or minimal nuclear programs. “We have proposed to Saudi Arabia to rescind and replace it by the full-fledged comprehensive safeguards agreement,” Amano told reporters in Washington. “They didn’t say no, they didn’t say yes, and they are now giving thoughts. We are waiting. For now, they don’t have the material, so there is no violation.” Amano said that Saudi Arabia may bring in nuclear material “by the end of the year,” although he cautioned that nuclear projects frequently get delayed. Saudi Arabia, the world’s top crude exporter, has announced plans to spend $80 billion to build 16 nuclear reactors over the coming two decades as it diversifies energy. The first project, being built by Argentina’s state-backed nuclear company INVAP, is a so-called low power research reactor (LPRR) that is generally used to train technicians. “Saudi Arabia has been dragging its feet for 30 years on getting meaningful agreements in place; but the LPRR means they MUST abide by international rules,” said Robert Kelley, a U.S. Energy Department veteran and former director of nuclear inspections at the IAEA. “Argentina is not going to supply the nuclear fuel if they don’t,” said Kelley, now a distinguished associate fellow at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. He said that the reactor, with its small size, is insignificant by itself but is “opening a can of worms,” including the prospect of the Trump administration sharing sensitive technology without review. U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry told a recent Senate hearing that his department had given the go-ahead for six applications by U.S. companies to do nuclear work in Saudi Arabia. The approvals come even though Saudi Arabia has not sought a so-called Section 123 Agreement to guarantee the peaceful use of nuclear technology, which is required under U.S. law before any transfer of sensitive material. Saudi Arabia has come under sharp criticism in the United States over the civilian death toll in its offensive in Yemen and for the murder and dismemberment of U.S.-based dissident writer Jamal Khashoggi. “If you cannot trust a regime with a bone saw, you should not trust them with nuclear weapons,” Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman told Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at a hearing a week ago. Pompeo, in an interview Friday with CBS, signaled that the United States would ensure that Saudi Arabia does not develop nuclear weapons. “We will not permit that to happen anywhere in the world. The president understands the threat of proliferation,” he said. Saudi Arabia’s powerful crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has warned that the kingdom would seek nuclear weapons if archrival Iran obtains one. The Trump administration has allied itself closely with both Saudi Arabia and Israel and withdrawn from an international accord with Iran under which Tehran drastically curbed its nuclear program. Amano, who met with Pompeo in Washington, reiterated that the IAEA has verified that Iran remains in compliance with the agreement, which is strongly backed by the Europeans.
|
saudi arabia;nuclear weapons;iaea;donald trump
|
jp0003383
|
[
"world",
"offbeat-world"
] |
2019/04/06
|
Canadian couple find lost lottery ticket in book about Japan, become last-minute millionaires
|
MONTREAL - A Quebec couple won 1 million Canadian dollars ($750,000) in the lottery after finding a winning ticket that had been forgotten in a book for months, the province’s Loto-Quebec organization says. Nicole Pedneault and Roger Larocque only realized last weekend that they had a winning ticket from an April 5, 2018, drawing. While looking through a book about Japan to help her grandson with a school project, Pedneault noticed something had fallen from the pages. It was a lottery ticket the couple had bought for Valentine’s Day last year. “If my grandson hadn’t asked me to give him some things for his presentation, I wouldn’t have ever found the ticket,” Pedneault said. “The first thing I did when I found the ticket in the book was go look at the deadline for claiming winnings on the Loto-Quebec website,” she said. The ticket was still valid, but not for long — only until Friday. “It’s all just by chance that we found it at the last minute like that,” the winner said as she claimed her check.
|
gambling;lotteries
|
jp0003384
|
[
"world",
"offbeat-world"
] |
2019/04/06
|
Brussels' Manneken-Pis statue becomes a conservation whiz
|
BRUSSELS - Brussels authorities recently discovered that a fault in the 400-year-old plumbing of its Manneken-Pis landmark was causing it to pee away 2.5 tons of water a day. In 2019, such waste is an environmental no-no. A missing part in the guttering under the diminutive statue’s fountain sent his public urination directly down the drain. It may not be the most overwhelming torrent, but it was building up over time — to the equivalent daily water use of five Belgian households. No one is quite sure how long Brussels’ celebrity has been suffering the leak. “We prefer to look to the future,” said city engineer Regis Callens. And the future is recycling. Henceforth, the Manneken’s pee will loop through a recuperation tank to be pumped back through his bronze bladder. “So it’s really a closed circuit. There’s no more waste,” said Callens, giving journalists a tour of the hidden pipework. Brussels was able to detect the anomalous overflow thanks to new electronic monitors dotted around the municipal system. “We want to develop a real policy of limiting waste,” said the city’s new mayor, Benoit Hellings, from the green Ecolo party. “We want to say to Brussels folk, to Belgians and to all Europeans, ‘If the Manneken-Pis is able to stop wasting drinking water, you can too.’ “The Manneken-Pis has become a responsible eco-consumer.” Some accounts date the incontinent cherub’s origin to the 14th century, but the best records suggest the 55-centimeter (22-inch) bronze nude was cast in 1619. The boy seen today at a street corner in Brussel’s tourist-thronged old city is a copy, with the original now in the city museum, safe from theft or vandalism. One legend recounts that the child saved the city from an explosion by peeing on a flame that threatened a gunpowder arsenal in the 17th century. He is now a municipal symbol and tourist draw, and plays a full role in the evolving cultural life of the Belgian capital. He is often dressed up in colorful outfits, including soccer kits to mark the start of the World Cup.
|
water;tourism;conservation;brussels;statues
|
jp0003385
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/06
|
Top U.S. diplomat 'confident' of third round of Trump-Kim nuclear talks
|
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said he is “confident” there will be a third summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, noting that talks with Pyongyang are continuing after a February nuclear summit in Hanoi failed to yield a deal. Asked if the meeting would come soon, Pompeo told “CBS This Morning” on Friday that he hoped that would be the case. “Look, we came out of Hanoi with a deeper understanding of each other, the positions that the two sides had,” Pompeo said. “The two leaders were able to make progress in that respect. We didn’t get as far as the world is demanding.” Still, Pompeo said U.S.-North Korea diplomatic channels remained open and the two sides have “had conversations after Hanoi about how to move forward.” He did not elaborate. Next week will see two key events that could shape any progress in U.S.-North Korea talks: a summit between Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in in Washington on April 11 and a session of the North’s Supreme People’s Assembly, the country’s rubber-stamp parliament, in Pyongyang the same day. The Hanoi summit, the second between Trump and Kim in less than a year, fell apart over a failure to reconcile North Korean demands for sanctions relief with U.S. demands for Kim to give up his weapons of mass destruction. North Korea has since warned that it is considering halting talks and may rethink a freeze on missile and nuclear tests, in place since 2017, unless Washington relents and makes concessions. Moon is widely expected to try to convince Trump to offer some limited easing of sanctions as a sign of goodwill, including allowing inter-Korean projects such as the reopening of the Kaesong industrial complex and tourism to Mount Kumgang. But Pompeo remained firm that crippling economic sanctions on the North would not be lifted until it relinquished its nuclear weapons. “President Trump has been unambiguous,” he said. “Our administration’s policy is incredibly clear: Economic sanctions, United Nations Security Council sanctions, will not be lifted until we achieve the ultimate objective that we set out now almost two years ago.” David Kim, a research analyst with the Stimpson Center think tank in Washington, said the South Korean leader ‘is more determined now than ever to persuade Trump to return to the bargaining table with North Korea.” “Moon’s administration thinks these next two months before the first U.S. presidential debate are a crucial time to move towards a deal with North Korea,” he said. “His one-day summit shows that he cannot leave the country for too long as it gives his opposition more fodder to criticize and take advantage of Moon’s domestics economic woes.” In terms of moving the North Korean nuclear negotiations forward, “Trump will have to give more on the peace process and Moon will have to address denuclearization in a more concrete way during their meeting,” Kim added. Pompeo’s remarks came a day after the Japanese Defense Ministry’s think tank warned Friday that Pyongyang could use negotiations with Washington to stall for time. Pyongyang may take advantage of the negotiations to buy time to rebuild its economy while continuing its nuclear and missile development, the National Institute for Defense Studies said in its East Asian Strategic Review 2019 report. As for the North Korean assembly meeting, at which Kim is expected to speak, Pompeo said that the U.S. would be watching “very closely” what he says. However, he added, “I don’t expect there’ll be great surprise.” The assembly meeting follows the North’s first national election in five years last month, in which, unusually, Kim was not on the ballot. His absence from the election — the first time a North Korean leader has not served as a member of the nation’s top legislative body since the inaugural parliamentary election was held in 1948 — has raised speculation that he may assume a new post as head of state through a constitutional revision in an attempt to bolster his grip on power. North Korea-watchers are also closely monitoring whether Kim will map out a new diplomatic policy toward the U.S. at the assembly, though some say the timing of the Moon-Trump talks may postpone any announcement on that front. In a possible indication of what could top that meeting’s agenda, North Korean state-run media has in recent days run stories focusing on a series of recent visits by Kim to large-scale economic projects he has overseen. Last April, the North Korean leader announced that his country had suspended nuclear and longer-range missile tests and that it would mothball its main atomic test site, while also shifting its focus to building up its moribund economy. But in the months since, Kim has made little progress in kick-starting the North’s economy as the country remains under strict U.N. and unilateral sanctions.
|
u.s .;north korea;kim jong un;nuclear weapons;south korea;north korea nuclear crisis;donald trump;mike pompeo;moon jae-in;kim-trump summit
|
jp0003386
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/06
|
U.S. count shows no Pakistan F-16s shot down in Indian battle: report
|
NEW DELHI - Pakistan’s F-16 combat jets have all been accounted for, the U.S.-based Foreign Policy magazine says, citing U.S. officials, contradicting an Indian Air Force assessment that it had shot down one of the jets in February. India and Pakistan engaged in an aerial battle over the disputed region of Kashmir a day after Indian jets crossed over into Pakistan to attack a suspected camp of anti-India militants. An Indian jet was brought down during the fight, and its pilot was captured when he ejected on the Pakistani side of the border. India said that it, too, had shot down a Pakistani aircraft, and the air force displayed pieces of a missile that it said had been fired by a Pakistani F-16 before it went down. Foreign Policy said in a report that two U.S. defense officials with direct knowledge of the matter said U.S. personnel had done a count of Pakistan’s F-16s and found none missing. The F-16s are made by Lockheed Martin and, under an end-user agreement, the United States required the host country to allow for regular inspections to ensure they were accounted for and protected, Foreign Policy said. Details of the India-Pakistan air engagement have not been fully provided by either side. If the U.S. report turns out to be true, it would be a further blow to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who said India had taught Pakistan a lesson. “Truth always prevails,” Pakistan’s army spokesman said in a tweet. “Time for India to speak truth about false claims & actual losses on their side.” The Indian Air Force reiterated on Friday that one of its MiG-21 planes had brought down an F-16 in the Nowshera sector of Jammu and Kashmir. Two combat planes went down that day, it said in a statement: one Indian and the other Pakistani. “The Indian Force have confirmed sighting ejections at two different places on that day. The two sightings were at places separated by at least 8-10 km,” it said. “One was an IAF Mig 21 Bison and the other a PAF aircraft. Electronic signatures gathered by us indicate that the PAF aircraft was an F-16,” the air force said. Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, heading into a tight election in the coming week, is campaigning on a platform of tough national security, especially with regard to archfoe Pakistan. New Delhi blames Pakistan for stoking a 30-year revolt in Muslim-majority Kashmir. The success of Indian airstrikes on a camp of the Jaish-e-Mohammed militant group in northwestern Pakistan has also been thrown into doubt after satellite images showed little sign of damage. High-resolution satellite images reviewed by Reuters last month showed that a religious school run by Jaish appeared to be still standing days after India said its warplanes had hit the Islamist group’s training camp on the site and killed a large number of militants. Foreign Policy said Pakistan had invited U.S. officials to physically count the F-16 planes after the incident. Some of the aircraft were not immediately available for inspection due to the conflict, so it took U.S. personnel several weeks to account for all of the jets, one of the officials was quoted as saying. The count had now been completed and all aircraft “were present and accounted for,” the official was quoted as saying. India has separately asked the United States for its view on whether the use of the F-16s by Pakistan was a violation of the end-user agreement.
|
conflict;india;kashmir;pakistan;military
|
jp0003387
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/06
|
Japanese firms move to capitalize on pet boom in China
|
OSAKA - An increasing number of Japanese companies are aiming to seize business opportunities from a pet boom in China. DS Pharma Animal Health Co., a Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co. subsidiary that makes drugs for animals, agreed with a Chinese company in late March on the launch of its anti-epileptic drug for dogs in China, the world’s second-largest pet market after the United States. DS Pharma’s partner is Shandong Sinder Technology Co., a maker of animal medicine with which major trading house Sumitomo Corp. has a 25 percent stake. The DS Pharma-developed drug, called Consave, is expected to go on sale in China in 2022 as the first anti-epileptic drug for dogs available in the country. According to sources including Sumitomo Corp., demand for pets in China has been expanding in line with rising income levels and the aging of its society. The number of pet dogs and cats in China, which has a population of nearly 1.4 billion, is believed to be around 90 million. The Chinese animal drug market is predicted to grow nearly sevenfold from 2014 to the equivalent of some ¥47 billion in 2020. Among other Japanese companies, DoggyMan H.A. Co., a maker of pet foods and other products, has set up three sales footholds in Shanghai and Qingdao, a city in Shandong province. Mitsui & Co. has been selling pet food and other items in China since 2010 through a local unit. “The Chinese pet market is expected to grow further,” a Mitsui official said, noting that the proportion of people with pets is lower in China than in Japan. Major Japanese electronics firms are also pinning high hopes on Chinese demand for appliances and products for pets. Panasonic Corp. aims to launch products, including a compact air cleaner that can remove pet odor, this fiscal year. Sharp Corp., a unit of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., released a toilet system designed to monitor the health conditions of cats in Japan in 2018 and appears ready to launch a pet-related business in China. “There is no doubt that the Chinese pet market has great potential,” an official of the company said.
|
china;animals;pets
|
jp0003388
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/06
|
Meow hear this: Japanese study finds cats recognize their names
|
LONDON - Domestic cats recognize their names even though they may not act like they do, according to a new Japanese study. A team including Atsuko Saito, associate professor at Sophia University, studied how cats kept at homes and a so-called cat cafe, where customers can interact with felines, respond to human utterances. House cats discriminated their names from words that have the same length and accents, according to the study published in Thursday’s edition of the U.K. journal Scientific Reports. Even when the names were uttered by unfamiliar people, the cats reacted by moving their ears and heads. But cats at the cat cafe did not discriminate their own names from those of other cats living with them, according to the research paper. The results of the team’s experiments imply that “cats’ names can be associated with rewards, such as food, petting and play, or with punishments, such as taking them to a veterinary clinic or to a bath,” the paper said.
|
animals;pets;cats
|
jp0003389
|
[
"national",
"politics-diplomacy"
] |
2019/04/06
|
Japan's top government spokesman eyes U.S. trip in May to raise abduction issue
|
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga may visit the United States early next month to seek support for resolving the long-standing issue of Japanese who were abducted by North Korea, government sources have said. The trip, possibly from May 9 to 12, will be a rare opportunity for the top government spokesman to leave Japan, the sources said Friday. Suga, who became the top spokesman in 2012, is also in charge of crisis management and the last time he made an overseas trip was in 2015. Suga is concurrently a state minister in charge of the abduction issue and is expected to attend a meeting at the U.N. headquarters in New York to draw international attention to the topic. Arrangements are also being made for Suga to meet with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and senior government officials in Washington, according to the sources. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has prioritized resolving the abduction issue, which dates back to the 1970s and 1980s, and is reportedly willing to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to achieve a breakthrough. Abe is also planning to visit the United States later this month for a summit with President Donald Trump, who has said he raised the abduction issue with Kim during their talks in Hanoi in February. The visits by Abe and Suga are seen to be aimed at showcasing the unity of the security allies. Suga’s previous overseas trip in October 2015 took him to Guam, a Pacific island that is home to key U.S. military bases. The government is expected to make a final decision on Suga’s trip after taking into account his Diet schedule and other factors, the sources said.
|
shinzo abe;u.s .;north korea;yoshihide suga;abductions;donald trump;mike pence
|
jp0003390
|
[
"national",
"media-national"
] |
2019/04/06
|
Getting to the bottom of Chicano subculture coverage on Japan
|
Over the past month and a half, a number of Western media outlets have revisited a topic that has long been a hit for online publications. In late February, The New York Times published “ Inside Japan’s Chicano Subculture ,” a video documenting a niche group in the country that is building an identity around a culture created by Mexican-Americans. Journalist Walter Thompson-Hernandez traveled to the archipelago to interview many of the people involved in the subculture, ranging from those in the nation’s lowrider car community to Chicano-inspired musicians. The video also explores the producer’s own identity. The video performed extremely well. As of writing, it has attracted almost 3.7 million views on YouTube. Just as importantly, it set off a wave of aggregation from all sorts of sites, ranging from LatinX to The New York Times of Yeezy sneaker updates, Hypebeast . A short time later, uploads from other media companies on the same subject started to appear on YouTube. Refinery29 examined the issue in a video that was twice as long as The New York Times’ clip in a piece titled “ Why Japanese Women Are Dressing Like Chicanas ,” while CNN-owned entity Great Big Story offered up “ How Chicano Lowrider Culture Found a Home in Japan ” just a few days after the Times’ creation. An article about Chicano culture popped up on Jalopnik before any of the others came out, but failed to leave much of an impression. However, this issue certainly isn’t new to Japan. California alt-weekly OC Weekly wrote about lowrider culture and Chicano rap in Japan back in 2011 , inspired in part by a professor at a nearby university who had reported on the issue in the student newspaper . The following year, Huffington Post offered its own overview of the subculture. Writing and film production on the subject has popped up in English-language media every once in a while ever since, including in The Japan Times . But why such a blitz of videos on the topic in 2019? There’s no news hook to this, and nothing much has really changed — note how many of the same faces appear in multiple videos, including rapper Mona “Sad Girl” going as far back as 2011. What it really represents is a change in how online-centric media is covering Japan (and much of the rest of the world) now. Western coverage of Japanese “trends” has traditionally focused on “wacky” happenings, regardless of how authentic a trend they have actually been. Take a quick moment to recall international coverage in the past of bagelheads and zentai , among hundreds of other items that would make Edward Said smash windows. Such coverage hasn’t vanished entirely — the poop museum in Yokohama is a real winner in this department — but it certainly has diminished to a point. Rather than othering Japan, Western media is now trying to find stories that can connect with their followers — especially if they can generate a reaction. Older pieces on the Chicano subculture tended to be far better than the standard “look at these weirdos” fare, more interested in highlighting an interesting subculture than anything else. This new wave of content, though, focuses primarily on the issue of identity and cultural appropriation. Thompson-Hernandez’s documentary discusses it frequently, while the Refinery29 video goes so far as to try and figure out whether this is actually a problem or not. This in and of itself isn’t a particularly fresh angle at a time when issues such as this are constantly being discussed and both offerings, for the most part, cover it pretty well for creations focusing on a very small percentage of the Japanese population (although Refinery29’s video sometimes slips into making this sound like a generalization). The Great Big Story video barely mentions the issue, preferring to primarily focus on footage of cars. Tellingly, it lags way behind the other two in page views. Stories with a political or emotional charge to them perform super well in 2019. More Japan-centric issues take this approach as well, whether people are talking about the importance of Shintoism in Marie Kondo’s Netflix show to, well, just about every article about Naomi Osaka covering her off-the-court activities . This can draw attention to true societal woes in Japan such as the shortcomings of the entertainment industry or racism , but it can also result in takeaways that feel like real reaches, like how the new era name may actually be fascist . The recent wave of videos focusing on Chicano culture in Japan taps into this shift. Importantly, they work best as standalone videos, which can easily be shared on social media platforms. And this helps generate the real key to the videos’ success — other people start discussing the subject . The videos attract comments on the concept of cultural appropriation on sites such as YouTube and Reddit, especially whether they’re for or against it. It appears that such netizens aren’t only interested in learning about Japan — they’re also interested in listening to the sound of their own voices.
|
social media;japan pulse;chicano subculture;the new york times;walter thompson-hernandez;refinery29
|
jp0003391
|
[
"national",
"media-national"
] |
2019/04/06
|
Japan's outgoing Emperor has made the role his own
|
Among the hundreds of recent articles about the impending end of the Heisei Era was one Asahi Shimbun opinion piece by Yukiya Chikashige, who has covered the Imperial family for the past 30 years. He wrote that women’s weekly magazines invented the modern image of the Emperor and Empress starting in 1958, when the publication he works for, Josei Jishin, was launched during the “Michiko boom.” It would be a year before Michiko Shoda became the first commoner to marry a future emperor and, initially, says Chikashige, Josei Jishin didn’t devote many column inches to her. However, sales of the fledgling magazine were poor, so the editors decided to devote substantial resources to the Empress. Circulation subsequently increased and other women’s weeklies followed suit. What was different about the weeklies’ coverage was their focus on the private lives of the Empress and the Imperial family, purposely avoiding matters such as religion and the ideology of the Imperial system. They concentrated on how the Empress raised her children and spent her leisure time. The consequence of this kind of coverage was to make Empress Michiko and Emperor Akihito representative of the ideal postwar lifestyle, which was much more Western than what the average Japanese person was familiar with. Previously, the Imperial family was an object of reverence and mystery. It was now an aspirational archetype. By the time the Emperor ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne in 1989, he and the Empress were approachable, at least as an idea. They were used to being watched and seemed resigned to this development, maybe even content with it. The public was “generous” with its feelings toward the couple, says Chikashige, even if it still felt beneath all the pomp and pageantry. The Emperor and Empress were thus “above criticism,” in Chikashige’s words. This kind of coverage, pioneered by the women’s weeklies, was eventually adopted by the mainstream press. Chikashige’s analysis is important to our understanding of Emperor Akihito as the first emperor who wholeheartedly took on the role of the people’s “symbol” as defined in the postwar Constitution. His father, Emperor Showa, was presumably born a deity and never completely warmed to this more prosaic job description. Emperor Akihito embraced it, according to a recent NHK documentary . In fact, his entire reign has been an exploration of how to act as a symbol, a process he said was never-ending, even for future emperors. NHK talked to active and retired members of the Imperial Household Agency about their dealings with the Emperor and how he approached his duties. To Emperor Akihito, the job of emperor and the role of symbol are unified and inviolable, whereas the government considered them as being distinct. To the government, the royal family’s “work” ( kōmu ), though more or less ceremonial in nature, could be performed by almost anyone in the palace, but only the Emperor could be a symbol. That’s why when Emperor Akihito told the agency he wanted to step down, the agency suggested that the Crown Prince assume all the Emperor’s day-to-day tasks while the Emperor remained the Emperor. Emperor Akihito refused, recalling the turmoil that ensued when his father died. However, there were other ways that the Emperor confounded the distinction. He and the Empress made a point of traveling to as many World War II battle sites as they could in order to pray for the souls of those killed, and not just Japanese souls. NHK pointed out that the Emperor was doing this of his own accord and the government was not entirely comfortable with it, but the broadcaster avoided saying what was implicit in the Emperor’s actions — that it was Japan who was responsible for all the lost lives he was honoring. As Takeshi Hara, a professor at The Open University of Japan, wrote in the Tokyo Shimbun last week, trips such as these were not part of the Emperor’s regular duties, but they were nonetheless essential to the acts of symbol as the Emperor envisioned that role. When the Showa Emperor made personal appearances, he simply stood in front of a crowd. Emperor Akihito, both as Crown Prince and Emperor, met with individuals and talked to them on their level, and the media loved it. Osamu Watanabe, a constitutional scholar and honorary professor at Hitotsubashi University, also wrote in the Asahi Shimbun that Emperor Akihito’s activities in such matters are unambiguously political. He points out that Japan’s colonial designs and war of aggression during the Showa Era (1926-89) were carried out in the Emperor’s name. That’s why the postwar Constitution stripped the position of all political power. But the Emperor’s political activities during the Heisei Era (1989-2019) cut both ways. After the Cold War ended, says Watanabe, Japan saw its chance to re-engage with the world as a major power and used the Emperor as a diplomatic tool, even in China. However, the Emperor himself took the initiative to express regret for Japan’s past actions in ways that were often at odds with the government’s vaguer stance on the matter. Consequently, liberals who were quick to criticize actions of Emperor Showa that veered from his purely symbolic role raised no objections when his son did the same thing. As put forth in a March 27 interview in the Tokyo Shimbun , the media similarly has become “uncritical” of the Imperial system. Moreover, the people themselves clearly appreciate this streak of activism, much to the disappointment of conservative elements. In particular, says Watanabe, during the current administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, any conspicuous moves toward remilitarization and returning to the values of the Meiji Era (1868-1912) through constitutional revision were expected to be opposed, albeit indirectly, by the Emperor. Watanabe finds this troubling, since there is the danger of reinstituting real political power in the throne and undermining the spirit of democracy. He insists it is the Japanese people, through their elected representatives, who must clarify the country’s responsibilities during the Showa Era and prevent Japan from ever engaging in war again. The Emperor alone can’t do it for them.
|
emperor akihito;imperial family;empress michiko
|
jp0003392
|
[
"national",
"media-national"
] |
2019/04/06
|
Solving the world's largest bitcoin heist
|
“Imagine someone stole everything in your store and you reported the crime to the police,” says Nobuyasu Ogata, defense lawyer for Mark Karpeles. Karpeles, 33, is the former CEO of Mt. Gox, once the largest bitcoin exchange in the world. “A year later,” Ogata says, “the police suddenly arrest you for breach of trust, don’t recover the stolen merchandise and let the criminal go free. That’s essentially what happened with Mt. Gox.” In February 2014, Karpeles discovered the exchange was missing 850,000 bitcoins (around $480 million at the time). It didn’t take long for the information to become public, with Mt. Gox eventually filing for bankruptcy on Feb. 28. At a news conference, Karpeles claimed the exchange had been hacked. He apologized and promised to recover the missing cryptocurrency. The cybercrimes unit of the Metropolitan Police Department launched an investigation into the matter and Karpeles offered to cooperate with the inquiry. Naturally, those following the news have always wondered whether or not Mt. Gox had been hacked in the first place? Given the complexity of the issue, it was always going to be a difficult question to answer. In 2015, agents from the U.S. Treasury Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as members of Japan’s National Police Agency, met with Karpeles in Tokyo. They asked for Karpeles’ cooperation in an ongoing investigation involving an international hacker suspected of hacking several cryptocurrency exchanges, including Bitcoinica in 2012. By August 2015, many assumed the police were going to arrest Karpeles for some reason or another. The special investigation unit that deals mainly with white-collar offenses had taken control of the case, suggesting that the Frenchman would be arrested in order to extract some kind of confession. Karpeles, however, didn’t confess. The police subsequently arrested him on two other charges, with none of the indictments having any direct connection to hacking. Karpeles spent 11 months in detention before bail was granted. “I was interrogated for eight hours each day,” Karpeles recalls. “I was asked about the missing bitcoins. I was even asked if I was Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin. I was asked to sign confessions and statements in Japanese. Sometimes, the prosecutor would have pre-written statements for me in the morning they wanted signed.” Kim Nilsson, a Swedish engineer who had lost 12 bitcoins in the collapse of Mt. Gox, began sharing information with federal authorities in the United States while Karpeles was in detention. They specifically analyzed the block chain, the public ledger of all bitcoin transactions. In September 2016, U.S. authorities received a copy of the Mt. Gox database and used it to track the stolen bitcoins. Tigran “Blockchain Wizard” Gambaryan, an agent in the Internal Revenue Service who has extensive experience in cryptocurrency crime, led a joint task force that looked into the case. The task force concluded that Mt. Gox had been hacked by an outsider who had siphoned off more than 600,000 bitcoins in a period between 2011 and late 2013. It was able to trace the bulk of stolen bitcoins to one individual, a Russian bitcoin exchange operator named Alexander Vinnik. On July 25, 2017, U.S. authorities had Vinnik detained in Greece. He was indicted on 21 counts of money laundering and several other charges, some relating to Mt. Gox. During Karpeles’ trial in the Tokyo District Court, Ogata argued that Karpeles had only been detained because the police had hoped to extract a confession from him. When Ogata tried to enter Vinnik’s indictment into evidence, prosecutors objected, claiming the Russian should be presumed innocent until proven guilty. The fallacy of such an argument was not lost on the panel of judges, who specifically referred to the indictment in their ruling. On March 15, the court found Karpeles guilty of data manipulation and handed out a suspended prison sentence of 2½ years. He was found not guilty on a separate charge of embezzling millions of dollars through customer accounts. It’s perhaps just worth noting that the odds of a partial not guilty verdict in Japan after indictment are less than 1 percent. Many domestic news organizations were muted in their coverage of the sentence that had been handed down. The Nikkei Shimbun noted the indictments had nothing to do with the initial investigation of the hacking. “The Metropolitan Police Department investigation into the missing bitcoins has, in fact, been terminated,” the paper said. Vinnik is expected to be extradited to France. And so it seems the man behind the Mt. Gox theft may have finally been identified. It’s a shame the domestic investigation into the case failed to add much to the end result.
|
bitcoin;mt . gox;mark karpeles;cryptocurrency
|
jp0003394
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/06
|
Only about 25% of Japanese universities have imposed blanket smoking ban, survey finds
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Only about 25 percent of universities in Japan have imposed blanket bans on smoking on all campuses, months before tighter regulations come into force, according to a recent survey. The finding suggests delays in preparation. Smoking will be prohibited in principle on school grounds, effective from July, under the revised Health Promotion Law. The survey, conducted by Shigeharu Ieda, professor of Chukyo University, covered 782 national, municipal and private universities across Japan. Ieda asked the schools about their efforts to ban smoking and checked their websites for related information. The results of the survey, launched in 2002, are published about every six months. According to the latest survey, 197 universities, or 25.2 percent of the total, had implemented blanket smoking bans on all campuses as of March 8, almost double the level of 10 years ago. In addition, 38 schools, or 4.9 percent, had wholesale smoking bans in place on some campuses. Under the revised law, enacted in July last year, smoking will be prohibited in principle on the premises of schools, hospitals and administrative office buildings. According to Ieda, however, some universities have reinstated smoking areas on campus, reversing the blanket bans, after getting complaints from residents about students smoking in areas near the school and litter from cigarette butts, apparently left by students. Even under the revised law, smoking will be permitted at designated outdoor locations on condition that measures against secondhand smoke are taken, including the installation of clearly marked signage at smoking areas. The provision, however, has been criticized as a loophole in the ban. “Universities need to make full efforts to carry out measures against passive smoking on their campuses along with anti-smoking education for students,” Ieda said. Efforts to eradicate secondhand smoke in restaurants and bars have also faced a major setback. A July amendment in the Health Promotion Law was significantly watered down from the health ministry’s earlier proposal, falling short of a comprehensive smoking ban in such establishments. The original plan was compromised after facing fierce resistance from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and industry groups. Japan has long been soft on smoking due largely to vested interests and pork-barrel politics, a system that allows the tobacco industry to thrive. Corporate giant Japan Tobacco Inc. is partially owned by the Finance Ministry.
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smoking;universities;public health;secondhand smoke
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jp0003395
|
[
"national",
"history"
] |
2019/04/06
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Japan Times 1944: "Accidental blow to back of head restores sight to blind war veteran"
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100 YEARS AGO Wednesday, April 30 1919 Fire destroys 3,700 buildings in Yokohama THE JAPAN TIMES The great fire which raged in Yokohama on Monday was the most destructive in the history of that city. The latest reports say that 13 persons were severely injured and 61 slightly injured in the fire. Earlier reports that two children were burnt to death were not confirmed. The number of buildings destroyed is roughly calculated at 3,700 or over, and more than 20,000 persons have been made homeless. The property loss is estimated at ¥50 million, with ¥800,000 to ¥1 million insurance. As regards the number of destroyed houses, no accurate figure is available as yet. Accounts of the press and even official estimates are varied. The Yokohama city office estimate puts the figure at between 3,500 and 4,000. The Yokohama police headquarters estimate 3,153, this figure covering only the number known up to noon yesterday and also excluding the losses at Minami Naka-dori. The fire is reported to have started in the house of a rikisha man at No. 12 Chitose-cho, 1-chome, owing to the carelessness of the man’s wife in not attending to a fire she had lit. The woman and her husband disappeared. 75 YEARS AGO Wednesday, April 12, 1944 Blow to back of head restores veteran’s sight THE JAPAN TIMES An almost incredible miracle, resulting from a fall while attempting to board a street car has gradually restored vision to the totally sightless and the only remaining eye of Masayoshi Tabe, a China war veteran, who was wounded in the eyes by a rifle bullet in September, 1937 during the Tsangchow operations, says the Yomiuri-Hochi. Tabe, who is 32 years old, lives at present in Omori-ku and is a native of Shimane Prefecture. He left for the front as a first-class private. With his left eye gouged out by a rifle shot, and the right eye protruding fearfully out of its socket, Tabe returned home for treatment at the Tokyo First Army Hospital. Medical care succeeded in keeping the shape of at least the right eye, though completely sightless, while a false eye replaced the left. Back on the home front, Tabe entered the dormitory for blind war veterans at Koishikawa, and there commuted to Hosei University, where he matriculated in the department of the higher teachers’ course. His earnest efforts were rewarded in graduation from the teachers’ course in September 1942. The event which restored sight to Tabe took place just about six months previous to his graduation. One rainy evening in April of that year, the blind war veteran, homeward bound from a visit to a soldier friend, tried to get on a streetcar at the 3-chome Hongokucho stop. At that instant, his feet slipped on the wet platform. Tabe fell flat on his back — the back of his head hitting the pavement with a terrific impact. He lay stunned for a few moments, but kind hands helped him to his feet and Tabe managed to get home safely. He did not relate his accident to any of his dormitory comrades. Next morning while washing his face, Tabe was suddenly conscious of a ray of light penetrating his world of darkness. The morning sun bathed in full light the startled yet radiant face of Tabe as new hope filled his heart. From that time on, sensitivity to light gradually increased. 50 YEARS AGO Tuesday, April 29, 1969 Train lines halted as student mobs run wild THE JAPAN TIMES Passenger train services operated by the Japanese National Railways virtually came to a halt for several hours Monday evening in Tokyo as student mobs stormed key railway stations to mark “Okinawa Day,” the 17th anniversary of the occupation of Okinawa by the U.S. under the San Francisco Peace Treaty. The police had arrested about 800 students by midnight in various sections of the metropolis. By midnight, 106 persons were injured in the police-demonstrators clashes, according to the Metropolitan Fire Board. Of them, 44 were policemen, 39 students, 22 pedestrians, and three whose identities were not immediately known. The student mobs, unable to break the tight police cordon around Kasumigaseki, pushed on to Ginza. Mingling with several thousand pedestrians, they staged running battles with the police, keeping the plush shopping center in chaos until midnight. In Tokyo, the student mobs halted trains by demonstrating on the tracks between Tokyo Station and Shinbashi Station. The students, numbering about 2,000, began to assemble at Tokyo Station around 4 p.m. They occupied a platform and held a rally before jumping onto the tracks to march toward Shinbashi Station at about 5:40 p.m. Most of them wore helmets and carried either steel pipes or wooden staves. 25 YEARS AGO Wednesday, April 6, 1994 Biologists find coral growing in Tokyo Bay THE JAPAN TIMES Biologists have discovered Japan’s northernmost community of coral reefs at the mouth of Tokyo Bay, a study group said Tuesday. The coral, growing in an area stretching over 60 square meters, is 10 meters under the ocean’s surface off the shore of Kyonnan, Chiba Prefecture. The study group, headed by Takashi Hamada, professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo, discovered the coral reefs in colonies last November and has since observed them from a biological point of view. The previous northern limit was said to be some 10 kilometers south of the newly discovered coral reefs. The reefs, the largest of one single community ever discovered in Japan, have been in existence for more than 100 years. The study group attributed the coral growth there to the effect of a warm current flowing into Tokyo Bay from the Pacific. The current is believed to help keep water temperature near the reefs at 14-15 degrees Celsius, even during winter, when the water’s surface temperature usually falls to around 9 degrees Celsius.
|
yokohama;tokyo bay;coral;student protests;miracles
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jp0003396
|
[
"national",
"crime-legal"
] |
2019/04/06
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Elderly man disrupts Japanese bullet train service with 10-km walk on tracks
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NAGANO - A 77-year-old man was arrested Friday night after allegedly trespassing on the Hokuriku Shinkansen line and disrupting bullet train services by walking on the tracks, police and the operator of the railway said. Katsuichi Sakurai, a farmer from the town of Tateshina, Nagano Prefecture, was found crouching inside a tunnel at around 11:30 p.m., more than three hours after alighting at Sakudaira Station in the prefecture, they said Saturday. He is believed to have walked about 10 km from the station. The police arrested Sakurai for breaking the shinkansen safety law by entering the tracks and said he admitted to the allegation. His words, however, sometimes didn’t make sense and he apparently has difficulty communicating, they added. East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) stopped trains on the line twice between Takasaki and Nagano stations while the police and station workers searched for the man. More than 9,000 passengers were affected by the delay, JR East said. The line debuted in March 2015, directly linking Tokyo with the Hokuriku region on the Sea of Japan coast via Nagano. Also on Friday, another mishap occurred on the Tokaido Shinkansen line when a large billboard above the ticket vending machines at Toyohashi Station in Aichi Prefecture collapsed and hit a man who was buying a ticket, Central Japan Railway Co. said. The man in his 40s involved in the incident, which occurred at around 7 p.m., was not hurt, JR Central said.
|
shinkansen;tresspassing;bullet trains;hokuriku shinkansen
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jp0003397
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/24
|
Scandal-plagued Wells Fargo's interim CEO shouted down at bank's annual meeting
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NEW YORK - C. Allen Parker is finding out how tough it can be to head up a scandal-plagued company. The interim chief executive officer of Wells Fargo & Co. was interrupted more than a dozen times during the bank’s annual meeting in Dallas on Tuesday by activist shareholders who called executives “frauds” and “criminals” and demanded Parker turn the company around. “Frauds, all of you,” one of the shareholders shouted as Parker tried to continue his opening remarks. “Wells Fargo, you cannot be trusted,” yelled another. “One of the wonderful things about shareholder democracy in this country is that we have meetings like this,” Parker said, adding that time will be set aside for investor remarks later in the meeting. Wells Fargo’s string of scandals began with the revelation that employees opened millions of potentially fake accounts to meet sales goals. Tim Sloan stepped down as CEO last month under mounting pressure from regulators, politicians and investors. Parker is leading the company while it searches for a new top executive.
|
u.s .;scandal;fraud;banks;wells fargo
|
jp0003398
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/24
|
Japan anti-trust watchdog may stop convenience chains from imposing 24-hour opening on franchises
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The Fair Trade Commission is considering preventing convenience store operators from forcing franchise owners to run their outlets 24 hours a day, sources close to the matter said Wednesday. Operators unilaterally rejecting franchise holders’ requests to review their business hours to cope with severe labor shortages would be an example of a case subject to the new regulations, the sources said. The antitrust watchdog is exploring the possibility of applying the antitrust law, which prohibits companies from abusing their positions of power, to such cases, to protect vulnerable business partners. This month, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry urged the operators of the eight major convenience store chains to formulate plans to address the acute labor shortages that have been putting a burden on franchise owners. Industry leader Seven-Eleven Japan Co. has said it will review its longtime 24-hour operating policy in light of a dispute with a shop owner who cut business hours at his outlet in Higashiosaka in February without the franchise operator’s approval. The owner of the outlet was initially accused by Seven-Eleven Japan of violating his contract. But the dispute grabbed national headlines, leading the retailer and its rivals to review their round-the-clock business hours. Convenience stores have been increasingly relying on foreign part-time workers amid a labor crunch stemming from the country’s graying population. About 80 percent of convenience store owners who responded to a recent survey by METI said they are worried about rising labor costs. Japan’s graying population and low birthrate is leading to acute labor shortages in many industries. Convenience stores, which have become an important part of the social infrastructure, have also been affected. Seven-Eleven in March began testing shorter hours at 10 stores in Tokyo to gauge the impact on sales and traffic. Lawson Inc. said last month it will experiment with leaving stores unmanned late at night amid growing calls to modify the industry’s round-the-clock operations to cope with the national labor shortage.
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convenience stores;japan fair trade commission
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jp0003400
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/24
|
Twitter shares jump after results and renewed Trump attack
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NEW YORK - Twitter Inc. posted better-than-expected quarterly revenue and a surprise increase in monthly users on Tuesday, sending shares up 13 percent to a nine-month high as its campaign to clean up fake and abusive accounts continued to attract advertisers. The microblogging site’s results caught the attention of U.S. President Donald Trump, a prolific tweeter with nearly 60 million followers, who called for the creation of “more, and fairer” social media companies, repeating his claim that Twitter is biased against Republicans, without presenting evidence. Twitter’s monthly active users (MAU) rose 9 million to 330 million in the first quarter from the previous quarter, much better than Wall Street’s average estimate that it would lose 2.2 million users, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. “Twitter is on a path to sustainable revenue growth and accelerated profit expansion, driven by improvements to the user experience and tools enabling direct response and search advertising,” said analyst Michael Pachter at Wedbush Securities. It was Twitter’s last quarter of disclosing MAUs. From now on it will only provide what it calls “monetizable” daily active users (mDAUs), created to measure the number of people exposed to advertising on a daily basis and exclude those who access Twitter via text messages or aggregating sites like TweetDeck. For the first quarter, Twitter said mDAUs rose to 134 million, up 12 percent from a year ago. Analysts were encouraged by signs Twitter had turned a corner in monthly user growth, but said that the new way of measuring users could make comparisons between Twitter and rivals like Facebook Inc. more difficult. “People are not impressed with a made up metric and their reluctance to give us actual users,” said Pachter. “I don’t think the stock can get out of its own way until they come clean and report the same metrics everyone else does.” The company also forecast revenue for the second quarter largely below analyst estimates, and said that it would need to continue to spend heavily on cleaning up Twitter as well as new ad products. Like larger rival Facebook, Twitter has been under pressure over privacy concerns and political influence activity on its service. Twitter has worked to remove thousands of spam and suspicious accounts, which it had blamed for sequential declines in monthly users in recent quarters. Advertisers, which provide Twitter with nearly all of its revenue, have welcomed those moves, but the company is still grappling with the prospect of regulation in the United States and overseas and allegations that its clean-up amounts to censorship. “The best thing ever to happen to Twitter is Donald Trump,” Trump tweeted on Tuesday, after Twitter reported its results, attributing the comment to Fox Business Network host Maria Bartiromo. “So true, but they don’t treat me well as a Republican. Very discriminatory, hard for people to sign on. Constantly taking people off list. Big complaints from many people.” Trump cheered the involvement of U.S. lawmakers who have called on tech executives to testify in Congress. “No wonder Congress wants to get involved — and they should. Must be more, and fairer, companies to get out the WORD!” he tweeted. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “We enforce the Twitter Rules dispassionately and equally for all users, regardless of their background or political affiliation,” a Twitter representative said. “We are constantly working to improve our systems and will continue to be transparent in our efforts.” On a conference call after earnings, Chief Executive Jack Dorsey said Twitter was open to regulation “when it makes sense” after an analyst pointed to Facebook recently saying it was receptive to governments taking a more active role. “Regulations like GDPR has been a net positive and not just for our service, but also for our broader industry in general,” he said, referring to Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation, which imposes stricter transparency on how companies store and monetize user data. Twitter has said compliance with those rules increases the company’s expenses. For the first quarter of 2019, Twitter’s revenue rose 18 percent to $787 million from the year-ago quarter, topping Wall Street’s average estimate of $776.1 million. Ad sales jumped 18 percent to $679 million. In the United States, ad revenue rose by 26 percent, thanks in part to video ads. But Twitter forecast current quarter revenue largely below Wall Street targets. The company expects revenue of between $770 million and $830 million, compared with $819.5 million estimated by analysts. Total operating expense including cost of revenue rose by 18 percent from the first quarter a year ago. The company reiterated that operating expenses would grow about 20 percent in 2019. Twitter reported quarterly profit of $191 million, or 25 cents a share, compared with $61 million, or 8 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding a $124.4 million tax benefit, the company earned 9 cents per share.
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social media;twitter;facebook;donald trump;maus
|
jp0003401
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/24
|
Struggling Harley-Davidson points to tariff impact as Trump weighs in
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BANGALORE, INDIA/CHICAGO - Harley-Davidson Inc. stuck with a cautious outlook for 2019 on Tuesday that indicated its struggles with long-term competitive problems even as President Trump changed tune on the company, promising to stand up for it in global trade talks. Shares in the Milwaukee-based firm, buffeted by Trump’s rows with Europe and China over tariffs, surged as much as 4 percent after the president called the European Union’s treatment of the company “unfair” and vowed to reciprocate. The company also posted profit for the first quarter that was more than 30 cents per share ahead of expectations, but reported continuing declines in sales that analysts said did not change an overall difficult picture for Harley. Harley’s shares, which have suffered from the company’s struggle in the past decade to attract younger fans as core customers won on the back of its 1960s and 70s heyday grow older, were flat by mid-morning. “We remain cautious in our outlook for the U.S. motorcycle industry, and continue to rate the shares Hold,” Stifel analyst Drew Crum said. Trump had previously criticized Harley for its plans to shift some U.S. production overseas to avoid European Union duties imposed in retaliation for the tariffs the White House placed on imported steel and aluminum last year. EU tariffs on U.S.-manufactured motorcycles, which increased to 31 percent from 6 percent last June, are set to rise to 56 percent in 2021. Harley said retaliatory import duties, mainly comprising those imposed by EU, will cost the company between $100 million and $120 million in 2019. Similarly, China’s tariffs on the bikes exported from the U.S. have increased to 55 percent from 30 percent as a result of the trade war between the world’s two biggest economies. “The big impact for us is the European Union tariffs. And nothing has changed since the European Union increased the import tariff from 6 percent to 31 percent last June,” Harley Chief Executive Officer Matthew Levatich said in an earnings call with analysts when asked about Trump’s tweet. Harley’s first-quarter shipments fell 8 percent to 58,891 motorcycles but exceeded a consensus market estimate of 54,420. Its full-year guidance of 217,000 to 222,000 also compared well with a consensus of 217,840, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. Both of those consensus figures, however, had fallen sharply on Monday after brokerage UBS warned March sales had been weak and threatened 2019 shipments, flattering the official numbers. The previous annual consensus for 2019 last week stood at 222,150. Overall sales continued to fall. U.S. retail motorcycle sales, or sales by dealers to customers, fell 4.2 percent in the first quarter ended March. 31. European sales were down 2.1 percent. The company’s overall net income fell 26.7 percent to $127.9 million in the quarter, while revenue from motorcycles and related products fell 12.3 percent to $1.19 billion, roughly in line with forecasts. That generated earnings per share, excluding items, of 98 cents, compared with the average analyst estimate of 65 cents per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
|
china;u.s .;eu;tariffs;harley davidson;donald trump;motorbikes;trade war
|
jp0003402
|
[
"business",
"tech"
] |
2019/04/24
|
John McAfee vows to unmask bitcoin pioneer Satoshi Nakamoto within days
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PORTLAND, OREGON - John McAfee, the eccentric antivirus pioneer known for his brushes with the law, said he has spoken with bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto and plans to reveal the person’s identity shortly. The background of Nakamoto — a pseudonym that is thought to refer to a person or group of people — has been fiercely debated for years, with a long list of discredited theories fueling suspicion bitcoin’s pioneer is probably dead. In recent days, McAfee has been threatening on Twitter to out Nakamoto, saying that he’s a man living in the U.S. McAfee has said that he will take the step unless Nakamoto comes forward voluntarily. McAfee is now saying that he’ll expose Nakamoto “within a week.” “I’ve spoken with him, and he is not a happy camper about my attempt to out him,” McAfee said in a phone interview from the Bahamas. McAfee’s antics and erratic behavior have overshadowed his past as a software pioneer, and it’s hard to know whether he’s finally tracked down the real Nakamoto — a feat that many others have failed to pull off. But McAfee said in the interview that he has spent a lifetime pursuing hackers, making him well suited to this task. “People forget that I am a technologist,” he said. “I am one of the best.” He founded McAfee Associates in 1987, though the company has since passed through several hands. He was a person of interest in a murder in Belize, after which he returned to the U.S. In recent years, McAfee has been investing in digital coins, as well as promoting them — for a fee — in his own Twitter feed. He also is running for U.S. president. If Nakamoto is indeed alive, that could throw a wrench into bitcoin trading. Nakamoto — possibly along with fellow pioneers of the cryptocurrency — is believed to be one of the largest holders of bitcoins. He may possess nearly 1 million of them, a huge chunk when you consider that entire circulating supply is about 17.6 million coins. The stake would be worth $5.6 billion at current prices. Because these coins haven’t been moved in 10 years, most people have presumed Nakamoto was dead — a theory supported by a lawsuit filed by the estate of a Florida man that claims he helped invent bitcoin. Nakamoto wrote the white paper outlining bitcoin in 2008, and then worked with a group of people to develop the currency, which debuted the following year, McAfee said. If Nakamoto isn’t dead, then these coins could potentially enter the market. And their sale would put pressure on bitcoin prices. Every time a trustee of the now-defunct exchange Mt. Gox sold bitcoins to pay back creditors, the currency’s price dipped sharply. Theories about Nakamoto have circulated for years. The New York Times and New Yorker have both tried to find the person or people behind the pseudonym. In a 2014 cover story, Newsweek identified the real Nakamoto as a California physicist, who denied the report. In a 2016 blog post and interviews with three media outlets, Australian entrepreneur Craig Wright had said that he is Nakamoto. McAfee’s threat to out Nakamoto was prompted in part by a recent libel lawsuit that Wright filed against a podcaster who questioned if Wright is Nakamoto. Wright isn’t the man he found and spoke to, McAfee said. “My entire life I’ve been tracking people who are the best in the world, and hiding their identity,” he said in the interview. “Finding Satoshi was a piece of cake for me.”
|
hacking;computers;bitcoin;mt . gox;satoshi nakamoto;belize;john mcafee
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jp0003403
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2019/04/24
|
Dollar almost unchanged around ¥111.80 in late Tokyo trading
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The dollar was almost unchanged around ¥111.80 in Tokyo trading late Wednesday as a wait-and-see mood grew before the Bank of Japan announces the outcome of its two-day monetary policy meeting on Thursday. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥111.81-81, against ¥111.85-85 at the same time Tuesday. The euro was at $1.1216-1216, down from $1.1245-1245, and at ¥125.41-43, down from ¥125.78-78. The dollar-yen pair moved in a narrow range as investors retreated to the sidelines to check the Japanese central bank’s economic outlook report, due out Thursday, a currency broker said. “Active trading was held in check” ahead of a meeting between Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and a summit between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Donald Trump later this week, an official at a foreign exchange margin trading service firm said. The dollar briefly rose close to ¥112 on buying from Japanese importers before falling back below ¥111.90. The U.S. currency’s topside becomes heavy when it approaches ¥112 as players backed by real demand are eager to hold the yen prior to Japan’s 10-day holiday period starting on Saturday, an official at a foreign exchange margin trading service firm said.
|
forex;currencies
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jp0003404
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2019/04/24
|
SoftBank's Masayoshi Son lost $130 million in bad bet on bitcoin, report says
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NEW YORK/TOKYO - Masayoshi Son, the billionaire founder of SoftBank Group Corp., made a huge personal bet on bitcoin just as prices for the digital currency peaked, losing more than $130 million when he cashed out, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, quoting people familiar with the matter. Son, who launched the world’s biggest venture capital fund on the strength of his long-term investment acumen, made the transaction at the recommendation of a well-known bitcoin booster, whose investment firm SoftBank bought in 2017, it said. The investment came at the peak of the bitcoin frenzy in late 2017 after the digital currency had already risen more than tenfold that year. The exact size of the bet couldn’t be determined, but bitcoin peaked at nearly $20,000 in mid-December 2017 and Son sold in early 2018 after bitcoin had plummeted, the paper said. Bitcoin traded at around $5,300 (about ¥592,600) on Monday. A SoftBank spokesman reportedly declined to comment on Son’s behalf. Under Son’s direction, SoftBank has evolved into a global telecommunications and internet conglomerate, and his penchant for pursuing out-of-the-box ideas appears as strong as ever as he looks to craft a connected future run by computers far more “intelligent” than humans. Now 61, Son is already a legend in Japan, where comic books depict the rags-to-riches story of a third-generation Korean-Japanese from a poor neighborhood who climbed his way up to become one of the nation’s richest men.
|
softbank;investments;bitcoin;masayoshi son;cryptocurrencies
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jp0003405
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2019/04/24
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Nikkei retreats to 22,200 as traders take money off table
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Stocks turned lower Wednesday on the Tokyo Stock Exchange as selling ensued to lock in gains. The 225-issue Nikkei average sagged 59.74 points, or 0.27 percent, to end at 22,200.00, after rising 41.84 points on Tuesday. The Topix index of all first-section issues closed down 10.92 points, or 0.67 percent, at 1,612.05. It rose 4.35 points the previous day. Profit-taking wiped out early gains that followed Wall Street’s overnight advance, brokers said. Weakness in Shanghai stocks also weighed on Japanese shares, they said. An official of an online securities firm said, “Profit-taking emerged prior to the (10-day) holiday” in Japan starting Saturday. Market players were increasingly shrinking their positions, the official said. Yutaka Miura, senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities Co., said that investors adopted a “strong wait-and-see stance” ahead of the peak of earnings announcements in Japan on Friday. He added that stocks’ downside was solid as the S&P 500 index and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index closed at their all-time highs in New York trading Tuesday. Losers trounced winners 1,510 to 547 in the TSE’s first section, while 79 issues were unchanged. Volume grew to 1.213 billion shares from Tuesday’s 995 billion shares. Kose dropped 3.98 percent on a news report that the cosmetics maker’s consolidated operating profit fell short of its forecast in the year through March. Other major losers included convenience store operator FamilyMart Uny, auto parts supplier Denso and Sony. By contrast, Nidec closed 0.76 percent higher the day after the motor maker provided upbeat profit estimates for the year ending in March 2020. Also bought were employment information service firm Recruit Holdings, clothing chain operator Fast Retailing and technology investor SoftBank Group. In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the key June contract on the Nikkei average fell 70 points to end at 22,170.
|
stocks;nikkei;tse;topix
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jp0003406
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/24
|
Hitachi to acquire U.S. industrial robot-maker for $1.43 billion
|
Hitachi Ltd. said Wednesday it has reached a deal to buy U.S. assembly robot-maker JR Automation Technologies LLC for $1.43 billion (¥160 billion) to strengthen its factory automation business in the American market. Hitachi said it agreed Tuesday to buy the manufacturer from private equity firm Crestview Partners, which holds a 93 percent stake in the company. The Japanese manufacturer will acquire all shares in the Michigan-based technology provider by the end of this year. JR Automation Technologies was founded in 1980 and has strengths in automated manufacturing and technology solutions. The company has about 2,000 employees at 23 manufacturing facilities in North America, Europe and Asia, it said. Hitachi has expanded its factory automation business in the United States since buying U.S. air compressor-maker Sullair LCC in 2017.
|
u.s .;robots;acquisitions;automation;hitachi ltd .;jr automation technologies
|
jp0003407
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/24
|
Adding to Ghosn woes, Nissan slashes profit outlook to near-decade low
|
Nissan Motor Co. slashed its full-year profit forecast to its lowest in nearly a decade due to weakness in the United States, just as it adjusts to life without Carlos Ghosn and charts its future with alliance partner Renault SA. The automaker expects operating profit for the year ended March to drop 45 percent versus a year earlier to ¥318 billion ($2.84 billion), from a previous forecast for ¥450 billion, on expenses related to extending vehicle warranties in the United States, its biggest market. In a statement on Wednesday, Nissan said sales had taken a hit in the aftermath of the arrest of former Chairman Ghosn, contributing to a decline in profit to its lowest since the year ended March 2010. This is the second cut to the automaker’s operating profit forecast in two months and adds pressure on Chief Executive Hiroto Saikawa just as he works to draw a line under Ghosn’s legacy by overhauling corporate governance and seeking a more equal footing with Renault, Nissan’s biggest shareholder. Nissan is scheduled to announce its full-year earnings results on May 14. Falling profit has been a headache since before Ghosn was first arrested in November on allegations of financial misconduct. Currently in jail following his fourth arrest, Ghosn — who denies wrongdoing — could learn as early as Thursday whether he will be released on bail for a second time. Nissan has struggled to reduce costly sales incentives in the United States. For years it has relied on heavy discounting in its biggest market to sell its Rogue compact sport utility vehicles and Altima sedans to expand market share, under aggressive targets Ghosn set during his time as chief executive. Saikawa has since pledged to stop chasing market share and instead focus on improving profit margins. The automaker has also turned its focus to China as its next major growth market, albeit just as vehicle sales in the world’s biggest auto market have slowed. Since his ouster at Nissan in November, Ghosn has accused his former colleagues of a boardroom coup aimed at scotching his plan to merge Nissan and Renault. In a video statement shown to reporters earlier this month, Ghosn said Nissan had “management problems” since he gave up the CEO role two years ago, which had resulted in profit warnings. While Nissan’s troubles could raise the need for stronger cooperation with Renault, the Japanese automaker appears to be resisting closer ties with a partner it exceeds in both vehicle sales and profitability. “Now is not the time to think of such things,” Saikawa told a group of reporters outside his house in Tokyo on Monday, in response to a Nikkei report that Nissan would reject an integration proposal from Renault. “At the moment we are focused on improving Nissan’s earnings performance. Please give us time to do that.”
|
u.s .;scandals;nissan;carmakers;renault;carlos ghosn
|
jp0003408
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/24
|
Japan to shut down nuclear plants if counterterror steps not taken in time
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Japan’s nuclear regulator decided Wednesday not to let power companies operate reactors if they fail to install sufficient counterterrorism measures by specified deadlines. The decision by the Nuclear Regulation Authority came after three utilities that operate five nuclear plants in western and southwestern Japan requested that their deadlines be extended as they expect delays in completing counterterrorism steps required under stricter regulations introduced in 2013 following the Fukushima nuclear crisis. Kyushu Electric Power Co., Kansai Electric Power Co. and Shikoku Electric Power Co. had sought to postpone their five-year deadlines by one to three years, citing reasons such as the need to carry out massive construction work. The three companies told the NRA that the measures would not be on time at 10 of their reactors, according to documents published on the regulator’s website. But the regulator has declined their requests for extensions. The power plant operators are required to build facilities that can keep reactors cool via remote control and prevent the massive release of radioactive materials if the units are the target of a terrorist attack, such as from planes being flown into them. Nuclear plant operators need to set up such facilities within five years of the nuclear safety watchdog approving detailed construction plans for the plants. But several firms have warned they will not meet these criteria. The NRA said after a meeting earlier Wednesday it would no longer push back the deadline as it has done in the past. “There is no need to extend the deadline, and nuclear facilities have to stop operations if the operators fail to meet it,” an NRA official said. He added that several other reactors were also at risk of being shut down. A reactor at the Sendai power plant in Kyushu could be the first to be suspended if Kyushu Electric Power fails to finish work by the deadline next March. Following the No. 1 reactor at the Sendai plant, the No. 2 reactor at the complex is facing a deadline in May 2020. The deadline for the No. 3 reactor at the Takahama plant in Fukui Prefecture operated by Kansai Electric is August 2020. At an NRA meeting Wednesday, one of the commissioners said, “The construction work did not fall behind schedule because of natural disaster,” expressing the view that there is no need to extend the deadlines. “We cannot overlook the operations of nuclear facilities when they become incompatible with meeting standards,” NRA Chairman Toyoshi Fuketa said. Before the Fukushima disaster, Japan relied on nuclear power for roughly 30 percent of its electricity. But this declined to less than 2 percent after the crisis as reactors were suspended for emergency safety checks, with many unable to resume operations under the stricter rules. The ratio has since recovered somewhat, but it remains below 10 percent due to a protracted process of stringent safety checks by the regulator. Shares of all three companies tumbled on the news. Kansai Electric ended down 7.8 percent, Kyushu Electric fell 5.3 percent and Shikoku Electric dropped 5 percent. A draft by the industry ministry said nuclear should account for 20 to 22 percent of power supply in 2030 and renewables 22 to 24 percent, in line with the trade ministry’s goals set in 2015. But many experts view the nuclear target as difficult to achieve in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima crisis, which led to a big shift in public opinion after it exposed industrial and regulatory failings and led to the shutdown of all the country’s reactors.
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fukushima no . 1;terrorism;nuclear energy;meti;sendai nuclear plant
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jp0003409
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/24
|
Nissan snubs Renault with new COO pick as more Carlos Ghosn allies step down
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Nissan Motor Co. said Tuesday that Chief Competitive Officer Yasuhiro Yamauchi, 63, will be promoted to chief operating officer, a post that has been vacant since November 2013. His appointment will take effect on May 16, along with other senior management appointments announced Tuesday. Senior Vice President Asako Hoshino and two others were named executive vice presidents. Nissan hopes the appointments will help “improve and strengthen governance and stabilize operations,” the automaker said in a statement. Nissan has an agreement with Renault SA to let an official from its French partner assume the post of COO or a higher position. Renault apparently demanded such a post based on the agreement, but Nissan did not comply. It named Chief Quality Officer Christian Vandenhende from Renault as vice COO. Nissan also said Executive Vice President Daniele Schillaci will step down on May 15. Schillaci, who was close to former Chairman Carlos Ghosn, has overseen the company’s electric vehicle strategy and Asian operations. Many senior foreign officials seen as close to Ghosn have left Nissan. In January, Jose Munoz, Nissan’s former executive in charge of the China operations, stepped down, followed by Arun Bajaj, former senior vice president in charge of human resources, in March. Bajaj was targeted as part of Nissan’s in-house investigation into the alleged misdeeds by Ghosn that led to the fallen auto titan’s arrest. Board member Toshiyuki Shiga, a former COO who was seen as Ghosn’s right-hand man, has also said he will step down, pending approval at Nissan’s shareholders meeting in June.
|
scandals;nissan;carmakers;renault;carlos ghosn
|
jp0003410
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/24
|
Laundry-phobics' dreams crushed as Tokyo-based developer of Laundroid robot files for bankruptcy
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When Seven Dreamers Laboratories Inc. unveiled its prototype laundry-folding robot in 2015, it generated a buzz, with people saying they couldn’t wait to buy one if it ever went to market. But the AI-based tidying device dubbed Laundroid is apparently coming to an end before its commercial debut, as the Tokyo-based developer filed for bankruptcy Tuesday with the Tokyo District Court, citing insufficient funds to continue operations. A spokesperson for Seven Dreamers, a contest-winning startup that had received over ¥10 billion in funding, said development of robot is over for now. According to Teikoku Databank Ltd., a credit research company, Seven Dreamers Laboratories had accumulated ¥2.2 billion in debt as it struggled to ship the robot and invested heavily in research and development. After postponing its initial sales goal in fiscal 2017, it had to push back its goal for fiscal 2018, too. “We were unable to secure funds necessary for the development,” the spokesman said, adding it was difficult to improve the robot to a satisfactory level. The startup had planned to sell Laundroid for ¥1.85 million. Seven Dreamers had said that, because people have to spend so much time folding laundry in their lifetimes, it wanted to set them free from that chore with Laundroid, which looked like a big closet but was apparently packed with robotics and image recognition technologies that would allow it to fold clothes. The concept of the laundry-folding robot has attracted much attention and interest from investors in Japan and abroad. The startup was partnering with Panasonic Corp. and Daiwa House Industries Co. Seven Dreamers Laboratories, which was founded in 2014, won the Japan round of the 2018 Startup World Cup, an international competition for startups, to advance to the final.
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robots;robotics;bankruptcy;automation;laundroid;seven dreamers laboratories
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jp0003412
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/24
|
Strong, shallow M6.1 earthquake rocks northeast India and is felt in Tibet
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NEW DELHI - A strong 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck India’s northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh early Wednesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The epicenter of the shallow quake was about 40 km (25 miles) southeast of Along, and 180 km southwest of the state capital Itanagar. It struck at 1:45 a.m. (2015 GMT Tuesday). Arunachal Pradesh is India’s least densely populated state, but is still home to more than 1.2 million people, according to the state government’s website. China’s official state news agency Xinhua said the quake was felt in Tibet, which neighbors the Indian state. New Delhi and Beijing for decades have disputed control of Arunachal Pradesh — a dispute that remains unresolved. India considers Arunachal Pradesh one of its northeastern states, while China claims about 90,000 sq. km (34,750 sq. miles) of the territory. Arunachal Pradesh also borders Myanmar and Bhutan. USGS estimated there was a “low likelihood” of casualties and damage from the quake.
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china;india;earthquakes;tibet;xinhua;usgs;arunachal pradesh
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jp0003413
|
[
"world",
"science-health-world"
] |
2019/04/24
|
Self-powered heart 'pacemaker for life' in pigs unveiled, offering hope for humans
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PARIS - Scientists on Tuesday unveiled a battery-free pacemaker that generates its energy from the heartbeats of pigs in what could pave the way for an “implant for life” in humans suffering from heart defects. Millions of patients rely on pacemakers — small electrical implants in the chest of abdomen — to help regulate their heartbeats after chronic or acute illness. Even with recent technological advances, pacemaker batteries can be rigid or bulky, and may need replacing several times over the lifespan of a device. Energy harvesters, which generate electricity from pulses sent by the body, have shown to be effective in recent years, but only in small animals such as rats, as well as cell models with low energy demands. Now researchers in China and the United States believe they have successfully trialed a self-powered pacemaker in adult pigs — an animal remarkably physiologically similar to humans. The animals selected suffered from irregular heartbeat similar to human pacemaker patients. The team developed an implantable generator that sits on the surface of the heart and bends with each heartbeat, thereby generating electricity from kinetic energy. “(The pacemaker) was fully implanted in adult pigs and all of the energy for cardiac pacing is reclaimed from the heart-beating energy of the same animal,” Zhou Li, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and lead study author, told AFP. When they powered up the devices they found that the pigs’ irregular heartbeat was corrected. The energy retained from every heartbeat also turned out to be higher than the energy demands of most current pacemakers in humans, opening the door to someday giving patients a permanent power source for their implants. “It could be an ‘implant for life,’ ” said Zhou. “This is our aim and the final goal of the scientific research in the field.” The team stressed however that more work was needed to determining the long-term safety and durability of the devices before human versions could be developed. Zhou said the self-powering technology could also have a range of applications in areas such as self-charging devices and “smart” clothing. Tim Chico, professor of cardiovascular medicine and honorary consultant cardiologist, University of Sheffield, who was not involved in the research, called the experiment “very encouraging. “This study was performed in pigs, whose hearts are the same size as humans, and so are often used to test devices or treatments before use in man,” he said. The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.
|
china;u.s .;medicine;heart disease;pigs;pacemakers
|
jp0003414
|
[
"world",
"science-health-world"
] |
2019/04/24
|
WHO recommends one-hour maximum screen time per day for under-5s
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GENEVA - Children aged two to four should not be allowed more than one hour of “sedentary screen time” per day and infants less than one year old should not be exposed to electronic screens at all, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday. The United Nations agency, issuing its first such guidelines, said under-fives should also be physically active and get adequate sleep to help develop good lifelong habits and prevent obesity and other diseases in later life. Sedentary screen time would include watching television or videos and playing computer games. “Healthy physical activity, sedentary behavior and sleep habits are established early in life, providing an opportunity to shape habits through childhood, adolescence and into adulthood,” the WHO said in the guidelines to member states. Children between one and four years old should spend at least three hours in a variety of physical activities spread throughout the day, it said. Infants under one should interact in floor-based play and avoid all screens, it said. Being inactive is a “leading risk factor” for mortality and fuels the global rise in overweight and obesity, the WHO said. In a report two years ago, the WHO said the number of obese children and adolescents worldwide had jumped tenfold to 120 million in the past 40 years and that the rise was accelerating in low- and middle-income countries, especially in Asia. Excessive weight can lead to diseases including diabetes, hypertension and some forms of cancer, it said. Early childhood is a period of rapid physical and cognitive development during which habits are formed and family lifestyle routines are adaptable, it said in the guidelines, drawn from evidence in hundreds of studies, many from Australia, Canada, South Africa and the United States. “Sedentary behaviors, whether riding motorized transport rather than walking or cycling, sitting at a desk in school, watching TV or playing inactive screen-based games are increasingly prevalent and associated with poor health outcomes,” the WHO said. Chronic insufficient sleep in children has been associated with increased excessive fat accumulation as measured by body mass index (BMI), it said. Shorter sleep duration has been associated with more TV viewing and time spent playing computer games, it added. “Improving the physical activity, sedentary and sleep time behaviors of young children will contribute to their physical health, reduce the risk of developing obesity in childhood and the associated noncommunicable diseases in later life and improve mental health and well-being,” the WHO said.
|
television;children;health;united nations;who;world health organization;computer games;electronic screens
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jp0003415
|
[
"world",
"science-health-world"
] |
2019/04/24
|
NASA's InSight probe detects likely 'marsquake' in interplanetary first
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ORLANDO, FLORIDA - NASA’s robotic probe InSight has detected and measured what scientists believe to be a “marsquake,” marking the first time a likely seismological tremor has been recorded on another planet, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California reported on Tuesday. The breakthrough came nearly five months after InSight, the first spacecraft designed specifically to study the deep interior of a distant world, touched down on the surface of Mars to begin its two-year seismological mission on the red planet. The faint rumble characterized by JPL scientists as a likely marsquake, roughly equal to a 2.5 magnitude earthquake, was recorded on April 6 — the lander’s 128th Martian day, or sol. It was detected by InSight’s French-built seismometer, an instrument sensitive enough to measure a seismic wave just one-half the radius of a hydrogen atom. “We’ve been collecting background noise up until now, but this first event officially kicks off a new field: Martian seismology,” InSight principal investigator Bruce Banerdt said in a news release. Scientists are still examining the data to conclusively determine the precise cause of the signal, but the trembling appeared to have originated from inside the planet, as opposed to being caused by forces above the surface, such as wind. “The high frequency level and broad band is very similar to what we get from a rupture process. So we are very confident that this is a marsquake,” Philippe Lognonné, a geophysics and planetary science professor at University Paris Diderot in France and lead researcher for InSight’s seismometer, said in an email. Still, a tremor so faint in Southern California would be virtually lost among the dozens of small seismic crackles that occur there every day. “Our informed guesswork is that this a very small event that’s relatively close, maybe from 50 to 100 kilometers away” from the lander, Banerdt said by telephone. A more distant quake would yield greater information about Mars’ interior because seismic waves would “penetrate deeper into the planet before they come back up to the seismometer,” he said. The size and duration of the marsquake also fit the profile of some of the thousands of moonquakes detected on the lunar surface between 1969 and 1977 by seismometers installed there by NASA’s Apollo missions, said Lori Glaze, planetary science division director at NASA headquarters in Washington. The lunar and Martian surfaces are extremely quiet compared with Earth, which experiences constant low-level seismic noise from oceans and weather as well as quakes that occur along subterranean fault lines created by shifting tectonic plates in the planet’s crust. Mars and the moon lack tectonic plates. Their seismic activity is instead driven by a cooling and contracting process that causes stress to build up and become strong enough to rupture the crust. Three other apparent seismic signals were picked up by InSight on March 14, April 10 and April 11 but were even smaller and more ambiguous in origin, leaving scientists less certain they were actual marsquakes. Lognonne said he expected InSight to eventually detect quakes 50 to 100 times larger than the April 6 tremor.
|
nasa;mars;cnes;insight;marsquake
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jp0003416
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/04/24
|
Trump 'not inclined' to release tax returns despite congressional deadline
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WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump is unlikely hand over his tax returns to lawmakers despite a Tuesday congressional deadline facing the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service, a White House spokesman said on Tuesday. “As I understand it, the president’s pretty clear: Once he’s out of audit, he’ll think about doing it, but he’s not inclined to do so at this time,” White House spokesman Hogan Gidley told Fox News in an interview. Rep. Richard Neal, Democratic chairman of the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, requested six years of Trump’s individual and business returns on April 3 and has set a final deadline of 5 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT) on Tuesday, informing IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig in a letter that failure to comply would be viewed as a denial. Failure to meet the congressional deadline could mire the administration and lawmakers in a lengthy legal fight. Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney has vowed that Trump’s tax returns would “never” be handed over to Democrats. But Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he intends to “follow the law” while pledging to keep the IRS from being “weaponized” for political gain. As Ways and Means chairman, Neal is the only lawmaker in the House of Representatives authorized to request taxpayer information under a federal law that says the Treasury secretary “shall furnish” the data. Democrats say they are confident of succeeding in any legal fight over Trump’s returns. “The law is on our side. The law is clearer than crystal. They have no choice: they must abide by (it),” Rep. Bill Pascrell, who has been leading the Democratic push for Trump’s tax records, said in a statement to Reuters. Democrats want Trump’s returns as part of their investigations of possible conflicts of interest posed by his continued ownership of extensive business interests, even as he serves the public as president. Republicans have condemned the request as a political “fishing expedition” by Democrats. Despite the law’s clarity, Democrats have long acknowledged that the effort would likely result in a legal battle that could ultimately be settled by the U.S. Supreme Court. “If the IRS does not comply with the request, it is likely that Chairman Neal will subpoena the returns,” Rep. Judy Chu, a Democratic member of the Ways and Means Committee, told Reuters. “If they do not comply with that (subpoena), a legal battle will begin to defend the right of oversight in Congress,” she said. Trump broke with a decades-old precedent by refusing to release his tax returns as a presidential candidate in 2016 or since being elected, saying he could not do so while his taxes were being audited. But his former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, told a House panel in February that he does not believe Trump’s taxes are under audit. Cohen said the president feared that releasing his returns could lead to an audit and IRS tax penalties.
|
taxes;u.s. congress;democrats;donald trump;steve mnuchin;mick mulvaney;michael cohen
|
jp0003417
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/04/24
|
Jared Kushner downplays Russia election interference despite probe's finding of widespread meddling
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NEW YORK - White House senior adviser Jared Kushner said Tuesday the investigations into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election “had a much harder impact on our democracy” than what Russia actually did. Mere days after Americans read a redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the election meddling, Kushner minimized Russia’s involvement by describing it as “buying some Facebook ads to try to sow dissent.” “Quite frankly, the whole thing’s just a big distraction for the country,” Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, said in a rare public appearance at the Time 100 Summit. Kushner continued: “It’s a terrible thing, but I think the investigations and all the speculation that happened for the past two years has had a much harsher impact on democracy than a couple Facebook ads.” Mueller’s report concluded that the Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election “in sweeping and systematic fashion” and that its efforts were designed to help Trump. Kushner, in his first comments since the redacted version was released last week, said the Trump campaign spent far more on Facebook ads in a matter of hours than the Russians did over the course of the election. “So if you look at the magnitude of what they did and what they accomplished, I think the ensuing investigations have been way more harmful to our country,” said Kushner, who helped lead his father-in-law’s upstart campaign. Kushner was present in the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Donald Trump Jr. and campaign chairman Paul Manafort when a Kremlin-connected lawyer offered dirt on rival Hilary Clinton’s campaign. But Kushner said he texted an aide to get him out of the meeting because he found it unhelpful. When asked Tuesday why the Trump campaign did not reject Russian attempts to get close to the campaign, Kushner said, “We didn’t know that Russia was doing what they were doing. “The notion of what they were doing didn’t even register to us as being impactful,” he said. “When the whole notion of the Russian collusion narrative came up, I was the first person to say ‘I’m happy to participate with any investigations.’ I thought the whole thing was kind of nonsense, to be honest with you.” Shortly after Kushner’s interview, which was broadcast online, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to praise his son-in-law. “Great interview by Jared,” the president wrote. “Nice to have extraordinarily smart people serving our Country!” The FBI warned the Trump campaign in July 2016 that Russia would likely try to infiltrate or influence its election efforts. That month, Trump publicly urged Russia to find some of Clinton’s missing emails, a remark he later characterized as a joke. And that October, the U.S. intelligence community released a unanimous statement formally accusing Russia of being behind the hacking of the Democratic National Committee, a conclusion Trump repeatedly challenged. White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said Tuesday that the president has denounced Russian involvement “multiple times,” though Trump himself has repeatedly cast doubt on the conclusion that Russia was involved and has not publicly warned Moscow against interfering again in 2020. Mueller wrote that the Trump campaign “expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts.” But the special counsel said investigators concluded, “While the investigation identified numerous links between individuals with ties to the Russian government and individuals associated with the Trump Campaign, the evidence was not sufficient to support criminal charges.” On other topics, Kushner said: — The administration’s Middle East peace plan that he’s been working on would likely be unveiled after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ends June 4. — He would make his recommendations for an immigration plan to the president by the end of next week, after which Trump would develop a revamped proposal. — Only “time would tell” if Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammad Bin Salman, with whom he has a close relationship, would change his ways in the aftermath of U.S. intelligence agencies’ conclusion that he ordered the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
|
u.s .;robert mueller;donald trump;jared kushner;russia probe
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jp0003418
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/04/24
|
Democrats weigh contempt vote after ex-Trump official defies subpoena
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WASHINGTON - The chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee says the White House is now in “open defiance” of his panel after lawyers advised a former official to defy a subpoena related to the committee’s investigation of White House security clearances. Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings says he is consulting with members and staff about scheduling a vote on contempt after former White House personnel security director Carl Kline did not show up for a scheduled deposition on Tuesday. The committee had subpoenaed Kline after one of his former subordinates told the panel that dozens of people in President Donald Trump’s administration were granted security clearances despite “disqualifying issues” in their backgrounds. The fight over Kline’s appearance comes as the White House has stonewalled the panel in several different investigations.
|
congress;donald trump;elijah cummings;carl kline
|
jp0003419
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/24
|
Trump says White House officials can skip 'partisan' post-Mueller congressional inquiries
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WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump is doubling down on his legal confrontations with Democrats in the House of Representatives. Hours after his Treasury secretary again put off a House committee’s demand for the president’s tax returns, and as another panel was considering a contempt charge for a former White House aide for refusing to testify, Trump said in an interview that he was against having past and present administration officials taking part in various congressional inquiries. He told The Washington Post that any further testimony is not necessary after the White House cooperated with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. “There is no reason to go any further, and especially in Congress, where it’s very partisan — obviously very partisan,” Trump said in an interview with the Post that was published Tuesday night. Since regaining control of the House in last fall’s elections, Democrats have begun multiple investigations related to Trump and those around him. Democrats say those efforts will only intensify following last week’s release of a redacted version of Mueller’s report. Earlier Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin again declined to release Trump’s tax documents, arguing that Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee, despite their stated objective, aimed to expose the president’s personal and business financial records to the public. He said he would give a final response by May 6. And the Committee on Oversight and Reform’s Chairman Elijah Cummings said he intended to “consult with House counsel and committee members about scheduling a vote on contempt” after Trump administration lawyers convinced Carl Kline, the former director of White House personnel security, not to testify about granting security clearances. Kline had received a subpoena for a closed hearing after a longtime employee in the security clearance office, Tricia Newbold, told lawmakers that she and other colleagues had denied 25 applications for clearances only to see them overturned by supervisors. “I hope that Mr. Kline, in close consultation with his personal attorney, will carefully review his legal obligations, reconsider his refusal to appear, and begin cooperating with the committee’s investigation,” Cummings said in a statement Tuesday. Cummings’ committee has been scrutinizing how a number of senior aides, including Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner and national security adviser John Bolton, obtained their clearances. Separately, the House Judiciary Committee has subpoenaed Donald McGahn, the former White House counsel, who gave extensive testimony to Mueller’s investigators. Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, responding to reports that the White House would try to prevent McGahn from appearing, said in a statement that “the reports, if accurate, represent one more act of obstruction by an administration desperate to prevent the public from talking about the president’s behavior.” Since the White House urged Kline not to testify, Cummings said, “It appears that the president believes that the Constitution does not apply to his White House, that he may order officials at will to violate their legal obligations, and that he may obstruct attempts by Congress to conduct oversight.” Kline now works at the Defense Department. His lawyer, Robert Driscoll, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Driscoll received a letter Monday from White House deputy counsel Michael Purpura stating that the Oversight Committee denied a request to have a White House lawyer accompany Kline at the deposition. “Consistent with the position of past administrations, if the committee goes forward with the deposition, a representative from the Office of Counsel to the President should attend and represent the interests of the Executive Office of the President,” Purpura wrote to Driscoll. Purpura said those interests include “protection of privileged information.” Purpura wrote that by denying that request, the subpoena for Kline to appear “unconstitutionally encroaches on fundamental executive branch interests.” Driscoll told Cummings Monday that his client would not show. “With two masters from two equal branches of government, we will follow the instructions of the one that employs him,” Driscoll wrote, in a reference to Kline’s ongoing employment at the Defense Department. Cummings, in his statement, dismissed the efforts to cast Kline “as caught in the middle of a dispute between the committee and the White House.” He pointed out that Kline faces accusations of retaliation “against a whistleblower who reported serious allegations of abuse to Congress.” “Mr. Kline has a direct and personal legal obligation to comply with this subpoena, and he failed to do so,” Cummings said.
|
u.s .;congress;democrats;donald trump;russia probe
|
jp0003420
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/24
|
Israel to name Golan settlement after Trump
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JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday he plans to name a new settlement in the occupied Golan after U.S. President Donald Trump in appreciation of his recognition of Israel’s claim of sovereignty there. Netanyahu, who has been on a trip to the region with his family for the week-long Passover holiday, said in a video message that he would present a resolution to the government calling for a new settlement named after the U.S. president. “All Israelis were deeply moved when President Trump made his historic decision to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights,” he said. Trump again broke with longstanding international consensus on March 25 when he recognized Israel’s claim of sovereignty over the part of the strategic plateau it seized from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War. The decision came only two weeks ahead of a tightly contested Israeli election, which saw Netanyahu win a fifth term in office. Trump has shifted U.S. policy sharply in Israel’s favor since taking office, most notably by recognizing the disputed city of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Israel annexed 1,200 sq. km (460 sq. miles) of the Golan it seized in 1981, a move never recognized by the international community. Around 18,000 Syrians from the Druze sect — most of whom refuse to take Israeli citizenship — remain in the occupied Golan. Some 20,000 Israeli settlers have moved there, spread over 33 settlements.
|
u.s .;israel;syria;benjamin netanyahu;golan heights;donald trump
|
jp0003421
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/24
|
Protest train from birthplace of al-Bashir opposition arrives in Khartoum to join demonstration
|
KHARTOUM - Hundreds of protesters packed in a train arrived in Khartoum Tuesday from a central Sudanese town to join a sit-in outside the army headquarters demanding military rulers step down. Many protesters perched on the roof of the train, waving Sudanese flags as it chugged through north Khartoum’s Bahari railway station before winding its way to the protest site, an AFP photographer said. The passengers, who had traveled from the town of Atbara where the first protest against ousted President Omar al-Bashir erupted on Dec. 19, chanted “freedom, peace, justice. Crowds of supporters filled the Bahari station for hours and waited along the tracks to greet the train, which came to a final stop outside the army headquarters in central Khartoum. Calling for retribution for those killed during al-Bashir’s rule, protesters chanted “blood for blood, we will not accept compensations. The protests that broke out in Atbara swiftly mushroomed into nationwide demonstrations against al-Bashir’s iron-fisted rule, finally leading to his ouster on April 11 by the army. Under al-Bashir, officials say at least 65 people were killed in protest-related violence since December. But initial jubilation at the end of al-Bashir’s three-decade reign quickly turned to anger over the military council’s plan to keep power for a two-year transition period. Groups of journalists, doctors, engineers and veterinarians also marched Tuesday to the protest site in Khartoum calling for the transfer of power to civilian rule. In eastern Sudan, hundreds of protesters joined a sit-in outside an army building in the border town of Kassala, demanding that those responsible for killing protesters be brought to justice. Protest leaders have suspended talks with the military council, accusing it on Sunday of being part of the regime put in place by al-Bashir. Late Monday the military council tried to ease the tensions, saying the demands made by the Alliance for Freedom and Change, the umbrella group leading the protest movement, were being examined. “The alliance has presented its proposal … which is now being studied along with the visions of other political forces,” council spokesman Shamseddine Kabbashi told reporters. He said the council “will communicate with everyone to reach a middle ground. African leaders meanwhile at an emergency summit in Cairo urged Sudan’s military rulers on Tuesday to implement a democratic transition within three months, the Egyptian presidency said. They also urged the African Union to extend its deadline, currently the end of April, for Sudan’s military council to hand power to a civilian authority or face suspension from the regional bloc.
|
protests;sudan;omar al-bashir;khartoum
|
jp0003422
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/24
|
Ex-PM wins Solomons run-off sparking riots
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HONIARA - The election of veteran politician Manasseh Sogavare as the Solomon Islands’ new prime minister sparked violent protests in the capital Honiara Wednesday, with riot police deployed in a bid to maintain order. Eyewitnesses reported unrest in Chinatown and at least one other area of the city after Sogavare won the backing of parliamentarians for a record fourth term in office. Shops and offices closed and workers were advised to go home as police and community leaders appealed for calm. Following an inconclusive election earlier this month, Sogavare won the backing of 34 of 50 members of parliament in a controversial run-off, with his opponents boycotting the vote. In a brief statement, the 64-year-old said “God” had delivered the outcome. “I wish to assure the nation that we are listening to what has been said, it has not fallen on to deaf ears,” he said. It is the first election on the self-styled “hapi isles” since thousands of Australian-led peacekeepers left in 2017, and there will be fears the islands’ fractious politics will be reignited. The Solomon Islands has struggled repeatedly with ethnic tensions and political violence since gaining independence from Britain in 1978. A 2006 election prompted widespread rioting in the capital with shops in Chinatown looted and burnt down, forcing foreign peacekeepers to step in. Within hours of the ballot Wednesday there was similar unrest. Crowds of protestors shouting and waving tree branches were denied access to parliament and were heading to Chinatown to hurl rocks and trash businesses before being contained. “Each time an election of this sort happens, we have to move to my parent’s place where it is safer,” said a food outlet owner in Chinatown, who asked not to be named. “Imagine each time, we have to pack our stuff, get the kids and move out from our place. It had been like this since the big riot in 2006. It is like the normal thing to do now.” By Wednesday afternoon rioting was centred on the Kukum area of the city. There were unconfirmed reports of a locally owned hotel and casino being damaged in the attacks. The Royal Solomon Islands Police Force urged residents to “go back to your homes” and “accept the announcement of the Prime Minister with a good heart.” The Australian government said it was monitoring the protests and endorsed “calls for calm by Solomon Islands authorities.” “We recommend exercising normal safety precautions in Solomon Islands overall and to avoid protests and political rallies, as they may turn violent.” Sogavare’s last term in office ended abruptly in a 2017 vote of no confidence amid unconfirmed allegations he had received donations from Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei. The Solomon Islands is one of Taiwan’s few remaining diplomatic allies, but is being courted by China which has been investing heavily in the Pacific. The Solomons, where only about 50 percent of the population have access to electricity, is heavily reliant on foreign aid. In the run-up to the election, several Solomon Islands politicians, including caretaker prime minister Rick Houenipwela were reported to have said they would review diplomatic relations with Taiwan if elected. Houenipwela was a member of Sogavare’s Democratic Coalition Government for Advancement. China regards Taiwan as a renegade province that must be brought back into the fold.
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election;politics;solomon islands;manasseh sogavare
|
jp0003423
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/24
|
North Korean leader's right-hand man and top nuclear negotiator removed from key post, report says
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s right-hand man and one of the top officials involved in nuclear talks with the United States, Kim Yong Chol, has been replaced as chief of a key espionage agency handling inter-Korean affairs, a report said Wednesday. Kim Yong Chol, head of the United Front Department, was recently replaced by Jang Kum Chol, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported, citing an official with the country’s parliamentary intelligence committee. The official did not state a reason for the dismissal. The Japan Times could not immediately confirm the report, but Kim Yong Chol was notably absent from Kim Jong Un’s entourage that arrived in the Russian Far East city of Vladivostok on Wednesday for a summit with President Vladimir Putin, according to images and video of the leader’s departure and arrival. It was the first time that Kim Yong Chol had not accompanied the North Korean leader on a trip abroad. The hard-liner and former spy chief was heavily involved in the North Korean leader’s February summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Hanoi that ended in no deal, in part over the North’s demands for immediate sanctions relief. The news came just days after the North lambasted Kim Yong Chol’s counterpart in the U.S. nuclear negotiations, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, calling for his ouster and demanding a “more careful and mature” negotiator. According to the North Korean leadership watch website, Jang Kum Chol was appointed as a department director with the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea’s Central Committee during a plenary session of the central committee held in central Pyongyang on April 10. An archived dispatch from the state-run Korean Central News Agency detailing a 2014 seminar said a person by that name had served as chairman of the country’s Academy of Social Sciences Committee, which has played a key role in the North’s nuclear program.
|
u.s .;north korea;kim jong un;nuclear weapons;south korea;north korea nuclear crisis;kim yong chol;donald trump;mike pompeo;kim-trump summit
|
jp0003424
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/24
|
Putin-Kim summit sends message to U.S. but sanctions relief elusive for North Korea
|
SEOUL - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is set to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time this week at a symbolic summit hoping to project himself as a serious world player but likely to come away without a relief from crushing sanctions he seeks. After his second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump ended without an agreement two months ago, Kim’s meeting with Putin serves as a reminder to Washington that he has other options in the region backing his leadership. But while Kim is likely to seek more assistance from one of his country’s two main backers, Russia will be limited in what it can provide and the summit will focus more on demonstrating camaraderie than new investment or aid, analysts said. “When Kim meets Putin, he is going to ask for economic assistance and unilateral sanctions relaxation. Moscow is unlikely to grant his wishes,” said Artyom Lukin, a professor at Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok. That school’s campus is seen to be the summit venue, according to South Korean media which reported the presence of Kim’s top aides there making preparations for the event. “Being a veto-holding U.N. Security Council member, Moscow can hardly afford to undermine its authority even for the sake of friendship with Kim,” Lukin said. Sanctions relief While Russia says it fully enforces the sanctions that it voted to impose, it has joined China in calling for loosening punishment for North Korea in recognition of steps taken in limiting its weapons testing. “Steps by the DPRK toward gradual disarmament should be followed by the easing of sanctions,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a Security Council meeting late last year, using the initials of the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Washington has accused Russia of “cheating” on sanctions and said it has evidence of “consistent and wide-ranging Russian violations.” In February, Reuters reported a Russian tanker violated international trade sanctions by transferring fuel to a North Korean vessel at sea at least four times between October 2017 and May 2018. One Russian lawmaker told Interfax news agency last week that North Korea had asked Moscow to allow its laborers to continue to work in Russia despite sanctions requiring their expulsion by the end of this year. “One particularly sore area for Kim is the issue of North Korean laborers working in Russia,” said Anthony Rinna, a specialist in Korea-Russia relations at Sino-NK, a website that analyzes the region. “Kim will probably be seeking some wiggle-room from Russia, although Moscow will be hard-pressed to accommodate Kim given its desire to portray a responsible image in the world.” The United States has said it believed Pyongyang was earning more than $500 million a year from nearly 100,000 workers abroad, including 30,000 in Russia. According to unpublished reports by Moscow to the United Nations Security Council, Russia sent home nearly two-thirds of its North Korean workers during 2018. The report, reviewed by Reuters, said in 2018 the number of North Koreans with work permits in Russia fell to about 11,500. Long ties Russia-North Korea relations withered after the Soviet demise, with the loss of support from Moscow often cited as one factor that lead to a 1990s famine that killed hundreds of thousands of North Koreans. Kim Jong Un’s father, Kim Jong Il, worked to renew ties after Putin first became president in 1999. He visited Russia three times before his sudden death in 2011. Russia could agreed on some limited projects like a vehicle bridge connecting the two countries across the Tumangan River, or provide more humanitarian aid, Lukin said. Earlier this year, Russia sent more than 2,000 tons of wheat to North Korea through the World Food Program. Russian lawmakers have suggested Moscow could send as much as 50,000 tons of wheat to North Korea. According to the United Nations, Russia has continued to sell significant amounts of oil to North Korea, though still officially under sanctions caps. North Korea’s state media said in March officials met in Moscow to sign an agreement “to boost high-level contact and exchange in the political field (and) actively promote cooperation in the fields of economy and humanitarianism.” While Moscow is unlikely to risk its authority at the United Nations by overtly breaching sanctions, Putin could promise not to support any additional sanctions, Lukin said. “Kim can expect a friendly reception here and probably some chance of getting political and economic support from Putin.”
|
north korea;vladimir putin;russia;kim jong un;diplomacy;north korea nuclear crisis;donald trump;_asia
|
jp0003425
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/24
|
North Korea's Kim arrives in Russia's Vladivostok for Putin summit
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VLADIVOSTOK, RUSSIA - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Russia’s Pacific port city of Vladivostok on Wednesday for a first summit with Vladimir Putin, as Pyongyang seeks support in its nuclear deadlock with the United States. The talks, organized in secret and announced at the last minute, will be Kim’s first face-to-face meeting with another head of state since negotiations with U.S. President Donald Trump in Hanoi collapsed in February. Kim’s armored train arrived in the afternoon at the Czarist-era train station in Vladivostok and he stepped out onto a red carpet before making his way outside to be received by an honor guard. “I hope that this visit will be successful and useful,” Kim told Russian television in the Russian town of Khasan where his train crossed the border. “I hope that during the talks … I will be able to have concrete discussions on resolving situations on the Korean Peninsula and on the development of our bilateral relationship,” Kim said. Putin was due to arrive in Vladivostok on Thursday, then fly on after the talks for another summit in Beijing. The North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) earlier reported Kim’s departure by train, naming among his entourage foreign minister Ri Yong Ho. The train crossed the Tumen River Wednesday and arrived in Khasan, where women in folk costumes welcomed Kim with bread and salt in a traditional greeting. Kim’s predecessors as leader, his father and grandfather, also stopped there on their trips to neighboring Russia. At Khasan Station a small wooden building known as the House of Kim Il Sung commemorates Russian-Korean friendship. Russian and North Korean flags were already flying on lamp posts Tuesday on Vladivostok’s Russky island, where the summit is expected to take place at a university campus. Kim plans to stay on in Vladivostok on Friday for a series of cultural events, including a ballet and a visit to the city’s aquarium, Russian media reported. The talks follow repeated invitations from Putin since Kim embarked on his diplomatic overtures last year. Since March 2018, the formerly reclusive North Korean leader has held four meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, three with the South’s Moon Jae-in, two with Trump and one with Vietnam’s president. Analysts say he is now looking for wider international support in his standoff with Washington, while Moscow is keen to inject itself into another global flash point. In Hanoi, the cash-strapped North demanded immediate relief from the sanctions imposed on it over its banned nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, but the talks broke down in disagreement over what Pyongyang was prepared to give up in return. North Korea last week launched a blistering attack on U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, insisting he be removed from the negotiations just hours after announcing it had carried out a new weapons test. Moscow has already called for the sanctions to be eased, while the U.S. has accused it of trying to help Pyongyang evade some of the measures — accusations Russia denies. Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told a briefing on Tuesday: “The focus will be on a political and diplomatic solution to the nuclear problem on the Korean Peninsula.” “Russia intends to help consolidate positive trends in every way,” he said, but added that no joint statement or signing of agreements was planned. KCNA did not mention whether Kim’s wife Ri Sol Ju or his sister and close aide Kim Yo Jong were accompanying him. Moscow was a crucial backer of Pyongyang for decades and their ties go back to the founding of North Korea, when the Soviet Union installed Kim’s grandfather Kim Il Sung as leader. The Soviet Union reduced funding to the North as it began to seek reconciliation with Seoul in the 1980s, but Pyongyang was hit hard by its demise in 1991. Soon after his first election as Russian president, Putin sought to normalize relations and met Kim Jong Il — the current leader’s father and predecessor — three times. The first of those meetings was in Pyongyang in 2000, when Putin became the first Russian leader to visit the North. China has since cemented its role as the isolated North’s most important ally, its largest trading partner and crucial fuel supplier, and analysts say Kim could be looking to balance Beijing’s influence. While ties between Russia and the North have remained cordial, the last meeting between their leaders came in 2011, when Kim Jong Il told then-president Dmitry Medvedev that he was prepared to renounce nuclear testing. His son has since overseen by far the country’s most powerful blast to date, and the launch of missiles capable of reaching the entire U.S. mainland.
|
north korea;vladimir putin;russia;kim jong un;diplomacy;north korea nuclear crisis
|
jp0003427
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/24
|
Hong Kong democracy leaders jailed over 2014 'Umbrella Movement' mass protests
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HONG KONG - Four prominent leaders of Hong Kong’s democracy movement were jailed Wednesday for their role in organizing mass protests in 2014 that paralyzed the city for months and infuriated Beijing. The prison terms are the latest hammer blow to the city’s beleaguered democracy movement, which has seen key figures jailed or banned from standing as legislators since their demonstrations shook the city but failed to win any concessions. Nine activists were all convicted earlier in April of at least one charge in a prosecution that deployed rarely used colonial-era public nuisance laws over their participation in the “Umbrella Movement” protests, which called for free elections to appoint the city’s leader. Their trial renewed alarm over shrinking freedoms under an assertive China that has rejected demands by Hong Kongers for a greater say in how the financial hub is run. Two key leaders of the mass protests — sociology professor Chan Kin-man, 60, and law professor Benny Tai, 54 — received the longest sentences of 16 months in prison, sparking tears in court and angry chants from hundreds of supporters gathered outside. Two others — activist Raphael Wong and lawmaker Shiu Ka-chun — received eight months while the rest had their prison terms suspended or were given a community service order. One defendant, lawmaker Tanya Chan, had her sentencing adjourned because she needs surgery for a brain tumor. The prison terms are the steepest yet for anyone involved in the 79-day protests, which vividly illustrated the huge anger — particularly among Hong Kong’s youth — over the city’s leadership and direction. As Wong was led away by guards he proclaimed: “Our determination to fight for democracy will not change.” Tai and Chan founded a civil disobedience campaign known as “Occupy Central” in 2013 alongside 75-year-old Baptist minister Chu Yiu-ming, one of the defendants to have his prison term suspended. Their original idea of taking to the streets to demand a fairer system was a precursor to the student-led Umbrella Movement a year later that brought parts of the city to a standstill. Authorities in Hong Kong and the mainland have defended the prosecutions as a necessary measure to punish the leaders of a direct action movement that took over key intersections of the city for many weeks. But activists and rights groups have argued that the use of the vaguely worded public nuisance laws — combined with a steeper common law punishment — is an insidious blow to free speech and a new tactic from prosecutors. “The long sentences sends a chilling warning to all that there will be serious consequences for advocating for democracy,” said Maya Wang, Human Rights Watch’s senior researcher on China. Amnesty said the four jailed men were “prisoners of conscience” and that the record-breaking sentences set a “dangerous precedent.” There were emotional scenes outside the courthouse as the four leaders were driven away in a prison van as supporters shouted “Add Oil!” — a popular Cantonese phrase to signal encouragement. Speaking after the sentencing, Tanya Chan told the crowds: “I hope Hong Kongers will not lose hope, will not be afraid, will not have regrets or back down now.” Many supporters were holding umbrellas, an emblem of the 2014 protests after they were used by young demonstrators to defend themselves against police batons, tear gas canisters and pepper spray. While Hong Kong enjoys rights unseen on the Chinese mainland under a 50-year handover agreement between Britain and China, there are fears those liberties are being eroded as Beijing flexes its muscles and stamps down on dissent. Hong Kong’s leader is elected by a group of just 1,200 largely pro-Beijing appointees, in a city of 7 million. Judge Johnny Chan ruled that the 2014 protests were not protected by Hong Kong’s free speech laws because the demonstrations impinged on the rights of others. During sentencing, Chan said the defendants had expressed no regret for the “inconvenience and suffering caused to members of the public.” He added that an apology was “rightly deserved … but never received” from the protest leaders.
|
china;hong kong;rights;protests;umbrella movement
|
jp0003428
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/24
|
New Zealand and France announce 'Christchurch Call' plan to end violent extremism online
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WELLINGTON - New Zealand and France will bring together global leaders at a Paris summit next month aimed at stopping social media being used to organize and promote terrorism, the countries’ leaders announced Wednesday. Political leaders and tech company executives have been called to a meeting — to be co-chaired by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and French President Emmanuel Macron — in Paris on May 15. They will be asked to commit to a pledge called the “Christchurch Call” designed to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online. Ardern said the March 15 terrorist attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, in which 50 Muslim worshippers were killed, saw social media used “in an unprecedented way as a tool to promote an act of terrorism and hate.” The mosque attacks were livestreamed on the internet and showed distressing footage of the gunman firing indiscriminately at men, women and children. In Paris, the Elysee presidential palace said the meeting would ensure that “new, concrete measures are taken so that what happened in Christchurch does not happen again.” Nearly six weeks after the massacre, social media sites are still struggling to stamp out copies of the gunman’s video. “We’re calling on the leaders of tech companies to join with us and help achieve our goal of eliminating violent extremism online at the Christchurch Summit in Paris,” Arden said. The meeting will be held alongside the “Tech for Humanity” meeting of Group of Seven digital ministers, and France’s separate “Tech for Good” summit also scheduled for May 15. “We all need to act, and that includes social media providers taking more responsibility for the content that is on their platforms, and taking action so that violent extremist content cannot be published and shared,” Ardern said. “It’s critical that technology platforms like Facebook are not perverted as a tool for terrorism, and instead become part of a global solution to countering extremism.” Macron has previously stated his ambition for France to take a leading role in devising new regulatory measures “to reconcile technology with the common good.” Ardern said the joint action was not aimed at curbing freedom of expression but at preventing extremist violence from spreading online. “I don’t think anyone would argue that the terrorist on March 15 had a right to livestream the murder of 50 people and that is what this call is very specifically focussed on,” she said. A French Muslim group said on Monday it was suing Facebook and YouTube for allowing the grisly live broadcast of the Christchurch massacre to be streamed. The livestream lasting 17 minutes was shared extensively on a variety of internet platforms and uploaded again nearly as fast as it could be taken down. New Zealand has banned both the livestreamed footage of the attack and the manifesto written and released by Brenton Tarrant, who faces 50 murder charges and 39 of attempted murder following the mosque attacks.
|
france;violence;internet;terrorism;new zealand;social media;christchurch;emmanuel macron;jacinda ardern
|
jp0003430
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/24
|
Britain 'approves' Huawei role in 5G network despite security warnings from U.S., ministers: reports
|
LONDON - British Prime Minister Theresa May has reportedly approved a limited role for China’s Huawei to help build a 5G network in the UK, shrugging off security warnings from senior ministers and Washington surrounding the telecoms giant, media said Wednesday. Britain’s National Security Council, which is chaired by May, agreed Tuesday to allow the Chinese technology giant limited access to build “non-core” infrastructure such as antennas, The Daily Telegraph newspaper wrote. The Financial Times, citing those close to the meeting, added that the Chinese company had been banned from more sensitive “core” parts of the project. The Times newspaper meanwhile was more cautious, stating that May was “considering giving limited approval.” Her reported moves come despite concerns raised by Home Secretary Sajid Javid, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox and International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt. May’s Downing Street office declined to comment on the story. However, Digital Minister Margot James dismissed the media speculation. “In spite of cabinet leaks to the contrary, final decision yet to be made on managing threats to telecoms infrastructure,” she tweeted. She later told Sky News that while a final decision had not been made, James indicated that a security review had concluded. “The decision has not been finally made yet and the Prime Minister will take advice form all of the relevant agencies and departments,” James added. Huawei itself welcomed the report. “Huawei welcomes reports that the U.K. government is moving towards allowing Huawei to help build the U.K.’s 5G network,” it said in a brief statement. “This green light means that U.K. businesses and consumers will have access to the fastest and most reliable networks thanks to Huawei’s cutting edge technology. “While we await a formal government announcement, we are pleased that the U.K. is continuing to take an evidence-based approach to its work and we will continue work cooperatively with the government, and the industry,” the Chinese company added. Britain’s move would be at odds with the United States, which has banned Huawei’s 5G technology from its territory and urged allies in the so-called Five Eyes intelligence sharing collective — comprising also Australia, Britain, Canada and New Zealand — to follow suit. Huawei is the leading manufacturer of equipment for next-generation 5G mobile networks with almost instantaneous data transfer that will become the nervous system of Europe’s economy, in strategic sectors like energy, transport, banking and health care The technology titan faces pushback in some Western markets over fears Beijing could spy on communications and gain access to critical infrastructure. Last month, Britain identified “significant technological issues” in Huawei’s engineering processes that pose “new risks” for the nation’s telecommunications, according to a government report. “Further significant technical issues have been identified in Huawei’s engineering processes, leading to new risks in the U.K. telecommunications networks,” read annual findings from the Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre oversight board. The board — which includes officials from Britain’s GCHQ cybersecurity agency as well as a senior Huawei executive and representatives from the U.K. telecommunications sector — added it could provide only limited assurance that risks posed by the Chinese tech giant to U.K. national security would be “sufficiently mitigated long-term.” Shrugging off the widespread concerns, Egypt on Sunday said Huawei would roll out a 5G phone network there for the first time during the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations football tournament.
|
china;u.s .;britain;u.k .;computers;espionage;spying;huawei;5g
|
jp0003432
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"crime-legal-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/24
|
Ex-U.S. Marine accused in raid of North Korea's Madrid embassy ordered to stay behind bars in LA
|
LOS ANGELES - A former U.S. Marine accused of stealing electronics from the North Korean Embassy in Madrid in a robbery of the diplomatic compound was ordered by a federal judge in Los Angeles on Tuesday to remain in U.S. custody pending possible extradition to Spain. The judge also ordered the unsealing of U.S. court documents in the case against Christopher Philip Ahn, 38, who was arrested by federal agents in Los Angeles on Thursday. Spanish authorities have sought Ahn’s extradition from the United States. He is charged there with being among a group of seven intruders who stormed the North Korean mission on Feb. 22, restrained and physically beat some embassy personnel, held them hostage for hours and then fled. Spanish investigators identified the intruders as self-professed members of a group that calls itself Cheollima Civil Defense and seeks the overthrow of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. According to U.S. court documents, the raiders removed computers, computer drives and a mobile phone from the embassy before the alleged ringleader, Adrian Hong, traveled to the United States and met with the FBI. Hong, a Mexican citizen and U.S. resident, was an activist who co-founded the nonprofit human rights group Liberty in North Korea but later left that organization. His whereabouts remain unknown. The anti-Kim group, which also calls itself Free Joseon, has denied attacking the embassy, insisting its members were invited inside. Ahn is charged in Spain with breaking and entering, illegal restraint, making threats, robbery with violence and intimidation, causing injuries and criminal organization, U.S. court documents say. He could face more than 10 years in prison if convicted there. The incident at the embassy came at a sensitive time, just days ahead of a second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim that abruptly collapsed without the two leaders reaching a deal on North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. North Korea’s foreign ministry denounced the incident as a “grave terrorist attack” and cited rumors that the FBI was partially behind the raid. The U.S. State Department has said Washington had nothing to do with it. Ahn arrived in Madrid on the morning on Feb. 22 and left shortly after the raid, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Lulejian told the judge on Tuesday. He was photographed outside the embassy wearing black and carrying a backpack that may have contained weapons, Lulejian said. The FBI received the stolen material and returned it to the Spanish court investigating the raid, and Spanish authorities have returned the items to Pyongyang’s mission, according to a Spanish judicial source. In U.S. court on Tuesday, Ahn’s public defender, Callie Steele, asked Magistrate Judge Jean Rosenbluth to keep records in the case sealed to protect her client, saying North Korea’s leader had ordered assassinations in the past and that credible death threats had been made against Ahn. She also asked that Ahn be placed under home detention so he could care for his ill mother and blind grandmother at their house in Chino, California. The judge denied the request, ordering he remain in federal custody ahead of his next court appearance, set for July 18. Ahn was arrested at Hong’s apartment in Los Angeles last week while dropping something off there, Steele told the judge. He was armed at the time with a handgun, which he legally owned to protect himself, after the FBI informed him of threats on his life, she said in court. Ahn was born and raised in Southern California and later obtained a masters degree in business administration from the University of Virginia, Steele said. He was honorably discharged after service in the U.S. military, she said.
|
north korea;courts;kim jong un;espionage;spain
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jp0003433
|
[
"national",
"social-issues"
] |
2019/04/24
|
In Japan, busy singles are turning to apps to find love
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In Japan’s time-scarce, results-oriented society, people no longer feel they can find a life partner through traditional dating methods, and are instead turning to internet matchmaking options to better their chances of meeting a compatible companion. Rather than visiting a dating agency, attending matchmaking parties or actually finding a partner the old-fashioned way through “a chance encounter,” people are peering into their screens in hopes that artificial intelligence will help them find a match made in heaven. Around 10 companies in Japan offer such services, with each seeing their user base growing rapidly in recent years. The companies are not focused on delivering a solely digital date, however, as some also host events where prospective partners can meet in person to see if the profile picture meets reality. Makoto Yamada, 30, who works in the western Tokyo suburb of Tachikawa, married Sayaka, 33, a university research fellow, in June last year after meeting through the Pairs online matching service run by Tokyo-based Eureka Inc. Both learned of the matchmaking service through social media ads and signed up without giving it a second thought. Because they had heard from friends who had used similar services, they said they did not hesitate to take their quest for love online. After sparking a mutual interest in each other after discussing travel and other shared passions over text, they dated for about six months and tied the knot soon after. “Matchmaking parties tend to be boisterous since so many people show up, and the chance of actually meeting a partner is pretty slim. Apps make much more sense,” Makoto said. Sayaka added that she was unlikely to find a love interest from her circle of acquaintances after working for 10 years at the same job, so she had to try something new. “My parents were delighted about the service as I described it as a modern-day equivalent of arranged marriage meetings,” she said. Pairs began operations in Japan in 2012, launched a version in Taiwan the following year and in South Korea in 2017, and now has more than 10 million overall users. When signing up, users must verify their age via a driver’s license or another identification document. Once in, they can report a person on the site for breaking the rules, such as already being married or soliciting for other businesses. The site says it monitors messages and posted images around the clock and takes appropriate action against rule violators. Last December, Eureka launched a research project in collaboration with Toshihiko Yamasaki, an associate professor at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, using accumulated data and a matchmaking algorithm. Shintaro Kaneko, director and chief technology officer of the company, said, “Even if they do not have the same hobby, some data shows, for example, that a man fond of walks and a woman fond of visiting cafes have good chemistry.” “By further improving the accuracy of data analysis, we want to orchestrate ‘a chance encounter’ (among users of the service),” Kaneko said. Linkbal Inc., an operator of an e-commerce portal website for matchmaking events, has offered the CoupLink online dating app since July 2016. The app enables users to “get to know 1.5 million event attendees online,” and many of its users became members after attending actual events, according to the company. Even if people fail to meet someone of interest during an event, they still have a chance to get a date by sending messages to other users on the CoupLink app, company officials said. In many cases, users who have attended different events will meet later through the app. “There is a sense of reassurance that people who attend events are very motivated to get married,” an official said. “We will continue offering people that chance by further expanding the app’s functions, utilizing both real (events) and net (services).”
|
internet;app;marriage;pairs;eureka
|
jp0003434
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/24
|
Japanese centenarian 'full of emotion' to see fifth era name of his lifetime
|
TAKAMATSU, KAGAWA PREF. - Ahead of the start of the forthcoming Reiwa Era on May 1, a centenarian in the city of Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture, says he is “full of emotion” as he gets set to see the fifth era name of his lifetime. Masao Matsumoto, 108, was born during the Meiji Era. He served on active duty three times, including in the 1931 Manchurian Incident that marked the start of Japan’s invasion of China and the subsequent Pacific War of World War II. “It’s great to see a peaceful time. I’m so full of emotion,” said the former prisoner of war, expressing hopes for a bright future in the new era. In July last year, Guinness World Records recognized Matsumoto and his wife, Miyako, 101, who was born in the Taisho Era, as the world’s oldest living married couple, with a combined age of 208 years and 259 days at the time. The couple, both from Oita Prefecture, were married in 1937 in the Showa Era, and raised five daughters. They moved to a nursing home in Takamatsu about two and a half years ago. They now look forward to visits by their 13 grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren. Both of them use wheelchairs, and Masao Matsumoto’s eyesight and hearing have waned sharply over the past year, making it difficult for him to enjoy his hobbies of reading newspapers and playing go. But the couple still have healthy appetites and suffer from no major chronic illnesses. When their youngest daughter told the couple that it would be nice if they could live until the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Masao Matsumoto smiled. “He is tough, as he has played sports such as tennis, so he’ll surely live until the Olympics,” Miyako Matsumoto said with a smile.
|
guinness world records;takamatsu;kagawa;centenarians;reiwa;masao matsumoto
|
jp0003435
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/24
|
Sword presented after Emperor's birth to be displayed at Kyoto shrine
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YAWATA, KYOTO PREF. - A short sword linked to the so-called amulet sword, a ceremonial sword that was presented to the Imperial family when Emperor Akihito was born, will be displayed at a shrine in Yawata, Kyoto Prefecture, from Friday. With his abdication approaching on April 30, the Iwashimizu Hachimangu shrine wants visitors to “feel the closeness and nobility of the Imperial family,” an official said. The sword, which has a 28-centimeter blade and is made of leftover iron from the amulet sword, is not generally on public display. The late master swordsmith Sadakatsu Gassan, who made many swords for the Imperial family including the amulet sword, forged the short sword in December 1933, when the Emperor was born. Gassan made several short swords during this period after being urged to produce “something similar to the amulet sword” by sword aficionados. One of these was offered to Iwashimizu Hachimangu around 1960. On the hilt is an inscription describing the sword as being made of leftover iron from the amulet sword. “The amulet sword’s leftover iron is in the sword, so it’s extremely valuable,” said Sadatoshi Gassan, a grandson of Sadakatsu and a master swordsmith himself. Sadatoshi Gassan, 72, is designated as an intangible cultural property by Nara Prefecture. The exhibition will end on May 6.
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kyoto;emperor akihito;imperial family;yawata;swords;iwashimizu hachimangu;sadakatsu gassan
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jp0003437
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[
"national",
"politics-diplomacy"
] |
2019/04/24
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Abe calls for more equal educational opportunities to be part of revised Constitution
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Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Tuesday that the better provision of education for all children should be part of reforms to Japan’s Constitution. “Education must be truly open for all children, regardless of their families’ economic conditions,” Abe said in a message to the meeting of a group of cross-party lawmakers seeking to establish a new constitution. The prime minister again expressed his eagerness to see the existence of the Self-Defense Forces stipulated clearly in the Constitution’s war-renouncing Article 9. Abe referred to Crown Prince Naruhito’s accession to the throne, set for May 1, as he urged increased discussions on constitutional amendments. “It is time for us to have head-on discussions on this country’s future as we stand on the starting line of the new era,” he said. Former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, the head of the lawmaker group, who was absent from the meeting, said in a comment that “we are coming to the end of an era in which (problems) can be covered by interpretations of the existing Constitution.” “It is time to establish a constitution for the Japanese people, by the hands of the Japanese people,” Nakasone continued.
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shinzo abe;constitution;education;self defense forces;article 9;abdication;reiwa
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