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jp0003438
|
[
"national",
"politics-diplomacy"
] |
2019/04/24
|
Chinese President Xi vows to visit Japan in June to attend G20 summit
|
BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday told the secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party that he will visit Japan in June to attend this year’s summit of the Group of 20 major economies in Osaka. Xi’s pledge came during a meeting with LDP Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai in Beijing. The trip would be Xi’s first to Japan since he took power in 2013. As a special envoy, Nikai gave Xi a letter from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is also the head of the LDP. The party’s No. 2 is visiting Beijing to attend this week’s “One Belt, One Road” summit in the Chinese capital. For years, the two neighbors had been mired in a territorial dispute over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. The group of uninhabited islets, which are called Diaoyu in China, are controlled by Tokyo but claimed by Beijing. But Sino-Japanese ties have been improving recently, with 2018 marking the 40th anniversary of the signing and entering into force of the bilateral Treaty of Peace and Friendship. As Tokyo and Beijing have agreed to work together to facilitate reciprocal visits by their countries’ leaders, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited Japan in May and Abe made a trip to China in October last year.
|
osaka;china-japan relations;g20;xi jinping;toshihiro nikai
|
jp0003439
|
[
"national",
"politics-diplomacy"
] |
2019/04/24
|
Abe and Macron agree to coordinate ahead of G20, while tiptoeing around Ghosn and Nissan
|
PARIS - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed Tuesday to coordinate closely in addressing global economic, trade and environmental issues before Japan hosts the Group of 20 summit in June. They also agreed on bilateral cooperation to set international rules on trading of goods and services that involves the transfer of data, referred to as data trading. The two leaders have confirmed plans to cooperate on pushing for reforms at the World Trade Organization to fight protectionism, and on maintaining U.N. sanctions against North Korea aimed at inducing Pyongyang’s denuclearization, Japanese government officials said after the meeting. Abe said the auto alliance between Renault SA and Nissan Motor Co. should be adjusted in a way that’s acceptable to both sides. Nissan is widely seen as reluctant to merge as proposed by its French peer. At a joint press appearance before their talks, Abe promised that Japan will help France repair Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris following a major fire last week. “It’s heartbreaking to see the damage done to the World Heritage site which represents history and culture in which France takes pride,” Abe said. “The Japanese government will extend unwavering support for its restoration.” Abe chose France, which holds this year’s presidency of the Group of Seven industrialized nations, as the first stop of his six-nation European and North American trip. He hopes to rally support for a successful G20 summit in Osaka as Japan aims to demonstrate joint efforts toward fostering economic growth, tackling marine plastic debris and drawing up rules for the use of big data. “I hope that the G20 will send out a strong message that we will be united” to promote free trade and tackle global issues such as climate change. Macron said he will visit Japan to attend the G20 summit, which will be his first trip to the nation since taking office. “We have the shared ambition of rebuilding trust in international cooperation,” said Macron, who is set to host the G7 summit in August. Multilateral frameworks, including those of the WTO, have come under scrutiny as U.S. President Donald Trump questions their relevance and pursues an “America First” agenda. Japan and France have been deepening bilateral ties in recent years, particularly in the field of maritime security amid China’s growing clout. France wants to explore more specific industrial and security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, Macron said. Given that France has island territories in the Pacific, such as New Caledonia, Japanese officials say Tokyo and Paris share a need to achieve a free and open Indo-Pacific region based on freedom of navigation and the rule of law. The summit was held as Japanese investigators continue to detain Carlos Ghosn, the former boss of Renault and its alliance partner Nissan Motor Co., for alleged financial misconduct at Nissan. Ghosn was indicted for the fourth time Monday and has already spent months behind bars despite once being granted bail. Macron said France would remain “very vigilant” about Ghosn’s treatment in Japan. The auto titan’s wife, Carole, has called it shameful. Ghosn is “entitled to the presumption of innocence and consular protection, like all French nationals,” Macron said in a statement Tuesday following a meeting with Abe. France respects the independence of the Japanese legal system, he added. Carole Ghosn had earlier called on the French leader to raise the topic with Abe during their talks. The two leaders also discussed the future of the relationship between Nissan and Renault. “It’s important to maintain a stable alliance and strengthen it in a way that’s acceptable to the parties involved,” Abe was quoted by a Japanese official as telling Macron. A French government official said the two leaders agreed to respect the corporate partnership. Nissan rejected a fresh merger proposal from Renault earlier this month that reflected the desires of the French government, Renault’s biggest shareholder, sources familiar with the matter have said. Renault, the largest stakeholder in Nissan, is seeking to further solidify the partnership. But executives at Nissan, which has a 15 percent stake without voting rights in its French peer, view that ratio as unfair, the sources said.
|
shinzo abe;trade;g20;nissan;carmakers;renault;carlos ghosn;france-japan relations;emmanuel macron
|
jp0003440
|
[
"national",
"politics-diplomacy"
] |
2019/04/24
|
Many Cabinet ministers set to head overseas as Japan's new Reiwa Era begins
|
A total of 12 Cabinet ministers are set to travel abroad before or during the extra-long 10-day Golden Week holiday that starts Saturday. While Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is now on a six-nation tour, and all members of his Cabinet will be in Japan on Tuesday to attend a series of rites related to the day’s abdication of Emperor Akihito, six of the ministers will leave Japan the following day, which will be the first day of the Reiwa Era. The Heisei Era will end with the Emperor’s abdication and Reiwa will start when Crown Prince Naruhito takes the throne on May 1. It is customary for Cabinet ministers to travel overseas during Golden Week, which runs from late April to early May. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro Aso and Toshimitsu Motegi, economic and fiscal policy minister, will visit the United States from Thursday this week to join a meeting between Abe and U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington. Foreign Minister Taro Kono will visit Saudi Arabia from Friday. Abe and the three ministers will return to Japan by Monday to prepare for the Emperor’s farewells under Taiirei Seiden no Gi, an abdication ceremony to be held at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Tuesday. On May 1, after the ceremonies related to the accession, Aso, land minister Keiichi Ishii, education minister Masahiko Shibayama and three other ministers will leave the country. Kono will depart for Africa in the early hours of May 2. The same morning, Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya, Environment Minister Yoshiaki Harada and regional revitalization minister Satsuki Katayama will depart for their destinations. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga’s trip to the United States is set for May 9 to 12.
|
holidays;cabinet;golden week;abdication
|
jp0003441
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/24
|
Hiroshima museum displays new photos and possessions left by A-bomb victims
|
HIROSHIMA - New displays of photos and personal belongings left by victims of atomic bombings were unveiled Wednesday at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. The museum’s main building, where the new artifacts are being exhibited under the theme “Reality of the Atomic Bombing,” was shown to the media a day before its reopening after two years of renovations. A section on foreign victims who were in Hiroshima at the time of the Aug. 6, 1945, atomic bombing by the U.S., including American prisoners of war, was added to the renovated building, which displays photos, drawings and personal belongings relating to the lives of victims, rather than explanations using text. Displayed under spotlight in another low-lit section is a life-size picture of a girl standing in the middle of burned-out ruins, together with scorched student uniforms and monochrome photos of victims with their skin severely burned. The total number of items on display remains almost unchanged from before, but the number of photos has increased from 112 to 173. “I want visitors to recognize how horrible Hiroshima was on Aug. 6 (1945) … through actual materials, and look at the grief of each victim and his or her family,” Takuo Takigawa, head of the museum, told reporters. The museum, which attracted around 1.52 million visitors in the year through March, will also continue to display paper cranes made by then-U.S. President Barack Obama, who visited Hiroshima in 2016. The recent renovation program was the third large-scale renewal of the museum, which opened in 1955.
|
wwii;history;hiroshima;nuclear weapons;atomic bombings
|
jp0003442
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/24
|
Japan drafting guidelines to stop technology leaks from universities working with foreign firms
|
The government will set guidelines by the end of March next year for preventing technology leaks from universities that conduct research with foreign firms, sources close to the matter said Wednesday. The move comes as the United States and China grow cautious about advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence being converted for military use. While Japan already regulates the disclosure of sensitive technologies and products by the nation’s state organizations and companies to overseas firms under a foreign exchange and foreign trade law, university laboratories have been managing infrequent arrangements on their own, leading some experts to voice concerns about the risk of information leaks. The envisioned guidelines would require universities and other research institutions to set regulations on joint projects involving foreign entities. They will be based on the comprehensive innovation strategy adopted by the Cabinet in 2018 aimed at promoting university research on AI, biotechnology and other leading technologies. The Cabinet hopes to triple the value of private investments in universities and research bodies from fiscal 2014 levels by fiscal 2025. As cross-border collaboration is expected to increase through the strategy, the government has deemed it necessary to craft the guidelines for working with foreign entities.
|
tech;universities;science;patents;inventions;trademarks;intellectual property
|
jp0003443
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/24
|
Female recruits in Japan want to balance full-time jobs with family, and husbands' help with kids
|
A majority of young female recruits in Japan desire both full-time careers and a family, with 90 percent expecting their future husbands to take paternity leave, according to recent findings by Tokyo-based recruitment information firm Disco Inc. According to the firm, the results signal a change in young women’s views on work and their roles in the society. “Year by year more (female) students think about taking parental leave while holding on to a career, but the results of our study show that more women also want men and their future husbands to make the same commitment to child-rearing,” said Fusako Takei, Disco’s senior researcher who oversaw the study on female students’ career goals. She said the results may reflect government efforts to promote women’s participation in society, which has included urging companies to create more women-friendly work environments. “More female students want to be financially independent and contribute to society by joining the workforce” in contrast to past family models where women focused solely on child-rearing after marriage, she said. “We can say for sure that increasing numbers of female students expect men to be more engaged in parenting.” In the recent survey, conducted online by the firm, 76.9 percent of 342 respondents said they were planning to continue work after marriage while only 11.4 percent wanted to be housewives. The poll was conducted from late February until early March, surveying female college and university students who were scheduled to graduate in March and had already secured employment in private businesses. As many as 88.6 percent of young female recruits said they had sought full-time jobs for financial independence. For 50.6 percent, work was felt to be an obvious choice in their lives. Another 35.4 percent, meanwhile, sought full-time employment as an opportunity to use their skills to contribute to society. When asked about future plans, 61.9 percent of the total said they were planning to have a child in the future and those who had such plans said they wished to give birth at the age of around 29, on average. Meanwhile, 12.8 percent of respondents said having a child was not currently a consideration. The respondents worried, however, about whether the companies to which they were applying would allow for work-life balance. The young women expect their future partners to share the load with child care. In the survey 47 percent said they wanted their husbands to take paternity leave, while another 43 percent were leaning toward that idea if they had to choose. Of the 342 respondents, 52.9 percent said they had checked policies on maternity and paternity leave when applying for job openings. When asked about suggestions for employers, many women said they would urge businesses to promote healthy working environments that support a work-life balance that equally benefits both female and male employees. “Most comments were related to parental leave, and in their suggestions the women said that employers should encourage more men to take paternity leave and provide more support for fathers who do so,” Takei said. Takei said the firm’s study on career goals targeting male university students also showed that “a growing number of men think they should take some sort of paternity leave when their child is born,” too. Still, the actual situation regarding the use of such leave does not bode well for future fathers. The government would like the number of men taking paternity leave to reach at least 13 percent by 2020. But according to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, the proportion of new fathers who reported having taken child care leave in the year leading up to October 2017 stood at just 5.14 percent.
|
children;women;jobs;marriage;parenthood;surveys
|
jp0003444
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/24
|
Data breaches exposed nearly 2.7 million morsels of personal info in Japan in 2018
|
At least 2.68 million pieces of personal information held by over 100 Japanese entities were subject to unauthorized disclosures in 2018, a Kyodo News survey found Wednesday. The data disclosures were confirmed and revealed by 104 organizations, including hotel operators and universities as well as French hotel reservation service Fastbooking SAS, whose breach exposed the information of people who had reserved rooms at Japanese hotels. MS&Consulting Co. in Tokyo suffered the biggest data loss, with some 570,000 items of personal data such as email addresses, passwords and phone numbers affected. In the Fastbooking case, in June last year, a hacker stole around 320,000 pieces of customer data from its Japanese clients, including names, addresses, nationalities and dates of stay. Of some 400 lodging providers in Japan affected by the hacking of Fastbooking’s server, 28 businesses including Prince Hotels Inc. and Fujita Kanko Inc. announced publicly that they were affected. In similar cases, Hirosaki University in northeastern Japan, Yokohama City University and 12 other national, public and private universities came under cyberattack, causing emails to be exposed. Shopping mall operator Mitsubishi Estate-Simon Co. in Tokyo and Oshino Village Sightseeing Association in Yamanashi Prefecture both had information stolen, which was then found posted on overseas online bulletin boards and websites. The survey did not include the personal data of Japanese Facebook users affected in a high-profile breach in October that Facebook said had caused the data of around 29 million people worldwide to be exposed. The U.S. social media giant has not disclosed the numbers by country. This year there have already been at least two more massive incidents. OGIS-RI Co., which operates a large-capacity file transfer service, said in January that 4.8 million items of personal information may have been exposed, while Toyota Motor Corp. said in March that 3.1 million pieces of customer information held by its marketing units were disclosed. Harumichi Yuasa, a professor at the Institute of Information Security in Yokohama, said Japan needs a law requiring companies and other organizations to swiftly notify the government and individuals affected when data breaches occur. “Businesses are required to more strictly manage personal information, as their increasingly globalized operations result in more frequent transmission of such data between (Japan and) overseas,” Yuasa said. The European Union, for instance, obliges companies to report data leaks within 72 hours and to contact customers.
|
hacking;big data;cyberattacks;personal information;surveys
|
jp0003445
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/24
|
Diet passes bill to pay ¥3.2 million each to victims forcibly sterilized under Japan's eugenics law
|
The Diet enacted legislation Wednesday to pay ¥3.2 million in state compensation to each person who underwent forced sterilization under the nation’s now-defunct eugenics law. The law setting out the compensation provisions, drafted by ruling and opposition parties, offers an apology to survivors, but critics say its wording lacks clarity over where responsibility lies. Between 1948 and 1996, the Eugenic Protection Law authorized the sterilization of people with intellectual disabilities, mental illness or hereditary disorders to prevent births of “inferior” offspring. “The government sincerely reflects on and deeply apologizes” for the suffering caused by forced sterilization, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in a statement. “To never repeat the situation, the government will make utmost efforts to realize a society in which people can coexist, regardless of disease or disability.” The statement came after the House of Councilors unanimously approved the bill on Wednesday, following its passage through the House of Representatives on April 11. The lump-sum payment marks a significant step forward for survivors but some are critical, noting that it has taken more than two decades since the practice ended for the government to act. Some are determined to continue court cases and are suing the government for greater compensation, the highest demand exceeding ¥30 million. A woman in her 70s, who is among the plaintiffs seeking additional damages, expressed exasperation Wednesday over the government’s prior inertia, after she, a few other survivors and their supporters watched proceedings from the gallery of the Upper House in Tokyo. “The government hasn’t dealt with it properly for the past 20 years, which makes me feel irate,” said the woman, who is from Miyagi Prefecture. “I want the prime minister to apologize before my eyes.” Abe is currently on a trip to Europe. About 25,000 people with disabilities were sterilized under the Eugenics Protection Law, including some 16,500 who were operated on without their consent, according to the health ministry and the Japan Federation of Bar Associations. The ¥3.2 million will be paid to survivors whether they are said to have agreed to undergo the surgery or not. In 1996 the law was revised, and renamed the Maternal Protection Law, to remove the discriminatory clauses that allowed forced sterilization. “I will continue with my lawsuit so our society will understand what took place,” a man in his 80s from Hyogo Prefecture, who could not make it to Tokyo on Wednesday, said using sign language. He was forced to undergo surgery around 1968 due to his hearing impairment. The Sendai District Court is scheduled to hand down a ruling in late May on the first of the damages suits filed over the eugenics law. In wording that was echoed in the prime ministers’ statement, the state redress law says, “We, in our respective positions, sincerely reflect on and deeply apologize” for the great physical and mental suffering caused by the forced sterilization program. Ruling and opposition party lawmakers involved in the drafting process say the “we” refers to Diet members who passed the 1948 Eugenics Protection Law, and successive governments that enforced it. Compensation will be paid to survivors after the welfare minister approves their applications. In cases where there are no records of sterilization operations or other materials confirming harm to those said to have undergone surgery, a welfare ministry screening panel of experts will decide whether to approve payments based on examinations by doctors, testimonies by survivors and related people, and other factors. The legislation calls on the state and local governments to take appropriate measures in order to make the compensation system fully and promptly known to survivors, who will not be informed individually for privacy reasons. In a bid to prevent any recurrence of forced sterilization, the law stipulates that the state should launch investigations into past sterilization operations.
|
shinzo abe;courts;rights;diet;disability;sterilization;eugenics;eugenic protection law
|
jp0003446
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/23
|
U.S. Supreme Court takes up major gay and transgender job discrimination cases
|
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether U.S. law banning workplace discrimination on the basis of sex protects gay and transgender workers, as the conservative-majority court waded into a fierce dispute involving a divisive social issue. At issue in the high-profile legal battle is whether gay and transgender people are covered by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of sex as well as race, color, national origin and religion. The court will take up two cases concerning gay people who have said they were fired due to their sexual orientation, one involving a New York skydiving instructor named Donald Zarda and another brought by a former county child welfare services coordinator from Georgia named Gerald Bostock. The court will also take up a Detroit funeral home’s bid to reverse a ruling that it violated federal law by firing a transgender funeral director named Aimee Stephens after Stephens revealed plans to transition from male to female. The court will hear oral arguments and issue a ruling in its next term, which starts in October. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has argued that Title VII does not cover sexual orientation or gender identity. The Republican president’s administration reversed the approach taken under Democratic former President Barack Obama by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which enforces federal laws banning workplace discrimination. The Title VII fight marks the first major test on a divisive social issue for the nine justices since Trump’s conservative appointee, Brett Kavanaugh, joined the court in October after a contentious Senate confirmation process. Kavanaugh replaced Justice Anthony Kennedy, a conservative noted for his support for gay rights who retired last year. Kennedy wrote the 5-4 ruling in 2015 legalizing gay marriage nationally, a landmark in the U.S. gay rights movement. Kennedy was also the author of the court’s important 2003 ruling striking down laws criminalizing gay sex. The Supreme Court has a 5-4 conservative majority that includes two Trump appointees, Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch. The legal fight centers on the definition of “sex” in Title VII. The plaintiffs in the cases, along with civil rights groups and many large companies, have argued that discriminating against gay and transgender workers is inherently based on their sex and thus is unlawful. But Trump’s Justice Department and the employers that were sued have argued that Congress did not mean for Title VII to extend to gay and transgender people when it passed the law in 1964. Trump, who has strong support among evangelical Christian voters, has taken aim at gay rights and transgender rights. At the Supreme Court, his Justice Department has supported the right of certain businesses to refuse to serve gay people on the basis of religious objections to gay marriage. His administration has also restricted transgender service members in the military, and rescinded protections regarding bathroom access for transgender students in public schools. Zarda, fired after revealing his sexual orientation in 2010, died in a 2014 accident while participating in a form of skydiving in which people jump off a high structure or cliff. His estate has continued the litigation. The New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in February 2018 ruled in Zarda’s favor after a trial judge threw out his original claim. Bostock worked for Clayton County, just south of Atlanta, from 2003 until being fired in 2013 shortly after he started participating in a gay recreational softball league called the “Hotlanta Softball League.” The county has said he was fired following an audit of the program he managed. His lawsuit was thrown out by the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Harris Funeral Homes, the employer in the transgender case, is owned by Thomas Rost, who identifies himself as a devout Christian. The company has a strict sex-specific dress code that requires male employees to wear suits and women to wear dresses or skirts. Stephens, formerly known as Anthony Stephens, joined the company in October 2007. Stephens was fired when he announced plans to transition from male to female. Rost said that “this is not going to work out,” according to court papers. Stephens subsequently turned to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which sued on Stephens’ behalf in 2014. “Neither government agencies nor the courts have authority to rewrite federal law by replacing ‘sex’ with ‘gender identity’ — a change with widespread consequences for everyone,” said John Bursch, a lawyer with the conservative Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents the funeral home. In 2018, the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Rost’s argument that he was protected from being held liable for discriminating against Stephens by a law called the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which bars the government from burdening an individual’s religious practice. The EEOC, at the time with a majority of Democratic appointees, decided in 2012 that transgender people are protected by the anti-discrimination law and in 2015 added that gay people are also covered. The five-member EEOC currently has one Republican member, one Democratic member and three vacancies.
|
sex;transgender;u.s. supreme court;civil rights act;donald trump;employers;neil gorsuch;brett kavanaugh;job discrimination;title vii
|
jp0003447
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Sri Lanka's bomb carnage casts pall over tourism revival after island is named top destination
|
COLOMBO - With its capital under curfew following devastating Easter Sunday bomb attacks on churches and upmarket hotels, Sri Lanka is filled with fear, horror and grief and tourists who have been flocking to the Indian Ocean island could cancel in droves. A tweet posted on the travel booking website First Choice captured the trepidation among holidaymakers, while some airlines and travel agents said they would waive cancellation charges for people scheduled to travel imminently. “What are you doing about the holidays you have booked to that country?” tourist Judith Ann Clayton asked on the social media site. “Clearly it is unsafe for anyone to go there.” Others set to travel said they would not to be cowed into canceling. “Not giving in to terror. We want to support you in your time of need. Never gave any thought about canceling our trip,” Facebook user John Karmouche said in a post. Named by travel guide publisher Lonely Planet as the best country to visit in 2019, Sri Lanka had rebuilt its image as a tropical paradise after crushing a long-running separatist insurgency by ethnic minority Tamils a decade ago. Arrivals of 2.3 million last year were up by more than 400 percent on 2009 levels, according Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority data. But the suicide bombers who killed at least 290 people, including 32 foreign nationals, and wounded 500 could bring the country’s recent tourism boom to an end. Denmark’s richest man, Anders Holch Povlsen, and his wife lost three of their four children in a blast at one of the hotels. A British mother and son were killed at a breakfast buffet and two Australians were also among the dead. The industry was the third-largest and fastest-growing source of foreign currency, after private remittances and textile and garment exports, accounting for almost $4.4 billion, or 4.9 percent of gross domestic product, in 2018. “The attacks will not only impact already weak economic activity (real GDP growth was at a 17-year low of 3.2 percent in 2018), but also the country’s relatively vulnerable external liquidity position,” Citi Asia Economics said in a note that warned the hardest blow would fall on tourism. The U.S. State Department said in a revised travel advisory of the danger of “terrorist groups” plotting more attacks. Targets could include tourist locations, transport hubs, shopping malls, hotels, places of worship and airports. Other governments, including Japan and Australia, have also cautioned citizens planning travel to Sri Lanka. Prime Minister Scott Morrison told Australians “reconsider your need to travel and avoid all affected areas. JTB, Japan’s largest travel agency, has waived cancellation charges, and modified its package tours leaving Japan before May 10 to avoid risky locations, like Colombo, and will decide later on tours leaving after May 11, a spokeswoman said. Two major airlines in neighboring India, state-owned Air India and the largest carrier, Indigo, owned by Interglobe Aviation, said they would waive rescheduling and cancellation charges for travel scheduled before April 24. India was the single largest source of visitors last year, with 425,000, while 266,000 came from China, Sri Lanka’s newfound friend, and more than 254,000 from old colonial power, the U.K. Visitors come for the glorious vistas across the forests in the national parks, the surf crashing on sandy beaches, verdant tea plantations, Buddhist temples and charming old colonial towns. The government’s latest tourism campaign celebrates the island’s charms with the simple slogan “So Sri Lanka.” After Sunday’s tragedy, it could become a lament.
|
u.s .;terrorism;sri lanka;tourism;jtb;lonely planet;first choice;sri lanka attacks
|
jp0003448
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Fukushima agricultural exports bounce back from nuclear disaster to hit record high
|
FUKUSHIMA - Exports of agricultural products produced in Fukushima Prefecture rose about 2 percent in fiscal 2018 to a record 217.8 tons, according to the prefectural government. Fukushima’s agricultural exports suffered a long slump due to the 2011 nuclear crisis. But exports hit a record high for the second straight year, backed by an expansion in rice exports to Malaysia in fiscal 2017 and in exports of Japanese pears and other items to Vietnam and Thailand in fiscal 2018. In fiscal 2018, which ended last month, exports of peaches and Japanese persimmons were sluggish due in part to unfavorable weather. Shipments of rice to Malaysia, at about 115 tons, led the total exports, as in fiscal 2017. Exports of apples to Thailand and beef to the United States also grew. Following the disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, the prefecture’s agricultural exports plunged due to import restrictions by countries concerned about radioactive contamination, falling to 2.4 tons in fiscal 2012. The prefectural government has strengthened efforts to boost exports to Southeast Asian countries since the restrictions were scrapped. In fiscal 2017, Fukushima’s agricultural exports came to 213.3 tons, exceeding the then-record of 152.9 tons in fiscal 2010, helped by about 101 tons of rice shipments to Malaysia.
|
malaysia;fukushima;fukushima no . 1;radiation;agriculture;thailand;3.11
|
jp0003449
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/23
|
METI says Japan foresees little impact from U.S. scrapping Iran oil waivers
|
Japan expects a limited impact from the U.S. decision not to renew waivers previously granted on Iran oil import sanctions, the country’s trade and industry minister said Tuesday. The United States on Monday demanded all buyers of Iranian oil stop purchases by May 1 or face sanctions, a move to choke off Tehran’s oil revenues that sent benchmark crude prices to six-month highs. Japan is among a group of countries that were previously granted sanctions waivers. Hiroshige Seko, head of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), told reporters the government does not see any need to tap national oil reserves following the U.S. decision. Japan, the world’s fourth-biggest oil consumer, has been reducing its reliance on Iranian crude supplies. Iran now accounts for about 3 percent of purchases, Seko said. “We will closely watch international oil markets and exchange views with Japanese companies involved in crude imports and may consider taking necessary measures,” he said, declining to give details. The United States reimposed sanctions on exports of Iranian oil last November following President Donald Trump’s move to unilaterally pull out of a 2015 accord between Iran and six world powers to curb Tehran’s nuclear program. Eight economies, including China and India as well as Japan, were granted waivers for six months, and several had expected those exemptions to be renewed. Japanese refineries earlier put a halt on imports of Iranian oil after buying 15.3 million barrels between January and March ahead of the expiration of their sanctions waiver, according to industry sources and data on Refinitiv Eikon. The White House said it was working with top oil exporters Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to ensure the market is “adequately supplied.” Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. is in Tokyo for talks with Seko, METI said. The visit was planned before the U.S. announcement, a METI official said. Khaled al-Fadhel, the Kuwaiti oil minister, is also in Tokyo, the METI official said. Al-Jaber and al-Fadhel were scheduled to hold separate talks with Seko Tuesday but there were no plans to discuss alternative supplies to Iranian crude at the meetings, the official said.
|
u.s .;oil;iran;sanctions;meti
|
jp0003450
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Video of parked Model S spontaneously exploding adds to Tesla woes ahead of earnings results
|
SHANGHAI - Video of a parked Tesla Model S exploding and a Wall Street downgrade of the electric carmaker’s stock pushed shares down 4 percent Monday, just as it prepared to issue results for a troubled first quarter. Brokerage Evercore cut its recommendation for shares of the Silicon Valley company to “sell,” becoming the 12th brokerage to ask investors to abandon billionaire Elon Musk’s venture and raising bearish sentiment to its highest level ever. Musk and Tesla Inc. have faced a range of challenges over the past year as one of the leaders in electric vehicle technology sought to ramp up production, deliveries and sales of the Model 3 sedan seen as crucial to its long-term profitability. The company, which is struggling with deliveries of its higher-priced Model S and X luxury cars, said it has sent a team to investigate the video on Chinese social media apparently showing the latest in a string of fires involving its cars. The video, time stamped Sunday evening and widely shared on China’s Twitter-like Weibo, shows the parked vehicle emitting smoke and bursting into flames seconds later. A video purportedly of the aftermath showed a line of three cars completely destroyed. Reuters was not immediately able to verify the origins of the video, which Weibo users said was taken in Shanghai. The cause of the explosion could not be immediately ascertained from the videos. “We immediately sent a team on-site and we’re supporting local authorities to establish the facts. From what we know now, no one was harmed,” Tesla said in a statement. There have been at least 14 instances of Tesla cars catching fire since 2013, with the majority occurring after a crash. “The car fire is just another data point of continued difficulties,” Roth Capital analyst Craig Irwin wrote in an email. “Not a lot of good news for Tesla these days.” Tesla will report its first-quarter results Wednesday and had flagged in February that it expects to post a loss as it launched a cheaper $35,000 Model 3 sedan. “We remain encouraged by Tesla’s vision and future growth prospects, but there is increased uncertainty around near-term demand versus previous bullish forecasts and growth cannot stall for a growth company,” Evercore analysts wrote in their note downgrading the shares. The change meant 38.7 percent of analysts now have a sell rating on Tesla, topping the previous record of 36.8 percent in November 2016. The latest fire incident comes as Tesla tries to push sales in China, where its prices were impacted by tit-for-tat tariffs imposed during Sino-U.S. trade tensions last year. The automaker currently imports all of the cars it sells in China but is building a factory in Shanghai that will initially make its Model 3 and help reduce the hit of a trade war. In March, Tesla was also on the receiving end of a labeling mix-up at Shanghai customs that led to a temporary suspension of clearance for a batch of Model 3s. Analysts said the latest fire incident will likely increase attention on the safety of EVs but is unlikely to have a significant impact on Tesla’s sales or reputation in China while the cause is being investigated. “Tesla had fire incidents before, but they didn’t have a big impact on its reputation in China,” said analyst Alan Kang at LMC Automotive. “Since its consumer base is not particularly conservative, and China is pushing the electric vehicle market, if this incident is just accidental, it will not have a big impact on Tesla,” he said. “Tesla self-ignites” was one of the most popular hashtags on Weibo on Monday, racking up over 20 million clicks. Some users urged the automaker to quickly find the cause, whereas others speculated over the impact to the value of Tesla cars currently on the road. Still more found humor in the situation. “One lesson I learned from the Shanghai self-exploding Tesla: Don’t park your car next to a Tesla,” said one commentator. The company is expected to host an Autonomy Day later at its headquarters in Palo Alto, focusing on its autonomous driving system. In a separate, unrelated incident, Tesla’s rival in China, Nio, said in a social media post that an ES8 electric sport utility vehicle caught fire Monday in a Nio service center in the central city of Xian. “Nio has launched an investigation to determine the cause of the fire,” the company said, adding that no one was harmed due to the incident.
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china;stocks;explosion;elon musk;tesla;ev;weibo;evercore
|
jp0003451
|
[
"business",
"tech"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Samsung delays Galaxy Fold phone launch over screen problems
|
NEW YORK/SEOUL - Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. said it will delay the retail launch of its Galaxy Fold smartphone for an unspecified period of time after reviewers discovered problems with the display, a hit to the reputation of the world’s largest handset maker. Last week, reviewers started posting problems with the device on Twitter, but as of Friday the company did not know the root cause of the screen defects, according to Patrick Moorhead, founder of Moor Insights & Strategy, who said he was in direct contact with the company. About 50 units of the $1,980 foldable device had been sent for review to journalists, analysts and bloggers in the United States ahead of the launch planned for this Friday, Moorhead said Monday. It was not immediately clear how many of the devices were defective. Four units sent to journalists and a YouTube personality contained problems, according to their posts on Twitter. Samsung declined comment beyond a prepared statement. “To fully evaluate this feedback and run further internal tests, we have decided to delay the release of the Galaxy Fold. We plan to announce the release date in the coming weeks,” a Samsung spokesperson said Monday. Samsung also postponed media events for the device planned for this week in Hong Kong and Shanghai. While Samsung has not said how long the delay could be or whether production of the unit has halted completely, some analysts said the delay is minor compared with the massive recall and production halt that the company endured with its Galaxy Note 7 in 2016. “It’s certainly an embarrassment to Samsung’s reputation, but this won’t have much financial impact on them since they created a whole new category of foldables with this product. There is no market share to lose,” said Moorhead, who added that his test version of the phone was working without any issues. Instead of plaudits ahead of the phone’s planned launch, the South Korean conglomerate has been blighted by a handful of technology journalists reporting breaks, bulges and blinking screens. Samsung said initial findings showed that the issues could be associated with impact on exposed areas of the hinges. It also said there were instances where substances found inside the device affected the display performance. Wayne Lam, an analyst with IHS Markit, predicted the issue will likely be resolved within a month. “We all know that Samsung has a technology that works. It’s likely that this glitch is a problem with mass production and the failure is just in the single digit percentage,” he said. Samsung has hailed the folding design as the future in a field that has seen few surprises since Apple Inc.’s iPhone in 2007. Chinese rival Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. has also announced a folding handset, the Mate X. Samsung was initially planning to begin South Korean and European sales of the unit in May and Chinese sales at an undisclosed date. AT&T, one of Samsung’s U.S. launch partners for the Galaxy Fold, said the carrier is working to communicate with customers who pre-ordered the device as soon as possible. AT&T did not disclose the number of pre-orders.
|
samsung;apple;iphone;huawei;galaxy note 7;screens;galaxy fold
|
jp0003452
|
[
"business",
"tech"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Tesla says 'robotaxis' coming next year, touts self-driving microchip
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SAN FRANCISCO - Chief Executive Elon Musk said Tesla Inc. “robotaxis” with no human drivers will be available in some markets next year thanks to exponential improvements in technology. “Probably two years from now we’ll make a car with no steering wheels or pedals,” he predicted, while acknowledging he often misses deadlines and his presentation on Monday started 30 minutes late. Musk also unveiled on Monday a microchip for self-driving vehicles that the electric car company hopes will give Tesla an edge over rivals and persuade investors its massive investment in autonomous driving will pay off. The presentation came two days before Tesla is expected to announce a quarterly loss on fewer deliveries of its Model 3 sedan, which represents Tesla’s attempt to become a volume carmaker. Global carmakers, large technology companies and an array of startups are developing self-driving cars — including Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo and Uber Technologies Inc. — but experts say it will be years before the systems are ready for prime time. Musk touted a much faster time frame. “The fundamental message consumers should be taking today: It’s financially insane to buy something other than a Tesla. It’s like buying a horse,” he added, saying Tesla is the only company to have a full self-driving suite of hardware. All Teslas being produced today have the new chip and the company is about halfway through the design process for the next generation chip, which will be about three times better than the current system, Musk said. Tesla has been working on a self-driving chip since 2016 and Musk had previously forecast that cars would be fully self-driving by 2018, a target Tesla has missed. Investors appeared unmoved by the chip announcement, but shares rose slightly in after-hour trading following the announcement of the robotaxis. Musk took a swipe at competitors relying on Lidar, light-based sensors that are a key element in most other self-driving systems. “Lidar is a fools’ errand. And anyone relying on Lidar is doomed,” said Musk, who has been vocal about the technology’s limitations. Tesla vehicles rely on cameras and radar as their vision system for self-driving. Competitors will eventually “dump” Lidar, he said: “It’s expensive and unnecessary and once you’ve solved vision it’s worthless.” More than $1 billion in corporate and private investment has been plowed into some 50 Lidar startups over the past three years, including a record $420 million in 2018, according to a Reuters analysis of publicly available investment data in March. Musk has been the center of most Tesla presentations, but on Monday he ceded the spotlight to his top hardware and software executives. “A year from now we’ll have over a million cars with full self-driving, software, everything,” he predicted. He said it is improbable but true that Tesla has designed the industry’s best self-driving chip, saying Tesla’s is dedicated for autonomous driving, while others, like Nvidia Corp., have developed chips that can do other things as well. Tesla’s chip is capable of seven times as many frames as Nvidia’s Xavier system, said Pete Bannon, Tesla’s head of Autopilot hardware. Teslas have been involved in a handful of crashes, some of them fatal, involving the use of the company’s AutoPilot system, first launched in 2015. The system has automatic steering and cruise control but requires driver attention at the wheel. Tesla has been criticized by safety groups for being unclear about the need for “hands-on” driving. The company also sells a “full self-driving option” for an additional $5,000, explained as “automatic driving from highway on-ramp to off-ramp,” automatic lane changes, the ability to autopark and to summon a parked car. Coming later in 2019 is the ability to recognize traffic lights and stop signs, and perform automatic driving on city streets, Tesla says. But Tesla’s use of the term “full self-driving” still garners criticism, as the option is not yet “Level 4,” or fully autonomous by industry standards, in which the car can handle all aspects of driving in most circumstances with no human intervention.
|
elon musk;tesla;self-driving cars;lidar;robotaxis
|
jp0003453
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Tokyo stocks end marginally higher
|
Stocks ended a little higher Tuesday, helped by position-adjustment buying prior to the Golden Week holidays that start this Saturday. The Nikkei 225 average gained 41.84 points, or 0.19 percent, to end at 22,259.74, after rising 17.34 points Monday. The Topix, which covers all first-section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, closed 4.35 points, or 0.27 percent, higher at 1,622.97. It added 1.69 points Monday. Both indexes extended their winning streaks to a third session. The Nikkei sank into negative territory briefly due chiefly to selling of clothing store chain Fast Retailing, a weighted component of the index, to lock in profits, market sources said. The index firmed toward the close. On the whole, however, most investors took a wait-and-see stance before the full-fledged earnings season starts in Japan and the United States later this week, the sources said. Stocks were supported by “repurchases and buying backed by hope for higher prices after the holiday,” said Mitsuo Shimizu, chief strategist at Aizawa Securities Co. An official of a bank-affiliated securities firm said Tuesday’s directionless trading was driven by individual players as there were few foreign investors. Tomoaki Fujii, head of the investment research division at Akatsuki Securities Inc., said the market is already in a holiday mood. “Both buying and selling were held in check,” he said. Rising issues outnumbered falling ones 1,234 to 779 in the first section, while 127 issues were unchanged. Volume grew to 995 million shares from Monday’s 869 million. Higher crude oil prices lifted oil companies Inpex, Idemitsu, Japex, Cosmo Energy and JXTG. Also hunted were Daiwa House, air conditioner manufacturer Daikin and drugmaker Shionogi. By contrast, Fast Retailing closed 1.84 percent lower. Nishimatsuya Chain was downbeat the day after the clothing store operator reported sluggish sales for April. Other major losers included Tokai Carbon and daily goods maker Kao.
|
stocks;nikkei;tse;topix
|
jp0003454
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Dollar nearly unchanged at around ¥111.85 in late Tokyo trading
|
The dollar was nearly unchanged at around ¥111.85 in Tokyo trading late Tuesday as players were paying close attention to upcoming events such as a meeting of the Japanese and U.S. finance ministers. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥111.85-85, compared with ¥111.89-90 at the same time Monday. The euro was at $1.1245-1245, against $1.1246-1246, and at ¥125.78-78, against ¥125.84-85. Market players “are vigilant over whether a proposed currency clause will be taken up when Finance Minister Taro Aso and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin meet, probably on Thursday, an official at a Japanese bank said. Mnuchin has insisted that such a clause should be included in a proposed trade agreement between Japan and the United States to prevent Tokyo’s competitive currency devaluations. During Tokyo trading hours, the dollar briefly rose above ¥111.90 as the Nikkei 225 stock average swung back into positive territory after earlier weakness. “Selling easily emerged after the dollar approached ¥112” ahead of the 10-day Golden Week holiday period that starts Saturday, an official of another Japanese bank said. The dollar’s downside was also solid because players “aren’t in the phase of selling it actively,” an official at a foreign exchange margin trading service firm said.
|
forex;currencies
|
jp0003455
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Herman Cain declines consideration for Fed seat, Trump says
|
NEW YORK - Herman Cain, facing resistance from his own political party, has withdrawn from consideration for a seat on the Federal Reserve Board, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday. Four Republican U.S. senators in recent weeks voiced opposition to Trump’s expected nomination of Cain, likely enough to deny the former Republican presidential candidate the support he needed to secure Senate confirmation for the post. Economists and critics have expressed concerns about loyalists of Trump serving on the traditionally nonpartisan U.S. central bank. Cain has been a public advocate of many of Trump’s policies, as has Stephen Moore, a fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank, who Trump has also said he wants to nominate for one of two vacant seats on the seven-member Fed Board of Governors in Washington. Multiple Democrats on Monday renewed calls for Moore to be taken out of consideration. Cain had vowed to fight on in several interviews, and had said he was under attack as a nominee because he is a conservative. Cain’s bid for president in 2012 was derailed by accusations of sexual harassment that recently resurfaced and which he has repeatedly denied. “My friend Herman Cain, a truly wonderful man, has asked me not to nominate him for a seat on the Federal Reserve Board. I will respect his wishes. Herman is a great American who truly loves our Country!” Trump said in a Twitter post. Cain did not respond to a phone call requesting comment on Monday. The top Democrat in the U.S. Senate, Chuck Schumer, said Cain’s “failure to garner adequate support should not be used as a pathway by Senate Republicans to approve Stephen Moore, who is equally unqualified, and perhaps more political.” Schumer said in a statement that Moore “poses a danger to the economic stability of our country” and called on Republicans who have a majority in the Senate to force him out of consideration. Moore did not respond to an email seeking comment. Central bank independence from short-term politics is seen as important to prevent influence that could lead to runaway debt, inflation and financial instability. Trump elevated Jerome Powell to Fed chairman a year ago but has frequently criticized him for the U.S. central bank’s interest rate increases. The central bank’s other top policymakers are drawn from the Fed’s 12 regional banks and chosen by local boards of directors, not the U.S. president. Cain, the former head of the Godfather’s Pizza restaurant chain, served as chairman of the Kansas City Fed’s board in the mid-1990s in a role that also provides the regional bank with input on the local economy. The Fed in March brought a three-year rate-hike cycle to an abrupt end as it abandoned projections for any further rate increases this year.
|
u.s .;congress;sexual harassment;republicans;federal reserve;donald trump;jerome powell;stephen moore;herman cain
|
jp0003457
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Japan's JTB cancels tours to Sri Lanka through mid-June in wake of Easter terror attacks
|
JTB Corp. said Tuesday it was canceling tours to Sri Lanka departing between Tuesday and June 16 following the Easter terrorist attacks there. The travel agency is unable to sufficiently secure customer safety, an official said. The canceled reservations will be refunded. Coordinated bomb blasts in Sri Lanka on Sunday reportedly killed more than 300 people, including one Japanese national. Rival travel agency H.I.S. Co. said it was continuing tours to the country, noting that it has confirmed that local airports and hotels are able to accommodate travelers. However, cancellation fees will be waived for reservations scheduled to depart by May 10. Both travel agencies have confirmed the safety of customers currently in Sri Lanka, who are expected to return to Japan soon. Japanese tourists to Sri Lanka have been on the rise, with their number topping 47,000 in 2017, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization.
|
terrorism;sri lanka;tourism;travel agencies;jtb;h.i.s .;sri lanka attacks
|
jp0003458
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Tokyo prosecutors tried to bar Carole Ghosn from husband, citing role as go-between, source says
|
Tokyo prosecutors suspect the wife of former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn has contacted people linked to his case and unsuccessfully tried to bar her from seeing her husband while he is in detention, a source close to the matter said Tuesday. Prosecutors asked the Tokyo District Court to effectively permit only lawyers to see Ghosn, who is currently being held at the Tokyo Detention House for alleged financial misconduct, claiming the former auto tycoon had his wife, Carole, contact the parties involved in his case to ask them to tell the same story as his, the source said. Carole Ghosn may have made the contacts overseas as she traveled to France on April 5, the day after her husband was rearrested in Tokyo, and returned to Japan in time for pretrial questioning by prosecutors on April 11, the source added. The court has rejected the prosecutors’ request to limit Ghosn’s visitors, but their latest allegations could influence the court’s decision on whether to grant bail for Ghosn, who was indicted Monday on a fresh charge of misusing Nissan funds paid to a distributor in Oman. It was his fourth indictment. His lawyers filed a bail request later Monday. Ghosn, who has denied all charges, was initially arrested in November and released on bail in March before being taken back to the detention center in early April. Ghosn is suspected of channeling some of Nissan’s payments to the Omani distributor Suhail Bahwan Automobiles LLC for his personal use, causing the automaker to sustain a $5 million loss. The prosecutors suspect Carole Ghosn may have met officials of the Omani distributor, according to the source. After the court approved bail for Ghosn on March 5 following his more than 100 days in detention, he lived with Carole in a Tokyo apartment until he was arrested for the fourth time on April 4. His bail conditions included a ban from contacting Nissan executives and other people potentially linked to the allegations. But the terms did not ban Carole Ghosn from contacting people potentially involved in his case.
|
scandals;nissan;carmakers;carlos ghosn;carole ghosn
|
jp0003459
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Renault again proposed merging with Nissan, this time under post-Carlos Ghosn management
|
Renault SA has again proposed a merger with Nissan Motor Co., according to a source close to the matter, a move that could ignite a feud within the alliance just as its new management is beginning to operate after the removal of Carlos Ghosn. Nissan rejected the proposal made in mid-April, the source said late Monday. The French government, Renault’s biggest shareholder, made a similar offer in January after the alliance was rocked by the arrest of Ghosn in November, a source said earlier. Renault is likely to have floated the proposal around the time when the heads of Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. held their first meeting of the new management body in Paris on April 12, according to sources. The rejection could jeopardize the recent momentum for improving ties between the two companies. “What’s most important is the future of Nissan. I’ll take the approach of using the alliance for the future in doing my job,” Nissan President Hiroto Saikawa said Tuesday, suggesting a negative perception of the merger proposal. Renault, Nissan’s largest shareholder, is seeking to further solidify its partnership with the Japanese company, which contributes about half of the French automaker’s net profit. But some Nissan executives view the partnership balance as unfair as Nissan has been seeking an equal capital relationship with Renault, sources said. Renault holds a 43.4 percent stake in Nissan, which has a 15 percent stake in the French firm without voting rights. Nissan sold 5.65 million vehicles worldwide last year, 1.5 times more than Renault. The latest proposal comes as the two automakers and Mitsubishi Motors, the third partner in the alliance, launched a new management body in March to steer the world’s second-largest auto group by volume. Renault continues to lead the partnership after Ghosn stepped down, with its chairman, Jean-Dominique Senard, appointed as head of the new body. Senard was initially expected to focus on mending fences with Nissan while setting aside the merger issue. While Nissan and Renault have stressed they will work in a “consultative” manner to strengthen the alliance under the new management team, talk of a possible merger or a review of the capital structure between the two automakers remains a source of tension. In a video message earlier this month, Ghosn, who led Nissan for nearly two decades and was CEO and chairman of Renault, said a “few executives” at Nissan felt threatened about the autonomy of the company due to a possible merger with Renault. Ghosn was initially arrested in November for alleged financial misconduct at Nissan. He was indicted by Tokyo prosecutors for the fourth time on Monday over alleged misuse of Nissan funds for private purposes. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, when asked for a comment on the Nissan-Renault merger proposal at a news conference Tuesday, said he would refrain from speaking about exchanges between private sector companies.
|
nissan;carmakers;mitsubishi motors;renault;carlos ghosn;mergers;government
|
jp0003460
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/23
|
U.S. warns terrorists continue to plot Sri Lanka attacks and revises travel advisory
|
WASHINGTON - The U.S. State Department has warned of possible terrorist attacks in a revised travel advisory for Sri Lanka, after a series of deadly blasts killed nearly 300 people — including Americans — in the island nation on Easter Sunday. Sunday’s attacks saw suicide bombers target churches during Easter services and high-end hotels in the capital Colombo. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said “several” Americans were killed — the worst violence to hit Sri Lanka since a long and bloody civil war ended a decade ago. The latest U.S. travel advisory urged “increased caution.” “Terrorist groups continue plotting possible attacks in Sri Lanka,” it said. “Terrorists may attack with little or no warning, targeting tourist locations, transportation hubs, markets/shopping malls” and other public locations like hotels, clubs, restaurants, and places of worship. Travel advisories from other nations like Australia and Ireland also suggest citizens exercise caution while in Sri Lanka. Authorities have said citizens of India, China, Denmark, the Netherlands, Japan, Portugal, Britain, and Turkey died in the attacks. The U.S. Embassy in Colombo said it would remain closed to the public on Monday and Tuesday, but will continue to provide citizen services. There has been no claim of responsibility yet for the attacks, which the White House described as “despicable and senseless.” Security has been ramped up across Sri Lanka as security forces hunt for suspects, with 24 people arrested so far. Wary of sparking ethnic and religious tensions, the government has given few details about those detained. Authorities have said, however, that they are looking into whether the attackers had any “overseas” links. Travel guide book publisher Lonely Planet in October named Sri Lanka as its top destination for 2019, describing it as “the island opening up to new travellers like never before.”
|
u.s .;terrorism;sri lanka;colombo;mike pompeo;sri lanka attacks
|
jp0003461
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Eastern Libyan forces plan to intensify Tripoli offensive as death toll rises to 254
|
BENGHAZI, LIBYA/TRIPOLI - Eastern Libyan forces said on Monday they would intensify an assault on Tripoli, the capital in the west of the country that is held by the internationally recognized government, as the death toll in a battle now in its third week rose to 254. The Libyan National Army (LNA) force loyal to commander Khalifa Haftar allied to a parallel government in the east has launched an offensive but has been unable to breach the southern defenses of the city. Forces loyal to Tripoli drove back the LNA in recent days the southern suburb of Ain Zara, the main scene of fighting, Reuters reporters visiting the area said, even though the LNA said it had launched airstrikes on military sites in the capital. LNA spokesman Ahmed Mismari denied there had been a retreat but said an advance by his forces had slowed because of the dense population in the areas where fighting was taking place. He told reporters the LNA was calling in reservists to open new fronts on Tripoli and said his army would use artillery and infantry in the next days. He gave no details. Monday was quieter on the main front line south of the capital with less shelling than in previous days, residents said. Bad weather made air strikes impossible, Mismari said. Shelling could be still be heard even in central Tripoli 11 km (7 miles) from the front line and smoke billowed from one spot in southern Tripoli, a Reuters reporter said. The death toll since the start of fighting has reached 254, while 1,228 people have been wounded, the World Health Organization said. More than 32,000 people have been displaced, the U.N. humanitarian agency added. The latest flare-up in Libya, which has been mired in chaos since dictator Moammar Gadhafi was toppled in 2011, threatens to disrupt oil flows, foment migration across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe and allow jihadis to exploit the power vacuum. If a cease-fire was called as demanded by the United Nations, the LNA would have gained a considerable amount of territory, as they still control much of the area south of Tripoli including a forward base in Gharyan, a mountainous town about 80 km (50 miles) south of Tripoli. Fighting over Tripoli has spiked since the White House said President Donald Trump spoke to Haftar on Monday. The disclosure of the call and a U.S. statement that it “recognised Field Marshal Haftar’s significant role in fighting terrorism and securing Libya’s oil resources” has boosted the commander’s supporters and enraged his opponents.
|
conflict;u.s .;u.n .;libya;tripoli;donald trump;khalifa haftar
|
jp0003462
|
[
"world",
"science-health-world"
] |
2019/04/23
|
U.S. records 71 new measles cases in week as outbreak spreads
|
BANGALORE, INDIA/NEW YORK - The United States recorded 71 new measles cases last week, a 13 percent increase as the country faces its second-worst outbreak of the disease in almost two decades, federal health officials said on Monday. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it had recorded 626 cases of the highly contagious and sometimes deadly disease in 22 states as of April 19, the highest rate of infection in five years. The CDC had previously reported 555 cases in 20 states between Jan. 1 and April 11. The current outbreak will likely surpass the 2014 outbreak in number of cases, the CDC said on Monday. Iowa and Tennessee were the two states that joined the CDC list with new measles cases. More than half the cases recorded this year occurred in New York City, primarily in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. The U.S. outbreak is part of a worldwide rise in the once nearly eradicated disease. The World Health Organization reported last week that global cases had risen nearly four-fold in the first quarter of 2019 to 112,163 compared with the same period last year. A vocal fringe of parents in the United States oppose vaccines believing, contrary to scientific evidence, that ingredients in them can cause autism or other disorders.
|
u.s .;disease;vaccinations;measles;cdc
|
jp0003463
|
[
"world",
"science-health-world"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Trump's EPA chief vows to listen to scientists — sometimes
|
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency is promising to do a better job heeding the advice of its own scientific advisers — but only to a point. EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler offered the assurance in an eight-page letter to the agency’s Science Advisory Board, after the panel complained the agency was ignoring its own research while unwinding Obama-era environmental rules throttling emissions from automobiles, power plants and oil wells. The advisory board is a panel of nearly four dozen outside researchers and experts tasked with reviewing the technical information used by the EPA, giving advice on broad scientific matters and examining agency research programs. Wheeler said he was directing EPA offices to share information with the expert advisers earlier and to be more transparent “on key regulatory science issues,” by holding “more rapid and frequent briefings.” Wheeler also said he would be asking the board for advice on how the EPA can better tell the public about health and environmental risks. The planned changes should provide “greater support to the vital role the SAB is expected to play in providing scientific advice to the agency,” Wheeler said in the April 19 letter released Monday. Wheeler said the agency will turn to more specialized advisory committees for specific policy recommendations, after previously deciding to disband extra-specialized subcommittees of air quality experts in order to “streamline” their reviews. Wheeler also signaled there were limits to his interest in the SAB’s counsel. EPA decisions “are informed by scientific considerations,” Wheeler said, but ultimately, “the EPA must take account of a wide range of considerations” to ensure its actions are “reasonable, defensible and consistent with our responsibilities to the American people.”
|
pollution;epa;donald trump;enviromnent;andrew wheeler;science advisory board
|
jp0003464
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/04/23
|
After jailing jihadis, Kosovo police quiz several women who returned from Syria
|
PRISTINA - Kosovo police and prosecutors have interrogated several of the women who returned from Syria by plane on Saturday, lawyers who took part in the questioning said on Monday. Kosovo brought back 110 of its citizens from Syria, including 32 women, 74 children and four jihadis who had gone to fight in the country’s civil war. The four fighters were immediately arrested and detained for 30 days awaiting questioning, while women and children were sent to the Foreign Detention Center in the outskirts of Pristina. “I represented a woman who came back from Syria. She is accused for being part of the terrorist groups and she was in very bad health condition,” lawyer Fehmie Gashi-Bytyqi told Reuters. Several visitors were seen in front of the Foreign Detention Center on Monday morning, hoping to see relatives. Children, some small girls wearing hijabs, were outside in the sunny weather playing soccer with police officers. Doctors were constantly entering and leaving the buildings to carry out medical checks on the returnees. Merita Bajraktari, who was among the many female lawyers present, said: “My client is accused of being part of terrorist groups and she is also the wife of another person who was returned to Kosovo on Saturday where he was arrested.” After the collapse of Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate in Syria and Iraq, countries around the world are wrestling with how to handle militants and their families seeking to return. The population of Kosovo is nominally 90 percent Muslim, but largely secular in outlook. More than 300 of its citizens had traveled to Syria since 2012 and 70 men who fought alongside militant groups were killed. Police said 30 Kosovan fighters, 49 women and eight children remain in the conflict zones. The government said it plans to bring back those who are still there. International and local security agencies have previously warned of the risk posed by returning fighters. In 2015, Kosovo adopted a law making fighting in foreign conflicts punishable by up to 15 years in jail.
|
conflict;terrorism;syria;kosovo;islamic state
|
jp0003465
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Trump says 'nobody disobeys me' when asked if staff defy his orders, as Robert Mueller report claims
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WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump dismissed questions from reporters on Monday about his staff’s willingness to carry out his orders and the chances of impeachment proceedings in the U.S. Congress, days after the Mueller report highlighted both issues. The 448-page report from U.S. special counsel Robert Mueller on his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election revealed staff and associates sometimes ignored requests from Trump to deliver messages to third parties, including one to fire Mueller. “Nobody disobeys me,” Republican Trump said when asked if he was worried about his orders not being followed. He made the remark at the White House during an annual Easter celebration. Mueller’s report said that the 22-month investigation did not establish that the Trump campaign coordinated with Russians during the 2016 election campaign, but Mueller did find “multiple acts by the president that were capable of exerting undue influence over law enforcement investigations.” Asked whether he was concerned about the threat of impeachment on allegations of obstruction of justice as some Democrats have called for, Trump said, “Not even a little bit.” U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, on Friday said Congress should begin the process of removing Trump from office. Other Democratic leaders have played down talk of impeachment, just 18 months before the 2020 election. Republicans have stood by Trump and while an impeachment effort might succeed in the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, it was unlikely to do so in the Republican-led Senate. Trump, speaking from the White House balcony on Monday, returned to favorite topics of his by touting the strong United States economy and saying his administration was rebuilding the military “to a level never seen before.” “Our country is doing fantastically well, probably the best it has ever done economically,” he said.
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u.s .;robert mueller;elizabeth warren;donald trump;russia probe
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jp0003467
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/04/23
|
U.S. appeals court denies Chelsea Manning's bail request, upholds contempt finding
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WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court denied on Monday a request by former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to be released from jail on bail, and upheld a lower court’s decision to hold Manning in civil contempt for refusing to testify before a grand jury. The ruling marks a blow for Manning, who has been detained since March after she declined to answer questions in connection with the government’s long-running investigation into WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange. Neither a spokesman for Manning nor Manning’s attorney could not be immediately reached for comment. Assange was arrested on April 11 at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, after U.S. prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia unsealed a criminal case against him alleging he conspired with Manning to commit computer intrusion. The Justice Department said Assange was arrested under an extradition treaty between the United States and the U.K. The U.S. government alleges that Assange tried to help Manning gain access to a government computer as part of a 2010 leak by WikiLeaks of hundreds of thousands of U.S. military reports about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as American diplomatic communications. It is not clear if the alleged collaboration between Manning and Assange led to a successful intrusion into any U.S. government computer. Assange plans to fight the U.S. extradition request. Such cases, when challenged, can take years before they are resolved. Manning was convicted by court-martial in 2013 of espionage and other offenses for furnishing more than 700,000 documents, videos, diplomatic cables and battlefield accounts to WikiLeaks while she was an intelligence analyst in Iraq. In his last days in office, former U.S. President Barack Obama commuted the final 28 years of Manning’s 35-year sentence. Manning has tried to fight the grand jury subpoena in the Assange case, citing her First, Fourth and Sixth Amendment rights under the Constitution. Her attorneys said among other things that the district court had failed to address her concerns that the government was abusing the grand jury process so it could preview or undermine her testimony as a potential defense witness at a trial. Her lawyers have also argued that the courtroom was improperly sealed during substantial portions of the hearing. But a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit did not agree with those claims. “The court finds no error in the district court’s rulings and affirms its finding of civil contempt,” they wrote.
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u.s .;barack obama;julian assange;wikileaks;chelsea manning
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jp0003468
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Trump can be held accountable without impeachment, Nancy Pelosi tells Congress Democrats
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WASHINGTON - Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed back on Democrats calling for the impeachment of President Donald Trump, even though she said the president “engaged in highly unethical and unscrupulous behavior which does not bring honor to the office he holds.” Responding to calls from some of her members to impeach Trump for acts revealed Thursday in a redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, Pelosi said impeachment proceedings are not the only way to uncover the facts needed for Congress to hold Trump “accountable.” Her “Dear Colleague” letter posted on Monday comes before a conference call with House Democrats to discuss her party’s response to the investigation of Russian influence in the 2016 presidential election. Pelosi conceded Democrats don’t all agree on what course they should take following the report’s release last week. “While our views range from proceeding to investigate the findings of the Mueller report or proceeding directly to impeachment, we all firmly agree that we should proceed down a path of finding the truth,” she wrote. The letter reveals the delicate balance Democrats are trying to strike between using their constitutional authority to stop Trump or turning their attention to 2020 elections to deny him re-election. Pelosi, who has been trying to tamp down impeachment talk, also wrote that it is “important to know that the facts regarding holding the president accountable can be gained outside of impeachment hearings.” House Democrats already have launched multiple investigations of Trump, including his associates and businesses. Details from the Mueller report could be folded into those efforts, reinforced by new revelations and amplified by committee hearings and witness testimony. The Judiciary Committee has scheduled a May 2 hearing with Attorney General William Barr and plans to call Mueller to testify. Aside from impeachment, House leaders have suggested some type of censure resolution as another possible outcome of an investigation. “As we proceed to uncover the truth and present additional needed reforms to protect our democracy, we must show the American people we are proceeding free from passion or prejudice, strictly on the presentation of fact,” Pelosi wrote. But these efforts might not be enough for some of the most vocal House Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other progressives, who have joined their colleagues who already introduced articles of impeachment. They argue that Mueller’s findings of potential obstruction of justice leave it up to the House do its constitutional duty if the president has committed a crime. Two Democratic presidential candidates, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Julian Castro, want the House to consider impeachment. Others worry that overreaching on impeachment could diminish or undercut Democratic efforts on policy issues like health care, violence against women, gun control and the environment that they plan to highlight in the 2020 elections. They argue it is unlikely the Republican-led Senate would convict Trump. But for others, that’s not what is important. To some of them, failure of the House to act on impeachment — regardless of what the Senate might do — would set a dangerous precedent of immunity. “Which means that we will have allowed the president to be above the law,” said Rep. Al Green of Texas, who promises to force a vote on the floor.
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u.s .;congress;democrats;impeachment;nancy pelosi;donald trump
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jp0003469
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Leader of armed group at U.S. border boasted of being trained to assassinate Obama and Clinton, says FBI
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TAOS, NEW MEXICO/LAS CRUCES NEW MEXICO - The leader of an armed group stopping undocumented migrants who cross into the United States from Mexico had boasted that his members had trained to assassinate former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, an FBI agent said in court papers on Monday. Larry Hopkins was arrested Saturday on a weapons charge. His camouflage-wearing armed United Constitutional Patriots members claim to have helped U.S. officials detain some 5,600 migrants in New Mexico in the last 60 days. The UCP says its two-month presence at the border is intended to support U.S. Border Patrol, which has been overwhelmed by record numbers of Central American families seeking asylum. Critics including the American Civil Liberties Union accuse the UCP of being a “fascist militia” whose members illegally detain and kidnap migrants by impersonating law enforcement. New Mexico’s Democratic governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, on Friday ordered an investigation of the group. She said “menacing or threatening migrant families and asylum-seekers is absolutely unacceptable and must cease.” The FBI in court papers said that while it was investigating allegations of “militia extremist activity” in 2017, witnesses accused Hopkins of saying the UCP was planning to assassinate Obama, former Democratic presidential candidate Clinton and financier George Soros. On Monday, Hopkins appeared in court in Las Cruces, New Mexico, to face charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm. The FBI said it found guns during a 2017 visit to his home. Defense attorney Kelly O’Connell said Hopkins planned to plead not guilty and noted that the charges were unrelated to UCP’s actions at the border. “This is not even dealing with what’s going on right here,” O’Connell said. UCP spokesman Jim Benvie previously said the group was helping the U.S. Border Patrol and publicizing the “border crisis.” He was not immediately available for comment. Crowdfunding sites PayPal and GoFundMe last week barred the group, citing policies not to promote hate or violence, after the ACLU called the UCP a “fascist militia.” FBI Special Agent David Gabriel said in a criminal complaint filed on Monday that in October 2017 the agency received reports a militia was being run out of Hopkins’ home in Flora Vista, New Mexico. When agents entered the home they collected nine firearms, ranging from pistols to rifles, Horton was illegally in possession of as he had at least one prior felony conviction, according to the complaint. The FBI said in court papers that in 2006, Hopkins was convicted of criminal impersonation of a peace officer and felony possession of a firearm, and that in 1996 he was also convicted on a firearms charge. Hopkins, the UCP’s national commander, told the agents that his common-law wife owned the weapons in question, according to court papers. At the time, the FBI had received information that the UCP had around 20 members and was armed with AK-47 rifles and other firearms. “Hopkins also allegedly made the statement that the United Constitutional Patriots were training to assassinate George Soros, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama” because it believed that they supported left-wing, anti-fascist protesters, the complaint said. Former state and federal prosecutor David S. Weinstein said Border Patrol’s tacit allowance of the UCP to operate may have allowed it to go beyond what citizens are legally allowed to do. “To the extent where the FBI has got involved, I think it’s escalated to a point where they need to send a stronger message out to them that ‘No, we told you not to do this,’ ” said Weinstein, a partner at the law firm of Hinshaw and Culbertson.
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guns;u.s .;barack obama;immigration;hillary clinton;refugees;new mexico;larry hopkins;united constitutional patriots
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jp0003470
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren proposes scrapping student-loan debt for millions
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WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren proposed eliminating student-loan debt for an estimated 42 million Americans with a wealth tax, seeking to show young voters she would ease one of their biggest economic burdens. The plan would eliminate as much as $50,000 in student debt for anyone with household income of less than $100,000, and partially cancel debt for those who make as much as $250,000. Beyond $100,000 in income, the $50,000 in per-person debt forgiveness falls by $1 for every $3 earned, zeroing out after $250,000. In other words, those who earn $130,000 are eligible for $40,000 in student debt relief, while those who make $190,000 can lower their loan amount by $20,000. “The enormous student debt burden weighing down our economy isn’t the result of laziness or irresponsibility,” Warren wrote in a blog post published Monday. “It’s the result of a government that has consistently put the interests of the wealthy and well-connected over the interests of working families.” With a university admissions scandal focusing attention on the inequities of U.S. higher education, making college accessible for all is increasingly a campaign theme on the left. Warren’s plan also calls for eliminating undergraduate tuition and fees at two-year and four-year public institutions. Warren’s campaign estimates that her debt cancellation and free-college policies would cost $1.25 trillion over a decade, and called for financing it with a portion of the $2.75 trillion in revenues from her proposed annual tax on wealth of more than $50 million. U.S. student debt topped $1.5 trillion last year, according to the Federal Reserve. Warren’s policy seeks to help millenials weighed down by student debt and to prevent the same fate for the next generation of Americans who’ll become eligible to vote in 2020. Since taking the first step in her presidential bid on New Year’s Eve, Warren has churned out policy blueprints to offer universal child care, break up large technology firms, add housing investments to cut rent costs and slap a surtax on corporate profits. The two-term Democrat’s proposals are highly unlikely to gain the support of President Donald Trump or be considered in Congress while Republicans control the Senate. But with control of the White House and Congress up for grabs in the 2020 election, the question of higher taxes on the rich promises to be a campaign topic. 75 Percent Warren’s policy would fully cancel loans in about three-quarters of households with student debt, according to an estimate provided to the campaign by Arizona State University assistant professor Raphael Charron-Chenier and Brandeis University law professor Thomas Shapiro. The proposal also aims to lower barriers to admission facing black and Latino families, two influential Democratic voting blocs. It calls for expanding Pell Grant funding for non-tuition costs and a fund to assist historically black and minority-serving universities. Universities would be forbidden from considering criminal history or citizenship status when deciding whom to accept.
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u.s .;taxes;education;universities;democrats;students;elizabeth warren;donald trump;2020 u.s. presidential election
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jp0003471
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Trump accepts Queen Elizabeth's invitation for state visit to Britain in June
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LONDON - U.S. President Donald Trump will pay a state visit to Britain in June as a guest of Queen Elizabeth II, Buckingham Palace said Tuesday. The palace said Trump and his wife, Melania, had accepted an invitation from the queen for a visit that will take place June 3-5. Though many other presidents have visited the monarch, only two — George W. Bush and Barack Obama — were honored with a state visit, which typically features royal pomp including a banquet with the queen at Buckingham Palace. It’s rare for a state visit to be announced just a few weeks before it takes place. Prime Minister Theresa May extended the invitation for a state visit soon after Trump’s inauguration in January 2017, but the trip has been deferred amid concerns about the president’s reception in the U.K. and the extended crisis over Brexit. Trump finally made an official trip to the U.K. last summer, though that was not a state visit. Demonstrators followed him everywhere nonetheless, with tens of thousands flooding the streets of central London to protest his presence and a 20-foot (6-meter) balloon depicting the U.S. president as a screaming baby flown near Parliament. In addition to meeting with the queen, Trump will also sit down with May, whose handling of Brexit he has repeatedly criticized. It has not been announced whether he will address Parliament, an honor granted to presidents including Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama. May said in a statement that Britain and the United States “have a deep and enduring partnership that is rooted in our common history and shared interests.” “The state visit is an opportunity to strengthen our already close relationship in areas such as trade, investment, security and defense, and to discuss how we can build on these ties in the years ahead,” she said. Trump and the first lady also plan to attend a ceremony in the naval city of Portsmouth to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings on the final day of his visit, the White House said. Other nations that took part in the campaign to liberate Europe from Nazi Germany have been also been invited to attend. They include Canada, France, Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, Luxembourg, Poland, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, Greece, and Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Germany has also been invited in keeping with previous D-Day commemorative events. After leaving Britain, Trump and his wife will travel to Normandy, in northern France, as a guest of President Emmanuel Macron to attend D-Day ceremonies at the Normandy American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer. While in France, Trump will also meet separately with Macron.
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u.s .;u.k .;queen elizabeth ii;donald trump;state visits
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jp0003472
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Massachusetts Democrat Rep. Seth Moulton jumps into crowded 2020 campaign
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WASHINGTON - Rep. Seth Moulton, an Iraq War veteran and leading rebel against House Democratic leadership, announced Monday he’s mounting a campaign for president, joining a crowd of 18 other Democrats who want to challenge President Donald Trump in 2020. “I’m running because we have to beat Donald Trump,” Moulton said a video on Twitter. “And I want us to beat Donald Trump because I love this country.” Moulton’s first task will be to distinguish himself from a collection of candidates with wider name recognition and established political organizations who have already been raising money, collecting endorsements and hiring staff in early primary and caucus states. Still more candidates are expected to join the race in the coming weeks, including former Vice President Joe Biden. The Democratic field spans an ideological range from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who describes himself as a democratic socialist, to Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who’s running as a middle-of-the-road pragmatist. Moulton calls himself a progressive Democrat and rarely breaks ranks with the party on key votes. He’s a member of the House New Democrat Coalition, a bloc of lawmakers who say they are dedicated to fiscally responsible, pro-growth policies. Leading up to his announcement, Moulton unveiled proposals on voting rights and changes to the electoral system. He called for abolishing the 60-vote threshold required to pass legislation in the Senate and jettisoning the electoral college system used to elect presidents, proposals that several other Democratic presidential candidates have embraced. “To change the country, we need to fundamentally change how government works: We need to abolish the filibuster and the electoral college,” Moulton wrote in a March 12 op-ed in the Washington Post. Moulton, 40, gained some prominence in recent years for challenging Democratic leadership in the House, saying it’s time for a new generation to replace Nancy Pelosi and her top lieutenants, who’ve been in power for more than a decade. In 2018 he led a group of rebel Democrats who withheld support for Pelosi’s speaker bid until she agreed to limit her own term. That push followed a midterm election in which Democrats won back control of the House, despite Republican attempts to tie the party’s candidates in swing districts to what they called Pelosi’s liberal agenda. Moulton’s challenge to Pelosi was unsuccessful, and it was unpopular with some Democrats who argued that trying to topple the first woman to hold the speaker’s gavel sent the wrong message at a time when female voters and candidates were vital to the party’s success in the midterm elections. Moulton, who worked to recruit military veterans as Democratic candidates in the 2018 midterm elections, is one of three presidential hopefuls who has served in the armed forces, along with Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Moulton joined the Marine Corps in late 2001, after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack and shortly after graduating from Harvard. Moulton says he was an opponent of the Iraq war, but he went on to serve four tours in the conflict over five years. Moulton was in the first company of Marines to enter Baghdad, serving under Gen. James Mattis, who became Trump’s first defense secretary. “A lot of Americans are feeling betrayed by Washington the same way we did in Iraq,” Moulton said in his campaign video. “Ask anyone who’s lost their job in a changing economy or a child to opioids or has to choose between heat and food in the winter. They’re feeling forgotten.” After leaving the Marines, he earned degrees in business and government from Harvard Business School and the Kennedy School of Government. In 2014, Moulton challenged nine-term Rep. John Tierney in the Democratic primary for his Salem district — his first clash with Pelosi, who campaigned vigorously for the incumbent. Moulton won the primary with 51 percent of the vote, then beat his Republican general election opponent by 14 points.
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democrats;nancy pelosi;donald trump;2020 u.s. presidential election;seth moulton
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jp0003473
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Iran says it's ready for U.S. waivers to end as Revolutionary Guard threaten to shut Hormuz
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DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - Tehran is prepared for a U.S. decision to end waivers granted to buyers of Iranian crude, an Iranian oil ministry source said on Monday, as the Revolutionary Guards repeated their threat to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz, Iranian media reported. The United States will fail to cut Iranian oil exports to zero, the semi-official Tasnim news agency on Monday quoted an unnamed Iranian oil ministry source as saying. U.S. President Donald Trump has decided not to reissue waivers in May allowing importers to buy Iranian oil without facing U.S. sanctions, the White House said in a statement on Monday. Separately, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ navy said Iran would close the Strait if Tehran is barred from using it. “According to international law, the Strait of Hormuz is a marine passageway and if we are barred from using it, we will shut it down,” the semi-official news agency Fars quoted Gen. Alireza Tangsiri as saying on Monday. “In case of any threat, we will have not even an iota of doubt to protect and defend the Iranian waters,” Tangsiri added. Tasnim quoted the unnamed source as saying: “Whether the waivers continue or not, Iran’s oil exports will not be zero under any circumstances unless Iranian authorities decide to stop oil exports … and this is not relevant now.” “We have been monitoring and analyzing all possible scenarios and conditions for the advance of our country’s oil exports, and necessary measures have been taken … Iran is not waiting for America’s decision or the lack of it to export its oil,” Tasnim quoted the source as saying. “We have years of experience in neutralizing efforts by enemies to strike blows against our country,” the source added. Iran has threatened to disrupt oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil shipment channel in the Gulf, if the United States tries to strangle Tehran’s economy by halting its oil exports.
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oil;iran;sanctions;revolutionary guard;strait of hormuz;donald trump
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jp0003474
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/23
|
West scrambles to talk to Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskiy, hoping he can be bulwark against Putin
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BRUSSELS - The European Union scrambled to get a call with Ukraine’s president-elect, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on Monday as Western powers wondered whether the TV comic would heed their urgings to stick with reforms that they hope can anchor the country beyond the grip of Russia. EU institutional leaders Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker wrote jointly to congratulate the 41-year-old political novice on an easy win over Petro Poroshenko, for five years the West’s champion in Kiev. But they also stressed that they are counting on more democratic reforms and fighting corruption. Highlighting Sunday’s smoothly run vote as a “major achievement” after five years in which the EU has pumped cash into Ukraine and borne the cost of economic sanctions on Moscow, the respective presidents of the European Council and Commission urged Zelenskiy to seek continuity. “Much remains to be accomplished to fully realise the peaceful, democratic and prosperous Ukraine that its citizens have called for,” Tusk and Juncker wrote. “You can count on the EU’s strong support to Ukraine’s reform path, including consolidating the rule of law, fighting corruption, maintaining macrofinancial stability and pursuing the essential reform of the energy sector.” With Europe and North America taking an Easter holiday, there was little other comment on the second-round vote result that had been widely forecast by recent opinion polls. Diplomats and officials in Brussels working with both the European Union and NATO said Zelenskiy was still very much an unknown quantity for Western governments. “Very few from the European elite — if any — know him,” said a senior EU diplomat in Brussels. Another called Zelenskiy’s task “quite challenging” in managing appointments and parliamentary elections, as well as in his relations with billionaire power-brokers. Those included Ihor Kolomoisky, owner of the TV channel that broadcasts his show. However, the diplomat said he felt some “cautious optimism. EU officials had been quietly in contact with people close to Zelenskiy since he romped home ahead of Poroshenko in the first round, EU sources told Reuters. Tusk and Juncker proposed a meeting as soon as possible and officials were trying to set up phone contact within the coming hours. There were also tentative plans for a formal EU-Ukraine summit in July. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a letter to the president-elect, who is expected to take office next month, that she looked forward to hosting him for talks in Berlin soon. “The German government will also in the future continue to support Ukraine’s right to sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Merkel wrote. The European Union has invested heavily, in both economic and political terms, in Ukraine, seeing it as a potential model for other post-communist neighbors and a bulwark against a Russia seen as a growing threat, especially by the EU member states that spent decades under the control of Moscow. But the 28-member bloc has also grown frustrated with continued corruption and democratic failings in Ukraine. One senior EU official told Reuters: “We see the process as a win for Ukrainian democracy and we are eager to work with him (Zelenskiy) on reforms. But he remains an unknown quantity. “We need to get him on the phone, set up meetings, get our message across about the seriousness of the need for reforms and our support but only on the basis of reforms. Clearly it’s a rebuke to Poroshenko, but the same reforms of the economy, against corruption are still crucial.” A second senior EU official also stressed that Brussels saw Zelenskiy as having benefited from disappointment with Poroshenko. And while contacts during the campaign meant that Zelenskiy was not a total unknown to at least some EU officials, the official conceded that “we don’t have a very clear idea of his ideas beyond what he has said in the campaign. Those campaign statements included maintaining a broadly pro-Western course, though Zelenskiy said rather less than Poroshenko about one day joining the EU and NATO — neither of which particularly appeal to Western states. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg tweeted his congratulations, adding cautiously: “Ukraine is a valued NATO partner and we look forward to continuing our cooperation.” A European diplomat working with NATO in Brussels said: “We congratulate him — but we will need to analyze who he is.” Tusk and Juncker said further implementing Kiev’s trade and political pact with the EU could provide “crucial” help. That deal, seen by the Kremlin as shifting the biggest of its Soviet-era satellites toward the West, was a factor in the events that culminated with pro-EU leaders installed in Kiev, Russia’s seizure of the Crimea peninsula in 2014 and pro-Kremlin separatists taking over Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine.
|
russia;nato;eu;angela merkel;ukraine;petro poroshenko;volodymyr zelenskiy
|
jp0003475
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Yemen's Houthis say Saudis and UAE are in missile range if Hodeida truce fails
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DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - Yemen’s Houthi forces have missiles that could be fired at Riyadh, Dubai and Abu Dhabi should violence escalate in the main Yemeni port city of Hodeida, where a fragile cease-fire is now in place, the leader of the Houthi movement said on Monday. Yemen’s four-year war pits the Iran-aligned Houthis against the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, which is backed by a Saudi-led coalition of Yemeni and Arab forces, which include the United Arab Emirates. “Our missiles are capable of reaching Riyadh and beyond Riyadh, to Dubai and Abu Dhabi,” Abdul Malik al-Houthi told Houthi-run Masirah TV. “It is possible to target strategic, vital, sensitive and influential targets in the event of any escalation in Hodeida,” he said. “We are able to strongly shake the Emirati economy.” Houthi forces regularly fire missiles into southern Saudi Arabia and occasionally aim for targets such as the capital Riyadh or facilities of state oil company Saudi Aramco. Most missiles have been intercepted by the Saudi military. Hodeida port is the entry point for most of Yemen’s humanitarian aid and commercial imports. It is the current focal point of U.N. efforts to implement a December deal between warring parties. The United Nations is trying to get both sides to pull troops out of Hodeida but the process has stalled. Both sides blame the other for lack of progress. Although a cease-fire largely holds in Hodeida, violence continues elsewhere and has escalated in recent weeks. Plagued by decades of instability, Yemen’s latest conflict began in late 2014 when Houthi forces drove Hadi’s government out of the capital Sanaa. The Saudi-backed alliance intervened in March 2015 to restore Hadi’s government. The Houthis, who say their revolution is against corruption, control Sanaa and most population centers.
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conflict;yemen;saudi arabia;missiles;uae;houthis;hodeida
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jp0003476
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Iran and Pakistan to form joint rapid reaction force at border, says Rouhani
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GENEVA - Iran and Pakistan will form a joint quick reaction force to combat militant activity on their shared border, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday during a televised press conference with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan. Khan arrived in Iran on Sunday to discuss security and regional issues, Iranian state TV reported, a day after Islamabad urged Tehran to act against militants behind killings in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province. Relations between Iran and Pakistan have been strained in recent months, with both sides accusing each other of not doing enough to stamp out militants allegedly sheltering across the border. “We agreed to increase the security cooperation of the two countries, our border forces, our intelligence forces,” Rouhani said during the conference, which was broadcast live on state TV. “And also to form a joint quick reaction force on the border of the two countries for fighting terrorism.” Khan said that militant activity at the border could be a source of tension. “The most important reason why I’m here, Mr. President, is because I felt that the issue of terrorism was going to … increase differences between our countries,” Khan said during the joint press conference. “So it was very important for me to come here and come with our security chief that we resolve this issue.” A new umbrella group representing various insurgent groups operating in Baluchistan claimed responsibility for an attack on Thursday when 14 passengers were killed after being kidnapped from buses in the province, which borders Iran. Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Saturday the training and logistical camps of the new alliance that carried out the attack were based inside Iran and called on Iran to take action against the insurgents. Shiite Muslim Iran says militant groups operate from safe havens in Pakistan and has repeatedly called on Islamabad to crack down on them. Tehran has stepped up security along its long border with Pakistan after a suicide bomber killed 27 members of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards in mid-February in southeastern Iran, with Iranian officials saying the attackers were based inside Pakistan. The Sunni group Jaish al Adl (Army of Justice), which says it seeks greater rights and better living conditions for the ethnic Baloch minority, claimed responsibility for that attack. Separately, Rouhani said during the joint press conference that the Islamic Republic is ready to help with Pakistan’s oil and gas needs.
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pakistan;terrorism;iran;imran khan;hassan rouhani
|
jp0003478
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/23
|
More than 50 feared killed in landslide at Myanmar jade mine
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YANGON - More than 50 people are feared killed after a landslide in northern Myanmar engulfed jade miners while they were sleeping, local police said Tuesday, the latest deadly accident in a notoriously dangerous industry. Dozens die each year in landslides caused by jade mining, a corrupt and poorly regulated industry concentrated near the country’s border with China. Local police described a freak accident in Kachin state on Monday night so big it created a huge “mud lake” that buried the miners as well as some 40 vehicles. “Fifty-four people are missing in the mud,” a duty officer from Hpakant township police station said, asking not to be named, adding that only two bodies had been recovered so far. “There’s no way they (the missing) could have survived.” The Ministry of Information confirmed the accident and number of missing, adding that the area was mined by Myanmar Thura Gems and Shwe Nagar Koe Kaung companies. Myanmar Thura Gems director Hla Soe Oo said by phone he was en route to the site but did not have further details. Local media shared images, unverified by AFP, that showed the walls of a mine stretching vertically a couple of hundred meters above a vast pool of mud, revealing only the tops of two yellow excavation vehicles. Hundreds of onlookers gathered nearby, staring at the disaster site and taking photos with their phones. Fatal landslides are common in the mines with victims often from impoverished ethnic communities looking for scraps left behind by big firms. A major landslide in November 2015 left more than 100 dead. The jade industry is largely driven by an insatiable demand from neighboring China. Watchdog Global Witness estimated that it was worth some $31 billion in 2014, although very little reaches state coffers. Northern Myanmar’s abundant natural resources — including jade, timber, gold and amber — help finance both sides of a decadeslong civil war between ethnic Kachin insurgents and the military. The fight to control the mines and the revenues they bring frequently traps local civilians in the middle. A 17-year cease-fire broke down in 2011 and since then more than 100,000 people have been displaced by fighting. On coming to power in 2016, civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi promised to make the peace process with the country’s myriad armed groups her top priority — a pledge that has yet to yield significant results.
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mining;myanmar;landslides
|
jp0003479
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Kim Jong Un woos Vladimir Putin as North Korean laborers toil in Russia
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SEOUL - While North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wines and dines with Vladimir Putin in Russia this week, around 10,000 of his citizens will be laboring around the country to earn money for his government. Analysts say Kim is looking to strengthen economic links with Moscow with his nuclear negotiations with Washington deadlocked and as he seeks a counterbalance to Beijing, currently Pyongyang’s key major ally and vital economic lifeline. The pair are expected to meet in the eastern Russian port of Vladivostok, possibly on Wednesday or Thursday, in the first summit between the leaders of North Korea and Russia since Kim Jong Il met with Dmitry Medvedev eight years ago. Labor is one of the North’s key exports and sources of cash. It provides workers under contracts with overseas entities, and rights groups say that the government seizes most of their salaries. Their treatment “falls short of international labor standards,” Human Rights Watch said in a 2017 report, “with no right to freedom of association or expression, control by minders who limit freedom of movement and access to information from the outside world, long working hours and no right to refuse overtime.” Nonetheless some specialists say the assignments are sought after by North Koreans, as once they have fulfilled their duties they have a chance to earn money for themselves. Russia is Pyongyang’s second-biggest customer after China, according to the U.N., with North Koreans working in mining, logging, textiles and construction, many of them in the country’s far east. Elsewhere, others toil in the Middle East. The situation gives Kim and Putin a shared interest in easing the United Nations Security Council sanctions imposed on the North over its banned nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. Under UNSC Resolution 2397, approved in December 2017, “Member States shall repatriate to the DPRK all DPRK nationals earning income in that Member State’s jurisdiction … no later than 24 months from the date of adoption of this resolution.” In a submission to U.N. sanctions officials, Russia said the number of North Koreans with valid work permits in the country had fallen by nearly two-thirds in 2018, from just over 30,000 to 11,490. Last week, Pyongyang officials asked Moscow to continue to employ North Korean workers even after the deadline, specialist outlet NK News reported. A U.N. report said Russian-based firms were continuing ship-to-ship transfers of oil with North Korean vessels, one of the ways Pyongyang seeks to circumvent restrictions on oil. Russia has already called for sanctions to be eased and Ahn Chan-il, a North Korean defector and researcher in Seoul, said: “Moscow probably has long-term plans and goals. “What’s most important is having full access to the North’s cheap labor, on top of its mineral resources, if ever the existing sanctions are lifted and the North reduces the size of its army thereafter.” Immediate sanctions relief was a major demand of the cash-strapped North when Kim met U.S. President Donald Trump in February for a second summit that ultimately broke down in disagreement over what Pyongyang was prepared to give up in return. North Korea, which holds most of the peninsula’s raw material reserves, was once wealthier than the South, but decades of mismanagement and the demise of its former paymaster the Soviet Union have left it deeply impoverished. China is by far its biggest business partner, accounting for more than 90 percent of its trade according to estimates. North Korean physical exports to Russia were worth just $1.98 million last year, according to International Trade Centre statistics, with musical instruments representing more than 70 percent of it. In the other direction, the North imported $21.6 million worth of mineral fuels and oil from Russia, out of $32.1 million of total imports. But before the U.N. started to impose broader sectoral sanctions on the North in 2017, targeting its mineral and foodstuff exports and textile trade, Pyongyang and Moscow had been pursuing a number of joint economic projects. They included restoring and expanding the 54-kilometer railway between the North Korean port of Rajin and Khasan in Russia. Russia already exports coal by sea to China via Rajin — a business that is specifically exempted from U.N. sanctions. Moscow has long had its eye on shipping more of its vast hydrocarbon reserves via the Korean peninsula to China and the energy-hungry but resource-poor economies of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. In 2011, Kim’s father Kim Jong Il traveled to Siberia and discussed gas pipeline and power line projects with then-Russian president Dmitry Medvedev. Kim died three months after the trip, and no significant progress has been made on the projects. “Russia is in no hurry,” said analyst Ahn. “But it is also well aware that if an inter-Korean railway is built and it also somehow gets connected to Russia, they know it will bring development to its underpopulated regions such as Siberia.”
|
north korea;vladimir putin;russia;rights;kim jong un;u.n .;sanctions;slavery
|
jp0003480
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/23
|
North Korea's Kim to meet Putin in Vladivostok on Thursday: Kremlin aide
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MOSCOW - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok on Thursday, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters on Tuesday. The leaders will discuss political and diplomatic efforts to settle the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, and Kim’s visit is key in this process, Ushakov said. He said Russia’s bilateral trade with North Korea fell by more than 56 percent last year because of sanctions against Pyongyang but Moscow thinks it is important that North Korea and the United States are interested in maintaining their contact.
|
north korea;vladimir putin;russia;kim jong un
|
jp0003481
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/23
|
20 years on, Falun Gong survives underground in China
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BEIJING - Sitting lotus-style on an apartment floor, two women quietly rotate their arms in front of them — a rare sight in China, where displays of Falun Gong meditation have all but disappeared from public view. The spiritual movement now is a shadow of its heyday in China, where the group once boasted more than 70 million followers before it was outlawed in 1999 giving police carte blanche to persecute members. But 20 years on, the group has remained stubbornly persistent, even as practitioners in mainland China continue to face arrests and torture, according to rights groups. Before the crackdown, Falun Gong members would congregate in parks in large numbers to practice qi gong meditation. Now they do their slow movement exercises behind closed doors. “It doesn’t matter how the Communist Party suppresses (Falun Gong), I don’t think about it too much,” said one of the women, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the topic. “I just do what I want to do,” she said. Falun Gong, which emphasizes moral teachings, was once encouraged by Chinese authorities to ease the burden on a creaky health system after it was unveiled in 1992 by Li Hongzhi, who emigrated to the U.S. four years later. But after over 10,000 Falun Gong members surrounded Communist Party headquarters in central Beijing on April 25, 1999, to protest the detention of some of their members, the government responded with a crackdown. Then-president Jiang Zemin issued orders to eliminate the group, which was later declared an “evil cult” — a tactic to justify repression, scholars say. Top officials “see Falun Gong, first and foremost, as an ideological and political threat,” said Maria Cheung, a University of Manitoba professor who has researched the movement. The demonstration had been the biggest protest in Beijing since the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy sit-in in 1989. Following the protest, Chinese authorities launched a special security bureau known as the “610 office” to suppress and monitor Falun Gong followers. Practitioners and rights groups have also reported deaths, torture, and abuse at labor camps. One woman from northern China recounted a traumatic period when her father was pressured by local authorities to beat his younger sister, who was a “very resolute practitioner of Falun Gong.” He was “forced to break his own flesh and blood, resulting in my aunt hating her own brother for many years,” she told AFP, shuddering with tears. David Ownby, a history professor at the University of Montreal who has studied Falun Gong, said cults emerge in China because the officially atheist state has successfully kept traditional religions weak. “That means that part of the market is open to groups that are not sanctioned,” he said. “That is the basic paradox at the heart of the religion policy.” One Falun Gong follower in China, who joined in 2010, said her dissatisfaction with society and family life turned her towards the spiritual movement. “I thought that maybe a bit of (religious) faith would make me better,” she said, adding that she had also been exposed to Buddhism. While Falun Gong survives underground in mainland China it has swelled among the Chinese diaspora, as followers have fled overseas in search of asylum. Falun Gong is practiced in over 70 countries, according to Falun Dafa Info Center, the group’s press office. The movement has also turned “hard-edged” over the years, said Ownby, with some academics reporting harassment for calling Falun Gong a sect or cult. Levi Browde, the center’s executive director, said he believes if harassment has occurred, it is simply an effort by Falun Gong practitioners “to provide more information to the scholars.” It is about “making sure we’re not adding momentum to the wave of violence and death that engulfs the lives of Falun Gong practitioners throughout China,” he said. The spiritual movement has also adopted a more political stance in some parts of the world. In Hong Kong, where Falun Gong activists hand out flyers and try to talk to people — especially mainland tourists — the movement has taken on a stridently anti-communist tone. One key slogan, seen on banners and blared through loudspeakers is: “The heavens will destroy the Chinese Communist Party.” Zhang Yucheng, a 76-year-old Falun Gong member who distributes the anti-communism newspaper The Epoch Times to passers-by in Hong Kong, said he did not join the spiritual movement to be a dissident. “I was a Chinese Communist Party member,” he said. But when the party decided to “fight against Falun Gong and started to tell lies,” he felt he was left with no choice. “If one continues to tell the truth, they will end up like me, expelled from the party,” Zhang added. Beijing’s efforts to eliminate Falun Gong and other groups it deems heretical show no sign of abating, with dedicated “cult prevention and handling” departments active around the country. More than 900 Falun Gong followers were sentenced to prison between January 2013 and June 2016, according to a 2017 report by U.S.-based Freedom House. This year, posters appeared on public walls in Beijing warning people against cults, with the message: “wipe your eyes and stay awake.” The government is “calm on the surface but controlling underneath” said the Falun Gong follower from northern China. “I don’t think they have loosened up.” “Whether it’s wire-tapping or contacting you time and again,” she said, “they still want to control.”
|
china;human rights;religious freedom;falungong
|
jp0003482
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Rift with president kept Sri Lanka PM in dark about intel of looming Easter attack, says minister
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COLOMBO - A rift between Sri Lanka’s president and prime minister that sparked a crisis last year came under scrutiny on Monday a day after a series of deadly bomb blasts, with questions over how the government handled a recent warning of an attack. The prime minister has been kept out of intelligence briefings since he fell out with the president, a government minister said, a day after Easter attacks on churches and hotels killed 290 people and wounded nearly 500. Police had been warned this month about a possible attack on churches by a little-known domestic Islamist group, according to a document seen by Reuters. But Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had not been told of the report, dated April 11, that said a foreign intelligence agency had warned of attacks on churches by a domestic militant group called the National Thawheed Jama’ut, Health Minister Rajith Senaratne told reporters. It was not immediately clear what action, if any, was taken in response to the tip-off. “When we asked about the intelligence report, the prime minister was not aware of this,” said Senaratne, who also briefs reporters on the deliberations of the Cabinet. It was not clear if the president, Maithripala Sirisena, was aware of the report but the top security organization, the Security Council, reports to him, while the prime minister was no longer invited to council meetings because of the rift, Senaratne said. The president was out of the country when the bombers struck. His office declined comment. “As a government we have to say very, very sorry and we have to apologise to the families and their institutions about this incident,” said Senaratne. The president fired Wickremesinghe last October over political differences, only to reinstate him weeks later under pressure from the Supreme Court. Their relationship has not improved and their differences have delayed government decisions, politicians say. On Sunday, with the president on a foreign trip and the country shaken by the suicide attacks, Wickremesinghe called a Security Council meeting but its members failed to show up, Senaratne said. “This is the first time in history we have seen that the Security Council refused to come for a meeting with the country’s prime minister,” he said. On Monday, Wickremesinghe attended a council meeting called by Sirisena after his return. It was the prime minister’s first council meeting since the political crisis, his office said. Senaratne said security forces had raided training sites of the National Thawheed Jama’ut. The government also believed there were international links to the attacks. “We don’t think a small organization can do all that. We are now investigating international support for them and their other links — how they produced the suicide bombers and bombs like this,” he said.
|
christianity;terrorism;islam;sri lanka;ranil wickremesinghe;national thawheed jama'ut;rajith senaratne;sri lanka attacks
|
jp0003483
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"social-issues-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/23
|
China plastic waste ban throws global recycling into chaos
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JENJAROM, MALAYSIA - From grubby packaging engulfing small Southeast Asian communities to waste piling up in plants from the U.S. to Australia, China’s ban on accepting the world’s used plastic has plunged global recycling into turmoil. For many years, China received the bulk of scrap plastic from around the world, processing much of it into a higher quality material that could be used by manufacturers. But at the start of 2018, it closed its doors to almost all foreign plastic waste, as well as many other recyclables, in a push to protect the local environment and air quality, leaving developed nations struggling to find places to send their waste. “It was like an earthquake,” said Arnaud Brunet, director general of Brussels-based industry group The Bureau of International Recycling. “China was the biggest market for recyclables. It created a major shock in the global market.” Instead, plastic is being redirected in huge quantities to Southeast Asia, where Chinese recyclers have shifted en masse. With a large Chinese-speaking minority, Malaysia was a top choice for Chinese recyclers looking to relocate, and official data showed plastic imports tripled from 2016 levels to 870,000 tons last year. In the small town of Jenjarom, not far from Kuala Lumpur, plastic processing plants suddenly appeared in large numbers, pumping out noxious fumes day and night. Huge mounds of plastic waste, dumped in the open, piled up as recyclers struggled to cope with the influx of packaging from everyday goods, such as foods and laundry detergents, from as far afield as Germany, the United States, and Brazil. Residents soon noticed the acrid stench over the town — the kind of odor that is usual in processing plastic, but environmental campaigners believe some of the fumes also come from the incineration of plastic waste that was too low quality to recycle. “People were attacked by toxic fumes, waking them up at night. Many were coughing a lot,” said 47-year-old resident Pua Lay Peng. “I could not sleep, I could not rest, I always felt fatigued.” Pua and other community members began investigating and by mid-2018 had located about 40 suspected processing plants, many of which appeared to be operating secretly and without proper permits. Initial complaints to authorities went nowhere, but they kept up pressure, and eventually the government took action. Authorities started closing down illegal factories in Jenjarom and announced a nationwide temporary freeze on plastic import permits. Thirty-three factories were closed down, although activists believe many have quietly moved elsewhere in the country. Residents say air quality has improved but some plastic dumps remain. In Australia, Europe and the U.S., many of those collecting plastic and other recyclables were left scrambling to find new places to send it. They face higher costs to get it processed by recyclers at home and in some cases have resorted to sending it to landfill sites as the scrap has piled up too quickly. “Twelve months on, we are still feeling the effects but we have not moved to the solutions yet,” said Garth Lamb, president of industry body Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association of Australia. Some have been quicker to adapt to the new environment, such as some local authority-run centers that collect recyclables in Adelaide, southern Australia. The centers used to send nearly everything — ranging from plastic to paper and glass — to China, but now 80 percent is processed by local companies, with most of the rest shipped to India. “We moved quickly and looked to domestic markets,” said Adam Faulkner, chief executive of the Northern Adelaide Waste Management Authority. “We’ve found that by supporting local manufacturers, we’ve been able to get back to pre-China ban prices.” In mainland China, imports of plastic waste have dropped from 600,000 tons per month in 2016 to about 30,000 a month in 2018, according to data cited by a new report from Greenpeace and environmental organization Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives. Once bustling centers of recycling have been abandoned as firms shifted to Southeast Asia. On a visit to the southern town of Xingtan last year, Chen Liwen, founder of environmental nongovernmental organization China Zero Waste Alliance, found the once-booming recycling industry had disappeared. “The plastic recyclers were gone — there were ‘for rent’ signs plastered on factory doors and even recruitment signs calling for experienced recyclers to move to Vietnam,” she said. Southeast Asian nations affected early by the China ban — as well as Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam were hit hard — have taken steps to limit plastic imports, but the waste has simply been redirected to other countries without restrictions, such as Indonesia and Turkey, according to the Greenpeace report. With only an estimated 9 percent of plastics ever produced recycled, campaigners say the only long-term solution to the plastic waste crisis is for companies to make less and consumers to use less. Greenpeace campaigner Kate Lin said: “The only solution to plastic pollution is producing less plastic.”
|
china;pollution;recycling;waste;environment;plastic;plastic waste;_asia
|
jp0003484
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Sri Lanka imposes emergency and links international network to terror attacks that killed 290
|
COLOMBO - Sri Lanka said on Monday it was invoking emergency powers in the aftermath of devastating bomb attacks on hotels and churches, blamed on militants with foreign links, which killed 290 people and wounded nearly 500. The emergency law, which gives police and the military extensive powers to detain and interrogate suspects without court orders, would go into effect at midnight local time, the president’s office said. Colombo, the seaside capital of the Indian Ocean island, was jittery the day after the horrifying Easter Sunday attacks. Police said 87 bomb detonators were found at the city’s main bus station, while an explosive went off near a church when bomb squad officials were trying to defuse it. Scores were killed in the church on Sunday. A night curfew went into effect at 8 p.m. There was no claim of responsibility for Sunday’s attacks but suspicion was focusing on Islamist militants in the Buddhist-majority country. Investigators said seven suicide bombers took part in the attacks while a government spokesman said an international network was involved. Police had received a tip-off of a possible attack on churches by a little-known domestic Islamist group this month, according to a document seen by Reuters. The intelligence report, dated April 11, said a foreign intelligence agency had warned authorities of possible attacks on churches by the National Thawheed Jama’ut. It was not immediately clear what action, if any, was taken in response to the tip-off. International anti-terrorism experts said even if a local group had carried out the attacks, it was likely that al-Qaida or Islamic State were involved, given the level of sophistication. Two of the suicide bombers blew themselves up at the Shangri-La Hotel on Colombo’s seafront, said Ariyananda Welianga, an official at the government’s forensic division. The others targeted three churches and two other hotels. A fourth hotel and a house in a suburb of the capital Colombo were also hit, but it was not immediately clear how those attacks were carried out. “Still the investigations are going on,” Welianga said. Police said 24 people had been arrested, all of whom were Sri Lankan, but they gave no more details. Most of the attacks came during Easter services and when hotel guests were sitting down for breakfast buffets. “Guests who had come for breakfast were lying on the floor, blood all over,” an employee at Kingsbury Hotel told Reuters. Cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said the government believed an international network was involved. “We don’t think a small organization can do all that. We are now investigating international support for them and their other links — how they produced the suicide bombers and bombs like this,” he said. The president, Maithripala Sirisena, said the government would seek foreign help to track overseas links. U.S. President Donald Trump called Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to pledge U.S. support in bringing the perpetrators to justice, a White House spokesman said. “A terrible, terrible thing. Unthinkable,” Trump later told reporters at a White House event. “We are working with Sri Lanka.” Pope Francis deplored the attacks and called for universal condemnation of what he said were “terrorist acts, inhuman acts” that could never be justified. Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka was at war for decades with ethnic minority Tamil separatists, most of them Hindu, but violence had largely ended since the government victory in the civil war 10 years ago. The country’s 22 million people include minority Christians, Muslims and Hindus. Most of the dead and wounded were Sri Lankans although government officials said 32 foreigners were killed, including British, U.S., Australian, Turkish, Indian, Chinese, Danish, Dutch and Portuguese nationals. Denmark’s richest man, Anders Holch Povlsen, and his wife lost three of their four children in the attacks, a spokesman for his fashion firm said. A British mother and son were killed while eating breakfast at the Shangri-La, British media reported, while five Indian political workers were killed at the same hotel. The U.S. State Department said in a travel advisory “terrorist groups” were plotting possible attacks in Sri Lanka and targets could include tourist spots, transport hubs, shopping malls, hotels, places of worship and airports. Traffic was uncharacteristically thin in normally bustling Colombo on Monday. Soldiers with automatic weapons stood guard outside major hotels and the World Trade Center in the business district. An Australian survivor, identified only as Sam, told Australia’s 3AW radio the hotel was a scene of “absolute carnage. He said he and a travel partner were having breakfast at the Shangri-La when two blasts went off. He said he had seen two men wearing backpacks seconds before the blasts. “There were people screaming and dead bodies all around,” he said. “Kids crying, kids on the ground, I don’t know if they were dead or not, just crazy.” There were similar scenes at two churches in or near Colombo, and a third church in the northeast town of Batticaloa, where worshippers had gathered. Pictures showed bodies on the ground and blood-spattered pews and statues. Dozens were killed in a blast at the Gothic-style St Sebastian church in Katuwapitiya, north of Colombo. Police said they suspected it was a suicide attack. Questions over why the intelligence report warning was not acted upon could feed into a feud between Prime Minister Wickremesinghe and the president. Sirisena fired the pime minister last year and installed opposition strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa in his stead. Weeks later, he was forced to re-instate Wickremesinghe because of pressure from the Supreme Court but their relationship is still fraught as a presidential election nears.
|
u.s .;christianity;terrorism;islam;sri lanka;al-qaida;islamic state;colombo;national thawheed jama'ut;sri lanka attacks
|
jp0003485
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Former Vietnamese president, who led invasion of Cambodia that ousted Khmer Rouge, dies at 99
|
HANOI - Gen. Le Duc Anh, a Communist Party hard-liner and former Vietnamese president who led the invasion of Cambodia, which led to the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime, has died at 99. Duc Anh, who was born in 1920, spent much of his life in southern Vietnam, where he joined the communist war effort against the French and then the United States. Duc Anh died late Monday “following a long illness,” the government and state media announced. He served as president between 1992-1997, championing the continued primacy of the Communist party as Vietnam embarked on sweeping market reforms that spurred remarkable economic growth. In 1995 he became the first Vietnamese head of state to set foot on U.S. soil after the Vietnam War when he attended the 50th anniversary of the United Nations in New York. Educated in the former Soviet Union and blind in one eye, he held various military posts during the Vietnam War. He was one of the “liberators of Saigon” as deputy commander of the offensive that toppled the U.S.-backed South Vietnamese government. He is best remembered for playing a commanding role in the invasion of Cambodia that drove Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge out of Phnom Penh in 1978, earning him the nickname “Tiger of Cambodia.” “At the time, the Khmer Rouge had plans to fight their way to Saigon,” he told Vietnamese media in 2009. “Without our support … how would the Cambodians have risen up to liberate their own country?” he added. A state funeral is expected to be held for him.
|
vietnam;vietnam war;khmer rouge;le duc anh
|
jp0003486
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Powerful quake hits southern Philippines a day after deadly temblor in north of country
|
PORAC, PHILIPPINES - A new powerful earthquake hit the central Philippines on Tuesday, a day after a magnitude 6.1 quake rattled the country’s north and left at least 16 people dead, including in a collapsed supermarket, where rescuers scrambled to find survivors. The U.S. Geological Survey put the magnitude of Tuesday’s quake at 6.4, while the local seismology agency said it was 6.5. The quake was centered near San Julian town in Eastern Samar province and prompted residents to dash out of houses and office workers to scamper to safety. There were no immediate reports of casualties or major damage from the latest quake. Classes and office work were suspended in San Julian, where cracks on roads and small buildings and a church were reported. Power was deliberately cut as a precaution in the quake’s aftermath, officials said. Meanwhile, rescuers worked overnight to recover bodies in the rubble of a supermarket that crashed down in Monday’s quake, which damaged other buildings and an airport in the northern Philippines. The bodies of five victims were pulled from Chuzon Supermarket and seven other villagers died due to collapsed house walls in hard-hit Porac town in Pampanga province, north of Manila, said Ricardo Jalad, who heads the government’s disaster-response agency. An Associated Press photographer saw seven people, including at least one dead, being pulled out by rescuers from the pile of concrete, twisted metal and wood overnight. Red Cross volunteers, army troops, police and villagers used four cranes, crow bars and sniffer dogs to look for the missing, some of whom were still yelling for help Monday night. Authorities inserted a large orange tube into the rubble to blow in oxygen in the hope of helping people still pinned there to breathe. On Tuesday morning, rescuers pulled out a man alive, sparking cheers and applause. “We’re all very happy, many clapped their hands in relief because we’re still finding survivors after several hours,” Porac Councilor Maynard Lapid said by phone from the scene, adding that another victim was expected to be pulled out alive soon. Jalad said at least 15 people died in Pampanga province, including those who perished in Porac town. The quake damaged houses, roads, bridges, Roman Catholic churches and an international airport terminal at Clark Freeport, a former American air base, in Pampanga. A state of calamity was declared in Porac to allow contingency funds to be released faster. A child died in a landslide in nearby Zambales province, officials said. At least 14 people remained missing in the rice-growing agricultural region, most of them in the rubble of the collapsed supermarket in Porac, while 81 others were injured, according to the government’s disaster-response agency. The four-story building housing the supermarket crashed down when the quake shook Pampanga as well as several other provinces and Manila, the Philippines’ capital, on the main northern island of Luzon. More than 400 aftershocks have been recorded, mostly unfelt. The U.S. Geological Survey’s preliminary estimate is that more than 49 million people were exposed to some shaking from the earthquake, with more than 14 million people likely to feel moderate shaking or more. Clark airport was closed temporarily because of damaged check-in counters, ceilings and parts of the departure area, airport official Jaime Melo said, adding that seven people were slightly injured and more than 100 flights were canceled. In Manila, thousands of office workers dashed out of buildings in panic, some wearing hard hats, and residents ran out of houses as the ground shook. Many described the ground movement as being like sea waves. A traffic-prone Manila street was partially closed after a college building was damaged by the quake and appeared to tilt slightly sideways toward an adjacent building, officials said. Many schools and government offices, including courts, in the densely packed Manila metropolis were closed Tuesday to allow inspections of their buildings. Philippine seismologists said the back-to-back quakes in the last two days were unrelated and caused by different local faults. One of the world’s most disaster-prone countries, the Philippines has frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions because it lies on the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a seismically active arc of volcanos and fault lines in the Pacific Basin. A magnitude 7.7 quake killed nearly 2,000 people in the northern Philippines in 1990.
|
earthquake;usgs;u.s. geological survey;pampanga;philippines . luzon;tutubigan;porac
|
jp0003487
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"crime-legal-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Thai navy tows floating home of fugitive U.S. 'seasteader'
|
BANGKOK - Thailand’s navy on Monday began towing to shore the floating cabin of a fugitive U.S. citizen and his Thai girlfriend, both prominent members of the “seasteading” movement who face possible death sentences for setting up their offshore home. The cabin set on top of a spar 14 nautical miles off the Thai island of Phuket had been touted as a milestone in the movement to build floating communities in international waters as a way to explore alternative societies and governments. Authorities have revoked the visa of bitcoin trader Chad Elwartowski, 46, and charged him and his partner, Supranee Thepdet, with violating Thai sovereignty, punishable by the death penalty or life in prison. The Royal Thai Navy dispatched three boats on Monday to dismantle the structure and bring it back to shore for use as evidence in the government’s case against the couple. “The couple announced on social media declaring their autonomy beyond the jurisdiction of any courts or law of any countries, including Thailand,” Rear Adm. Vithanarat Kochaseni told reporters, adding they had invited others to join them. “We see such action as deteriorating Thailand’s independence,” he said. HTMS Mannai, a landing craft utility ship, was expected to return to Phuket with the 6-meter (20 ft) wide, hexagonal cabin by late Monday. Elwartowski and Supranee lived in the cabin for two months and left before the Thai navy raided the structure on April 13. Their whereabouts is unknown, though the government has said the pair are believed to be in Thailand. Elwartowski has referred requests for comment to Ocean Builders, which funded and built the cabin, and the Seasteading Institute, which advocates building offshore floating cities and originally received backing from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. Ocean Builders said on its website the cabin was in international waters and beyond Thailand’s jurisdiction. Thai authorities say the structure is within its 200-mile exclusive economic zone and therefore a violation of its sovereignty. Joe Quirk, president of the Seasteading Institute, said the couple had achieved a milestone for the movement. “They proved a single-family seastead can float stably in international waters for less than the cost of the average American home,” Quirk said in a statement. Elwartowski also conducted valuable research on ecosystems over the two months the couple lived in the cabin, he said. “You can demolish the seastead, but you can’t demolish the knowledge that was gained,” said Quirk, who is described by his group as a “seavangelist” and an “aquapreneur.
|
thailand;death penalty;bitcoin;phuket;cryptocurrencies;seasteader;chad elwartowski
|
jp0003488
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"crime-legal-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Myanmar's Supreme Court rejects appeal by award-winning Reuters reporters
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NAYPYITAW - Myanmar’s Supreme Court rejected the latest appeal Tuesday by two Pulitzer-prize winning Reuters journalists who were jailed for seven years on charges linked to their reporting on the Rohingya crisis, as hopes now turn to a presidential pardon. Reporters Wa Lone, 33, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 29, have been behind bars since their arrest in December 2017 under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act. They were convicted of possessing classified documents relating to security operations in Rakhine during a brutal military crackdown against Rohingya Muslims that forced some 740,000 to flee over the border into Bangladesh. The initial ruling, in September, was upheld by the Yangon High Court in January. On Tuesday, the reporters were not at the Supreme Court in the capital Naypyitaw to hear the ruling that once again went against them. Under Myanmar’s judicial system, the Reuters journalists could take their appeal back to the Supreme Court judges twice more, but it is unclear whether they will try this option or if they will pin all their hopes on a pardon. “Our appeal was rejected,” said lawyer Khin Maung Zaw. “They upheld the ruling of the lower court.” He added that the reporters had indicated they did not want to continue with the legal process but that a final decision had not yet been made. Both of the journalists’ wives were at the Supreme Court for the ruling, and spoke side-by-side to reporters afterwards. “I’m very upset by the Supreme Court’s decision,” said Chit Su Win, wife of Kyaw Soe Oo, visibly fighting back tears. “We really hoped our husbands would be released but it hasn’t happened.” Supporters believe the pair were punished for investigating a massacre of 10 Rohingya in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state in September 2017. The story earned the team the Pulitzer, one of the top honors in journalism. Myanmar’s armed forces insist the brutal campaign in Rakhine was justified as a means to root out Rohingya militants. But soldiers involved in the massacre investigated by Reuters were also jailed. The case against the journalists has become a cause celebre for press freedom. Prominent rights attorney Amal Clooney joined the legal team, and Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were featured on the cover of TIME magazine. But despite a global outcry the two remain in Yangon’s Insein prison. Rights groups and legal experts say the case against the Reuters reporters was riddled with irregularities. A whistleblowing police officer testified during their trial that his superior had ordered his team to trap the reporters in a sting — testimony the judge chose to ignore. Officer Moe Yan Naing was initially called as a prosecution witness before breaking ranks in court. “Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo did not commit any crime, nor was there any proof that they did,” said Reuters Chief Counsel Gail Gove in a statement following Tuesday’s ruling. “Instead, they were victims of a police set-up to silence their truthful reporting. We will continue to do all we can to free them as soon as possible.” Rights groups have urged Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi to use her influence to secure this, but she has so far refused to intervene. “The court decision is very disappointing — it’s a hopeless situation for the two journalists and for freedom of speech,” said Maung Saungkha, founder of local rights group Athan. Freedom of expression advocate PEN America called Tuesday’s decision “devastating and wrongful” in a tweet, adding that the campaign against the pair was a “disgraceful attempt to intimidate Myanmar’s fledgeling free press.”
|
murder;myanmar;rohingya;reuters;pulitzer;official secrets act;wa lone;kyaw soe oo
|
jp0003489
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Japan's youngest pro go player, 10-year-old Sumire Nakamura, loses debut match
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OSAKA - Japan’s youngest professional go player, Sumire Nakamura, who is 10 years and one month old, failed to seal victory in her official debut match on Monday. Nakamura, a first-dan player of the traditional board game who turned professional earlier this month, lost to first-dan Ran Omori in a qualifying match for the 29th Ryusei tournament in the city of Osaka. Omori, 16, became a pro at the same time as Nakamura. Nakamura rewrote the previous youngest debut record of 11 years and eight months, which was set by now 20-year-old Rina Fujisawa, who holds three titles for female go players including Meijin. “I was too nervous to play very well,” Nakamura said. “I’m frustrated. The latter part (of the match) didn’t go well.” After starting to play go at the age of 3, she trained as a professional player candidate at the Japanese and South Korean go associations. In January, the Nihon Ki-in, or Japan Go Association, said Nakamura had secured professional status by passing an exam under a newly established recommendation system to nurture next-generation players. The elementary school student became professional when she turned 10. Her father, Shinya, 46, is a ninth-dan player.
|
children;records;go;sumire nakamura
|
jp0003490
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Cross-party group of around 70 lawmakers visits Japan's war-linked Yasukuni Shrine
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A cross-party group of about 70 lawmakers visited the controversial Yasukuni Shrine on Tuesday during its annual spring festival to pay respects to Japan’s war dead. The Shinto shrine in Tokyo is often a source of diplomatic friction with China and South Korea, which regard it as a symbol of Japan’s militarism before and during World War II because it honors convicted war criminals along with millions of war dead. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a ritual offering of a masakaki tree to the shrine on Sunday, the first day of the three-day spring festival, but again refrained from visiting. “I think the deceased people will understand if it was a judgment for the country,” Hidehisa Otsuji, chairman of the cross-party group, told a news conference later in the day, referring to Abe’s decision not to visit the shrine. Since taking office for the second time in 2012, Abe has only visited Yasukuni once, in December 2013. That visit brought Japan’s relations with China and South Korea to their lowest point in years. The shrine’s annual spring and autumn festivals are its most important events. The group’s members usually visit Yasukuni during the two festivals, as well as on Aug. 15, the anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II.
|
wwii;yasukuni shrine;history;diet;china-japan relations;shinto;south korea-japan relations
|
jp0003492
|
[
"national",
"politics-diplomacy"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Japan and Russia to step up talks on economic activity on disputed isles
|
Japan and Russia have agreed to start new working-level talks regarding joint economic activity on the four disputed islands off Hokkaido, Foreign Ministry officials said. The director-level task force, launched separately from an existing working-level dialogue involving higher-level officials, is intended to boost coordination on the territorial dispute ahead of a meeting between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Vladimir Putin. The meeting is planned for June on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit. A major breakthrough on the issue appears unlikely during the summit, with Russia showing no signs of budging on Japan’s proposal that the two smallest islands be handed over. Japan hopes the implementation of economic activities on the Russian-controlled islands will lead to an eventual settlement of the dispute, which has prevented Tokyo and Moscow from signing a postwar peace treaty. Senior Deputy Foreign Minister Takeo Mori told reporters Monday that he had “in-depth” discussions with Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov on the establishment of a framework to allow people to travel to the islands without undermining their countries’ positions. Mori said the discussions included visa-free travel between Hokkaido and Sakhalin in the Russian Far East, which covers the disputed islands. The islands, called the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kurils in Russia, were seized by the Soviet Union following Japan’s surrender in 1945. Tokyo asserts the seizure was illegal while Moscow maintains it was a legitimate outcome of the war. Morgulov on Monday also held talks with Kenji Kanasugi, head of the Foreign Ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, in which they agreed to work toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, according to Japanese officials. Putin is slated to hold his first summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un later this week, after talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim fell apart in February.
|
vladimir putin;russia;northern territories;russia-japan relations
|
jp0003493
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Hanshin Expressway to be closed for up to four days for G20
|
OSAKA - The Osaka Prefectural Police said Monday that it will close almost all major sections of the Hanshin Expressway for up to four days for the June 28-29 Group of 20 summit. The large-scale traffic restrictions will be put in place to facilitate the movement of the world leaders attending the summit in the city of Osaka. The police will also impose limits on other roads and conduct checks near hotels and venues. The public is being asked to refrain from using their vehicles in and near restricted areas during the period. The traffic restrictions will be applied to 10 sections of the expressway — totaling some 160 kilometers — that connect an airport, hotels and venues. The sections will be closed from early morning to late at night between June 27 and June 30. The long traffic management hours are necessary because a large number of vehicles will transport summit participants from a total of 37 countries and organizations. Routes for such cars must be kept clear, with many other meetings expected, including impromptu bilateral talks. According to the police, it is impossible to manage traffic by imposing and lifting restrictions repeatedly on the sections, where around 800,000 vehicles travel daily. The police plan to announce detour routes. The amount of traffic on ordinary roads is expected to double due to the expressway closures, likely causing heavy congestion. Aiming to halve traffic during the period, the police are asking local companies and citizens not to use their cars during the four days. Automobile traffic to and from Kansai International Airport, also in Osaka Prefecture, is also expected to face disruption during the summit period. Private passenger vehicles may be denied access to the bridge connecting the airport, located on an artificial island in Osaka Bay, and the mainland, mainly on June 27 and 29, when many world leaders will arrive or leave. The police are asking people to reach the airport by using trains instead of buses or their own vehicles. As inspections and security checks at the airport are expected to be heavy, passengers should arrive at the airport early, according to the police.
|
osaka;g20;hanshin expressway
|
jp0003494
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Tepco transfers first nuclear fuel out of No. 3 reactor building at crippled Fukushima plant
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FUKUSHIMA - The operator of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant said Tuesday it has transferred some nuclear fuel from one of the reactor buildings damaged by hydrogen explosions in the 2011 disaster to another location for safer storage and management. It was the first removal of such fuel from within the buildings for units Nos. 1 to 3, where it had been kept in storage pools, at the site, which suffered meltdowns after losing power following a massive earthquake and tsunami. Seven unspent fuel rod assemblies were transferred Tuesday to a common pool about 100 meters away, according to Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. The transfer of nuclear fuel, which emits high levels of radiation, from the No. 3 unit pool is expected to lower the risk of the decommissioning work. The utility began the process of removing fuel there on April 15. At around 11:15 a.m. Tuesday, workers began using a trailer to relocate the fuel assemblies, placed in a cylinder-shaped cask, to the common pool. The task, completed in about 20 minutes, was carried out by about a dozen workers in protective gear. Since the common pool undergoes regular checks as required by law, the fuel transfer may be suspended until July, the operator said. Tepco aims to transfer all of the remaining 559 spent and unspent fuel assemblies from the No. 3 unit storage pool to the common pool by March 2021. Fuel removal from the No. 3 unit was originally scheduled to start in late 2014 but was pushed back multiple times as high levels of radiation, among other factors, caused delays in the preparations for fuel transfer. In fiscal 2023 the utility aims to start the task of removing fuel currently in the storage pools of the Nos. 1-2 units, and it has been assessing their surroundings. Even if the fuel removal work progresses smoothly, Tepco still faces the biggest challenge in the decommissioning of the crippled plant — retrieval of melted fuel that has dripped down into the containment vessels at the Nos. 1-3 units.
|
fukushima;fukushima no . 1;radiation;tepco;nuclear energy;3.11
|
jp0003495
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/23
|
New 'air-a': Canny Japanese firm sells tins of Heisei air
|
With just days to go until Japan ushers in a new era with the ascension of a new Emperor, one entrepreneurial company is cashing in by selling cans containing “the air of the outgoing era” — a breeze at ¥1,080. The cans filled with “the air of Heisei,” in reference to the era name for the 30-year reign of current Emperor Akihito, hit the shelves Monday, with producers hoping to sell as many as 1,000 units. “Air is free of charge but we hope people will enjoy breathing the fresh air of Heisei after the new era comes, or just keep it as a memento,” said Heso Production Co. president Minoru Inamoto. The cans have been produced in the village of Henari, Gifu Prefecture, which is written using the same characters as those used for the current Heisei Era, said Inamoto. The cans can be snapped up at a roadside station in the village as well as online, he added. They contain nothing but “the air of the current era” and a five-yen coin, often considered a lucky charm. Firms around Japan are scrambling to produce memorabilia from the outgoing era before the country enters the Reiwa Era on May 1, when Crown Prince Naruhito is set to ascend to the Chrysanthemum Throne. Oval gold coins engraved with Heisei are selling like hot cakes at Tokyo department stores, while confectionery-makers are bringing back blockbuster sweets popular during the Heisei Era. Henari is seeing an influx of visitors, and merchants there are selling everything from chocolate to polo shirts and alcohol bearing the name. Businesses targeting the new era are also thriving, launching Reiwa-labeled goods such as stickers, smartphone covers, T-shirts, pins and commemorative bottles of sake.
|
gifu;abdication;heisei;reiwa;henari
|
jp0003496
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Japanese train companies devise various deals to celebrate end of Heisei and dawning of Reiwa
|
Railway operators across Japan are offering myriad package deals ranging from overnight tours to countdowns inside carriages for passengers who want to celebrate the upcoming change of eras. Tobu Railway Co. will operate a special overnight train carrying travelers from an area near Tokyo to a hot spring resort to celebrate the end of the current Heisei Era on April 30, when Emperor Akihito abdicates, and the beginning of the Reiwa Era on May 1. The “Thank You Heisei, Hello Reiwa” train led by their diesel locomotive DL Taiju will leave Minami Kurihashi in Saitama Prefecture at 11:55 p.m. on April 30 and arrive at Kinugawa Onsen in Tochigi Prefecture at 5:00 a.m. the following day. Passengers will be offered light food and drinks to toast the new era on board and can use the hot springs and eat breakfast at a hotel at the end of their journey, according to the company. In western Japan, travel agency Hankyu Travel International Co. in Osaka has chartered West Japan Railway Co.’s express train Kuroshio for a trip to view the sunrise off Cape Shionomisaki, the southernmost point of Honshu. All 270 available overnight train tickets have already sold out, the company said. In Hokkaido, travelers can take part in an overnight railway tour offered by South Hokkaido Railway Co. between Hakodate and Hokuto. Participants in the “Journey from Showa, Heisei to Reiwa” tour will take a train that was built in the Showa Era, which preceded the Heisei Era, and depart Hakodate before midnight April 30. They can raise a glass as the era changes, relax in two carriages of the old Hokutosei sleeper service and take a dip in an onsen (hot spring) spa before returning to Hakodate, the operator said. In Saitama Prefecture, Chichibu Railway Co. will run a train led by a C58 steam locomotive between Kumagawa and Mitsumineguchi with a special sign reading “Thank you Heisei” on April 30. It will change the sign to “Congratulations Reiwa” the following day. Founded in 1989, the first year of the current era, Heisei Chikuho Railway in Fukuoka Prefecture is the only railway company in Japan that uses the era name. The company will run a train in which the conductor holds a countdown from Heisei to Reiwa within the carriage. “We have been able to safely operate on account of our customers (since the start of Heisei). We will promote our gratitude for the era as well as customers during the event,” an official of the operator said.
|
rail;tourism;heisei;reiwa
|
jp0003497
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/23
|
At Tokyo C20, civil society leaders from around the world press to be heard at Osaka G20
|
Civil society leaders from 40 countries concluded a three-day gathering in Tokyo on Tuesday with calls that, amid violence and legal restrictions on them globally, such organizations’ voices should not be excluded from the Group of 20 leaders’ summit set to be hosted by Osaka this year. “There are increased worries that the space for civil society to operate in is shrinking, especially in Asia,” said Yuka Iwatsuki, the chair of Civil 20, one of several groups that advise G20 leaders on a broad range of international social and economic issues. “The G20 governments must recognize that civil society organizations are indispensable and that a diversity of voices from civil society enriches policymaking,” she added. Last week, C20 leaders presented recommendations to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on how to address a variety of issues ranging from corruption and education to the environment and engineering infrastructure. But it was the area of digital economy that has emerged as one of the key items on the agenda for when world leaders gather in Osaka on June 28 and 29. “Technological innovation can play a role in overcoming a wide range of social and economic challenges, such as a graying population and climate change,” said Tamaki Tsukada, Japan’s G20 Sous-Sherpa and the Foreign Ministry official who outlined Tokyo’s agenda for the G20 summit. “On the other hand, the pace of innovation-driven change is often difficult to respond to in a timely manner, resulting in economic and social dislocation,” Tsukada noted. “For the same reasons, efforts to create an appropriate system of governance tend to lag behind.” For these reasons, he said, Abe has decided to accelerate international discussion on data governance among G20 leaders. “We hope Osaka can crystallize global discussion on this very important topic,” Tsukada added. But civil society leaders have warned that the G20 needs to remember such governance will have to come with the careful handling of people’s data. “As the G20 discusses the use of data, it will be absolutely critical to create a new framework for governing the use of data that respects human rights, including the right to information and rights to privacy and security,” said Neth Dano, co-executive director of the Philippines-based ETC Group, which monitors the impact of emerging technologies and corporate strategies on biodiversity, agriculture and human rights. “Any new global rules on the digital economy must ensure accountability and transparency and protect the rights of workers, farmers, youth and women in manufacturing, agriculture and service industries,” Dano stressed. The Japanese government’s decision to make issues related to the digital economy a priority has also forced civil society organizations to consider how that would affect their own areas of expertise. “Traditionally, many (nongovernmental organizations) have a ‘silo approach,’ studying development issues and not focusing as much on economic issues. So we had to do a lot of studying and preparation to come up with recommendations for the G20 process,” said Masaki Inaba, who serves as this year’s C20 sherpa. Other discussions during the C20 summit have focused on transparency and anti-corruption measures, how to crack down on corporations that hide their money in tax havens, and environmental issues — such as the need for more G20 cooperation and funding to deal with cleaning up plastic waste in the world’s oceans. In addition, participants emphasized the importance of the G20 leaders promoting so-called “quality infrastructure” — a somewhat vague term that can be used to refer to high levels of financial transparency and accountability for both the donors and recipients before international funding is poured into major civil engineering projects in lesser developed countries. This year’s C20 took place less than five months after the conclusion of the 2018 G20 leaders’ summit in Buenos Aires.
|
rights;privacy;g20;globalism;c20
|
jp0003498
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/23
|
U.S.-chartered ship and Japanese research vessel to join deep-sea search for SDF's lost F-35A
|
Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya said Tuesday a U.S.-chartered ship will within this month join a deep-sea search for an F-35A fighter jet that recently crashed in the Pacific. Iwaya told a news conference that the Van Gogh will join the search effort by the Maritime Self-Defense Force and U.S. forces off Aomori Prefecture, saying, “We’ll try to find the wreckage as soon as possible.” The jet, developed by U.S. defense firm Lockheed Martin Corp. and assembled by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., went down on April 9 during an Air Self-Defense Force night exercise after taking off from Misawa Air Base in Aomori. Both countries are concerned about the implications of the cutting-edge aircraft being recovered by other countries as it could constitute a major military intelligence breach. The ASDF pilot of the single-seat stealth jet also remains missing. Science minister Masahiko Shibayama told a separate news conference on Tuesday that the research vessel Kaimei, owned by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, will also take part in the search following a request from the Defense Ministry. According to the agency, the ship is equipped with a remotely operated vehicle that can observe up to a depth of about 3,000 meters. Iwaya told reporters in Washington on Friday that acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan agreed to dispatch a ship to search for the F-35A’s wreckage following a request from Japan.
|
u.s .;accidents;military;self defense forces;f-35;takeshi iwaya
|
jp0003499
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/23
|
Emperor visits father's tomb before April 30 abdication
|
Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko visited the tomb of Emperor Showa in Hachioji, western Tokyo, on Tuesday for an official ceremony to mark the Emperor’s abdication on April 30. The visit to his father’s mausoleum in the Musashino Imperial Graveyard is among the 11 ceremonies scheduled for the 85-year-old’s relinquishment of the throne and the last before rites to be held on the day of abdication. The Emperor, wearing a morning suit, and the Empress, wearing a long dress, offered prayers at the mausoleum during the Shinetsu no Gi ritual. His father was known as Emperor Hirohito during his life. Crown Prince Naruhito, 59, who will ascend to the Chrysanthemum Throne on May 1, will similarly take part in a number of ceremonies and rituals to mark his succession. The abdication is the first by a living Japanese monarch in over two centuries. As preparations for the Imperial succession move forward, the Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe decided Tuesday to appoint the Crown Prince’s top aide, Nobutake Odano, 71, as the new grand chamberlain as of May 1. Current Grand Chamberlain Chikao Kawai, 66, will simultaneously assume a new post created to support the current Emperor after his abdication. Odano is a former ambassador to the European Union, while Kawai is a former vice foreign minister. The Emperor indicated his wish to abdicate in a 2016 video message. He cited his concern that he might not be able to fulfill his official duties due to his advanced age. The Diet enacted legislation the following year to enable the move.
|
emperor akihito;abdication;musashino imperial graveyard
|
jp0003500
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/15
|
Abe asks U.K. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt to minimize Brexit impact on Japan firms and world
|
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday asked the U.K. to minimize the negative impact of its departure from the European Union on Japanese companies and the broader global economy. During a meeting with British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt in Tokyo, Abe said Japan welcomes the fact that a “no deal” Brexit was avoided after the U.K. and the European Union agreed last week to extend the deadline again for the so-called British exit from the bloc to Oct. 31 from April 12. “We respect the efforts made by Prime Minister (Theresa) May” to avert a no-deal Brexit, Abe told Hunt. “It’s our hope that the negative impact of Britain’s exit on Japanese companies and the world economy will be minimal.” May has struggled in recent weeks to win parliamentary support for the deal she negotiated with the other 27 EU members, raising fears of a no-deal exit disrupting business activities. Japanese manufacturers, including Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co., have production plants in Britain. Hunt told Abe that Britain is “very determined” to avoid a no-deal Brexit, noting that Japan has helped “transform the British manufacturing industry for the better.” “We want that strong cooperation to continue,” the British foreign secretary said. During the meeting, Abe also sought British support when Tokyo hosts the Group of 20 summit in Osaka in June. Tokyo hopes to lead discussions on turning innovation and free trade into drivers of economic growth, among other global challenges.
|
shinzo abe;u.k .;brexit;jeremy hunt
|
jp0003501
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/15
|
Too many travelers, too few planes is U.S. airlines' 737 Max summer dilemma
|
CHICAGO - Normally U.S. airlines compete to sell tickets and fill seats during the peak summer travel season. But operators of the grounded Boeing 737 Max are facing a different problem: scarce planes and booming demand. The grounding of Boeing Co’s fuel-efficient, single-aisle workhorse after two fatal crashes is biting into U.S. airlines’ Northern Hemisphere spring and summer schedules, threatening to disarm them in their seasonal war for profits. “The revenue is right in front of them. They can see it, but they can’t meet it,” said Mike Trevino, spokesman for Southwest Airlines Pilots Association and an aviation industry veteran. Southwest Airlines Co., the world’s largest Max operator, and American Airlines Group Inc. with 34 and 24 Max jetliners respectively, have removed the aircraft from their flying schedules into August. Southwest’s decision will lead to 160 cancellations of some 4,200 daily flights between June 8 and Aug. 5, while American’s removal through Aug. 19 means about 115 daily cancellations, or 1.5 percent of its summer flying schedule each day. Low-cost carrier Southwest, which unlike its rivals only flies Boeing 737s, had estimated $150 million in lost revenue between Feb. 20 and March 31 alone due to Max cancellations and other factors. So far airlines have said it is too soon to estimate the impact of the Max grounding beyond the first quarter, but the extended cancellations signal that they do not expect a quick return of Boeing’s fast-selling jetliner. The 737 Max was grounded worldwide in March following a fatal Ethiopian Airlines crash just five months after a Lion Air crash in Indonesia. All on board both planes were killed. Boeing is under pressure to deliver an upgrade on software that is under scrutiny in both crashes and convince global regulators that the plane is safe to fly again, a process expected to take at least 90 days. The timing of a prolonged grounding could not be worse for Northern Hemisphere carriers. Planes run fullest during June, July and August, when airlines earn the most revenue per available seat mile, according to U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics. In a letter to employees and customers on Sunday, American Airlines’ top executives said they believed the Max would be recertified “soon” but wanted to provide their customers reliability and confidence during “the busiest travel period of the year.” American was canceling about 90 flights per day through early June, but runs more flights and has less fleet flexibility in the peak summer travel months. “We’re not denying that it’s going to be a challenge for us,” American spokesman Ross Feinstein said. “That is why if we have to extend cancellations based on aircraft availability we will do so as far in advance as possible.” A decline in seat capacity could mean higher last-minute summer fares, particularly for business class travelers, aviation consultants and analysts said. United Airlines, with 14 Max jets, has largely avoided cancellations by servicing Max routes with larger 777 or 787 aircraft, but the airline president, Scott Kirby, warned last week that the strategy was costing it money and could not go on forever. Overall the Max represents just 5 percent of Southwest’s total fleet and even less for American and United, but the strain on fleets increases as additional Max deliveries remain frozen. Southwest has 41 Max jets pending delivery for 2019, while American has 16 and United 14. To compensate, global Max operators have added a flight or two to other aircrafts’ daily schedules and deferred some non-essential maintenance work. Some airlines are also weighing extending aircraft leases and bringing back idled planes, but with unclear Max timing, no option is clear-cut or cheap, consultants said. United is due to publish first-quarter results on April 16, followed by Southwest on April 25 and American on April 26.
|
airlines;boeing;travel;ethiopian airlines;737 max;lion air;air accidents
|
jp0003502
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/15
|
New Zealand pension fund drops two gun-linked Japanese firms in wake of mosque massacres
|
SYDNEY - Two Japanese companies are among those that have been excluded from New Zealand’s public pension fund in response to stricter gun control measures following the fatal mass shootings last month. The NZ Super Fund, which manages 41 billion New Zealand dollars ($27.7 billion) worth of assets, removed seven firms including Daicel Corp. and NOF Corp., which are both involved in gunpowder-related operations, the fund announced Friday. The divestiture amounts to NZ$19 million ($12.8 million). New Zealand banned most semi-automatic weapons in the wake of the shootings, which killed 50 people in Christchurch. Other companies dropped by the fund include U.S. firearm makers American Outdoor Brands Corp. and Sturm, Ruger & Co.
|
guns;new zealand;pension;christchurch;mass shootings;daicel;nof
|
jp0003503
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/15
|
Resolution to U.S.-China trade war not too far away, GE boss Larry Culp says
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SAN FRANCISCO - U.S.-China relations will continue to evolve as negotiations stretch over the decades, but a resolution to the current trade dispute will likely happen in the “not too distant future,” General Electric Co.’s Chief Executive Officer Larry Culp said. His comments came as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the U.S. is open to facing “repercussions” if it doesn’t live up to its commitments in a potential trade deal with China, a sign the two sides are edging closer to an accord to end their nine-month trade and tariff war. “There’s a politically expedient resolution relative to trade numbers, a big order here, a big order there,” Culp said at the Harvard College China Forum. “Substantively, our sense is that both governments should like to advance the conversation, maybe not once and for all, but in a meaningful way with respect to access and intellectual property.” He’s also concerned that pulling back from China, where GE started doing business as early as 1906, would open up a void its competitors in Japan and Europe would be “very quick” to fill. China is GE’s biggest market by revenue after the U.S., he said. “If you look at our supply chains, the way our design footprints, operate today they are very much integrated global networks,” Culp said. “To pull a piece of the puzzle like China out would impair those supply chains and those design networks.” The U.S. and China are discussing whether to hold more in-person meetings. The IMF cited trade tensions as a risk in the past week as it cut its outlook for global growth to the lowest since the financial crisis a decade ago. Culp, highly respected on Wall Street for the successful transformation of Danaher Corp., took over as GE’s CEO in October after John Flannery was ousted, pledging to speed up the company’s turnaround.
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china;u.s .;trade;ge;tariffs;trade war;larry culp
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jp0003504
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/15
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U.S. wants World Bank to give more support to poorest nations
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WASHINGTON - The World Bank, a major source of development lending, needs to make more progress in shifting its loans away from fast-growing economies such as China and devoting more support to the world’s poorest nations, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Saturday. The Trump administration was encouraged that the bank’s private sector lending operation wanted to step up support for nations “affected by fragility, conflict and violence,” Mnuchin said as the spring meetings of the bank and the International Monetary Fund wrapped up in Washington. The World Bank, he said, needed to make sure that such support was aimed at boosting “private investments that are growth-enhancing and poverty-reducing.” The U.S. wants to see “additional progress” in shifting more World Bank loans to poorer countries, he said. The lending institution is a major source of development assistance for projects such as building damns for energy transmission. Mnuchin said investments in energy production represented a critical need to aid development in poorer nations. The U.S. has succeeded in installing David Malpass, a longtime World Bank critic, as the bank’s new president, although President Donald Trump said in a published interview that he had considered his daughter, Ivanka, a White House adviser, for the job. “She would have been great at that because she’s very good with numbers. She’s got a great calmness. … I’ve seen her under tremendous stress and pressure,” he was quoted as telling The Atlantic. When Jim Yong Kim resigned suddenly as bank president earlier this year, reports said that Ivanka Trump along with Malpass were being considered for the job, which has always gone to an American. Coinciding with the institutions’ meetings was a gathering of world financial leaders and central banks, who said the global economy was likely to pull out of a brief slump later this year. But a trade standoff between the United States and China threatens to dim the economic outlook. “We must be mindful of an escalation of trade tensions,” Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said Friday. Japan holds the chairmanship of the Group of 20 major economies. The IMF cut its forecast for global growth from 3.6 percent last year to 3.3 percent in 2019, the slowest since the recession year 2009, but it predicts growth will return to 3.6 percent in 2020. The U.S. and China, the world’s two biggest economies, have imposed tariffs on $350 billion worth of each other’s goods. They are battling over U.S. allegations that China deploys predatory tactics — including cybertheft and forcing foreign firms to hand over trade secrets — in a sharp-elbowed effort to challenge American technological dominance. Financial markets have rallied this year on hopes that the two countries will reach a settlement.
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taro aso;world bank;donald trump;ivanka trump;steve mnuchin;david malpass
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jp0003505
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/15
|
Stratolaunch, world's largest plane, makes first flight over California
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The world’s largest aircraft took off over the Mojave Desert in California on Saturday, the first flight for the carbon-composite plane built by Stratolaunch Systems Corp., started by late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, as the company enters the lucrative private space market. The white airplane called Roc, which has a wingspan the length of an American football field and is powered by six engines on a twin fuselage, took to the air shortly before 7 a.m. Pacific time (1400 GMT) and stayed aloft for more than two hours before landing safely back at the Mojave Air and Space Port as a crowd of hundreds of people cheered. “What a fantastic first flight,” Stratolaunch Chief Executive Officer Jean Floyd said in a statement posted to the company’s website. “Today’s flight furthers our mission to provide a flexible alternative to ground launched systems, Floyd said. “We are incredibly proud of the Stratolaunch team, today’s flight crew, our partners at Northrup Grumman’s Scaled Composites and the Mojave Air and Space Port.” The plane is designed to drop rockets and other space vehicles weighing up to 500,000 pounds at an altitude of 35,000 feet and has been billed by the company as making satellite deployment as “easy as booking an airline flight.” Saturday’s flight, which saw the plane reach a maximum speed of 189 mph and altitudes of 17,000 feet, was meant to test its performance and handling qualities, according to Stratolaunch. Allen, who co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates in 1975, announced in 2011 that he had formed the privately funded Stratolaunch. The company seeks to cash in on higher demand in coming years for vessels that can put satellites in orbit, competing in the United States with other space entrepreneurs and industry stalwarts such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX and United Launch Alliance — a partnership between Boeing and Lockheed Martin. Stratolaunch has said that it intends to launch its first rockets from the Roc in 2020 at the earliest. Allen died in October 2018 while suffering from non-Hodgkins’ lymphoma, just months after the plane’s development was unveiled. “We all know Paul would have been proud to witness today’s historic achievement,” said Jody Allen, Chair of Vulcan Inc and Trustee of the Paul G. Allen Trust. “The aircraft is a remarkable engineering achievement and we congratulate everyone involved.”
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u.s .;space;california;stratolaunch;spacex;paul allen
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jp0003506
|
[
"business",
"economy-business"
] |
2019/04/15
|
Trump, despite solid U.S. growth, says Fed should fire up crisis-era stimulus
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WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump said on Sunday that actions by the U.S. Federal Reserve have nicked U.S. economic growth and stock market gains by perhaps 30 percent, and that it should begin pumping money into the economy as it did during the 2007-2009 recession. Trump’s latest broadside against the central bank, delivered by Twitter and without citing any evidence, came as European Central Bank head Mario Draghi and other international officials worried that a Fed politicized by potential Trump nominees would rattle a dollar-based global system. “If the Fed had done its job properly, which it has not, the Stock Market would have been up 5000 to 10,000 additional points, and GDP would have been well over 4 percent instead of 3 percent…with almost no inflation,” Trump said. “Quantitative tightening was a killer, should have done the exact opposite,” he said, referring to the Fed’s monthly withdrawal last year of up to $50 billion of the bonds it acquired during the worst economic downturn since the 1930s Great Depression. Trump’s suggestion the Fed return to quantitative easing would put the central bank in the position of adding monetary stimulus and expanding its presence in debt markets in an economy growing solidly and with historically low unemployment. No one at the Fed, including three Trump appointees on the board of governors and Trump’s handpicked chairman, Jerome Powell, has suggested the U.S. needs the sort of central bank help launched when the economy was in free fall a decade ago, according to minutes of recent Fed meetings. The Fed has already decided to halt the drawdown of its security holdings as of September after concluding that the size of its asset holdings, likely around $3.5 trillion by that point, would be adequate given the demand by commercial banks to hold central bank reserves, the public demand for cash, and the other uses to which its assets are put. The Fed raised interest rates four times in 2018, but also has put that process on hold, leaving the target policy rate at a range of between 2.25 and 2.5 percent, still below historical averages. Trump was angered last fall when a variety of economic risks, which analysts say included slowing growth abroad, Trump’s own trade policies, and communications missteps by Powell, contributed to a more than 20 percent drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average from October through December. That loss has been almost completely erased as the Fed shifted gears, and the Dow is now just about 1.5 percent below the record it set on Oct. 3. Trump remains peeved with Powell, and indicated he wants to name two political allies, economics commentator Stephen Moore and businessman Herman Cain, to fill two open seats on the Fed’s board of governors.
|
u.s .;ecb;monetary policy;federal reserve;great recession;quantitative easing;mario draghi;donald trump;jerome powell;herman cain
|
jp0003507
|
[
"business",
"economy-business"
] |
2019/04/15
|
OECD secretary-general urges Japan to pull trigger on tax hike and pursue structural reforms
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The scheduled consumption tax hike to 10 percent this fall is “essential” to ensure Japan’s fiscal sustainability, a top Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development official said Monday. At a news conference unveiling its biennial Economic Surveys report on Japan, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria urged the Japanese government to adhere to a clear plan to stabilize its budget. Gross government debt reached 226 percent of GDP last year, the highest in the OECD and far exceeding that of Greece and the United States. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to go ahead with the oft-delayed tax hike to 10 percent from the current 8 percent in October, completing the Diet’s decision to double the rate in two stages from 5 percent. “Spending restraint needs to be accompanied by measures to increase government revenues,” Gurria said at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, adding that the consumption tax should continue to be raised gradually over the years. The OECD report assesses a country’s range of policies in such areas as the labor market, public spending and health care, and provides policy recommendations. Regarding the effects of the looming tax hike, the report gave an optimistic view, saying it would be less intense than the 2014 hike “thanks to offsetting fiscal measures.” The government has a target of achieving a primary surplus by 2025, but the OECD projects that Japan won’t reach it even if it goes ahead with the tax hike. “Japan needs to take more steps to try to achieve this 2025 target,” said Randall Jones, head of the OECD’s Japan/Korea desk. While Japan’s economy has expanded in the past six years under Abenomics, as Abe’s economic policies are known, the OECD also recommends that the government accelerate structural reforms to counter the graying population and embrace the entry of women, the elderly and foreign nationals in the country’s labor market. The report particularly took issue with Japan’s conservative labor market practices, including the mandatory retirement age, seniority-based wages and lifetime employment. Getting rid of those practices would encourage women and seniors to work, it said. “Japan needs to shift to more flexible employment, more flexible wage systems based on performance rather than age,” Gurria said. “And then, it will be possible to better utilize human capital.” As for its aging population, the report says it is important to shift long-term care out of hospitals and to use more generic drugs to curb Japan’s ballooning health care spending. The share of generic drugs in Japan’s pharmaceuticals market is around 40 percent, as opposed to more than 50 percent on average in the OECD and over 80 percent in the U.S.. The OECD report approved Japan’s move to welcome foreign workers, describing it “a major step” to address labor shortages. The country is slated to accept up to around 340,000 blue-collar workers in 14 sectors over the next five years. “Japan really is a front-runner, and everyone will be watching how Japan addresses these issues,” Jones said.
|
debt;taxes;oecd;consumption tax;angel gurria
|
jp0003508
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/15
|
As LED bulbs catch on in Japan, Consumer Affairs Agency issues public fire warning
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With over 300 accidents involving LED light bulbs logged in the past decade, the Consumer Affairs Agency is warning the public to use them properly after getting reports of fires erupting when switching bulbs. “The packages of LED bulbs show which types of lighting equipment they can be used with,” an agency official said. “Even if you already have LED bulbs installed, we recommend you check whether the combinations are correct at electronics stores,” the official added. According to the agency, light-emitting diode bulbs, which last much longer than typical bulbs as they are more efficient, began spreading after rolling blackouts caused by the March 2011 quake- and tsunami-triggered Fukushima disaster fueled public concerns about power shortages. Fitting LED bulbs into sockets designed for conventional incandescent or fluorescent bulbs, however, especially those with adjustable brightness, can be dangerous as the circuits for adjustable lights are not designed for them. This means the bulbs could get higher voltages than they were designed for, which over an extended period could lead them to produce smoke or even fire, the agency said. LED bulbs accidents between September 2009 and March 10 this year stood at 328, with fire breaking out in 23 cases, the agency said. One person reported that a fire broke out after an LED bulb was installed in a lighting fixture that was over 20 years old. Another said unusual noises and odors were noted when an LED bulb was fitted into a fluorescent lamp.
|
consumer affairs agency;led;light-emitting diode
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jp0003509
|
[
"business"
] |
2019/04/15
|
U.S. backing off demand for China to ax state subsidies, sources say
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WASHINGTON/BEIJING - U.S. negotiators have tempered demands that China curb industrial subsidies as a condition for a trade deal after strong resistance from Beijing, according to two sources briefed on discussions, marking a retreat on a core U.S. objective for the trade talks. The world’s two biggest economies are nine months into a trade war that has cost billions of dollars, roiled financial markets and upended supply chains. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has slapped tariffs on $250 billion worth of imports of Chinese goods to press demands for an end to policies — including industrial subsidies — that Washington says hurt U.S. companies competing with Chinese firms. China responded with its own tit-for-tat tariffs on U.S. goods. The issue of industrial subsidies is thorny because they are intertwined with the Chinese government’s industrial policy. Beijing grants subsidies and tax breaks to state-owned firms and to sectors seen as strategic for long-term development. Chinese President Xi Jinping has strengthened the state’s role in parts of the economy. In the push to secure a deal in the next month or so, U.S. negotiators have become resigned to securing less than they would like on curbing those subsidies and are focused instead on other areas where they consider demands are more achievable, the sources said. Those include ending forced technology transfers, improving intellectual property protection and widening access to China’s markets, the sources said. China has already given ground on those issues. “It’s not that there won’t be some language on it, but it is not going to be very detailed or specific,” one source familiar with the talks said in reference to the subsidies issue. A representative for the White House referred Reuters to the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office, which did not respond to a request for comment. “If U.S. negotiators define success as changing the way China’s economy operates, that will never happen,” said the other source with knowledge of the trade talks. “A deal that makes Xi look weak is not a worthwhile deal for Xi. Whatever deal we get, it’s going to be better than what we’ve had, and it’s not going to be sufficient for some people. But that’s politics,” that source said. China pledged earlier this year to end market-distorting subsidies for its domestic industries but offered no details on how it would achieve that goal, three people familiar with the trade talks said in February. Mixed messages One of the key sticking points in the negotiations is the removal of the $250 billion in U.S. tariffs. It is broadly expected in the trade community that U.S. negotiators want to keep some tariffs on Chinese goods, which Washington sees as retaliation for the years of damage done to its economy by Beijing’s unfair trade practices. The role of the state firms may benefit the United States in another part of the trade deal. The Trump administration wants China to make big-ticket purchases of over a trillion dollars of U.S. goods in the next six years to reduce its trade surplus. The companies likely to make the purchases are the state-run firms, both sources said. “The purchasing, for example, reinforces the role of the state sector because the purchasing is all being done through state enterprises,” one of the sources said. Another point of contention between the two countries, telecommunications, may drive China to increase the state’s role rather than reduce it, the source said. Pressure from the U.S. on allies to reduce cooperation with Chinese telecommunications champions such as Huawei Technologies could push the government into raising state support to develop technology at home. Decades of friction Subsidies and tax breaks have been a source of friction between the rivals for years. Washington says Beijing has failed to comply with its World Trade Organization obligations on subsidies that affect both imports and exports. China has taken steps to address some U.S. concerns in cases brought before the WTO. It has also begun to publicly downplay its push to dominate the future of high-tech industries under its “Made in China 2025” policy, although few expect it to jettison those ambitions. But the USTR complains of a catalog of other subsidies and supports, including preferential access to capital and land. The U.S. says China has failed to disclose subsidies as required by the WTO. In notifications to the group, Washington has detailed over 500 different subsidies it says China applies. The scope of China’s local government subsidy programs is largely unknown, and even the Chinese negotiators have said in recent discussions they do not know the details of all those programs. “China continues to shield massive sub-central government subsidies from the scrutiny of WTO members,” the USTR said in a February 2019 report to Congress on China’s WTO compliance.
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china;trade;tariffs;donald trump;trade war
|
jp0003510
|
[
"business",
"tech"
] |
2019/04/15
|
VW to take on Tesla X in China from 2021 with electric SUV
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SHANGHAI - Volkswagen plans to build a fully electric sports utility vehicle (SUV) for China from 2021, taking on the Chinese market leader Tesla’s Model X as the German carmaker ramps up production of zero emissions vehicles. The planned new SUV is the latest move in Volkswagen’s aggressive growth strategy in China, where electric cars are given preferential treatment by authorities. VW said its ID ROOMZZ, which it presented in Shanghai on Sunday, will have three rows of seats and an operating range of up to 450 km. The concept car is capable of a “level 4 autonomous driving,” VW said. VW Chief Executive Herbert Diess said the ID ROOMZ will be the flagship electric car to be launched by Volkswagen in China. “We plan to produce more than 22 million electric cars in the next 10 years,” Diess said, adding that around half of VW’s engineers were working on products destined for China. Diess said the ID ROOMZ would eventually be rolled out to other markets. To enhance the VW Group’s research and development capabilities, Volkswagen and its premium brand Audi will combine their R&D operations in China. VW brand’s head of e-mobility Thomas Ulbrich said the carmaker will start ramping up production of 33 electric cars by mid-2023, using VW Group’s modular electric car (MEB) platform to build electric cars for the Skoda, Seat, Audi and VW brands. Ulbrich said VW Group is converting 16 factories worldwide to enable mass production of electric vehicles, of which eight plants will be making VW branded cars.
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china;emissions;volkswagen;suv;tesla;ev;tesla x;id roomzz
|
jp0003511
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2019/04/15
|
Dollar breaches ¥112 line in Tokyo for first time in month and a half
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The dollar strengthened to around ¥112 in Tokyo Monday, underpinned by higher stock prices. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥111.91-91, up from ¥111.86-86 at the same time on Friday. The euro was at $1.1316-1316, up from $1.1288-1288, and at ¥126.63-68, up from ¥126.27-27. The dollar was boosted close to ¥112.10 in early trading by risk-on buying by investors who took heart from Friday’s powerful rebound on Wall Street and a post-weekend surge in the Nikkei stock average. The greenback topped ¥112 for the first time in 1½ months here. However, the U.S. currency’s rise to the threshold prompted selling to lock in gains, traders said. In afternoon trading, active trading in the dollar-yen pair was held in check ahead of the start of the first-round Japan-U.S. trade negotiations in Washington later on Wednesday. “Players were bracing for U.S. officials’ possible remarks about the inclusion of a currency provision in an envisaged deal with Japan,” a currency broker said. An official at a bank-affiliated securities firm said investors began refraining from active transactions as a 10-day holiday in Japan approached on April 27.
|
forex;currencies
|
jp0003512
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2019/04/15
|
Nikkei closes above 22,000 for first time in four months
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Stocks soared on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Monday, with the benchmark Nikkei average topping 22,000 for the first time in four months. The 225-issue Nikkei average jumped 298.55 points, or 1.37 percent, to finish at 22,169.11, ending above the psychologically important threshold for the first time since Dec. 4 last year. Friday, the key market gauge gained 159.18 points. The Topix index of all first-section issues surged 22.53 points, or 1.40 percent, to 1,627.93, after falling 1.12 points the previous trading day. The market opened sharply higher with the Nikkei average far surpassing 22,000, as investors rushed to buy in view of the Dow Jones industrial average’s powerful rally on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday. Both Nikkei and Topix indexes remained considerably higher throughout Monday’s session, also supported by constant buying amid the yen’s easing against the dollar and rosy prospects for China’s economy that grew after the announcement Friday of a significant rise in new bank loans in the country in March, brokers said. “Risk-on sentiment spread in the Tokyo market” with participants taking heart from the Dow advancing close to its record-high level, said Hiroaki Kuramochi, chief market analyst at Saxo Bank Securities Ltd. With concerns over a Chinese slowdown retreating, “foreign investors moved to buy back, in particular, cyclicals such as nonferrous metals and machines,” an official of a bank-affiliated securities firm said. But after the pile of initial buy orders were executed, the market turned top-heavy. Some investors took to the sidelines ahead of the start of two-day Japan-U.S. trade negotiations in Washington later on Monday, bracing for possible dollar-negative remarks by U.S. officials, Kuramochi pointed out. On Saturday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said any agreement with Japan would include a provision against currency manipulation. Rising issues far outnumbered falling ones 1,910 to 190 in the TSE’s first section, while 41 issues were unchanged. Volume increased to 1.225 billion shares from Friday’s 1.101 billion shares. Gainers in the cyclical sector included industrial robot producers Yaskawa Electric Corp., up 4.47 percent, and Fanuc Corp., up 2.57 percent. Financials attracted purchases after their U.S. peers fared well Friday. Insurer Dai-ichi Life Holdings Inc. added 2.63 percent, brokerage giant Nomura 1.79 percent and megabank group Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. 1.48 percent. Among other winners were technology investor Softbank Group Corp. and drugmaker Eisai. Meanwhile, automaker Suzuki Motor Corp. plunged 2.32 percent amid growing concerns over a massive recall stemming from inspection irregularities. Daiwa House Industry Co. tumbled 3.80 percent following the company’s disclosure of defects in houses and rental apartment buildings it put up. Also shunned were cybermall operator Rakuten Inc. and mobile phone carrier KDDI Corp. In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the key June contract on the Nikkei average rose 320 points to end at 22,180.
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stocks;tse;equities
|
jp0003513
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/15
|
Fujitsu finishes designing Japan's Post-K supercomputer
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Fujitsu Ltd., working with national research institute Riken, has finished designing the successor to the K supercomputer. Fujitsu and Riken have also concluded an official agreement on the production, shipment and installation of the Post-K supercomputer, the company said Monday. The team and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology plan to start jointly operating the supercomputer, which is designed to be able to calculate 100 times faster than the existing K, in 2021-2022. It is expected to be used for predicting natural disasters and developing novel drugs. Put into full service in 2012, the K supercomputer, in a world first, achieved over 10 quadrillion calculations per second. The Post-K will be built at a Fujitsu plant in Ishikawa Prefecture and then installed at the Riken Center for Computational Science in Kobe for research use by universities and corporations. Capitalizing on technical advantages it has obtained through the Post-K development, Fujitsu plans to launch a supercomputer model for corporate customers in the second half of this business year.
|
computers;riken;fujitsu ltd .
|
jp0003514
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/15
|
Japan opposed Renault-Nissan merger via METI in spring 2018, French newspaper reports
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PARIS - The Japanese government intervened to block any potential merger plans between Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA in spring last year, French newspaper Journal Du Dimanche reported on Sunday, citing email messages between executives and state officials. The emails dating from April 23 to May 22, 2018, show that the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry weighed in to stop any merger discussions between the two carmakers, JDD reported, without saying how it got access to the messages, which were either addressed directly to former Renault-Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn or in which he was copied as one of the recipients. JDD reported that the first of the emails came from Nissan executive Hari Nada following a meeting in which his Renault counterpart Mouna Sehperi, and Martin Vial, the head of France’s public body for state holdings APE, were also present. Nada’s email said that Nissan favors a status quo in the alliance, and would later prefer a “re-balancing of the shareholding” with Renault decreasing its stake in Nissan and Nissan boosting its own in Renault, while the French state would ultimately pull out of the alliance completely. APE’s Vial is reported as signaling that the French government couldn’t accept “too big a sacrifice for Renault” unless a merger is set in motion, JDD reports. In one of the following messages, Nissan’s public affairs Vice President Hitoshi Kawaguchi described officials from METI as “fearing that the French government further pressures Carlos Ghosn ahead of the next general assembly” toward pushing for a merger. JDD quoted Kawaguchi as saying in the email that he asked METI officials “not to be too aggressive” toward their French counterparts at a time when things were calming down. Kawaguchi later emailed a memorandum of understanding from METI, which highlighted that Nissan’s independence must be respected. No one at the French Finance Ministry, which oversees the APE, or at Renault were immediately available to comment.
|
meti;nissan;carmakers;renault;carlos ghosn;journal du dimanche
|
jp0003515
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/15
|
Elon Musk tweets another Tesla forecast in midst of talks with SEC
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NEW YORK - Elon Musk, already in hot water over his Twitter use, posted another Tesla Inc. production forecast reminiscent of the one that landed him before a federal judge earlier this month. Musk wrote Sunday that Tesla will make more than 500,000 cars in the next 12 months. A similar tweet sent almost two months ago, in which Musk said the company would build half a million vehicles in 2019, led the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to argue he was in contempt of a settlement reached with the regulator last year. The latest forecast, given as a seemingly innocuous aside in a discussion about the future value of Tesla vehicles, nonetheless came as Musk’s lawyers are negotiating with the SEC over an agreement that put controls on the billionaire’s tweeting. A U.S. judge gave the two sides until Thursday to meet for at least an hour and resolve their differences. If they can’t, she’ll rule whether Musk is in contempt. The legal tussle for Musk, 47, served as a distraction amid a record decline in deliveries for Tesla during the first quarter. Concerns about demand for Tesla’s vehicles escalated last week after the Nikkei reported the company and its partner Panasonic Corp. were freezing plans to expand capacity at the battery factory they share in Nevada. The newspaper said that because sales of electric vehicles have been below forecasts, the two companies decided that a major additional investment now posed too much of a risk. The report came after Panasonic said in a statement Monday that the factory is not operating at its full 35-GWh annual capacity and that it is working on increasing output. Musk on Saturday disputed Panasonic’s statement, saying the company’s lines were only at 24 gigawatt hours and have been constraining output of Tesla’s Model 3 sedan. “Pana cell lines at Giga are only at ~24GWh/yr & have been a constraint on Model 3 output since July,” Musk wrote in a tweet Saturday. “Tesla won’t spend money on more capacity until existing lines get closer to 35GWh.” The Model 3 has been available in the U.S. since 2017, though the pace of sales in the market has slowed following the shrinking of federal tax incentives, and the company has struggled to get the car quickly into Europe and China. In the March quarter, Tesla delivered 63,000 vehicles, down from 90,966 in the final quarter of 2018. “There is 35 GWh/yr ‘theoretical capacity’, but actual max output is ~2/3,” Musk said in a tweet. “It was physically impossible to make more Model 3’s in Q1 due to cell constraints.” Both the Panasonic and the next-12-months production tweets are noteworthy in light of the settlement that sprang from Musk tweeting in August of last year about trying to take Tesla private. The SEC accused the chief executive officer of securities fraud, and Musk settled. He agreed to pay $20 million, step down as chairman and seek pre-approval from an in-house securities lawyer before tweeting information material to the EV maker. Musk’s legal team has argued that he retained discretion to determine whether he was sending out material information or not, and that his Feb. 19 post about Tesla’s 2019 production was consistent with comments he made weeks earlier on an earnings call. In an April 4 hearing where Musk appeared, U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan questioned the specifics of the CEO’s settlement with the SEC and told the two sides to rework the language of their agreement. “Take a deep breath, put your reasonableness pants on and work this out,” Nathan said. She wrote in an order the next day that if Musk is held in contempt, the court will allow further briefings on sanctions. The SEC said at the hearing that the remedies it was seeking included a series of escalating fines for future violations, and monthly reporting on Musk’s communications.
|
panasonic;carmakers;elon musk;tesla;ev
|
jp0003516
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/15
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Docomo to lower mobile phone fees by up to 40% in June
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NTT Docomo Inc. says it will cut mobile phone charges by up to 40 percent in June amid the government’s call on carriers to lower service fees. Docomo said Monday it will introduce two basic service plans, one with a monthly fee of ¥5,980 for unlimited data and the other charging ¥1,980 for limited data. The company is looking to counter low-cost wireless service providers UQ Mobile and Ymobile launched by domestic rivals KDDI Corp. and SoftBank Corp. respectively. Docomo does not have a budget service brand. Docomo will offer simpler plans by separating charges for handsets and services, as major Japanese wireless carriers are often criticized for their complicated plans that make it difficult to compare fees with those of other carriers and discourage carriers from cutting charges. The issue came under the spotlight last year when Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga urged carriers to cut their fees, as their rates are higher than in other countries and the three major cellphone companies generally log higher profit margins than those in other industries. Suga declined to comment Monday on Docomo’s new service fees. “We will introduce simpler and more reasonable service fee plans after receiving many voices that they have been complicated and difficult to understand,” NTT Docomo President Kazuhiro Yoshizawa said at a news conference in Tokyo. The introduction of the new service charges will reduce the company’s income by as much as ¥400 billion per year, Yoshizawa said. “I recognized some moves (within the government) but we decided to launch the new fee plans to become the leader in the mobile phone market,” he said. Japan’s mobile fees are relatively high. It costs about ¥7,000 a month to download 20 gigabytes of data in Tokyo, the most among comparable cities, including New York, London and Seoul, according to data from the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry. Japan’s mobile phone market has long been dominated by the top three carriers, which together control nearly 90 percent of the market. Last April, the government granted approval to e-commerce giant Rakuten Inc. to enter the business this October, a move expected to spur greater competition.
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smartphones;docomo;softbank;phones;rakuten;kddi
|
jp0003517
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2019/04/15
|
VW unveils apple-skinned SUV challenger to Tesla's Model X
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FRANKFURT, GERMANY - Volkswagen AG unveiled an electric sport utility vehicle concept to challenge Tesla Inc.’s Model X as part of the auto industry’s largest push into battery-powered vehicles. The full-size SUV, available from 2021, features rotating lounge seats covered in so-called AppleSkin — an artificial leather made in part from apple juice waste, VW said ahead of the Shanghai auto show. The ID. Roomzz will follow the rollout of an all-electric hatchback and a compact crossover in 2020 as well as battery versions of the Lavida and Bora sedans in China this year. China is forcing automakers to sell more electric vehicles and more battery-powered and hybrid cars to fight pollution. VW is fighting to keep profits from sliding as it spends an unprecedented €30 billion ($34 billion) to roll out the industry’s largest fleet of EVs. VW is developing 70 all-electric models by 2028. By 2023, it plans to build electric cars at 18 factories in Europe, China and the U.S. The VW group targets sales of more than 400,000 so-called electrified vehicles in China in 2020. Half of the more than 30 fully electric and hybrid models will be produced locally The company prepares to deliver 1.5 million alternative-energy vehicles in China in 2025. The ID. Roomzz, capable of automated driving with someone still behind the wheel, has a range as long as 280 miles (448 km) under European certification rules, lagging the Model X’s maximum of 351 miles. VW is investing more than €4 billion in China this year with local partners as a market contraction that started last year spills into 2019. Sales in March slumped for a 10th straight month. VW is counting on a growing SUV lineup to sustain profit and sales in the world’s biggest car market, expecting their share to double to at least 40 percent of the group’s total deliveries in 2020. This will include two new SUV models from VW’s new Jetta brand in the third quarter, which targets younger Chinese buyers.
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carmakers;volkswagen;suv;tesla
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jp0003518
|
[
"world",
"social-issues-world"
] |
2019/04/15
|
Salisbury, scene of Novichok poison drama, named Britain's best place to live
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LONDON - The English cathedral city of Salisbury, the location of a deadly nerve agent poisoning blamed on Russia, was named Britain’s best place to live by the Sunday Times newspaper. The award comes a little over a year after a former Russian double agent and his daughter were found slumped on a bench, triggering a sequence of events which ended with one person dead and the West’s relations with Russia in the diplomatic deep-freeze. The Sunday Times praised the “divinely attractive” city in southern England, previously best-known for its medieval cathedral, citing its friendly atmosphere, good rail links and the high-speed broadband connections. “Whatever foes this beautiful medieval city has faced, from the Celts to the Vikings the recent Novichok poisonings, it has emerged victorious,” the newspaper wrote. In the weeks and months after Sergei and Yulia Skripal were found, police uncovered a trail of evidence that they said lead back to two agents from Russia’s GRU military intelligence who visited the city to smear Novichok poison on a door handle. Russia has denied any involvement in the attack, and the two men said they were innocent tourists visiting the city’s cathedral. “It’s famous not only in Europe, but in the whole world. It’s famous for its 123 meter-spire,” one of the men told Russia’s state-funded RT television station. Nevertheless, British Prime Minister Theresa May blamed Putin for the attack and European countries and the United States expelled 100 Russian diplomats over the incident. Large areas of the city center, which is just 90 minutes by train from London, had to be cordoned off for decontamination and one woman died after her partner found a perfume bottle which turned out to have been used to transport the poison. Nevertheless, the Sunday Times said the city had bounced back, tourists were returning, and even the Zizzi Italian restaurant visited by the Skripals before the nerve took effect had reopened with a packed crowd. The paper said it had looked at statistics like crime, schools and property prices in reaching its judgment, but that the award had also been based on less easily-measured factors like “beautiful scenery, culture and, above all, community spirit.”
|
vladimir putin;russia;u.k .;theresa may;sergei skripal;salisbury;novichok
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jp0003519
|
[
"world",
"social-issues-world"
] |
2019/04/15
|
Hungary Holocaust march honors Scottish missionary
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BUDAPEST - Thousands of Hungarians attended the annual March of the Living in Budapest on Sunday to commemorate victims of the Holocaust, including Jane Haining, a Scottish missionary who refused to abandon her Jewish charges during World War II. Israel’s Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem estimates that 565,000 Hungarian Jews were killed in the Holocaust, most of them deported to the Auschwitz death camp in Poland between May and July 1944. Haining, who had taught Christian and Jewish girls at a boarding school of the Church of Scotland’s Mission in Budapest, was arrested by the Gestapo in 1944 and later died in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. “From April 5, we had to put on the yellow star. Miss Haining called in the children and she cried with us,” said 83-year-old Agnes Rostas, one of Haining’s former Jewish pupils, who was 8 at the time of the Scottish missionary’s arrest. “Miss Haining was a very warm-hearted human being. I have never met anyone like her all my life.” Within half an hour of Haining’s arrest, the remaining teachers packed up the children and shuttled them off to their parents, Rostas said. Haining was born in 1897 into a poor farming family in southwestern Scotland. She did well in school and went on to business college in Glasgow. She was among the generation of women who were able to join the workforce due to World War I, according to Mary Miller, the author of a new biography of Haining’s life. She decided to pursue working with children, influenced by her experience teaching Sunday school in Glasgow. She was the only British person at the school when the Nazis occupied Hungary in March 1944. The Gestapo arrested Haining the following month on charges including political activity and espionage, which she denied. The Rev. Aaron Stevens, the head of the Scottish mission to Budapest, said Sunday’s march remembering Haining presented an opportunity to speak up against prejudice, intolerance or fear-mongering. “Sometimes when we look at the messages people are promoting today about foreigners, it is not that different from the messages that were being spread about Jews some 75 years ago,” Stevens said. “(Haining’s) example is a reminder to us to not become complacent or lazy,” he said. “We also need to speak up and stand up in solidarity with those who might be victims of prejudice.”
|
hungary;u.k .;jews;holocaust;auschwitz;jane haining
|
jp0003520
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/15
|
Three killed as small Nepal airliner hits parked copter during takeoff
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KATHMANDU - A small plane operated by a private airline in Nepal hit a parked helicopter on Sunday while preparing to take off in a mountainous area near Mount Everest, killing three people, including a co-pilot, an airport official said. The Twin Otter aircraft crashed into the helicopter at Tenzing Hillary Airport at Lukla, known as the gateway to the world’s highest mountain, 125 km (78 miles) northeast of capital Kathmandu. The plane, operated by Summit Air, was not carrying passengers as it was trying to leave what is considered to be one of the world’s most dangerous airports due to the shortness of its runway and its location surrounded by mountains. Officials said the cause of the accident was not immediately known. “Two people died on the spot and the third one died while undergoing treatment in a hospital in Kathmandu,” airport official Pratap Babu Tiwari told Reuters. The dead included two security guards who were near the helicopter. The pilot of the plane was among three people injured, though the lone stewardess escaped unhurt. Air crashes are common in mostly mountainous Nepal, home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountain peaks, including Mount Everest. In February a helicopter carrying seven people including the country’s tourism minister crashed in bad weather in eastern Nepal, killing seven all on board. The Lukla airport was built by New Zealand mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary — who together with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first to reach the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) Everest peak in 1953 — as a gift to the people of the remote Solukhumbu region where it is located. In 2008, another Twin Otter plane carrying 16 passengers and three crew crashed shortly before it was due to land at Lukla.
|
mount everest;nepal;air accidents;summit air;lukla
|
jp0003521
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/15
|
More than 120 killed as Libya's rivals battle for Tripoli
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TRIPOLI - Fighting near Tripoli has killed 121 people since strongman Khalifa Haftar launched an offensive earlier this month to take the Libyan capital, the World Health Organization said Sunday. In clashes between Haftar’s forces and those of the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), both sides have proclaimed “advances” but neither appears to have made substantial progress on the ground in recent days. With more than 560 people wounded since the fighting started on April 4, the WHO said it was sending more medical supplies and staff to Tripoli. On its Twitter feed, the agency denounced “repeated attacks on health care workers” and vehicles during the fighting. The U.N.’s humanitarian coordination office, OCHA, said Saturday that three medical personnel had been killed and that shrapnel had put five ambulances out of action. The mounting violence has sparked global alarm over the oil-rich country, in turmoil since NATO-backed forces overthrew former dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. A bewildering array of militias have sought to take control since his ouster. Haftar’s offensive began shortly before a conference set for this month to discuss Libya’s future — an event the U.N. canceled as his forces closed in on the capital. Haftar, who leads the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), has pushed from his power base in the country’s east towards the Libyan capital in the west, the seat of the UN-backed unity government led by Fayez al-Sarraj. The unity government said its forces had shot down an LNA fighter jet on Sunday “that was preparing to conduct air raids” south of Tripoli. An LNA source said the plane had come down in an area under its control and that the pilot, who had ejected, was “safe and sound”. That came as the strongman met in Cairo with key backer Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, who pledged support for “efforts to fight terrorism and extremist militias to achieve security and stability … throughout the country,” Sisi’s office said. Haftar also has the support of key Gulf Arab states and Russia. With gunfire echoing through city blocks and tanks rumbling through towns and districts south of Tripoli, many panicked residents have fled their homes. More than 13,500 people have been displaced and over 900 are now living in shelters, OCHA said. Both sides have launched daily air raids and accuse each other of targeting civilians. One airstrike the GNA blamed on Haftar’s forces hit a school in Ain Zara, south of Tripoli, which has been the scene of violent clashes for days. On Sunday, the U.N. mission in Libya warned that international humanitarian law “prohibits the bombing of schools, hospitals, ambulances and civilian areas”. The mission warned that it would document all breaches in order to inform the U.N. Security Council and the International Criminal Court. The LNA meanwhile accused the Tripoli-based forces of an air raid “targeting civilians” in the Gasr Ben Ghachir region south of Tripoli. GNA spokesman Mohamed Gnounou said his forces had carried out 21 air strikes targeting LNA positions and supply lines between Friday and Saturday. Gnounou late on Saturday claimed “great advances on all fronts,” including in Al-Aziziya, a city about 50 km south of Tripoli. “We have not started this war,” he said, “but we will decide the time and place of its end.” On the LNA’s side meanwhile, spokesman Ahmad al-Mesmari said the attacking forces were also “moving forward on all fronts. He reiterated his claim that “terrorists” and “criminals” were fighting on the side of the U.N.-backed GNA forces. “The decision is no longer in Sarraj’s hands,” he said. “It is in the hands of terrorists now.” The European Union also expressed its “concern” on Thursday at the involvement of “terrorist and criminal elements” in the fighting. Sarraj on Saturday denounced the “misinformation campaign by some parties that our forces include fighters belonging to terrorist organizations and groups”. In a statement, he “strongly denied” the claim and insisted that it was the LNA attack on the capital that was “paving the way the way for dormant terrorist cells” to attack Libyans.
|
conflict;terrorism;u.n .;libya;tripoli;khalifa haftar
|
jp0003522
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/04/15
|
Clues sought in brutal broad-daylight beating of Dallas transgender woman
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Police canvassed a Dallas neighborhood during the weekend in search of anyone who may have witnessed the brutal beating of a transgender woman in an attack that happened in broad daylight in front of a crowd of people and that was caught on cellphone video. Detectives were seeking clues in hopes of identifying the woman’s assailant or assailants, police said in a statement. They said the woman reported the assault while receiving hospital treatment Friday night. She told officers the attack happened earlier Friday after she was involved in a minor traffic accident near an apartment complex in the southern part of Dallas, according to the police statement released Saturday. A purported video of the attack posted on Facebook shows a man in a white shirt viciously beating the woman, apparently into unconsciousness, while the crowd looks on and homophobic slurs are shouted. Several women eventually carried the victim’s limp body to safety. A Dallas police spokesman said the woman’s identity and further information about the case would not be released Sunday. Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said he is “extremely angry about what appears to be mob violence against this woman” and that those responsible do not represent how most residents feel about the city’s “thriving LGBTQ community.” “I am in contact with (Police Chief U. Renee Hall) and she assured me that the Dallas Police Department is fully investigating, including the possibility that this was a hate crime,” Rawlings, who has viewed the video, said in a statement Saturday. Last November, the FBI reported that 7,175 hate crimes were committed in the United States in 2017, the most recent year for which the agency had compiled data. Of those, 1,130 were based on sexual orientation bias and 119 on gender identity bias. The data showed a 5 percent increase in hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation bias and a 4 percent percent decrease in hate crimes motivated by gender identity bias. Of crimes motivated by gender identity bias, 106 targeted transgender people, a 1 percent increase from 2016.
|
violence;lgbt;sexuality;transgender;facebook;hate speech
|
jp0003523
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2019/04/15
|
How Robert Mueller's hunt for Russia-Trump conspiracy fell short
|
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON - As recently as February, special counsel Robert Mueller’s team dropped hints that the inquiry into Russia’s role in the 2016 U.S. election might unearth evidence of active cooperation between Moscow and President Donald Trump’s campaign. That turned out not to be the case. Attorney General William Barr, who has said he hopes to release Mueller’s nearly 400 page report this week, told U.S. lawmakers on March 24 that the special counsel investigation “did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.” To be sure, the investigation documented numerous contacts between Trump campaign figures and Russia, a willingness on the part of the campaign to accept help from Moscow, and no indication that the campaign told the Kremlin to keep out of an American presidential race. No criminal conspiracy was documented, according to Barr. But tantalizing court statements by members of Mueller’s team and evidence disclosed in various prosecutions by the special counsel had suggested on several occasions during the 22-month investigation that a different conclusion had been possible. Frank Montoya, a former senior FBI official with extensive experience in counterintelligence investigations, said the words “did not establish” are commonly used in national security cases as language merely ruling out a chargeable offense. “It doesn’t mean a subject is innocent. It means investigators didn’t find enough evidence to charge a crime,” Montoya said. The most recent indication that the special counsel might document a Trump-Russia conspiracy came on Feb. 4 during a closed-door court hearing in Washington. Prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said Mueller was still investigating interactions between former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his Russian business partner, Konstantin Kilimnik, as critical to the inquiry. “This goes to the larger view of what we think is going on, and what we think the motive here is,” Weissmann said, according to a transcript released days later that indicated Mueller might be on the verge of a breakthrough. “This goes, I think, very much to the heart of what the Special Counsel’s Office is investigating.” Mueller’s team said Manafort shared political polling data from the campaign with Kilimnik, who the special counsel has said had ties to Russian intelligence. The two also discussed proposals for a Ukrainian client to solve the Crimea conflict in a Kremlin-friendly way, Mueller said. Three weeks after Weissmann made his comments, Mueller’s office backtracked. It said in a court filing it needed to correct its assertions about Manafort’s interactions with Kilimnik. Partially redacted court filings indicated the correction may relate to the polling data. When Mueller’s report is released — with parts blacked out by Barr to protect certain sensitive information — it is unclear how harsh a light it will shine on the contacts between Trump campaign figures and Russians. Those making contacts included the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., son-in-law, Jared Kushner, former Trump lawyer, Michael Cohen, and campaign figures Manafort, Jeff Sessions, Michael Flynn and George Papadopoulos. Mueller and U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded Russia employed hacking and propaganda to sow division in the United States, harm Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and boost Trump’s candidacy. Moscow has denied election interference. A key event in the question of conspiracy was a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower in New York in which Manafort, Kushner and Trump Jr. met with Kremlin-connected lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, who had offered damaging information about Clinton. After being promised “dirt” on Clinton, Trump Jr. wrote in an email, “I love it.” Mueller charged 34 people and three Russian entities. He convicted or secured guilty pleas from Trump aides including Manafort, Flynn, Cohen and Papadopoulos, and charged Russian intelligence officers and a Russian “troll farm.” Perhaps no avenue of inquiry appeared more promising on the question of conspiracy than Mueller’s pursuit of longtime Trump political adviser Roger Stone, who had suggested he had a relationship with the WikiLeaks website and advance knowledge of its release of Democratic emails the special counsel said were stolen by Russians to hurt Clinton. But when Mueller indicted Stone in January, the seven criminal counts did not refer to conspiring with Russians and there was no allegation of close ties to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who separately was charged with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion related to a 2010 hack of U.S. government computers. Mueller questioned more than a half dozen Stone associates to establish if he had acted as a go-between for the campaign with Wikileaks. Stone associates who spoke to Reuters suggested Stone was struggling to make contact with Assange rather than having an inside track. Randy Credico, a New York comedian associated with Stone who appeared before Mueller’s grand jury, is a case in point. Text messages seen by Reuters show Stone sought to use Credico as an intermediary with Assange and urged Credico to feed WikiLeaks anti-Clinton research. Credico told Reuters he never made good on the request. Mueller’s investigation was aided by witnesses including Flynn, the former national security adviser who pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying about his communications with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak in 2016, and Samuel Patten, a political consultant and former Kilimnik business partner sentenced to probation on Friday after prosecutors credited him for assisting Mueller and other probes. It is unclear to what extent Mueller’s inability to secure fulsome cooperation from others impeded him. A judge found that Manafort, after agreeing to cooperate, repeatedly lied to prosecutors about interactions with Kilimnik and other matters, breaching a plea deal. Kilimnik, charged along with Manafort with conspiring to tamper with witnesses, was believed to be in Russia, out of reach. There also are witnesses like Papadopoulos, the first former Trump aide charged by Mueller who initially cooperated but became increasingly critical of the special counsel, especially after completing a two-week prison term in December. Montoya, the former FBI agent, said it should fall to Congress to decide whether the conduct found by Mueller warranted punishment such as the impeachment process in Congress to remove a president from office. “History suggests,” Montoya said, “the impeachment process does not rely on establishing wrongdoing beyond a reasonable doubt.”
|
vladimir putin;russia;espionage;scandals;robert mueller;donald trump;2016 u.s. presidential election;russia probe
|
jp0003524
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/15
|
Rep. Ilhan Omar says death threats increase, urges Trump not to encourage them
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WASHINGTON - Rep. Ilhan Omar says she’s faced increased death threats since President Donald Trump spread around a video that purports to show her being dismissive of the 2001 terrorist attacks. “This is endangering lives,” she said, accusing Trump of fomenting right-wing extremism. “It has to stop.” Her statement late Sunday followed an announcement by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that she has taken steps to ensure the safety of the Minnesota Democrat and the speaker’s call for Trump to take down the video. Soon after Pelosi’s statement, the video disappeared as a pinned tweet at the top of Trump’s Twitter feed, but it was not deleted. Pelosi was among Democrats who had criticized Trump over the tweet, with some accusing him of trying to incite violence against the Muslim lawmaker. An upstate New York man recently was charged with making death threats against her. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders defended Trump earlier Sunday, saying the president has a duty to highlight Omar’s history of making comments that others deem anti-Semitic or otherwise offensive and that he wished no “ill will” upon the first-term lawmaker. But Omar said that since Trump retweeted the video Friday night, she’s received many threats on her life that referred or replied to the posted video. “Violent crimes and other acts of hate by right-wing extremists and white nationalists are on the rise in this country and around the world,” she said. “We can no longer ignore that they are being encouraged by the occupant of the highest office in the land.” She said: “We are all Americans.” Earlier, Pelosi issued a statement while traveling in London saying she had spoken with congressional authorities “to ensure that Capitol Police are conducting a security assessment to safeguard Congresswoman Omar, her family and her staff.” Pelosi said officials will continue to monitor and assess threats against Omar, and called on Trump to discourage such behavior. “The president’s words weigh a ton, and his hateful and inflammatory rhetoric creates real danger,” Pelosi said. “President Trump must take down his disrespectful and dangerous video.” The video in Trump’s tweet included a snippet from a recent speech Omar gave to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, in which she described the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center as “some people did something,” along with news footage of the hijacked airplanes hitting the Twin Towers. Trump captioned his tweet with: “WE WILL NEVER FORGET!” Critics accuse Omar of being flippant in describing the perpetrators of the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. She later sought to defend herself by tweeting a quote from President George W. Bush, in which the Republican president referred to the attackers as “people” just days after 9/11. Neither Trump’s tweet nor the video included Omar’s full quote or the context of her comments, which were about Muslims feeling that their civil liberties had eroded after the attacks. The tweet was posted atop Trump’s Twitter feed for much of Sunday, with more than 9 million views. It remained lower in the feed after Pelosi requested that the video be pulled. Sanders questioned why Democrats weren’t following Trump’s example and calling out Omar, too. Democrats who criticized the president over the tweet defended Omar, with some noting their past disagreements with her. “Certainly the president is wishing no ill will and certainly not violence towards anyone, but the president is absolutely and should be calling out the congresswoman for her — not only one time — but history of anti-Semitic comments,” Sanders said. “The bigger question is why aren’t Democrats doing the same thing? It’s absolutely abhorrent the comments that she continues to make and has made and they look the other way.” Omar repeatedly has pushed fellow Democrats into uncomfortable territory with comments about Israel and the strength of the Jewish state’s influence in Washington. She apologized for suggesting that lawmakers support Israel for pay and said she isn’t criticizing Jews. But she refused to take back a tweet in which she suggested American supporters of Israel “pledge allegiance” to a foreign country. Rep. Jerry Nadler, a New York Democrat who represents Manhattan’s financial district, which was targeted on 9/11, said he had no issues with Omar’s characterization of the attack. “I have had some problems with some of her other remarks, but not — but not with that one,” he said. Sanders commented on “Fox News Sunday” and ABC’s “This Week.” Nadler appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
|
twitter;9/11;muslims;democrats;nancy pelosi;donald trump;sarah sanders;ilhan omar;jerry nadler
|
jp0003525
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/15
|
Mike Pompeo visits Colombia-Venezuela border and hears critic after praising Peru refugee policy
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LIMA - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ended a visit to Peru on Sunday and traveled to the Colombian border city of Cucuta, crossed through by thousands of Venezuelans fleeing crisis under President Nicolas Maduro. After attending a Sunday service in the Peruvian capital Lima, the chief U.S. diplomat set off shortly after noon for the final leg of his tour of South America, which began Friday in Chile. The highlight of Pompeo’s trip will be the brief visit to Cucuta, where he will meet refugees. All four countries on his itinerary — the fourth being Paraguay — are led by right-wing or center-right leaders favorable to Washington’s uncompromising approach to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. “Peru has felt firsthand the effects of the disastrous Nicolas Maduro and the pain that he has brought to the Venezuelan people,” he had said Saturday, following talks with President Martin Vizcarra and Foreign Minister Nestor Popolizio. Pompeo said that Peru had shown “enormous leadership in responding to this challenge.” Over 3 million Venezuelans, around 10 percent of the population, now live outside the crisis-hit country. The United Nations predicts that number will hit 5.3 million by the end of 2019. Peru has received the most Venezuelans after Colombia: 750,000, according to Popolizio, testing the capacity of the country’s public services. On Saturday, Pompeo paid tribute to Peru’s welcome for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan refugees. But he became irritated when a reporter asked if that contradicted U.S. President Donald Trump’s harsh immigration policy at home.
|
u.s .;venezuela;colombia;nicolas maduro;peru;donald trump;mike pompeo;cucuta;juan guaido
|
jp0003526
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/15
|
May under fire from Tories as hunt for Brexit compromise goes on
|
LONDON - Both Theresa May’s government and the opposition Labour Party said Sunday that their talks represented the best chance of finding a Brexit solution and ending months of deadlock. But even as David Lidington, May’s de facto deputy, said there was common ground between the two sides, a former leader of May’s Conservative Party called on her to end the discussions, pull Britain out of the European Union and then resign as prime minister. Parliament is in recess until April 23, but the negotiations will continue. Lidington told the BBC on Sunday that the talks involved “testing” possible solutions, and both sides will have to make concessions. Lidington said the government believed it would be possible to get “the benefits of a customs union” — which Labour wants — “but still have a flexibility for the U.K. to pursue an independent trade policy on top of that.” He avoided a question about whether the U.K. could sign up to a common external tariff. Neither May nor Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has much room for compromise. On the Labour side, the leader is under pressure to insist on another referendum as the price for supporting any deal. The prime minister, meanwhile, saw little sign over the weekend that rebels in her Conservative Party are in a mood to give ground. Irish Border Instead, former leader Iain Duncan Smith told Sky News that he’d seen signs the EU was ready to give way on the question of the Irish border, and that even if it weren’t, May should take the U.K. out of the bloc without a deal. The prime minister should “aim everything” toward getting the U.K. out of the EU before the May 23 European elections and the departure date of May or June that May had originally planned should “still stand,” he said. Within Labour, too, there are divisions. While most Labour members of Parliament support a second referendum, with the goal of stopping Brexit, a minority who represent seats that voted to leave the EU say that would be a mistake. Corbyn, a lifelong opponent of EU membership, supports this side, but is under pressure. His transport spokesman Andy McDonald told Sky that the best option was seeing if the talks delivered a solution. “I want to see where those discussions and negotiations take us before we can go on to the next stage of this long and awful process,” he said. McDonald said Labour’s concern was that any commitments May made in the talks could be overturned by her successor. Lidington said this was unlikely, because the arithmetic in parliament, which has so restricted May, will be the same for the next prime minister.
|
eu;u.k .;conservatives;labour;brexit;theresa may;jeremy corbyn;david lidington
|
jp0003527
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2019/04/15
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Sudan leaders face pressure for transfer to civilian rule
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KHARTOUM - Sudan’s military rulers faced heavy pressure from protesters and Western governments to hand power to a new civilian government Monday as a mass protest outside army headquarters entered its 10th day. Thousands remained camped outside the complex in Khartoum overnight after protest leaders issued demands to the military council set up following the ouster of veteran President Omar al-Bashir. The organization that spearheaded the months of protests leading to al-Bashir’s fall, the Sudanese Professionals Association, urged the council “to immediately transfer power to a civilian government.” It said the resulting transitional government and the armed forces must bring to justice both al-Bashir and officials from his feared National Intelligence and Security Service. The United States, Britain and Norway urged the military council and other parties to hold talks over the country’s transition to civilian rule. In a joint statement by their embassies on Sunday, they warned against any use of violence to break up the protests and said the “legitimate change” the Sudanese people demanded had not taken place. “It is time for the transitional military council and all other parties to enter into an inclusive dialogue to effect a transition to civilian rule,” they said. “This must be done credibly and swiftly, with protest leaders, political opposition, civil society organizations, and all relevant elements of society, including women.” The military council on Sunday met with political parties and urged them to agree on an “independent figure” to be prime minister, an AFP correspondent at the meeting said. “We want to set up a civilian state based on freedom, justice and democracy,” a council member, Lt. Gen. Yasser al-Ata, told members of several political parties. A 10-member delegation representing the protesters delivered a list of demands during talks with the council late Saturday, according to a statement by the Alliance for Freedom and Change umbrella group. But at a news conference later, the council’s spokesman did not respond to the protesters’ latest demands, although he did announce the appointment of a new intelligence chief of the NISS. Protest leaders have called for the feared intelligence agency, whose chief Salih Ghosh resigned on Saturday, to be restructured and for NISS officials to face prosecution. The foreign ministry said the military council’s chief Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan was “committed to having a complete civilian government” and urged other nations to back the council in order to achieve “the Sudanese goal of democratic transition.” On Saturday, al-Burhan vowed to dismantle al-Bashir’s regime, lifting a nighttime curfew with immediate effect. He also pledged that individuals implicated in killing protesters would face justice and that protesters detained under a state of emergency imposed by al-Bashir during his final weeks in power would be freed. Al-Bashir ruled Sudan with an iron fist for 30 years before he was deposed last week following mass protests that have rocked the country since December. Tens of thousands of people have massed nonstop outside the army headquarters since April 6, initially urging the military to back their demand for al-Bashir’s removal. But his departure in a coup failed to satisfy the protesters, who have called for justice for al-Bashir-era officials. The Sudanese Professionals Association also demanded the confiscation of properties belonging to his National Congress Party and the release of soldiers who sided with their “revolution.” Late on Sunday, the military council said it has set up a committee to register NCP properties and take control of them.
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conflict;libya;sudan;democracy;omar al-bashir
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jp0003528
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/15
|
Red Cross breaks silence on three staffers snatched in Syria in 2013 and last seen in Islamic State's hands
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The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) appealed on Sunday for information on the whereabouts of three employees abducted in Syria more than five years ago and last known to have been held by Islamic State. Breaking its silence on the case, the independent aid agency identified the three as Louisa Akavi, a nurse from New Zealand, and Syrian drivers Alaa Rajab and Nabil Bakdounes. U.S.-backed forces proclaimed the capture of Islamic State’s last territory in Syria last month, eliminating its rule over a caliphate which it had proclaimed in Iraq and Syria in 2014. “We call on anyone with information to please come forward. If our colleagues are still being held, we call for their immediate and unconditional release,” the ICRC said in a statement. “Our latest credible information indicates that Louisa was alive in late 2018. The ICRC has never been able to learn more details about Alaa and Nabil, and their fate is not known.” The three were traveling in a Red Cross convoy that was delivering supplies to medical facilities in Idlib, northwestern Syria, when it was stopped by armed men on Oct 13, 2013. Four other people abducted with them were released the next day. “Following the fall of the last territory held by Islamic State group, we fear there is an extra risk of losing track of Louisa, though we remain hopeful this period will instead open new opportunities for us to learn more about her whereabouts and well-being,” the ICRC said. Akavi, now 62, joined the ICRC in 1988 and worked in hotspots including Afghanistan, Bosnia, Iraq, Somalia and Sri Lanka. She has been held longer than anyone in ICRC’s 156-year history, said Dominik Stillhart, ICRC director of operations worldwide. After being moved by IS forces to Raqqa in 2017, she was seen in Al-Bukamal in late 2018, close to the Syrian-Iraqi border near the Euphrates River, the last concrete information on her whereabouts, he said. “What we actually know is that Louisa has been working as a nurse during her abduction which shows her dedication and commitment to the mission and mandate of the Red Cross — caring for people affected by conflict,” he said.
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syria;iraq;red cross;hostages;islamic state;icrc;louisa akavi
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jp0003529
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/15
|
Iraqi forces kill Islamic State commander and four fighters
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BAQUBA, IRAQ - Security forces killed an Islamic State commander and four fighters in the Hamrin Mountains area of northeast Iraq on Sunday, the military said. Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition warplanes have been carrying out airstrikes in the area, targeting militant hideouts, for three days. The elite Counter Terrorism Service and the military’s operations command for Diyala province did not name the commander but they said in a statement he was in charge of Islamic State forces in Hamrin. He and four “followers” were killed in the area northeast of Baquba, the provincial capital, on Sunday, it said. Iraq declared victory over the group, which once held large swaths of the country, in December 2017. With its dream of a caliphate in the Middle East now dead, Islamic State has switched to hit-and-run attacks aimed at undermining the Baghdad government. The militants regrouped in the Hamrin mountain range in the northeast, which extends from Diyala province, on the border with Iran, northwest to the River Tigris in Kirkuk province.
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conflict;u.s .;terrorism;iraq;islamic state;hamrin;diyala;baqouba
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jp0003530
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/15
|
Powerful, deadly storms sweep across U.S. South, spawning twisters and killing at least three
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NEW YORK - Powerful storms that killed at least three people swept across the South on Sunday after spawning suspected tornadoes that left more than 20 people injured and multiple homes and businesses damaged or without power. One person was killed in northeastern Mississippi when a tree crashed onto his trailer, Monroe County Road Manager Sonny Clay said at a news conference, adding that a tornado had struck. Another 19 were taken to hospitals, including two who were in critical condition. A tornado was reported in the area 140 miles (225 km) southwest of Memphis, Tennessee, at the time. National Weather Service meteorologist John Moore said a possible twister touched down Saturday in the Vicksburg, Mississippi, area. No injuries were reported there, but officials said several businesses and vehicles were damaged. Trees were down throughout the hilly city on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi. The roof of a hotel in New Albany, Mississippi, was damaged, although the cause was unclear. Mississippi State University’s 21,000 students huddled in basements and hallways as a tornado came near the school’s campus in Starkville. University spokesman Sid Salter said some debris, possibly carried by the tornado, was found on campus, but no injuries were reported and no buildings were damaged. Trees were down and at least some minor damage was reported in residential areas east of the campus. Heavy rains and storms raked the Magnolia State into the night, then moved into Alabama. A possible tornado knocked out power and left damage in Troy, about 50 miles (80 km) south of Montgomery. A mobile home community was damaged, but no injuries were reported. In East Texas, two children were killed when a pine tree fell onto the back of the car in which they were riding in a severe thunderstorm Saturday. The car was on a back country road in Pollok, Texas, about 150 miles (241 km) southeast of Dallas. The tree “flattened the car like a pancake,” said Capt. Alton Lenderman of the Angelina County Sheriff’s Office. The children, ages 8 and 3, were dead at the scene, although both parents, who were in the front seat, escaped injury, he said. The large storm system also knocked out power to thousands and caused flash floods. More than 140,000 customers lost power in Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas as of late Saturday. A tornado hit the small Central Texas city of Franklin, overturning mobile homes and damaging other residences, said Robertson County Sheriff Gerald Yezak. Franklin is about 125 miles (200 km) south of Dallas. The weather service said preliminary information showed an EF-3 tornado touched down with winds of 140 mph (225.3 kph). Crews were sent to survey the damage. Two people were hospitalized for injuries not thought to be life-threatening, while others were treated at the scene for minor injuries, Yezak said. Some people had to be extricated from their homes. Downed trees and damage to buildings and a transmission tower were reported, said meteorologist Monique Sellers. Winds of up to 60 mph (96.56 kph) were reported in Cherokee County, Texas, damaging two homes in Alto, about 140 miles (225 kilometers) north of Houston, but no injuries were reported. The forecast of severe weather forced officials at the Masters in Augusta, Georgia, to begin the tournament early Sunday, starting threesomes off the first and 10th tees on the day’s final round in hopes of finishing in midafternoon before the winds and rains begin.
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storms;masters;tornadoes;u.s. south
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jp0003531
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/15
|
Off the coast of Nigeria's Lagos, ghost ships are a haven for crime
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LAGOS - The two men in the motorized wooden canoe look around warily as they leave a towering shipwreck in the Lagos lagoon, with the barrels of oil on board barely concealed under rags. The rusting hulk of iron and peeling paint has been battered by the elements and is half-submerged in the water. Sprouts of green shoots on deck indicate how long it has been abandoned. But on closer inspection, the wreck is a working storage facility for stolen or “bunkered” oil, as it is known in Nigeria. “Oladele,” a 30-year-old who did not want to publicize his real name, has plied the waters on his boat since he was 15. He says it’s not the only wreck that stores illegally imported oil brought into the port by the huge tankers delivering petrol and gas, then sold on in neighboring Benin and Togo. “Every ship does it. They will declare 10 tons but bring in 12,” he said. “We will store them in the tanks, deep inside the wrecks, then at night usually, it will be picked up.” Middlemen could typically make at least $80 to $200 a trip for several years. “It’s big business,” he said. Scores of shipwrecks in Lagos’ waterways, coastal waters and on the shores of its beaches have turned parts of its shoreline into a marine cemetery. In Kiri-Kiri, the lagoon corridor, scores of wrecks and discarded ship scrap provide useful cover to hide illicit goods and barrels of oil and gas. From there, the waters offer an easy route up the Lagos coast to Benin and beyond. Expensive scrap metal culled from unmanned wrecks can be sold for thousands of dollars. Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer, churning out about 2 million barrels a day. But a lack of fully functioning refineries means crude is exported, processed and then imported for use. Much of it is shipped through the narrow marine corridor into Lagos. Hundreds of ships wait for days on the horizon of the Gulf of Guinea to get into the port and discharge their goods. On the way in and out they pass the skeletons of scuttled and abandoned ships, some of which have capsized because of the effects on the tides of the wrecks. Yet there are also suspicions that amid lax marine regulation, companies treat Lagos’ waters as a ship refuse site, avoiding incurring the expense of disposing of old vessels. Experts say the wrecks act as groynes, halting the flow of sand downshore and accelerating erosion. Lack of regulation on the waters has also helped illicit activity thrive, turning the ghost ships into hideouts for sea criminals. Small groups of former crew lounge on several of the wrecks, lodging in dim, disused cabins, keeping watch for anyone seeking to strip the ships of valuable scrap. One crew member, who asked not to be identified, said he and three others had worked shifts to stay in the cabin all day and night for 15 months since the ship capsized. Copper and bronze and the brass from the ship’s propeller could be sold for as much as 20,000,000 naira ($55,000), he said. “People will come and steal valuables that are still here,” he added. The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, which polices the country’s waterways, says it is proactive in removing the likely hundreds of wrecks but concede that removing them is expensive. Taibat Lawanson, a professor of urban planning at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), said the price of removal was prohibitive. “Because removing them is so costly, neither the state government nor the federal government takes enough responsibility for their removal,” he said. Small groups of naval officials, some with uniformed T-shirts, others topless in the sun, bask on the upper decks of confiscated ships. Tunji Adejumo, a landscape architect and ecologist at UNILAG, says the navy has become the main monitoring agency on the coastline. “Yet even still, many of these shipping companies are able to avoid culpability for leaving their wrecks in the water,” he said. “These shipwrecks hurt the aesthetics of the coastline. They degrade over time, dumped there but rarely dealt with. And they have serious environmental effects.” In Lighthouse Beach, a mostly quiet get-away lined by large beach houses, a wreck at the very end of the shore has been a landmark for visitors for years. In parts of the waterways, scuba diving and spearfishing capitalize on the wrecks aesthetics and the aquatic life it attracts. Yet many of the wrecks, below sea level and invisible above it, present numerous dangers. A 6 p.m. curfew exists for commercial boats, which is imposed in part to prevent accidents. White flags are hoisted on few of the below-the-water wrecks to warn approaching craft but most have no visible warning signs, meaning riders have to remember where they are. “It can be dangerous riding the boats at night,” said Oladele. “But the curfew also protects all these crazy activities that you would see if you traveled here after dark.”
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smuggling;oil;nigeria;environment
|
jp0003532
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/15
|
During book tour, former U.S. first lady Michelle Obama charms British crowd with praise for Queen Elizabeth II
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LONDON - Former U.S. first lady Michelle Obama charmed thousands of Britons on Sunday, telling anecdotes about meeting the “wonderfully warm and funny” Queen Elizabeth II and praising London’s diversity. Obama, the wife of former U.S. President Barack Obama, was in London to promote her best-selling autobiography. “Becoming.” She had the sellout audience — many of whom had traveled hours to attend laughing along within minutes of taking the stage, recounting the furor she caused in 2009 when she breached royal protocol by putting her arm around the queen. “Yikes! Sorry guys,” she joked, explaining she later learned to keep her hands clasped or behind her back to curb her natural instincts. Nevertheless, she had no regrets when it came to the queen: “I don’t know that I could have done anything differently because it was a natural human reaction.” She said she had been touched by the queen’s decision to wear a small pin badge the presidential couple had given her as a gift, and described Britain’s 92-year-old monarch in glowing terms: “That was my experience, that has been my experience: That kind of warmth and graciousness and intelligence and wit — I like her.” Obama’s book tour has so far taken her across North America and Scandinavia. After London, she will go to Paris and Amsterdam. Last month, the book’s German publisher said “Becoming” could become the biggest-selling autobiography ever. “It’s absolutely surreal. I think it’s like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I can’t believe she’s in England as well, I can’t believe we’re going,” said Aisha Chipampe, a 26-year-old corporate finance worker who drove four hours from the northern city of Leeds for the show. Obama, asked by host Stephen Colbert what advice she had for people in Britain about how to stay calm in a time of turmoil — a likely reference to political divisions over Brexit — said London is unique and should treasure its diversity. “This trepidation, the anxiety, it’s everywhere, it’s all over the world,” she said. “I was looking out over the city, London, a beautiful city, and the thing I love about it is it is truly representative of true international diversity, in ways that you don’t see in cities, most cities particularly, even in the United States, and that is a gift,” she said, drawing cheers.
|
u.s .;barack obama;michelle obama;queen elizabeth ii;london
|
jp0003533
|
[
"world"
] |
2019/04/15
|
Michelle Obama charms British crowd with praise for Queen Elizabeth
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LONDON - Former U.S. first lady Michelle Obama charmed thousands of Britons on Sunday, telling anecdotes about meeting the “wonderfully warm and funny” Queen Elizabeth and praising London’s diversity at an event in the capital. Obama, the wife of Barack Obama, who was president from 2009 to 2017, was in London to promote her best-selling autobiography “Becoming.” She had the sellout audience — many of whom had traveled hours to attend — laughing along within minutes of taking the stage, recounting the furor she caused in 2009 when she breached royal protocol by putting her arm around the queen. “Yikes! Sorry guys,” she joked, explaining she later learned to keep her hands clasped or behind her back to curb her natural instincts. Nevertheless, she had no regrets when it came to the queen: “I don’t know that I could have done anything differently because it was a natural human reaction.” She said she had been touched by the queen’s decision to wear a small pin badge the presidential couple had given her as a gift, and described Britain’s 92-year-old monarch in glowing terms: “That was my experience, that has been my experience: that kind of warmth and graciousness and intelligence and wit — I like her.” Obama’s book tour has so far taken her across North America and Scandinavia. After London, she will go to Paris and Amsterdam. Last month, the book’s German publisher said “Becoming” could become the biggest-selling autobiography ever. “It’s absolutely surreal. I think it’s like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I can’t believe she’s in England as well, I can’t believe we’re going,” said Aisha Chibampe, a 26-year-old corporate finance worker who drove four hours from the northern city of Leeds for the show. Obama, asked by host Stephen Colbert what advice she had for people in Britain about how to stay calm in a time of turmoil — a likely reference to political divisions over Brexit — said London was unique and should treasure its diversity. “This trepidation, the anxiety, it’s everywhere, it’s all over the world,” she said. “I was looking out over the city, London, a beautiful city, and the thing I love about it is it is truly representative of true international diversity, in ways that you don’t see in cities, most cities particularly, even in the United States, and that is a gift,” she said, drawing cheers.
|
u.s .;u.k .;michelle obama;queen elizabeth;becoming
|
jp0003534
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/15
|
Two politicians temporarily banned from campaigning in Indian election over comments
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NEW DELHI - India’s election watchdog Monday banned two outspoken politicians from campaigning in the country’s national vote for making provocative speeches which it said could stir communal unrest. The measures came after the Supreme Court called on the Election Commission to get tough on hate speech during the world’s biggest election, which started last Thursday and runs through May 19. Mayawati, a leader for low-caste Dalits, was banned from campaigning for 48 hours for calling on Muslims to vote in a bloc against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Yogi Adityanath, firebrand BJP chief minister of India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, was sidelined for three days for his response to Mayawati, comparing the election to a battle between Muslim and Hindu gods. Hindus — who make up the majority community in India — have “no option” but to support the BJP, he added. Both politicians made “highly provocative speeches” which had “the tone and tenor to aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred between different religious communities,” the commission said. Indian politicians are often accused of using hate speech and intimidation to win votes. The Indian campaign has been marked by headline-grabbing declarations by politicians. Adityanath has already waded into trouble by calling Muslims the “green virus” who are set to “engulf the nation.” BJP politician Sakshi Maharaj caused controversy last week by saying he was a “saint” who would put a “curse” anyone who votes against him — while another BJP contender, Maneka Gandhi, said Muslims should vote for her or their future requests could be shunned if she wins. The Supreme Court has in turn called on opposition Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi to explain why he “incorrectly” attributed remarks to the court saying that Modi had “committed a theft” in agreeing a fighter deal with France. The Election Commission — often accused of being ineffective — has been flooded with complaints since campaigning started in March, and the Supreme Court told it to “act very promptly” on potential violations. The watchdog told the court its code of conduct limits the punishments it can mete out, however. “We can’t de-recognize them (parties) or disqualify candidates,” the counsel representing the commission at the hearing on Monday said. The commission sought to counter critics this month by postponing the release of a fawning film biography of Modi. It also ordered a clampdown on NaMO TV, a TV channel dedicated to the prime minister.
|
india;election;politics;narendra modi;bjp;mayawati
|
jp0003535
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/15
|
Democratic gains at risk as Muslim-majority Indonesia heads to the polls
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JAKARTA - Dipping their fingers in halal ink to prevent double voting, Indonesians cast their ballots Wednesday in a bitterly contested presidential election, with the main rival to incumbent Joko “Jokowi” Widodo already threatening to challenge the result over voter-fraud claims. The Muslim-majority nation’s biggest-ever polls — with more than 190 million voters and 245,000 candidates vying for the presidency, parliament and local positions — is largely a referendum on Jokowi’s infrastructure-driven bid to rev up Southeast Asia’s largest economy. But, looming in the background, two decades of democratic gains are at risk of being eroded, analysts said, as the military creeps back into civilian life under Jokowi, and his trailing rival Prabowo Subianto, a former general, eyes reforms that harken back to the Suharto dictatorship. If he loses, Subianto’s camp has already warned it will challenge the results over voter-list irregularities. “It’s high stakes in this election,” said Evan Laksmana, a senior researcher at the Jakarta-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. “We simply don’t know what (Subianto) would do if he won and we don’t know if the institutional constraints in place would contain him.” Voting starts at 7 a.m. Wednesday in easternmost Papua and ends at 1 p.m. at the other end of the country in Sumatra. Ballots will be cast at more than 800,000 polling booths across the volcano-dotted country, from the tip of jungle-clad Sumatra and heavily populated Java island to beach paradise Bali and far-flung Sumbawa. Voters will punch holes in ballots — to make clear their candidate choice — and then dip a finger in Muslim-approved halal ink, a measure to prevent double-voting in a graft-riddled country where ballot-buying is rife. A series of so-called quick counts are expected to give a reliable indication of the presidential winner later Wednesday. Official results are not expected until May. Most polls show the 57-year-old Jokowi holding a double-digit lead over Subianto, 67, setting up a repeat of their 2014 contest, which Jokowi won despite an unsuccessful court challenge over his narrow victory. The race has been punctuated by bitter mudslinging between the two camps, religion-driven identity politics and a slew of fake news online that threatens to sway millions of undecided voters. Jokowi campaigned on his ambitious drive to build roads, airports and other infrastructure, including Jakarta’s first mass-rapid-transit system. But his rights record has been criticized owing to an uptick in discriminatory attacks on religious and other minorities, including a small LGBT community, as Islamic hard-liners become more vocal in public life. “(Jokowi) has chosen pragmatism over principle on issues of Islamism and pluralism,” said Dave McRae, a senior lecturer at the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute. Jokowi, a practicing Muslim, blunted criticism that he was anti-Islam by appointing influential cleric Ma’ruf Amin as his running mate. But victory for Jokowi and Amin — known for his disparaging views toward minorities — could be the latest knock to Indonesia’s reputation for moderate Islam. “There is a long-standing track record of very conservative views,” Kevin O’Rourke, an Indonesia-based political risk analyst, said of Amin. “It’s inevitable that will affect policy making.” Subianto — joined by running mate Sandiaga Uno, a 49-year-old wealthy financier — has run on a fiery nationalist ticket. He courted Islamic hard-liners, promised a boost to military and defense spending and, taking a page from U.S. President Donald Trump, vowed to put “Indonesia first” as he pledged to review billions of dollars in Chinese investment. Subianto’s presidential ambitions have long been dogged by strong ties to the Suharto family and a checkered past. He ordered the abduction of democracy activists as the authoritarian regime collapsed in 1998, and was accused of committing atrocities in East Timor. Jokowi’s own Cabinet is stuffed with Suharto-era figures, and he raised eyebrows by agreeing to give civilian government jobs to military brass. But “there is no grand design for Jokowi to bring back military rule,” Laksmana said. Subianto, however, is a military man keen to roll back reforms that ushered in direct presidential elections, analysts said. That has raised questions about what an upset victory for the retired general could mean for a system that is supported by most Indonesians. “Democracy itself would be very much at stake,” O’Rourke said. “This is a low probability scenario, but one with very high impact.” Many Indonesians just want a peaceful power transition — regardless of the winner. “I hope there’s no hostility,” said 53-year-old Untung Sri Rejeki. “No matter who becomes our next president.”
|
indonesia;elections;joko widodo;prabowo subianto
|
jp0003536
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/15
|
DNA tests confirm death of Islamic State-linked leader in Philippines
|
U.S. DNA tests have confirmed the death of a Muslim militant commander who helped lead the 2017 siege of a city in the southern Philippines and was considered a key leader of the Islamic State group in the region, officials said Sunday. Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano said the tests confirmed that Owaida Marohombsar, who was also known by his nom de guerre Abu Dar, was one of four militants killed in a March 14 gunbattle that also left four soldiers dead near southern Tubaran town in Lanao del Sur province. The Philippine military asked U.S. authorities to confirm Marohombsar’s death through DNA tests. Marohombsar helped lead the May 23, 2017, siege of Marawi, which troops quelled after five months of ground assaults and airstrikes that left more than 1,100 people, mostly militants, dead and destroyed the mosque-studded city’s commercial and residential districts. Most leaders of the attack were killed, but Marohombsar survived with a large amount of looted cash and jewelry from Marawi that authorities feared he could use to rebuild the militant’s battered organization and plot new attacks. One regional official, Zia Adiong, said at the time that Marohombsar escaped from Marawi with at least 30 million pesos ($566,000) in stolen money. But troops hunted the extremist leader and his men down across Lanao. “This is another milestone in our campaign to finish and defeat ISIS and local terror groups in the country,” Ano said, using an acronym of the Islamic State group. Ano was the former military chief who supervised the U.S.- and Australian-backed offensive to crush the siege of Marawi, which sparked fears that the Islamic State group was advancing its efforts to establish a foothold in the region. Marohombsar’s killing will make it harder for the Islamic State group to establish a firm presence in the country’s south, Ano said. The southern Philippines is the homeland of the largely Roman Catholic nation’s minority Muslims and the scene of decades-old Muslim separatist unrest. “For now, his group is leaderless. We are monitoring who will replace Dar,” Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana told reporters. A Philippine army brigade commander, Brig. Gen. Romeo Brawner, said troops would pursue the rest of Marohombsar’s remaining fighters, mostly based in Lanao’s hinterlands, not far from Marawi. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte placed the country’s south under martial law to bolster efforts by troops to eradicate militants who survived the Marawi fighting and go after their allied groups in other southern provinces like the brutal Abu Sayyaf group in Sulu province. Marohombsar’s death will likely strengthen the control of Abu Sayyaf leader Hajan Sawadjaan, who is based in Sulu’s jungles, over a number of Islamic State group-linked armed groups in the south. Ano has said that Sawadjaan was installed as the new IS-aligned leader in the southern Philippines but that Marohombsar’s group was adamant to recognize him as its regional leader. A Philippine police profile said Marohombsar was reported to have undergone military and explosives training in Afghanistan in 2005 and returned to the south a few years later and established an armed group called the Khilafa Islamiyyah Mindanao. The group was implicated in the 2013 bombing of a bar in a shopping mall in southern Cagayan de Oro city that left several people dead and wounded. Several more groups in the south pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group the following years, allowing them to consolidate under the IS flag in 2015 and 2016 with then-Abu Sayyaf commander Isnilon Hapilon as their leader and launch the Marawi siege the following year. Hapilon was among the leaders killed by troops in the city.
|
u.s .;terrorism;philippines;islamic state;abu sayyef;owaida marohombsar;abu dar
|
jp0003537
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/15
|
After months of delay, Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte signs $71 billion national budget
|
MANILA - President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday signed a 3.7 trillion peso ($71.5 billion) budget for this year, its largest ever, ending months of impasse that forced the Southeast Asian country to cut its growth target. The Philippines last month cut its 2019 growth target to 6-7 percent from 7-8 percent, reflecting the absence of a new budget and the impact of the U.S.-China trade dispute. In signing the budget, the president vetoed $1.8 billion worth of appropriations, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea told reporters. Vetoed items include non-priority public works, he said. Months of squabbling between the upper and lower chambers of the house delayed the transmission of this year’s national budget to the president. For next year, economic managers will propose a 4.1 trillion peso ($79.3 billion) national budget. The Philippines, among the fastest growing economies in Asia, is aiming for growth of 6.5-7.5 percent in 2020, and 7-8 percent in 2021 and 2022, mainly through an extensive infrastructure overhaul. The Philippine economy grew 6.2 percent in 2018, the slowest in three years, because of weak exports, manufacturing and farm output.
|
philippines;manila;economy;budget;rodrigo duterte
|
jp0003538
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/15
|
South Korean leader pushes for another meeting with Kim Jong Un despite nuclear standoff
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SEOUL - President Moon Jae-in said Monday he will pursue “in earnest” another summit with Kim Jong Un despite the North Korean leader’s recent criticism of Seoul’s self-proclaimed role as a mediator in stalled nuclear talks. Moon has been eager to regain momentum in talks with North Korea since Kim’s second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, in Vietnam in February, failed due to conflicting demands by Pyongyang for sanctions relief and by Washington for sweeping North Korean measures to abandon its nuclear program. Kim said in a speech Friday that he is willing to hold another summit with Trump if the United States changes its calculation and offers a “proper attitude and a methodology,” setting a year-end deadline. While North Korea and the United States have been discussing the North’s denuclearization, U.S. ally South Korea has been taking steps to improve its ties with its old rival. Moon and Kim have held three meetings over the past year, and Moon’s administration has been keen for a fourth, possibly to mark the anniversary of the first one on April 27. Moon, who visited Washington to meet with Trump last week, said Kim’s latest address “set the stage” for a fourth inter-Korean summit, which could be a “stepping stone for an even bigger opportunity and a more significant outcome.” “Now is the time to begin the preparations in earnest,” Moon told a meeting with senior secretaries, noting that as soon as the North Koreans are ready, he is willing to meet Kim “regardless of venue and form.” In his first public remarks since Kim’s address, Moon said he “very much welcomed” that speech, saying it shows Kim’s “unwavering” commitment toward denuclearization and the reopening of negotiations. But Moon did not specifically respond to Kim’s criticism that South Korea is too subservient to the “anachronistic arrogance and hostile policy of the United States,” and that the South’s military persisted in “veiled hostility” by conducting exercises with U.S. forces. Kim said South Korea should not “pose as a meddlesome ‘mediator’ and ‘facilitator’ ” between the North and the United States. North Korea’s state media Saturday issued a commentary criticizing South Korea’s purchase of fighter jets, including two recently delivered F-35A jets from the United States, calling it a “serious provocative act” that could intensify tension on the Korean Peninsula. However, Kim said he remains committed to improving relations with South Korea if it shows its “sincerity by practical action, not by words.” Any significant improvement in ties between the two Koreas could depend on progress between North Korea and the United States on the North’s denuclearization and that looks doubtful, with neither side showing willingness to make concessions. Trump emphasized during last week’s talks with Moon that he is willing to meet Kim again but will not lift sanctions until the North took meaningful steps to dismantle its nuclear programs.
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north korea;kim jong un;south korea;summit;moon jae-in
|
jp0003539
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"social-issues-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/15
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China tech giant Jack Ma encourages workers to rack up overtime hours
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HONG KONG - Billionaire Jack Ma again encouraged tech workers to embrace the industry’s extreme-overtime culture, defying a growing social media backlash. The Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. co-founder once more endorsed the sector’s infamous 12-hours-a-day, six-days-a-week routine as de rigueur for passionate young workers. In a lengthy Sunday blog post, China’s richest man expanded on comments from last week, in which he dismissed people who expect a typical eight-hour office lifestyle. “As I expected, my comments internally a few days ago about the 996 schedule caused a debate and nonstop criticism,” Ma wrote. “I understand these people, and I could have said something that was ‘correct.’ But we don’t lack people saying ‘correct’ things in the world today, what we lack is truthful words that make people think.” Ma’s earlier comments stoked a fierce ongoing debate over tales of programers and founders dying from unrelenting stress. Chinese tech workers protested labor conditions on the online code-sharing community GitHub in March under the banner 996.ICU, which quickly became the site’s most popular topic. “Those who can stick to a 996 schedule are those who have found their passion beyond monetary gains,” he wrote Sunday.
|
china;alibaba;overwork;jack ma
|
jp0003541
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"crime-legal-asia-pacific"
] |
2019/04/15
|
'Gangnam style' sex crime: K-pop scandals uncover dark side of Seoul's flashiest district
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SEOUL - On a recent weekend night, the dance floor at one of the hottest clubs in Seoul’s swanky Gangnam district held only a few dozen people surrounded by mostly empty tables. A few months ago, the nightclub would have been packed with hundreds of gyrating men and women, and full tables, many costing 650,000 won ($570) or more for a night of drinking and dancing. The world was introduced to Gangnam by the 2012 K-pop hit “Gangnam Style,” a parody of the South Korean high life with a viral tune and amusing dancing that became the first video to reach a billion views on YouTube. But a wave of sex crimes and other illegal activity has revealed a dark underbelly in the district, driving clubgoers and celebrities away. According to police investigators, a network of pop stars, businessmen and cops are alleged to have colluded and enabled tax evasion, bribery, and prostitution at some of Gangnam’s glitziest clubs. Most seriously, some are being investigated over the use of date rape drugs to incapacitate women and assault them, sometimes filmed by hidden cameras. “There aren’t many people coming to Gangnam (clubs) right now,” a worker said at a club that was relatively quiet, despite not being implicated in any of the allegations. “There’s an investigation on.” The scandals have already led to the resignation of four K-pop stars, the closure of one of Gangnam’s most lucrative club, and investigations into at least six police officers suspected of colluding with club operators. President Moon Jae-in called for a thorough investigation, saying the Gangnam club cases suggest possible collusion between police, tax authorities and a new privileged class including celebrities to engage in illegal operations. More than 500 people have been investigated for drug use and sexual assault and more than 200 arrested in a nationwide roundup since Feb. 25. Tax authorities have launched investigations into 21 clubs and host bars for possible evasion. “If we don’t set this right, we cannot call this a just society,” Moon said. The investigations, revolving around two Gangnam clubs, Burning Sun and Arena, began late last year when 29-year-old film art director Kim Sang-kyo says he tried to stop an incident of sexual harassment and was attacked by Burning Sun staff, and then abused by police who instead arrested him. A government commission concluded that police in Gangnam violated Kim’s rights during his arrest, but Kim is still being investigated for sexual harassment and defamation. He denies any wrongdoing. Calls to Burning Sun, which closed down after the scandal broke, were not answered, while a man who answered the number listed for Arena hung up when asked for comment. Arena has also been closed since early March for what it said were renovations. Gangnam police declined to comment. Kim said once he shared his story he began to receive messages from other people who said they had been victimized in Gangnam clubs, and he realized the scope of the problem. “When people saw me raising questions, they said, ‘Why you? Why now?'” Kim said. “‘This has been going on for 10 years, 15 years, and you can’t touch it. You can’t win.’ I’ve heard a lot of people say this, and I think it’s really scary.” The string of scandals gained wider attention when several K-pop stars who had ties to some of the clubs were implicated in crimes unrelated to Kim’s arrest. Singer Lee Seung-hyun, 28, better known by the stage name Seungri, is under investigation for paying for prostitutes in return for favors from foreign businessmen at Arena. He is also accused of embezzlement at another club he was involved with until last year. Lee has denied all wrongdoing, but resigned from his position as a member of the boy band BIGBANG. Lee’s lawyer said this week his client maintains his innocence. At least three other K-pop stars resigned after they were accused by police of sharing illicitly filmed sex tapes. It is not yet clear whether any of the shared videos and photos were taken at either nightclub. One singer, Jung Joon-young, admitted to having shared videos he took secretly while having sex with women. “I am truly sorry. I committed a crime that cannot be forgiven,” Jung read from a handwritten statement on March 21. Besides Seungri, who was an internal director at Burning Sun and previously helped run the club, police are investigating two of the club’s co-presidents and an operating director for various crimes including distributing drugs, assaulting a customer, and bribing police. Investigators have also questioned 15 people and arrested four people with links to Burning Sun on drug charges. At least one club promoter was arrested for distributing illegal sex videos. A man identified as the de facto owner of Arena, surnamed Kang, was arrested in late March, a Seoul Central District Court spokesman said. Kang and other Arena executives are accused of tax evasion by avoiding paying 16.2 billion won ($14.31 million) in taxes between 2014-2017. Kang refused to answer questions on March 25 as he emerged from court. He could not be reached for comment. Authorities are also investigating allegations that club officials provided bribes to police officers. Six officers are now under investigation for possible collusion with the clubs, including a senior superintendent, lawmakers briefed by Police Commissioner General Min Gab-ryong said. The superintendent, surnamed Yoon, admitted playing golf and sharing meals with a man known to be Seungri’s business partner, but denies all allegations of corruption. He is accused of leaking confidential information and accepting bribes, including K-pop concert tickets from singer Seungri, an official at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said. In Gangnam, former patrons and workers lament the impact the scandals have had on the clubs and the broader entertainment industry, a key identity and export for South Korea. Kim Se-rim, 27, said she no longer goes to clubs. “People are like, ‘Why would you go when you know there are so much drugs, GHB, rape going on?'” she said, referring to a known date-rape drug. “And they have a point.”
|
rape;south korea;sex crimes;prostitution;k-pop;moon jae-in;_asia
|
jp0003542
|
[
"national"
] |
2019/04/15
|
Osaka begins trial of smartphone disaster information app for tourists from overseas ahead of G20
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OSAKA - After a number of natural disasters hit the area last summer, a government bureau in western Japan began trials Monday for a multilingual smartphone-based service to provide overseas tourists with disaster information. The service, operated by the Kinki Bureau of Telecommunications in Osaka, will ultimately provide weather news and evacuation orders in several languages, and will allow foreign embassies to issue messages to their nationals in emergency situations. Sightseeing information will be offered through the service when there is no disaster. Osaka is aiming to launch the service by June, when the city will host the Group of 20 summit. With the upcoming Osaka 2025 World Expo and the increasing number of foreign workers in the country, the government hopes to be better prepared in order to avoid situations such as those seen last year where foreign visitors in disaster-affected areas struggled to gain access to information about transport disruptions. On Monday personnel from the Vietnamese, Peruvian and Filipino consulates gathered at the bureau in central Osaka to confirm trial messages sent to smartphones using the existing news app for tourists, Portable News. Consul General of the Filipino Consulate Patrick Hilado said the system was easy to use, praising the capability it offers to narrow down an intended audience. As fake posts and rumors can spread through social networks during disasters, the bureau plans to limit the sources of information to public institutions and disaster-relief organizations. Osaka and other parts of western Japan were hit by earthquakes, torrential rain and typhoons last year. The city is also a major gateway to key tourist sites such as Kyoto and Nara.
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osaka;smartphones;tourism;apps;disasters
|
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